important historical SF

POSTED BY: annik
UPDATED: Thursday, July 1, 2004 06:36
VIEWED: 10645
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ANNIK

Sunday, May 30, 2004 1:40 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by dbell46:
While someone did mention Starship Troopers, no one's mentioned Heinlein's future
history collection The Past Through Tomorrow or IMHO his greatest single work Time Enough for
Love.

Then there's the book that turned me into a confirmed sci-fi fan, Stranger in a Strange Land.

I ran across an essay a few weeks ago, written a couple of decades ago, about the Manson family murders and their connection to Stranger in a Strange Land. I've read Helter Skelter, but don't recall that connection being made. Has anyone else ran across references to Heinlein's influence on Charles Manson?

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

GUNHAND

Sunday, May 30, 2004 2:01 AM

Static, man Forever War is on the short list of books that they can have when they pry it from my cold dead hands. I never get rid of books, which is why I have 3 storage units spread over 3 states...damn I need to get a big house one of these days with a huge library, but that's definately one of 'em.

Although the whole Scientology thing doesn't interest me in the least, L. Ron Hubbard wrote another series less well known than Battlefield Earth called Mission Earth. There are 10 of them and in high school I read the first one and found them worthy of getting all in hardback as they hit the bargain bin (gotta love Waldens hardback for $6 buck deals hehe) but they're cool. And in places hi-lerious. I especially loved the Coordinated Information Apparatus stuff they had on the alien planet, it had me laughing out loud because it was like I knew these people. Funny stuff even if some of the theories are...odd.

It isn't straight Sci-Fi but also anyone who hasn't read any H.P. Lovecraft should stop reading this right now and get thee hence to a bookstore. Trust me on this. Although I won't be held responsible for any messed up dreams ya get from them.

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

GUNHAND

Sunday, May 30, 2004 2:05 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by annik:
Quote:
Originally posted by dbell46:
While someone did mention Starship Troopers, no one's mentioned Heinlein's future
history collection The Past Through Tomorrow or IMHO his greatest single work Time Enough for
Love.

Then there's the book that turned me into a confirmed sci-fi fan, Stranger in a Strange Land.

I ran across an essay a few weeks ago, written a couple of decades ago, about the Manson family murders and their connection to Stranger in a Strange Land. I've read Helter Skelter, but don't recall that connection being made. Has anyone else ran across references to Heinlein's influence on Charles Manson?

Cheers,
Annik
... my sister's a ship. We had a complicated childhood.

Check out the book The Family by...oh hell I can't remember his name but if you look on amazon it should come up fairly near the top of the search. It was written by a guy that was kinda-in-kinda-not in the Manson Family and has lots of interesting things in it about Charlie's influences and connections, I mean hell the guy partied with a Beach Boy! Crazy stuff.

Another book that might mention it is Ultimate Evil again by a guy who's name I don't remember. It's mostly about Son of Sam but has a lot of interesting theories about the SoS murders and their connection to the Manson Family. Plus the cult/porn lifestyle of none other than Mrs. Kotter from Welcome Back Kotter. Worth it for that alone if ya ask me.

I don't remember any specifics about Heinlein in them but if there are any connections those would be the books that would have them in. I haven't read them since college so I'm a little hazy on most of it. Well except the Mrs. Kotter porn and the Beach Boys. Hey some things just stick in one's head ya know...

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
"Oh hey, I got an idea. Instead of us hanging
around playing art critic till I get pinched by
the Man, how's about we move away from this
eerie-ass piece of work and get on with our
increasingly eerie-ass day, how's that?"

My eerie-ass website:
http://gunhandsfirefly.homestead.com/Index.html

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Sunday, May 30, 2004 9:45 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Elfrenetico:
Toward the end of his life Isaac Asimov took 3 relatively distinct book series and short stories (Robot/Empire/Foundation) that he had written in previous decades and combined them seamlessly into one universe.

I never could deal with the merging of the universes myself, and found the shoe-horning in the Foundation series to be somewhat less than seamless. That said, Forward the Foundation is a fitting end to the series.

