SFBRP Listeners discussion
Books I would like to see reviewed
Mod
The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino, George Zebrowski, 1995
Footfall by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, 1985"
Hi Gfried, thanks for the suggestions.
I've read these both before, back in the 90's. The Killing Star I don't remember much about except the first part. I don't think I'll read it again just to review on the podcast.
Footfall I've read twice. I'll not be reading this one again, mainly to keep my positive memories of it intact. I'm guessing if I read it again now, I'd be overwhelmed by the racism and sexism that I missed when I was a teenager. See also: my reviews of Lucifer's Hammer, Mote in God's Eye, Ringworld.
As for "Independence Day, Done Right"... you know what I think is "Independence Day, Done Right"? Independence Day. It's a really solid piece of entertainment. It's one of my all-time favourite science fiction action popcorn movies, and still holds up today. Check out SFBRP 195 and a half: http://www.sfbrp.com/archives/673
A few years ago I read Ilium and its sequel Olympos by Dan Simmons. I just found both of them have now been released on Audible and I am listening to them (very good narration). These are two long books, Illium is about 30 hours, and Olympos is about 36 hours. But Dan Simmons is a good author and in my opinion these are two of his best. It would be interesting to hear Luke's take on these.
Mod
After Fall of Hyperion, I will not be giving Dan Simmons another chance with this type of thing.
The Riddle Master series by Patricia Mckillip. Or at least the Riddle Master of Hed. Stunning stuff and not too long.
Allen wrote: "Your loss Luke."I put the books on my want-to-read shelf. Anyone can write a bad book. Not many people can write a book as good as Hyperion. I have another friend who refuses to read Simmons after FALL as well. And it would take me a lot of persuasion to continue the series.
Luke, have you (or anyone else here) tried Stephen King's Dark Tower books?I did not care for The Gunslinger at all, but I'm halfway through The Drawing of the Three, and it's pretty fantastic so far.
Mod
I did not care for The Gunslinger at all, but I'm halfway through The Drawing of the Three, and it's pretty fantastic so ..."
I read book one but it didn't grab. I didn't even do a podcast about it as I didn't feel I had anything to say about it. I don't see myself taking the dark tower path.
Luke wrote: "Jonathan wrote: "Luke, have you (or anyone else here) tried Stephen King's Dark Tower books?I did not care for The Gunslinger at all, but I'm halfway through The Drawing of the Three, and it's pre..."
Understood. I thought the first one was unremarkable myself. It took quite a bit of convincing from friends and a cheap copy at a used book store to get me to try the second.
John ScalziAt the risk of sounding like a broken record, I have to repeat myself and recommend Scalzi's The Android's Dream, it is satire and has some serious barbs at least when it comes to religion.
I did find The Collapsing Empire funny, like The Android's Dream, though not as good. Scalzi hasn't been funny in a while. I think when the blurb talks ofa new universe they mean, a new universe for Scalzi, e.g. not the Old Mans War universe.
Mod
Yes, I got that. It was more about "new universe" combined with "first book in a sequence". What the hell is a sequence of novels? How many am I signing up for? Three? Seven? Will it just run until the end of the universe?
No, only as long as the DC universe ;)
Hi Luke.I'd love to hear your take on this one ...
Aztec Century
by Christopher Evans
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
I finally got round to reading Altered Carbon and listened to a couple of podcast episodes that I had been saving to avoid spoilers. Someone on the sffaudio podcast wondered what the effect on society would be of the rich being able to keep on being resleeved into new bodies rather than dying, which reminded me that I had read a very interesting novel about that very subject, Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling.
I would also recommend Newton's Wake: A Space Opera by Ken MacLeod. No-one (apart from the Catholics of Earth) in the Altered Carbon world, seems at all worried about being resleeved, but there are a couple of events in Newton's Wake that make the main character question whether a resleeved person is actually the same person they were before they died.Don't read my review as it's full of spoilers (although I did hide them under spoiler tags).
