Bishops Love Sci-Fi!

True fact.

But what kind of science fiction novels do you read? Do you read them at all?

Speak! Your hand/brain/electron interface awaits!

Dave Webb wrote:True fact.

But what kind of science fiction novels do you read? Do you read them at all?

Speak! Your hand/brain/electron interface awaits!

I freely admit to not having read a full-on Science Fiction novel in, oh, it must be at least a decade...no, wait - I lie. I reread Keith Laumer's Worlds of the Imperium, just a month or so ago. I enjoyed it every bit as much as I did back when I first read it at about the age of twelve.

The Player of Games, News from Nowhere, Virtual Light, Brave New World, Farenheit 451, The Time Machine, The Shape of Things to Come, A Clockwork Orange, Nineteen Eighty-Four, Frankenstein, ...

A lot of 'old' books there - I'm not really a spaceships 'n' robots kinda guy...

Bishop loves Rev. Stanley Unwin.

I like Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four, The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake and random stuff by Asimov and Philip K. Dick.

The Co=Ordinator wrote:Bishop loves Rev. Stanley Unwin.

Don't you dareeme disresctamodelyme Stanley!

Asimov for me. Particularly the Robot short stories, Elijah Baley and R. Daneel, and the earlier Foundation series.

Doc Filth wrote:Asimov for me. Particularly the Robot short stories, Elijah Baley and R. Daneel, and the earlier Foundation series.

Yep, those are my favourite Asimov stories as well. I was gutted back in the 70s when the film version of the Caves of Steel which was set to star Paul Newman as R Daneel was shelved. It's definitely ripe for the film treatment.

Sid Seadevil wrote:

Doc Filth wrote:Asimov for me. Particularly the Robot short stories, Elijah Baley and R. Daneel, and the earlier Foundation series.

Yep, those are my favourite Asimov stories as well. I was gutted back in the 70s when the film version of the Caves of Steel which was set to star Paul Newman as R Daneel was shelved. It's definitely ripe for the film treatment.

It should be, but it's also ripe to be ballsed up...:

Doc Filth wrote:It should be, but it's also ripe to be ballsed up...:

True - but then again what novel isn't ripe for that when its announced as a movie.

Anything by Ken MacLeod, especially the Fall Revolution and Engines of Light series. He's got the big ideas - Jupiter turned into a giant mass of posthuman particles, light-speed starships piloted by giant squids - and manages to fit in believable characters as well.

Charles Stross is good, but I think his best work is the neo-horror stuff like The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue which you really ought to read. They're about a secret British Government department (known as the Laundry) which investigates and prevents occult threats to the UK in a bizarrely Lovecraftian universe. The first is done in the style of the Harry Palmer novels, while the second plays with the tropes of the Bond universe (literally, as the villain is warping reality around him to resemble a Bond book).

That sounds good. Might have to check them out sometime.

John Sladek. If you like your humour gallows and black as a singularity, he's your man. In particular you are directed to find and buy Tik Tok, the story of a domestic robot that forgets his Laws of Robotics and murders his way to becoming Vice President of America.

While you're at the store, grab Thomas Disch's Camp Concentration.

If you like James Bond, please read at least the first book of the Jerry Cornelius series. It's nothing like James Bond, and you may not thank me, but the experience is worth having.

Nick Barlow wrote:Charles Stross is good, but I think his best work is the neo-horror stuff like The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue which you really ought to read. They're about a secret British Government department (known as the Laundry) which investigates and prevents occult threats to the UK in a bizarrely Lovecraftian universe. The first is done in the style of the Harry Palmer novels, while the second plays with the tropes of the Bond universe (literally, as the villain is warping reality around him to resemble a Bond book).

Now there sound right up my street.

*adds to "must read" list.

Dave Webb wrote:John Sladek. If you like your humour gallows and black as a singularity, he's your man. In particular you are directed to find and buy Tik Tok, the story of a domestic robot that forgets his Laws of Robotics and murders his way to becoming Vice President of America.

While you're at the store, grab Thomas Disch's Camp Concentration.

Dammit people - stop adding to my list!

*scribbles furiously

Dave Webb wrote:If you like James Bond, please read at least the first book of the Jerry Cornelius series. It's nothing like James Bond, and you may not thank me, but the experience is worth having.

Oh, I devoured the Cornelius series, as well as the main "Eternal Champion" series back in my teens. I still have them here somewhere - I must dig them out.

*scribbles furiously

I love Orson Scott Card's Ender series, and speaking of a book that deserves movie treatment, the first book, Ender's Game, deserves it badly.

I also loved 1984, certain Robert Heinlein novels (Highly recommend J.O.B.), Clockwork Orange was always really horrorshow and I did find some of Arthur C Clarkes books as well.

I shall second the Stross recommendation. Both books Barlow bestowed are brilliant.

BLUE HADES, DEEP SEVEN and in particular CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN haunt my dreams.

In the last 18 months or so, I have begin reading - and re-reading some - of the older classic sci fi books.. To get the worst out of the way, I read Philip K. Dick's "Martian Time Slip", but wasn't really that impressed..
However, Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" is awesome.. I have yet to read "Fahrenheit 451".. Also, George Lucas' "THX 1138" is a great read.. (The film is good too..)

John the Vic wrote:
However, Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" is awesome.. I have yet to read "Fahrenheit 451".. Also, George Lucas' "THX 1138" is a great read.. (The film is good too..)

The Martian Chronicles is one of those must reads, as is Fahrenheit 451, and I'd make my standard recommendation at this point, which is that if you haven't read Brave New World you might want to add it to your list.

I'm working my way through the monsterous Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. It's huge, it's complex and it's very rewarding even if it does occasionally break into baffling maths.

I can also recommend Nation by Terry Pratchett; it's a non-Discworld book and it's a really good read.

Does Jasper Fforde count as SF?

Lucy McGough wrote:Does Jasper Fforde count as SF?

Yep, pretty sure his books are all set in alternate histories. That makes them scifi-ish.

Of course,I could be wrong and then he'd have to settle for being merely a really good author. I particularly like that some of his books come with "DVD Extras".

Dave Webb wrote:

John the Vic wrote:
However, Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" is awesome.. I have yet to read "Fahrenheit 451".. Also, George Lucas' "THX 1138" is a great read.. (The film is good too..)

The Martian Chronicles is one of those must reads, as is Fahrenheit 451, and I'd make my standard recommendation at this point, which is that if you haven't read Brave New World you might want to add it to your list.

I'm working my way through the monsterous Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. It's huge, it's complex and it's very rewarding even if it does occasionally break into baffling maths.

I can also recommend Nation by Terry Pratchett; it's a non-Discworld book and it's a really good read.

Thanks for those recommendations.. That will leave me with some excellent reading on my days off..