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Location: UK | Well this group is finally getting in to shape.We have a What are you reading? thread,a monthly book read is starting up with Omon Ra,so all we are missing now is a fun quiz!.I'll start off and I hope some of you will join in ,or I will look like an idiot( no sniggering at the back there!)
Its quite simple.I choose a subgenre-Big Dumb Objects,space pirates,first contact noves,cyberpunk,high fantasy,sword and sorcery ,elves,witches alien attacks etc etc etc.all you do is post an appropriate book,then choose another sub genre
eg Big Dumb Object
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Eon ,by Greg Bear.
next : military science fiction
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The great thing about this is that you can contribute even if when you come online,there are no new posts elsewhere.Its surprising what interesting books turn up and end up on the TBR unfortunately...sigh...
So lets have a go.
Space Station |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Downbelow Station by C. J. Cherryh 
This is the only C. J. Cherryh book I've read so far and I thought it was really good though it did drag in spots. Its very dense with a wealth detail. The massive abject human missery was wearing but felt very realistic given the circumstances. I gave it a 4 which puts me square in the middle of the WWEnd average for the book. Terraforming |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | I hope Red Green Blue Mars is allowed to count for terraforming. I must still complete the trilogy with Blue Mars, but that's looming soon at the rate I'm reading now.
As next sub-genre I chose Slipstream. |
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| When Kelly Link's Stranger Things Happen (2001) first came out, it really opened peoples eyes as to what could be done with genre writing. It's truly a seminal book in the history of SF&F.
Next, Steampunk - toot, toot! 
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Location: SC, USA | I bought a steampunk book today: Bookman by Lavie Tidhar
Next Genre: generation ship |
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Location: UK | Brian Aldiss Non Stop.
This genre seems great in theory,but not so much in practice.I tried Blish's Cities in Flight many years ago,and just couldnt get into it.
next ; a female commanding officer on a battleship |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | I'll point out the most obvious example I can imagine: On Basilisk Station by David Weber 
This is the first book of his Honor Harrington Series which now encompases 13 volumes. I read this not too long ago out of curiosity, having not read Weber before, and found it guite better than I expected. A solid rousing adventure! Next up: Sword and Sorcery |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Another pretty obvious one: Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock. An early Elric book, it's named after the soul-stealing sword...
Can anyone name a cozy catastrophe? |
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| On the Beach (1957) by Nevil Shute. Cozy catastrophes were a 1950s British specialty, and this one is among the best, certainly the most moving. Next, and keeping the alliteration alive, let's try humorous horror. @Rhonda: I've been curious about Tidhar, please let us know how you like it!
@dustydigger: You might try Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy - it's quite an interesting use of the generation starship trope.
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | That's a tricky one, @Engelbrecht. I guess the immediate choice is Good Omens. I'm sure there are better contenders. We can probably also mention Koontz's Tick Tock.
Next: Occult
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Location: UK | I recently read the seriously creepy The Talisman,by Stephen King and Peter Straub.Then there is surely something dark and sinister about the carnival in Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes.
next - flying saucers |
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Location: UK | The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber. I don't particularly recommend anyone reads it, but at least it will count towards the GMRC and the Hugo list.
Next - Post-apocalypse |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. That one sticks in my memory.
How about a myth-based fantasy? |
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Location: SC, USA | Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock
How about Young Adult Wizardry not written by J.K. Rowling or Philip Pullman? |
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Location: UK | A Wizard of Earthsea,by Ursula Le Guin..
next - set on Venus. |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus by Isaac Asimov 
This is book 3 of the Lucky Starr series of juveniles from Asimov. Great fun to read but not much more than old time action adventure. Next: Human Development |
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Location: SC, USA | Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
Next: Alternate History written by a woman |
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| Farthing by Jo Walton
Next: First Contact |
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| Blindsight by Peter Watts Next, something featuring a jinn
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | I can only think of Gaiman's "Ramadan" in The Sandman: Fables and Reflections
https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=3333
Next: something with marine biology |
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Location: Dallas, TX | Starfish by Peter Watts
Next: Mythic Fiction |
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Location: UK | For me,this has to be one of my all time favourites - Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light.
next - cyborgs
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Location: SC, USA | Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I just finished reading it.