Harry Harrison was another favourite of mine, both Jim DiGriz and Bill the Galactic Hero (though the collaborations were very hit and miss).

"I threw up on your bed"

RELFEXIVE

Sunday, May 30, 2004 10:17 PM

Okay, recent ones, but good.

Richard Morgan: Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. Definitely, absolutely worth a read. Or two. Or three.

Peter F Hamilton: the Night's Dawn trilogy. Top class space opera stuff.

Iain M Banks: any of the Culture books.

Y'all can go back to talking about old books now

Mal: "We're not gonna die. We can't die, Bendis. You know why? Because we are so... very... pretty. We are just too pretty for God to let us die."

MISGUIDED BY VOICES

Tuesday, June 1, 2004 9:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RelFexive:

Peter F Hamilton: the Night's Dawn trilogy. Top class space opera stuff.

Loved Nights Dawn - derivative of a lot that had gone before, but for sheer audacity was a great read - biggest test was that I did not re-read the earlier volumes as each part came out, and within 20 pages or so my brain had found where the previous plot had been squirreled away.

"I threw up on your bed"

EGGBERT315

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 7:55 PM

I really like a few of the SF and horror books written back in the 20's and 30's.

The Moon Maid and A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Pretty much everything H. P. Lovecraft ever wrote.

I also really liked Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Marge Piercy's He, She, and It although I suppose they couldn't be counted as "classics" yet.

I need to start reading the rest of the John Carter of Mars series as well as start reading any Robert Heinlein. Speaking of Heinlein, I saw Starship Troopers w/o having read the book and I think I was better off for it. This way I had nothing to compare it to and judged it purely on its own merits. I thought it was a great anti-war / anti-jingoism film and a great satire of all those WW2 propoganda films. Now, don't get me wrong, I do intend to read Heinlein's works, but I think I was better off for having seen the movie without having read the book first; I saw it without any hangups.

CHRISTHECYNIC

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:13 PM

Ok so it's already been said, but I have to say it, it's a moral imperative.

Stranger in a Strange Land

I read it for a short story project in school. (Yes I'm the kind of person who reads a 220,000-word book for a short story project.)

I hesitate to use superlatives so I won't say it is the best book, but at the moment I can not think of a better one.

KNIBBLET

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Gunhand:
Static, man Forever War ... pry it from my cold dead hands. ... L. Ron Hubbard wrote another series less well known than Battlefield Earth called Mission Earth. There are 10 of them ...

I love the Forever War. I still have my paperback copy from way back in high school when I first read it. Don't even think that I didn't contemplate answering "F*** you, Sir" in basic training a couple of times.

As for the Mission Earth series: I think Hubbard got so caught up in the idea of writing a decology, he forgot about writing the story. He rehashed 1/2 of the previous book with every new book. Skip the first 300 pages and get to the frigging new parts already.

Loved Battlefield Earth. If I were to ever lose my mind and enter into an active breeding stage, I might name my child (boy or girl) Johnny Goodboy.

Has anyone else heard of "Floating Worlds" by Cecilia Holland? I actually hunted it down in a second hand book store last year. Always loved that one.

Has anyone seen the "new" release by Heinlein? "For Us, The Living: A Comedy Of Customs" It is his first novel written in 1938. It was rejected by two publishers and forgotten. Recently released and wonderful. You can see so much of his future work in this little story. Go out and get it.

"Just keep walkin, preacher man."

DUG

Wednesday, June 30, 2004 8:48 PM

At least one person mentioned it, thank goodness:

Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

When I first read it I thought, wow, he beat Gibson to Cyberpunk by 4 decades. Then I found out that Gibson was trying to copy the style of one of the big late 60's authors (name escapes me). I then read an interiew from that author, who said he was trying to copy Bester.

So Gibson wasn't being derivative, he was being derivative of a derivative.

At least there was the huge reference to Bester in Bab-5. You know, the character named Alfred Bester.

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