Amph The "Hugo and Nebula" Lounge social thread

Have you played the new Pokemon game for Gamecube?

 

I don't have gamecube, or any other gaming systems like that, actually. I just play pokemon on my GBA. I have played all of them, though. Red, Blue, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Crystal, Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, LeafGreen, FireRed...

 

Ooh, a social lounge in SF books. Excellent

 

And people complain that Final Fantasy and Tony Hawk put out a lot of games. Dayum.

 

Since going to University I have hardly done any personal reading, but I guess that is understandable. When I was younger I read books like a madman. Since 25 or so I slowed down a lot. I am currently reading Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen (Sorceror's Stone in German).

 

I would like to use this social thread briefly to find out if people have ideas as to what we can do to help this forum draw people regularily. WHat would you like to see this forum become? It's a little slow now

 

I'd like to see more rounded discussion of Sci Fi and not just newer authors. Also some "book club" discussions of a particular book would be good. Some real in depth discussion rather than some of these really broad vague threads that cover the entire span of someone's work. Also on the other end of the spectrum maybe some polls.

 

Speaking from an Aust perspective, I say sci fi is dead and decaying. I'm particularly upset space opera is all but dead. I'm talking real space opera, swashbuckling adventure, not weird cyber nano tech babble.

I will rectify this.

 

??

 

Ex is famous for his non sequiturs. You'll get used to it.

I rather like the idea of a book club. I'm always willing to branch out every now and then.

Or how about a reading challenge? A user here gets challenged to read a certain book and they have to write a review of it.

 

Awesome idea.

 

I've been toying with an idea of doing a hosted discussion, much like what I've been doing with the Hugo Awards, but it's compiling a list of books that'll be a pain, and there's so many. Thoughts on that?

 

It's an improvement. I normally get three question signs.

You want a challenge, read an Erikson book. I was younger, but Silver Screen was a headache to understand. Anyone read it? Marty's McFly, I couldn't get past Reality Disfunction's first online page. I'm not reading such heavy diction.

How did it end, anyway? I heard something about a TARDIS time machine?

 

I like challenging books but I'm not going to read something if I'm not going to understand it. Stories like that are just a pain and I don't like to waste my time with them.

 

Yeah, I'm the same way. Also, I'll avoid books for YEARS just because someone recommended them to me and I felt like it was being forced on me. It's totally weird... I guess I'm just a little (teehee) stubborn. Plus, at any given time, I have a looong list of books I'd like to read.

Well maybe we could compile a list, and set it up so there is weekly (or biweekly) indepth discussions of the books... and set the calendar in the first post, and make the first few ones really popular books. Then, people can look ahead at the calendar and say "Oh! I've always wanted to read that... the discussion is in 6 weeks, I'll get started now!" or "Oh, man, I loved that book and own it, I'm going to reread it for next week's discussion."

By making it open, and setting the calendar up like that, I think it could work well. We could even make a thread to take book suggestions so that one (or two) people don't ahve to do all the initial work

 

That sounds like a great idea Tracy!

But how would we compile the list? A separate thread or just suggestions in this thread?

 

Want a challenging, but amazing book? Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. Hands down the best read ive ever had.

This book discussion thread sounds interesting. It would have to have its own thread though, possibly stickied.

 

As for compiling a list, I think that I've come across an idea. There's a series of SciFi books that seem to be published here in the UK that are numbered. I'm not entirely sure which order they're in, but they're all outstanding andreally well known SciFi books. Want me to dig up a list and present it?

 

I'm the opposite, Zebra. Stubborn pride demanded I master the complexity of Gardens of the Moon. Victory felt grinningly good.

 

An official, book-discussing in-depth thread is a really great idea We've clearly got a healthy userbase in SFFBC, but I bet a fair few people haunt the same half-dozen threads about books they know. (I know I do.) A rolling discussion thread could be just the thing to get people talking and help us all get to know one another.

