MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

bizzybody · 01-26-2015, 02:05 AM

Just downloaded the Peter Watts SF books. Going to run them through Calibre.

Typos, wrong words and flat out spelling errors are why it would be nice if there was a standard editing/notation file format for reading devices and software so you could make corrections on the fly while reading then send that off to the author or publisher. Even better would be if the reader could take a correction file and alter the text display without altering the book file directly.

I still want one reader app that can open many different ebook formats instead of having to convert. One Ultimate Reader!

If you're an author with horrible language skills, surely you must have a "grammar nazi" somewhere in your circle of family and friends who is also a bookworm?

Recently read
All the Lensmen series, except Masters of the Vortex for the other two vortex blaster stories. Ryk E. Spoor's Boundary series, including the long time in the farther future Castaway Planet, which ends on a cliffhanger/setup for next book (If you want hard SF with no fantasy technobabble, this is a series for you). Avilon, the latest book in Jasper Scott's Dark Space series. Tom Godwin's Prison Planet (AKA Space Prison) and the sequel The Space Barbarians. The four extant books of The Secret World Chronicles. (C'mon! Hurry up with the next!)

After all that I've dropped back into the 1632 world with 1636: Seas of Fortune, 1636: The Viennese Waltz, 1636: The Devil's Opera, and currently reading 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies. Some time ago I read 1636: The Kremlin Games.

All the 1636 books run at least partially in parallel and some have some crossover so it really doesn't matter which order they're read in.

Coming up, E.E. Doc Smith's Subspace Explorers and Subspace Encounter.

Old SF from the era of Doc Smith, Tom Godwin and Edgar Rice Burroughs is just plain fun to read. Anyone who knows Star Trek can identify with the origins of technobabble, and can appreciate when the fantastical "science" is kept at least somewhat consistent, unlike in Star Trek.

In Prison Planet, the survivors of the crew and passengers marooned on a planet with 1.5 times Earth's gravity decide the way to escape is to build a hyperspace transmitter to send out a message in the clear, to lure in an enemy ship so they can capture it. Just one catch. It will take 500 pounds of iron to build the transmitter but they cannot find any anywhere. The land wherever they can reach by walking is next thing to completely free of metals. The escape plan turns into a multi-generation project none of the original castaways will survive.

What else other than 500 pounds of iron do they need to build the transmitter? Not explained, not important to the plot. They do recycle all the stuff the enemy aliens left with them when they were abandoned to die, and from that they manage to build an electric generator and a metal lathe, find some Bauxite and cryolite from which they smelt aluminum. The whole long process of gathering the materials and building the tools to build the tools is detailed enough to when they finally do get that 500 pounds of iron... THEN it takes (IIRC) 50 years to build the hyperspace transmitter. While working on that they also put together a plain old radio to attempt to taunt the aliens into coming back, but at 70 light years to the planet they were going to when their ship was attacked, it's not likely an alien ship will pick up the signal. A hyperspace signal can cross that distance in weeks. But if they never manage to send a hyperspace signal the humans will wait as long as it takes for the regular radio *because they are really pissed off at the aliens*. (Not written as such in the book, but that's the essence of their feelings.)

Why not plan to build a whole spacecraft? The initial survivors quickly realize that even with the experience and knowledge they have, the task is beyond them and that with the extreme scarcity of all metals on the planet it could be forever impossible for their descendants to develop the technology to build one.

The essential bit never explained is who among the survivors has the complete knowledge of how to build a hyperspace transmitter from scratch, using only hand tools, 500 pounds of iron and a "home built" metal lathe. They make books to write down everything they know and teach it all to their children, generation after generation. Knowledge on this hellworld is survival. Humans must survive *here* because they have no idea if any survive anywhere else.

I could see this making a pretty decent movie, with suitable updating that pays decent homage to the book, but the cost for cast would be very expensive, none of the players would be in the whole movie and a large number would be short parts due to the many deaths.

