/lit/ - Literature

>>3737698
To start things rolling. OP is currently reading book 2 of the Skyway series by John DeChancie.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_DeChancie#The_Skyway_Series

It's about a road that goes through planets in the galaxy via wormholes on the planets themselves. Much like in Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga. The main protagonists is a truck driver that gets into some trouble and a time loop paradox.

It's simple, fun, quick to read and doesn't try to be something else than what it is. I recommend it only if you have the time and nothing better to read at the moment.

I stumbled upon it while browsing wiki for Tipler objects... go figure.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tipler_cylinder

Let me just head off a major problem at the pass by telling the Gene Wolfe fags to fuck off.

NO FANTASY MEANS NO FANTASY. MODS PLS ENFORCE THIS.

I'll be starting We soon, the precursor to 1984. What do you guys think of it?

>>3737732
>mods
>on /lit/

lel

anyway, is it terrible fantasy like "hey guys this is pure fantasy, but I'll put in a paragraph at the beginning that the people on this planet were a failed colony ship 1 million years ago" or is it a mix between scifi and fantasy?

>>3737732

>let's not talk about the only good science fiction author alive

great start to your thread buddy. i can tell this is going places.

>>3737739
it's pretty good. If you liked 1984 you gonna like it as well.

it's slow and the phrasing is sometimes cumbersome, but otherwise ok.

>>3737752
>Gene Wolfe
>science fiction

top lel

>>3737752
that's not OP....

>>3737760

>i'm a big smelly nerd who insists on an arbitrary distinction between sci-fi and fantasy

top lel

>>3737760
>Gene Wolfe (born May 7, 1931) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer.

>>3737739
>precursor

More like template. Orwell's plagiarism could only have been more obvious and egregious if he had copied it verbatim et literatim.

And the thread immediately devolves into Gene Wolfe arguing. Can't we just ignore Gene Wolfe, regardless of genre of his lit., so the thread can not go shitstorm?

>>3737768
>Orwell
>science fiction

top lel

>>3737770
?

what's some good high brow/literary SF?

>>3737775
Isaac Asimov.

Just finished this. Wow, what an ending!

>>3737769
The way the thread was created was shit. Are you OP? Are you completely new to 4chan, or just /lit/? If you don't know, it's common courtesy to lurk a little while before posting on a new board, you obviously show no understanding of the culture of the board, what kind of threads thrive and what people are interested in discussing.
Don't think this means civil discussion is impossible, or no one wants to talk about scifi, but starting the thread with a list of subgenres and wikipedia links and declaring things not allowed is idiotic. A continous scifi general? Fuck that. Have you read a book or author recently you want to discuss? post it, share what you thought and see if anyone else has read it to and is interested in discussing? Don't call yourself a "scifi denizen" because you aren't a denizen of /lit/. Stop posting.

>>3737775
OP here

Hyperion Cantos - Dan Simmons

The Foundation - Asimov

Anything by Vernor Vinge.

>>3737775
JG Ballard, Philip K Dick, Jorge Borges, William Gibson

>>3737789
These might not be shit, but they're hardly high brow.

>>3737784
>OP specifically states that topics are up to the posters
>call him out on declaring which things are forbidden

Do you even into logic?

>>3737784
Not new, not OP, just didn't like the explosive useless shitfest of Gene Wolfe apologists and detractors I saw once and didn't want it to happen again, especially since I thought this thread could bare some cool fruit in terms of recs and discussion.

Calm your tits, mate.

>>3737796
>These might not be shit, but they're hardly high brow.

...and yours are hardly sci-fi mate.

You don't get more intellectual than Vinge.

>>3737784
>A continous scifi general? Fuck that.

>has never been to /tv/, /sp/ or a dozen other boards

>>3737803
>PKD, Gibson, Borges Ballard not sci-fi
>you don't get more intellectual than Vinge
>you don't get more intellectual than Vinge
>you don't get more intellectual than Vinge

The science-fiction community, ladies and gentlemen.

>>3737808
I like it. Pls go to the Gene Wolfe general if you don't.

>>3737803
>...and yours are hardly sci-fi mate.
What the fuck are you talking about?
Fine, Borges is a bit of a stretch, but PKD, Gibson are not scifi? seriously?

>You don't get more intellectual than Vinge.
and are you a fucking idiot? You're full of shit.

>>3737817
>getting this mad

Philip K Dick is that you? Or are you just a dick?

Vinge >>>>> Dick

Come at me.

>>3737807
Yes, looking at that shows exactly why it's dumb. It dilutes the discussion heavily, derailing them into waifu masturbation, feels/greentext masturbation and group masturbation over secular, distorted community taste. It's awful and degenerate.

>>3737814
why don't you please fuck off? I don't care, the thread's going to die anyway, you had just pissed me off when I first saw it and couldn't let it slide.

Currently reading Stross' Iron Sunrise, but not really digging it. He is not very consistent.

>>3737823
One more post

man why don't you take a shot at something not genre fiction; pleb af >2013

>>3737833
You seem rather disturbed for someone not giving a fuck. Oh and the saging makes me lol.

>>3737808
lol, Vinge was enjoyable I guess, but what the fuck?

Also, Calvino, Leguin, Delany

really, any "new wave" SF can have that literary feel

>>3737844
>really, any "new wave" SF can have that literary feel

This. Alistair Reynolds is a master of this.

>>3737846
I don't get the Reynolds wank. Isn't he terrible?

>>3737846
Oh look, another Reynolds troll here to shit up the thread.

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck off.

>>3737862
On the contrary, he has been putting out god tier quality consistently. Revelation Space is a masterpiece.

