Planet Rugby Forum

And although the movie has turned it into some sort of a joke (specially in here):

Starship troopers, by R. Heinlein.

Tim13 wrote:Brave New World - Huxley
Fahrenheiht 451 - Bradbury

Yeah. I read a lot of dystopian fiction, and these are two of the staples of the genre. Though JG Ballard really defines it for me. His short stories are excellent and his novels take some beating.

An interesting one I read was The Book of Dave by Will Self. If you like dystopian fiction, then look it up.

Stephen King (Richard Bachman)'s The Long Walk is also one that I really rate. One of King's best - but then, his work always read better in short stories than long novels. He comes up with great ideas, but they drift off into realms of schisse as they reach the conclusion (e.g. The Stand, The Dark Tower)

Mad suppet wrote:

windpomp wrote:Pile of shit, how anyone can be interested in this genre is beyond me.

windpomp wrote: I believe in God, that`s all.

religious fiction > science fiction

Puma wrote:And although the movie has turned it into some sort of a joke (specially in here):

Starship troopers, by R. Heinlein.

I always viewed the movie as a bit of brilliant satire.

For those who liked The Mars Trillogy by KS Robinson, check out the california trillogy. It takes a look at three very different futures for a small area of California. Much less info dumps than the Mars Trillogy thankfully.

Currently reading the Old Man's War series. Onto the second book and it's quite enjoyable.

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Gospel wrote:

JM2K6 wrote:Once you've got the Iain M Banks bug, Excession is his best "pure sci-fi" novel IMO.

Good book but Feersum Ennjin holds a special place.

Although I like Excession (was the book hat got me into Banks), Consider Phlebus, Look to Windward and Use of Weapons piss on it from a decent height.

Consider Phlebas was my starting point, but I think Use of Weapons is probably his best SF - that I've read anyway. Against a Dark Background was fun too, as was Player of Games. Of his straight fiction I'd recommend Complicity or The Wasp Factory to anyone who hasn't read them, though they are pretty dark novels. The Crow Road is a lighter if lengthier affair.

Zakar wrote:

Puma wrote:And although the movie has turned it into some sort of a joke (specially in here):

Starship troopers, by R. Heinlein.

I always viewed the movie as a bit of brilliant satire.

Sadly, as a satire of a parody wholly miss-understood by the film makers, it kind of missed the point...

Fat Albert wrote:

Zakar wrote:

Puma wrote:And although the movie has turned it into some sort of a joke (specially in here):

Starship troopers, by R. Heinlein.

I always viewed the movie as a bit of brilliant satire.

Sadly, as a satire of a parody wholly miss-understood by the film makers, it kind of missed the point...

lol

I think the film Makers knew exactly what they were doing

off the top of my head id say

Orginal Dune

Oryx and Crake

Enders Game

And if you wanted to get proper nerdy the Warhammer 40K - Horus Heresy series was good. Warhammer 40K is awesome once you get into it.

Pioughd wrote:I guess I tend towards the epic sagas rather than stand-alones, having polished off:

Hitchhikers - Adams
Culture Universe - Banks
Xeelee Sequence, Destiny's Children - Baxter
Greg Mandel Trilogy, Confederation Universe, Commonwealth Universe - Hamilton
Dune (original) series - Herbert
Hyperion Cantos, Ilium/ Olympos - Simmons

Recently read Bank's Hydrogen Sonata and just finished Hamilton's Great North Road both well worth a try

Warning: I read that Ender's Game is coming to film this year.

Pioughd wrote:

Pioughd wrote:I guess I tend towards the epic sagas rather than stand-alones, having polished off:

Hitchhikers - Adams
Culture Universe - Banks
Xeelee Sequence, Destiny's Children - Baxter
Greg Mandel Trilogy, Confederation Universe, Commonwealth Universe - Hamilton
Dune (original) series - Herbert
Hyperion Cantos, Ilium/ Olympos - Simmons

Recently read Bank's Hydrogen Sonata and just finished Hamilton's Great North Road both well worth a try

Similar likes to you, except not so keen on Baxter, prefer Asher's Agent Cormac books. Also a big Al Reynolds fan as well
Just finished Great North Road and really liked the whole world building that Hamilton does so well. So just going to reread the 5 Commonwealth novels, starting with Pandora's Star. Bit of light reading, best part of 4000 pages!

Harry Ford is in it.

Immortality Inc.

A flawed novel but it's interesting and an easy read. Sheckley wrote some brilliant short story compilations in the 50s that I grew up reading. Always liked Store of the Worlds and Seventh Victim.

Sad knowing this one got a Hollywood adaptation that threw out all the important bits; the story could've really blossomed on film.

Nieghorn wrote:Warning: I read that Ender's Game is coming to film this year.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1731141/

Oct 2013 in UK!

Reading Ender's Game is like listening to Wagner or watching a movie by Roman Polanski.

Lacrobat wrote:Reading Ender's Game is like listening to Wagner or watching a movie by Roman Polanski.

