Sundog Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished reading The Sky People by S.M. Stirling. It was an alternate history type thing, where the Cold War era was more focused on the space race, and the first Soviet probe to Venus sent back pictures of jungle, cavemen, and dinosaurs. By the late 1980s, both the USSR and the US had colonies on Venus (and Mars too, which also turned out to be inhabited). The main focus of this book was a rescue mission to a downed Soviet shuttle, led by the US, since the Soviets didn't have enough airships (yeah, airships...they're fairly easy to build with native materials and therefore don't need much in the way of materials sent from Earth ) to risk one on such a long-range mission. Add in a little Cold War tension, sabotage, and few applications of Clarke's Law, and it turns out to be a pretty fun read. Very pulpy, yet with a more modern feel. I'm looking forward to picking up Stirling's Mars novel now...In the Courts of the Crimson Kings. Should be another interesting take on modernized pulp sci-fi. Crimson Kings is excellent. Modernised pulp, complete with a pulp backstory and plot, but with a decidedly modern viewpoint. Fun and exciting, but with tech that isn't quite as laughable and real charcterization (like we'd expect less from Stirling). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Certified Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Saw the title and couldn't resist the chance for some shameless whoring and well I did just finish it: ‘Foundations of War’ crafts a hidden history of the world while exploring the concepts of the hero archetype, loss and price of power. Set in a modern Las Vegas, magic and the mythical shadow races move just below the surface, outside the perceptions of man. Morgan, a teen cursed with prophetic nightmares, and dreams of past lives survives on the outskirts of high school life until his first and current lives become forever entwined. Cassandra, heir to the Pearl Empire hunts the current incarnation of her people’s killer seeking to undo the prophecy of his return. Testing Morgan she inadvertently unites the life of the child and the destiny of a long dead ruler of the World Below. Cut away from a confused adolescent Morgan begins to grow into, or revert to, the brash warrior sorcerer of his first life. - - - I'm still trying to find an agent but we have hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Silverlock by John Myrers Myers. The adventures of one A Clarence Shanadon in the Commonwealth of Letters. My copy includes the Silverlock Companion and multiple essays and the like about the novel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Picked up by the Sword, the latest Repairman Jack book. Wilson says in the forward the series will be ending with the destruction of the Earth by the Other. CES I assume then you haven't read "The adversary cycle" - Reborn, Reprisal, Nightworld? Also ties in the original The Tomb, the Keep, and The Touch. All the other Jack books are filling in time between the Tomb and Nightworld. If you haven't read Black Wind try and find it. It is one of Wilson's best books and By the Sword really ties into it. I'm a huge Repairman Jack / F Paul Wilson fan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... All six volumes of Akira. Katsuhiro Otomo's epic of espers set lose in 2019 Neo-Tokyo. That and Battle Angel Alita were my first two Manga. Everything else looked second rate after those two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Just finished Wizards First Rule, and am about halfway through Stone of Tears. Not bad - not the greatest fantasy in the world, and there are some issues, but decent reads. Pariah has been telling me for years I needed to read the series (he likes them) and I kept telling him I won't unitl the series is done. It is, and he lent me the first three. So far so good, but there hasn't been any really bad objectivism yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... That and Battle Angel Alita were my first two Manga. Everything else looked second rate after those two. Hmm... there are some other manga of similar quality -- but not many. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I enjoy the second series of Alita very much, even though volume ten seems awfully long in coming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I assume then you haven't read "The adversary cycle" - Reborn, Reprisal, Nightworld? Also ties in the original The Tomb, the Keep, and The Touch. All the other Jack books are filling in time between the Tomb and Nightworld. If you haven't read Black Wind try and find it. It is one of Wilson's best books and By the Sword really ties into it. I'm a huge Repairman Jack / F Paul Wilson fan. I haven't read anything by Wilson but the repairman jack books. I might look at these others sometime. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Dead Romance by Lawrence Miles. A reprint from Mad Norwegian Press of his earlier works. The prequel perhaps to the Faction Paradox books and the first story after his stint of writing for the Eighth Doctor. As he was no longer official, he used non-official terms for the various things in the Doctor Who universe, which has really lent credibility to the mythos he created with it. This story is written as a reproduction of two notebooks - there are short numbered chapters each representing a page in the books. They're written by Christine Summerfield (no relation to Bernice, and this is actually mentioned by Christine). They are a survivor's story after the end of the world. Much of the book is her life and various observations and dreams she's had. What actually happens to end the world isn't explained until at least halfway through. Even more mysterious is the reason why she was arrested by the police, which isn't explained until after that... There are a couple of twist in the book, and it certainly makes you realise how much potential was squandered by other writers when it comes to what exactly the Timelords of Gallifrey have the power to do, and what a war with them would mean. Worse still - what kind of power an Enemy of them has if they stand a good chance of defeating them. This is possibly the first book that mentions the "war in heaven" - about the most sophisticated humanoid race that uses technology and concepts that humans cannot understand - versus a more powerful, unknown enemy. Highly recommend it if you plan on seeing the full potential of the Doctor Who mythology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted February 2, 2009 Report Share Posted February 2, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I haven't read anything by Wilson but the repairman jack books. I might look at these others sometime. CES Yeah - the scene when Jack first meets Mr Vellieur is actually lifted from the original version of Night World - a book he is rewriting because of the events in all the Jack books. And the laser sculpted Bansai is a bit of color from The Touch. He has a whole alternate world going on. Good good stuff. