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Post by resistor on May 19, 2018 17:58:40 GMT -5
Thread for talking about classic science fiction novels, movies, etc. I'd define "classic" here as anything made before the 90s, and at least some people must think it is good.
Make sure to use spoiler tags when discussing spoilers. You can do that by typing "spoiler" text "/spoiler", but with brackets instead of quotation marks.
I have just finished "The End of Eternity" by Isaac Asimov. I generally dislike time travel stories, but I have no regrets reading this one. I thought the last third or so of the novel was the best part, as it's full of clever plot twists and plays around with concepts from earlier parts of the novel in interesting ways.
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Post by En1gma on May 19, 2018 18:22:35 GMT -5
Lol does H.P. Lovecraft count? I have his compendium and I'm almost a third of the way through it.
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Post by ntsheep on May 19, 2018 19:33:37 GMT -5
How far back are we going for classic? I vote for H.G. Wells.
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Post by resistor on May 19, 2018 19:57:20 GMT -5
How far back are we going for classic? I vote for H.G. Wells. Which of his stories do you like the most? Of his books that I've read, I thought War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Island of Dr Moreau, and The First Men in the Moon were great. I didn't find The Invisible Man or The Food of the Gods to be as interesting, in fact, I didn't even finish The Food of the Gods. Lol does H.P. Lovecraft count? I have his compendium and I'm almost a third of the way through it. I haven't read Lovecraft's stuff. If you think it might count, then sure why not? Scifi need not be all rayguns and spaceships.
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Post by ntsheep on May 19, 2018 20:38:26 GMT -5
resistor, War of the Worlds is the only one I've read. I consider that one my favorite. I know all his other stories from movie adaptations.
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Post by PyreFox on May 19, 2018 22:01:09 GMT -5
Classic, you say? How about A True Story by Lucian of Samosata.
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Atlas Screams
Exemplar
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The language of my people is lasers.
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Post by Atlas Screams on May 22, 2018 22:13:44 GMT -5
'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card
The rest of the series was better imo, but the first book is a good entry point.
Anything written by Phillip K Dick. Notably 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' which Blade runner was based off of and 'A Scanner Darkly'.
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Post by CdrPlatypus on May 23, 2018 2:47:18 GMT -5
Red Mars is one of my favorites. The ideas in it have inspired some of NASA's ideas about how to setup a colony on Mars. Way ahead of it's time.
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Post by drdave on May 23, 2018 3:01:51 GMT -5
I can't believe "classic" goes all the way to the 90's. I'm getting old!
Hitch-hikers Guide would get my vote.
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athios
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Post by athios on May 23, 2018 13:47:35 GMT -5
I used to have a nice list of read books with my ratings for each, until the darn website shutdown and I lost everything. Hmm... off the top of my head:
I concur with gundamgoth's Red Mars recommendation. That and Green Mars were fantastic. Great if you enjoy exploring the dynamics of small groups in somewhat confined spaces, lots of navigating through factional politics in a way. And it was great to follow the development of their society across a lengthy span of time. The last book Blue Mars I didn't like as much though, and I would've been fine with skipping that book entirely.
The 8 books in the Ender's series. I like the second half (the Shadow books, 5-8) even more than the first four, but all are worth reading. Interesting setting, and I loved seeing the characters struggle with their decisions, and other people's reactions to them.
The Integral Trees I also have a good impression of, but don't remember much about it anymore.
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Post by richard on May 23, 2018 13:49:02 GMT -5
Lensmen serial by EE Smith
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Post by xdesperado on Jun 13, 2018 8:47:17 GMT -5
'Ender's Game' by Orson Scott Card The rest of the series was better imo, but the first book is a good entry point. Anything written by Phillip K Dick. Notably 'Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep' which Blade runner was based off of and 'A Scanner Darkly'. Blasphemy the original Novella Ender's Game was the absolute best. The full length novelization of that was excellent, after that things started going downhill with the series as far as I'm concerned. Armor by John Steakly is outstanding though some people find it a tough read at least the first time through. The Matador series by Steve Perry is a fun read especially if you enjoy Martial arts. The Hammer's Slammers series by David Drake (mostly short stories collected in anthologies) are excellent "hard military SF".
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Post by resistor on Jul 6, 2018 21:32:56 GMT -5
I just finished The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein. Interesting stuff. It was packed with a lot of philosophical elements and social commentary, sometimes in subtle ways that just make you think.
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Post by ntsheep on Jul 6, 2018 22:25:00 GMT -5
Any story whether truth or fiction that can make you stop and think for a moment is a good one.
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Post by Cory Trese on Jul 10, 2018 10:35:26 GMT -5
Andrew and I have both always been a fan of science fiction anthologies. There are a lot of great collections of sci-fi short stories out there as well.
A great example by a single author is "A Second Chance at Eden" which I know we both loved.
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