The GMG SF/Fantasy/Horror Club

[Tapkaara]

It's good. If you don't think so, it's not the book's fault. 

I started this:

I used to get really bad morgaines...

[Dr. Dread]

nyuk

[bwv 1080]

great book so far, on reviewer said Hamilton is doing for space opera what Martin did for fantasy

[canninator]

great book so far, on reviewer said Hamilton is doing for space opera what Martin did for fantasy

I've only read the Reality Dysfunction trilogy. Way to spin out one idea over nearly 2000 pages! He could have done with a decent editor who would have made him trim it down to a single novel of 500 pages. Having said that, the image of children's corpses rotting in the jungle, having died after being abandoned by their possessed parents, is one that still freaks me out.

[Keemun]

I sound like a broken record sometimes, but try some Thomas Ligotti. You may even be able to find a story or two online.

I really like Ligotti.  I just finished "My Work Is Not Yet Done" -- well the main novella part of it.  I haven't read the rest of the book yet.  "Teatro Grottesco" was excellent.  I'm tempted to re-read it already, even though I just finished it a few months ago.  I really wish more of Ligotti's work was in print. 

[DavidW]

It's good. If you don't think so, it's not the book's fault. 

Well I finished it, and it was real good.  Thumbs up!

[Dr. Dread]

Well I finished it, and it was real good.  Thumbs up!

Good news.

Three to go. Don't get them in hardcover. Get the paperbacks from the UK through Book Depository.

[DavidW]

Good news.

Three to go. Don't get them in hardcover. Get the paperbacks from the UK through Book Depository.

Due to price?  Or is there a difference like US editions are edited for no reason?

[Dr. Dread]

Due to price?  Or is there a difference like US editions are edited for no reason?

Oh, sorry. I just saw the next one, Vicious Circles, in paperback at Borders.

The one after that is out in hardcover here, but you can get it, and the fourth one, in paperback from the UK, which is what I did.

[Dr. Dread]

A fantasy novel of the American West.

Good so far. 

[Joe Barron]

Interesting that sci-fi, fantasy and horror would be listed together on this thread. They're three very diffrerent genres. I just finished reading Arthur Clarke's "Song's of Distant Earth." In the instroduction, he distinguishes between sci-fi and fantasy, and he classifies himself as the former, in that nothing in his book is beyind theoretical possibilty, as distinguished from, say, the fantasy time travel and warp speed scenarios in Star Trek.

Every work of science fiction (in Clarke's sense) is eventually overtaken by events. I just started reading War of the Worlds, which was written before the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, and I notice a couple of soon-to-be common technological marvels are missing, because, I think, Wells didn't know of their existence. The first is rocketry: the Martian capsules are shot out of cannons on the home planet. The second is aerodynamics: the shells fall to earth hard like meteorites. An advanced civilization would have found some way to ensure a softer landing, like gliding in. Then again, someone must have been fooling around with gliders when the book was written, wouldn't you think?

[DavidW]

Well I think mn-dave lumped them together Joe because he likes all three.   Certainly they can be quite different, you gave an Arthur C Clarke example, which is pure sci-fi (isn't he also the one that said that sufficiently futuristic technology would be no different than magic to us?), Dave and I talked briefly about Ketchum a horror writer that has no fantasy elements whatsoever.

But then again there is plenty of sci-fi that's really fantasy, and plenty of horror that's really fantasy, so if you consider them all together they form a continuous spectrum from hard sci-fi to psychological horror.  Not really three discrete categories but one spectrum.

James-- yes!  Run don't walk to see that movie, District 9 is superb.

[Dr. Dread]

Yes, in all three genres, you're usually dealing with subject matter that doesn't exist, or doesn't exist yet; fiction from the wilder parts of our imaginations.

(I still need to see District 9.)

[david johnson]

everyone here must read 'a work of art' by james blish.
richard strauss is scientifically raised from the dead in the far future and gets back into compositon.

'farewell to the master' by harry bates is another good one.  it's free online and was the basis for the original 'day the earth stood still' flick.

'this island earth' by raymond f. jones is a fun read.  it spawned a '50s movie of the same name.

turtledove's alternate history books interest me more than most other modern writers' books.

dj

[DavidW]

I've read Farewell to the Master, but not the others Dave, I might check 'em out.  I think Ben's got me convinced to read Earth Abides next.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

My next favourite Fantasy is probably The Worm Ouroboros by E.R. Eddison.

Why? I have this novel sitting on the shelf for 35 years already (Ballantine edition) and have never come round to reading it. Could you give me a very strong reason for diving in at last?

For those who don't know it yet, I love HPL, Clark Ashton Smith, Tolkien, Lord Dunsany, Thomas Ligotti and Frank Herbert. Gene Wolfe is a writer I'll have to explore (due to some prodding by MN Dave...)

[Fëanor]

Why? I have this novel sitting on the shelf for 35 years already (Ballantine edition) and have never come round to reading it. Could you give me a very strong reason for diving in at last?

For those who don't know it yet, I love HPL, Clark Ashton Smith, Tolkien, Lord Dunsany, Thomas Ligotti and Frank Herbert. Gene Wolfe is a writer I'll have to explore (due to some prodding by MN Dave...)

Why The Worm Ouroboros, (E.R. Eddison), I'm not sure I can articulate altogether, but in large part it's because of Eddison's luscious pseudo-Elizatbethan English.  I recently began to reread his "Zimiamvian" trilogy but couldn't get back into it, so who knows?  (This is comprised of Mistress of Mistresses, A Fish Dinner in Memison, and The Menzentian Gate, set in a fantasy universe that overlaps that of Worm Ouroboros).

Many years ago I read quite a lot of H.P. Lovecraft which I enjoyed, and I have read more or less of the others excepting Ligotti.  Dune was great, but Herbert became tedious after the third Dune book, Children of Dune, IMO.  Gene Wolf is a great sci-fi writer based on the New Sun and Long Sun series that I've read: perhaps I'll read some more of his stuff.

[MN Dave]

Keep a lookout for Wolfe's THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS.

[Fëanor]

Keep a lookout for Wolfe's THE FIFTH HEAD OF CERBERUS.

Thanks for that tip, MN.  I'll definitely look for that.

By the way, one-and-all, if you looking for a book to avoid, I heartily recommend Ender's Game (and presumably its sequels) by Orson Scott Card.  This was recommended to me by my son, (age 26).  It is boring crap.

[MN Dave]

Yes, but it's award-winning boring crap.