February 23, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Steve Jones - Editor (2/23/2009)
The Kindle is great. [...]It is a bit pricey, it's US only, but it is great.
[font="Verdana"]A friend of mine was raving about his book reader (not a Kindle, but still using the e-ink). I think I will need to invest in one and start trimming the physical size of my SF library.[/font]
February 23, 2009 at 1:55 pm
Kit G (2/23/2009)
sometimes ya just gotta ask... what is the author smoking?
[font="Verdana"]From memory, for Philip K Dick it was speed, and for Michael Moorcock it was LSD.[/font]
February 23, 2009 at 1:56 pm
[font="Verdana"]Okay, who pushed my button? Shutting up now![/font]
February 23, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Bob Hovious (2/23/2009)
She Who Must Be Obeyed
You either read H. Rider Haggard or Rumpole....
Gail, yes the Illuminatus Trilogy is worth reading, although written in the early seventies and geared towards the mindset of the sixties. Not as well known as the Hitchhiker's Guide, but still the source of a lot of geekdom. It also got turned into a really fun card game.
fnord Io, io Eris... Hail Discordia fnord
Illumintus by Steve Jackson Games. That was a fun game. Had my best ever win in game playing that one time. Managed to trick the other players into not taking me out of the game and then won the game by killing myself (I was playing the "Claws of C'thulu") snatching victory out from under the guy who owned the game who was close to winning his first ever game. His expression as I won was worth every angonizing moment as I plotted my way to victory. And later on, it was found that the method of my winning was actually against the rules. Which makes the win even sweeter!
As for the Mists of Avalon, I tried it as well on the advice of others who like Arthurian books. Could not get into it. But I liked Mary Stewart's version.
-- Kit
February 23, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Orson Scott Card... "Ender's Game" and both series that followed. If any of you ever enjoyed the first novel and never read the rest, he'll teach you that there is always more than one side to a story.
The Alvin Maker series was also a fun light fantasy read, but the man raised then threw away ideas that could have been the basis of entire books.
__________________________________________________
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills
February 23, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Ender's Game was good, but I didn't like the follow-ups.
On "light fantasy", it just doesn't get better than the Diskworld books.
- Gus "GSquared", RSVP, OODA, MAP, NMVP, FAQ, SAT, SQL, DNA, RNA, UOI, IOU, AM, PM, AD, BC, BCE, USA, UN, CF, ROFL, LOL, ETC
Property of The Thread
"Nobody knows the age of the human race, but everyone agrees it's old enough to know better." - Anon
February 23, 2009 at 2:23 pm
Some more modern SF writers: Ian M Banks, Peter F Hamilton, Kevin J Anderson, Alistair Reynolds and Richard K Morgan. Clearly you like your SF cheerful and optimistic, wierdos :alien:
Did a lot of fantasy a while back (then again I read a lot of westerns too :blush: - it just wan't the same after Louis Lamour) but there seems to be a sortage of good SF material at the moment :doze:, even thought of writing some of my own but I keep on losing the plot... :blink:
Gail, commiserations re Telkom. I've got a moderate package for a tech fiend: unlimited 16down and l.5up for £15pm, life is tough in the UK, no? 😛 The BT shareholders board actually voted against installing fiber optic to residential properties - not really very forward thinking - what HD content are we supposed to stream with our n-protocol routers I ask you. Suppose there's still adsl2+ to get through before that becomes a real issue though.
I know it's kindda cheesy but one of my favourite SF movies was The Chronicles of Riddick and there was also a, quite suprisingly, poignant moment in Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer where Earth was about to be eaten for tea by Galactus - a seemingly grumpy cosmic cloud. Mind you, it wasn't personal.
Steve, how about a section where we can recommend books (sql and others) and list those from some of the authors here? Seems to be a regular query (no pun intended) anyway from some of the budding SQL-servians.
Max
February 23, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Bob Hovious (2/23/2009)
Orson Scott Card... "Ender's Game"
You know that book made me not want to play network games for a while, it was a short while. 😀
Max
February 23, 2009 at 2:38 pm
Ender's Game was good, but I didn't like the follow-ups.
We'll have to agree to disagree on that. I thought "Ender's Shadow" and the rest of the series about Bean were even better than the original.
poignant moment in Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer where Earth was about to be eaten for tea by Galactus - a seemingly grumpy cosmic cloud
What a sad depiction of the Eater of Worlds....
__________________________________________________
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills
February 23, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Max (2/23/2009)
there seems to be a sortage of good SF material at the moment :doze:,
I've noticed much the same thing. I'm in the mood for sci-fi at the moment and I can't find anything that looks good.
Gail, commiserations re Telkom. I've got a moderate package for a tech fiend: unlimited 16down and l.5up for £15pm, life is tough in the UK, no? 😛
:crying:
Steve, how about a section where we can recommend books (sql and others) and list those from some of the authors here? Seems to be a regular query (no pun intended) anyway from some of the budding SQL-servians.
I've got my reading list up on my blog, technical and fiction. What I'm busy with, what I've finished and what's in the to-read pile.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
February 23, 2009 at 2:50 pm
GilaMonster (2/23/2009)
I'm in the mood for sci-fi at the moment and I can't find anything that looks good.
[font="Verdana"]"Ian M Banks, Peter F Hamilton, Kevin J Anderson, Alistair Reynolds", to which I can add Neal Asher. If you like military SF/space opera, also have a look at David Weber, David Drake, Eric Flint, John Ringo, Elizabeth Moon.
Or have a look through Baen and Tor offerings (particularly the free libraries). There's a stack of stuff out there I am dying to read at the moment, just don't have the time or money to buy stuff at present. (Just moved house, so a bit broke.)
Admittedly, SF is a bit of a meta-genre. It does depend on what sort of SF you are in the mood for.
[/font]
February 23, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Bruce W Cassidy (2/23/2009)
Alistair Reynolds
I need to find some more of his. I found Galactic North in a small bookshop at the airport (of all places) and finished in 2 days.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
February 23, 2009 at 3:09 pm
This thread is "NOT getting worse" any more 😀
* Noel
February 23, 2009 at 3:18 pm
It may hit 2000 posts before midnight.
__________________________________________________
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -- Friedrich Schiller
Stop, children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down. -- Stephen Stills
February 23, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Bob Hovious (2/23/2009)
It may hit 2000 posts before midnight.
Okay, I have to ask, do you physically keep changing your avatar or is it changing itself at random?
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