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/lit/ - Literature

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1073686 No.1073686 [Reply] [Original]

ITT: Epic Sci-Fi

>> No.1073707

Against A Dark Background was better.

>> No.1075117

epic fantasy I know...epic sci-fi, I'm not sure if I'm familiar with...Dune? Star Wars? The Honor Harrington Series? Fine for their purpose, but nothing I'd call great.

>> No.1075118

Has he really beaten "Use of Weapons?"

New one's coming out in October (in the US anyway).

>> No.1075119

>>1075117
youve got the right idea with dune, damn good set of books.

also op id suggest picking up some random sci-fi short story books. always a good read in them

>> No.1075124

Revelation Space

>> No.1075127

>>1075124
Yeah, Alastair Reynolds and Dan Simmons are among the only pop stuff I can stand, though I hear good things about Iain M. Banks.

>> No.1075326
File: 207 KB, 800x1350, Vernor Vinge_1992_A Fire Upon The Deep.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1075326

Epic-est space oprea you've never read.

Fix that.

Go. Do it.

>> No.1075329

>>1075326
>implying shitty, boring stories that are half about children playing with dog-weasels are epic. Also: oprea.

>> No.1075335

>>1075127
Banks' lack of major SF awards is perversely hilarious.

>> No.1075338

>>1075329
>Implying that you shouldn't be stabbed in the dick until you stop being a fuddy-duddy.

>> No.1075361

>>1075338
I'm a fuddy-duddy? You rave about a book where silly boring children play with silly boring aliens in a plot portion that has almost nothing to do with the actual story, and I'm a fuddy-duddy?

>> No.1075389

>>1075361
Well, you were bored by the book, weren't you? Circular logic ftw.

But seriously now. The Tines/kids were integral to the plot because the ship they arrived on had the countermeasure to use against the blight. Beyond that they were one of the several radically non-human aliens included in the book, and quite interesting IMHO.

I guess I can't argue if you think it's "boring", but your minority opinion doesn't disqualify it as epic.

>> No.1075395

>>1075389
And besides, the tangential "ordinary person" point of view is almost mandatory in epic Sci-Fi. AFUtD's was better than most.

>> No.1075399

>>1075389
The fact that the countermeasure was on the ship is entirely dependent on the author saying so. IE- That entire plot exists because Vernor wanted it to. He could have written a GOOD subplot where that measure was lost, but instead he wrote a mediocre plot thread that took up a brunt of the book for the sake of padding out the time from the less worthwhile plot thread.

>> No.1075411

>>1075399
>That entire plot exists because Vernor wanted it to.

...Yyyyeeeesss, that is true of a lot of fiction. Pretty much all of it, in fact.

I read it as a "setting is the story" sort of deal, LOTR style. Why did the ship/kids end up on the Tines' planet? Because Vinge wanted to tell a story there. You thought it was a pile of boredom in the way of the space stuff; I liked it. Flenser was a cool guy(s) and provided an identifiable antagonist while the Blight didn't. The big event/small event tempo Vinge sets up isn't padding; it's a stylistic device unto itself. By shifting the focus from intimate human-alien plotting to we're inoculated against Big Dumb Object fatigue.

Anyway. It's epic SF regardless of your opinion (being boring doesn't de-epicify something, re: Silmarillion) and enough people liked it, kids and all, for it to win a Hugo. It's great at being the book it is, not at being what you want it to be.

>> No.1075417

>>1075411
Also, sleeping now.

>> No.1075418

what about David Brin's uplift series? That's pretty epic

>> No.1075512

>>1075418

>what about David Brin's uplift series? That's pretty epic

It's one of the most epic series out there. Towards the end whole civilisations are being wiped out

>> No.1075721
File: 30 KB, 331x500, Accelerando(1stEd).jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1075721

Is this epic enough?

>> No.1075754

>>1075721
I have a copy of that sitting on my bookshelf. It was one of the first /lit/ recommended purchases I've made, and I'm yet to read the damn thing.

>> No.1075770

>>1075326
THIS. And also A Deepness in the Sky

>> No.1075772

>>1075754
Well, I really enjoyed it, and found a lot of the concepts pretty mind-blowing. I don't like Stross's writing too much, but it didn't generally get in the way.

>> No.1075776

>>1075721
Pretty good

>> No.1075779

The Forever War

>> No.1075854
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1075854

Loved this one.
3rd book didn't like it that much, but 1st book and 2nd book are epic.

>> No.1075869

What's up with no mention of Hyperion/Endymion?

>> No.1075907

Peter F. Hamilton - any thing he's written is epic sci fi
Not all of it is good, but it's all pretty epic.

I did enjoy "Pandora's Star" and its sequel "Judas Unchained."