/lit/ - Literature

>>5080897
i dispute all of these

>>5081265
First series that came to my mind as well.

>>5081268
It doesn't work, because they are INdisputable. Go ahead, try again. It won't work.

Has anyone read this? I did. Was interesting considering how long ago it was written.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camille_Flammarion

The best

is this it? is this the whole list?

>>5081282

SST is a lot of fun if you are an actual soldier or if you enjoy military tactics and strategy ( I fall in the second category).

I suppose it would be a gigantic borefest for the average normalfag though.

>>5081318

I grew up with adventure novelists like Verne and Salgari. This brings up some serious nostalgic feels.

I tried to read Dune recently and could not get into it at all.

all this nostalgia cover art

nowdays it's all movie covers

Nobody gonna post War of the Worlds?

>>5081268
Back it up

>>5080897

I thought Dune was crap. The characterisation and dialogue was laughably bad, comic book tier, and the pacing was off.

>>5081550
>not Ubik

>>5081657

This was really nice. I recommend it.

>>5081661

>not Eye in the Sky

One of the first.

>>5081667
Can't we agree that most of his books are great? I haven't read one yet that I haven't enjoyed.
Also,
>not Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

>>5081699

The one I enjoyed the least was the one Blade Runner is based on. I've enjoyed everyone of his other novels, the ones I've read, that is.

Even his lesser known stuff I enjoyed a bunch, like The World Jones Made; I thought that one was actually damn good.

>>5081711
I agree with you on Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, though I suppose it's a good starting point for his work.
Haven't read The World Jones Made, but I am looking to buy more of his books. His short stories are pretty good as well. I really enjoyed The Electric Ant.

>>5081445
um no it's not
most of these books dont even have movies, the few that do there's almost always a non-movie edition

>>5081727

Go for Jones if:

>you like the idea of a Hitleresque new leader rising in a world dominated by extremist Liberals

>if you like the idea of that new Fuhrer to be able to foresee events to a certain degree

It's nice.

Dick always has like 2 or 4 main characters, or at least two stories that intermingle. Sometimes he tries to put too much stuff in the same novel, as with Android. It really didn't need the Mercer stuff on top of the rest.

I swore to God that the next time I get an ending where it's all a virtual reality or something like this, I'll stop reading PKD altogether.

>>5081699
>not VALIS

>>5081749
>I swore to God that the next time I get an ending where it's all a virtual reality or something like this, I'll stop reading PKD altogether.
that's pretty much his thing tho

the multi-author anthology is sci-fi's strongest medium

>>5081763

>>5081763

I hope he reads better stories than the one he wrote.

I couldn't even finish the one collection I got from this guy.

And all I can remember is that he once punched a guy who told him his writing was bad.

Truth hurts.

>>5081749
I thought the virtual reality theme was pulled off nicely in The Man in the High Castle, Ubik, and Eye in the Sky (which he got that fact out of the way quickly). In Flow My Tears it got somewhat muddled near the end with the whole VR thing.
Have you read the Valis books? They feel a little rushed, but the story itself is compelling and thematically I think it's great. I'm almost done with The Transmigration of Timothy Archer.

>>5081769

Easy on the spoilers, my friend. I've read the first VALIS and didn't dislike it, though I can understand how others may dislike it a whole lot.

I'm reading pic-related.

>>5081768
Which collection did you read? And yeah he can be kinda hit and miss but I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, The Beast that Shouted Love at the Heart of the World and Repent Harlequin! said the Ticktockman are all classics, and for good reason. A Boy and His Dog too.

>>5081768
He's okay. I have Approaching Oblivion and I put it down a few years ago and haven't finished it since.

>>5081779
>>5081769
VALIS is by far the most interesting book of his I've read from a literary perspective. There's some fascinating discussion of authorship, creation, how reality impacts fiction and vice versa in there.

>>5081779
Got carried away there, sorry. Haven't read Maze of Death yet.
VALIS makes more sense in the context of the trilogy, and is directly tied with Timothy Archer.
I enjoyed it, but it's a lot different than some of his older books.
Divine Invasion is probably the best out of the three, but I'm still not done with Archer so that might change.
Know if he did another novel that is comparable to A Scanner, Darkly?

>>5081782

I read most of the Must Scream collection, but I couldn't get into it. I loved the idea for the titular story, but found the story itself disappointing.

I'm curious about the Beast story.

I'm 130+ pages into Dune. It's not bad but the dialogue reads like fan fiction. I have no desire to read all six but are the next two any good? Or should I just move on after finishing the first.

Most of the 'classic' science fiction is atrocious to read.

Awful prose and story. Cool ideas though.

