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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 14, 2017 10:44:43 GMT -5
Spent time wandering around the local Barnes and Noble last night to avoid the heat and found a new old book to purchase. B&N has a hardback collection of all the James Blish paperback Star Trek novelizations. Great way to relive younger memories of when these books were the only new "Trek" you could ever find around. Can't go wrong with classic Trek. Episodes like Amok Time, The Doomsday Machine, Trouble with Tribbles and City on the Edge of Forever. Collects 45 episodes for $20. It's not the complete collection of the adaptations, though it has the majority. B&N also has bargain classic edition volumes of Ray Bradbury stories, Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Anansi Boys, The Hitchhiker's Guide, the first few John Carter books, some Verne and Wells, and, I believe, one of Asimov. For Asimov, try the Foundation Trilogy and I, Robot, as well as his short stories (especially things like "The Bicentennial Man.") |
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Post by mikelmidnight on Jul 14, 2017 11:52:50 GMT -5
Since nobody else has, I'd recommend the Culture novels by Iain M Banks. Consider Phlebus is the first. Player of Games probably my favorite.
For comics, if you ever find any issues of Albedo or Command Review, pick them up. They look like a 'funny animal' comic but they're the best (of not the only) genuinely hard SF comics ever produces in this country.
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Post by berkley on Jul 14, 2017 13:45:14 GMT -5
Thinking of picking up the first volume of the the Complete Valerian (which has books 1 and 2 and for the first time in English Book 0)-anyone have thoughts on this graphic novel series-I am somewhat interested in the movie from the trailers but think I would prefer to read the originals (well at least English translations of the originals) before I check out the film. I can guarantee that the film will be nowhere as good as the series, even if it turns out to be in the same league as Star Wars. Valerian is in the Lt. Blueberry category as far as greatness goes. My favourite titles are The empire of a thousand planets, which inspired my own work so much; Ambassador of the shadows, which is the inspiration for the film; Châtelet station, destination Cassiopeia and the three following books, the kind of book that would get non comic-book readers to take notice. These are my favourites, but none of them are bad. Wha -? For some reason I thought it was The Empire of a Thousand Planets that the film was based on, which is why I read that one last month. Lucky for me you posted this, now I still have time to scramble and get Ambassador of Shadows before the movie comes out. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 14, 2017 16:12:14 GMT -5
if you're looking for some fun, "turn your mind off" Sci Fi TV, then I highly, highly recommend "Cleopatra 2525"
it's the story of a stripper, who falls into a coma after a boob job, and wakes up in the future, and joins the resistance.
really.
Comedy, drama, decent acting (from a stellar cast, many of whom you'll recognize), some good old fashioned T&A. . . it's great/
and complete series available on DVD.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 14, 2017 18:34:56 GMT -5
I can guarantee that the film will be nowhere as good as the series, even if it turns out to be in the same league as Star Wars. Valerian is in the Lt. Blueberry category as far as greatness goes. My favourite titles are The empire of a thousand planets, which inspired my own work so much; Ambassador of the shadows, which is the inspiration for the film; Châtelet station, destination Cassiopeia and the three following books, the kind of book that would get non comic-book readers to take notice. These are my favourites, but none of them are bad. Wha -? For some reason I thought it was The Empire of a Thousand Planets that the film was based on, which is why I read that one last month. Lucky for me you posted this, now I still have time to scramble and get Ambassador of Shadows before the movie comes out. Yeah, they took the title from one and applied it to the storyline of another. The movie is clearly adapted from Ambassador of the shadows. In the comic, the empire of a thousand planets is just that: a big space empire. The city of a thousand planets from the movie is a big space station, called Central Point in the comic, built from an accumulation of independent environments coming from a myriad of different planets. Even the aliens we saw in the trailer were lifted directly from the comic (for which I am very grateful. And I do so hope we'll see a grumpy transmuter from Bluxte!) |
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Post by berkley on Jul 14, 2017 20:01:29 GMT -5
Wha -? For some reason I thought it was The Empire of a Thousand Planets that the film was based on, which is why I read that one last month. Lucky for me you posted this, now I still have time to scramble and get Ambassador of Shadows before the movie comes out. Yeah, they took the title from one and applied it to the storyline of another. The movie is clearly adapted from Ambassador of the shadows. In the comic, the empire of a thousand planets is just that: a big space empire. The city of a thousand planets from the movie is a big space station, called Central Point in the comic, built from an accumulation of independent environments coming from a myriad of different planets. Even the aliens we saw in the trailer were lifted directly from the comic (for which I am very grateful. And I do so hope we'll see a grumpy transmuter from Bluxte!) I haven't seen much of the previews and and either never knew or had forgotten what the content of them was like by the time I read Valérian Intégrale Volume 1 a few weeks back, so I didn't notice it was a different story from L'Empire des milles planètes. I already knew I wanted to see the film because it was Besson doing science fiction for the first time (I think?) since The Fifth Element. Luckily they happened to have the Intégrale Volume 3 in stock at the bookstore so I didn't have to order it online. They didn't have Volume 2, unfortunately, but I'll go ahead and read L'Ambassadeur des ombres anyway. Probably start later tonight. I can never get used to the French practice of not capitalising the first letters of all the main words in a title. |
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Post by LovesGilKane on Jul 14, 2017 22:25:43 GMT -5
The Colossus of New York, which very much paved the way for the Cybermen.
