Basically this story is about a bunch of scientist who flee Earth due to a tryannical world government..
Posted on 08/19/2006 7:09:57 PM PDT by Hacksaw
There have been several science fiction threads floating around in the near past - and I thought it would be good to hash out the books.
Here are my thoughts:
Almost anything by Larry Niven is worth it - especially stuff from the Known Space series. Jerry Pournelle is also good, but under-rated. His Janissaries books were a good read, along with Starswarm.
RAH - most of his books are very enjoyable. His later stuff (which some consider his classics) I didn't like at all, especially that one about a guy getting his brain transplanted in a womans body. I didn't make it 1/3 of the way through before I gave up.
Ben Bova - readable. Not great, but still a page turner.
Star Trek books - unfortuneately, many of these are BORING. Notable exceptions are those written by by Diane Duane or Michael Jan Friedman. JM Dillard also seems good.
Asimov - almost always worth it.
Orson Scott Card - most of the time worth it. The Enders Game series was very good.
Saberhagen - good read. His berserker concept has also been picked up by other authors.
Kim Stanley Robinson - bleech. I kept wishing the characters in his books would get killed. Unfortuneately they were the heroes. Picture a bunch of disciples of Hugo Chavez colonizing Mars and you get the picture.
AC Clarke - very entertaining. Safe bets.
Other thoughts?
That is a fabulous quote. Do you know who said it?
Edward Wilson, he was an ant expert.
Hyperion is wonderful, IMO. Rises to the category of literature. The next three are very good as well. Simmons is a great SF writer.
That makes it even funnier. Thanks.
Thanks, I will read it!!
Robert Heinlein: Always worth the time and effort. Very re-readable fare that still holds up today.
Joe Haldeman: First noticed him ages ago with 'The Forever War'. I've had to buy four re-prints over the years. Due to loaning this superb 'Starship Trooper'esque novel to friends and never getting them back. His stories have only gotten better from there.
David Drake: His "Hammer's Slammers" series definitely pull the plow. Excellent juxtaposition of Vietnam Armor on faraway planets. 'Redliners' is required reading!
Jack.
Could a "comically" brutal regime survive?
Only if it were completely so, brutally slaughtering those who even so much as appeared to be plotting its demise.
Stalin lasted a long time here, for the relatively primitive nature of his espionage and surveillance apparatus, and lacked the indoctrinational and cultural benefits of an established feudal culture within which to establish a dynasty.
So, I did not find the Harkonens to be beyond credible, just approaching one of the purer end-members of sadistically brutal despotism.
Sure beat the britches off the crap on TV. (8^D)
I'd be interested in reading your thoughts as to why.
DW377 then goes on to describe events in "Objects in Space," the final episode of Firefly.
I'm curious to know if this was the only episode of Firefly you watched, since it was unfortunately, the last episode.
First off, the world of Firefly is quite reminiscent of many of RAH's writings. Where you have the Central Core worlds, with lots of civilization, and lots of government, and you have the outlying worlds, where life is much like it was during the "frontier days." There are some big differences, mostly in the asian influences, but that's understandable given the changes in the current political power scenes.
Next up, the writing. It's some of the wittiest I've ever seen on TV. Joss and the other writers have come up with some really terrific lines for these characters, and I think that the casting was absolutely perfect. Every one of the actors is completely believable in the role they play, and everyone I've ever met who's a fan comes to care about the characters. It's easy to forget you're watching a TV show and get sucked into it. Third, in addition to being well written and acted, the characters themselves are fully developed as people, with mysteries that the fans were waiting to be revealed. In the pilot episode (Serenity was the title, although the movie was also titled Serenity), we see that Mal (the captain) is a charismatic leader, fighting a war he believes in. He's got strong faith in G-d, and he's willing to put himself in harms way in a big part because of that faith. We see the moment that he loses his faith when he's ordered to "lay down arms" by his own command, who abandons them after the "Battle of Serenity Valley." Three characters in particular who have interesting pasts that most people were hoping to learn about are Inara, River, and Book. For instance, in the episode you refered to, Early (the bounty hunter) claims that Book "ain't no Shepherd." And in many earlier episodes, we see hints, some subtle, some ourtageous, that "Shepherd Book" knows a lot more about crime and covert military (as well as political) action than your typical minister.
The episode you watched was (I believe) the 13th episode, and character development was finished. There really wasn't any exposition about the characters, with the exception of discussing River's proficiency with firearms, which is really seen in the movie Serenity.
If "Objects in Space" is the only episode you watched (and I believe that it is one of the better ones), you missed out on very important stuff. You might want to give it another try, but this time, somehow get the first DVD: Watch Serenity (the 2 part pilot), The Train Job, and Bushwhacked. On the other hand, if you don't like the 2 part pilot, don't bother with the rest. Unfortunately, having seen an episode before the pilot seeing the characters unfold won't be as "wonderous" for you, though you'll be seeing it much as the FOX tv audiences did, since Fox didn't actually show the pilot until the series had been cancelled!
Mark
he calls his writings FANTASY !
I've always liked a term that Harlan Ellison used for writing that didn't quite fit into either the SciFi or Fantasy genres... Speculative Fiction. Good examples being things works like "On the Beach," or "This Perfect Day."
Mark
I liked Firefly alot also. The kids brought it home to watch over Christmas, when my wife came home from the hospital, and was well enough to watch TV again.
How can you not like a space opera in which the protagonists are pictured as being along the lines of disillusioned Confederates, roaming the West (space)? And in which they wield firearms strangely reminiscent of 20th century guns. One of them even has what looks suspiciously like a Remginton model 12, which came out in 1912. There even seem to be strains of libertarianism running through it.
Glad the thread reminded me of it, going to have to go out and buy it.
I've read a lot of Larry Niven over the years, and you can get a sense of his politics from this interview. I always felt that his story, The Cloak of Anarchy was particularly good.
I've never read any Dan Simmons except for this short story pointed out by another Freeper. That, this follow-up message, and messages on his forum are interesting reading. There is also some interesting stuff on Jerry Pournelle's site.
Michael Chrichton's speeches on subjects like Global Warming are definitely worth reading.
On Politically Incorrect years ago, Ray Bradbury went off on a rather passionate defense of Senator Bob Packwood, saying that by the standards used to push him out, Bradbury had sexually harassed his wife until she married him.
James P. Hogan apparently has some sympathy for Holocaust revisionists (see 22 February 2006 message). Not sure what that says about the rest of his politics.
Now, with respect to Harlan Ellison, I won't buy an Ellison book, not because of his leftist politics or the Rush Limbaugh joke ("What's the difference between the Hindenburg and Rush Limbaugh? One is a big Nazi gasbag...") but because he's a world class jerk. The angry little man won't be getting any of my money unless, of course, they release The Starlost on DVD.
A few favorites:
Dune Series
Foundation Trilogy
Martian Chronicles
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
The Riverworld Saga
Terry Goodkind's Sword of Thruth series (good conservitive tack) The latest book (Phantom) has a great plan that should be used for stopping Muslims
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series
Andre Norton's Witch World series
Steven R Donaldson
David Eddings'
Stephen King's Dark Tower series
Heinlein all
Larry Niven
Orson Scott Card
Mission Earth is the only work I've ever read.
Mainly because I had read every other book in that part of the base library, so decided what the heck.
I'll have to find a copy of "Fear" to read.
"I Will Fear No Evil".
One premise of "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress" was that China and India remain in a state of perpetual near-starvation, requiring lunar slaves to keep them supplied with protein.
I wrote off AC Clarke since 3001. It was a poor story that did nothing be give the author an excuse to preach his anti-religious views.
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