01-26-2015, 02:05 AM	#21601
bizzybody Addict Posts: 296 Karma: 7742186 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Idaho, USA Device: Various PalmOS PDAs, Android Phones, Sharper Image Literati	Just downloaded the Peter Watts SF books. Going to run them through Calibre. Typos, wrong words and flat out spelling errors are why it would be nice if there was a standard editing/notation file format for reading devices and software so you could make corrections on the fly while reading then send that off to the author or publisher. Even better would be if the reader could take a correction file and alter the text display without altering the book file directly. I still want one reader app that can open many different ebook formats instead of having to convert. One Ultimate Reader! If you're an author with horrible language skills, surely you must have a "grammar nazi" somewhere in your circle of family and friends who is also a bookworm? Recently read All the Lensmen series, except Masters of the Vortex for the other two vortex blaster stories. Ryk E. Spoor's Boundary series, including the long time in the farther future Castaway Planet, which ends on a cliffhanger/setup for next book (If you want hard SF with no fantasy technobabble, this is a series for you). Avilon, the latest book in Jasper Scott's Dark Space series. Tom Godwin's Prison Planet (AKA Space Prison) and the sequel The Space Barbarians. The four extant books of The Secret World Chronicles. (C'mon! Hurry up with the next!) After all that I've dropped back into the 1632 world with 1636: Seas of Fortune, 1636: The Viennese Waltz, 1636: The Devil's Opera, and currently reading 1636: Commander Cantrell in the West Indies. Some time ago I read 1636: The Kremlin Games. All the 1636 books run at least partially in parallel and some have some crossover so it really doesn't matter which order they're read in. Coming up, E.E. Doc Smith's Subspace Explorers and Subspace Encounter. Old SF from the era of Doc Smith, Tom Godwin and Edgar Rice Burroughs is just plain fun to read. Anyone who knows Star Trek can identify with the origins of technobabble, and can appreciate when the fantastical "science" is kept at least somewhat consistent, unlike in Star Trek. In Prison Planet, the survivors of the crew and passengers marooned on a planet with 1.5 times Earth's gravity decide the way to escape is to build a hyperspace transmitter to send out a message in the clear, to lure in an enemy ship so they can capture it. Just one catch. It will take 500 pounds of iron to build the transmitter but they cannot find any anywhere. The land wherever they can reach by walking is next thing to completely free of metals. The escape plan turns into a multi-generation project none of the original castaways will survive. What else other than 500 pounds of iron do they need to build the transmitter? Not explained, not important to the plot. They do recycle all the stuff the enemy aliens left with them when they were abandoned to die, and from that they manage to build an electric generator and a metal lathe, find some Bauxite and cryolite from which they smelt aluminum. The whole long process of gathering the materials and building the tools to build the tools is detailed enough to when they finally do get that 500 pounds of iron... THEN it takes (IIRC) 50 years to build the hyperspace transmitter. While working on that they also put together a plain old radio to attempt to taunt the aliens into coming back, but at 70 light years to the planet they were going to when their ship was attacked, it's not likely an alien ship will pick up the signal. A hyperspace signal can cross that distance in weeks. But if they never manage to send a hyperspace signal the humans will wait as long as it takes for the regular radio because they are really pissed off at the aliens. (Not written as such in the book, but that's the essence of their feelings.) Why not plan to build a whole spacecraft? The initial survivors quickly realize that even with the experience and knowledge they have, the task is beyond them and that with the extreme scarcity of all metals on the planet it could be forever impossible for their descendants to develop the technology to build one. The essential bit never explained is who among the survivors has the complete knowledge of how to build a hyperspace transmitter from scratch, using only hand tools, 500 pounds of iron and a "home built" metal lathe. They make books to write down everything they know and teach it all to their children, generation after generation. Knowledge on this hellworld is survival. Humans must survive here because they have no idea if any survive anywhere else. I could see this making a pretty decent movie, with suitable updating that pays decent homage to the book, but the cost for cast would be very expensive, none of the players would be in the whole movie and a large number would be short parts due to the many deaths.