Former Introduction Thread Showing 4,401-4,450 of 6,846

[Steve]

have I already done this?? (there must be some way of finding that out) ...in case I haven't ... I'm steve, novelist, poet, historian, ex-punk (and guy with really bad memory) ...hello all

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Yo.

[Sandy]

Hello! My name is Sandy & I live in Colorado in the U.S. I've been reading Science fiction all my life. Even before I could read, I remember watching movies with my mother about Frankenstein, Dracula, werewolves, giant apes in New York, &,well, you get the picture. The only true fantasy I ever got into until recently was J.R.R. Tolkein then I discovered A Song of Ice & Fire & The Wheel of Time & now I want to read more. I'm very happy to be part of this group & share thoughts & ideas with people who enjoy many of the same things I do.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Hi Sandy. We're all glad to recommend our favorite reads.

[Stephen]

As introduction, the list calculation says I have read 41% of the books on the list - which largely means that if it was published 20+ years ago it has been read. New books head for and stay on the "to read" shelf (or bookcase as is the reality) for a while.

Currently reading (as an audiobook) Susanna Clarke, "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

[Nicol]

I listened to "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" on audiobook. It was spectacular. I hope you enjoy it.

[Jeanette]

Hi, my name is Jeanette. I'm an avid sci-fi / fantasy reader with a husband and four kids so my time to read has recently become more precious to me lol. I just recently joined and look forward to meeting others who enjoy a good escape as much as I.

Cheers!

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Hi Jeanette, they'll grow up soon. I have much more time to read now, but mostly live alone. Trade-off I guess.

[Jeanette]

Lol thanks Mike! Looking forward to future chats. :-)

[Mike (the Paladin)]

I'm here most days...

:)

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Hi Thomas, welcome.

[Mark]

Thomas wrote: "I'm not good at this whole introducing-myself thing...

My name is Thomas. I'm ALMOST 42 years old (birthday is June 1), and have been reading fantasy novels since I was 8. I didn't start reading..."

Emma Bull's Falcon goes on my tottering tbr pile :-)

Thomas, have you Nooked or Kindled, or do you only read physical books and store them in your boxes?

About once a year I venture into my attic and re-organise my boxes of books. Just handling the books brings back a taste of the story. I can't do that on my Kindle, much as I love it!

[Jason]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Jason, and I'm both a long time reader of science fiction (started in elementary school with the Danny Dunn series), and a writer with my first series launching now.

I have a wife, two kids and a small dog with serious mental issues. I'm the only person in my immediate or extended family who is a fan of scifi or fantasy. Although I have to say I lean heavily towards the scifi.

Over the years I've probably read close to a thousand books in and around the genre. Before the advent of digital books we had so many hard and paperback books in our house that the floors were becoming stressed. Oddly, I find it hard to rattle off books and authors when I'm asked for favorites though. King, Scalzi, and Piers Anthony come to mind when I've had more time to consider it.

I got into writing by accident and discovered what many authors know - that some stories won't let go of you until you get them completely out onto paper (or the Kindle store in my case). My current series is like that, and I have to say that it's a decidedly odd experience to finish a chapter and say to yourself "Wow, I didn't see that coming."

It's great to see such an involved community here, and I look forward to some good recommendations and discussion.

J

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Welcome.

[Jeanette]

Hi Jason. Glad to have you on board. I'm new too. What is your pen name? Will we have read any of your works?

[Jason]

Hehe, Jason IS the pen name... Jason Faris.

My most recent piece is "The Quantum Mechanic, Part 1: Transitions".

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFPP5NW

Although, I am considering rearranging the title to "Transitions" with the subtitle of "The Quantum Mechanic Series, Part 1." As it is titled now it is hard to find on amazon amidst all of the physics textbooks.

You'll find a little bit of everything I think scifi fans love; a superpowered hero, giant battle mechs, killer cyborgs, nanotech, and a lot more. So far readers have liked it, and feel I did OK blending it together in a way that makes sense.

I appreciate and take on board all feedback too. So don't feel like you can't be honest. I can't improve without your help. Reviews on Amazon don't hurt either (hint, hint).

[Jeanette]

Okay Jason, I bought your book and I will let you know what I think when I am done. Might take me a little while with a few books on the go. :)

Jeanette

[Jason]

Thanks!

(Fingers crossed)

[Patrick]

Hello all. I'm Russ, and I teach religious studies, so no surprise that I'm interested in religion in sf/fantasy, though that's not really my specialty (though come to think of it, it probably should be).

I knew this would be a good reading club for me when I saw June's books were already on the top of my reading list. Probably my first favorite authors were Michael Moorcock and Robert Zelazny, though I as a kid I didn't know anyone interested in science fiction/fantasy (beyond Star Wars). My favorite author overall is probably Gene Wolfe, though if I add any more it will probably turn into a long list. I read some horror, comics, and historical fiction, along with works in my academic area, but sf/fantasy is always my favorite.

Feel free to friend me if you like.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Hi and welcome.