The feels I got during the end of the book.... no forge it, I can;t describe them. I'll just say that by the end I had a temperature going. No really, I measured it.

>>3737846
Reynolds is not new wave, he was born in fucking 66

new wave sf is mostly writers working in the 60s and 70s

>>3737863
Gene Wolf pls go

I've got two questions for my fine gents, first of all, is the Foundation series fun/good sci-fi? And is 2001: ASO a fun read or is Kubrick's visual work enough?

>SF thread
>fantasy vs sf fight
>pop sf vs high brow sf fight

mission accomplished

Old Mans War gets too much love

It is a modern, interesting representation of the future, I like that. What I hate is that it doesn't do anything with it. There is no subtext or grand themes or analysis of the human condition or man's civilization. Good sci-fi should induce an existential crisis on a species sized level. OMW does no such thing.

Any really good sci-fi on a martian society ?

>>3737881
OP here, last post for the night

1. Yes, Foundation is that damn good. It's a mandatory read. I have to say it's Asimov's highest achievement.

The sequels written by different authors are pretty good as well.

2. 2001 is boring imho. The other books in the series are great, especially 2010, but 2001 is.... stale?...shitty ending?

>>3737888
I agree. It's a stupid action/shooter. Way too overhyped.

>>3737892
pic related

>>3737900
BOOORING AND SLOOOOW AS FUCK

>mfw I want to read a good sci fi book, but can;t find any

>>3737900
Is the sci plausible? I mean my guts just start turning when i see that far-right book with complete terraforming

Anyone who has a Kindle, a few good sci-fi books I have read over the past year or so:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00970ID9E/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YNZC0I/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004XR4Y5S/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0071XO8RA/
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009O3ZN4C/

>>3737909
very plausible

>>3737904

>>3737881
> is the Foundation series fun/good sci-fi
Fun, yes. Good, no.

>2001: ASO a fun read or is Kubrick's visual work enough

No point in reading the book unless you want more background for the movie (but actually the background shit included in the book and later novels in the series is fucking stupid and ruins the movie IMO).

>>3737932
Hm, thanks. I heard about the book explaining the reason why HAL 'malfunctioned' even though i felt that would remove room for thoughtful interpretation. Thanks for the heads up.

Foundation can't be more dissapointing in terms of believability than 'the stars like dust', right?

>>3737779
>>3737789

Ha ha, but no seriously I'm looking for some literary SF. Any suggestions?

>>3737972
Harry Martinson: Aniara
M. John Harrison: Light

>>3737922
are there any scifi books like these that actually live up to their covers?

>>3737972
http://greatsfandf.com/authors-lists.php#FIVESTAR

Enjoy.

>>3737920
>>3737909
Only plausible if you swallow the alchemy machines Robinson throws in.

>>3738001
I've already read works by all of the 5 star authors except for Cabell and Edison (who are fantasy, and I already have Jurgen and Worm Ouroboros on my shelf). Also most of the 4 star greats. Any recs not on the list?

>>3737980
Harrison isn't my cup of tea. Any idea how to get a copy of Aniara? Seems to be out of print.

>>3738031
Regarding Aniara, I bought my used hardcover copy from Amazon for quite a reasonable price, around 20 dollars or so. It seems all the copies up now are 90+ though, which is horseshit. Troll abebooks and ebay, no doubt you'll find something.

In terms of recs not on that list, all I can really think of in terms of Western authors are David Lindsay and Zamyatim (and no doubt you've already read We). But there's still the whole Eastern Bloc canon to mine. I believe Strugatsky and Savchenko are both available in English.

>generals on /lit/

>>3738149
Social Ineptitude
couldn't you tell from the subject matter?

This is a horrible thread; I hope you feel bad for making it, OP.

What are some good sci-fi books about a rebel uprising?

>>3738322
dune -herbert
summer queen -vinge
hyperion -simmons

bump

So, anyone else reading Scanner Darkly?

Think this would be the best place to ask among like minded people who actually read and enjoy science fiction.

I'm currently writing a science fiction novel (actually, it's most likely going to be a saga / trilogy).

I guess you could classify it as soft sci-fi, but it's still grounded in believability, i.e. there are no real pulp elements like exotic alien races, death rays, telekinesis, space cowboys, etc. For example, the novel is contained to a single star system, straying from other science-fiction sagas which show a vast empire like in Star Wars, spread over multiple systems. It’s working out well, as it creates a contained setting leading to more tension and conflict.

Compared to other novels and mediums, I guess it's slightly similar to Dune, Homeworld, TNG & DS9; though even borrows elements from other genres and sagas, like ASOIAF and LOTR.

I'm currently still in 'treatment' stage, and I really want to make the world and its characters seem believable and interesting. It's heavily character driven with no real single main character, and there is a lot of grey morality present. The common plot of the fantasy / space operas featuring a hero, evil emperor and the princess is the complete opposite of what this story is. Literature and film in broader genres are also included as influences, with an emphasis on strong literary characters.

Basically, I want to know what turns you guys on and off when it comes to science fiction series' and sagas. What are some really big mistakes when it comes to world building? Also any advice would be greatly appreciated.

What would you call science fiction that deals with really deep theoretical physics, shit set like billions of years in the future where man is no longer constrained to organic bodies and entropy is about to extinguish everything in the universe? Stuff that borders on the philosophical, I guess.

Examples would be Asimov's The Last Question and Stephen Baxter's Manifold series.

>>3739002
You're writing ASOIAF in space, we get it.

>>3738965
that's not science faction you idot

>>3737732
1/10

Very novice ruseman

>>3739018
I call it A Tale of Ions and Photons.

