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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 1, 2014 19:34:55 GMT -5
Not really an SF reader, though I'm partial to Jack Finney's time travel stories, and recently read 11/22/63 by Stephen King b/c of its similarity to Finney's Time and Again.
However, when I was a wee lad, I remember reading a batch of the SF novels from what would now be the YA section of my beloved hometown library, and a couple have always stayed with me, neither of which is readily available for an enjoyable reread, sad to say: Danger, Dinosaurs, by Richard Marsden, who, I found out a few years ago, was actually Evan Hunter; and Mists of Dawn by Chad Oliver. (No coincidence, I guess, that these are both time-travel novels.)
I'm going out on a limb here, but I think either would hold up, even though it has to be nearly 50 years since I read them. I particularly recall being affected by the rational, but emotional denouement of Danger, Dinosaurs.
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Post by berkley on Oct 3, 2014 9:14:45 GMT -5
Anyone have any horror or supernatural books lined up for October? There are a few that were near the top of one of my to-read stacks so I decided to move them up for later this month, after I finish my current book:
Vampire City - Paul Féval
In a Glass Darkly - Sheridan Le Fanu
Monsieur Maurice - Amelia B. Edwards
The Uninhabited House - Mrs. J. H. Riddell
The last two are from an anthology called Five Victorian Ghost Novels - perhaps a bit of a misnomer since MM is only about 50 pages long and House just over 100.
Don't know if I'll get through all of those this month, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to finish at least the first two, Vampire City and In a Glass Darkly, the latter of which will actually be a re-read. I might also re-read either Macbeth or Marlowe's Faust, or perhaps both if I have time.
Currently I'm about 125 pages into Julio Cortazar's Hopscotch. Enjoying it so far, but too early to say much about it at this point.
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 5, 2014 9:52:43 GMT -5
 The Gods Themselves (1972)
Isaac Asimov 1st paperback edition
Cover Artist Unknown
Winner of the 1972 Hugo and Nebula Award for Best SF Novel of the Year
Isaac Asimov was one of the legendary SF authors coming into prominence via John Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction pulp magazine. Scores of imaginative short stories as well as the Foundation and Robot series of novels earned Asimov his Grandmasters award. There were two aspects of his writing that were criticized. One was that all his stories dealt with humanoid species and he never wrote directly about an intelligent alien race. The other was a total lack of sex in his stories. This novel confronted those two items directly The novel is broken into 3 parts.Part one deals with the near future discovery of a method of transmitting matter between our universe and a para-universe.This transmission generates a free and abundant supply of energy for earth that will now no longer need fossil fuel or nuclear energy. There is one scientist however who thinks that, long range, this discovery might destroy our galaxy Part 2 deals with the para-universe.The types of creatures who inhabit that world, their civilization and their perspective in getting free energy from our universe. Much of this section dwells on their mating habits. Asimov is quite imaginative with this species and its the highlight of the book. Just don't expect the sex part to tittilate Part 3 places the story back to our universe and specifically on the burgeoning moon colony. The difference between earth and luna living can be fascinating and the possible danger of the energy-device is resolved As usual for Asimov's stories, the bulk of the book is two people talking to each other. Its just about all yammering and hardly any action. Asimov at heart is a teacher and loves his characters to go off for several pages on mini science lectures as well. This should come to no surprise to anyone who has read Asimov's work Its a good novel, not great to me as some others rate it.I enjoyed his Foundation and Robot work more but this was definitely more cerebral and hard SF |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2014 10:13:37 GMT -5
Anyone have any horror or supernatural books lined up for October? Not particularly, though I am only about 20 percent of the way into a library copy of Ramsey Campbell's The Grin of the Dark, which I'm about to start again after finishing my (previously misplaced for a couple of weeks) own copy of Ronald Malfi's Snow. After reading Campbell's first 15 or so novels back in the '80s & '90s, more or less as they came out, I've not followed him in several years, mostly because he seemed to shift his focus from supernatural to psychological horror or even straight-out suspense -- not that there's anything wrong with those approaches (I certainly read enough novels that fit those descriptions), but they're not what I want from Campbell, necessarily. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 5, 2014 21:06:25 GMT -5
The Gods Themselves (1972)
Isaac Asimov 1st paperback edition
Cover Artist Unknown
Winner of the 1972 Hugo and Nebula Award for Best SF Novel of the Year
Isaac Asimov was one of the legendary SF authors coming into prominence via John Campbell's Astounding Science Fiction pulp magazine. Scores of imaginative short stories as well as the Foundation and Robot series of novels earned Asimov his Grandmasters award. There were two aspects of his writing that were criticized. One was that all his stories dealt with humanoid species and he never wrote directly about an intelligent alien race. The other was a total lack of sex in his stories. This novel confronted those two items directly The novel is broken into 3 parts.Part one deals with the near future discovery of a method of transmitting matter between our universe and a para-universe.This transmission generates a free and abundant supply of energy for earth that will now no longer need fossil fuel or nuclear energy. There is one scientist however who thinks that, long range, this discovery might destroy our galaxy Part 2 deals with the para-universe.The types of creatures who inhabit that world, their civilization and their perspective in getting free energy from our universe. Much of this section dwells on their mating habits. Asimov is quite imaginative with this species and its the highlight of the book. Just don't expect the sex part to tittilate Part 3 places the story back to our universe and specifically on the burgeoning moon colony. The difference between earth and luna living can be fascinating and the possible danger of the energy-device is resolved As usual for Asimov's stories, the bulk of the book is two people talking to each other. Its just about all yammering and hardly any action. Asimov at heart is a teacher and loves his characters to go off for several pages on mini science lectures as well. This should come to no surprise to anyone who has read Asimov's work Its a good novel, not great to me as some others rate it.I enjoyed his Foundation and Robot work more but this was definitely more cerebral and hard SF I remember reading this in hardcover when it came out - we were in one of those bookclubs or whatever they were called. My older brother probably chose this one as he was a science fiction fan too, lucky for me. I don remember many details after all this time, so this is one of the Asimovs I'm looking forward to reading again some day. |
