Space Opera Fans discussion
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Welcome Wagon & Rules
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Introduce Yourself - Part I
I joined the group a few weeks ago, I think. I am usually busy reading so keeping up with threads is an occasional thing with me. I joined Goodreads so I could keep track of what I have read as after becoming disabled I started reading so many e-books I would find myself forgetting the titles. I started reading science fiction by accident when I was 12. I grabbed the next book by Norton (I was reading some mystery series) and didn't notice the first name was different. It was Andre Norton and I was hooked.
Name: Liz
Favorite Books: Dune, Dragonriders of Pern, Rissa series, Cities in Flight; Honor Harrington series
Favorite Genres: Science Fiction; legal mystery/thrillers
Favorite TV shows: Star Trek Voyager; Babylon 5; DS9; Stargate Atlantis; Torchwood; Boston Legal; Law and Order SVU
Favorite Movies: Gattaca; The Goonies; Armageddon; My Cousin Vinny;
Favorite Food: Risotto; Prime Rib; Hot and Sour Soup
Day Job: Family law paralegal (2013 became disabled)
Hobbies: Growing herbs; cooking; making potholders on the loop loom (same as the one I had as a kid)
Other: Love road trips in my Miata - have owned 4 and done Rte. 66 and CA Hwy. 1, but driving anywhere in it is just fun!
I don't usually read fantasy and mostly have avoided it. But recently having read Lallo's Deacon series and Hicks In Her Name I am more open to it. They impressed me, as did Rothfuss Name of the Wind which my daughter made me read. As a result of what was on my bookshelves that my daughter was exposed to at a young age, she is also an avid science fiction fan but with wider parameters than me.
Hi Lizzie and Leo! (When you add in my name, that's a lot of Ls!)Welcome!
Leo, these are my top five general Star Wars novel recommendations, in no particular order:Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller
Darth Plagueis by James Luceno
Revenge of the Sith novelization by Matthew Stover (enhances the film immeasurably)
Lost Stars by Claudia Gray
Of those, the last two are the only ones that are definitely in line with the current canon, if such things matter. The Zahn books have definitely already been contradicted by The Force Awakens.
Brandon wrote: "Leo, these are my top five general Star Wars novel recommendations, in no particular order:Heir to the Empire trilogy by Timothy Zahn
Kenobi by John Jackson Miller
Darth Plagueis by James Luceno
..."
Happy to ignore canon for a good read! I'll just think of it as the Star Wars multiverse :)
Lizzie wrote: "I joined the group a few weeks ago, I think. I am usually busy reading so keeping up with threads is an occasional thing with me. I joined Goodreads so I could keep track of what I have read as aft..."Andre Norton is probably one of the first introductions to SF for a lot of people, especially if they started reading in the 50s and 60s. The first of her books I read was the second Beastmaster novel.
I read Norton and Herbert as some of my firsts because my dad said they were awesome. He wasn't wrong. As far as SW goes: I'll read EU and the rest no problem. Even if both sides have their duds.
Lizzie wrote: "Favorite Books: Dune, Dragonriders of Pern, Rissa series, Cities in Flight; Honor Harrington series..."Welcome Lizzie! I was just cleaning out my book collection and came across my Dragonriders collection. At one point I had them all :-)
Greg wrote: "Hello. I would like to nominate SHATTERPOINT by Matthew Stover as one of the greatest SW EU novels ever printed. It is an intense war novel starring the truly Uber Cool Mace Windu, but even if you ..."Greg, I almost put Shatterpoint on my list. It's a fantastic Star Wars take on Heart of Darkness.
Lizzie is the 'Cities in Flight' book you mention the one by James Blish?
Hello All,I am Arpit Bakshi, I write Science Fiction interlaced with Indian-Mythology.
Fav Movies (in Order) - Matrix series, Interstellar & The Martian.
Fav TV Shows - The Big Bang Theory, Two and Half Men and How I met your Mother.
Fav Books - Foundation by Isaac Asimov, The Fountain Head, Atlas Shrugged & Zen & The Art of Motorcycle maintenance.
What keeps me busy now a days - My newly started Blog and upcoming web-episodes of my next book.
Hello Leo, Liz, and Arpit :-) Nice to meet you all.
Greg wrote: "What is the matter, John?"Absolutely no idea what you were saying,
Arpit wrote: "Hello All, I am Arpit Bakshi, I write Science Fiction interlaced with Indian-Mythology..."Welcome Arpit! Indian mythology? That sounds cool :-)
Anna, speaking of mythology, what is your profile pic a photo of? It looks like some sort of Mesopotamian god or something. Very cool.
