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Now that RL has settled back into a livable routine, and I'm actually making progress on the novel (slow progress, but progress nonetheless), it seems as good a time as any to start musing about other things.
I think that I had a nice TV binge this season, and have taken a bit of a breather to remember why I enjoy blathering on about SG:A or VM for hours on end. The result being that I've started rewatching Atlantis and taking notes for my Weir essay. It's amazing the things you miss the first, second, or third time around.
I must have watched Rising at least half a dozen times, but it took my watching each and every Weir move to notice that Rodney's standing on the balcony with John when she looks up after they go through the Gate. Actually, that whole sequence is well-done, with John's presence turning the lights on as he moves forward. The later "I didn't touch anything" in the control room was rather amusing.
Going back a bit further, I think I might have spotted the scene where Weir clicked for me on Atlantis. The first few were full of exposition and the typical and necessary speeches, but there's this moment where she's standing next to Jack in the control center of the SGC, right as they're starting the dialing sequence, and Tori Higginson just nails the nervous and excited tension of that scene. It was so subtle, and so well done, that I didn't even notice the actual acting until I was looking for it.
Of course, there's still a good month before the next season of shows that I watch starts (I'll need to figure out access to my sister's TiVo as I don't get HBO, and thus might miss the Six Feet Under season otherwise), and it seems like the best time to catch up on some reading. What reading... well, here's where I ask you. :)
Given my absolute adoration of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and such "genre" writing, recommend five novels for me to read this summer. As previously mentioned, "classics" of the genres are preferred, but not required.
As far as fantasy goes, I've read Tolkien and C.S.Lewis, but not Ursula Le Guin or others. As far as Sci-Fi, I've read Adams, Card, and Bradbury, but nothing like Asimov or Heinlein (I know, I know, what was I thinking?)
Anyone who helps expand my horizons gets a cookie of yet-undetermined form.
I think that I had a nice TV binge this season, and have taken a bit of a breather to remember why I enjoy blathering on about SG:A or VM for hours on end. The result being that I've started rewatching Atlantis and taking notes for my Weir essay. It's amazing the things you miss the first, second, or third time around.
I must have watched Rising at least half a dozen times, but it took my watching each and every Weir move to notice that Rodney's standing on the balcony with John when she looks up after they go through the Gate. Actually, that whole sequence is well-done, with John's presence turning the lights on as he moves forward. The later "I didn't touch anything" in the control room was rather amusing.
Going back a bit further, I think I might have spotted the scene where Weir clicked for me on Atlantis. The first few were full of exposition and the typical and necessary speeches, but there's this moment where she's standing next to Jack in the control center of the SGC, right as they're starting the dialing sequence, and Tori Higginson just nails the nervous and excited tension of that scene. It was so subtle, and so well done, that I didn't even notice the actual acting until I was looking for it.
Of course, there's still a good month before the next season of shows that I watch starts (I'll need to figure out access to my sister's TiVo as I don't get HBO, and thus might miss the Six Feet Under season otherwise), and it seems like the best time to catch up on some reading. What reading... well, here's where I ask you. :)
Given my absolute adoration of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and such "genre" writing, recommend five novels for me to read this summer. As previously mentioned, "classics" of the genres are preferred, but not required.
As far as fantasy goes, I've read Tolkien and C.S.Lewis, but not Ursula Le Guin or others. As far as Sci-Fi, I've read Adams, Card, and Bradbury, but nothing like Asimov or Heinlein (I know, I know, what was I thinking?)
Anyone who helps expand my horizons gets a cookie of yet-undetermined form.
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Heinlein - The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Larry Niven - Tales of Known Space
Orsen Scott Card - Ender's Game (ignore his politics. Ignore every book after this one)
Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash (near future cyberspace)
Frank Herbert - Dune (again, ignore all sequels)
Joan D. Vinge - Catspaw
David Brin - Sundiver
Connie Willis - Doomsday Book
Steve Miller and Sharon Lee - Partners in Necessity
Catherine Asaro - The Last Hawk, Primary Inversion
I was rewatching the beginning of Rising this week too, and you're so right about the nervous tension Weir displays as the SGC dials Atlantis. I also love her comment to Rodney that he should calm down. She has a dry sense of humor, which leans toward the absurd.
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Recs later.
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Also, Judith Merkle Riley isn't so much fantasy/scifi as historical fiction with a nice supernatural twist, but she's just wonderful. The Oracle Glass especially seems very much up your alley, if you've not read it.
