Books, if you love Firefly you will really love reading....
POSTED BY: Murkymerc
UPDATED: Friday, April 7, 2006 18:36
VIEWED: 24405
PAGE 7 of 10
Almost anything by David Gerrold is great. You should also try When Harlie Was One, The Martian Child, the Dingilliad series (Jumping Off the Planet, Bouncing Off the Moon, Leaping to the Stars), The War Against the Chtorr series (A Matter For Men, A Day For Damnation, A Rage For Revenge, A Season For Slaughter) and the Star Wolf series (Voyage of the Star Wolf, The Middle of Nowhere, Blood and Fire).
Another great series is by E. E. Knight, collectively called The Vampire Earth. Four books so far, although I have only read the first three (Way of the Wolf, Choice of the Cat, Tale of the Thunderbolt, Valentine's Rising). Set on a near-future Earth that has been invaded by a vampire-like alien species known as Kurians, it is a tale of the struggle by a small band of humans to overthrow them. The main character, David Valentine, is a remarkable achievment by a writer of such little experience as Knight.
As for UnregisteredCompanion's request for a short book that her club might like, I would suggest The Free Lunch by Spider Robinson. Not connected to any other of his story sequences, it is as much fantasy as science fiction, and boasts two very well-drawn characters.
wo men ren ran zai fei xing.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy:
WAIT A MINUTE!!! I didn't realize what "His Dark Materials" was. I read them a couple of years ago...they are SO NOT children’s books. There is no way I would want my kid reading them. Dark, scary, disturbing (not to mention the kids having sex). All that being said, I thought they were really good and that ending...wow, just kills me.
I know what you mean; they're tricky books to market. They start off as a fairly innocuous children's fantasy, with hints of something vaster and darker, but it's not till the end of the first book that the story really takes off. Some of the themes and subject matter definitely become a bit heady for younger audiences but I think if they can handle it, they'd enjoy it (and to be fair, the sex is left implicit; it's up to the reader to decide what happened). And yeah, it took me a while to recover from the ending too. You feel kind of exhausted after finishing it. But in a good way. Who here can say they didn't feel drained when they walked out of Serenity for the first time? That's what I thought.
"We need a hood ornament."
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Have you tried anything by Mercedeys Lackey? Her Diana Tregard novels aren't too long, niether are Tarma and Kethry (Oathbound, Oathbreakers). I don't know, I'll have to check my bookshelf.
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Op: You're fighting a war you've already lost.
Mal: Yeah, well I'm known for that.
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You should try "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas Adams (the guy who wrote H2G2).
It's very funny but also kind thoughtfull and, added bonus, many references to Samuel Taylor Colridge (the man who wrote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner) and some mention of the albatross. This boo introduced me to Colredge's poetry and is the only reason I got the refernce in the BDM.
Also try "Good Omens" by Niel Gaiman and Terry Pratchet (I may have spelled that name wrong) It's similar to the stuff by Adams in style and oddness. It's about the biblical apocalypse...kind of.
Also by Gaiman, "Neverwhere" to quote the cover, "a dark, urban Alice in wonderland". A completely average guy ends up in a rather extraordinary place called London Below. It's where the people who fall through the cracks in the world go. There are a lot of interesting characters and I especially like the villans.
Mr. Gaiman also has a new movie in the stores (if you can't tell, I really love his writing right now). It's an indie called Mirror Mask. Imagine The Labirynth and The Neverending Story but with a goth flavor.
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Op: You're fighting a war you've already lost.
Mal: Yeah, well I'm known for that.
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I'd highly recommend any of Robert A. Heinlein's Juvenile novels; from a Browncoat point of view I'd particularly emphasize "The Rolling Stones" (a family wandering across a mostly-frontier solar system); "Farmer in the Sky" (Terraformation and colonization of Jupiter's moon Ganymede); and "Citizen of the Galaxy" (A sprawling, Dickensian adventure that cuts across several wonderfully detailed future societies--storytelling on a broad canvas.) From his adult novels, "The Moon is A Harsh Mistress" details a revolutionary movement on a Lunar colony oppressed by an Alliance-esque government.
I'd also give a hearty thumbs-up to almost anything by H. Beam Piper, especially his "Fuzzy" trilogy ("Little Fuzzy", "Fuzzy Sapiens", and "Fuzzies and Other People"). Piper had a fine feel for the logic of life on a frontier. Also of note by Piper is his novel "Lone Star Planet" (AKA "A Planet for Texans"), which is not only a cowboys-in-space saga extraordinaire, but also a magnificently satirical look at politics.
