Archive through January 22, 2003
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TV ClubHouse: archive: Library - Miscellaneous thru May 2003: Sci -Fi / Fantasy: Archive through January 22, 2003

Wargod

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 12:29 am EditMoveDeleteIP
A couple of us have discussed our favorite books or great authors in chat, and seems like there are a few sci-fi/fantasy fans. I was wondering if anyone else was interested in sci-fi/fantasy.

I'm an avid reader, and always have been. I will read anything I get my hands on, and have been known to pick up magazines on subjects I have no interest in just to pass a few minutes, LOL. Anyways, I read almost everything..horror, sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, non fiction, lots of kids books (have two young children.)

But, my first love is sci-fi and fantasy. I prefer the not so hard sci-fi though.

Some of my favorite authors:

Anne McCafferey
Mercedes Lackey
Raymond E. Feist
Guy Gavriel Kay
Robert Jordan
David Eddings

Well, I could go on and on, LOL. Does anyone want to discuss Sci-fi/fantasy? Or to offer some authors I may be unfamiliar with?

Rissa

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 06:41 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Definately give Orson Scott Card a read.My fave by him is a book called: Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus. It's part sci-fi and part historical. A group of scientists from the future decide that all of history would be different (better) if Columbus had met a certain tribe in South America while he had a pitstop on their shores. If he had had a chance to know them and realize they were not barbarians then the later slaughters and slavery would not have occurred. The tribe he knocked out was positioned to become a major power and the entire continent would not be as it is now, including the Europeans settling in North America. Most of the book is historical and Card's conclusion are FLAWLESS!! He really connects the dots leading from that one tribe to what the world would be like today without an breaks in logic or believability. It's a jaw-dropper.

Also, the series that got me hooked on Card in the first place: his Ender's series
Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hedgemon

It starts out with the Earth having been in a battle with a race of Aliens who are thus far kicking our butts {G}. The military is training children for the upcoming battle, using games. Ender is one of those children who thinks he is playing computer games and simulations when in reality....? I can't tell you what the rest of the series is about without giving away the ending of the first book. :)

Rissa

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 07:25 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Wargod, I just noticed your profile that you are female {g} so I will recommend another series for you. It's by Jennifer Roberson and is the saga of the Cheysuli, book #1 is Shapechangers. The summary says: >>>about a race of warriors gifted with the ability to assume animal shapes at will. Once treasured allies to the King of Homana, they are now exiles. And Alix, daughter of an ill-fated union between Homana princess and Cheysuli warrior, must answer the call of magic in her blood, fulfilling an ancient prophecy. >>>

I am not a real big fan of fantasy, I much prefer science fiction (could someone explain the difference to most books stores, they seem clueless. LOL) but this series hooked me.

Wargod

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 03:07 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
They are re-releasing the Cheysuli books....coming out in 4 paperback books with 2 each in them, instead of 8 seperate ones. Plus if I recall correctly, there will be a few new books added to the series! I have them, but will probably end up buying the re-released ones also, LOL.

If you liked that series, she also did another called the Sword singer series. (I'll have to check, but that sounds right.) I know I have the first four books....can't remember if there was another, or another coming out.

Bookstores seem to have no clue that there is a a very noticable difference between Sci-fi and fantasy. I know there are a few authors (Lackey and McCaffery off the top of my head) who do both. McCaffery's Pern series starts out Sci-fi with spaceships and colonist travelling away from the technologically driven and overcrowded Earth, and moves into a Fantasy story revolving around the dragons...the later books move back to Sci-fi. Most authors though do tend to stick to one genre or the other.

Hehe, I could go on and on about books. I'm very behind in buying the new stuff from my favorite authors, and from finding new ones to read, since the past year or so I've been working on expanding the kids libraries. My son has started to grow out of the "little kid" books (unless its a book HE is reading) and into the "big kid" chapter books with a continuing story (for us to read to him.) While my daughter has a ton of story/picture books, I've been buying her the ones I consider important to younger (she's 4) kids: the chidren's encyclopedias, the children's dictionary, and similar stuff like that.

Rissa

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 03:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I have every one of the Sword series, except #1. LOL I can't start reading them until I find that dang first novel. Been trolling used books stories, but may have to break down and just order it through Chapters. LOL

I read the Cheysuli ones years ago, have all eight. Then read on the author's website about the 3 new ones she is working on to add to the series. So I pulled out the first 8 and read them all over again... that was a year ago and there is still no update on when the new ones will be available. May have to hunt her down and force her to type faster (ala Misery). :)

Wargod

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 05:51 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
From what I heard, there was a 10 year gap between two of the Cheysuli books...so could be awhile, LOL.