Moonbase, an early Cyberman DW adventure, super-60's hip and cool, with Troughton as the Doctor.
most importantly, The Stone Tapes, a super-creepy conceptual sci-fi treat by the same guy who created Quatermass.
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Post by codystarbuck on Jul 14, 2017 23:51:41 GMT -5
The Colossus of New York, which very much paved the way for the Cybermen. Moonbase, an early Cyberman DW adventure, super-60's hip and cool, with Troughton as the Doctor. most importantly, The Stone Tapes, a super-creepy conceptual sci-fi treat by the same guy who created Quatermass. Which the Quatermass stuff is great proto-Doctor Who sci-fi meets monstrous lifeforms. Apart from the first film, with Brian Donlevy, Quatermass Xperiment aka The Creeping Unknown, the films aren't easy to come by, in Region 1. For film, The Andromeda Strain is a great, tense, sci-fi film, with a cast entirely of character actors, though it is a bit static, for some tastes. Michael Crichton also wrote Westworld, which is a decent sci-fi movie, which was also swiped for the Terminator. The sequel, Future World (with Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner), is not so great, though it has moments. Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires is interesting, visually, though it's more of a horror film in sci-fi drag. For some pulpy sciifi film, try the Gamma One series of films from Italian director Antonio Margheriti: Assignment Outerspace, Battle of te Worlds, Wild Wild Planet, War of the Planets, War Between the Planets and The Snow Devils, There is also a Japanese Gamma One film, the Green Slime. Wild Wild Planet, War of the Planets, Snow Devils and The Green Slime are available from the Warner Archive. The budget is low; but, they are fairly lively, if a bit odd. |
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Post by LovesGilKane on Jul 15, 2017 1:36:12 GMT -5
The Colossus of New York, which very much paved the way for the Cybermen. Moonbase, an early Cyberman DW adventure, super-60's hip and cool, with Troughton as the Doctor. most importantly, The Stone Tapes, a super-creepy conceptual sci-fi treat by the same guy who created Quatermass. Which the Quatermass stuff is great proto-Doctor Who sci-fi meets monstrous lifeforms. Apart from the first film, with Brian Donlevy, Quatermass Xperiment aka The Creeping Unknown, the films aren't easy to come by, in Region 1. For film, The Andromeda Strain is a great, tense, sci-fi film, with a cast entirely of character actors, though it is a bit static, for some tastes. Michael Crichton also wrote Westworld, which is a decent sci-fi movie, which was also swiped for the Terminator. The sequel, Future World (with Peter Fonda and Blythe Danner), is not so great, though it has moments. Mario Bava's Planet of the Vampires is interesting, visually, though it's more of a horror film in sci-fi drag. For some pulpy sciifi film, try the Gamma One series of films from Italian director Antonio Margheriti: Assignment Outerspace, Battle of te Worlds, Wild Wild Planet, War of the Planets, War Between the Planets and The Snow Devils, There is also a Japanese Gamma One film, the Green Slime. Wild Wild Planet, War of the Planets, Snow Devils and The Green Slime are available from the Warner Archive. The budget is low; but, they are fairly lively, if a bit odd. the entire eps of Quatermass and The Pit, tv version, are up on youtube  super-fab stuff. |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Jul 15, 2017 4:31:28 GMT -5
For books, I won't recommend individual books so much as (my favorite) authors:
Ursula Le Guin: seriously, anything by her (but specifically, to start: The Left Hand of Darkness, Lathe of Heaven, Dispossessed, more recent short story collections like Unlocking the Air or Changing Planes...)