Any Fredric Brown fans? I just finished reading "The Lights in the Sky Are Stars" and some of his short stories although those aren't always sci-fi.

at last some sci-fi.
i've read herbert, all of simmons, scott card, all of leguin, asimov, niven, sagan, joan d vinge, a ton of the classic younger guys like 1984, cat's cradle, 451, etc.
a whole bunch more, but to give you an idea.
so now i'm in need of a new array of excellent sf reads, and i'd really love to hear your personal favorites, maybe your top 5, or however many or few you can remember that really blew you away.
so. top 5 sf books, anyone?

>Soft and social SF
>Cyberpunk
>Time travel
>Alternate history
>Military SF
>Superhuman
>Apocalyptic
>Space opera

Book of the New Sun is all of these, along with the other books.

>>3739017
>about to extinguish everything in the universe?
>Stuff that borders on the philosophical, I guess.

Anything from Greg Egan. Especially Schild's Ladder.

City at the End of Time by Greg Egan.

>>3739017
>about to extinguish everything in the universe?
>Stuff that borders on the philosophical, I guess.

Anything from Greg Egan. Especially Schild's Ladder.

City at the End of Time by Greg Bear.

Should I read Robinson's Mars Trilogy next or Infinite Jest?

>>3739039
My fellow science fiction connoisseur, let me give you some tips since your experience seems similar to mine. I read the classics first, just like you: Clark, Asimov, Simak, etc. Then I switched to contemporary authors and although many disappointed there were some that excelled.

I am addicted to space opera and hard sci-fi. Everything that leads to grand scale adventures, exploration of the unknown, pew pew starships here and there...

So here's my top 5 space opera series in no particular order:

Commonwealth Saga and Void Trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton
>best exploration feels since Clark
>original universe
>great ideas
>space battles galore

Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds
>dark, gritty, terrifying
>horror mixed with sci-fi
>unbeatable enemy swallowing whole civilizations
>no FTL
>amazing ships
>unique characters and setting

Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

Xeelee series by Stephen Baxter
>can't get any grander than this
>universe level engineering

Culture series by Ian. M. Banks
>especially the Player of Games and Excession
>dat human A.I. interaction

That's the top 5. Honorable mentions go to The Saga of Seven Suns by Kevin J. Anderson which stupidly fun and entertaining without any real substance and Eschaton books by Charles Stross, because Singularity Sky is pure awesome.

>militaristic empire with old. big, honking spaceships
>projectile weapons and missiles
>meets a most scarcity society with grey goo weapons
>hilarity ensues

>>3739082
Neither. Mars trilogy is boring as fuck and Jest is shit.

What are some good sci-fi books about space travel that are not about the military/scientific expeditions?

I have read the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and that's about it.

>>3739096
Tau Zero - Paul Anderson seems to fit that profile.

Anvil of Stars - Greg Bear maybe?

>>3739092
oh god. thank you, thank you. you are wonderful and this is such a perfectly structured post. this is exactly what i was hoping for--the sort of things a plot summary can't tell you, delivered from a like-minded reader.
i will definitely check these out.
(i love any and all veins of sci-fi, only requirement is that it's a great read. you are cool anon.)

>>3739110
>mfw your post

You are welcome anon. I'll throw in some solo books if you don;t want to jump into the series first thing.

Starplex by Robert J. Sawyer (pic related)
>I have actually read this three times.
>space exploration on a join human alien starship
>some plot twists happen and the ship is thrown out to parts unknown
>I really don't want to spoiler the plot, it's awesome

The Killing Star by Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski
>a bunch of aliens throw relativistic weapons at Earth destroying our civilization
>the books details the stories of the surviving humans hiding in the Solar System's asteroids, planets, in deep space, etc.

Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky
>world war 3 destroys the world
>the story is about the society that develops in the aftermath inside the Moscow underground system

I fucking love sci-fi.

This is all.

>>3739131
yess. you are my favorite anon, right about now. be right back inputting titles and pickup location to local library database.

Dune series ftw other than that fuckhead kid of his ruining his name

Top 5 sci-fi writer at this moment of space and time

1. Ian M. Banks

2. Alistair Reynolds

3. Kim Stanley Robinson

4. Lois McMaster Bujold

5. Charles Stross


....
....
65. David Weber


...
...

9001. Stephenie Meyer

>>3739137
Not the anon you are talking to, but your post made me think.

How many of you read paper books and how many do it on e-readers?

I usually buy paper books to collect them and torrent everything on the e-reader. The books are free and it lets me carry thousands of them with me.

>>3739142
>Meyer at all
>the thread has no Lem

>>3739142
>Stephenie Meyer

>mfw

I guess The Host is sci-fi....

>>3739144
>central european and eastern authors
>good

pick one

>>3739147
You sir are an idiot.

I'll have you know that the brothers Strugatsky are one of the best master of the genre you pleb tier troll. Lem is god tier, Alexander Levitsky, Carel Capek, etc.

So I just finished that 2312 Kim Stanley Robinson book that /lit/ recommended to me a month ago.

It was total shit.

Slow, boring, made no sense, plain characters, shit prose, confusing story, etc...................

Thanks /lit/.

fantasy was here

sci-fi is a faggot

>>3739164

>>3739002
Any comments...

guys...

just me...

>>3739152
this

>>3739002
>>3739173
Seems interesting. I wish you the best of luck.

>Basically, I want to know what turns you guys on and off when it comes to science fiction series' and sagas.

