Cool Sci-Fi Films / Books

Off Topic
41

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
I prefer the house trilogy over the original Dune series… Dune gets a little weird after the third or so book… And the characters aren’t really all that interesting/important…
Plus the scope is so large compared to the noble house/court intrigue/warfare of the house trilogy.

[/quote]
for realz? i find the god emperor to be the best book in the saga, but Dune is still a masterpiece. it’s on my shelf next to LOTR.
if the scope is too big then i guess you’re not a fan of Asimov?

42

[quote]LUEshi wrote:
As far as Warhammer goes, if it’s written by Dan Abnett or William King (GOD I love those old Gotrek & Felix books), expect delicious pulp. Otherwise it’s all crap. Although the guy writing the “Soul Drinkers” series is doing okay. Lil’ overwrought tho.

SF? Good SF? Maaaaaan…too many to list.

*I take your Starship Troopers and raise you “The Forever War” by Joe R. Haldeman. “Forever Peace” was just as good and eerily prescient to boot.

*As far as old-skool mindfucks go you can’t go wrong with Olaf Stapledon. “Last and First Men” was a revelation when I first read it. If ever there was a book that cried out for a NatGeo special (CG and James Earl Jones narrating, natch) this is it. Think of it as a biography of man. The story of humankind from the beginning to the end, in an unimaginably different (yet familiar) future.

*Alastair Reynolds is a freakin’ rockstar. This guy roffles my waffles. Everything he writes is pure gold. I was the OP I’d start with “Revelation Space” but it’s all good good stuff.

*Dune is a towering work but it’s a little (if I may be allowed to make a hideous pun) DRY. It’s more about the world the characters inhabit and the currents sweeping through it, than the characters themselves.

*It’s not TECHNICALLY science fiction but you all owe it to yourselves to check out “The First Law Trilogy” by Joe R. Abercrombie, starting with “The Blade Itself”. The series is like Tarantino, Elmore Leonard and Robert E. Howard locked in a seedy hotel room, banging away at the keyboards. When noir meets blood-soaked testosterone laced fantasy…that at the same time has strong female leads, snappy dialogue and plot twists you’ll never see coming, good shit is the result.

*If you never read anything by anybody else, you could do a lot worse than reading Philip K Dick. Man was so far ahead of his time we’re STILL not in the right decade to be reading him.[/quote]

Man, Abercrombie!
I stumbled upon his trilogy by accident and was hooked from the get-go.

Jezal dan Luthar and his beautiful jaw… LOL

‘Say one thing for Logen Ninefingers, say he…’

Have you read ‘Best Served Cold’?

43

Just finished it about a week ago. Pretty damned good. Drags in a couple parts but otherwise cut from the same cloth as the First Law. REALLY enjoyed Friendly…I’d like to see more about him while he was in Safety.

44

You guys have me raiding amazon.com as we speak. I love these threads :slight_smile:

If this was a thread about fantasy books I might be able to help with the list, but I’m way behind on the SF.

45

“The Sheriff of Yrnameer” (forget the author) was a little like Pratchett trying his hand at SF. A little amateurish, but for a first effort it’s entirely enjoyable.

I really, really enjoy John Ringo’s ongoing “Legacy of the Aldenaata” series. Pure pulp and my does it go on about the fucking military but the battle scenes more than make up for it and there are plenty of 'em.

Bruce Sterling’s “The Artificial Kid” is a must-have. You’ll read it, go “wow this is really current, it talks about MMA, YouTube/user-generated content, life extension etc.”…and then you realize- the guy wrote it in the frickin’ 80’s. One of those that manages to be wildly entertaining and thought-provoking at the same time.

46

I’m a big fan of Stephen Baxter’s brand of sci-fi, particularly the bleak ‘Titan’. Alistair Reynolds writes some really good hard sci-fi, especially the Revelation Space set of books. And if you’re looking for something to consume many many hours of your life, Peter Hamilton writes compelling space opera sets that run multiple thousands of pages (over a few books).

47

A fire upon the deep, by Vernon Vinge. It’s one of the best told sci-fi novels I’ve ever read. If you’ve not read it, do yourself the favour of not reading anything about the plot before starting. One of the features of the book I enjoyed the most was the way in which the setting is presented to you, the impact of which is lessened if you read too much about it before hand.