James Tiptree Jr. (a.k.a. Alice Sheldon): any of her short story collections (personally, I think she's a far better SF short story writer than Harlan Ellison)
Stanislaw Lem: has a penchant for philosophizing, but he really conveys some challenging ideas - read Fiasco in particular if you want a very different take on a first-contact scenario.
Octavia Butler: again, anything, but Kindred or her near-future dystopian novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents are a good place to start.
Philip Dick has been mentioned; any of his stuff is well worth reading, and besides the oft-mentioned and much-lauded novels like Do Androids Dream..., The Man in the High Castle, Ubik, or Flow My Tears..., I would also recommend some lesser known works like his early novel Dr. Futurity, Martian Time-Slip, Now Wait for Last Year, or the Galactic Pot-Healer.
Bester, Blish and Banks have already been mentioned; another good writer (whose surname also starts with the letter 'B' as it turns out) is John Brunner (particularly his mammoth novel Stand on Zanzibar).
If you want some very light and readable, but still thought-provoking military SF, I highly recommend John Scalzi's Old Man's War series.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2017 7:06:47 GMT -5
How about a few rather more modern gems - these are all books I've read and would recommend (some with caveats, see individual listings):
Neal Stephenson
Snow Crash
The Diamond Age
Cryptonomicon
Baroque Cycle (alternative history, only loosely scifi)
Quicksilver
The Confusion
The System of the World
Others
Anathem
Reamde
Peter F Hamilton
Greg Mandel series
Mindstar Rising
A Quantum Murder
The Nano Flower
Confederation
Night's Dawn Trilogy
The Reality Dysfunction
The Neutronium Alchemist
The Naked God
Commonweath Saga
Misspent Youth (same universe but incidental to the main story)
Pandora's Star
Judas Unchained
Void Trilogy - this veers mostly into tedious fantasy IMHO, but YMMV, but is actuallly linked to the Commonwealth Saga
The Dreaming Void
The Temporal Void
The Evolutionary Void
Chronicle of the Fallers - mix of tedious Void fantasy and Commonwealth stuff, getting more of the latter as it goes on
The Abyss Beyond Dreams
Night Without Stars
Others
Fallen Dragon
Manhatten in Reverse (short story collection)
Charles Stross
Accelerando
Glasshouse
Palimpsest
Eschaton series
Singularity Sky
Iron Sunrise
Laundry Files - cross between IT consultancy & necromancy. But a lot better
The Atrocity Archives
The Jennifer Morgue
Down on the Farm (novelette) online only, I think
The Fuller Memorandum
Overtime (novelette) available online
The Apocalypse Codex
Equoid (novelette) available online
The Rhesus Chart
The Annihilation Score
The Nightmare Stacks
The Delirium Brief
Merchant Princes series - alternate worlds, but only peripherally SciFi
The Family Trade
The Hidden Family
The Clan Corporate
The Merchants' War
The Revolution Business
The Trade of Queens
Halting State series
Halting State
Rule 34
Also has another series called Saturn's children, but I've only read the first one and a bit of the second and they're not doing anything for me, so hesitate to recommend
Alastair Reynolds
Revelation Space
Revelation Space
Chasm City
Redemption Ark
Absolution Gap
The Prefect
Others
Century Rain
Pushing Ice
House of Suns
Terminal World
Also has another series Poseidon's Children, which I'm not fond of
Neal Asher
All of these are in a related Polity universe, though the chronology mixes through the varies series
Agent Cormac
Gridlinked
The Line of Polity
Brass Man
Polity Agent
Line War
Spatterjay
The Skinner
The Voyage of the Sable Keech
Orbus
Transformation
Dark Intelligence
War Factory
Infinity Engine
Stand-alone books in the same universe
Prador Moon
Hilldiggers
Shadow of the Scorpion
The Technician
Also has another series, the Owner trilogy, which I'm less enthused about
David Brin
Uplift
Sundiver (bit of a slow start to the series, but persevere, it gets much better later)
Startide Rising
The Uplift War
The Uplift Trilogy
Brightness Reef
Infinity's Shore
Heaven's Reach
Kiln People
Earth - borderline recommendation
Has several other books, most of which I wouldn't recommend
Ken MacLeod
