Tell me more good stuff about me.

Kaylee ,'The Message'


The Minearverse 3: The Network Is a Harsh Mistress  

[NAFDA] "There will be an occasional happy, so that it might be crushed under the boot of the writer." From Zorro to Angel (including Wonderfalls and The Inside), this is where Buffistas come to anoint themselves in the bloodbath.


Calli - Jun 28, 2004 5:51:30 am PDT #891 of 10001
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

CJ Cherryh is one of those authors whose work I've always meant to read, but never got around to it. Does anyone have a suggested starting work?

I like King's shorter stuff. His novellas tend to really work for me, they're long enough to let him develop his characters but not so long that they let him sprawl all over the place.


sfmarty - Jun 28, 2004 5:54:03 am PDT #892 of 10001
Who? moi??

Been enjoying the SF discussion a lot. Couple of names that I would love to hear you chat about.

Damon Knight and Joe Haldeman.


Polter-Cow - Jun 28, 2004 5:58:29 am PDT #893 of 10001
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

Couple of names that I would love to hear you chat about.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Orson Scott Card. I love the Ender books and Pastwatch.


DXMachina - Jun 28, 2004 6:07:09 am PDT #894 of 10001
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

Joe Haldeman

I like Haldeman, although it's been a long while since I've actually read any of it. The Forever War is a great book, an anti-war version of Starship Troopers.


JohnSweden - Jun 28, 2004 6:07:10 am PDT #895 of 10001
I can't even.

Calli, there's a bibliography page here:

CJ Cherryh

Where to start? Wow. Depends. How about Downbelow Station, or The Pride of Chanur or Gate of Ivrel or Cyteen or Forty Thousand in Gehenna?

marty, I thought Joe Haldeman's The Forever War was engaging and horrifying and I think it is still an important book 30 years later. I read it as a perfect counter-point to Starship Troopers, but I'm not sure that juxtaposition is relevant anymore.

ETA: really cool x-post with DX.

P-C, I like the Ender books. Pastwatch was good too. I thought the Alvin Maker books, at least the first few, were good reads too.


DXMachina - Jun 28, 2004 6:08:16 am PDT #896 of 10001
You always do this. We get tipsy, and you take advantage of my love of the scientific method.

Heh, good x-post there, John.


Calli - Jun 28, 2004 6:21:18 am PDT #897 of 10001
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

Thanks, JohnS.

Cyteen's description at Amazon looks pretty interesting. I'll add it to my "look for at library" list.


§ ita § - Jun 28, 2004 6:35:50 am PDT #898 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Cyteen is a fascinating book, but it might be a little dense. I had to read it twice to be sure I wasn't sure. But I liked it.

I loved Orson Scott Card, but he makes Joss's absent father trope look like nothing when he pulls out the traumatized young boy guns.

Plus I want to smack him for the Seventh Son crap.

I stopped reading SF for a while, because all I wanted was Bull, Brust or Butler, and they were going too slowly.


JohnSweden - Jun 28, 2004 6:42:50 am PDT #899 of 10001
I can't even.

I stopped reading SF for a while, because all I wanted was Bull, Brust or Butler, and they were going too slowly.

I've been through phases exactly like that. Particularly with Emma and Steven and their contemporaries. One time what I did to get out of it, was to go back and pore over lists of stuff that Terri Windling was editing for Ace (and then Tor) and make sure I had read all of it. I found a few new authors and books that way. The shortcut way to do this is to pull out the Year's Best Fantasy and Horror that she edits with Ellen Datlow and scan that for unread writers.

I loved Orson Scott Card, but he makes Joss's absent father trope look like nothing when he pulls out the traumatized young boy guns.

So much Word. He wore me out. I haven't gone back to read him since.


arby - Jun 28, 2004 6:54:45 am PDT #900 of 10001
Guy #1: Man, there are so many hipsters around. I hate hipsters! Guy #2: You're at the wrong place. That's like going to Vegas only to say "I hate titties!" --The Warsaw, Williamsburg (OINY)

I love OSC, although I got bored with Alvin Maker about three books in. All the others were pretty much awesome. I HATED Xenocide, but the Ender books after that - Ender's Shadow and Puppet Masters - were great. Also adore Brust and have read them all about fifty times. Haven't read enough Bull. Butler - I really liked that series about the Seeds and the Garden (memfault and too lazy to Google) and there was one more, but need to read the rest of them.