Just finished the 8th Legacy of the Force novel "Revelation". Started reading the 3rd novel of the Vulcan's Soul series (Epiphany) which just came out in paperback.
SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?
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Recently read Stardust by Neil Gaiman.. was a bit disappointed by it because some of my friends adore it and i do not but i very much liked the ending.
Currently re-reading the Foundation Trilogy (the Mule is soon to appear) and i've just ordered some new SF books from Amazon though i'll get them late March at the earliest.
Currently re-reading the Foundation Trilogy (the Mule is soon to appear) and i've just ordered some new SF books from Amazon though i'll get them late March at the earliest.
I think I'm going to start on Stephen Baxter's Ring tonight.
Bolo is amazing. There's nothing else I can say. Laumer's Bolo-most of the 2cnd author sequels are alright but not up to his standard. Read "Bolo" - its a hell of a ride- I was on the verge of tears when I hit the story "The Last Command". The book is a collection of short stories around a single theme.
And if you like Retief try Harrison's The Stainless Steel Rat-the first couple stories are great.
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tx to some vacation time I finally got my re-reading-Thomas-Covenant project going -- finished Lord Foul's Bane, read The Illearth War, and am embarking on The Power That Preserves... Man, Illearth War is such a great book. Elena is one of the coolest/creepiest characters in all of fantasy lol. 
Not a fan of the Covenant books, personally, but there are some series I wish I had the time to reread. For a start, Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun and Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and Gray Mouser books. But there are too many unread books to get through, so I'm working through one of the new Doctor Who novels at the moment.
Not trying to spam, just don't want this thread to get lost.
Currently reading: the Doctor Who spinoff Bernice Summerfield novels. In the dark years between the end of the first Who series and the beginning of the new series, the books kept the show alive for hardcore fans. Some of the books' writers ended up writing for the new series, e.g., Russell T. Davies and Paul Cornell.
One thing the books did was introduce new continuing characters and companions. Bernice Summerfield was one of the best. When Virgin Books lost the Doctor Who novel licence in 1996 because BBC Books took over following the TV movie, Virgin carried on their New Adventures line with Bernice Summerfield as the main character. They did 22 novels. Later, Big Finish started a line of Benny audios and also restarted the book line (there are 20 or more books from them, and a lot of audios.)
Unlike the relatively immature companions the new TV series has featured, Benny was a grown woman who managed to survive some major adventures and crises on her own, before and after meeting the Doctor. Imagine a hard-drinking, sarcastically funny, cross between Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, and you're not exactly there yet, but she was closer to that than she could ever possibly be to Rose Tyler.
So I've read a couple more Benny books; I'm about halfway through the Virgin line now. The Doctor Who New Adventures line was one of the best ongoing media SF tie-in lines ever, and even without the Doctor, there's a lot to love in the Benny books. After all, they were largely written by the same group of writers, and a number of the Who books had set up a fairly consistent period of future history for the Benny books to take place in. When I first heard that there were Who spinoff books that carried on without the Doctor I thought they were just flogging a dead horse, but I was wrong. The literary Whoniverse is better off for having these books (and the Time Hunter books, and the Faction Paradox books).
Currently reading: the Doctor Who spinoff Bernice Summerfield novels. In the dark years between the end of the first Who series and the beginning of the new series, the books kept the show alive for hardcore fans. Some of the books' writers ended up writing for the new series, e.g., Russell T. Davies and Paul Cornell.
One thing the books did was introduce new continuing characters and companions. Bernice Summerfield was one of the best. When Virgin Books lost the Doctor Who novel licence in 1996 because BBC Books took over following the TV movie, Virgin carried on their New Adventures line with Bernice Summerfield as the main character. They did 22 novels. Later, Big Finish started a line of Benny audios and also restarted the book line (there are 20 or more books from them, and a lot of audios.)
Unlike the relatively immature companions the new TV series has featured, Benny was a grown woman who managed to survive some major adventures and crises on her own, before and after meeting the Doctor. Imagine a hard-drinking, sarcastically funny, cross between Lara Croft and Indiana Jones, and you're not exactly there yet, but she was closer to that than she could ever possibly be to Rose Tyler.
So I've read a couple more Benny books; I'm about halfway through the Virgin line now. The Doctor Who New Adventures line was one of the best ongoing media SF tie-in lines ever, and even without the Doctor, there's a lot to love in the Benny books. After all, they were largely written by the same group of writers, and a number of the Who books had set up a fairly consistent period of future history for the Benny books to take place in. When I first heard that there were Who spinoff books that carried on without the Doctor I thought they were just flogging a dead horse, but I was wrong. The literary Whoniverse is better off for having these books (and the Time Hunter books, and the Faction Paradox books).
I just finished reading Ring by Stephen Baxter . Highly depressing, but highly enjoyable. It's the very end of the Xeelee saga. A ship has been dispatched on a 1000 year journey through a wormhole that will lead them 5,000,000 years into the future determine the future demise of mankind. It's a very engrossing story that I highly recommend.
I read a few pages of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. That didn't grab my attention. I then read a few pages of Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and realized I didn't have any idea what was going on, so I put that one down as well.
I'm currently reading Gateway by Frederik Pohl. This one has really caught my attention and I can't wait to get to the bulk of the story.
After this, It's going to be a toss-up between:
Sundiver & Startide Rising by David Brin
In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford
Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (read half of it a couple of years ago before losing my copy)
I read a few pages of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. That didn't grab my attention. I then read a few pages of Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke and realized I didn't have any idea what was going on, so I put that one down as well.
I'm currently reading Gateway by Frederik Pohl. This one has really caught my attention and I can't wait to get to the bulk of the story.
After this, It's going to be a toss-up between:
Sundiver & Startide Rising by David Brin
In the Ocean of Night by Gregory Benford
Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (read half of it a couple of years ago before losing my copy)
I'm just about to start Exultant, the second in Stephen Baxter's "Destiny's Children[/i] series - I wasn't a big fan of the first, so it may not grab me. We'll just have to see.
I haven't read the Willis, though I've read a lot of her short fiction, and she's a good writer. IIRC, though, that one is sort of a sequel to another book. As for Childhood's End, I don't recall that being a confusing read at all. Hope you give it another try.
Yeah, I read it when I was twelve and I understood it. It's esoteric as far as the role humankind has in the universe is concerned; but not in any incomprehensible way.
Reading Mass Effect - Revelation, then it's a re-read of Microserfs.
If you like The Mote in God's Eye, Starbreaker, be sure to check out the sequel, The Gripping Hand. It's not quite as good as Mote, IMO, but a worthy successor nonetheless.
Not really science fiction or fantasy, but I just started Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald, although one story ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") is about a man who ages backwards (a la Merlin).
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