Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Discussion/Appreciation Anyone..??

[Iffy]

Anybody here ever read American Gods? If so was it any good because ive heard that it was epic?

I remember enjoying, not sure I'd refer to it as epic.

[bliv]

I remember enjoying, not sure I'd refer to it as epic.

When comparing in terms of the scope defined by Gaiman's other works then it can be called epic. There are 'bigger' books by other authors out there though.

[Iffy]

When comparing in terms of the scope defined by Gaiman's other works then it can be called epic. There are 'bigger' books by other authors out there though.

I might conceded that point w/in Gaiman's body of work. I found it more a good use of the mythic. Now I'm going to have to re-read it.

[Mimzy]

*huggles Neil Gaiman*

That man is so amazing. He always stays to autograph everything for everybody...when I got my copy of Coraline signed at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, a few years ago, he was supposed to leave at 3:30 or something but he stayed for like, 2 hrs afterward just so he could get through the entire line of people waiting to get stuff signed. And last year, he came to the festival again, and he did the same thing!! So nice His hand must've been completely worn out, though!

[Iffy]

*huggles Neil Gaiman*

That man is so amazing. He always stays to autograph everything for everybody...when I got my copy of Coraline signed at the National Book Festival in Washington, DC, a few years ago, he was supposed to leave at 3:30 or something but he stayed for like, 2 hrs afterward just so he could get through the entire line of people waiting to get stuff signed. And last year, he came to the festival again, and he did the same thing!! So nice His hand must've been completely worn out, though!

Makes me think very kindly about him

[Mimzy]

Just started Seven Tears Into The Sea by...oh, crap, how could I forget the author O_O

[Kaze]

I really enjoyed reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - can you recommend me any similar books? Fantasy preferred.

Oh and I'm also interested in reading the Star Wars novels, since I'm a big fan of the (old) movies. But there are a lot of books I don't know where to start. Can you recommend one?

Thanks in advance,
Kaze

[Crazy Tom]

Mmmm.... Bolo series, can't beat that military sci fi....*content*

[Iffy]

I really enjoyed reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - can you recommend me any similar books? Fantasy preferred.

Oh and I'm also interested in reading the Star Wars novels, since I'm a big fan of the (old) movies. But there are a lot of books I don't know where to start. Can you recommend one?

Thanks in advance,
Kaze

I do not suggest the prequel to Mists of Avalon, nowhere near a wonderful as the original.

Anne Bishop is really good as is Jaqueline Carey. Can't think of anyone else off the top of my head at the moment.

Currently reading Lost in a good Book by Jasper Fforde. How I love his Thursday Next books .

[Kaze]

I do not suggest the prequel to Mists of Avalon, nowhere near a wonderful as the original.

Anne Bishop is really good as is Jaqueline Carey. Can't think of anyone else off the top of my head at the moment.

Currently reading Lost in a good Book by Jasper Fforde. How I love his Thursday Next books .

Thanks, Iffy!
Theres a prequel?

Anne Bishop... I read one of her books, Sebastian.
I think it is very well written, has a great storyline and great sexual heat playing in the background without it being the main focus.

I'll check out Jaqueline Carey.

Oh I lately read the Black Dagger series by J. R. Ward which is something like Twilight for adults ;-9


@Are there any SciFi books you can recommend?

[Iffy]

Thanks, Iffy!
Theres a prequel?

Anne Bishop... I read one of her books, Sebastian.
I think it is very well written, has a great storyline and great sexual heat playing in the background without it being the main focus.

I'll check out Jaqueline Carey.

Oh I lately read the Black Dagger series by J. R. Ward which is something like Twilight for adults ;-9


@Are there any SciFi books you can recommend?

Think it's called the Heron House, I got it in the bargin books for cheap and it's not that good.

I haven't read Sebastian The Dark Jewels trilogy is excellent.

Tanya Huff is another favorite of mine.

[valen_sinclair]

Well, sad to see hardly any mention of the best british sci-fi writer alive at the moment in Peter F Hamilton, he perfectly blends sci-fi with horror and fantasy while all the time bringing a cracking read and some very well thought out characters who you really do care about.
Also after browsing 10 pages I find no mention of Alfred Bester! His book the demolished man not only is a compelling read but it was the inspiration for a certain sci-fi show called Babylon 5!
At the moment currently reading footfall by niven and pournille which is a great alien invasion book and highly recommend it.
Another cracking read is Tony Gonzales Eve: The Empyrean age which is based on the MMORPG Eve Online and is unlike any other computer game/book crossover that you would have read before...mainly cause eve online is a game for grown ups lol.
Also honorable mentions must go to...Alisater Reynolds, Frank Herbert, Arthur C Clarke, H.G. Wells and many many more.....

[Espeon1962]

If one wants to read a great sci-fi series, with a slight military tone but fabulous humor, then you have to read the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I would suggest reading the series in Chronological order, not published order (as she did write to fill in gaps as the series progressed).

She won several Hugo and Nebula awards for this series, that is how good it is.