Greg wrote: "MTFBWY... May The Force Be With You! "I see. Not very good with phrases written in just initials. I had to ask the wife what LOL meant once.
John wrote: "Greg wrote: "MTFBWY... May The Force Be With You! "I see. Not very good with phrases written in just initials. I had to ask the wife what LOL meant once."
Aha, that one. Lando Only Lands. :-]
Shakes his head and listens to Louie, Louie by The Feelies.
Anna wrote: "Arpit wrote: "Hello All, I am Arpit Bakshi, I write Science Fiction interlaced with Indian-Mythology..."Welcome Arpit! Indian mythology? That sounds cool :-)"
Thanks Anna.
John wrote: "Shakes his head and listens to Louie, Louie by The Feelies."Okay, gee thanks, now that tune's stuck in my head :-p lol
Greg wrote: "LMFAO (apologies for the bad language ... )"Lando May Find Apricots Otherworldly?
Hmm. I think we have hijacked the thread again. (Goes back to his album of bagpipe music)
John wrote: "Hmm. I think we have hijacked the thread again. (Goes back to his album of bagpipe music)"Oops. Good point. Sorry folks :-p
General space opera, but Star Wars gets discussed here along with a whole lot of other things (and I almost posted something for my baseball discussion group here).
I think it is fair to describe Star Wars as space opera. The only difference between it and most space opera is that it is actually set in the past, as the opening of the first movie made clear.
Gaines wrote: "Anna, speaking of mythology, what is your profile pic a photo of? It looks like some sort of Mesopotamian god or something. Very cool."The profile picture is of Ereshkigal, the ancient Mesopotamian goddess of the underworld. Most people know her from the epic myth The Descent of Inanna. Erishkigal is my pen name. I write about genetically engineered supersoldier angels from a space-faring galactic empire who crash-land in Iraq (Mesopotamia) on Earth in 3,500 bc and spawn the myths of fallen angels and the Annunaki.
Get it? It's a joke 3:-) Fallen angels. Erishkigal? I put my heroes through hell...
Greg wrote: "Thats a good one! BTW, is this is SW group or General Space Opera Group?"We take a fairly liberal definition of 'Space Opera' and also include discussion of space-opera related topics including manga and gaming since that is how most people digest their sci-fi these days. All we ask is that at some point the hijacked thread leads back eventually to a literary depiction or tie-in novel or the STORY of space opera, in whatever mode it is told in. :-)
We have a good amount of science-related topic threads members post to ragchew (talk about) which I vigorously encourage, often about the real-life science behind some book or movie or thematic topic that crops up in a sub-genre (like right now, somebody has a thread on whether Aliens would have gods).
Greetings! I'm brand new to Goodreads. I was introduce to this website through Donalyn Miller in her book titled "The Book Whisperer". I'm an educator and I've been reading Sci-Fi ever since I started teaching. I look forward in sharing with everybody.Name: Luis Matos
Favorite Books: Silver Ship series by S.H. Jucha, Honor Harrington series by David Weber, Spirit of the Empire series by Lawrence P. White, Escape to Earth Series by Saxon Andrew, The Lost Fleet series by Jack Campbell, The Lost Starship series by Vaughn Heppner, The Galactic Empire Wars by Raymond Weil, The Scrapyard Ship series by Mark Wayne Mcginnis, The Omega Force series by Joshua Dalzelle, Men of War series by H. Paul Honsinger, In Her Name series by Michael Hicks, Breakthrough storyline by Michael Grumley, Empire of the Bones Saga by Terry Mixon, Planet Urth series by Jennifer & Christopher Martucci, Edgewood series by Karen McQuestion, The Rho Agenda by Richard Phillips, etc
Favorite Genres: Space Opera, Military Sci-Fi
Favorite TV shows: Star Trek (all of them), Battlestar Galactica, SG-1, SG-U, SG-Atlanta, Dark Matter, Terra Nova, Touch, DareDevil (Netflix), Person of Interest, Blue Blood
Favorite Movies: All the good Sci-Fi, military & cop films
Favorite Food: I’m easy to please
Day Job: Educator
Hobbies: Play the Guitar, Play with a music group at church
Other:
Anna wrote: "Gaines wrote: "Anna, speaking of mythology, what is your profile pic a photo of? It looks like some sort of Mesopotamian god or something. Very cool."The profile picture is of Ereshkigal, the anc..."