I highly recommend you "Ender's Shadow" too. Basically the same story but told through Bean's eyes.

And it sets up a very interesting "Shadow" series that explores the future of Earth when the kids come back home after the Formic Wars.

Puma wrote:

Lacrobat wrote:Reading Ender's Game is like listening to Wagner or watching a movie by Roman Polanski.

I highly recommend you "Ender's Shadow" too. Basically the same story but told through Bean's eyes.

And it sets up a very interesting "Shadow" series that explores the future of Earth when the kids come back home after the Formic Wars.

Those analogies weren't meant as compliments...

_fatprop wrote:I still like Dune, I still read it once a year

Same here.

Peter Hamilton is one of my favourite authors at the moment. Just read Fallen Dragon. Re-reading Enders Game. Had forgotten how simply written it is. Hopefully they won't fudge the movie up.

Lacrobat wrote:

Puma wrote:

Lacrobat wrote:Reading Ender's Game is like listening to Wagner or watching a movie by Roman Polanski.

I highly recommend you "Ender's Shadow" too. Basically the same story but told through Bean's eyes.

And it sets up a very interesting "Shadow" series that explores the future of Earth when the kids come back home after the Formic Wars.

Those analogies weren't meant as compliments...

Too bad, I like Wagner's operas too...

Pioughd wrote:Dune (original) series - Herbert

Dune: a bunch of religious drug addicts looking to secure their next high by taking over the universe, a homosexual floating fat man that hates sandpeople, people that control travel by becoming more deformed than people on crystalmeth, giant worms, and witches that seek to rule through breeding.

How has a "Robin Hood: Men in Tights"-type movie not been made of Dune yet?

(note: I enjoy Dune.)

Puma wrote:

Lacrobat wrote:

Puma wrote:

Lacrobat wrote:Reading Ender's Game is like listening to Wagner or watching a movie by Roman Polanski.

I highly recommend you "Ender's Shadow" too. Basically the same story but told through Bean's eyes.

And it sets up a very interesting "Shadow" series that explores the future of Earth when the kids come back home after the Formic Wars.

Those analogies weren't meant as compliments...

Too bad, I like Wagner's operas too...

It's a question of separating the art from the artist.

Wagner was a brilliant composer - and a reactionary, antisemitic asshole.

Polanksi is a brilliant director - and a child rapist who should have spent years behind bars.

Card isn't in their league (in any sense of the word) but his politics make appreciating his writing problematic to say the least.

I am enjoying The Phoenix Conspiracy series by Richard Sanders
With the added bonus of the first book is free on Amazon Kindle

Puma wrote:And although the movie has turned it into some sort of a joke (specially in here):

Starship troopers, by R. Heinlein.

Re-read it recently, Heinlein was way ahead of the field and that book has spawned a zillion books like it, I always ask for classic books for prezzies, got when worlds collide and its sequel too

Think that having a movie remake done too (along with Ender of course)

Working my way through The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey (two books so far with a third one to be published later this year).

Good space opera and the authors (Corey is a nom de plume for a pair of authors whose names I can't remember at the moment) know how to tell a good story.

Book 1 is Leviathan Wakes (finished and enjoyed it a lot)
Book 2 is Caliban's War (reading it now)

Also recommended is Glasshouse by Charles Stross, although I haven't been overwhelmed with his other stuff I've read (Accelerando was awful and his 2-book Eschaton series was above average at best). But Glasshouse is outstanding and well worth a read.

SEAsianExpat wrote:Working my way through The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey (two books so far with a third one to be published later this year).

Good space opera and the authors (Corey is a nom de plume for a pair of authors whose names I can't remember at the moment) know how to tell a good story.

Book 1 is Leviathan Wakes (finished and enjoyed it a lot)
Book 2 is Caliban's War (reading it now)

Also recommended is Glasshouse by Charles Stross, although I haven't been overwhelmed with his other stuff I've read (Accelerando was awful and his 2-book Eschaton series was above average at best). But Glasshouse is outstanding and well worth a read.

Leviathan Wakes is a very good book - a deserving Hugo winner.

Never been a Sci-fi fan but I read Brave New World and Slaughterhouse 5 because they were literary classics. still not sure of the fuss about SH5. Really like BNW. War of the Worlds is another, and, er that's about it unless you can count Frankenstein and a couple by Jules Verne.

Geek wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Gospel wrote:

JM2K6 wrote:Once you've got the Iain M Banks bug, Excession is his best "pure sci-fi" novel IMO.

Good book but Feersum Ennjin holds a special place.

Although I like Excession (was the book hat got me into Banks), Consider Phlebus, Look to Windward and Use of Weapons piss on it from a decent height.

Consider Phlebas was my starting point, but I think Use of Weapons is probably his best SF - that I've read anyway. Against a Dark Background was fun too, as was Player of Games. Of his straight fiction I'd recommend Complicity or The Wasp Factory to anyone who hasn't read them, though they are pretty dark novels. The Crow Road is a lighter if lengthier affair.

