Space Opera Fans discussion
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Welcome Wagon & Rules
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Introduce Yourself - Part I
Ian wrote: "Other: I honestly had no chance at not becoming a geek. My first film, literally, was Star Wars. I was just shy of a year old and my Dad was on babysitting duty that day. So, he took mini-me with him. Everything pretty much spiraled out of control from there. LOL ..."Welcome Ian! I've started bringing my own kids to conventions. Assimilate 'em young, that's what I say! Be sure to check out our YA-friendly selection each month for the mini-mini-me 3:-)
Ian wrote: "Hey, folks. Longtime fan, first-time poster here. Name: My name is Ian J. Malone, and I’m both an SF author and a lifelong fan of the genre.
Favorite Books: Yikes, big question! Off the top of ..."
Hi Ian. I went to a few conventions in Toronto when I lived in Mississauga (the place Obama has trouble pronouncing). Missed out on Torcon II by a year. Did one with the young lady who is now my wife in Victoria but she wasn't impressed.
To Anne: Resistance is futile! ;) To John: Well done, sir. If you married her, then you obviously did something right. As for me, I met my wife in an Irish pub in Fayetteville, North Carolina. She scoffed at my suggestion that BSG was a better series than B5, and I kinda figured I needed to get her number after that. LOL
Hi Ian, welcome!I'm just off to Australia's Natcon - Contact2016 - over the Easter break.
Hey folks!I'm a big fan of the genre, though I confess I've read more older scifi than newer with only a relative few like Ancillary Justice under my current-scifi-belt.
Look forward to getting some insight into books/series's worth checking out from all of you.
I also dabble in writing but somehow I've written very few Space Opera-esque stories despite it being arguably my favourite genre and DUNE being my favourite book of all time.
Cheers all!
Lovely to meet all you new folk (she says, having been new only six months ago) . Love Terence's intro, we must be the same age ;) I just live the other side of the country from you! That's a great idea about watching Parliament for the barbs - could help the political stuff in my current writing project!Amelia - I recommend Judith Tarr - just finished her Forgotten Suns and loved it. I'll be featuring it on my blog for letter N in the A to Z Challenge next month.
Leonie wrote: "Hi Ian, welcome!I'm just off to Australia's Natcon - Contact2016 - over the Easter break."
Nice! Have fun!
Ian wrote: "Leonie wrote: "Hi Ian, welcome!I'm just off to Australia's Natcon - Contact2016 - over the Easter break."
Nice! Have fun!"
Thanks, Ian. :)
Akshay wrote: "Look forward to getting some insight into books/series's worth checking out from all of you. ..."Welcome Akshay! Our Book of the Month club is a good place to scope out potentially good books, or even when we open the nominations in a couple of days, skim down the list and see what catches your eye. The other good place to get recommendations is to go into our LISTOPIAS folder and scan whatever lists hit that sweet spot for space opera sub-genre.
Anna wrote: "Akshay wrote: "Look forward to getting some insight into books/series's worth checking out from all of you. ..."Welcome Akshay! Our Book of the Month club is a good place to scope out potentially..."
Many thanks, I'll keep an eye there! :)
Hello Akshay, nice to meet you.
I've been lurking in the shadows for a minute now but haven't popped in. In the vein of java test programs, "hello world."
My name is J. Fitzpatrick Mauldin (more commonly called Fitz) hailing from the lands of the deep south. I'm a huge fan of science fiction and space opera, though hardly limited in that. Introduced to sci-fi via Dune and TV shoes such as Star Trek TNG and Babylon 5. Recently a new convert to The Expanse.
In my free time, or whatever time I can steal from others, I write fantasy and science fiction. I've also been a DJ and progressive house music producer for many years as well (though writing has pushed that to the back burner).
- fitz
J. wrote: "I'm a huge fan of science fiction and space opera, though hardly limited in that. Introduced to sci-fi via Dune and TV shoes such as Star Trek TNG and Babylon 5. Recently a new convert to The Expanse. ..."Welcome Fitz!
Gaines wrote: "Hello Akshay, nice to meet you."Pleasure to meet you too!
J. wrote: "I've been lurking in the shadows for a minute now but haven't popped in. In the vein of java test programs, "hello world."
My name is J. Fitzpatrick Mauldin (more commonly called Fitz) hailing ..."
A man after my own heart! :)
Also, nice to meet a fellow fan of The Expanse! Would love to hear your thoughts on the recent television adaptation sometime.
Jemima wrote: "Welcome, Ashkay and Fitz!"Thanks! :)
Hello lovely people :-) I'm Lucy, an ex-pat living in France for the last 6 years. A few years ago, I realized how much I missed the English language and started reading again to pass the time on my daily commute. I regret that I ever stopped.Favorite Books: Stranger in a Strange Land because it changed my life, the Space Odyssey series for the same reason, Clarkesworld Magazine because it helped me rediscover my passion for science fiction and reading, The Expanse series because it's turned me into a fan like I have never been before!
