[ 3 / biz / cgl / ck / diy / fa / ic / jp / lit / sci / vr / vt ] [ index / top / reports ] [ become a patron ] [ status ]
2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/lit/ - Literature

View post   
File: 621 KB, 2560x1024, dual_screen_wallpaper_planets-other.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3223195 No.3223195 [Reply] [Original]

Any good Sci-fi recommendations? I've currently got into Phillip K. Dick because it just seems he was everything I was looking for.

What I want...
1. Nothing too literal, I don't want a book about a guy who meets aliens blah blah.
2. I want something what's totally crazy, something I can get ideas from to write lyrics. (I'm a musician, who mostly writes sci-fi lyrics.)

Been reading a book by Dick called "Three Stigmata..." I had an idea what I wanted to read. I'm a big drug user and the book is about people who traffic drugs from colonies in space etc.. and trip etc.. etc..

I want weird stuff like that, also open to just crazy sci-fi stories which will make you go "WTF". Sorry I can't explain very well haha. Just looking for some advice /lit/.

>> No.3223196

Stapledon's Last and First Men, and Star Maker?

At the Mountains of Madness?

>> No.3223204

>>3223196
Thanks for recommendations.

>At the mountains of madness?
Isn't that Lovecraft?

I want to stay well away from Lovecraft, I like his work but lyrical wise, most bands milk the hell out of lovecraft.

>> No.3223210

>>3223196
Just found a pdf version of Star Maker, read up on the plot and it sounds great. Thanks. I'll check out last and first men too.

>> No.3223241

>>3223195
What type of music do you make?

>> No.3223274

>>3223195
Peter Watts, Blindsight. Proper science fiction horror story and if you can't get ideas for lyrics from it you're not trying or don't like being depressed.

>> No.3223278

Lyrics are easy

Space
I'm flying through fucking space
Yeah
I'm blasting shit with my blasting ray
And dodging asteroids that come my way
I'm bonin' nubile Venusian space alien hoes
With seven tits (tits tits) and twenty-eight toes (toes toes)
I'm flying through fucking fucking space
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Yeah

etc.

>> No.3223289

Harlan Ellison, The Beast Who Shouted Love at the Heart of the World. It's a short story collection, you'll be able to pick something out of there, probably.

>> No.3223290

>>3223278
>>3223195
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHHklo5Fc54

>> No.3223292

>>3223289
The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World*

>> No.3223304

>>3223290
>implying the civilized folk here on /lit/ would listen to that utter garbage
>>>/mu/

>> No.3223331

Gotta say all of Iain M Banks Sci-fi novels are brilliant. Big political space opera and manages to be very intelligent as well.

>> No.3223372

Check out the works of Stephen Baxter.

For an example, his Manifold trilogy features three potential answers to the Fermi Paradox, which can most easily to be summed up as "everything we know says there should be a lot of alien species out there, and they should be very easy to detect. We haven't detected any. Why the fuck?"

One of my favorite things in Manifold Space, for an example, is when a race of hexagonal naturally evolved robots show up on earth and start asking people questions like "what is a soul?" and "what happens to us when we die?"

People always thought that aliens would show up in golden spaceships and share with us the secrets of their wisdom, and Baxter points out that nobody would build a fleet of spaceships and go explore the galaxy to tell people about your wisdom.

You'd do it because you have burning questions you need answered, and you hope OTHER PEOPLE already know the answers.

>> No.3223400

Oh, and don't forget Alastair Reynolds. He's the guy Bioware stole the Reapers from for Mass Effect.

Except his Reapers are scarier.

>> No.3223503

>>3223372
Okay ... this right here.
Thank you, and whatever space alien eldritch horror creatue you believe in shall bless you.
Manifold sounds delightfully interesting.
Just wanted you to know that I will follow your advise, and read it

>> No.3223664

Devo named an album after one of the lines in the book, but The Island of Dr. Moreau by Wells is incredibly short (took me like two days and I only read on the bus) and can be incredibly deep. The themes include the power of the invisible/non-existent (i.e. God) on others, treating others as subhuman, even if there's a little truth to it, advancing humanity to the detriment of others. Plenty of lyrics to be had. And Wells tends to be a sci-fi author who fits more into the category of "author positing an idea" than "sci-fi author". My two cents.

>> No.3223668

Check out Alfred Bester, and then check out the New Wave, which is science fiction writers who were cool with drugs. Like Harlan Ellison (already mentioned), and also Roger Zelazny, and some others. M John Harrison. Michael Bishop.

