Space Opera Fans discussion
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Welcome Wagon & Rules
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Introduce Yourself - Part I
Yep. And Doctor Who. Not sure if that counts.
Elvina wrote: "Yep. And Doctor Who. Not sure if that counts."The Tardis travels through space as well as time, so why not? Everything else about it is space-operish :-)
Hi... I'm a serious late comer to SF. While I was a major ST TNG fan in junior high school I never actually read any SF until just recently.It started for me about a year and a half ago when I thought "has anyone written a book about what it would be like to live on Mars? That would be a neat idea." Turns out someone had :)
I first read Ray Bradbury's The Martian, then devoured Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy. I was totally hooked after that. I don't know if it's because they were my "firsts" but those two remain some of my favourite reads of all time (for very different reasons). Other SF favourites have been Anathem, Speaker for the Dead, The Quantum Thief, Charlie Stross's Glasshouse, The Martian by Andy Weir, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August (sort of SF?). I'm currently nearing the end of the second book in Stephen Baxter's Manifold series. I like hard SF but I also really like the surreal. Expansive space operas are just really fun.
I live in a small town midway up Vancouver Island on the far west side of Canada, and have a one year old and five year old. During my twenties I forgot how much I loved reading and it's been so wonderful to get back into it now. This is the first Goodreads group I've joined and I'm looking forward to the monthly reads. Reading has always
been a solo thing for me, so I'm really curious what it'd be like to have people to discuss books with.
(I'm still looking for recommendations in the same vein as the Mars Trilogy – near future, "realistic," not too much magic, thought provoking, epic – and would be grateful for any suggestions. I still miss Sax and Ann.)
Cheers!
Alex wrote: "Hi... I'm a serious late comer to SF. While I was a major ST TNG fan in junior high school I never actually read any SF until just recently..."Welcome Alex!
Hmmm... Books about Mars?
Not a book, but have you seen the movie Red Planet (2000) starring Val Kilmar? I think you'd really enjoy it based on what you've like so far.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0199753/
I haven't seen it, but thanks for the recommendation. I'm not actually a Mars nut -- it was just my gateway drug :)
Like you, I came to SF late in life. I was always a big reader, but I was much more into horror & thrillers when I was younger. I'm still not what I would consider 'well read' in the genre, but I do have my favorites.I read Robinson's Mars Trilogy and got hooked on colonization novels. I love Asimove's Foundation books, and my favorite SF this month is Lilith's Brood, an omnibus of 3 shorter books which IMHO should be read as one novel. Hyperion, the first book in the Hyperion Cantos, is also a good start.
FWIW, I read Robinson's 2312 a few weeks ago, and was disappointed to find it less gratifying than the Mars books. I probably hold my SF to a higher standard than others genres, for whatever reason.
@ Cynthia - I like 'scifi horror' but not regular horror, which is odd because I otherwise also like supernatural/fantasy as a genre. So the zombie plague has to have a viral component or I don't like it. Same with movies. World War Z was 'meh' for me, but I liked 'I Am Legend' because the hero spent the entire time trying to tackle the zombie plague scientifically.
Name:BradFavorite Books: Witches Abroad, Color of Magic- Terry Pratchett, Deathstalker Series- Simon Green, Lions of Al-Rassan- Guy Kay, Black Company series- Glen Cook,Malazan series- Steven Erikson/Ian Esslemont
Favorite Genres:SF, Fantasy, Military SF, Paranormal
Favorite TV shows: Hannibal, Firefly, BSG, Blacklist, Once Upon a Time, Legends, Major Crimes, Band of Brothers
Favorite Movies:Wizard of Oz, Alien 1 and 2, Blade Runner, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, O Brother Where Art Thou, Young Frankenstein
Favorite Food: Bacon and other carnivorous offerings
Day Job:Ethernet Tech
Hobbies:reading, hiking, MMO Gaming, NFL football, NHL Hockey
Other:New here to Goodreads. For Space Opera, I have enjoyed the Deathstalker books, and almost everything by David Drake and David Weber. Looking forward to find some new stuff to read!
Brad try the lost fleet series by Jack Campbell, it's what you read after you have exhausted the Weber library. Vorkosigan is great as well but it genre shifts a good bit, which has soured a few of friends into saying the series is nearly pretty good.