Favorite Genres: speculative, space opera, and anything with more science than fiction.
Favorite TV shows: The Expanse, Star Trek (TOS & TNG)
Favorite Movies: 2001: A Space Odyssey, District 9, Mad Max, Planet of the Apes, The Martian
Favorite Food: Anything French...well, almost.
Day Job: Aircraft maintenance planning manager
Hobbies: following the discoveries of past and current space exploration, Assassin's Creed and Destiny (although not much free time for that since my last book order), model building, reading (of course!)
I'm really hoping to find a discussion group (or create one myself) for hard-core Expanse fans for both the book and tv series, full of spoilers, because I've got a few revelations that I absolutely need to express but have no one to tell them to who would understand what I am talking about. *grin*
Zia wrote: "I'm really hoping to find a discussion group (or create one myself) for hard-core Expanse fans for both the book and tv series, full of spoilers, because I've got a few revelations that I absolutely need to express but have no one to tell them to who would understand what I am talking about. *grin* ..."Welcome to Space Opera Fans Zia! We actually have an Expanse group that have nibbled at a discussion. I just moved the discussion thread up out of our 'tv/movie tie-ins' folder up to reader discussions to see if we can't get a discussion jump-started again? And then, if it starts getting too spoilery I might move it down to the Book Buddy Club folder.
HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Zia wrote: "Hello lovely people :-) I'm Lucy, an ex-pat living in France for the last 6 years. A few years ago, I realized how much I missed the English language and started reading again to pass the time on m..."Good morning Zia (it is 9:43 am where I live). You have me curious. What is Clarkesworld magazine? That is a new one on me.
Zia wrote: "Hello lovely people :-) I'm Lucy, an ex-pat living in France for the last 6 years. A few years ago, I realized how much I missed the English language and started reading again to pass the time on m..."Hi Zia, nice to meet you. 'Love your profile pic by the way!
John wrote: "What is Clarkesworld magazine? That is a new one on me."http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
It's been very active in the past decade, and has published a bunch of great stories. Award-winning, etc.
Gaines wrote: "John wrote: "What is Clarkesworld magazine? That is a new one on me."http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
It's been very active in the past decade, and has published a bunch of great stories. Award-..."
Thanks for the link. I see why I haven't heard of them before. I do very little shopping with Amazon.ca. Most of my book purchases are online via Indigo/Chapters or in my local Chapters or Coles store (when the latter was still open).
I also looked at the current staff listing and the only name I recognized was R. Gardner Dozois.
John wrote: "Gaines wrote: "John wrote: "What is Clarkesworld magazine? That is a new one on me."http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/
It's been very active in the past decade, and has published a bunch of great ..."
I stumbled upon their podcasts during the time I was desperately looking for some English-based literature. I INSTANTLY fell in love with Kate Baker's voice and the delightful short stories that took me on some fantastic voyages during my 30-minute commutes to work. Sometime later, there was a problem with people getting their iPhones stolen on public transit, so that was as good excuse as any to become a paying sponsor and get the print editions. Best thing ever! The last section of the print editions has non-fiction articles with interviews and short editorials about sci-fi genres, etc. that I had been missing with the podcasts. After about a year, and the fact that I was reading the issues way faster than they could be delivered, I decided to check out some actual novels written by some of the contributors. I had just read an interview with Daniel Abraham....and the rest is obvious :-D
I've since bought about a year's worth of back issues. Bonus: the cover art is beautiful, looks great on the shelf!
Zia wrote: "Hello lovely people :-) I'm Lucy, an ex-pat living in France for the last 6 years. A few years ago, I realized how much I missed the English language and started reading again to pass the time on m..."Hey Zia/Lucy!
I would happily participate in any Expanse discussion you had but sadly I must admit that I had not read the books and my familiarity with it came from the recent TV adaptation.
Do plan to read the book, but haven't started on it yet.
Also: Welcome back to the scifi fold! :) For me the book that did it was Dune, at a time when my reading was... limited... it made me into a heavy reader for years to come.
Akshay wrote: "Zia wrote: "Hello lovely people :-) I'm Lucy, an ex-pat living in France for the last 6 years. A few years ago, I realized how much I missed the English language and started reading again to pass t..."Thanks! Dune is on my list. I missed a lot of the classics and have some serious catching up to do. I personally feel that the series is well done. The authors have been fortunate enough to have a hand in the series production, so that helps.
Welcome Zia. I confess I haven't heard of The Expanse, but I'm not much of a tv watcher these days. Maybe I should find out whether I can get it, since we seem to have similar tastes!