Most of the authors I enjoy are usually quick about getting books written. Jordan does about one per year or so.

Melanie Rawn is another one that takes years to get books out. She did the Dragon Prince series (excellent books, I highly recommend them!) and then started a new series called Exiles. Exile is absolutely awesome...just one teeny problem. Book 1 & 2 are written.....but not book 3. It's been five years, and no sign that she has even started to write the third book. Normally, I can be patient....but the truth is five years is starting to push the bounds of my patience, and has me reconsiderin whether I really want to finish the series....I'm completely frustrated with it.

Seamonkey

Monday, September 30, 2002 - 10:49 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I've read most of McCaffrey.. adored the original Dragonflight, etc.. Pern series, and the Crystal Singer series, Rowan series and others..

I remember Ender's Game being excellent.

Heinlein,

Dune and the next book.. the third one sucked.

Squaredsc

Tuesday, October 01, 2002 - 01:52 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
i am a david eddings fan also, i have read all of his books, over and over. i also like roger zelenzy(sp). fantasy is my fav, and i love vampire books. i also read mccaaffrey's pern series and loved that.

Wargod

Tuesday, October 01, 2002 - 02:46 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I'm almost, but not quite embarressed to say that I have most of Eddings' books in paperback (that I read over and over again) and the same books in hardcover that sit on the bookshelf looking nice, LOL.

I'd love to see a spinoff book focusing on Silk. He is probably my most favorite character in a story...with Squire James (from Feists' Riftwar Saga) running a close second. What can I say, LOL...I just enjoy the theives who are written well and funny.

Romans8_1

Tuesday, October 01, 2002 - 05:25 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
OMG!! Ender's Game by Card is one of my all time favorites. The next 3 were nowwhere as good, but "Ender's Shadow" and "Shadow of the Hedgemon" picked back up the excitement. I would recommend "Ender's Game" to anyone.

I also like Herbert's series "Dune". Like Card, it slacked off for a couple of books, but I really liked the last couple.

I really like the Foundation series by Asimov. The whole idea of pscho-history really fascinated me. I still think that may be a valid theory and actually wrote a college paper on it (got an A :) ).

Secretsmile

Tuesday, October 08, 2002 - 04:24 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
For all of you that love fantasy as much as I do, I'd like to suggest a few of my favorite authors also.

Terry Brookes

Peirs Anthony - Zanth series is great for a light read. Young teens love this series also.

Kathrine Kurtz

Kathrine Kerr

David Duncan

Terry Goodkind

Raymond Fiest and the Riftwar Saga is a fav in our house also.

I also have recomended reads for teens if anyone is interested in getting your child to read more.

Yes, I do own all of these books, and all the ones named above by other posters. I've worked on my collection for over 20 years and am a confirmed fanatic! LOL!

Hey, maybe we can all start a specific series and discuss it as we go through it? Any takers?

Liz

Wargod

Wednesday, October 09, 2002 - 10:22 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Sounds good to me Secret. What do you feel like reading/discussing? If I don't have it I can get it, LOL.

I did see in the book store that Robert Jordan's series has been reprinted and broken down into smaller books to be marketed to teens. Considering the fact that his books average about a thousand pages and theres 9 books already out and at least one more to come..I'm thinking the teen series sould be about 30 books long, LOL.

Weinermr

Saturday, October 12, 2002 - 10:31 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
I guess I'm an old school science fiction fan. The first science fiction I ever read was The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, and the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov.

I read Asimov's Science Fiction which publishes original sci fi stories. Poor Isaac is no longer with us, but the magazine continues his legacy by publishing the best current science fiction stories.

Secretsmile

Sunday, October 13, 2002 - 07:15 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I'd be interested in re-reading the Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer-Bradley, my daughter lent it to her friend but I can get it back. I haven't read that one in over a year.

For those of you who never heard of it, it's about King Arthur but from the female's view. It's such a different view on the workings of magic and poor Athur being 'used' by Morganna and all the workings of women that led to his downfall! LOL!

Liz

Oregonfire

Sunday, October 13, 2002 - 09:58 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I really liked the Mists of Avalon, read it a few years ago. :) I like the old ways/pagan vs. new Christainity angle as well.