Brad wrote: "Young Frankenstein..."Frau Bleuker!!! [*horses whinny in terror*]
Welcome to Space Opera Fans! I second Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet series if you like military sci-fi. Also, Myke Cole writes some great stuff, though his Shadow Ops series is more mainstream military sci-fi than military space opera (splitting hairs here).
Hello,My name is Fernando and I am from Yucatán in México I love books and I specially like space opera, post- apocalyptic books, fiction historical boiography preety much everything.
Name:Fernando Gutiérrez
Favorite Books: Planet of Adventure Jack Vance, The Stand Stephen King, The Road Cormack Mcarthy, all the books of Mario Vargas LLosa, Umberto Eco and many more.
Favorite Genres:Fiction, Sci-Fi, memoir,crime, Non-Fiction and fantasy
Favorite TV shows:The Wire, The sopranos, The leftovers, breaking bad, Wilfred etc.
Favorite Movies:Total Recall, Casino, Scarface, star wars (The original)etc.
Favorite Food:Pasta
Day Job:Goverment
Hobbies:Bike, reading movies etc.
Other:
Currently readin John Scalzy Old mans war #1
Glad to be here ¡¡
Fernando wrote: "I specially like space opera, post- apocalyptic books, fiction historical biography, pretty much everything..."Welcome Fernando! We're up to Book 5 of the Old Man's War series, but you'll find lots of Scalzi fans here who recently read the book to discuss his genius :-)
Anna wrote: "Fernando wrote: "I specially like space opera, post- apocalyptic books, fiction historical biography, pretty much everything..."Welcome Fernando! We're up to Book 5 of the Old Man's War series, ..."
Thanks anna , Im really enjoying Old Mans War ¡¡ Im looking forward to discuss this book and many more ¡¡
Hi everyone, my name is Chuck. I live in Nashville TN. I love Science Fiction and Horror. Some of my Favorite books are The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton, Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds, and The Rama Series: Rendezvous with Rama, Rama II, The Garden of Rama, Rama Revealed by Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee. Hope to hear about some cool books and meet some folks. Gimme a shout
Chuck wrote: "Hi everyone, my name is Chuck. I live in Nashville TN. I love Science Fiction and Horror. Some of my Favorite books are The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton, [bo..."Welcome Chuck! Reality Dysfunction, eh? Were you aware [author:Peter F. Hamilton|25375] was kind enough to grant us a SOF Interview about that book a few months ago when we read it as a group read? [*big fangirl SQUEE!*] The interview is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Anna wrote: "Chuck wrote: "Hi everyone, my name is Chuck. I live in Nashville TN. I love Science Fiction and HorrorAwesome That's really cool that he did that. Good insights into that story. I can't wait for The Abyss Beyond Dreams: A Novel of the Commonwealth so I can get my Paula Myo on once more :) Glad to be a part of the group
Hey everyone, my name is Robin. I joined this group only recently. I finally have the time to participate in the group. So basic information, I live in Manchester England. My favourite genres are, military science fiction, space opera, thrillers, martial arts and anything else which has good character depth. Just as a basic reference, my current favourite series are the Man Of War series by Honsinger and the Legacy Of The Aldenata series by Ringo, and the two military science fiction/space opera books written by Elliot Kay. However, my absolute and unequivocal favourite series is the Dresden Files series by Jim butcher. Looking forward to all the recommendations from this group.
Robin wrote: "Hey everyone, my name is Robin. I joined this group only recently. I finally have the time to participate in the group. So basic information, I live in Manchester England. My favourite genres are, ..."Welcome Robin! Ahhh ... Hosinger ... some nice military space opera :-)
Hi,I'm David Buchan
Some of my favourite Sci-Fi books are:
Culture Series by Iain M Banks
Faded Sun Trilogy by C J Cherryh
Dune & the Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert
Dorsai trilogy by Gordon R Dickson
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein
The Two Faces of Tomorrow by James P Hogan
Other favourite genres - fantasy & historical fiction
Favourite SF movies - Star Wars, Alien, Dune, Terminator, Blade Runner, Star Trek, Dark Star
I look forward to unearthing some new gems.
Anna wrote: "Welcome Space Opera Fans!Why not tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what attracts you to Space Opera as a genre. What are your favorite foods, books and movies? Do you ever go..."