Zia wrote: "Akshay wrote: "Zia wrote: "Hello lovely people :-) I'm Lucy, an ex-pat living in France for the last 6 years. A few years ago, I realized how much I missed the English language and started reading ..."You should definitely check it out - the way in which that book (and the original Frank Herbert books in the series) utterly blew my mind and chnaged the way I think... I can't even begin to explain.
Another if you haven't read that is worth it just for the perspective is "Last and First Men" by Olaf Stapledon. And when you see when he wrote it, that just blows my mind even more! :D
And yeah, I'd say the authors of Expanse got more than lucky because authors have been involved in adaptations before - not just for scifi - and there's no guarantee they can control it or that they choose wisely/are not "managed" and not allowed to prevent poor choices.
Gaines wrote: "Hi Zia, nice to meet you. 'Love your profile pic by the way! ..."Thanks! I randomly collect space beer pics :-D
Jemima wrote: "Welcome Zia. I confess I haven't heard of The Expanse, but I'm not much of a tv watcher these days. Maybe I should find out whether I can get it, since we seem to have similar tastes!"Hi Jemima, thanks!
I admit with much shame that I watched the series for free. As soon as the official French version is available, I will buy it. I'm hoping they will get the books translated as well, only the first 2 are for the moment. Geo-blocking is such a pain! You will probably get it in the UK before we get a sub-titled version here.
Zia wrote: "Jemima wrote: "Welcome Zia. I confess I haven't heard of The Expanse, but I'm not much of a tv watcher these days. Maybe I should find out whether I can get it, since we seem to have similar tastes..."I hate that Region thing they do with DVDs. There are so many times I want to get something released in the UK and hit that Region wall.
Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Zia wrote: "Jemima wrote: "Welcome Zia. I confess I haven't heard of The Expanse, but I'm not much of a tv watcher these days. Maybe I should find out whether I can get it, since we seem to have si..."DVDs are different from geo-blocking. I have the same problem with UK shows not being available for North America. Apparently it is because UK televisions are different from North American sets. So the pictures on a DVD (or computer disc for that matter) can't be picked up. That isn't a problem with CDs so music truly is a universal language.
Hello, all! I'm Matt. Been on Goodreads for a bit, and have lurked here for a few weeks. I figured I should step forward and say howdy.
Name: Matthew S. Rotundo (but call me Matt)
Favorite Books: Dune, Hyperion, The Dead Zone, A Song of Ice & Fire, Lord of the Rings, and far too many others to name.
Favorite Genres: SF, Fantasy, Horror
Favorite TV shows: Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Star Trek, The West Wing, The Wire
Favorite Movies: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, and I could go on and on and on . . .
Day Job: Insurance (don't hate me)
Hobbies: Playing guitar, singing karaoke
I live in Nebraska. Hey, it's not so bad. We have indoor plumbing and everything.
Anyway, hi again. Nice to be here.
Zia wrote: "Gaines wrote: "Hi Zia, nice to meet you. 'Love your profile pic by the way! ..."Thanks! I randomly collect space beer pics :-D"
Ha.
And I feel your pain about geo-blocking. I actually *pay* for the Syfy channel, here in Australia, but I cannot watch anything streamed from syfy.com -- I get the message "Sorry, this video is not available in your region."
Those antiquated goons.
Anyway, I've found ways around that (but I won't mention them for fear of getting spaced).
HI Matt, welcome. Nice to meet you.
This whole geo-blocking reminds me of the situation with Sherlock Holmes books back in the 70s. Ballantine was releasing new editions in paperback of the various books. However a UK publisher had the rights for Canada so the US versions couldn't be imported. At the same time said UK publisher had no interest in exporting the books to Canada. So theoretically Sherlock Holmes was not available in the Canadian market in book form.
Matthew wrote: "HI live in Nebraska. Hey, it's not so bad. We have indoor plumbing and everything...."Welcome Matthew! I always pictured Nebraska like that 'settlers' cable tv ad :-) Haha! Just kidding. One of my colleagues used to practice law in Nebraska and they were way ahead of us here on the east coast in some ways. Welcome to Space Opera fans :-)
Anna wrote: "I always pictured Nebraska like that 'settlers' cable tv ad :-) "Oh, I know. You're not the only one. :-)
Hi all,I’m Vicky Sandvig, aka Bookwurm788. I was a Coast Guard brat but joined the Navy instead and retired in 1994. I’m still working and probably will be for another year or two.
I read a number of genres, (e.g., sci-fi, quirky fantasy (has anyone read Five Children and It?), romance (historical and humorous), westerns, history, science (for the non-scientist), gardening, survival stories, travelogues, Christian non-fiction, etc. But my first love is science fiction.