Woot :-) Lucky guess :-)
Luis wrote: "Greetings! I'm brand new to Goodreads. I was introduce to this website through Donalyn Miller in her book titled "The Book Whisperer". I'm an educator and I've been reading Sci-Fi ever since I star..."Hi Luis :-)
Now you have me curious. How did teaching lead you to reading SF. Oh and welcome to our little group. (Amusingly as I read your posting and write this reply I have the CD/EP "Degh" by Tek for Trek playing. The song is supposed to be in Klingon).
Mod
Ah, another Terra Nova fan. I really liked that show and don't understand why it didn't do better.
Betsy wrote: "Luis wrote: "Greetings! I'm brand new to Goodreads. I was introduce to this website through Donalyn Miller in her book titled "The Book Whisperer". I'm an educator and I've been reading Sci-Fi ever..."It seemed to be getting better just as they canned it, sadly.
Greetings everyone! I'm Rod and I love Space Opera, and sci-fi in general. Recently finished my own sci-fi novel Ancient Illumination which should be out this coming week. Star Wars was a huge influence that started me writing after reading so much of the EU. (I know it doesn't count anymore) Still love it though. I eventually plan to write fantasy as well but my comfort zone is sci-fi. Working on the second book while finding time to absorb as many good books as possible. Space ships, time travel, and basically anything with good action in it is what I like.
Good luck with the new book, Rod! Hope the launch goes well. And welcome - though I'm new here too so I'm clueless when it comes to telling you things about the group :D
Leo wrote: "Good luck with the new book, Rod! Hope the launch goes well. And welcome - though I'm new here too so I'm clueless when it comes to telling you things about the group :D"Thank you Leo! I am new as well and only created the account a couple months ago in preparation for the launch as well as to get some good book suggestions from people that like similar reading experiences.
John wrote: "Now you have me curious. How did teaching lead you to reading SF. Oh and welcome to our little group. (Amusingly as I read your posting and write this reply I have the CD/EP "Degh" by Tek for Trek ..."Thanks for the welcome John. I came to SF as a result of trying to set the example for my students in being a reader. On one occasion, I shared with my classroom a SF book that I was really into: "Breakthrough" by Michael Grumley. My students were really hooked by the plot and were asking me a lot of questions. That evening I decided to send an email to Mr. Grumley letting him know the interest his book produced in my students. After several email exchanges & questions on his part, he surprised us by incorporating my classroom into his sequel titled "Leap". In one of the chapters we were briefly mentioned as part of the story. From then on, my students and I were sold on SF reading. It's the genre that I mostly read now. So much so, that I signed up for Kindle Unlimited. And to top it all off, I've come across this Space Opera discussion board where I can share with others who have this passion.
Luis wrote: "Greetings! I'm brand new to Goodreads. I was introduce to this website through Donalyn Miller in her book titled "The Book Whisperer". I'm an educator and I've been reading Sci-Fi ever since I star..."Welcome Luis! Be sure to check out our YA and MG Listopias :-) We don't have many genuinely YA/MG members (we're too old and boring for them), but we -do- have many YA/MG sci-fi author-members as well as people who like to help us build those YA/MG space opera lists since the big online retailers do a rather terrible job. And remember you can ADD to those lists ... the idea is to build something to help people get their kids to read sci-fi.
Rod wrote: "Greetings everyone! I'm Rod and I love Space Opera, and sci-fi in general. Recently finished my own sci-fi novel Ancient Illumination which should be out this coming week. Star Wars was a huge infl..."Welcome Rod! Congratulations on your new book. Be sure to read the author rules, and then we have a few opportunities where it's okay to tell people about your book without appearing spammy :-)
Anna wrote: "Luis wrote: "Greetings! I'm brand new to Goodreads. I was introduce to this website through Donalyn Miller in her book titled "The Book Whisperer". I'm an educator and I've been reading Sci-Fi ever..."Thank you. I will take your advice.
This is a pretty good article at the time as to why Terra Nova didn't make it http://www.thewrap.com/terraterra-nov... . For one thing they were filming in Australia (which nothing wrong with that of course, great scenery, lovely people!) and the costs were huge, partly as a result. The expenses and sets were more like a movie than series TV. And there were other issues....I loved the show and thought it was finding its way by the end but the powers that be pulled the plug. It didn't help that the show runners had boasted they'd bigger than "Lost" and then the ratings weren't.