I started reading Banks recently and being a stickler am reading them in the order they were published. greatly enjoyed Consider phlebus and Player of Games am honestly struggling with use of weapons. Am currently about halfway through and seriously considering ditching it.

RuggaBugga wrote: am honestly struggling with use of weapons. Am currently about halfway through and seriously considering ditching it.

It's one of the best of the series. Possibly you haven't noticed it yet, but the timelime switches depending on whether the chapter starts with Arabic (1, 2, 3 etc) numerals or Roman (I, II, III, etc) numbers. I would have found the book less confusing and easier to sort out if I'd realized that earlier while reading it.

RuggaBugga wrote:

Geek wrote:

Jeff the Bear wrote:

Gospel wrote:

JM2K6 wrote:Once you've got the Iain M Banks bug, Excession is his best "pure sci-fi" novel IMO.

Good book but Feersum Ennjin holds a special place.

Although I like Excession (was the book hat got me into Banks), Consider Phlebus, Look to Windward and Use of Weapons piss on it from a decent height.

Consider Phlebas was my starting point, but I think Use of Weapons is probably his best SF - that I've read anyway. Against a Dark Background was fun too, as was Player of Games. Of his straight fiction I'd recommend Complicity or The Wasp Factory to anyone who hasn't read them, though they are pretty dark novels. The Crow Road is a lighter if lengthier affair.

I started reading Banks recently and being a stickler am reading them in the order they were published. greatly enjoyed Consider phlebus and Player of Games am honestly struggling with use of weapons. Am currently about halfway through and seriously considering ditching it.

Persevere mate, it really is a cracking novel.

Youtube is full of shit fan made fake trailers for Ender's Game. Sounds like a high school English project.

SEAsianExpat wrote:

RuggaBugga wrote: am honestly struggling with use of weapons. Am currently about halfway through and seriously considering ditching it.

It's one of the best of the series. Possibly you haven't noticed it yet, but the timelime switches depending on whether the chapter starts with Arabic (1, 2, 3 etc) numerals or Roman (I, II, III, etc) numbers. I would have found the book less confusing and easier to sort out if I'd realized that earlier while reading it.

If I hadn't worked that out by the time I was halfway through the book I'd be worried.

I have noticed everybody seems to rate it very highly and it does seem to be getting better as it goes along.

I must just leave it and come back later, I'm probably a bit sci-fi'd out at the moment.

For a quick fix, I've just read Philip K Dick's short stories The Minority Report and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep that were the basis for Minority Report and blade runner respectively. Both are excellent, very little like their films and worth a go.

RuggaBugga wrote:
I must just leave it and come back later, I'm probably a bit sci-fi'd out at the moment.

It has an immense ending so it is worth it.

RuggaBugga wrote:

SEAsianExpat wrote:

RuggaBugga wrote: am honestly struggling with use of weapons. Am currently about halfway through and seriously considering ditching it.

It's one of the best of the series. Possibly you haven't noticed it yet, but the timelime switches depending on whether the chapter starts with Arabic (1, 2, 3 etc) numerals or Roman (I, II, III, etc) numbers. I would have found the book less confusing and easier to sort out if I'd realized that earlier while reading it.

If I hadn't worked that out by the time I was halfway through the book I'd be worried.

I have noticed everybody seems to rate it very highly and it does seem to be getting better as it goes along.

I must just leave it and come back later, I'm probably a bit sci-fi'd out at the moment.

Funnily enough, I'm in the same boat. Personally, like Cloud Atlas, if you have to start keeping mental notes (or even real ones as my wife does on the back pages), then there's something not right with your book.

It's an interesting concept, but it's not a 'pick up, put down' book, as you really have to spend time working at it.

Toss up between "The Andromeda Strain" or "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep"

Mat the Expat wrote:

RuggaBugga wrote:
I must just leave it and come back later, I'm probably a bit sci-fi'd out at the moment.

It has an immense ending so it is worth it.

Possibly the best ending to a story I've ever come across. You're probably just sci-fied out, happens to me if I try to read too many similar books in a row. I got too much of Game of Thrones when I tried to horse through them all.

Use of Weapons gets better as it goes and you get more of each storyline and the major characters are fleshed out.

Just finished Wool by Hugh Howey and it really is very good; the sci-fi Fifty Shades of Grey analogy is really quite unfair and unjustified, the only similarity being that it started as an e-reader phenomenon.

Nolanator wrote:

Mat the Expat wrote:

RuggaBugga wrote:
I must just leave it and come back later, I'm probably a bit sci-fi'd out at the moment.

It has an immense ending so it is worth it.

Possibly the best ending to a story I've ever come across. You're probably just sci-fied out, happens to me if I try to read too many similar books in a row. I got too much of Game of Thrones when I tried to horse through them all.

Use of Weapons gets better as it goes and you get more of each storyline and the major characters are fleshed out.

Yeah I've read the entire GOT and quite a bit of Sci-Fi back to back. Thats what happens when you get a kindle and don't have to wait for anything