48

I second Lem. Love. love. love Futurological Congress.

Would like to add Neuromancer and Moscow 2042 to the list.

As far as movies, I have to say that Total Recall has always been one of my favorite sci-fi films. To me it epitomizes what was so great about sci-fi during the late 80s/early 90s.

It’s great to see sci-fi making a comeback lately. Just watched Moon the other night and was blown away.

49

To all the people that read Warhammer…

There are a TON of Warhammer books out there, I was wondering where the ideal place to start would be. THe original Space Marine book is apparently where to start, that book is extremely rare. At least from what I have concluded after much interwebz hunting.

At my local Barnes and Noble, there is an entire 2 shelves devoted to Warhammer novels. I’m just confused as to where I should start.

50

[quote]skaz05 wrote:
To all the people that read Warhammer…

There are a TON of Warhammer books out there, I was wondering where the ideal place to start would be. THe original Space Marine book is apparently where to start, that book is extremely rare. At least from what I have concluded after much interwebz hunting.

At my local Barnes and Noble, there is an entire 2 shelves devoted to Warhammer novels. I’m just confused as to where I should start.[/quote]

well you have either Fantasy or 40K(sci-fi). your pick. The 40k universe is better than the Fantasy it is the other way around with the Game systems though.

Can’t go wrong with either cuz most are stand alone books unless of course in a series.
Sidenote: Most of these books written are very sub-par material (Black Library).

If want to read better Sci-Fi material based on a game systmen look for the Battle-Tech books and in particular the stuff about the “Clans”–very good reads.

F

51

I love Science Fiction!!! Love this thread!!!

Blade Runner _ aka _ Do Androids dream of electric sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Total Recall _ aka _ We can remember it for you wholesale… by Philip K. Dick
Movies also based on PKD > Minority Report, Paycheck, A Scanner Darkly, Impostor
you can get lots of his stories in collections at a good bookstore still in reprint, I have them all. He also wrote some of the novels.

short stories RULE!!!
Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, PKDick wrote tons of these for many of the magazines in the 50s through 70s, many also available in collections.
The Veldt is a short story included in the Bradbury book, “The Illustrated Man”

The movie They Live was based on a short story called “Eight seconds in the morning” but forget the author.
The movie the Thing was also based on a novella called “Who goes there?” by John W. Campbell

Many of my favorite books have already been mentioned here:
Old Man’s War- Scalzi
Forever War - Joe Haldermann
Starship Troopers - Heinlein

David Brin and the Uplift saga were thought provoking and interesting to read and got me on to some of his other books as well.
Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. LeGuin
It is my favorite genre, also have read the Lem book, and saw the Russian version of Solaris… liked the book better :). Read Ender’s trilogy, Dune, Orwell’s 1984 and many more.

Interesting that if you delve into the lives of these writers, they are equally interesting. Heinlein was a Navy veteran discharged for tuberculosis, Asimov was a chemistry professor and has authored several textbooks as well as instructing at university before pursuing writing full time. Dick was a paranoid who delved into drugs and his stories are often heavily influenced by the paranoia of the 50’s of the Red Menace/Big Brother and dystopic futures.

Thanks for posting and keep the list growing!!!

52

[quote]FISCHER613 wrote:
well you have either Fantasy or 40K(sci-fi). your pick. The 40k universe is better than the Fantasy it is the other way around with the Game systems though.

Can’t go wrong with either cuz most are stand alone books unless of course in a series.
Sidenote: Most of these books written are very sub-par material (Black Library).

If want to read better Sci-Fi material based on a game systmen look for the Battle-Tech books and in particular the stuff about the “Clans”–very good reads.

F[/quote]
No way is fantasy a better game system. Granted, I haven’t played since 2 editions ago, but I distinctly remember games of 40k running a lot smoother.

53

I’d always been a pretentious kid, trying to read Kafka in my teens and working my way through the entire Thomas Hardy catalogue just for fun, but then I studied Philosophy at university and got so sick of great big wordy tomes that I buried myself in sci-fi and fantasy ever after. I loved cyberpunk (I read Neuromancer not too long after it was written and then devoured pretty much every other William Gibson novel since then) but also enjoyed space operas. I was really into Larry Niven for a while. Ringworld is a classic - some of the others are fun in a brainless sort of way.