Secretsmile, I loved Piers Anthony and Terry Brookes as a teenager! I was REALLY into those Sword of Shannara books.

I think Katherine Kurtz has that trilogy--can't remember the name-about a parallel world where everyone has magic and floats when they walk and soforth, but a baby is born without magic and it changes everything. What was it again?

Didn't Piers Anthony do the "Incarnations of Immortality" series? I highly recommend those, and they may appeal to an older audience. The running theme in each book is that a mortal is chosen to be an immortal--"On a Pale Horse" is about the Grim Reaper, "With A Tangled Skein" is about the woman chosen to be Fate. They are very good reads.

Oregonfire

Sunday, October 13, 2002 - 11:49 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I finally found what I was talking about before, with the baby born without magic. It's The Darksword Trilogy, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I enjoyed it, and apparently a fourth book came out more recently.

I believe they are better known for the Dragonlance series.

Wargod

Saturday, December 28, 2002 - 06:12 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
For anyone interested in the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan) series, the next book is due to be released here around Jan. 7th. I believe this is book #10, with two more at least to go. I'm hoping this book at least starts to wrap up some of the loose ends.

Crazydog

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 08:15 am EditMoveDeleteIP
I really like fantasy series as well. Piers Anthony has long been a favorite of mine for the last 20 years or so. A few years ago I was going to give up on the Xanth series because I thought they were too juvenile and formulaic, but then I read whichever one was out at the time and am back to being hooked.

However, my favorite Piers Anthony series is the Apprentice Adept series. If you haven't read this series check it out. It's about two worlds which exist in parallel. One world is a fantasy world where magic rules and nature abounds. The most powerful people are the Adepts, who are blessed with magical powers that manifest themselves in signature forms (e.g., the Blue Adept performs magic through rhymes, the Yellow Adept's magic is potions, the Red Adept makes amulets). The other world is a futuristic world where science rules and there is no magic. The most powerful people are the Citizens. Those not born into Citizenship are called Serfs. They are not allowed the privilege of clothes and must walk around naked all the time. They can earn Citizenship by entering a contest called The Game, where each year one serf wins citizenship by besting all others in a very cool competition.

Each person has a counterpart in the other world, the Orange Adept looks exactly the same as Citizen Orange. There is an invisible curtain dividing the worlds that you can't cross unless your counterpart on the other world has died. The story begins when someone accidentally discovers the curtain and crosses over.

Hope I didn't bore too much, but it's a great series, I've re-read the entire 7 book series a number of times.

Other current favorite fantasy series are the Song of Fire and Ice by George R.R. Martin, where the lands are divided into various kingdoms and one king has decided to stand up against the tyranny of another; and The Oath of the Empire by Thomas Harlan. In this series, it is approximately 600 A.D. The Roman Empire is still alive and well and goes into battle against the Persians, but this time each side is aided by the presence of wizardry.

I read the first Robert Jordan book and didn't like it. And I read the first four or five Terry Goodkind books and also lost interest.

Wargod

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 11:26 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Crazydog, the Robert Jordan series gets better....but, book 10 (I think!) comes out tomorrow and from all I've heard about it, it and #9 kind of drag. There's still two more in the series left...at least. I read the ninth and the truth is I'm going to have to read it again, cuz nothing stands out about it, but at this point I've put so much time into it I can't quit now. It just gets to the point that it drags on and on and theres so many characters added and so many side stories that it gets a little...long!

I need to find more new authors because I'm tired of waiting for some of my old favorites to put out new books, lol. Most the time it doesn't bother me to wait a year or two for a new book, but when you finish reading book two of a trilogy and wait four years for book three you begin to lose interest in the series.

Wargod

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 11:30 am EditMoveDeleteIP
Rissa, have you tried ebay for the Sword series book your missing? You can get pretty decent prices on books..and sometimes people will be selling the whole series or individual books.

Whoami

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 01:33 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
My mom and I loved the Magic Kingdom books by Terry Brooks. In fact, Terry Brooks was in town
doing a book signing for The Tangle Box. It was around the time of Mother's Day, so I thought that would be a cool present for Mom (an autographed book by him).

So, I went to the bookstore where he was. A few hours before the time of the signing, the store was passing out numbers for the line, and giving us pieces of paper to write down exactly what we wanted him to say in the book. It was clear they wanted it to be short/sweet/fast. It was a very long line, and the store employees were clearly stressing about making things move fast and efficient.