Exploration of the unknown. Be it an alien race, a planet, especially weird phenomenons. Read the Commonwealth series by Peter F. Hamilton where they go to explore the forcefield around the enemy star. That exploration part gave me chills, will remember it forever.

I also enjoy ensemble casts. A big group of adventurers separating midway to follow different paths, etc. Just remember to put them in the same place at a point in the future. Reunions are cool.

>What are some really big mistakes when it comes to world building?

I suck at writing, so can;t be much help here.

>Also any advice would be greatly appreciated.

NEVER INCLUDE A CRIMINAL MYSTERY/MURDER/DETECTIVE STORY.

They are stale and boring. I am yet to meet a single person that enjoys them/

Love stories are acceptable if they don't detract from the main plot. Han and Leia teasing each other in SW is ok, devoting half your story to them is not.

I like one big mystery hanging in the background, but never leave it all for the last book. Give out secrets here and there to string the readers along. Cliffhangers are awful. Finish each book with a nice conclusion while the big mystery is left for the end.

>homeworld wallpaper
>jorah reaction face

I like you.

>Military SF
Best SF

>>3739188
Sure, but when it's in space not some marine crap.

>Honorverse
>best military sci-fi

Pick two.

>>3739173
Can you make it so the people in the story aren't the focal power of the universe?
In Dune, Homeworld, Star Wars etc there's no particular explanation for why they're human or how they're related to Earth, and that bothers me. It's just lazy.
But in lots of other stories, humans are part of the big galactic race or at odds with the big evil empire or are the only intelligent life and so on, it's very anthro-centric.
So what I'm saying is that you should have your race as perhaps some - but not the only - descendants of human colonists, who lost their technology and have climbed back up to interplanetary travel. How they really got there is preserved in their ancient myths but only vaguely, it's not important to the story. At the same time, they're aware that species capable of interstellar travel are around them, doing mysterious, inexplicable things that are never explored fully in the story, because that would kill the sense of the mystical.
As an analogy; you're telling the story of an uncontacted tribe of Indians. Sometimes they see planes overhead or ships passing, there's smoke from an oil-rig on the horizon, almost a hundred years ago they felt the Earth shake as nukes went off, they're aware that all around them are what might be distant relatives or what might be spirits, but that doesn't matter because for one thing they're too far away, for another they're impossible to understand and right now it's more important we hunt this pig for lunch then make sure our daughters marry the right guy.

>>3739199
Sort of Croatoa in space.

>>3739191
John G Hemry, the Lost Fleet isn't bad.

>>3739002
>>3739173

been there done that bro. the first book i ever tried to write was a massive, old-fashioned space opera. huge cast of characters, warring families, contesting territory, scheming corporations, plotting derelict religious institutions, back stabbing and general underhanded fuckery all around. at the very center, in a desperate attempt to tie it all together, was the self-interested "merchant" smuggler.

what i ended up with was nearly 260,000 words and one big mess. when i realized what i had on my hands was beyond my capability of editing it into a comprehensible narrative, i put it on "indefinite" hold and chalked it up to a learning experience.

my advice would be to make damn sure you keep tabs on everything, because it can get out of hand fast.

>>3739184
Thanks for the helpful advice mate. You're totally right about those murder mystery / detective type stories. I remember planning to write one that had a sci-fi spin when I was younger - only to realise how clichéd and dull it all sounded. I haven’t really read too many stories that could actually pull it off; apart from maybe a couple of Asimov short stories.

I don't really have any 'love' segments, though I do have a few mysteries and hidden agenda's I guess you could call them. Most are made apparent to the reader, but the characters / universe themselves don't know the true nature or motives. Another mystery is a bit more obscure, and is really more of a predestined revelation.

I loved the idiom of "wheels within wheels" shown in the Dune series, so drew some inspiration from there – though didn’t want to go overboard. I’m actually drawing a lot of inspiration from past history as well, though I’m cautious about making any subconscious analogies or interjected commentaries.

>>3739233
Some of that actually sounds similar to what I've got going at the moment. But I'm trying to stray from clichéd elements as much as possible. I originally wanted to keep things simple, but before I knew it, the world and story had grown quickly. In fact, the whole concept actually started its life as a short story, and grew into this massive saga.

And I totally agree with you about the threat of creating a muddled mess. That’s pretty much my whole reason for spending so much time in the 'treatment' and planning stage, so I don’t write myself into any corners. I really think the format and structure of something this large either makes or breaks the whole story. It’s hard enough making everything in your world consistent, yet thematically dramatic; but then you also have to make it all coherent once written.

I have a question. Was Starship Troopers an apology of fascism? It gave me that feeling during all its extension.

>>3739334
That exact problem is what happened to GRRM with his latest books. He painted himself into a complicated corner and didn't know how to write the story/characters from that point on. Took him 5 years to figure it out ffs.

>>3739342
I never got that vibe. It certainly made a case for strict rule and law, but that's it.

>>3739232
not that guy, but just looked that up and holy shit it sounds awesome! never heard of it before.

can you compare it to something? are there nice space battles? I'm a sucker for good space warfare.

How does it compare to the honor harrington warfare that anon mentioned, for example?

>>3739023
I think the response I set off proves otherwise. I knew this thread would never get off the ground without some inflammatory shit-flinging at the beginning to draw people in.

>>3739506
How inspired of you.

Anyone mind if I dumb a couple wallpapers?

>>3739522
>>>/wg/

>>3739522
>dumb

I meant dump ffs

A telling slip?

>>3739452
I guess that's the one drawback to his style; the supposed "gardener" approach. As I understand it, he never plans anything out in an outline. So nothing is really ever set in stone.

