If you are a fan of Arthur C Clarke...

[McGonigle]

Me too. And he (Gentry Lee) continued the same old same old in Bright Messengers and Double Full Moon. It put me completely off stories about Big Alien Objects.

Originally Posted by Lordblacknail

Am I the only one that Hated, Hated, Hated the sequels to the Rama series by that idiot who couldn't write his way out of a paper bag? Jezzze what a waste of a great story line. That guy should have been tarred and feathered.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Lordblacknail

Am I the only one that Hated, Hated, Hated the sequels to the Rama series by that idiot who couldn't write his way out of a paper bag? Jezzze what a waste of a great story line. That guy should have been tarred and feathered.

Judging by the reviews, no. You are not alone. The rest of Clarke's collaborations can be hit or miss (I loved The Light of Other Days. Clarke and Baxter together was a natural), but his work with Gentry Lee (the Rama sequels and Cradle) seem to be rated pretty low.

Has anyone read the Venus Prime series? I have the books in paperback, but haven't read them yet.

[gweeks]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Has anyone read the Venus Prime series? I have the books in paperback, but haven't read them yet.

I read the first one years ago on paper when it was released and liked it. I've never re-read it. I never did manage to get any more in the series until recently when they came out in ebook. I picked up the 3rd one, but not the second. I haven't read it. If I catch the second one either at the library or cheap enough I'll probably read it.

Greg

[HLS]

I love his time and Odyssey series but hate the Rama books. I got to book two and stopped. Some of his short sories are great like the one where the man was in sleep for millions of years only to wake up to mankind being replaced by insect people

[HLS]

Originally Posted by Lordblacknail

Am I the only one that Hated, Hated, Hated the sequels to the Rama series by that idiot who couldn't write his way out of a paper bag? Jezzze what a waste of a great story line. That guy should have been tarred and feathered.

I hate them I barely made it threw book 2.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by kcladyz

I love his time and Odyssey series but hate the Rama books. I got to book two and stopped...

To defend Rama, the first book, Rendezvous with Rama is a genuine classic. One of the great sci-fi novels.

The sequels (book 2 onwards) were collaborations tacked on to the legacy of the great original. Just like the terrible Exorcist 2 or Jaws 2 shouldn't wreck the original classics.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Pulpmeister

"Sands of Mars" is a very early novel, his second I think. And the first of his that I read. It seemed to me grown-up sf than than a bems-and-blasters space opera, about a struggling dome colony on Mars and its attempts to become self-sufficient, specially in atmosphere. It dates from about '53 so the Mars of the book is not quite the real Mars; atmosphere in the book is thin, but no thinner than the top of Everest, so pressure suits are not needed. However, oxygen masks are needed.

The plot involves a middle aged journalist joining a Mars supply mission to report on the colony back to Earth, and personal discoveries and realisations he makes when he gets there.

Not bad, but because the length of sf novels of the time was not great, the publishers preferring about 80,000 words, the details of the Martian ecology are not worked out in enough detail to work out where it's odd animal life came from.

It was good enough, though, to make me a Clarke fan and finish up reading a lot more.

I think even the best sf of that era has a few problems if taken in context of today's knowledge. I mean Edmund Hamelton's book "City at World's End" for example has to do with a future earth where the sun is slowly dying. In reality the sun will expand and fry the earth according to modern science, but at the time his plot was still accurate. As far as Mars goes we didn't really know for sure what might be there til the Viking missions. Is it the real Mars? Nope. but neither is John Carter's Mars or the Mars that Ray Bradbury envisioned. Both are still read though.

[McGonigle]

The Venus Prime Series was written by a Paul Preuss and the only connection to Clarke being that Preuss attempts to develop some of Clarke's short stories into novels, that, and an amount of money being deposited to Clarke's bank account.

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Has anyone read the Venus Prime series? I have the books in paperback, but haven't read them yet.

[taosaur]

Clarke was full of great ideas... often best left in better hands. Kubrick is one example, and Baxter another. He made a better collaborator or influence than an author in his own right. The best Rama books were Greg Bear's Eon series, up until maybe Neal Stephenson's Anathem (which was a kind of synthesis of major ideas in sci-fi up to that point, but certainly included a good Rama).

[HLS]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

To defend Rama, the first book, Rendezvous with Rama is a genuine classic. One of the great sci-fi novels.

The sequels (book 2 onwards) were collaborations tacked on to the legacy of the great original. Just like the terrible Exorcist 2 or Jaws 2 shouldn't wreck the original classics.

It was not bad but after reading the Time and Odyssey series which were awesome I was disappointed in Rama

[HLS]

Neal Stephenson is one of my favorite authors. I think I have Anthem but have not read it yet. I read Rise and Fall of DODO which I loved. It was an easy read compared to most of his books. Cryptonomicon almost killed me LOL I had to buy the audible just to suffer threw it in a reasonable speed