You will have tears in your eyes you will laugh so hard on occasion, but there are equal parts battles, drama, comedy and lessons aplenty in every single book.

You can skip Ethan of Athos and Falling Free, they are ancillary to the series (same universe but not the main characters), but all the rest are a must read.

[Dallista]

I'm also interested in reading the Star Wars novels, since I'm a big fan of the (old) movies. But there are a lot of books I don't know where to start. Can you recommend one?

I've been a SW novels junkie since October 1994 when I read my first English-language novel, the first book in the Jedi Academy trilogy. Since then I've faithfully read every single SW novel that's based on the classic trilogy. I don't read prequels-related novels (anything set before Episode IV A New Hope), simply because I don't much care about Anakin and co., but anything after that movie, I devour.

As for where to start, I guess it really depends on where your interests lie. Do you want to focus on the classic trio, Luke, Han and Leia, or would you prefer stories about the X-wing pilots, like Wedge Antilles and all those other fun blokes? (At the time, when the first X-wing novel was released, I was rather biased against them, because they didn't feature the trio, but the novels turned out to be a lot of fun, and very well written; the two authors who wrote the in total 9 novels both became very respected writers in the SW universe; one of them still writes SW novels!).

If you want to read novels with the characters from around the period of the novels, then there's Shadows of the Empire, set between V and VI, but of course it doesn't feature Han, cuz he was busy being a popsicle in carbonite at the time. Lando Calrissian sort of takes Han's place in that novel, though.

Set immediately after VI is Truce at Bakura, also one of the oldest novels, and still one of my favorites. Luke, Han and Leia go to another world to protect the people there from an alien threat... and along the line try to get the people on the planet to see sense and leave the Empire and join the Alliance.

A very new novel, published last December, is Luke Skywalker and the Shadows of Mindor. Don't be fooled by its cheesy title; there's a reason for it, and the novel is just *amazing*. Highly, highly recommended. By me, at least, but seriously, it seems to have been rather well received. It's set a few years after VI, IIRC; Luke just the way I like him. *grin*

The Courtship of Princess Leia is also a lot of fun, and, well, the title does give something away, although as you'd suspect, things are never that easy for our trio!

The Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn consists of arguably some of the best novels in the entire range. His trilogy was also the first published, way back in, oh, 1991-1993 or something? So if you want to start the way a lot of other fans were introduced to the expanded universe, that's where you should start! Story-wise, the novels are also very important, as they lay the foundation for quite a lot of other novels.

Kevin J. Anderson's Jedi academy trilogy is interesting for the whole Jedi academy thing and the introduction of some character who will continue to reappear, even in 2009 still, but IMHO it's really not that well written. You might just as well skip these three and read I, Jedi instead. Written by Michael A. Stackpole (who always started the X-wing series), it's basically the Jedi academy trilogy written from the first person POV of a *very* cool character who also has a big presence in the X-wing series and in later novels. What the writer did, basically, is set right some things that just didn't make sense in the Jedi academy trilogy... it's a wonderful novel and one of my top favorites. Highly recommended! The only problem with it is that because of the nature of the novel, if you haven't at least read the first four X-wing novels, you might not appreciate the first person POV of this non-trio character.

The three novels following the Jedi Academy trilogy are popularly referred to as the Callista trilogy. Basically, they introduce a new character called... yup, you guessed it, Callista. They're okay, but entirely skippable in the grand scheme of things. (Obviously at the time, I felt completely different about them; my avatar is named after the woman!).

Yet another two trilogies, the Corellian trilogy and the Blackfleet Crisis trilogy. Again, generally not considered to be very good or important. The only noteworthy thing about the former is that it introduced plot device which will return in later novels, but you can easily skip them; it'll get explained properly when it's reintroduced.

Last but not least, Timothy Zahn returned with a duology, the Hand of Thrawn. Don't miss these two before reading later novels in the timeline. Not only are they made of awesome, they're also really, really important for a bunch of plot lines which will return later on.

Roughly after that, the license went from Bantam books to Del Rey, and instead of a lot of trilogies and stand-alone books, suddenly we got big series:
The New Jedi Order (uh... 16 or so novels, give or take a few)
Legacy of the Force (9)
and Fate of the Jedi (9; book #1 was released a few weeks ago).

I strongly advise you not to read any of those series yet. They're set far into the future. By then (I'm talking 40-45 years after A New Hope!) there are a *lot* of new and especially younger characters around.

I've left out a bunch of novels, but hopefully this should give you an idea of where to start.

[Mimzy]

If one wants to read a great sci-fi series, with a slight military tone but fabulous humor, then you have to read the Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I would suggest reading the series in Chronological order, not published order (as she did write to fill in gaps as the series progressed).

She won several Hugo and Nebula awards for this series, that is how good it is.

You will have tears in your eyes you will laugh so hard on occasion, but there are equal parts battles, drama, comedy and lessons aplenty in every single book.

You can skip Ethan of Athos and Falling Free, they are ancillary to the series (same universe but not the main characters), but all the rest are a must read.

Sounds interesting, I might go check that out