Hi, my online name is T.P. Archie (I'm a Goodreads author and I use my real name on my books).
I have lots of favourite books; all for differnt reasons. Most of my reading is of 40's through the 70's writers of SF (& Fantasy) such as Heinlein, Norton, Dick, Clarke, LeGuin, Zelazny, Wyndham, Asimov, Vance... it'd be hard to single out a few favourites but I'll go with Lord Of Light (Roger Zelazny), Galactic Pot-Healer (Philip K Dick), Citizen Of The Galaxy (Robert A Heinlein), Dark Piper (Andre Norton) and Dune (Frank Herbert).
Outside of SF and Fantasy, I prefer to read history and classical philosophy. I like genres such as romance, crime and detective; but only as research.
I watch Match of the Day and Champions League Football. TV programmes that should never have died include Babylon 5, Firefly, The Prisoner, Chelmsford 123 AD. And I like a regular diet of Star Trek NG.
My favourite films (in genre) include Alien, Predator, Bladerunner, even Star Wars.
I don't have a favourite food; just the fresher the better. Fruit = yummee!
In my other life I am a management accountant. I also do work at a local charity that helps couples with marital problems (Relate Lancashire).
Hobbies: Spreadsheet modelling, Photoshop, walking, digital photography, composing music, playing Civ, DoomII and other PC games, researching the Mongol / Crusader period.
I'm an unreformed hoarder and I've an absolutely mental collection of American Comic Books (60's to early 90's) + nearly 2,000 SF /Fantasy paperbacks. I like philosophy (Aristotle + Plato) and I'm a sometime student of Sufism.
Other: The likes of Dick, Zelazny, Norton, Lessing and Asimov, are - despite their flaws - my stars in the firmament. I also write poetry.
[off topic: If you're a glutton for that sort of thing, here's a sample https://tparchie.wordpress.com/2014/1... ]
David wrote: "Dune & the Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert..."Welcome David! With a reading list like that, you're definitely in the right place!
********************
Terence wrote: "I'm an unreformed hoarder and I've an absolutely mental collection of American Comic Books (60's to early 90's) + nearly 2,000 SF /Fantasy paperbacks...."
Welcome Terence! Awesome comic book collection! My husband has a whole swath of really old Fantastic Four comics. I got into the Marvel ComicVerse via the movieverse, which is why I allow movie chit-chat on this community (because with space opera, there's always a bunch of tie-in novels SOMEWHERE :-)
Hiya Terence mate,so happy to know that there's a fellow football enthusiast in this group. So if there's a football reference to any of my comments at least one person will understand. Just as an aside which team do you support, myself I'm a Manchester United man. No comments on our current state please.
Name: Steve HaldemanFavorite Books: (in this genre) Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds
Favorite Genres: Space Opera!
Favorite TV shows: The Wire, Seinfeld, The A-Team, The Sopranos, Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica
Favorite Movies: Star Wars
Favorite Food: Meats!
Day Job: Project Manager
Hobbies: Roller Derby
Roller Derby Nickname: Quad Almighty
Terence wrote: "nearly 2,000 SF /Fantasy paperbacks"How many bookshelves is that? I think that's more SFF books then an average library.
Steve wrote: "Favorite Food: Meats!..."Welcome Steve! Hah! Meats! Yes ... definitely a 'guy' thing :-) GOT and BSG ... yup ... you're in the right place!
Name: C.S. Longhill (an alias)Favorite Books: Lately I have enjoyed Alastair Reynolds' work (Pushing Ice and Use of Weapons) and some indie works such as the Ark Royal series and Containment.
Favorite Genres: Mostly space opera with some military scifi in the mix. However, I am also partial to epic fantasy and survival/post apocalyptic genres, like The Stormlight Archive and Day by Day Armageddon.
Favorite TV shows: I don't watch that much TV anymore, but in the past I have enjoyed Profit (Adrian Pasdar was awesome!), X-Files, Millennium and the Outer Limits.
Other: I'm here to enjoy the SciFi community of readers and to find more novels to read. There can never be too many authors to follow! (Yeah, I know, there can be - but its the only excuse I have left! Please do not tell anyone, my gf can not find out I'm looking for even more. She is afraid she will lose her closet space to my precious SciFi books..)
