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Lorela said:
If anyone here has read his Callahans series you'll know what I mean when I say that I find the camaraderie between the regulars on Got Mead very Callahans like. I don't think any of you are aliens...well except maybe Oskaar. Those of you who have met him can of course correct me if I am wrong.;D
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I could correct you, but that would be wrong! ;D

Seriously (for a moment), I have read SF&F for most of my life, having discovered the Trinity of the Golden Age (Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein) in my local library as soon as they allowed me to roam freely beyond the "Children's Books" section - when I was around 7 or 8 years old. I've been reading ever since, and that includes pretty much everything written by anyone in both genres up to about 1979 or so. From then to now I've been more selective - but then again there was an explosion in the number of published authors that began around the late 1970's and only recently seems to be abating. IMHO, lots of stuff not worth the paper it was printed on was published in the past few decades - so maybe it is a good thing that not so many new titles are actually hitting bookstore shelves these days.

Of course with the new explosion of online publishing and eBook availability, I wonder if there will soon be a corresponding resurgence in speculative fiction. Hopefully the overall quality won't suffer.

I haven't yet read any of Robinson's Callahan series, but I do remember reading a couple of things by him back in the early 80's and published in Asimov's magazine. I guess I'll have to go back and grab a few of the Callahan books.
 
Guinlilly said:
Gotta disagree with the McCaffrey thing though. Dragonriders started fantasy turned sci-fi - the rest of the series I listed are straight up classic Sci-fi - telepathics set in spaceships to run them, telepaths running shipping lines, a sentient planet who alters people to fit that planet, etc etc.
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Anne would be thrilled to hear you say that she's got "hard core" SF underpinnings, BTW, as she very much wants (wanted - she's virtually retired now, mostly just consulting on new Pern books that her son, Todd, is writing) everything in the Pern universe to be as scientifically defensible as possible. In the past she has regularly consulted with noted scientists and engineers to make sure that her ideas weren't so fantastic as to have no basis in current scientific thought.
 
These 2 genres definitely have a high garbage:quality ratio! I think it's really been that way since the 50s though, there's always been a lot of pulp junk, though the sheer number of authors around today does make sifting through it all for the good authors to be a difficult task sometimes.

New SF authors that are top notch:

Iain M Banks (not that new really, since the late 80s). His "Culture" novels are modern classics, and he's considered one of the greatest SF writers at this time. A good book to start with is The Player of Games.

Richard Morgan (really new, less than 10 years I think). He writes what are essentially mystery/action thrillers, but with a level of intelligence that makes him a formidable author. I think his best book is Black Man, which I believe goes under a different title in the USA, Thirteen. (He's also written one preetty good Fantasy novel now)

Karl Schroeder (also very new): A Canadian guy that hasn't gotten too big yet. His work ranges from super high tech visions of what will happen to us as humans once we stop comprehending the difference between reality and virtual, down to almost steam-punk action novels (which are a blast, and set in probably one of the most amazing environments ever dreamt up in SF).

That's just a really short list, there are a good number of other absolutely amazing SF authors on the go right now.

When it comes to new Fantasy stuff there's really just 2 names that come to mind.

George RR Martin. The A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first book of which is now an HBO series, Game of Thrones (first episode aired yesterday, pretty good so far). Seriously dark and modern Fantasy.

Tad Williams. His Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series remains one of my all time favourite works of Fantasy, and this series was actually the series that convinced GRR Martin to write his ASoIaF series, by proving to him that Fantasy could in fact be done in a modern and adult manner.
 
They're just 2 different shows with captains to suit the shows. The original was more of a comedy with serious/drama woven in, by the time of TNG Star Trek had become more of a serious show.

Of course I'm definitely biased, as I grew up with TNG and Deep Space 9 (Voyager too, but I wasn't as much of a fan of that one).
 
I just realized I'd better retract that statement about the original series being a comedy before I get flamed to death! :eek:

Consider it retracted, it wasn't comedy, it just comes across as a little... funny compared to more recent versions. :)
 
wayneb said:
I could correct you, but that would be wrong! ;D

Seriously (for a moment), I have read SF&F for most of my life, having discovered the Trinity of the Golden Age (Asimov, Clarke and Heinlein) in my local library as soon as they allowed me to roam freely beyond the "Children's Books" section - when I was around 7 or 8 years old. I've been reading ever since, and that includes pretty much everything written by anyone in both genres up to about 1979 or so. From then to now I've been more selective - but then again there was an explosion in the number of published authors that began around the late 1970's and only recently seems to be abating. IMHO, lots of stuff not worth the paper it was printed on was published in the past few decades - so maybe it is a good thing that not so many new titles are actually hitting bookstore shelves these days.

Of course with the new explosion of online publishing and eBook availability, I wonder if there will soon be a corresponding resurgence in speculative fiction. Hopefully the overall quality won't suffer.

I haven't yet read any of Robinson's Callahan series, but I do remember reading a couple of things by him back in the early 80's and published in Asimov's magazine. I guess I'll have to go back and grab a few of the Callahan books.
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I Knew It!!!!!!!:o

Your reading experiences mirror mine quite a bit. I do agree with the glut of not always very good authors of both fields, particularly through the 70's and 80's.Are we aging ourselves? lol But I am patient and its worth it when you can find gems....like Octavia Butler, Nick Sagan and Orson Scott Card, though I will admit the later can be a bit preachy.