Veronica wrote: "This is a pretty good article at the time as to why Terra Nova didn't make it http://www.thewrap.com/terraterra-nov... . For one thing they were filming in Austral..."I never knew that! Thanks for sharing.
Anna wrote: "Lizzie wrote: "Favorite Books: Dune, Dragonriders of Pern, Rissa series, Cities in Flight; Honor Harrington series..."Welcome Lizzie! I was just cleaning out my book collection and came across my..."
I had to replace some of mine recently. The years and number of times read by my daughter and me took their toll. Since McCaffrey passed away I have watched the price go up in the used market. Having bought my Kindle in November, this past winter was the first one in years where I didn't reread the series. Too many free books that lead me to buy the rest of the series and keep reading.
John wrote: "Lizzie is the 'Cities in Flight' book you mention the one by James Blish?"Yes it is. I read it when I was a teenager. 30 years later I was telling someone the story and I thought it was some old book by one of the well-known SF greats. When I finally figured out which book I was remembering, I was surprised it was Blish since most of what I read by him was story forms of the original ST episodes.
I thought it was a great story - spindizzy, life-extending drugs, cities as the hobos of the stars and them combining to create a force to take down the bad guys.
Luis wrote: "Greetings! I'm brand new to Goodreads. I was introduce to this website through Donalyn Miller in her book titled "The Book Whisperer". I'm an educator and I've been reading Sci-Fi ever since I star..."Luis - so pleased to see someone else who likes all things ST. While there is definitely an order of preference for me, I know too many people who only like one particular series.
I read about the Cities in Flight series in Alva Rogers' history of Astounding. Then the paperback collection came out and I bought that one and read it. Unfortunately that was not one of the books that made it out west when I moved from Ontario to British Columbia. Blish also wrote a lot of SF criticism under another name, but memory escapes me as to what it was, though I am pretty sure I can find out.
Hi everybody,I'm relatively new to Goodreads, this is actually my first posting here at all :)
So here the list:
Name:
Christoph, from Hamburg, Germany (In case someone's wondering what all that weird non-English stuff in my book collection is ;))
Favorite Books (eg, could continue that list for quite some time, so many good books out there...):
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin
The Xeelee-Sequence by Stephen Baxter
The Martian by Andy Weir
Favorite Genres:
Science Fiction
Fantasy
History
Favorite TV shows (eg, same here as with books):
Star Trek (All Incarnations)
Game of Thrones
Babylon 5
Vikings
Favorite Movies (eg, Did I already mention, that there is too much good stuff....?):
Star Wars
Blade Runner
Braveheart
Mad Max
Lord of the Rings
Favorite Food:
Pizza
Sushi
Burger
Indian
Chinese
And since I'm always interested in trying something new, that list basically changes every week or so.
Day Job:
Finishing University (Economics), taking care of my Son (3 years by next week) and looking for an new Job (Man, I do really hate to write applications....)
Hobbies:
Reading
Spending Time with my Son
Cycling
Spending too much time with with Netflix
Cooking and playing good old fashioned board games with friends
Other:
Can't think of anything at the moment, if you're curious about something or just want to chat, feel free to ask or add me as a friend. I'm a social being and wont bite you ;)
Christoph wrote: "Hi everybody,I'm relatively new to Goodreads, this is actually my posting here at all :)
So here the list:
Name:
Christoph, from Hamburg, Germany (In case someone's wondering what all that wei..."
Good morning Christoph. I took a quick look at your books and noticed that some were in German, including at least one Perry Rhodan. Always wished I had taken German in high school so I could have read some of the later books that didn't get translated into English. Just might take you up on the friend offer. I don't do the friends request much as I am just too damn introverted to do it. I acknowledge those sent to me, just too nervous about sending one to someone I don't actually know.
Christoph wrote: "Favorite Books: The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons, The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin, The Xeelee-Sequence by Stephen Baxter, The Martian by Andy Weir..."Welcome Christoph! I see you're another 'literary mutt' like I am, with an equally strong pedigree in epic fantasy and epic sci-fi :-) You'll probably enjoy it here!
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Welcome Leo! I got to listen to Vernor Vinge speak once. Pretty amazing guy :-) Hope you like it here!"
Thanks Anna, I'm sure I'll be assimilated soon.
Wait... you're a Borg Queen... it's a trap!