" If you’re leaving scorch marks...you need a bigger gun." -- The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pirates
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Quote:
Kayna wrote:
Also try "Good Omens" by Niel Gaiman and Terry Pratchet (I may have spelled that name wrong) It's similar to the stuff by Adams in style and oddness. It's about the biblical apocalypse...kind of.
Also by Gaiman, "Neverwhere" to quote the cover, "a dark, urban Alice in wonderland". A completely average guy ends up in a rather extraordinary place called London Below. It's where the people who fall through the cracks in the world go. There are a lot of interesting characters and I especially like the villans.
Mr. Gaiman also has a new movie in the stores (if you can't tell, I really love his writing right now). It's an indie called Mirror Mask. Imagine The Labirynth and The Neverending Story but with a goth flavor.
Neil Gaiman! How could I forget about Neil Gaiman? Good Omens is fantastic. I suppose we could mention Pratchet's Discworld series as well, but be warned that it NEVER ENDS, and the earlier books are far better than the more recent ones.
But back to Gaiman... Neverwhere was good, especially the climax, but in terms of sheer gritty beauty, I liked American Gods much better. The prose was better, the characters were better... I particularly liked Wednesday; best con man character since those guys in Hucklebury Finn -- to bring classics into the mix here.
And I actually did see Mirrormask, which was bewildering but amazingly unique visually. Worth seeing just for the surreal scene where the protagonist receives a makeover from a bunch of automated female frankensteins singing "Why do birds suddenly appear..." I'm not joking. Kayna, back me up here.
Gaiman has one of the most bizarre and fascinating imaginations out there. And, point of interest, he wrote the English version of Princess Mononoke, my personal favourite animated film of all time. I've also heard he writes excellent comics, but have yet to track them down. So he seems to like jumping between genres and media, like someone else we know... who could that be?
"We need a hood ornament."
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*whaps self on head* HOW could I have forgotten Gaiman? Anything and everything including the graphic novel series Sandman. Hang in there if you read them in order, which is the best way; the first one is a bit gory for my taste.
Also Kate Elliott's series, and I did enjoy Robin Hobb's works as well. I think we have expanded your library considerably here.
And I am astounded at how many of you have read the same stuff I have!!!
"Do not go gentle into that good night....
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. . ."
--Dylan Thomas
Though my soul may set in darkness
It will rise in perfect light.
I have loved the stars too fondly
To be fearful of the night.
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Quote:
Originally posted by Ivy:
Wow Browncoat1, I could have written the same post. I read the Terry Goodkind books up to Faith of the Fallen also and I bailed on the Jorden Wheel of Time books after Winter's Heart (or whatever it was called). It just seemed like it would NEVER END!!! (And I really needed some of those annoying women to DIE DIE DIE.) OK, I'm calm again.
Now that is a might unsettlin'. I stopped reading the Wheel of Time series after Winter's Heart too.
There is a such thing as too much. Apparently no one ever informed Mr Jordan or Mr Goodkind.
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"May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one."
Richmond, VA & surrounding area Firefly Fans:
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Quote:
Originally posted by BrownCoat1:
Now that is a might unsettlin'. I stopped reading the Wheel of Time series after Winter's Heart too.
There is a such thing as too much. Apparently no one ever informed Mr Jordan or Mr Goodkind.
Yeah, I'm stalled in the Wheel of Time series at Fires of Heaven, so I didn't even make it as far as you guys ;p Traded off in favor of David Drake's "Lord of the Isles" series: quite similar but with what I feel are slightly less annoying characters ;p (Even Rand was starting to annoy me, much less most of the female cast :) Plus I'll buy anything David Drake does. He mostly does hard military sci-fi, so a fantasy novel from him, with firm historical backing, is a nice change of pace.
For that matter: any of the Hammer's Slammers books by Drake is a good read. Plenty of good examples of 'anti-heroes.'
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You can take my hope when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers.
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I've read all of the Wheel of Time so far. I will admit that he kind of stalled for a bit (most of the women annoy me as well and Rand has gotten out of hand) but with the latest book I think he got back on track.
He's finally started to tie up some loosew ends and fulfilled some of the prophecies we've been hearing about since the first couple of books.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Op: You're fighting a war you've already lost.
Mal: Yeah, well I'm known for that.
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