While in line, I noticed people had brought with them all of their Terry Brooks books. Some people had armsfull of them! They were all hoping to have him sign each and every one of their books. I thought, "Oh gee, how rude are they?" In an attempt to compensate, and NOT use up all this man's time, I made my note to Mom short and sweet. We call her Moo for short, so I wrote on my note, "Happy Mother's Day Moo."

As I neared the front of the line, I was able to watch Mr. Brooks. He stopped and looked each person in the eye. Talked to them, answered questions on "how to be an author" to the writer wanna-bees, asked questions in return to many of the people, and yes..patiently and valiently signed each and every book each person brought up to him!

When it came my turn, I handed him my slip of paper. He read it, and asked my name. Then he wrote, "To Moo. Happy Mother's Day from Whoami and Me." And then he dated it 5/8/94. Then finally he signed his own name.

I'll never forget what a patient understanding man Terry Brooks was that day. He wasn't too big or too busy for his fans. He must have used up much more time than the book store ever planned for him to do. And his hand had to have hurt terribly after signing as many as 10 books per person! I was pretty far back in the line, but he still took it upon himself to ask me for more information to make that particular signing just that much more personal. I'll never forget it. And I'll never stop appreciating him for it.

Whoami

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 01:40 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
OK, I had this written to start, then started getting into my Terry Brooks story. I decided that story was too wonderful to be distracted with this discussion. So, I made it a different post!

We were Piers Anthony fans for a long time, but gave him up quite a while ago. I'll admit that, once my mom complains about a book (that she's read before I do), I usually don't bother reading it. I loved the Xanth books, and we were buying every new book in the series. I also loved the Apprenctice Adept series too.

But there was one book (I don't believe it was a Xanth book) that mom read first. She was absolutly sickened by it, cause one of the story lines (or was it the main story) was about a man who regularly had sexual relations with a little girl, but it was "OK" in this story cause the little girl wanted it.

My mom was so outraged with it, she never even finished the book. We had also noticed the Xanth books getting pretty "panty" oriented. On top of that other book, we just started to wonder just what kind of a sicko Piers Anthony may be. We became pretty disenchanted, and just couldn't get into any more Xanth books after that.

Crazydog

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 02:01 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Who, I agree that the "panty" thing is way overdone in Xanth. It's mentioned multiple times in each book about how a woman's panties stun men with their power. I think it's really juvenile and have never understood why he makes such a big deal about panties. By far my least favorite recurring Anthony device. That and the whole thing about summoning the stork. Everytime these two things are mentioned I always think I've outgrown the Xanth series a little.

I do think Piers seems a little obsessed with sexual humor. And the whole thing about an entire population being forced to walk around butt naked in the Adept series always had me wondering about him. Isn't he a nudist? Or was that Walt Disney?

But all in all, I do think his Xanth books are entertaining. They're light and fluffy but for the most part good fun. I've never read any of his more "adult" books, like the Mode series or the Incarnations of Immortality, so I don't know about those.

At this point I'm 9 books behind on Robert Jordan. Egad, I'd hate feeling so far behind so I think I've given up on him for good.

I also really liked Fred Saberhagen's Swords series. All of them - the 3 original books and the 8 Lost Swords books. Great concept, with each Sword having a special power. His current series, the Book of the Gods series, isn't half as good.

Wargod

Monday, January 06, 2003 - 02:11 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Who, that is awesome about Terry Brooks. I've always enjoyed his Shanarra series, though haven't read the one you were talking about. LOL, I think I need to spend a Tuesday morning at the book store with a pen and notebook and make up a new book wish list for Darren to have handy. Heck, these days I'm not even sure what books my favorite authors have out, LOL. I love reading, but I'm the type who if I don't have a few hours to sit down uninterrupted, I don't get to read much. I usually have a couple books in the car in case I get caught somewhere I have to wait awhile...but I just can't get into them to finish...I miss it.

Ocean_Islands

Wednesday, January 22, 2003 - 07:01 pm EditMoveDeleteIP
Piers Anthony, of course, is a total hack but some of his conceptions are diverting. The Xanth series quickly degenerated, sadly. The Apprentice Adept series was promising but eventually tired. He hasn't lived up to his promise which is sad, and also the fate of many fantasy/sci fi writers. Terry Brooks also seems a total hack and rip off artist.