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Post by berkley on Oct 5, 2014 21:11:27 GMT -5
Anyone have any horror or supernatural books lined up for October? Not particularly, though I am only about 20 percent of the way into a library copy of Ramsey Campbell's The Grin of the Dark, which I'm about to start again after finishing my (previously misplaced for a couple of weeks) own copy of Ronald Malfi's Snow. After reading Campbell's first 15 or so novels back in the '80s & '90s, more or less as they came out, I've not followed him in several years, mostly because he seemed to shift his focus from supernatural to psychological horror or even straight-out suspense -- not that there's anything wrong with those approaches (I certainly read enough novels that fit those descriptions), but they're not what I want from Campbell, necessarily. Ramsey Campbell is probably near the top of my list of modern horror writers that I want to try. Which of his books do you recommend? Like you, I'm more interested in his supernatural horror than in his psychological suspense stories. I think I have a copy of Midnight Sun around here somewhere. |
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Post by Deleted on Oct 5, 2014 21:25:57 GMT -5
His debut, The Doll Who Ate His Mother, is a must. Midnight Sun I liked as well. The Hungry Moon, The Nameless, Incarnate, Ancient Images ... basically, anything he wrote through about 1990 or so. Excellent short-story writer as well.
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Post by berkley on Oct 5, 2014 21:46:31 GMT -5
Thanks. I was just looking him up on wiki and I see that some of his books were re-issued in restored or revised versions a few years after their first appearance. I assume those are the ones to look for.
I'm also interested in his Ryre the Swordsman stories, which sound like they might be a bit of an ERB or REH tribute.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2014 8:52:54 GMT -5
Huh. And I've never even heard of these Ryre stories.
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Post by gothos on Oct 7, 2014 17:40:49 GMT -5
I've done a quasi-review of some of the themes of Edgar Rice Burroughs' first two Tarzan books. Spoilers apply to both. TARZAN THOUGHTS |
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Post by Ish Kabbible on Oct 9, 2014 15:20:04 GMT -5
 Of All Possible Worlds
William Tenn (1955)
2nd Printing 1960 Cover Artist: BlanchardWilliam Tenn (real name Philip Klass) began his SF career shortly after WWII and was quite prolific throughout the 50s. His writing career tapered off during the 60s as he began to devote himself to acadamia. He was a leading satirist, a short story specialist, a twist-ending storyteller with a dark and sardonic flair.Quite popular and respected amongst his peers 50 years ago, you're guarenteed to be entertained by his output Of All Possible Worlds was his first short story collection. These are 7 tales first published between 1947-1954 from the pulp digests such as The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Galaxy,Planet Stories,Future Science Fiction,Fantastic Adventures,and If Magazine. He also includes a 12 page introduction in defense of SF as a genre in fiction. Stories include: Down Among The Dead Men-A future war against an alien,insect life form forces Earth to re-animate its dead soldiers as a zombie battalion Me,Myself and I-You should avoid travelling back in time and repeatably meeting oneself The Liberation Of Earth-The Dendi arrive on Earth to protect us from the Troxxt no matter how many humans get killed. Everybody Loves Irving Bommer-Its true about too much of a good thing, especially love potions Flirgleflip-A man from 1,000 years in our future is having a hard time proving he's a time travellor The Tenants-2 men insist on renting the entire 13th floor of an office building which the rental agent insists doesn't exists.So where's all that office furniture going? The Custodian-Earth has known for several centuries that the sun will go nova and has made arrangements to abandon the home planet. Yet one man is determined to stay behind William Tenn is an essential SF author from the post-war period. Find a collection of his stories for a read you won't regret |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 9, 2014 16:04:12 GMT -5
Or look for the The Complete Science Fiction of William Tenn series put out by NESFA.  Seriously. The big ass Omnibuses put out by NESFA are like classic SF crack. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Oct 9, 2014 19:33:41 GMT -5
How have I never seen any books from them when they're right down the road from me? Looks like a pretty cool outfit... collecting good out of copyright stuff in nice volumes, I'm thinking?
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Post by Slam_Bradley on Oct 9, 2014 22:21:29 GMT -5
How have I never seen any books from them when they're right down the road from me? Looks like a pretty cool outfit... collecting good out of copyright stuff in nice volumes, I'm thinking? A lot of, if not most of, it is still in copyright. Just long long out of print. I really love their books. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Oct 13, 2014 15:57:05 GMT -5
Wondering if anyone has the Levitz Silver Age book on DC Comics.  I have a little $$ on a Barnes and Noble card and thought I might spend it on a used copy (around 40 bucks). Haven't seen it ever in a store. (Curious about the Golden Age book, too.) Reviews provide little to go on, so I thought I'd see if anyone here has seen it or read it. Thanks! |
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