I read a variety of genres including sci-fi and fantasy. I enjoy following this group.
C.S. wrote: "Please do not tell anyone, my gf can not find out I'm looking for even more. She is afraid she will lose her closet space to my precious SciFi books....."Welcome C.S.! Hah! You're in good company. We had to add onto our house to accommodate my books, and when I added the bookshelves, the floor began to sink so we had to go down into the basement and add another steel lally column jackhammered into a brand-new concrete footing. :-) But really ... if you pick up an inexpensive e-reader, there's a ton of Indie authors here who you can pick up a good sci-fi tale for a couple of bucks (or often for free if you're willing to R2R). Welcome to Space Opera Fans!
Cari wrote: "I read a variety of genres including sci-fi and fantasy. I enjoy following this group."Welcome Cari! If you like sci-fi you're in the right place :-)
Kirsten wrote: "This is SO me!"Aha! And Kirsten has now mastered the art of 'right sizing of pictures' :-)
Yes ... that's me too ... book hoarder!
Hello everyone.Name: Justin Osgood
Favorite Books: The Rainmaker, Leviathan Wakes, The January Dancer
Favorite Genres: Science Fiction and Crime (true, mystery, or case studies)
Favorite TV shows: Archer, Chuck, Castle, BSG, TSCC, Walking Dead, Breaking Bad
Favorite Movies: Lots of Sci Fi and Comedies
Favorite Food: BBQ!
Day Job: Now a writer (and hopefully a successful one...eventually)
Hobbies:hockey and soccer
Other: I've recently published my debut novel and hope to keep many more coming!
Justin wrote: "Leviathan Wakes..."Welcome Justin! Sounds like you're in the right place. And as luck would have it, Leviathan Wakes is our MOD PICK for November so you'll have a chance to re-read it. Welcome!
New to Goodreads and loving it!Name: Aaron Norton
Fav Books: Enders Game and Shadow series, The Sphere, AGU series (newly found)
Fav Genres: Well that is a split story. I used to read a lot while I was in high school and at that time it was Star Wars series books (a lot by Andersen). Then I recently started reading heavily again (15 years later) and now it is totally military sci-fi/space opera books. Love them! I am also really liking the whole dystopian books and pretty much anything else that peaks my interest.
Fav TV shows: BSG (re-invented), Firefly, Walking Dead, Lost, Star Trek (TNG & Voyager), too many others
Fav Movies: Well I have spent many hours contemplating this one. It all depends on my life at the time a movie came out but here are what I think are my top 5 (in no particular order). The Hunt For Red October, The Matrix, Tommy Boy, The Fifth Element, Dune. Man that was hard to constrain to 5. I did that so this would not be 10 pages long :)
Fav Food: Pizza, Thai, Mexican, Sushi, Sunday roast and mashed potatoes, any kind of sandwich, seeing a trend here?
Aaron wrote: "...and now it is totally military sci-fi/space opera books..."Welcome Aaron! If you like military space opera, I recommend Leviathan Wakes which is one of our BOTM Group Reads this month. It should hit that sweet spot :-)
Hi Everyone,I'm Leonie Rogers, reader and lover of Science Fiction of all kinds. I also like fantasy and pretty well everything else, including the back of the cereal box if there's nothing else to read. I'm also a Goodreads author.
I grew up reading Andre Norton, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein and Anne McCaffrey.
I've recently discovered David Weber, John Scalzi and Patty Jansen and love chatting about Science Fiction.
I found this group via another Sci-fi group, but I have to confess that it was the line about 'green bean overlords' in another thread that convinced me to join this group as well.
I'm a bit of a sucker for animals in space which is probably one of my reading quirks.
Anna wrote: "Welcome Space Opera Fans!Why not tell us a little bit about yourself, who you are and what attracts you to Space Opera as a genre. What are your favorite foods, books and movies? Do you ever go..."
Just heard about this group this morning and it's great to see it here. I'm a lifelong SF fan and tend to read on the opposite ends of the genre: LOVE pulp SF/space opera on one end and more literary SF (Harlan Ellison, J.M. McDermott) on the other, with the middle ground not generally capturing me.