>>5081805
>Know if he did another novel that is comparable to A Scanner, Darkly?
Not that guy, but no. A Scanner Darkly was the first book he wrote without drugs (everything before that he wrote in like a week while fucked on speed) and the last book he wrote before having the religious experience that made him write Radio Free Albemuth and the VALIS books. It's his most sober book by a long stretch, and it shows.

>>5081820
Figures. That one is probably my favorite. Some of the stuff he addressed in there just hit really close to home for me.

>>5081811
The first book is all you need to read in my opinion, but if you do continue reading don't read anything not written by Frank himself, they're trash.

>>5081825

Is this directly from the book?

It's literally my favourite scene of any movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nL6DxEiQo8k&list=PL472DC4DD811D8A55&feature=share

>>5081850
Yeah this was in the book. Richard Linklater was actually pretty faithful to the novel.

>"FUCK" screamed Keanu

>>5080897
Beats me why Dune gets all the applause here. It's decent enough - well, the first three anyway, after that it bloats a bit and starts to smell - but it's hardly literary SF. There's a lot better stuff out there.

This one now, this one's a true diamond.

>>5081287
no,it's fun but no.

>>5081746
you've never been to my piss-poor B&N then

>>5082062
you've never been to amazon?

>>5081867
>Adam fucking Roberts
My nigga. More people need to read this guy's stuff. I'd call New Model Army the best military scifi novel but that'd be an insult to New Model Army.

From 2000.

>>5081433
>filename

Does anyone have a list of sci-fi tropes?

I want to write science-fiction at some point, but I feel like every idea I may develop has already been treated like a whore in a gangbang.

>>5082322
Neanderthal Parallax kicks ass also. Sawyer's stuff is just great in general.

this shit right here

>>5081727
there's a marvel comic based on the electric ant, it's only based on it though and changes a lot, nevertheless it's still great

>>5082344
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/HomePage

>>5082394
I saw that on Amazon earlier. Almost sprung for a decent collection of his short stories, but it had to be cut for other books I needed.
Someone needs to make a comic of "Faith of Our Fathers."

I'm going to buy 3 science fiction books.

What should they be?

>>5082416

>>5081290
I grew up reading the C.S. Lewis space trilogy based on this book, but I never bothered reading this. How is H.G. Wells' writing style? Some of the old Sci-fi writing seems a bit dry to me, but then again, a lot of more contemporary sci-fi isn't written super well either.

>>5082416

>>5081678
Frankenstein was one of the most surprisingly enjoyable books that I remember from AP English class. There were a few other big surprises, but that was one of my favorite books of the class.

>>5080897

>>5082440
Trollol
The food was shit

>>5082473
I've only read The Fall of Reach by Eric Nyland, and was actually surprised at how not terrible it was.

>>5082472

Can I read this as my first Asimov?

>>5082416
It's already been posted, but "The Forever War" is tops

>>5081767
except Rock On, fuck that story

>>5082527
definitely, it's stand-alone

>>5082563

Short pitch?

>>5082580
I... uh... don't actually know what that means.

Call me a faggot, but this is my favorite science fiction novel.

>>5082632
With pleasure!

>>5082344
You would be far better served by just reading a load of good science fiction.

>>5082621

Like a synopsis, like a teaser.

>>5082808

I try to do that too.

This is the only thing posted so far that even sorta a masterpiece.

This and these:
>>5082972
>>5081294

Some of the rest are good, some not so much, but these three are the only classics posted so far.

>>5082972

whoah, is that actually the cover of some edition? swank as hell

>>5082632
I have this sitting on my shelf. I picked it up on a whim years ago. (I used to play EVE heavily back then)

So you are saying it is worth a read? Do I have to read other EVE novels as well, or is it a stand-alone?

>>5082478
The halo books are pretty enjoyable, and I haven't played a halo game since the first one. I love the naval space battle chapters

Has anyone here read Dhalgren? I hear that shit's good

>>5083077
Its just fan art. Its beautiful and sums up the odd sadness of the novel. As well as being a direct reference to the quote "Time itself is a thing, so it seems to me, that stands solidly like a fence of iron palings with its endless row of years; and we flow past like Gyoll, on our way to a sea from which we shall return only as rain."

>>5081426
Average normalfag here. I liked it, would enjoy knowing more.

All the stories in Manifest Destiny. Especially Enemy Mine.

>>5083289
I have. It was really interesting and well-written, though some parts felt unnecessary. Especially the sex; there were way too many sex scenes. Overall though, it was definitely worth the read. It's on the level of a lot of serious literary fiction, and it's only really sci-fi in the sense that, say, infinite jest is. Don't expect everything to make sense though. Most of the real appeal is in the atmosphere

>>5083443
It also seems to be a reference to the 'curtain wall' that divides the Citadel from the banks of Gyoll that run most closely past it. So the image does double duty.