>> No.3223695

>>3223290
>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHHklo5Fc54

My nigga. Protest the Hero is awesome.

Definitely relevant
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDsacr_Wq-g

Total space exploration music right here. The whole album is about branching out to the stars. This is the first song.

>> No.3223738

>>3223400
Any specific book you'd warmly recommend?

>> No.3223767

>>3223738
im not him but he's most recognized for his Revelation Space series. Definitely give them a look.

>> No.3223807

OP listen to some Bal-Sagoth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpTMi71-DYo

>> No.3223823

Bradbury's short stories are always good.

>> No.3223826

>>3223767
Will absolutely do.

>> No.3223838
File: 142 KB, 1000x1408, Dune Princess jlw.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
3223838

>>3223826
I dont want to get shit for this but considering where i am, fuck it.

Check out Dune dude. Ive always wanted someone to write music directly inspired from that book. Id prefer progressive metal but im not gonna tell you what type to play. Definitely check it out also though. Damn good ideas.

>> No.3223861

yes. eaten up every book i can find in the genre, here. these're my favorites:
dune
[the snow queen, world's end, the summer queen]
hyperion cantos
blood meridian [listed as sf but i wouldn't call it that]

>> No.3223963

Try Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan. It is pretty crazy, a fairly quick read, and I think it would lend itself well to lyrics.

>> No.3224035

the green brain

its by the guy who wrote dune

>> No.3224036

>>3223838
To my knowledge, there is exactly one Dune song.

It's Iron Maiden's To Tame A Land. The music is pretty good, but the lyrics are bad. Judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y3o4okKXMU

>> No.3224090

Accelerando by Charlie Stross. It's fucking insane. It's probably the best book in what might be called the "singularity fiction" subgenre, if you're into that sort of thing.

>> No.3224113

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Go to your local bookstore, read the first 5 pages, and then come back here and tell me with a straight face that you didn't buy it right then and there.

>> No.3224119

>>3224113

Actually, fuck that book store. Read the first 5 pages right here:

http://books.google.com/books?id=RMd3GpIFxcUC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

>> No.3224124

>>3224036

Your knowledge fucking sucks, there's a shit ton of Dune music. even Klaus Schulze did a Dune album although it is bad

This is probably the best Dune album though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcPFjjX8q_U

>> No.3224136

Richard K. Morgan's "Altered Carbon"

Cyberpunk sci-fi set 500 years in the future.

Distant worlds have been colonized and a person's consciousness can now be transferred digitally to other bodies or stored on hard drives and emulated in virtual reality.

Interesting read as it has a nice mix of hard-edge who-done-it.

There's a scene in particular that OP would enjoy. The antagonist accompanies a mercenary on a night out on the town that begins with a heavy dosage of narcotics and ranges from smoky digital brothels to dingy shitholes. Filled with x-ray stripper clubs and fictional liquids, powders and pills.

Plenty of lyricism in that chapter alone.

>> No.3224234

>>3224136
richard k morgan writes homosexual fantasy, stay away from him

>>3224113
very much disliked snow crash.

>> No.3224261

>>3224234
Altered Carbon certainly gave me some nohomo boners.

> disliked Snow Crash
Thanks for your opinion. We especially appreciate how you thoughtfully argued your case. I am sure none of us will ever read this RIDICULOUSLY BESTSELLING AND BELOVED novel.

>> No.3224266

Book of the New Sun has some really crazy shit in there

>> No.3224289

Hyperion is amazing. One of the best books ever, in any genre. Even people I know who never read sci fi loved Hyperion.

>> No.3224318

>>3224261
50 shades of grey is a best seller too

>> No.3224330

>>3224266
>>3224289
These are both remarkable, I agree. They have a quality that gives the lie to the genre stereotypes.

>> No.3224356

>>3224234
As a homosexual I can tell you Altered Carbon is not even homosexual fantasy.

It's just trying to shoehorn an action film into a novel

>> No.3224364

>>3224356
talking about his other books.
also i think altered carbon was a little gay too

>> No.3225480

>>3224364
Yes, so gay, what with all the explicit hetero sex, vag eating, vag vag vag.

>>3224318
Some people are capable of saying *why* 50 shades is shit.

>> No.3225514

You should look into the Sound of his Horn by Sarban- it was only like $2 for the ebook version and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

>> No.3225618

>>3224234
>>3224364
>altered carbon
>gay

i would really love to read either of your explanations for this.

Seriously, articulate a bit...