The GMG SF/Fantasy/Horror Club

[DavidW]

Ender's Game is not boring crap, it's a good read.  I don't even how one would get bored with it, it's not even a long novel.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

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-Elizabethan 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.

I have Mistress of Mistresses and A Fish Dinner in Memison, too. I saw The Mezentian Gate in a bookshop, along with the others, in the 1970s when I was still deep into fantasy, but didn't buy it. But I know that when I see it secondhand somewhere, I'll get it, simply for completeness' sake... Re Ligotti - he is an absolute modern master (thanks again, Dave!) As for the Dune cycle, I don't agree. Yes, Herbert turns ever more philosophical and intricate as the series progresses, but God Emperor of Dune, part 4, is one of my favourite books. Herbert's sheer intelligence is an inspiration.

[david johnson]

Ender's Game is not boring crap, it's a good read.  I don't even how one would get bored with it, it's not even a long novel.

i enjoyed the short story version that came first.

[david johnson]

more reads i recommend -

'the black destroyer' and 'the weapons shop', both by a. e. van vogt.

i do not care for a.c. clarke, but 'the nine billion names of God' was a good read.

dj

[Fëanor]

Ender's Game is not boring crap, it's a good read.  I don't even how one would get bored with it, it's not even a long novel.

So is the second half better than the first?  I found the first 60% but found the progress of the story exceedingly repetitious -- I'm 65 and have too few years left to waste reading interminable repeditions of a basic notion.  How many times to you have to tell us how brilliant little Ender is, etc.?  And that's apart from the fact that the young genius, Ender, is not at all like a real-world child, exceptionally gifted or not.

Thus perhaps the real problem is that it is far too long for what it's got to say.  This common if sci-fi novels written in the last 20 years or so.  I suppose publishers pay by the page.

[MN Dave]

The "twist" ending is the big payoff.

[DavidW]

The "twist" ending is the big payoff.

I was just thinking that.  Oddly enough knowing the twist doesn't prevent me from enjoying it again on rereads.

[Fëanor]

The "twist" ending is the big payoff.

Yeah, well there's a bookmark still where I left off so I could get back to it.  You and DavidW will be held to account, though, if it turns out like it started.

I'll stick with my point that far too many sci-fi novels in the last few decades are far too long for their substance.

But, hey, what do I know?  I liked Howard the Duck.  

[DavidW]

Yeah, well there's a bookmark still where I left off so I could get back to it.  You and DavidW will be held to account, though, if it turns out like it started.

I'll stick with my point that far too many sci-fi novels in the last few decades are far too long for their substance.

Well you can read the short story version instead, but it sounds like you're almost there anyway.

[Joe Barron]

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.

The horror! The horror!

[Joe Barron]

i do not care for a.c. clarke, but 'the nine billion names of God' was a good read.

He's the only acience fiction author I read with any regularity. I like that he sticks to the theoretically possible, and his stories aren't space operas or space westerns. (Earthlight was an interesting take on interplanetary war.)

I did have a problem with the sequels to 2001, though. The problem was the character of Dave Bowman, or rather what Bowman became. At the end of 2001 he's deascrobed as master of the world, but later he is demoted to little more than an intergalactic messenger boy. I think Clarke was so grounded in the real, material word that he couldn't imagine how such an angel-like being might live. 

[Xenophanes]

It had to be done.  0:)

I'll leave aside the usual suspects like Asimov, Heinlein, Dick, Stapledon, Sturgeon, Capek, and others, and suggest something off the beaten track:

Charles Williams, The Place of the Lion.  It's very philosophical, with some Platonic Ideas or Archetypes appearing on earth and causing a certain amount of havoc. Williams was associated with the Inklings, along with C. S. Lewis and Tolkien, among others.

http://www.amazon.com/Place-Lion-Charles-Williams/dp/1573831085/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252340556&sr=1-1

[MN Dave]

Started a review blog:

http://grimrictus.blogspot.com/

[DavidW]

I read your first entry Dave, sounds like a great novel, I'll probably read it.  BTW Spares arrived in the mail today.

[MN Dave]

I read your first entry Dave, sounds like a great novel, I'll probably read it.  BTW Spares arrived in the mail today.

Cool. Did you see weird code between paragraphs? Some people are mentioning it. 

[DavidW]

Cool. Did you see weird code between paragraphs? Some people are mentioning it. 

No I didn't, looked fine to me.

[MN Dave]

Thanks, bud.

[drogulus]

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



dj

   

     

[Fëanor]

...

   

Ah, hah!  So that's where the inspiration came from for the Martians in Mars Invades, starring Jack Nicholson, et al..  

[drogulus]

Ah, hah!  So that's where the inspiration came from for the Martians in Mars Invades, starring Jack Nicholson, et al..  

    Maybe indirectly. The direct inspiration was the series of Topps trading cards that came out in the early '60s.