I started reading sci-fi when I was in 3rd or 4th grade and my love for the genre has not slacked off. I would love to list all of my favorite books, but since the list is so long, I will stick with my top 10 sci-fi authors whose books I reread frequently, (in no particular order): Andre Norton, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, CJ Cherryh, Lois McMaster Bujold, Anne McCaffrey, Wen Spencer, Zenna Henderson, Gordon Dickson, and James Schmitz. And for sheer unadulterated silliness, Terry Prachett. Of course, there are many other authors whose series I read and enjoy.
I have a number of Kindle readers that I use, but I still love the feel of holding a book in my hands, hence the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves (doubled up) in my basement. ;-)
Most of the TV shows I watch are either science-based or on HGTV. I also watch Deadliest Catch and Naked and Afraid on a regular basis. I have become totally hooked on The Expanse on the SyFy channel and have been reading the books in the series.
That’s it in nutshell with regards to my entertainment interests. My day job: I work for a defense contractor in the Aerospace industry.
p.s. My absolute most favorite book is Swiss Family Robinson (not the Disney version).
Victoria wrote: "...Zenna Henderson, Gordon Dickson, and James Schmitz."Perhaps in "no particular order", but that's a pretty select group right there. Keep rolling with those classics!
Victoria wrote: "Hi all,I’m Vicky Sandvig, aka Bookwurm788. I was a Coast Guard brat but joined the Navy instead and retired in 1994. I’m still working and probably will be for another year or two.
I read a numb..."
I love that category "Christian non-fiction". That covers a whole lot of territory.
Christian non-fiction primarily means bible studies, devotionals, and inspirational books. I was trying to be less wordy.
Victoria wrote: "Christian non-fiction primarily means bible studies, devotionals, and inspirational books. I was trying to be less wordy."I tend more towards theology, Church history and such. I have a religion shelf where it is all grouped together. Use to have a couple of anthologies of SF to do with religion but neither made it out west unfortunately.
Victoria wrote: "My absolute most favorite book is Swiss Family Robinson (not the Disney version)..."Welcome Victoria! It sounds like you're in the right place :-) I loved the original Swiss Family Robinson book. The tree houses. Riding an ostrich!
******
Sara wrote: "...I'll read just about anything if it strikes my fancy..."
Welcome Sara! You'll find plenty of eclectic readers in this group!
John wrote: "Kirsten *Dogs Welcome - People Tolerated" wrote: "Zia wrote: "Jemima wrote: "Welcome Zia. I confess I haven't heard of The Expanse, but I'm not much of a tv watcher these days. Maybe I should find ..."This is becoming less of a problem. For a long time US, Canada and Mexico used 525 line, 60Hz field rate, NTSC coding, and the UK used 625/50 PAL. Having given the best years of my life to helping perfect this technology it all disappeared when we went digital. At least in part this is because the old glass CRT TVs couldn't easily change standards, and even if they could they would have needed two decoders as well. Modern flat panel displays seem to be more catholic in their tastes.
Incidentally you might like to try running smplayer on Linux with the libdvdcss module. This seems to bypass most protection.
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Name: My name is Ian J. Malone, and I’m both an SF author and a lifelong fan of the genre.
Favorite Books: Yikes, big question! Off the top of my head, I’ll go with Stephen King’s The Dead Zone, John Steakley’s Armor, Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series, Jonathan Maberry’s Patient Zero, Jim Butcher’s Dresden series, Louis L'Amour’s Sackett series, and Drew Karpyshyn’s Star Wars: Darth Bane trilogy.
Favorite Genres: It really does depend on the day. Obviously, I read a ton of SF (space opera and cyberpunk mostly), though not so much fantasy. Jim Butcher’s Dresden series is about as far in as I’ve gone there, and that’s because 1. I love crime thrillers, and 2. The characters in those books are nothing short of infectious. I also love westerns, international thrillers, technothrillers, and the occasional non-fiction book (theology books and biographies).
Favorite TV shows: All things Star Trek and Stargate, Firefly, Daredevil, Ron Moore’s BSG, Farscape, Space: Above and Beyond, Star Wars Rebels, The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, Justified, Better Call Saul.
Favorite Movies: Star Wars, The Dark Knight, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Superman, the Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Star Trek II, the Matrix, the Last Starfighter, Jaws, Die Hard.
Favorite Food: Tough to beat a good burger and fries, man.
Day Job: One that pays bills.
Hobbies: Reading/writing, music, movies, cooking, craft beer, entertaining family and friends, preferably on a beach somewhere.
Other: I honestly had no chance at not becoming a geek. My first film, literally, was Star Wars. I was just shy of a year old and my Dad was on babysitting duty that day. So, he took mini-me with him. Everything pretty much spiraled out of control from there. LOL
I’m definitely a fan of conventions. I do a lot of them here in Raleigh-Durham, but I’d be lying if I said my wife and I don’t jump at any chance to hit DragonCon in Atlanta. Always a blast of a con, that one is.