Classic Science Fiction Discussion and Recommendations

[Velocity Kendall]

The series always terrified me as a kid, and had good sfx, but the books had something special. My mum read them to me and my sisters when we were little and I've returned to them several times. When The Tripods came was horrifying.
Johns Christopher and Wyndham were staples along with Verne and Wells, Harry Harrison and Fred Pohl, and of course Jeff Wayne... I blame my dad for that.

Theres a really cool scene in the first episode of the show where the Tripod arrives for a capping and stands in the quaint village pond.. awesome.

Forbidden Planet seems really modern I think. Awesome technology x the darkness in the human heart = sweet story. I thought it was a pretty sophisticated take on Shakey too. I also quite enjoy Sphere which has basically the same twist.

[Star Eater]

The series always terrified me as a kid, and had good sfx, but the books had something special. My mum read them to me and my sisters when we were little and I've returned to them several times. When The Tripods came was horrifying.
Johns Christopher and Wyndham were staples along with Verne and Wells, Harry Harrison and Fred Pohl, and of course Jeff Wayne... I blame my dad

Theres a really cool scene in the first episode of the show where the Tripod arrives for a capping and stands in the quaint village pond.. awesome.

Forbidden Planet seems really modern I think. Awesome technology x the darkness in the human heart = sweet story. I also quite enjoy Sphere which has basically the same twist.

That's awesome Al, I enjoyed your post. When theTripods Came was scary indeed. The growing malevolence and the inevitable outcome...
Yeah, I've seen bits of the Beeb series, it was a really good effort. The books are cinematic in their writing. I would love to see them televised now. I think it would
be very popular as a series.

There were so many interesting and slightly off beat humorous situations in the trilogy. To me anyway. There was a part where the protagonists are
traveling down a river in a small boat. A massive tripod comes striding past, seemingly ignoring them. But it notices them and smashes their boat
to pieces with a single lash of one of its metal tentacles, before striding off again on its own business.

EDIT: I own the John Wayne musical CD set. Comes with a little book with the words and lyrics and the artwork. Very enjoyable.

[AvP]

I think I will give the Tripod books a try now, don't know why I always missed them. I guess I thought too close to HG wells!

As for Jeff Wayne's war of the worlds, I remember listening to it on my uncles stereo with big old headphones, and scaring the crap out of me! It will always hold a special place in my heart, as it reminds me of my Illustration teacher Mike trim who painted the fantastic cover.

[Velocity Kendall]

Oh shit yeah that painting is so iconic.

I might do some Tripods fan art. The baloon attack on the the City of Gold And Lead maybs! I cried at that as a kid, when Henry...well, I wont spoil it but you know the bit I mean.
Any suggestions?
I loved how the final book introduced some pathos into the characters of the Masters (the invaders) as well as even more tension in the news that the current total domination is simply the precursor to extermination when the gigantic 200mile long colony fleet proper arrives.

Heres some more WotW art, by Roger Dean.
I always though the Red Weed was one of the most innovative ideas in the book. A industrial organism designed to areoform (?) Earth.. cool!
The red weed choking the Thames is probably my favourite... which i cant find. Buy Magnetic Storm, unlike Syd Meads books its on constant reprint and costs about £10 and is full of neat stuff. (Speaking of, i look on ebay and my old copy of Sentury is work £250! Shame I spilt so much coffee on Oblagon over the years really..)







and some from the album art book

[Star Eater]

Any future art to do with the Masters cities would be great to see. They fascinated me, the author purposefully leaves so many things ambiguous
so that you are in the same shoes as the protagonists and can only speculate what their purpose and meaning was.

[Quixotica]

If you guys never saw Alastair Reynolds I recommend. Its epic gothic horror scifi, and all his books relate tangentially to one another so you get a nice feeling of depth..

[inkR]

Second that, Reynolds writes awesome, very complex *hard sci-fi* space operas. Plus, one of the coolest spaceships in his sf series is named Nostalgia for Infinity
Aside from the above i'd like to recommend to you sci-fi books of Jacek Dukaj, he's a Polish author but many of his works were translated into English. He has a unique style of narration and has a gift for inventing unique and clever visions of the future world. Imho his style is something like a mix of Gibson and Ciang, really worth reading.

Cheerz

[Velocity Kendall]

I have to admit Id always kind of been a bit of a snob about those fat multivolume monsters Reynolds and Peter Hamilton pump out, but I bought Pandoras Star at the beginning of a 3 day journey from Cambridge to Tioman and blazed through about 400 pages between snatched meals and baggage check ins and it was a really fun read.
So Ill give Reynolds a go.
Speaking of, hes interviewed on the Geeks Guide to the Galaxy here
http://geeksguideshow.com/
along with some of my other favourite people like Ursula Le Guin Verner Vinge and... Paul Krugman...

[Velocity Kendall]

In not so classic sci fi news, here How It Should Have Ended actually manage to make Prometheus make sense.



Im all confused now, because once the idea of Ridley Scott doing a sequal to Blade Runner wouldve made me literally throw shit on the walls with excitement (just ask my guards), but now Im worried it might cause me to throw shit on the walls with rage. I guess it makes no difference in the scheme of things, or to the cleaner, but it matters to me. That poor cleaner. Its a pity that she wont live. But then again, who does?

[Velocity Kendall]

some favourites, new and old.









ETC ETC ETC...

[Prometheus|ANJ]

I'm currently reading, and maybe recommending:

Hal Clement - Writes hard sci-fi about extreme environments. I liked Mission of Gravity. Voltaire sort of wrote a story on this theme btw., (Micromégas), but I haven't read it.

Bob Shaw - I like his Ragged Astronauts setting (I've yet to come by The Wooden Spaceships). I liked Orbitsville because I'm a sucker for big dumb ancient objects.

Lucian - wrote a fantasy parody (and/or criticism) called True History, taking the monster stuff to the extreme, turning it into Epic sci-fi in an attempt to top previous writers. His writing there is very reporter'y. Heroes did this, then this, giant creatures appear, so many died, then they were off again. It's probably part of the parody style. Unfortunately the humor is mostly confined to this one plane and gets a bit tiresome (again, it might have been his point). Reminded me of StarCrash (movie) where a buncha stuff just happens.

Stapledon was already mentioned. I like C.D. Simak (economics) too, and P.K. Dick (layers).

I read 4 of Banks' culture books while laying sick. The wrap-up endings tend to leave me a little dissatisfied, somehow, but the ride is fun. Working on Feersum ennjim now.

[Velocity Kendall]

Love Feersum Endjinn, such a fun romp. Much lighter than his usual.

I liek Clifford Simak too, the short about the man living in Jupiter with his dog was a childhood favourite. Clement is class too. need to read Orbitsville. Im listening to Ringworld right now, man I love it so much.

[Farvus]

I finished reading "Glasshouse" by Charles Stross few days ago and I was positively surprised. It quickly got into my top ten science-fiction favourites. I highly recommend it .

[Prometheus|ANJ]

Roger Dean's art was used in a couple of Psygnosis games. His tripods can be seen animated in an Amiga game called Terrorpods. I quite like the design. Makes machine sense but is still so alien. I also like the cute 1906 tripod designs.

Unrelated, here's a short story written from the perspective of the Thing (Carpenter movie).

[Velocity Kendall]

Glasshouse is my favourite thing by him, possibly tied with A Colder War.
And yes! Peter Watts' thing. Wicked choice. Super creepy!

[Velocity Kendall]

i have a big hardcover book of this that my dad had when he was a kid, it was my favourite when i was little.
rubbish stories, amazing Don Lawrence art work!











and some other stuff by this amazing artist..