I’ll add my vote to Enders Game and The Forever War, but I’ll also have to recommend Ian M Banks. I prefer his earlier stuff - Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games and Use of Weapons are all awesome.

I like Michael Marshall Smith as well - Spares was obviously the inspiration for The Island but is much more fun, and One of Us is great as well.

A quirky one I really like is A Splendid Chaos by John Shirley, but it’s not easy to get (I bought it back in 1990 or so).

Alfred Bester’s books, though few, are amazing and well ahead of their time. I’d definitely recommend you read Tiger Tiger (aka The Stars My Destination) and The Demolished Man.

I’ve read quite a few Philip K Dick as well - they’re really quirky, and if you’ve seen Blade Runner then you’d probably be quite surprised at Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - it’s a lot stranger. Another one of note is The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, but my favourite is Dr Bloodmoney, which is outstanding.

As for movies, well I like most of them. I’m a huge fan of Event Horizon (I class it more as a horror film, though), Alien/Aliens and so on - if you love Alien then I’d recommend checking out Dan O’ Bannon’s (RIP)first film, Dark Star, which is very tongue in cheek (and low budget) but was one of the first films to make space travel seem dirty and mundane rather than awe inspiring and shiny like Star Trek.

Talking of good low budget sci-fi, also be sure to check out Cube if you haven’t seen it already.

54

Bump.

Talk to me, fatty. Give me recommendations. Or else. Uh-huh.

55

lots of good recommendations but as for military sf I still say the Empire of Man, also known as the Prince Roger series is a good as any out there. John Ringo and David Weber are great authors in their own right but together are outstanding.
John Ringo- The legacy of the Aldenta series also known as the “Posleen Series” and Posleen War Series, Paladin of Shadows Series, Looking Glass Series with Travis Taylor, The Council Wars Series
David Weber- Honor Harrington Series, The Safehold Series, Assiti Shards/Ring of Fire(1632) Series with Eric Flint

also
David Drake-Hammers Slammers Series(tank warfare in the future), Lord of the Isles Series, RCN Series
Jerry Pournelle-Janissaries Series, Kzinti Series, CoDominium Series
with Larry Niven The Mote in God’s Eye, Footfall, Oath of Fealty, and Lucifer’s Hammer
Larry Niven-Ringworld Series, The Man-Kzin War Series

just for fun some of “Niven’s Laws”
There is no cause so right that one cannot find a fool following it.
Never fire a laser at a mirror.
Giving up freedom for security is beginning to look naive.
It is easier to destroy than to create.
Ethics change with technology.
The only universal message in science fiction: There exist minds that think as well as you do, but differently.
Never throw shit at an armed man.
Never stand next to someone who is throwing shit at an armed man.
Mother Nature doesn’t care if you’re having fun.

and one for T-Nation
No technique works if it isn’t used.

http://www.baen.com/ to read pieces or entire books

56

Reading “Ilium” (Dan Simmons) right now. Dan Simmons is a master SF technician. The “Hyperion” series is SF ‘required reading’, Endymion series, etc.

I have “Ender in Exile” lined up for my trip to Denmark next week.

YOu might also enjoy “Scar Night” and “Iron Angel” (series) from Alan Campbell who was a lead software developer/writer of “Grand Theft Auto” before he started writing novels. It’s fantasy “Steam Punk” with some of the best imagery I’ve read lately.

Someone mentioned Philip K. Dick – an early innovator of cyberpunk. Good shit.

Allen Steele’s “Coyote” series are all great stories.

57

Fuck reading, give me Films. Now!

58

[quote]WolBarret wrote:
Fuck reading, give me Films. Now![/quote]

Shut up. Reading is far better. Unless you have a terrible imagination and an avid taste for horrendous movies…

DON’T SAY MEAN THINGS ABOUT BOOKS!

59

[quote]WestCoast7 wrote:

[quote]WolBarret wrote:
Fuck reading, give me Films. Now![/quote]

Shut up. Reading is far better. Unless you have a terrible imagination and an avid taste for horrendous movies…

DON’T SAY MEAN THINGS ABOUT BOOKS![/quote]

Reading is for liberals and pedophiles.

Give me films!

60

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
I have “Ender in Exile” lined up for my trip to Denmark next week.
[/quote]

Let me know how that is. I fucking loved the Ender’s Game series.