[Jack]

Greetings programs. I'm Jack. I'm excited about this group because I love to read SciFi/Fantasy, but I only finish about 42% of the books that I start. This isn't due to the fact that I'm lazy, it's because I have a hard time finding the good books. Hopefully a large group of people can steer me in the right direction. I've been going through this group's favourites lists and what-not. So ... that said ... looking forward to it!

[Jeanette]

Welcome Russ. Where do you teach? Just curious. :)

[Alan]

Jeanette wrote: "Welcome Russ. Where do you teach? Just curious. :)"

Just a guess, before Russ gets back to you - but the favourite books on his profile look to me like an English list.
Russ: please confirm? (or prove me wrong!)

[Sparrowlicious]

Hello everyone!
Since I don't like my first name we'll stick to nicknames, shall we? :)
Anyway, I'm 25, female, from Vienna (Austria) and although I don't mind reading other genres I do love Fantasy books. I'm also trying to read more from the Science Fiction genre. Slowly getting there. :)
I got back into reading in 2011 and pretty much started out with some modern classics. Mostly because I wanted to 'get' pop culture references, haha. I pretty much journeyed from book to book for a while, and then at some point I picked up books because I read something about them. At some point I came across Goodreads which made it a lot easier to find books.
But, I ran into a huge problem. You see, a lot of books are YA nowadays, at least the popular ones. The thing is though, I don't like romances.
Oh, don't get me wrong, if two characters happen to get together I'm completely fine with it - as long as it's believeable. I don't like books where the main plot is 'x and y get together and a bunch of other stuff happens'. Those bore me.
So I guess I'm here because I want some books where this doesn't happen. :D

[Mark]

Hello Sparrow, I guess YA is easy to spot in Goodreads - lots of GIFs in the reviews :-)

I'm sure you'll find plenty to fill the tbr.

[Alan]

Sparrowlicious wrote: "You see, a lot of books are YA nowadays, at least the popular ones. The thing is though, I don't like romances.
Oh, don't get me wrong, if two characters happen to get together I'm completely fine with it - as long as it's believeable. I don't like books where the main plot is 'x and y get together and a bunch of other stuff happens'. Those bore me...."

YES! ALLELUIA!
Thank you for saying it!. It needed to be said.

[Sparrowlicious]

No problem, Alan.

Doesn't anyone ever say it? I have this huge problem that I'd love to read more books with female main characters - the trouble is that most of them are YA romances (with a bonus genre as sugarcoat).
Especially problematic are the love biangles(*) and stereotypes and of course unhealthy relationships.

(* Biangle because you can't really call it a triangle if there's no possibilty that EVERY character could end up with either of the other characters. This usually isn't the case so the bottom of this triangle falls out. Those pairings don't act like a circle either because YA books are usually with straight pairings.)

[Mark]

Sparrowlicious wrote: "Biangle because you can't really call it a triangle..."

LOL. Yes, there aren't many real triangles out there. I like Biangles. We could also use Mangles for messed up triangle. But what on earth would we use for Anita Blake? :-)

[Alan]

Mark wrote: "But what on earth would we use for Anita Blake? :-)..."

Prefrontal lobotomy followed by electroconvulsive 'therapy'.

Which is rather a shame, but if you check the author's background in Wikipedia you may find there is a lot more to think about

[Drew]

Hi, I'm Drew, an active duty navy veteran and scifi writer. I live in Virginia with my wife and 2 kids. I'm currently reading the maze runner series (on book 3) and they are pretty good reads. I don't have a favorite book simply because I can't remember all of them, lol. I look forward to discussing some books :)

[Jay]

Sparrowlicious wrote: "I'd love to read more books with female main characters - the trouble is that most of them are YA romances (with a bonus..."

Agreed. Where are the Ripleys at?

I have always been a fan of William C. Dietz. He has two recent books in his legion series that have a female MC. You should give those a shot. Andromeda's Fall and Andromeda's Choice. His third one in the series is out this December.

[C.T.]

I'm a self-published author on Amazon going by the name C.T. Tunnel. I'm considering adding my first name, Joshua, in front of it. But I haven't decided yet. I've been a big fan of Sci-fi and Fantasy all my life, and my favorite fictional universes are where my mind wanders by default. My favorite books are on my reads list, but I'm new to the site so I'm still getting that put together.

I spend most of my time reading/writing, helping my family with various tasks, watching TV, or playing video games. Though my friends occasionally get me outside to do some exercise :P
We hiked several miles through a canyon a while back, my friends climbing the rough terrain like mountain goats. I had fun, but I'm no mountain goat. By the time we were through I was told that I looked like I had just escaped a war zone.

I'm shy, quiet and introverted, and I try not to comment unless I have something constructive to say. Though if I think my comment is funny enough, I'll comment anyway. My jokes are kind of hit and miss, but I don't try to make people mad or upset so I generally just get weird looks when a joke fail. That's kinda funny too. I have three little yorkshire terriers who are great at cheering me up when I'm down.

It's great to meet you guys and I'm hoping to start posting some serious reviews of books I've read soon.

[Jay]

I made my first post without first introducing myself so I guess I'll do that now.