As of yet ebooks are not that appealing to me. Though I do suffer from a serious audio book addiction. I am lucky enough to have a job that doesn't always require me to use all of my mind. ;D So in those times I can keep up with my need to read AND still do other things. I love Audble.com

Definitely try Callahans Chronicles...there is nothing like humor, science fiction, alcohol and friends.

Lorri
 
AToE said:
These 2 genres definitely have a high garbage:quality ratio! I think it's really been that way since the 50s though, there's always been a lot of pulp junk, though the sheer number of authors around today does make sifting through it all for the good authors to be a difficult task sometimes.

New SF authors that are top notch:

Iain M Banks (not that new really, since the late 80s). His "Culture" novels are modern classics, and he's considered one of the greatest SF writers at this time. A good book to start with is The Player of Games.

Richard Morgan (really new, less than 10 years I think). He writes what are essentially mystery/action thrillers, but with a level of intelligence that makes him a formidable author. I think his best book is Black Man, which I believe goes under a different title in the USA, Thirteen. (He's also written one preetty good Fantasy novel now)

Karl Schroeder (also very new): A Canadian guy that hasn't gotten too big yet. His work ranges from super high tech visions of what will happen to us as humans once we stop comprehending the difference between reality and virtual, down to almost steam-punk action novels (which are a blast, and set in probably one of the most amazing environments ever dreamt up in SF).

That's just a really short list, there are a good number of other absolutely amazing SF authors on the go right now.

When it comes to new Fantasy stuff there's really just 2 names that come to mind.

George RR Martin. The A Song of Ice and Fire series, the first book of which is now an HBO series, Game of Thrones (first episode aired yesterday, pretty good so far). Seriously dark and modern Fantasy.

Tad Williams. His Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series remains one of my all time favourite works of Fantasy, and this series was actually the series that convinced GRR Martin to write his ASoIaF series, by proving to him that Fantasy could in fact be done in a modern and adult manner.
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I will definitely watch out for these last two. The audio book club I belong to is pushing the Martin series. Tad Williams is a new name for me, I will research. Its nice to get another readers recommendations.

Lorri
 
AToE said:
I just realized I'd better retract that statement about the original series being a comedy before I get flamed to death! :eek:

Consider it retracted, it wasn't comedy, it just comes across as a little... funny compared to more recent versions. :)
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Smart move.;D There is a difference between camp and comedy...well and bad acting too. But remember many of us liked it that way!

Lorri
 
Duly noted!

Octavia Butler is great, Ursula K LeGuin is another great female SF author.
I've only read one Orson Scott Card book, but it was great - I just have to turn off the part of my brain that thinks about the author while reading his stuff (he's a nutbar, but a good writer!).

Tad Williams is really good. I haven't finished his latest series, the Shadow____ series, as I think the last book is still in hardcover and I'm being patient waiting for it to become cheaper.

He hasn't written a lot, not a very prolific writer, but what he does write is really good.

Be warned, GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire is not for everyone. It walks a pretty fine line with a few things, (frankly I think steps over that line a few times too) but it's really high quality. That series shows more dedication to realism than any other series I've ever read, of ANY genre. Any character could die at any moment - you don't read a chapter thinking "how are they going to get out of this one?" you read it thinking "oh man, they're dead. Doesn't matter that it's the main character and the series is only half way in, I'm sure they're about to die". And then he messes with you, right when you're sure someone's toast, they live (in a believable way) and then when you think there's no danger, WHAM someone dies (again, very believable though).

Seriously good stuff. But, similar to say LoTR, it takes a while for the action to kick in. It's absolutely essential to at least get into the second book, because the first is largely just set-up (interesting set-up, but definitely set-up none the less).
 
Another female author worth reading (IMHO) is Lois McMaster Bujold. I have enjoyed the early books in her Vorkosigan saga series, although I haven't kept up with the most recent ones. She has a knack for telling real "old school" SF - with a couple of more contemporary ideas and twists thrown in.

And Lorri, yeah - I guess I'm allowing my age to show a bit. ;D FWIW, I grew up in the Star Trek -TOS era, and despite the clearly campy nature of many of those old scripts, I loved that show! Hard not to, when you're a pre-teen geek looking for anything that can transport you away from the gritty reality of growing up in a steel mill town. I still occasionally get some fun out of watching a rerun or two of those old episodes, but I have to admit that more than a few of them are either so blatant or so naive that I cringe a little nowadays.

Oh, and I'm off to look for some of the Callahan books later today....
 
wayneb said:
Another female author worth reading (IMHO) is Lois McMaster Bujold. I have enjoyed the early books in her Vorkosigan saga series, although I haven't kept up with the most recent ones. She has a knack for telling real "old school" SF - with a couple of more contemporary ideas and twists thrown in.
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Ooh, how could I forget her!! I loved that series, reading it the second time now...
 
wayneb said:
Anne would be thrilled to hear you say that she's got "hard core" SF underpinnings, BTW, as she very much wants (wanted - she's virtually retired now, mostly just consulting on new Pern books that her son, Todd, is writing) everything in the Pern universe to be as scientifically defensible as possible. In the past she has regularly consulted with noted scientists and engineers to make sure that her ideas weren't so fantastic as to have no basis in current scientific thought.
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She does that, and yes, she does have scifi in most of her work--I guess that most scifi seems to be edgier than the types of fantasy I tend to read, but you're completely right that she does a fine job trying to be realistic. Not real, but realistic. ;D

I have read and reread most of her work over the years and it has given me many hours of pleasurable reading.
 
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