Time Travel |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick 
Paleontologists travel back in time to study dinosaurs in the flesh and things, as you can imagine, go horribly, horribly wrong. A very entertaining read if you like dinosaurs, which Swanwick clearly does, and if you don't mind the concomitant time paradoxes. Next: Steampunk |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock -- steampunk before it had a name...
New Space Opera, anyone? |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | The Falling Machine
https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=2989
Great fun and very good writing and storytelling. Fallible characters, and always present a sense of pending doom. Great sequel in Hearts of Smoke and Steam
Next: something with unreliable narrator
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| The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Next: One with an elderly protagonist? |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Scott Laz - 2012-07-18 1:43 PM Warlord of the Air by Michael Moorcock -- steampunk before it had a name... New Space Opera, anyone? Looks like we skipped one! Emil was answering for Steampunk at the same time as Scott Laz. So for New Space Opera I'm going to cheat and say: 
for Allie's Elderly Protagonist: 
This is a book I really enjoyed, perhaps more than most. The 2 central characters are an aged couple who undergo a new treatment to rollback the clock so that they can be around when the aliens reply to the questions sent out decades before. The treatment works for the husband but not for the wife and they have to deal with an ever-widening gulf in their ages while they prepare for the alien response. It's got some unique twists on First Contact that are pretty clever. Speaking of... Next up: First Contact |
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| Question for administrator - How does one highlight/create link the book titles?
Look to Windward by Iain M. Banks
How about post death experience? |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | Cool one, @justifiedsinner. Immortality, Inc. - https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=296
Witty and sophisticated. At the time of penning my notes, I jokingly referred to the movie "Freejack." Little did I know at the time that it was indeed the inspiration to the flick. I'm a sucker for that movie.
Next: how about something with a female villain?  |
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Location: UK | The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge. I can't say I much liked this one either. Nice cover, though.
Next: really alien aliens. |
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| I suppose that Stanislaw Lem's Solaris is as alien as they come.
Next: Surrealism! 
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Yeah,sentient planets are definitely out of the norm.Surrealism? Not too sure what would be included,but Brian Aldiss' Barefoot in the Head was definitely weird as far as I am concerned! lol
next - overpopulation woes 
Edited by dustydigger 2012-07-20 12:21 PM
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Pohl & Kornbluth: The Space Merchants. I reread it recently and had forgotten about that aspect of it. People vacation in Antarctica to see a bit of open space...
This is a bit subjective, but name a good book (or story) that became a travesty of a film... |
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| The Soderberg Solaris as opposed to the Tarkovski Solaris.
SF written in the Victorian/Edwardian era. |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I would have chosen Jules Verne,but since he was french,I have picked H G Wells,and his very influential,The Time Machine.Still a marvellous read to this day
next - alternate history. |
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Location: UK | Voyage by Stephen Baxter. I really enjoyed this when I read it. It's an account of an alternate development of the US space programme, diverging from our reality in 1963, and I found it utterly gripping.
Nice to be able to add something I liked, this time. 