I was going to write an outline for mine, but I think that might kill a bit of the 'magic' of the whole thing. I know what major plot points and character arcs I have though, and I've already more or less worked out who my principal (viewpoint) characters are going to be.

I’m just slightly afraid of starting and then suddenly realising that I've missed the opportunity to add something special to the grand scheme of things.

>>3739524
>mfw no love for my wallz

Ok last one

>>3739514
Thanks.

>>3739538
That's actually a pretty cool wallpaper.

Thanks!

>>3739634
I am not ashamed to say that I have an excellent collection of wallpapers that have been carefully selected for their quality throughout the years. All three posted so far and pic related are part of it.

bamp

DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME WITH THE ABOMINATION HULL ZERO THREE BY GREG BEAR.
I could've written a better book when I was second grade.

>>3740157
Wow never heard of it, but it sound awesome. Brb downloading.

>ctrl+f
>vorkosigan
>no results
Read the Vorkosigan Saga guys. Seriously, read it. Now.

>>3740213
eh... not enough space battles for my taste

too much "muuuh cripple privilege" crap

Read 'Light' by Harrison a week or two ago. I was disappointed. I came into it with such high expectations and although some parts were easily the best written and most beautiful prose in sci-fi I've come across, overall I found it uneven. Some of the plot and writing were just so humdrum, lazy, standard sci-fi; especially in comparison to the good stretches.

Has anyone read the rest of the trilogy, does it get better?

>>3739142
I'm with you for 1 and 2, but the rest of your list is bollocks. Try some Neal Asher - I particularly love his Spatterjay series. And what about Peter Hamilton?

>>3740272
Can you spoiler that for me please? What's with the naked singularity and that creature Shreder or whatever it was? I never finished the book and don;t plan to.

>>3740294
Also Dan Simmons.

Where do you guys get your pirated books from?

I usually go to TPB ot Isohunt. 99% of the time I find what I need, but not always. Is there a dedicated book site or something?

what does /lit/ think of Blindsight?

>>3740521
Usually a google search is good enough... I've never actually needed to download a sci-fi novel that I wasn't able to find with carefully selected search terms. Then again I buy most of my novels.

>>3740641
too much philosophical bullshit not enough substance

>>3740665
I can't find anything on google. It's fake or "do a short .... first"

If someone can help me find a download for The Killing Star by Charles R. Pellegrino and George Zebrowski

...I'll be grateful for a week!

>>3740690
What book specifically are you looking for? It may be that an ebook just doesn't exist.

>>3740863
this
>>3740738

>>3740908
Well, there's your problem. No e-book exists, unfortunately.

>>3740988
Awwwww shit. That's a really bad news anon. I'll have to buy a copy from amazon then.

Out of curiosity, how did you figure out there's no e-book?

>>3740994
In general, if there's no official e-book there isn't one period. It's impossible to find a place to buy the e-book, which usually means one doesn't exist. The only exceptions to this rule seem to be academic scans of old manuscripts and, every once in a while, niche (I mean extremely niche) pamphlets or novels, which are sometimes scanned and cleaned up by extremely devoted members of of the community.

Still, I suppose I have no way to know for sure that there's no e-book, but I wouldn't waste any more time looking for one.

If you want to buy a copy, I recommend checking abebooks and ebay first, amazon sellers are all out to get you.

>>3741006
I see thanks. After further digging it seems the copies are somewhat rare and tend to be expensive from 50 to 200 dollars.

>>3741027
http://www.abebooks.com/Killing-Star-Charles-Pellegrino-George-Zebrowski/9532214452/bd

Nah, like I said that's just Jewish amazon sellers. They can afford to run that kind of massive scam because a lot of people are aware of only amazon marketplace as a place to pick up used books online.

>>3737768
Unpublished, Ignatius J. Reilly type detected.

>>3737900
Fucking great hard sci fi, but it's 50% too long.
How much can a person endure reading about martian landscapes?

>>3737768
>Unpublished, Ignatius J. Reilly type detected.

But seriously, if your pretention were blood in the ocean, it'd have a colony of sharks the size of a small island congregating about it by now.

>>3739458

I liked it better than Honor Harrington. I've only read about four books of HH before I got bored of it though. Lost Fleet kept my interest, waiting for the next book.

>>3740641
Best SF book I've ever read, seriously.
There is just so much in there. Great ideas all around and everything is very well researched.

I hope Peter Watts gets the recognition he deserves.

>>3741006
I remember the last book of WoT had a scan up two days after it was released. There was no ebook 'cause RJ's wife didn't want it or something.

>>3739002
Please, don't invent any words or keep that to a minimum. I almost dropped Dune because of that shit. (glad I didn't).

>>3739092
You're probably all tired of hearing how good commonwealth saga is but here it is again

>>3741217
I agree on the HH stuff. the first few were excellent but pretty soon it became
>"Women are just as cool as men!"
until it descended into damn near romance novel territory

>>3741847
My problem with it was the villains were so tissue-paper transparent, especially once he decided to use the French Revolution as the villains. Just not interesting, not even interesting enough to hate - just irritating and dull and tedious and throwing up dull, irritating, tedious obstacles in everyone's way.

>>3737698
Glen Cook's 'The Dragon Never Sleeps'
[despite the name not a fantasy book]
Cherryh's Alliance series, starting with 'Downbelow Station'
Doc Smith's Lensmen series for the classics
I am fond of Drake's Hammer's Slammers military scifi

Is there something wrong with Larry Niven? I'm on the second ringworld book and loving it. Similar feeling to Clarke's Rama exploration.