Plus of course we get to read a lot of great sci-fi.

If there's any kind of existing list we could base it on, that'd be helpful. Otherwise just pick half a dozen really well known ones and add on other ones as we go

 

I'll see if I can find that paticular list.

 

Here's the list- Called SciFi Masterworks, published by Orion Books:

1- Joe Haldeman, The Forever War
2- Richard Matheson, I Am Legend
3- James Blish, Cities In Flight
4- Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
5- Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination
6- Samuel R. Delany, Babel-17
7- Roger Zelazny Lord of Light
8- Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus
9- Frederik Pohl, Gateway
10- Cordwainer Smith, The Rediscovery of Man
11- Olaf Stapledon Last And First Men
12- George.R. Stewart Earth Abides
13- Philip K. Dick Martian Time-Slip
14- Alfred Bester The Demolished Man
15- John Brunner Stand On Zanzibar
16- Ursula Le Guin The Dispossesed
18- Kurt Vonnegut The Sirens Of Titan
19- Jack Vance Emphyrio
20- Philip K. Dick A Scanner Darkly
21- Olaf Stapledon Star Maker
22- Michael Moorcock Behold The Man
23- Robert Silverberg The Book Of Skulls
25- Daniel Keyes Flowers For Algernon
26- Philip K. Dick Ubik
27- Greg Benford Timescape
28- Theodore Sturgeon More Than Human
29 Frederik Pohl Man Plus
30- James Blish A Case Of Conscience
31- M. John Harrison The Centauri Device
32- Philip K. Dick Dr Bloodmoney
33- Brian Aldiss Non-Stop
34- Arthur C. Clarke The Fountains Of Paradise
35- Keith Roberts Pavane
36- Philip K. Dick Now Wait For Last Year
37- Samuel R. Delany Nova
38- Arthur C. Clarke The City And The Stars
39- Greg Bear Blood Music
40- Frederik Pohl Jem
41- Ward Moore Bring The Jubilee
42- Philip K. Dick Valis
43- Ursula Le Guin The Lathe Of Heaven
44- John Sladek The Complete Roderick
45- Philip K. Dick Flow, My Tears, The Policeman Said
46- Sheri S. Tepper Grass
47- Arthur C. Clarke A Fall Of Moondust
48- Greg Bear Eon
49- Richard Matheson The Shrinking Man
50- Philip K. Dick The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
51- Michael Moorcock The Dancers at the End of Time
52- Frederik Pohl, Cyril M. Kornbluth The Space Merchants
53- Philip K. Dick Time Out Of Joint
54- Robert Silverberg Downward To The Earth
55- Philip K. Dick The Simulacra
56- Philip K. Dick The Penultimate Truth
57- Robert Silverberg Dying Inside
60- Larry Niven Ringworld
61- Geoff Ryman The Child Garden
62- Hal Clement Mission Of Gravity
63- Philip K. Dick A Maze of Death
66- Lucius Shepard Life During Wartime



There are a couple missing from there, and I'm not sure what they are, because they're not listed in the series. I do know that Dune is one of them.

 

Hmmm. I'd rather do sci fi AND fantasy, although i suppose we could have separate threads and do one of each at any given time.

Maybe I'm just lame, but I've read VERY VERY few of those books. Where's the Issac Asimov? How can you have a great sci fi masterworks list without any asimov? So i guess, in short, that list didn't do much for me But i could be the minority.

We could also just have user suggest their favorites and make a list out of those... or only those that are suggested by at least three people, or something like that (to ensure possibility of discussion)

 

Yeah, I personally would really like to see a bit of fantasy on the list too.

 

Tell me about The Forever War, by Joe Haldeman. I was inquiring about here. It, along with The Risen Empire, is my next potential sci fi purchase, rare as they unfortunatley are. Is it exciting? Mature prose? Elfs and dragons absent? Anti-young adult? These are my essential ingredients to germinate a good flower. I'm hungry for new SF.