#3094692 - 09/16/10 04:07 AM
Re: The era of great sci-fi authors
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Legend
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Zutphen, NL / ShangHai, China
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When the "Great Authors" were active the field was relatively new. All they did was invent. They wrote a lot of good stuff, although much of it is dated nowadays, but also a lot of rubbish. Asimov is and remains one of my favorite authors, but I think his stories can best be read for the ideas behind them, and certainly not for their "future historic" significance. Also, nowadays the public for a large part seems to want rehashes of existing stuff: Star Trek, Star Wars etc. Zahn, Anderson, David are - in my mind - connected mostly to that; not to any original stories of themselves. Even David's "New Frontier" series is set in the Star Trek universe. One really great current author (IMHO of course) is Peter F. Hamilton. I love the Sci-Fi he writes - rather bombastic space opera. And I'm not the only one here on SimHQ.
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the universe is for it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
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#3094705 - 09/16/10 04:54 AM
Re: The era of great sci-fi authors
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 2,704
Billzilla
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Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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Which current day authors would be considered to be even close to their level? Kevin J. Anderson ... Anderson writes some of the worst rubbish I've ever been inflicted with. He should be ashamed at producing such tripe. There's a few good writers around though - Peter Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Iain Banks, Richard Morgan, etc.
Out of ammo Out of energy Out of ideas Down to harsh language
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#3094789 - 09/16/10 11:50 AM
Re: The era of great sci-fi authors
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Apr 2008
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Raw Kryptonite
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Beat the Kobayashi Maru
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MS
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Check out Dan Simmons. Hyperion is extremely good, and Illium and Olympos are two of my top favorites. I think what's hard these days is finding the good ones due to so many being out there. They're around to be found though.
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#3094868 - 09/16/10 02:00 PM
Re: The era of great sci-fi authors
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: May 2005
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Patrocles
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ohh...good thread. I have been reading posts here and on BGG for something in the realm of "hard scifi opera" (large, universe-scale settings). One recommendation that I picked up at the public library was "House of Suns" by Alastair Reynolds. I think this book is worth checking out. I enjoyed the story overall, but I felt he was too verbose in some places and could have cut out ~100 pages. I also reserved "The Forever War" and "Ender's Game" and I will be picking those up this weekend. Keep those suggestions coming!
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#3095057 - 09/16/10 06:40 PM
Re: The era of great sci-fi authors
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Joined: Apr 2008
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Chucky
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Brian Aldiss writes some good stuff.I must have read Non-Stop (Starship in the States) 3 times at least. Hothouse is another good one of his. He was greatly influenced by H.G Wells and is vice-president of the H.G Wells Society.
EV's are the Devils matchbox.
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#3095484 - 09/17/10 08:23 AM
Re: The era of great sci-fi authors
[Re: AWL_Spinner]
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Joined: Jun 2008
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kilosierra
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I`m a fan of Banks, especially the novels playing in the Culture universe. Space opera at its best IMO. Edit: And yes, I think he can compete with the big ones in the Genre. His later books are little complicated though. My favourites are "Consider Phlebas", "The player of games" and "Use of weapons". On many boards my nick is from the latter. Greets Karsten
Last edited by kilosierra; 09/17/10 08:29 AM.
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