I'm an author, editor, and consultant. You can check me out at my blog: http://fantasyhandbook.wordpress.com
One of my passions is my still incomplete collection of Ace SF Doubles.They take up almost a whole book case in my house -- shared with my Star Trek shrine. And yes, I have a Star Trek shrine. My geek cred is deep, people.
Deep.
Philip wrote: "One of my passions is my still incomplete collection of Ace SF Doubles.They take up almost a whole book case in my house -- shared with my Star Trek shrine. And yes, I have a Star Trek shrine. My geek cred is deep, people...."AWESOME! Welcome Philip, it sounds like you're in the right place :-) I had to pack away and hide my best sci-fi geek-cred stuff with the kids because they kept wanting to play with my Star Trek dolls. I mean, c'mon! You want to play with Uhura-Barbie, Spock-Ken and Kirk-Ken? And don't get me started on my Iron Man I met-tech Tony Stark doll (complete with Dummy) or my Star-Trek TOS decorative wall plate collection :-)
Name:DerekFavorite Books: Red Rising, Ender's Quintet, Old Man's War, and the Ender's Shadow series.
Favorite Genres: SciFi, fantasy, some fiction. I read a mystery novel that I liked the other day so maybe some of that as well.
Day Job: Oil company pulling long shifts through the night. I sneak as much reading in when we aren't doing much or have some down time.
Hobbies: Reading and gaming
Other: Let me know of any good books if y'all know them. I started reading sand but there are a lot of terms used that haven't quite been explained and currently I'm deciding if I should read on or not, suggestions?
Derek wrote: "Name:DerekFavorite Books: Red Rising, Ender's Quintet, Old Man's War, and the Ender's Shadow series.
Favorite Genres: SciFi, fantasy, some fiction. I read a mystery novel that I liked ..."
Welcome Derek! Wildcatter, eh? To bad you weren't around when I had to write some stuff on fracking :-)
Let's see ... good books? You've got the classics covered there, maybe some Joe Haldeman?
Name: MarkFavorite Books: Piers Anthony, William Dietz
Favorite Genres: Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Favorite TV shows: Deadwood, Breaking Bad, Star Trek
Favorite Movies: Transformers, Serenity
Hobbies: Board Games!
I am really looking for an epic space opera, something that has space battles, several aliens, and military and politics. One of my favorite board games is Twilight Imperium; a space opera game, if I could find a book like that it would be awesome.
Mark wrote: "I am really looking for an epic space opera, something that has space battles, several aliens, and military and politics. One of my favorite board games is Twilight Imperium; a space opera game, if I could find a book like that it would be awesome...."Welcome Mark! Twilight Imperium, eh? Hmmm...
If you want something light-hearted and fun, like the first Star Wars movie (episode IV) then the tongue-in-cheek spoof series Tsar Wars by Stephen Goldin actually has all of that galactic spanning politics and intrigue. And ... the first book is free on all platforms. Stephen Goldin was one of the original co-writers with space opera found E.E. Doc Smith so his work has that fun, heroic feel that the first Star Wars movie captured.
If you want something gritty and serious, more like the Battlestar Galactica reboot series, than I recommend The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton series.
And ... I have a favor to ask? Would you be willing to write a little post about Twilight Imperium down in our Space Opera Gaming Tie-Ins section? What the game is, how it's played, how you like it, and maybe links to helpful video how-to's? Space Opera literature, visual media, and games are all intricately connected and I like to foster posts so like-minded people can find one another. The Space Opera/Gamer/MMO tie-in folder is HERE: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...
Welcome Mark!
Name: Anne Favorite Books: Old Man's War, Forever War, Heinlein's Past through Tomorrow series, Dragons of Pern, along with a few others
Favorite Movies: Way too many to list from classic to current.
Anne wrote: "Name: Anne Favorite Books: Old Man's War, Forever War, Heinlein's Past through Tomorrow series, Dragons of Pern, along with a few others
Favorite Movies: Way too many to list from classic to cu..."
Welcome Anne! I'm an old Dragonriders fan as well :-)
Steph wrote: "1,000 members! My, how we've grown..."I know :-) So many people who love a rollicking good space story! I don't feel like such a hopeless sci-fi GEEK anymore :-)
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Welcome Elvina! Another Browncoat? [*fist-pump*] :-)