Fall Revolution
The Star Fraction
The Stone Canal
The Cassini Division
The Sky Road
Others
The Execution Channel
The Night Sessions
The Restoration Game
Intrusion
Ian McDonald
India 'series'
River of Gods
Cyberabad Days (collection)
Others
Brasyl
The Dervish House
William Gibson
Sprawl trilogy
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive
Bridge trilogy
Virtual Light
Idoru
All Tomorrow's Parties
Blue Ant trilogy
Pattern Recognition
Spook Country
Zero History
Short story collection
Burning Chrome
Others
The Difference Engine (with Bruce Sterling)
And of course the Mammoth Book of Best New SF short story collections each year, edited by Gardner Dozois
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2017 14:07:47 GMT -5
I mentioned this the other day as something I had coming form the library, but I got it in my hands this morning and have been flipping through it and have been blown away so far at how in depth and broad this book's survey of sci-fi is... The Sci-Fi Chronicles: A Visual History of the Glaxy's Greatest Science Fiction edited by Guy Haley, there is a look inside preview of this on Amazon for anyone who wants to preview it. The book is broken down into chapters by era-from Frankenstein in 1818 through things like Avatar and Hunger Games from this era. Lavishly illustrated with lots of timelines and infographs to put works in context of each other. There are entries form everything form the Batman and Superman universes for comics fan to things like Perry Rhadan, Verne, Wells, Lovecraft, big franchises like Doctor Who, Trek, Star Wars, PotA to writers like Alfred Bester or Robert Silverberg to publications like Astounding Stores and on and one. It is perhaps one of the most comprehensive all-in-one guides to the genre is all its myriad mediums that I've seen, and published in 2014, it includes a lot of contemporary stuff as well as the classics. here's the cover...  I haven't read much of it in depth yet, just skimmed through it, but many of the suggestions here are covered in it and anyone looking fro a guide to sci-fi should check this out. -M |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 15, 2017 14:09:38 GMT -5
Actually, upon further review, it looks like there are 3 different covers for this...  -M |
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Post by badwolf on Jul 15, 2017 15:58:54 GMT -5
Charles StrossAlso has another series called Saturn's children, but I've only read the first one and a bit of the second and they're not doing anything for me, so hesitate to recommend I didn't like Saturn's Children too much, but I really liked Neptune's Brood. |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jul 15, 2017 18:15:06 GMT -5
Yeah, they took the title from one and applied it to the storyline of another. The movie is clearly adapted from Ambassador of the shadows. In the comic, the empire of a thousand planets is just that: a big space empire. The city of a thousand planets from the movie is a big space station, called Central Point in the comic, built from an accumulation of independent environments coming from a myriad of different planets. Even the aliens we saw in the trailer were lifted directly from the comic (for which I am very grateful. And I do so hope we'll see a grumpy transmuter from Bluxte!) I haven't seen much of the previews and and either never knew or had forgotten what the content of them was like by the time I read Valérian Intégrale Volume 1 a few weeks back, so I didn't notice it was a different story from L'Empire des milles planètes. I already knew I wanted to see the film because it was Besson doing science fiction for the first time (I think?) since The Fifth Element. Luckily they happened to have the Intégrale Volume 3 in stock at the bookstore so I didn't have to order it online. They didn't have Volume 2, unfortunately, but I'll go ahead and read L'Ambassadeur des ombres anyway. Probably start later tonight. I can never get used to the French practice of not capitalising the first letters of all the main words in a title. I didn't know one had to do that in English! Thanks! |
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super-fab stuff.