>>5082632
you really are a faggot. No joking sir.

>>5082965
oh all right.
Protagonist is part of a monastic time-controlling society that changes events and results from that at a whim to, in their eyes, keep humanity safe, but then he meets a girl that is going to vanish on the next time-manipulation and falls in love with her.
sounds corny, but there's plots inside plots here and quite an ingenious way of time travelling.

>>5082439
H.G. Wells certainly feels aged, as some of his science is out-of-date. However, there are moments where you may be caught off-guard by something that you were surprised that had already worked out by his time.

FMitM, the Time Machine, etc. also have a lot of social commentary that is pretty timeless as well. So even if you can't stomach old science, the allegories are still interesting.

>>5082046
Where does science fiction end and fantasy begin?

>>5081426
I'm not too far gone and I liked it a lot.

>>5082457
I liked this book, anybody want to discuss it?

>>5085017
Great setting, one that's so intriguing it makes up for the disjointed main story. Might have worked even better as a collection of short stories.

>>5085017

The children were my favorite characters.

>>5081811
I liked book 5 most of all (Heretics), although it had its flaws and is corny at times. But it has a good, balanced combination of dynamic plot (i.e. it's not all some emperor with superpowers waxing philosophic while nothing happens leading up to a predictable finale), varied and interesting characters (for the first time non-Atreides characters are given a fair share of page time) and interesting and varied settings.

>>5081763
>>5081767

My niggas. You get it.

>>5080898

>daily mail praise
Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

>>5081816
Truly spoken like someone who hasn't read any of it.

>>5082972
>mfw this is so far down the thread

just checking if I'm banned

>>5086014
I like to reread New Sun when I'm nice and baked. Every time I'm shocked that another human can think/write like that. Forgot about this part:

We, so the mages say, were apes once, happy apes in forests swallowed by deserts so long ago they have no names. Old men return to childish ways when at last the years becloud their minds. May it not be that mankind will return (as an old man does) to the decayed image of what once was, if at last the old sun dies and we are left scuffling over bones in the dark? I saw our future—one future at least—and I felt more sorrow for those who had triumphed in the dark battles than for those who had poured out their blood in that endless night.

Seriously, WTF.

>>5082972
Only masterpiece in the thread.

>>5083039
A Canticle for Leibowitz definitely no where close to a masterpiece.

>>5081662
Just finished reading this one, i liked it, looking forward to read the next one.

>>5083277
dont read anything of Traviss

>>5086023
4chan.org/banned

pleb faggot pussy bitch

>>5088209
>Not saging a page 10 thread with a period

>>5080897

>>5081754
VALIS isn't sci-fi

>>5081282
nope.avi

>>5088531
>.avi

>watching the movie

>>5081273
Can someone explain why this is praised so heavily? People often mention it in the same context as 1984, but they really aren't comparable. 1984 was a warning against things that, as it turns out, ACTUALLY WERE HAPPENING AND STILL HAPPEN. Brave New World is just someone indulging in the goofiest tropes of pulp of the time while gnashing his teeth about decadence and MUH INTELLECTUALISM.

>>5084891
The Time Machine I think is his best work. That final scene is still bonechilling.

>>5081667
>>5081661
>>5081550
I'm an absolute PKD dicksucker, so I'd probably include most of his body, but then again I see why he sometimes might fall flat for some people.

>>5089267

>>5083277
If you have a 360 you should play ODST, even if the others don't interest you. I think more than 2 or 3 even it stands on its single-player mode.

>>5089285
Yeah I've read this comic. Sorry but "pop culture will destroy society!" doesn't really strike me as too incisive an observation. Bradbury made a vaguely similar observation, but much more convincingly and skillfully.

>>5082478
ghosts of onyx is pretty good

>>5089301
Fahrenheit 451 is one of the most idiotic and condescending books I have ever read

almost more so than anthem

>>5081655
Agree. Enders game is good babbys first scifi, but is still enjoyable/thought provoking no matter the age of the reader.
>>5082549
>>5081662
Forever war was pretty damn awesome. Read it right after Enders Game. The take of a relativistic war was amazing, and given the time it was written, quite relevant.
>>5084348
Damn that sounds good. (Not the earlier poster) I've found Asimov to be a bit too slow at time, but I've been reading a lot of his short stories and working my way up

>>5085017
Finished it there's two weeks, was nice.

It wasn't much of an intellectual book but it was pretty enjoyable to read.

/thread

>>5080897

>>5090708
are you claiming that's the only indisputable science fiction masterpiece?