I'm a 40 year old reader/writer (Jay Korza) with multiple day jobs. I've been in law enforcement for the past fourteen years. I was previously in the Navy working as a Hospital Corpsman - that's why I'm a fan of William C. Dietz and Ian Douglas, my Corpsman brothers. I'm also a paramedic and teach paramedicine at the local college.

Other than Max Brooks, I'm mostly a zombie movie/TV fan and I haven't read too many books in that genre.

For Sci-Fi, I think I'm pretty mainstream in my taste, nothing really off the beaten path. BSG, Star Wars, Star Trek, David Drake, William C. Dietz, Halo series, Mass Effect, Isaac Asimov, etcetera. My favorite of all time (at this point anyway) is Battlefield Earth (no judging), followed closely by Armor.

I also like playing nerdy board games for hours with my friends (when their wives let them). Playing BSG for half a day while eating bagel bites and M&Ms is funtastic!

[Mark]

C.T. wrote: "I'm a self-published author on Amazon going by the name C.T. Tunnel...."

Great SciFi name! Sounds a bit like quantum electronics :-)

[C.T.]

Mark wrote: "C.T. wrote: "I'm a self-published author on Amazon going by the name C.T. Tunnel...."

Great SciFi name! Sounds a bit like quantum electronics :-)"

Lol, thanks. I never thought of it like that. I went with my initials out of shyness more than anything, but its been growing on me more and more.

[William]

William L.J. Galaini

Hello everyone!

I'm new around here. My Mum raised me on classic science fiction, and when I was in bed she'd read Bradbury and Asimov to me. I blame her entirely for my love of all things sci-fi.

I'm also an author, and I've got two novels published (The Line and Withered Zion) and Goodreads has been an awesome place for me this past year.

Check out my reviews if you like! I love chatting about books and I'm always hunting for good recommendations!

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Welcome.

[D.L.]

Wow, I've only been in this group a few days and already see many kindred spirits. Hello to all the newcomers!

[Mark]

William wrote: "when I was in bed she'd read Bradbury and Asimov to me ..."

Lucky you William. I had to hide my SF books as they were considered unsuitable reading. :-)

[Alan]

Sparrowlicious wrote: "... YA romances (with a bonus genre as sugarcoat). ..."

You might be interested in my review of "Daughter of Smoke and Bone".
You probably won't want to read the book, but look at the review!

[Nicol]

Ok guys I thought I'd put my two cents in about YA. First, I love children's sci fi and fantasy - I always wish more was available when I was kid. Second, I will agree with the general discussion of unhealthy relationships in a lot of the popular YA but I see that heavily in adult books as well. I just read GONE GIRL and of course the main point of that book was to outline the dysfunction in that adult relationship. I will say I cannot stomach some series such as The Immortals series, where the main character has no personality or spine and her main existence is to worship some guy. But there are plenty of YA books that steer away from this, and yes at times may have love stories. Some of my favorite fantasy authors write YA, like Holly Black, Patrick Ness, Eoin Colfer, Jonathan Mayberry or even Scott Westerfeld.

[William]

Mark wrote: "William wrote: "when I was in bed she'd read Bradbury and Asimov to me ..."

Lucky you William. I had to hide my SF books as they were considered unsuitable reading. :-)"

I'm sorry, Mark. My parents were divorced and my father would take my books away as punishment for bad grades, so all my Sci Fi had to stay at Mom's house. I only got to see every other episode of Next Generation!

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Taking away books as a punishment for low grades....hummm. I suppose the reasoning was you should read your school books, huh? I remember getting in trouble for reading a Homer Price book in class, remember Homer Price? Showing my age. Science fiction was harder to find when I was a kid.

Well, life I guess. At least you can read when you want now!

[William]

Good old Dad gave me the Daddy issues to help fuel my writing career!

I actually never read any Homer Price books. I remember thinking that he was like Tin Tin but more accidental. Trouble found Homer whereas Tin Tin hunted for trouble.

I should revisit them. I bet Mum's got a few in the basement.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Homer was more for laughs.

[Leq]

Hello everyone!

I always loved books. Being born in a former communist country and into a family with limited means meant that new books were something special. As a kid I read everything in my parents' library (including some kinky literature :-)), with many of the books getting quite a few reads. However science fiction or fantasy were not usually "in the menu" (and/or were mostly written by local authors).

Envision my immense delight when access to (international) literature became easier, and I met works like Dune (high school) and Lord of the Rings (university) ... it was like having a second chance to childhood, dreaming and imagining life (in myriads of way beyond the "boring" contemporaneity). And that joy stayed with me ever since.

And now I am looking forward to learning about new perspectives on the books that I love, hate or (stupidly) ignore and to meeting souls set on fire by these (un)believable worlds.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Hi, welcome...enjoy.

[William]

Welcome! You know, I've never gotten around to reading Dune! I should be ashamed.

[Mike (the Paladin)]

Yes you should. Go immediately to the nearest corner and give yourself a "time-out".

[Cas]

William wrote: "Welcome! You know, I've never gotten around to reading Dune! I should be ashamed."

You could pick it up for the summer =).