John Varley: "Steel Beach"
SF/F Books: Chapter Two - What Are You Reading?
- Thread starter Neroon
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I've looked at it but never read-let me know what you think when you finish.
After having read the first hundred pages: Pretty weird stuff... but I like it somehow.
Mankind was driven off the Earth by aliens two hundred years ago, because the aliens wanted to give the planet back to its actual intelligent life forms (and therefore rightful owners): whales and dolphins. Since then, the human race is scattered throughout the solar system. In the Lunar Colony, people either seem to live in a replica of 19th century Texas or on farms where they breed dinosaurs for food (which were resurrected centuries ago through cloning). Aside from that, sex-change operations have become a frequent activity.
So much about the general setting without revealing any important information on the plot. Despite all this, I wouldn't describe the novel as being in the mold of flat-out comedies like Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's Guid to the Galaxy". There's surely a lot of irony and some dark humour involved, but the author almost manages to make this future plausible. The novel also includes most of the modern SF tropes: transhumanism, extreme longevity, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, virtual reality etc.
Just started René Barjavel's The Ice People, a 1968 French sf novel about which I know absolutely nothing.
Didn't even know there was a sequel. What is the title?
The sequel to "The Mote in God's Eye" is called "The Gripping Hand". It was written by the same authors and published about 20 years later. As I implied before, if you liked "Mote", you'll probably like "Hand", it just lacks the mystery and sense of discovery of "Mote". (FYI, in the UK, "Hand" was published as "The Moat Around Murcheson's Eye".)
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I read the The Mote in God's Eye some 15 years ago and loved it. I need to re-read it sometime to see how it holds up to older eyes.
The SFF books I've read over the last months since I last checked in here (in the order I read them - I chose to read the Narnia books in the original publication order, a decision I was happy about having now concluded the series):
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis - a disappointment after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the weakest in the series in my opinion. I actually think they did a very good job with the film adaptation and it's one of the few adaptations where I prefer the film to the book. The book has some interesting themes but just didn't engage me from a plot or character point of view this time around.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis - from the weakest in the series to the book I consider to be the best in the series; this is a wonderful, magical adventure with memorable scenes and characters. I hope that Walden Media finds another studio to partner with in making the film now that Disney has pulled out.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - a good, solid entry in the series. It's a little slow to start with but picks up nicely as it goes along.
The Chronicles of Narnia: A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis - a very entertaining entry. The switch in locales and characters was a nice change of pace.
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin - a big change of pace from Narnia as this entry in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is the most conniving and bloody yet. Loved it!
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis - a fun entry that starts off a little choppy and gains strength as it gets into the creation of Narnia. It's better, and more meaningful, reading it as a prequel late in the series rather than reading it first in my opinion.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis - in many ways it's one of the best books in the series. There's a very real sense of menace and the imagery Lewis uses is potent. But it's very dark for an all-ages fantasy adventure book and the inclusion of a racial epithet is particularly troubling (even though it's used by characters who have lost their way and aren't sympathetic it's still jarring), as is Susan's fate.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester - I can see how it was such a jolt to the system in the 1950s, but the characterization and dialogue are a little broad for my taste. Still, it's a very inventive novel with a hard-charging narrative and some interesting ideas. The baby/child/woman romance was quite disturbing. Out of the two most famous Bester novels I consider The Stars My Destination to be the superior one.
The SFF books I've read over the last months since I last checked in here (in the order I read them - I chose to read the Narnia books in the original publication order, a decision I was happy about having now concluded the series):
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis - a disappointment after The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the weakest in the series in my opinion. I actually think they did a very good job with the film adaptation and it's one of the few adaptations where I prefer the film to the book. The book has some interesting themes but just didn't engage me from a plot or character point of view this time around.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis - from the weakest in the series to the book I consider to be the best in the series; this is a wonderful, magical adventure with memorable scenes and characters. I hope that Walden Media finds another studio to partner with in making the film now that Disney has pulled out.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis - a good, solid entry in the series. It's a little slow to start with but picks up nicely as it goes along.
The Chronicles of Narnia: A Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis - a very entertaining entry. The switch in locales and characters was a nice change of pace.
A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin - a big change of pace from Narnia as this entry in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series is the most conniving and bloody yet. Loved it!
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis - a fun entry that starts off a little choppy and gains strength as it gets into the creation of Narnia. It's better, and more meaningful, reading it as a prequel late in the series rather than reading it first in my opinion.
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis - in many ways it's one of the best books in the series. There's a very real sense of menace and the imagery Lewis uses is potent. But it's very dark for an all-ages fantasy adventure book and the inclusion of a racial epithet is particularly troubling (even though it's used by characters who have lost their way and aren't sympathetic it's still jarring), as is Susan's fate.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester - I can see how it was such a jolt to the system in the 1950s, but the characterization and dialogue are a little broad for my taste. Still, it's a very inventive novel with a hard-charging narrative and some interesting ideas. The baby/child/woman romance was quite disturbing. Out of the two most famous Bester novels I consider The Stars My Destination to be the superior one.
I've just finished Princeps' Fury, I can't wait till next December now, to finish the story. I suppose there's the new Dresden Files book to kill some time in a few months.
I got The Unnatural Inquirer which reminded me I better finish the rest of the Nightside novels, so I started Paths Not Taken last night, I'm enjoying it so far, but they seem to be getting kinda samey at this point. Someone with a problem comes to John, John helps them which draws him in to bigger problems, John uses his power which brings the "enemy", John narrowly escapes and finishes his case.
I got The Unnatural Inquirer which reminded me I better finish the rest of the Nightside novels, so I started Paths Not Taken last night, I'm enjoying it so far, but they seem to be getting kinda samey at this point. Someone with a problem comes to John, John helps them which draws him in to bigger problems, John uses his power which brings the "enemy", John narrowly escapes and finishes his case.
I am reading the Identity Theft collection of short stories by Robert J Sawyer. I jumped to Shed Skin, which is the basis for Mindscan, and reading in order from their. My favorite so far is 'Mikeys', the NASA term for people that almost go all the way. It refers to Mike Collins who was a part of the Apollo 11 mission but never set foot on the moon.
I agree, publication order is best. This entry is much more meaningful knowing what Narnia becomes.
I just re-read the Narnia series again last year, myself.
Voyage of the Dawn Treader was always my favorite. The adaptation of tL,tW,&tW didn't do much for me, so I never saw Prince Caspian, but I definitely would have been there for a Dawn Treader film.
"The Cosmic Puppets" by Philip K. Dick... soon to be followed by "Solar Lottery" by same. Just finished "Just After Sunset" by Stephen King.
Arthur C. Clarke: "The Fountains of Paradise"
I'm actually reading Captain's Fury right now. I want to read Princeps' Fury, but I don't want to buy it in hardcover. I suppose I could just see if they have it at the library, because I really don't want to wait a whole year (two years, really, since that's when the last book would come out in paperback).
I enjoyed the book, and I'm enough of a fan of Jim Butcher's work to buy the hardbacks, but I will say this, you may well be better off seeing if you can pick it up at the library because the book seems to be very much set up for the last book, and it doesn't stand alone like the other stories.
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