>>3741850
I remember the first time I read the name of the main villain
"Rob S. Pierre?! Are you fucking kidding me?"
Sure, sure, its obviously based on Horatio Hornblower, but FFS

>>3741855
Nope
and that reminds me! Pournelle's CoSominium series is good, too

>>3741855
Don't care for the man's politics or for him personally, but his writing is fine, and the Ringworld books are very decent. To be honest, though, I usually read different authors when I'm looking for that kind of exploratory space exploration feel; I don't know why but Niven's characters and his space stuff just isn't as interesting to me as some other people.

Also can I just say, I haven't been around for a few days so I haven't seen this but I am a big fan of this idea and I hope it succeeds and continues.

Not too familiar with the genre. Are there any space exploration themed Sci-Fi novels that don't include aliens?

>>3741906
Probably. Nothing comes to mind with no aliens at all, although I can think of some things where the only aliens are dead ones, if that works for you (specifically, Gateway by Fred Pohl, and Jack McDevitt's Academy series).

>>3741906
The Snow Queen and Summer Queen sort of do this. the planetside time vs spaceflight time is spaced a bit like star wars, in that you find yourself largely preoccupied with the planets visited and character dramas unravelling.
Hyperion totally does this. There are genetically modified humans, and computer entities, but no aliens, as such.
Both of these series are favorites of mine. I would highly recommend them if you don't mind a bit of complexity in your reading.

>>3741243
I can see how some of Herbert's phrases can be a bit tiring or daunting at first; especially due to how 'exotic' some sound - such as the Gom Jabbar, Kwisatz Haderach, etc.

The only invented words I have in this story relates mainly to the three ancestral racial groups in the story, and also their planets / cities. There are three main racial groups that are all derived from one long-extinct ancestral race; so I tried to make everything at least phonetically similar in some way to show this common lineage.

Also naming characters is a complete bitch, especially in a created world. I’ve tried my best to make each character (and even planet) name mean something. For example, there is a large gas giant in the star system named Eda, which historically means “strife for wealth”. This gas giant is the only location in the system to contain metallic and liquid hydrogen (which can be obtained and used for fuel and other technological inventions), making the gas planet extremely desirable.

>>3741910
>>3741919
Thanks! Dead aliens are fine. I'll look into both of your recommendations.

>>3739162
Fuck yourself in the ass with a hammer

>>3739458
I've read all lost fleet and beyond the frontier novels to date.

Space combat relies heavily on light speed information and communication with a focus on logistics involving ammunition, fuel, resupply, etc.

It's highly technical and exactly what I'd expect real space combat to look like, or near enough to.

I do enjoy the honorverse more for the storyline, but for sheer good scifi fun with awesome combat and a decent storyline, I'd recommend the lost fleet series.

How a supposedly well-versed board like this become such a childish circlejerk when talking genre literature?

>>3740521
You can try bookos or basic google-fu

>>3742049
Awesome thanks. Downloading it asap.

>>3741862
>>3741850
I can deal with the character and historical similarities. The story is usually interesting enough.

My two problems with Honorverse are:

1: The story is spread among several different series.

The latest book marketed as part of Honor Harrington's series was actually part of the Saganami Island series (which I don't read). It took em 100 pages to figure out that Shadow of Freedom was not a proper HH novel

Also, fucking genetic slave shit shoved down our throats. I don't care about the Crown of Slaves series, but he used its plots to further the HH series with the Mesan alignment and all that.

So how am I supposed to understand these things if I follow only HH series?

2. I would have preferred a straight up fight with Sol without the Mesan shit. It makes it unrealistic (hur hur). Gimme some Earth development not this.

Also, I am happy Honor didn't die as planned by Weber. I hope we see some aliens in the future. The Mesan tech could have been used to introduce aliens not this conspiracy crap.

>>3742314
What do you mean?

In this thread thread, most have been quite helpful and well mannered. Also there is some great recommendations and also mature advice.

I like the idea of having a general thread where us guys who like science fiction can hang out and discuss books, topics and so forth.

>>3742328
Agreed, very good recommendations and great discussion of certain books so far.

>>3737892

I thought this was better than KSR's stuff - Not sure why he doesn't get more love

>>3742345
you know why, don't make me say it

>>3742325

"My two problems with Honorverse are...."

Dude - you forgot the fucking magical space cats - Anything (other than Ande Norton who invented them) with magical telepathic space cats is automatically shit. Fuck magical space cats, fuck feudal lizards in space ships and fuck intergalactic cat Mongols. For fucks sake put a little effort into things

>>3742363
>>3742363
>Dude - you forgot the fucking magical space cats - Anything with magical telepathic space cats is automatically shit.

uwot

>>3742363
>>3742366
I remember a short story where some aliens attacked Earth and a guy in a spaceship had a secret/experimental weapon or something.... and for some reason he had lots of fertilized eggs and plants in his ship....

...so he sent ,back in time, some fertilized cat eggs to the moon with explanation what he has done, about the alien fleet, etc...

....then suddenly in his timeline a huge fleet came out of the moon and destroyed the alien invaders. Turned out it was the cats. They evolved on the moon, became intelligent and build a huge ass fleet in preparation for the alien invasion...

>>3742370
That story is likely The Crime and the Glory of Commander Suzdal by Cordwainer Smith.

>>3742350

Curious - why ? ( honest question)

>>3742372
That is exactly it! I read it a decade ago, so that explains my distorted memories.

>klopts

Oh yeah I remember how horrified I was by the idea to turn all women to men.

>>3742379
Because his name sounds eastern European and people in the US are prejudiced. Most of them look down upon foreign authors, especially Russian, Baltic, etc.

