December's Delirious Descent into Dittological Dissections of Documents

[Vertigo]

Finished Tony Ballantyne's Recursion and was really very impressed. I believe it is his first book but after a slightly stuttery start it really was very very good indeed. This is my first Ballantyne and I'm rather surprised at the almost complete absence of discussion on him here on the Chrons. I note that Ian Whates has published a book of short stories by him and I have also seen a couple of other collections he has contributed to. But that's about it.

If you are into hard SF with a good story, I would recommend giving this a try. There are two more books in the same 'series', though I believe they are stand alone and only share the same background. I shall certainly be going on to read them and more of his in the future.

I am now attempting The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi, but I'll be honest, I am struggling rather with the style of writing; lots of use of futuristic jargon words that might be realistic in terms of new words evolving but also take a while to understand as they are rarely explained, leaving you to pick everything up from context. Since this is quite a radical view of the future, that task is really quite hard, leaving me feeling very much out of my depth. A feeling I am not usually accustomed to when reading SF. I shall give it a little longer....

 

[Extollager]

Reading to my wife this Cornell Woolrich novel --

 

[AE35Unit]

Finished Tony Ballantyne's Recursion and was really very impressed. I believe it is his first book but after a slightly stuttery start it really was very very good indeed. This is my first Ballantyne and I'm rather surprised at the almost complete absence of discussion on him here on the Chrons. I note that Ian Whates has published a book of short stories by him and I have also seen a couple of other collections he has contributed to. But that's about it.

If you are into hard SF with a good story, I would recommend giving this a try. There are two more books in the same 'series', though I believe they are stand alone and only share the same background. I shall certainly be going on to read them and more of his in the future.

r....

I read one of his stories a while ago- it was partly set in my town!

http://sfaddict.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Ballantyne?m=0

 

[gully_foyle]

I'm in the latter part of A Scanner Darkly by PKD. Unsurprisingly brilliant and profoundly funny and profoundly sad. I definitely recommend it. I haven't seen the movie for years, so may have to watch it again because I remember some elements were in it from the book.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I have just started Thorne Smith's 1929 novel The Stray Lamb -- so far it's the sort of Roaring Twenties/Screwball Comedy (with fantasy elements) I expected -- outrageously sexy flappers, lots of drinking, and so on.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'm in the latter part of A Scanner Darkly by PKD. Unsurprisingly brilliant and profoundly funny and profoundly sad. I definitely recommend it. I haven't seen the movie for years, so may have to watch it again because I remember some elements were in it from the book.

A great book, and the best cinematic adaptation of that author. (I'm not saying anything against Blade Runner, but it doesn't quite capture the special flavor of PKD.)

 

[Rodders]

I thought I'd reread Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. Love that book.

 

[Rosemary]

Just finished reading 'Red Country' by our Joe Abercrombie! Brilliant story line and some great characters. There may be even be one we met before in a previous book!

Really looking forward to his next book

 

[Rosemary]

Just finished reading 'Red Country' by our Joe Abercrombie! Brilliant story line and some great characters. There may be even be one we met before in a previous book!

Really looking forward to his next book

 

[Perpetual Man]

Finished in accelerated time Unseen Academicals, or so it seemed. As always Sir Terry delivered.

I'm not going to be reading anything next, just taking a break until the New Year, and using the period to try and catch up, at last on my comic/graphic novel back log.

 

[Connavar]

A great book, and the best cinematic adaptation of that author. (I'm not saying anything against Blade Runner, but it doesn't quite capture the special flavor of PKD.)

Your comment about Blade Runner is unsurprising since it sounds like you know what PKD books are like. Even among SF book fans in these forums saying Blade Runner doesnt capture the PKD novel,style really well people will give you a funny look since that film has alot of nostalgia,hype among its fans.

Scanner Darkly is one of few top level PKD books i havent read, have been saving it for years for later.

Welcome to the forums by the way

 

[AE35Unit]

Your comment about Blade Runner is unsurprising since it sounds like you know what PKD books are like. Even among SF book fans in these forums saying Blade Runner doesnt capture the PKD novel,style really well people will give you a funny look since that film has alot of nostalgia,hype among its fans.

Scanner Darkly is one of few top level PKD books i havent read, have been saving it for years for later.

Welcome to the forums by the way

Id really like to see a film of Flow My Tears the Policeman Said, the best PKD read so far. Tho heaven knows what theyd call the film...

 

[dask]

Not a thick tome of selections like most introductions, Matthews offers a slim book mostly of biographical essays of all the important writers up to 1896 when the book was published. You can find all these names in any encyclopedia but where such august publications as the Encyclopedia Britannica supply only the essentials of their lives, Matthews gives us their essences. You come away perhaps not knowing everything about them but feel assured you know all that is important. In addition to 15 essays, there is also a six page general introduction, and chapters dealing with "The Colonial Period, "Other Writers", and "The End Of The Nineteenth Century." A great read. As a biographer Matthews is almost as good as Van Wyck Brooks, and that's saying a lot.

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

Just about to start Monument by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. I'm not familiar with it at all. Apparently it's based on a 1961 short story of the same name, expanded into a novel in 1974. Solid writer, Biggle. I doubt it's as melodramatic as the cover blurb makes it sound. Here's my copy:

 

[AE35Unit]

Now a Clarke collection, Reach for Tomorrow

 

[Extollager]

Just started another Madison Jones novel, A Buried Land.

This coming year I mean to read my first Alfred Bester novel, by the way? I'm sure many listfolk would insist that one read both The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination. Fine -- but which first, starting with your personal favorite?

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

This coming year I mean to read my first Alfred Bester novel, by the way? I'm sure many listfolk would insist that one read both The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination. Fine -- but which first, starting with your personal favorite?

Oh, goodness, that's a hard decision. Both are outstanding.

The Stars My Destination is a bit more "wide screen," if you will, while The Demolished Man is a bit more psychological. (Stated that way, I'm afraid that I'm distorting both of them!) Both are pyrotechnic in style, both very imaginative. It's a matter of taste which you should start with.

 

[AE35Unit]

I seriously need to re-read. The Stars my Destination aka Tiger Tiger. Been too long!

 

[Vertigo]

I have just finished Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief. I have rather mixed feelings about it. It was good but not as good as all the hype lead me to expect. The Chrons critiquers would love it as there is almost a total absence of info-dumping. Consequently it takes until nearly half way through the book to understand most of the invented future terminology. I didn't like that; I found it intensely frustrating. The reader has to do a lot of work and, really, for no good reason I could see. A little info dumping around the beginning would have made the whole book an easier read and the story, the tempo and the feel of the book would not have suffered for it. On the other hand it was imaginative and, once you understood it, and interesting vision of possible future trends.

 

[J-Sun]

Oh, goodness, that's a hard decision. Both are outstanding.

The Stars My Destination is a bit more "wide screen," if you will, while The Demolished Man is a bit more psychological. (Stated that way, I'm afraid that I'm distorting both of them!) Both are pyrotechnic in style, both very imaginative. It's a matter of taste which you should start with.

Agreed. Demolished came out first and that's the one I started with, IIRC, so that worked for me but either would work depending on which appeals to you more.

The reader has to do a lot of work and, really, for no good reason I could see.

Also agreed, except that I don't have mixed feelings at all - it was much ado about nothing both in internal terms (the work itself) and external (the buzz about it).