/lit/ - Literature

Well here's some science fiction that's harder than the cock of a /tv/ tripfag sitting in a children's playground.

Seriously: Caidin not only put an appendix on the end full of figures, but he also updated the novel at least once to more closely align with the realities of the space effort of the day.

And the novel isn't that dry at all.

It's the kind of novel you use to smack Trekkies in the face with when they start getting the notion that Star Trek isn't soft-science fiction.

philip k dick
/thread

I'm almost positive this will always be my favorite work of sci fi.

There's nothing wrong with fantasy sci-fi. Not all books that have FTL travel and lasers and little green men are trash.

>>1704207
Hard-soft has no relation to good-bad

"Sirens of titan" by Kurt Vonnegut.
Definetly a good read if you are into science fiction.

>>1704305
Even the shittiest novel is good if you're into sci-fi

>>1704283
>>1704298
>non-snobmind

There... there are so many of them... how do I decide? Such a broad field.

Currently reading.

I like it. First was really good, second was eh, this one is pretty solid.

The cover looks like a shitty Black romance novel, but it is quite good.

>>1704335
while we're on the subject, what the HELL is supposed to be on the cover of Dune Messiah?

At what point in the book is there a giant rock head with a glowing electric tumor?

>>1704335
Really? I though the first was fantastic, the second was pretty good in its own right (but utterly failed to live up to the first), and the third was actually kind of lame. It's like he ran out of things to say and just made some random action/adventure book with lots of pretension mixed in.

Dune was great. I had trouble sleeping and it cured it completely.

Paul say the Jihad, distant in his minds eye. Always coming forward.....zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Dune was great. I had trouble sleeping and it cured it completely.

Paul saw the Jihad, distant in his minds eye. Always coming forward.....zzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

>>1704370
I started the book late at night when I was pretty tired. I was just going to read a few pages to get the thing underway. I passed out around page 40, woke up the next day and read the rest of the book, skipping classes and hardly pausing to scrounge for food.

>>1704364
The second one frustrated me for the exact reasons that this guy
>>1704370
is talking about. The entire book is just Paul seeing visions and talking about how to govern.

Maybe I'm a low-brow tard, but I liked "Children" because shit ACTUALLY HAPPENED (or at least, shit's happening so far).

This one is really good, and so is A Deepness In the Sky. A lot of metaphysics and psychology went into constructing the universe in these books. Very interesting aliens and a unique take on intelligence and how it's influenced by where you are in the galaxy.

I just started Starship Troopers.

>>1704503

Not as good as the movie fyi.

>>1704514
Never seen it.

Ender's Game called, why aren't YOU reading it right now?

>>1704591
I finished it already?

>>1704591
Is that the book about those evil bugs?

well-paced, good world-building, discussion of the nature of civilization

>>1704591
Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow. Nothing else matters.

>>1704514
2/10

>>1704591
Personally I like xenocide more.

>>1704599

If you mean Buggers than yes but they are neither evil nor insects.

Diamond age

>>1704606

Xenocide, ARE YOU SHITTING ME?! I have seriously NEVER heard anyone say good things about that including myself. Speaker for the Dead is alright but Xenocide was the most mind numbing sequel I have ever tried to read. That was when I started on Bean's stories.

Still deciding if I should go ahead and read the "sequels" since it was supposed to just be a standalone.

>>1704613
Bean's saga had a really fucking stupid end, though

>>1704615

Orson Scott Card doesn't know when to just stop so I figured it would come to that.

>>1704613
I found the effects of religion upon the Piggies to be quite interesting and it raises several questions about human nature.

>>1704188

Signal to Noise, by Eric S. Nylund, and its sequel, A Signal Shattered are quite good. The first couple of SNR are a bumpy ride, though...

>>1704612
Damn, I should have mentioned this one.
Atrocity Archives and sequels, too

>>1704618
Thanks, just thanks. Now I have to go and actually finish Xenocide.

>>1704188
I Am Legend isn't exactly sci-fi but it's a good book regardless. The movie...why does Will Smith destory books?

I've read textbooks less meticulously researched than this, and god damn is this shit engrossing.

>>1704623
It's actually an ok book even though it had a lot of rough spots where it could have tried for a more engrossing storyline but it had enough interesting events to propel you further into the book. But it was still dull in quite a few places.
And I was joking when I said I liked Xenocide more I just wanted to see how'd people react.

>>1704627
>>1704613

Xenocide wasn't that bad and had some interesting concepts and ideas, in my opinion. I enjoyed it. (Not as much as I enjoyed Speaker for the Dead, though.)

It was the last Ender book I read. No real reason, just sort of lost interest, I guess. I keep meaning to go back and re-read the ones that I did, because it's been forever.

>>1704224
this, I fucking love philip k dick

Startide Rising by David Brin (SPACE DOLPHINS FTW).

>>1704638
Thanks for reminding me, how has this not been brought up?!

>>1704642

Because it's shit.

>>1704626
Yes.
Also

Okay, so it's just an action-adventure book without any pretension of literary depth, but the post-apocalyptic world is so interesting. Well, not really post apocalyptic, so much as post civilizational, I suppose. Civilization has risen and fallen a thousand times and man is now in a state of barbarism as Earth's end approaches. The world is populated with all manner of exotic beasts and the ruins of cultures long since forgotten.

>ctrl f hyperion
>no results.

SERIOUSLY?!

>>1704686

also, my face.

>>1704686
oh wow yeah, it's not among the first 18 books mentioned, incredible. Especially weird when keeping in mind the millions of science fiction books published.

>>1704642
I have to ask.... is this book really that good, or is it an overhyped, main stream piece of shit just like 90% of scifi books?

Turns out god is an alien who is not an alien, is actually us, and transmits thoughts into peoples heads with pink laser beams. Also, the god of the old testament is a false god, Kevin's cat is dead and nobody can figure out why it had to happen; even though it's obvious, and Christ is going to be reborn, even though he never died.
Rome never fell, either.

no motherfucking forever war?

/lit/ i am disappoint

i have no face

>>1704720

It's overrated unfunny neckbeard bullshit.

>>1704720
It's entertaining, but that's about it.
The whole plot is basically just a set up for jokes.

>>1704720
The Hitchhiker's Guide is pretty funny. The series goes steadily downhill, though it never gets bad, only less funny. I think the reason it gets so much hype is not that it's the second coming of Christ, or anything, but that there isn't much else like it. You should pick it up; it's a light read and an important part of sci-fi geekdom.

>>1704686
I personally think this is pretty over-rated. I also don't remember much science being involved.

>>1704673
I started the first culture book last night and couldn't get through the first chapter. It just seemed un-neccessarily dense. I might give it another go eventually but after I put it down I started Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde, which seems to have a much more interesting premise.

>>1704755

I agree with you on Hyperion. The chapters about the kike and his slut daughter, the cyberpunk slut, and well honestly all the chapters other than the Priests story sucked dick. Plus the Keats cocksucking gets old real fast.

>>1704759
Fucking this. In the beginning I loved it, the priest's story was awesome. The soldier's story could have been good, if it wasn't just him fucking some chick for 50 pages and then nearly getting his dick cut off. After that it was just
>lets cover many subjects in science fiction and suck John Keats' dick
I'm at the end of the "cyperpunk slut" story now, but not really interested to continue

i'm currently reading this
it's fucking great book
the two films based on the book are great too, especially the one directed by Tarkovsky

>>1704623
>destory
I am ok with this typo.