I just finished reading The Library at Mount Char. That has got to be...the weirdest, funniest, most horrifying book I've ever read. The first hundred pages, I was honestly going "Huh? What? Huh?" but I couldn't stop reading it. I had to know what the hell was going on. From the kids horrifying childhood being raised (trained) by Father, to even more horrifying acts of David, to Carolyn's bizarre plans...and then, of course--Erwin!
Even a synopsis of the book wouldn't do it justice. Or give any real sense of what this book is about. Heck, even after reading it, I'm still wandering around dazed and confused in the aftermath of a cerebral explosion, wondering what the hell just happened.
Read. This. Book.
I'm still eagerly anticipating your review of Harpist in the Wind and your wrap-up of the RiddleMaster series.I just finished the first Black Company (Glen Cook) book and am tearing through the second. I found them enjoyable and original. They are easy reads and it would be fun to hear a review.
I'm going to make my annual attempt to get Luke to read Japanese SF:How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: A college student majoring in political science and economics gets sucked into a fantasy world where he uses his knowledge to help a failing kingdom. This has to be the only fantasy series in the multiverse where the hero explaining the principles of the Helsinki Accords as the climax of a book.
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash: Whisper, Chant, Prayer: This is the exact opposite. Twelve Japanese people awaken in a crypt with no memory of who they are or how they got there. They're told they've been summoned to fight an army of monsters who are taking over the world. The six toughest guys immediately form a team and set out to kick some ass, leaving the other six to stand there wondering, "Uh, what?" Even after getting weapons and basic training, those six are so hapless that it takes all their combined effort just to kill a single goblin they find wandering by itself.
The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria: This is a total Luke series. The first book is Groundhogs Day if it were written by Philip K. Dick. It's told from the point of view of one of the poor schmucks who has no idea what's going on, but has to keep dealing with Bill Murray's crazy antics. To keep the reader just as confused as the main character, the scenes are in a random order that prevents you from knowing anything the protagonist doesn't.
And that's just the first book in the series. It gets crazier from there. When Luke reviewed The Running Man, he complained that books like that never have the characters trying to game the system. Well some of the later volumes in this series have the characters getting caught in a death-game and engaging in "I know he's going to do X, so I should do Y. But he knows that I know that, so in fact he'll do Z instead, so I should get ahead of him and do Ω. But he knows that I know that he knows that I know, so he'll do Θ, which means I should do ζ, but ..."
More of a fantasy work than a science fiction work, but how about reviewing one of the works from VanderMeer's "Ambergris Cycle" ? You've already reviewed The Southern Reach trilogy, so I've figured you could look at his earlier work that put him on the map in the first place, back in the golden years of "new weird" fantasy fiction. I've read conflicting reviews and opinions on works from Jeff's Ambergris book series, especially the original anthology of short stories, City of Saints and Madmen (publ. 2001). There's some two or three novels written after the short stories (publ. gradually until 2009), that use the same Ambergris setting, though at different points in its history. Shriek: An Afterword and Finch, IIRC.
I have read City of Saints and Madmen twice and really enjoyed it, while Finch is on my Kindle wiating for me to get round to it, so I would also recommend Luke to read them.
Anthony mentioned The Library at Mount Char a few posts above. Well, I'm about halfway through it and I agree that it's an entertainingly WTF read. It's fantasy set in the modern world, but it feels like Quentin Tarantino had an influence on the author.Luke seems to enjoy books that require some work from the reader to make sense of what's going on in the story, so I could see it being discussed on the show.
I just finished listening to the audiobook version of Dune, and it was really great. I had read it along with a few of the sequels many years ago, and so only had a vague conception of the details.I can see where Bakker got a bunch of inspiration from.
Luke, you might have answered this already in SFBRP #174 (or #10), but did you ever intend on rereading and/or covering the next few novels?
I've also listened to Imajica recently, another big epic SF/Fantasy novel, and am looking for the next one. I've considered proceeding with the rest of the Dune novels, but I seem to remember they fall off pretty sharply in quality.
Does anybody else have any recommendations for world-building heavy SF or Fantasy?
@Matt - Kim Stanley Robinson's Red,Green & Blue Mars series is an excellent "World-building" collection.He develops characters that will stay with you for the rest of your life.