Next: telepathy |
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| Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
Female author, female heroine. |
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Location: UK | Elizabeth Moon's Heris Serrano series.
next - Dyson sphere |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder 
I read this one recently and it's really good. Such wonderful imagination! It's a steampunk world with free floating cities within a vast sphere that contains many man-made small suns powering it's different city states, battling airship armadas, jet engine bikes and goggles galore. There is a hint of a much more technologically advanced universe outside the sphere that I hope will be expanded upon in the followup books which I have yet to read. Question for administrator - How does one highlight/create link the book titles? @justifiedsinner: You can only link from the full reply page not the quick reply box at the bottom of the thred. Click the reply button on the last entry to get to it. When you enter the book title highlight it then click the little chain-link icon in the tool menu. That will bring up a box to enter the URL for the link. I usually have 2 windows open so I can easily copy and paste the URL from one window into the message box in the other. It also makes it easy to drag the cover image over from the search results page. The cover image will come over with the page link intact. Let me know if you have trouble. I can show you over Skype or something if you like. Next up: Generation Ship |
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Location: UK | Heinlein's Orphans of the Sky was very influential.I came across this interesting article on the subject -
http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue94/generation_ships.html
next - set in a sea world |
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Member
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Location: Glasgow, Scotland | I've got 4 books by David Weber, 4 of the Safehold Series (to be exact), and they look really good but won't be able to read them just yet. However, as much as I do love space opera, cyberpunk, hard SF and dystopian, I really want to get David Weber's Honor Harrington Series too (already on my ever-growing Amazon wishlist). I am quite intrigued by the military SF sub-genre. Anyone else know of any other military SF authors/books for me to peruse? I've already got Jack Campbell's - or John G. Hemry - The Lost Fleet series ordered. Thanks |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | A Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski  I've not read this one myself but my brother swears by it. Of course he's a biologist as is the author so that may have something to do with it. It's on my list. Next up: Cthulhu mythos NOT by Lovecraft scifigal84 - 2012-07-22 6:09 PM I've got 4 books by David Weber, 4 of the Safehold Series (to be exact), and they look really good but won't be able to read them just yet. However, as much as I do love space opera, cyberpunk, hard SF and dystopian, I really want to get David Weber's Honor Harrington Series too (already on my ever-growing Amazon wishlist). I am quite intrigued by the military SF sub-genre. Anyone else know of any other military SF authors/books for me to peruse? I've already got Jack Campbell's - or John G. Hemry - The Lost Fleet series ordered. Thanks @scifigal84: If you haven't seen it yet be sure to check out the Baen Reader's List of Recommended Military SF. I got that list from the man himself, David Drake, though he didn't make it. Check out the about link at the top of the list to get the story on how the list came about. I will note that there is not a MIlitary SF award which I still find rather shocking. Sounds like you've got a bunch of MilSF in the works already but I'll throw in there the Old Man's War series by John Scalzi. Great fast reads with a lot of Scalzi's characteristic humor. |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | @Dave, that's a particular book (and author) I've always wanted to read, but never did so. Seeing that she's just won the Campbell award, maybe it's time.
Of course, a Cthulhu mythos that's not Lovecraft, is certainly Gene Wolfe's An Evil Guest, a must underrated and misunderstood novel. It seems people just don't get it. But much like Wolfe's other works, it's best to approach it with the understanding that nothing is as it appears. And always keep alternative universes and time travel tropes in mind. And remember that twins and/or dobbelgangers also play their part in any Wolfe narrative. And there are always wolves. And for good measure, myths, or the reinvention of them, are what Wolfe loves most.
An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe 
(Glad that worked, that bit with getting the image and novel here. With only 6 revisions)
Next: good old western setting |
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| Territory by Emma Bull 
Next, from hot to cold: an Arctic/polar setting
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster.
Now to a jungle setting... |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | @Engelbrecht, that looks a very interesting proposition! Thanks for that. I'm going to track it down.
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK |
++++A jungle setting.
Milton Lessor - Jungle in the Sky.Its apparently about big game hunters stalking alien big game on Ganymede! Sounds good old cheesy fun in the Armchair fiction series.Love the old covers!
next - an out of control robot |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Brass Man by Neal Asher 
This is book 3 in Asher's Agent Cormac series. I really like the first book, Gridlinked, which was just brimming with action. Next up: Virtual Reality |
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Location: UK | Got to be Tad Williams Otherland series for me.There are some flaws but I thought the series was a great read.
next - we rarely touch on fantasy,so how about something with the Fae? |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | I've recently read Jo Walton's Among Others, my pick for the Hugo. On the surface it's a journal, but it becomes evident that something isn't right. There are fairies in it - they have plans for Mori, the lead character. It's a wonderful book ... actually, it's a fantasy about science fiction.