It doesn't matter that the author is an American citizen. All that matters is the name.

I have stumbled upon this on two separate occasions. In both cases I was reading a Strugatsky book. Once in the company rest/coffee area and another on an airport. In both cases I was asked what I was reading and in both cases I got the response "Ewwww Russian book? How can you read this? Surely it's horrible."

>>3742366

Their intergalactic cat Mongols - It's a boring half assed effort at aliens - while I concede that the Kizin originating the trope makes them less worse than the crap that flowed later, this is more than offset by their culpability for later encouraging atrocities - Intergalatic cat Mongols and their space khans are shit.

>>3742389
Do they have a mythological belief that somewhere in the universe a massive ball of yarn exists?

>>3742389
>>3742395
That reminds me of the Orions from the Starfire books. They even act like cats lel.

Are there any good sci-fi books with isolation as a main theme?

Kind of like the films Moon or 2001 or Oblivion, but not the book 2001 since I've already read it.

So, a few novels which are favourites of mine that I have not seen mentioned:

Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss. It's one of the best sf novels I've read. Look it up, don't read any blurbs or synopses, and just read it. The reason I say this is because many of these spoil a very important part of the book. I also just looked at the top Amazon reviews for this book, and they all do likewise, because they feel compelled to mention the title under which Non-Stop was first published in the US, and that title is in itself a spoiler.

Or wait, I found a synopsis which does not spoil anything, here: The Greene tribe is no longer the center of the universe. The crucial "watchwords" have lost their power, and now, self-esteem is draining away. But Roy Complain refuses to sink into apathy. To escape extinction, he joins Marapper the Priest and begins a perilous journey of discovery.

Neverness by David Zindell. A massively ambitious space opera with big ideas everywhere. Not without some problems (pacing especially in the 1/2 - 3/4 area), but I hadn't been this impressed by sf in a while.

Gap cycle by Stephen Donaldson. Intense, brutal space opera. Frightening people and frightening aliens. The first book has non-negligible problems (it's basically rape central), but the second is amazingly intense, and in the third the scope of the series starts to show. The first and second books have been combined into one per the author's request in the new UK PB edition.

Anything by Jack Vance. It's true that he's not always excellent, but he's never - to my experience - bad. He ranges from good to excellent, and I always enjoy reading his works.

And there's some stuff I'm just willing to name-drop: High Crusade (great fun), Startide Rising, Wasp, Brunner's dystopias (Stand at Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up), Jack Glass, van Vogt's stuff (Voyage of the Space Beagle, Slan)...

>>3741853
Have you read Cook's other notable sf work, passage at arms? Both it and dragon are top tier.

>>3742453
Some really interesting sounding stuff here. My list of things to read is growing exponentially. The High Crusade actually looks like a really fun and possibly quirky read.

Thank you.

>>3742453
>Anything by Jack Vance.

Have you read his Big Planet? If ever, how was it?

>>3742453
I read some of the synopsis of Nonstop on Wiki. I wish I hadn't. Should have listened to you.

FUCK.

>>3742509
big planet is pretty good, though I liked the sequel, "showboat world" a lot better. They're both available cheap used as Daw originals

>>3742482
Don't mention it. It's splendid fun; the back cover sold me utterly to the story: "In the year of grace 1345, [...]. The Alien Wersgorix, whose scouting ship it is, are quite expert at taking over planets, and they initiate standard world-conquering procedure. Ah, but this time they've launched their invasion against free Englishmen!" (and I'm not even English)

>>3742509
Unfortunately no, not yet. But I see another gentleman is a Vance reader as well!

>>3742571
Heh, yeah. Well, if it makes you feel any better, I was spoiled too. I bought the SF Masterworks edition, and while the front and back covers were innocuous, the first blurb on the first page (I don't know if it has a special term to it? The one which is either empty or set with blurbs or excerpts of reviews) set it out in plain.

Get such enjoyment from this read.
The Snow Queen, World's End, The Summer Queen.
1/1

Get such enjoyment from this read.
The Snow Queen, World's End, The Summer Queen.
1/3

2/3

3/3

What do you guys think about science fiction stories which kind of blend with fantasy? But I don't quite mean science fantasy as a genre. For example;

A person tries to attain immortality through scientific means, but regardless of listening to scientific voices saying that the procedure to do so is still unreliable and needs decades of further research, the person decides to go through with it regardless (he’s possibly old and can’t wait). The procedure works, but slowly renders him into a lich (in a fantasy sense) over time; basically a living cadaver.

Or am I pretty much just describing science fantasy here?

>>3742453
>>3742482
>the high crusade

Jew Apologists pls go

>>3742705

I think they're pretty interesting. As long as it's well interesting and they actually makes sense. Most popular JPN novels that I read like A Certain Magical Index and Irregular at Magic Highschool are like that.

>>3742682
>>3742688
>>3742693
Thanks for sharing, interesting little story.

Here is Second Variety, by PKD for those who haven't read it already. It's probably one of my favourite science fiction shorts.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32032/32032-h/32032-h.htm

light of another day by arthur c. clarck
super relevent now adays.

>>3742900
perv detected

bump

what's the bump limit on /lit/? /tv/ here.....

>>3742892
Sure, guy. It's just the opening pages of Joan D. Vinge's the Summer Queen. Thanks, yourself.

Motherfuckers an Ender's Game movie is coming this year. Better prepare yourselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP0cUBi4hwE

>>3744530
You're probably the only person here who thinks that's a good thing.

>>3744533
I imagine there are lots of tinkertwats on /lit/ who'd love an Ender's Game (replete with crappy CGI bullshit) movie so they can "relive the magic".