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 3, 2009 Report Share Posted February 3, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Does the world actually end? CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Excellent, excellent stuff. I highly recommend it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. Excellent, excellent stuff. I highly recommend it. And he recently won a children's book award for it according to his blog. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 4, 2009 Report Share Posted February 4, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... And he recently won a children's book award for it according to his blog. On January 26, 2009, the American Library Association named The Graveyard Book as the recipient of the 2009 Newbery Medal. Neil Gaiman confirmed on The Today Show, January 27 2009, that Neil Jordan had signed to write and direct the film of the book. Movie, eh? Hmm.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished re-reading "Small Favor" by Butcher. Also the graphic novels for "Fray" by Joss Whedon, "midnight nation" by strazcinsky, and "the Darkness volume 1" oh, and I just re-read "Sackett" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwdemon Posted February 5, 2009 Report Share Posted February 5, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... I just finished re-reading "Small Favor" by Butcher. Also the graphic novels for "Fray" by Joss Whedon' date=' "midnight nation" by strazcinsky, and "the Darkness volume 1"[/quote'] What'd you think of The Darkness? Haven't picked it up yet, but it's on my list. My wife got me into Witchblade, which I always thought would've been a weak title, but I've been pleasantly surprised so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
death tribble Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... In Your Dreams by Tom Holt. A guy working in the Gherkin in London goes to work with the pest Control department as his girlfriend dumps him while she goes to work for the firm's California branch. Featuring a diabolical plan by the Fey, a woman who has been turned into a car, the terror of going to the Bank (of the Dead) and a leacherous goblin. Fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
csyphrett Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Lord of Light by Zelazny-A legendary hero opposes a pantheon of gods created when a colony is set up on another planet. CES Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Black Company by Glen Cook. I read this once a long time ago--so long ago, apparently, that I didn't remember most of it. It's possible I didn't finish it back then, since at the time I don't think I had developed much tolerance for gritty. Cook has an interesting writing style--it seems very spare; there is little descriptive text and he often glosses over seemingly major plot events, so it's a little surprising the book is as long as it is. I've started in on the sequel (Shadows Linger) already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... And I'm waiting for the sequel to the sequel. I really liked them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Aren't there a whole bunch? I'm reading them out of the recently-republished collected first trilogy... hang on. Yeah, there's ten BC books listed in the front of this thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Yeah, and I bought the first two collections, so I'm just waiting for the next one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted February 12, 2009 Report Share Posted February 12, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... This town will never let us go by Lawrence Miles I'm currently reading the "first" standalone Faction Paradox book - having previously read most of the 8th Doctor books with the Faction, The Book of the War (Book "zero" of the series) and Dead Romance (reprint of a novel from before it all). I'm finding it tough going compared to the others. There are three main characters, and each short chapterette of about 2-6 paragraphs usually jumps between them, or is about the background a bit. There's a lot of subjective narrative in there, which, while it does help you empathise with the story and characters - it also draws out the story. It suffers like Laurel K Hamilton books with "too much happening in a short period of time". I'm up to page 140 and it hasn't yet been longer than a few hours on a single night. The characters have some things in common, but so far none of them have met - just passed each other in the night. The story is a bit of a mystery as well - it's about folks living in an un-named town that is suffering from being caught up in a time war. Which leads to mysterious attacks on parts of the town that don't seem to make sense (possibly because those areas of the town one day will be important to the war effort). Mostly the book seems to be about rituals and information. It hasn't come up with as many neat meataphysical "hey wow, what a cool idea!" things as Dead Romance so far - except for the comparison of voodoo dolls and the military: Stick a pin in a doll, chant a spell, the person the doll represents has something nasty happen to them. Stick a pin in a map, chant a ritual order, the place on the map has something nasty happen to it. The sympathetic magic is translated into rockets/missile attacks as the medium. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 14, 2009 Report Share Posted February 14, 2009 Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... The Terror by Dan Simmons. A historical-horror novel about "Franklin's lost expedition," a voyage to the Arctic to find the Northwest Passage by HMS Erebus and HMS Terror under Captain Sir John Franklin in 1845-1848. A very good read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.