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specsavage · 07-13-2012, 11:50 PM

I first tried to read Dune on a SwissAir flight to Germany in 1973...and several times since. I must say that I liked the 1984 movie version, but just never finished it in book form--or any other Frank Herbert book, for that matter.

Dhalgren (and all Samuel R. Delany, for that matter) seems to be one of those love-or-hate books. I thought it was crap, almost totally unreadable.

As for Asimov, he was a much better non-fiction writer than fiction.

Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow is only slightly interesting, much the same as Judith Merril's Shadow On the Hearth of about the same period. Leigh's work for Planet Stories was much more satisfying.

Never could get interested in Neal Stephenson--even Snow Crash left me cold.

1984 is just too depressing, and not at all entertaining.

In fact, the entire list makes me tired. I've been reading SF and fantasy for about 50 years now, and I guess I've reached the point of longing for the "old days" when you could actually read ALL the books (or at least all the major titles) published every year.

If you can find them, try Emergence by David R. Palmer, Doris Egan's Ivory trilogy, L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach, Mike Moscoe's Society of Humanity duology (actually the background for the Kris Longknife series he does as Mike Shepherd), and (chuckles, here) Mike Resnick's Goddess of Ganymede and Pursuit on Ganymede--two of his first three books, and respectably done pastiches of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Sorry. I still tend to lump SF and fantasy together as one genre, as the various subgenres were still in the process of being defined as I grew up.

For straight SF--Heinlein, every single time. Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven's The Mote In God's Eye, almost anything by Charles Sheffield and James P. Hogan, David Weber, the first couple of books by Robert L. Forward, early David Gerrold (When Harlie Was One and The Man Who Folded Himself), and, of course, Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South.

I haven't read any Philip K. Dick in thirty years, and the only one I remember with any fondness is Time Out of Joint. Think I'll have to reread him--I already have them all.

07-13-2012, 11:50 PM	#44
specsavage Member Posts: 18 Karma: 473394 Join Date: Jul 2012 Device: Kindle Fire HD	I first tried to read Dune on a SwissAir flight to Germany in 1973...and several times since. I must say that I liked the 1984 movie version, but just never finished it in book form--or any other Frank Herbert book, for that matter. Dhalgren (and all Samuel R. Delany, for that matter) seems to be one of those love-or-hate books. I thought it was crap, almost totally unreadable. As for Asimov, he was a much better non-fiction writer than fiction. Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow is only slightly interesting, much the same as Judith Merril's Shadow On the Hearth of about the same period. Leigh's work for Planet Stories was much more satisfying. Never could get interested in Neal Stephenson--even Snow Crash left me cold. 1984 is just too depressing, and not at all entertaining. In fact, the entire list makes me tired. I've been reading SF and fantasy for about 50 years now, and I guess I've reached the point of longing for the "old days" when you could actually read ALL the books (or at least all the major titles) published every year. If you can find them, try Emergence by David R. Palmer, Doris Egan's Ivory trilogy, L. Neil Smith's The Probability Broach, Mike Moscoe's Society of Humanity duology (actually the background for the Kris Longknife series he does as Mike Shepherd), and (chuckles, here) Mike Resnick's Goddess of Ganymede and Pursuit on Ganymede--two of his first three books, and respectably done pastiches of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Sorry. I still tend to lump SF and fantasy together as one genre, as the various subgenres were still in the process of being defined as I grew up. For straight SF--Heinlein, every single time. Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven's The Mote In God's Eye, almost anything by Charles Sheffield and James P. Hogan, David Weber, the first couple of books by Robert L. Forward, early David Gerrold (When Harlie Was One and The Man Who Folded Himself), and, of course, Harry Turtledove's Guns of the South. I haven't read any Philip K. Dick in thirty years, and the only one I remember with any fondness is Time Out of Joint. Think I'll have to reread him--I already have them all.