Also, don't underestimate the overwhelming desire some people have to go see a movie just so they can loudly proclaim "the book was better" (which, all they really want to say is "I'm no fucking knowledgeable about X, eat my rose-smelling shit, motherfuckers!") and cite a boring list of all the book-to-movie differences.

>>3744541
I think our personal experiences of the matter are incompatible to the point that we can't even communicate very well. Are you an American? Perhaps we just see different shifts.

>>3744533
>>3744541
>>3744554
All of those are wrong.... and how is it a bad thing to be excited for a movie based on one of your favorite books, with superb actors that fit the roles perfectly (especially the Ender kid) and done true to the source material with respect.

Seriously, you faggots need to stop hating everything.

>>3740521


libgen.info

Site is russian, but the books are in english. Almost never lets me down, no matter what I'm looking for. Has lots of scanned books, as well as official ebooks.

Doesn't seem to have The Killing Star though, so quite likely no one has made an ebook of that ever.

Is "Who goes there?" any good?

>>3744654
amazingly good. the movie "the thing" is based on it.

>>3744654
I liked it, personally. The film adaptions all run fairly close so you might already know most of it, but I think the writing is pretty tight and well organized. It's a pretty quick, gripping read, I thought.

le bump face.jpeg

Only one mention of Ballard.

For shame. He's one of the few sci-fi writers who managed to write excellent work and then branch out to other areas rather than stagnate in a dead genre.

>>3746084
>dead genre

Best be joking mate.

>>3740521
#bookz on undernet. Almost always has what I need.

>>3746354
this.

I'd looooooooooooooove to get my hands on the new Culture novel.

Okay. I'm just gonna come out with this and see how it goes. I am a developer working on a game.
It's going to be a Scifi game. I'm readying a lot of books for inspiration but got to thinking this is probably a good place to ask for suggestions. I need things that go in to the gritty details and it doesn't really matter to much what its about as long as its scifi. If I can get one idea from a book no matter how small its worth the time for me so yeah.

Suggestions? Looking for things that are believable but go a little farther then standard scifi tropes. Thanks in advanced.

>>3737784
>212 posts and 37 image replies omitted.

>>3747168
You have to be more specific mate...

>>3747197
Some good steampunk space opera would be good.

>>3747197
Okay. Tell me what you mean and I'll try to elaborate. I think what I'm really looking for is plausible technologies that are very well explained. Like if we follow and engineer on a star ship and see how all these different systems work. Its going to be almost completely based in space and on ships. Does that help a bit?

The Stars My Destination


best.scifi.ever.

>>3747202
Not many of those exist, since it's hard for Viktorian age tech to go to space, but there are several I can think of.

“Pilgrim of the Sky” by Natania Barron - steampunk with monsters and shit.

Edison's Conquest of Mars by Garrett Putman Serviss - basically a sequel to the original War of the Worlds

There was a short story where some aline faggots go about the Galaxy invading and taking over planets with medieval weapons. They figured some very easy way to travel to spay (like warping, but with the mind), a method we never invented. So one day they come to Earth, open their spaceships, come out..... and get mowed down by machine guns and tanks lel.

Man, I don't care what you guys say, I still enjoyed The Diamond Age a lot, I really don't think it's as bad as some of you make it out to be.

>>3747207
Yes it does. I'd recommend Heavy Time by C.J. Cherryh if you want some hard sci-fi, Neutonian physics about miners in asteroid belts and war.

Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds has some amazing ships and technology, plus, the author makes it a point to use only plausible technologies. No FTL there, huge 30mile spaceships shaped like cones fly between stars and rearrange themselves to suit the crew's needs. Elevators, engines, outer shell, it;s pretty good. Ships are not the focus of the series, but they play a big part.

Tau Zero - Paul Anderson, a ship has to accelerate to higher and higher speeds due to some accident. Relativity, time dilation, etc.

Dunno if that's what you are looking, but I tried lol.

>>3747232
No this is awesome. I'll read them all thank you very much. I might come back and make a thread after I've read them.

>>3742387
>Because his name sounds eastern European and people in the US are prejudiced. Most of them look down upon foreign authors, especially Russian, Baltic, etc.

Oh wow, there are people who actually believe this. I guess that's why Tolstoy and Doestoevsky are regularly acknowledged as two of the greatest novelists of all time, and Russian literature in general is praised to the high heavens.

No, that one author with an Eastern European name must be unpopular because of prejudice and racism, not because people don't like his books. Give me a break.

>>3747649
you know it to be true anon. book critics may care, but ordinary folks are prejudiced as fuck.

>>3747212
It really wasn't that good.

>>3747674
Ordinary people aren't prejudiced, most ordinary people just don't read very much, and don't read the kinds of books which are usually deemed worthy of translation by publishers. Few people, if any, are going to put aside authors with foreign names on principle.

>Few people, if any, are going to put aside authors with foreign names on principle.

You must be very sheltered, no offense.

>>3747711
I don't know, maybe I am. I have never met anyone who does that and have never heard of anyone who does that. Where are you living that significant numbers of people still discard foreign authors because of racial/ethnic/national/etc prejudice?

I loved forever war, will I enjoy Halderman's other books?

>>3747202
The third book of the Jackelian series by Stephen Hunt has space travel in it. I think they fly to Mars.

>>3747732
Jersey

>>3747759
Yes you will.

Surprised nobody has talked about Ready Player One or Wool ITT. My favorite two sci fi books of the past few years

>>3740641

I liked it. The idea that evolving sentience might be a rare fluke that's keeping us from our true potential was good and stuck with me.