The detail he gives to the description of the landscapes of Mars makes you feel like you've walked on it's inhospitable surface.
Mod
I read all six Frank Herbert novels, plus two different prequel trilogies, plus attempts at two other midquels and end-of-series cash-ins. I'd be up for reading the next three main sequence novels again at some point, but nothing more!
@Luke Hah, yeah... I think I'd follow suit at some point. Dune 1-4 and nothing moreThanks for the advice @Owen, I think I'm going to be going through the Malazan books. I've been meaning to read Deadhouse Gates for about 2 years hah
This might hit the spot perfectly
Hi All, new listener here. Over the last 4 to 5 years i've been working my through the Best Science Fiction list on goodreads with the aim of reading the top 100. I'm currently on book 90 and its great to find a group of fellow sci fi devotees. I really loved the Altered Carbon episode comparing the book and tv series. Would a similar episode on the Expanse series be possible? I know Luke wasn't too hot on the first book however the series does open up in to a more traditional 'space opera' as it goes and adds more characters rather than just Holden and Miller.
Look forward to continuing to enjoy sci fi with everyone. Thanks
Mod
I'm not so sure. I enjoyed the TV show more than the book. I downloaded the second book in the series, but having already seen season two of the TV show I couldn't bring myself to get through it already knowing much of what will happen. I claimed back my credit from Audible.
We could do a generic episode about the TV show, but I don't think the book is clear enough in my mind now to compare the two, and I'm not going to read it again now!
Hi Luke. I would like to recommend the comic book series Descender by Jeff Lemire. Fantastic space opera comic book. There are currently 4 volumes out with one more to go before the story wraps up.
Luke,You said something in your last podcast about reading Cities in Flight by James Blish. I recommend that you do, especially if you are in the mood for classic 1950's science fiction. It has been a while since I read it but I thought it was a lot of fun. It had an interesting if fairly fantastic premise and interesting characters (even if nearly all of them were male). The issues were typical of 1950's mash-up science fiction and I don't think they are insurmountable as long as you understand that going in.
I checked you episode list and I don't see any other James Blish on it so I will also go ahead and recommend A Case of Conscience. It's actually a proper novel. It's all male too, but the excuse there is that the main character is a Catholic priest.
Amy Pemberton
Mod
You said something in your last podcast about reading Cities in Flight by James Blish. I recommend that you do, especially if you are in the mood for classic 1950's science fiction. It has b..."
Hi Amy, I've read Cities in Flight before, but pre-SFBRP. I remember enjoying it a lot. I guess it deserves to be in the masterworks series?
New listener, just beginning to listen to episodes on your podcast. I really liked The Hike by Drew Magary, it was very strange and interesting and is by far the book that's lingered in my head this year.
On a recent sffaudio podcast that Luke was on, Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner was mentioned, which is one of my all-time favourite books. As I have been reviewing my reads on Librarything for 16 years and I don't have a review of it on there, it's definitely time for a 3rd re-read.It's about overpopulation in the near future and the title refers to whether everyone on earth could still fit on the island of Zanzibar if they squashed together.
“Stand on Zanzibar is an information overload on topics that sensible people would never want to learn about.”
Doesn't that make you want to read it?
Mod
I tried it a few years ago and couldn’t get into it. I went with a different Brunner book instead and enjoyed it a lot. I even tried Zanzibar as an audiobook, but that was even worse for the style of writing!
I'm curious about these translated science fiction novels from Cuba that Restless Books has been publishing recently. I can't decide if I want to try them but I think your opinion would help. Maybe A Legend of the Future by Agustín de Rojas or A Planet for Rent by Yoss (José Miguel Sánchez Gómez).
I have read a lot of books with either City or Cities in the title, including non-fiction and non-sff books. I have already recommended City of Saints & Madmen on this thread, but there are three others that I liked enough to recommend.City of Baraboo is the story of a circus whose owner decides to take it to the stars when it is no longer economically viable on earth, an dnames the spaceship after an American town where lots of circus folk overwinter (in real life). It is a short novel and a quick read, and quite light-hearted.