Among Others by Jo Walton 
Next: deus ex machina |
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Location: UK | Oh wow,Emil,you gave us a nasty one there,you have stopped the game in its tracks! .I know a Deus ex machina is a solution to a plot difficulty by some improbable means or person who has had little connection with the plot.The only thing I can think of is the butterbug in Lois McMasters Bujold's A Civil Campaign.It only solves a minor part of the story.We have learned that the hero's land was destroyed by radiation in the war,and will take as much as 500 years - 1000 years to return to viability.The butterbug turns out to be able to eat the irradiated land plants,and voids non toxic rich fertiliser in its wake.Miles Vorkosigan's barren waste will return to life in decades instead of centuries.this is just tossed off as a careless aside in the tale,but has huge beeficial results.
nextartificial intelligence. |
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Location: Grootfontein, Namibia | Oh dear, I didn't mean for that to happen, @Dusty. I thought a few takers would immediately jump in with Hamilton's The Naked God, which infuriated quite a few fans of The Reality Disfunction, including me.I think your definition has a measure of the truth, but as I understand Deus Ex Machina it relates to a "godly" intervention usually by a machine reality that solves mankind's problems (or the story's plot) which otherwise would not have been resolved by mankind alone. But I'm sure the more erudite readers can enlighten us further on this.
Anyway, I'm a huge supporter of Tony Ballentyne's Recursion Trilogy, so this series will then by answer to the artificial challenge:
Recursion Trilogy by Tony Ballantyne   
Next: a book with a bumbling protagonist |
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| The Incomplete Enchanter by L. Sprague De Camp and Fletcher Pratt
How about a BDO? (Big Dumb Object, not the accounting firm) |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I still find Larry Niven's Ringworld one of the most gobsmacking ideas in SF.The space of 3 million earths is still pretty mindboggling.If ever there was a book worth universe -sharing it was this one.Lots of people tried to debunk it,boring on about how it was unsustainable etc etc,instead of just enjoying the ride.
I was a bit disappointed with Eon,the intriguing possibilities of an endless Time Tunnel seemed to be played down.The Rama spaceship was a lot smaller,but good fun,as was The Wanderer,but I still have to pick Ringworld for sheer mindblowing size.
next - goblins...always plenty of mayhem with goblins.....
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | Does poetry count? The Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti (1862)
Next: HOLLOW EARTH |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | I have a lovely old copy of Goblin market.Very fond of the Rosettis poetry,both D.G and Christina. I also as a child loved George MacDonald;s Princess and Curdie and Princess and the Goblins.But I was sure someone would pick Lord of the Rings,because the Orcs are goblins!
Not sure quite what you mean by Hollow Earth.If its the oldfashioned idea,I would say Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth., or ERBs Pellucidar books,but if you mean the scienitfic theory I wouldnt have a clue,so I'll pick the traditional view,and say At the Earth's Core by ERB
next - space academy cadets. |
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| I just finished John Scalzi's Redshirts, so it leapt to mind for space cadets. Next: Magical Schools
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| Not wanting to state the obvious I'll go with The Amulet of Samarkand which is more of an apprenticeship than a school but...
Next: SF from South Africa |
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| Zoo City by Lauren Beukes 
Next: SF/Fantasy taking place in Africa. Bonus points for a Magical School in Africa!
