Reading Science Fiction
I like to read science fiction. Particularly the ABC’s of science fiction authors (Asimov and Adams, Benford, Bear, Bova, and Brin, Clarke and Card). Sure there is the occasional author with a name starting with a letter other than A, B, or C that I like (Donaldson, Gibson, Ingrid, Saberhagen, Stephenson, Sheffield, etc.), but I never seem to get beyond the C section at the used book store before coming away with one that I want to read.
The book I am reading now is Slant, by Greg Bear and I have to say that I do not like it that much. Maybe it is because I keep on skipping parts that I have no idea what is going on, but I keep on skipping parts because they are boring. Oh well.
The book I read right before Slant is Cosm by Benford which I really liked. In the queue is Convergence by Sheffield.
2 March 2008 at 11:10 pm
“What about Ray Bradbury?”
I really liked Queen of Angels, but I’m not sure if I’ve read Slant. It’s possible I read Slant first, because while I was reading Queen of Angels, I kept getting this weird deja vu feeling… I had been pretty sure it was because I’d read an excerpt of QofA in OmnI Magazine or some such place, but I don’t really know anymore.
My favorite by Greg Bear is still the extremely strange Songs of Earth and Power, which is strange, ’cause I like hard SF, and Bear writes a lot of hard SF, but Songs of Earth and Power is actually fantasy, but it’s good stuff.
3 March 2008 at 11:56 am
Yep - I did forget about Ray Bradbury. Definitely fits in with the ABC’s. I was mostly going on who I had read recently.
Fantasy - yuck… how could you. There is a fine line between fantasy and science fiction that I do not normally cross. I did read Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant series which qualifies as fantasy so I am just a horrible horrible liar and hypocrite.
I will go out and get Songs of Earth. Thanks for the recommendation.
3 March 2008 at 8:04 pm
The correct answer to the Bradbury query, if you know your Simpsons, is to say, coolly, “I’m aware of his work.”
I don’t read hardly any fantasy, m’self. Songs of Earth and Power is just odd enough that I make an exception for it. I read Gaiman, too, for example, because his stuff is just so darn interesting that I forget that I don’t like fantasy.
3 March 2008 at 9:45 pm
I totally forgot that Simpson’s reference and I had it set up so well… erggg
4 March 2008 at 12:06 am
Baxter?
4 March 2008 at 12:15 am
“I am aware of his work.”
It just doesn’t work - I missed my chance.
I recently read The Time Ships which I liked.
5 March 2008 at 8:20 pm
I read Baxter’s Titan. That there is a deeply depressing book, but I gotta admit, if they offered me a one-way trip to Saturn, I’d take it.
5 March 2008 at 10:03 pm
I enjoyed Light Of Other Days and Manifold Time. Dude loves his wormholes.
5 March 2008 at 11:56 pm
I forgot about one more author outside of ABC, Stanislaw Lem. Two books of his stand out in my memory, Fiasco and Chain of Chance. (since everyone seems to be in an italics mood). Anyone else read his stuff?
I have seen Baxter’s Manifold series on the shelf at the used book store and never picked it up. Maybe I should try it - I like wormholes too.
6 March 2008 at 1:01 am
Solaris was kinda neat, but I got lost trying to read His Master’s Voice.
Avoid Manifold Origin. I’m not sure what happened. His Xeelee books are neat for the huge timescales involved.
18 April 2008 at 10:03 pm
I finished Manifold Space and Time. Good reads. Not great, but good.