The Etched City is a standalone fantasy book, in which two former comrades end up in the same city, one as a member of a criminal gang and the other as a doctor to the poor. I gave both of these 4 stars.
I also enjoyed Engine City, but it is the 3rd book of a science fiction trilogy by Ken MacLeod, which starts with Cosmonaut Keep. Over a very long time period, an alien species has populated a planet with groups of humans taken from earth at various historical periods, intelligent dinosaur descendents and a few alien species. Back on earth the Russian Communists are in charge, and facing first contact (as far as they know) with aliens.
I'd like to hear Clive Barker's novel Imajica reviewed. While Barker has a reputation for horror, Imajica is somewhere between Urban Fantasy and more traditional fantasy. I also think you'd enjoy another novel of Barker's, Galilee. Thanks for your podcast! I enjoy your quick manner of speech.
Nicholas wrote: "I'd like to hear Clive Barker's novel Imajica reviewed. While Barker has a reputation for horror, Imajica is somewhere between Urban Fantasy and more traditional fantasy. I also think you'd enjoy a..."Agreed, and I'd add The Great and Secret Show and Sacrament. Unlike most fantasy writers, Barker doesn't cobble together worlds out of preexisting ideas. There's an originality to his works that you don't find in Martin and Jordan or even Erikson.
Also, really weird sex.
If Luke wants to do another movie/book comparison, he should pick up The Princess Bride. The movie is a mostly faithful adaptation of the novel, with one exception: the frame story. The book is about the Fred Savage character as an adult going back to reread the novel and discovering it's not what he remembers. Because this changes the whole tone of the story, people who love the movie tend to hate the book, and vice versa.
Funny, I'd just started reading Clive Barker's Imajica, then popped into this thread and saw it mentioned. I'm not far enough into it to be able to say that much about it, but the storytelling sucked me in right away. The feel of the writing reminds me a lot of Neil Gaiman, but more adult.For me, Barker is one of those authors whose name I've known for decades, but have somehow never gotten around to reading. I'll probably say more later.
I know you read and didn't love the first James S.A. Corey book - that was me too. But then I watched the show The Expanse and was a lot more into it - I'm wondering if the books get better.... :D
Mod
What I need to know is that if the TV show is ever completely cancelled, can I just pick up the next book without reading the ones in between? Or does the TV show diverge too much that doesn’t make sense?
As far as I've watched at least it hasn't diverged far at all, but it might be different later.
I would love to see Luke review something by Michael Moorcock... one of his seminal SF works, rather than the fantasy "Elric" series this author is usually associated with. My suggestion would be the "Dancers at the End of Time" series which really breaks new ground and remains one of the most original and entertaining works I have ever read and is now sadly neglected. A sort of "comedy of manners" set in the future... I remember when I first saw "Seinfeld" I thought "Wow. They must have read Moorcock's 'Dancers' "Also worth of note the "Jerry Cornelius" series... a kind of cosmic "James Bond" satire, about identity, existentialist angst, multiple universes, sex, cars, technology and just about everything!
Luke, I think you would enjoy reading and reviewing Rosewater, by Tade Thompson. It's an extraterrestrial contact story set in a future Nigeria, does a lot with the setting. I just posted a non-spoilery review here on GR.Clive Barker's Imajica (mentioned earlier in this thread) is one that *might* be up your alley. It's really long, but one of those novels with puzzle pieces that gradually come together and some serious themes (sexuality, gender, power).
I just finished Rosewater and really loved it.
I'd like to see United States of Japan reviewed. Alternate history in which Japan won WWII. Tons of bonkers sf ideas and interesting social commentary.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...
I'd like to see Change Agent by Daniel Suarez reviewed, but seeing Luke gave Suarez' Daemon one star, it seems unlikely.
Mod
I'll give any author two chances.
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The Killing Star by Charles Pellegrino, George Zebrowski, 1995
Footfall by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, 1985
Both are alien invasion stories, and the latter one could be described as "Independence Day, Done Right".