Edited by Engelbrecht 2012-08-05 2:48 AM
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Great chunks of Tad Williams Otherland take place in in South Africa,but magical school? Not so much,unless Emil knows of any
next - exploring the solar system
Edited by dustydigger 2012-08-05 4:14 AM
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Admin
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Location: Dallas, Texas |    
Ben Bova's Grand Tour is comprised of 18 books that touch on most of the planets in the solar system, the asteroid belt (Asteroid Wars sub-series) and the moon. You can dip in at any point in the series though you should probably read the asteroid books in order. Next: Nanotechnology run amok |
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| Greg Bear's wonderful "Blood Music".
Next: Sex with Aliens! |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Thought of Ursula Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness,but got to go with my beloved Bren Cameron and the Atevi Jago,in the Foreigner universe books. Good stuff!
next - sword anf sorcery |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado |
C. L. Moore: Jirel of Joiry – The first female S&S hero?  Next: Something we may soon know more about: LIFE ON MARS Going back to the African magic school, I think Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor fits the bill…  |
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Elite Veteran
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Location: UK | Kim Stanley Robinson - Red Mars
next - time travel |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | Cowl by Neal Asher  Cowl sends his terrifying hyperdimensional pet, the torbeast, hunting through all the timelines for human specimens. It sheds its scales -- each one an organic time machine -- where its master orders. Anyone who picks one up is dragged back to the dawn of time, where Cowl awaits. Then the beast can feed, growing ever larger . . . An interesting and fast paced take on time travel. If you like lots of action you'll like this one. Next: Pulp |
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Location: Dallas, TX | I've tried to read Red Mars twice and just can't seem to finish it.
Stephen Baxter - The Time Ships
Next - Theological |
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Location: UK | Hm,thought of Neal Stephensons Anathem,but would much rather go with Roger Zelazny's A Rose for Ecclesiastes.
next - nasty supervillain
Edited by dustydigger 2012-08-09 3:12 PM
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| Cowl by Neal Asher
next: Russian SF made into a film. |
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Location: UK | Sergei Lyukenenko's The Night Watch
next - mutants. |
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Location: UK | The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
Next: time paradoxes
Or should that be previously: time paradoxes? |
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold
next: moonbase (humans living on the moon) |
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Location: Dallas, Texas |   Moonrise and Moonwar by Ben Bova. Part The Grand Tour series but can be read as a 2 part stand alone sequence. Next: Slipstream |
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Location: UK | Slaughterhouse - Five,by Kurt Vonnegut.
next - Utopia |
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Location: Dallas, Texas | 
dustydigger - 2012-08-23 12:13 PM Slaughterhouse - Five,by Kurt Vonnegut. next - Utopia
Remember this thread? Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom Death, poverty and want are no more. Money has been replaced with "woofie" which is a measure of an individual's prestige. You earn woofie by taking on projects for the betterment of mankind. In this case, restoring Disney World to it's past splendor. This book is a trip. How about a horror sub-genre next? OCCULT |
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Location: UK | I certainly do,Dave.I disappeared for a month for my eye op,and no one posted.It looked a bit pushy to tell people off for not posting,so I let it go,but I always enjoyed it,and if you come online and there are no new posts,at least this keeps the group ticking over.So wake up people!
Occult? Has anyone read James Blish Black Easter? I hadnt known he wrote horror.
next - hard SF
Edited by dustydigger 2012-11-21 4:35 PM
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Location: Gunnison, Colorado | For hard SF, Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity. Tough caterpillars!
Next: Time Travel! |
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Location: UK | Lol! I LOVE Barlennan.It was so funny when he was raised up onto the human's walker,and was frozen with fright,though his team just thought he was being a ''tough caterpillar''.One of my all time science fiction favourites.
next - alternate history |
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Location: Sacramento, California | Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus (1996) by Orson Scott Card. That was a good read. It was both a time travel novel, and an alternate history story.
Next up, robots/androids! |
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Location: UK | I always love androids/robot books.We tend to think robots are cute and androids are dangerous and frightening,but we always need caution with them.I have always meant to read
John Sladek - Tik- Tok..Seriously scary machines here!.
next - space exploration |
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