And lastly, George R.R. Martin. Trust me on this one. The man is utterly brilliant *and* Book Four is finally coming out this year!
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For her fantasy, she did some really cool things in The Curse of Chalion and Paladin of Souls with exploring religious belief and postulating an interest magical system. There's a third book in the series, The Hallowed Hunt, which wasn't a bad read, but not as engrossing as the first two, IMO.
++ to Joan D. Vinge. Catspaw isn't bad. (I think it's a sequel to Psion.) The quintessential JDV, though, is The Snow Queen. The sequels are not necessarily worth your time, though.
++ to Frank Herbert. You don't get much more classic than Dune. (I've read at least two copies of this to pieces.) As for not bothering with the sequels, I would say that Dune Messiah and Children of Dune aren't that great, but you have to read them to understand #4, God Emperor of Dune, which is very helpful for reading Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune. And in the latter two he devotes a lot of time to what the sisterhood of witches (best way to simply describe it) has become, which I always thought was kinda cool. I would say, though, don't bother with the prequels, which were co-written by his son after his death.
++ to Guy Gavriel Kay. I absolutely love A Song for Arbonne, which is set in his idea of southern France when the troubadours flourished. The Fionavar Tapestry, a trilogy, is a neato reworking of Celtic and Arthurian mythology. GGK helped to edit the Silmarillion, in case you've read that. (I seem to recall you being a Tolkien geek.)
++ to Neal Stephenson. Snow Crash is probably what he's most known for, but as you're living in Boston, you might enjoy Zodiac, which is set there. It's more environmentalist adventure than SF, per se, but there is a fair amount of science.
++ to Robin McKinley. The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword are good loner-female-hero fantasies. Sunshine is, I believe, her most recent novel. It's tasty. It features a not-a-bad-guy vampire as the second-most-important character in an interesting sorta-post-apocalyptic world where magic exists.
++ to Steven Brust. V. cool fantasy. He's most known for two series, both set on the same world. Characters who live for hundreds of years co-exist with normal humans in a world where magic works. The main character in one is a crime lord at the beginning of the series. After that, well, you'll see. The other starts with The Phoenix Guards and is a deliberate attempt to write in a Dumas-esque way. I think this and its sequels would be pretty well up your alley.
Asimov: I'd read the Foundation series. It did, after all, win a special Hugo for best series. Even if I nurse a major pet peeve about it. (I won't say what it is, assuming I haven't griped about it in my journal already, because it's a spoiler.)
Heinlein: Eventually, one realizes that Heinlein's novels are in many ways just recapitulating his fantasies about being the dominant male with many available females. I'd read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (if you haven't already), then Stranger in a Strange Land, then I Will Fear No Evil, just to get the idea. One of his YA novels, Space Cadet, isn't bad.
Orson Scott Card: His politics annoy me too much. (He's a Mormon and thinks homosexuals are sinners.) All I can say is, skip the Alvin Maker series, if it isn't already too late. It will probably annoy you like it annoyed me. But maybe not.
Tamora Pierce: Her book is technically YA fantasy, but I think a lot of adults (esp. women; her audience is pretty much female) will find it to be accessible. Start with the Song of the Lioness quartet, and keep reading if you want to. All her novels, so far as I know, are set on the same world.
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Alfred Bester - recognize the name? I recommend The Demolished Man, for kinda-sorta B5 background. The Stars My Destination is supposedly also good, but I haven't read it yet.
Mary Gentle - Golden Witchbreed is a science fiction/fantasy blend. It's very nice. The sequel, Ancient Light, is okay. I haven't enjoyed any of her other fiction, which is mostly straight fantasy.
Esther Friesner - The Sherwood Game is a story about how a computer programmer accidentally brings Robin Hood and his merry men to life as androids. Very punny. The Psalms of Herod and The Sword of Mary. Post-apocalyptic SF/fantasy blend. Manages to be scary without being tacky or over the top, unlike a lot of horror-influenced fantasy. (This is a complaint I have about the Black Jewels trilogy and George R.R. Martin's fantasy series; many people disagree with me on both counts, though. :)
Philip K. Dick. You can start with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
Kim Harrison: is writing an interesting post-mild-apocalpyse (if that's not a contradiction in terms) series about vampires and witches in Cincinnati.
Oh. Two short stories. "Green is the Color" by John M. Ford (nice balance of horror and hope) and "Press Enter" by John Varley. Both have been anthologized.
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Mercedes Lackey - If you haven't read them already, you might like her Last Herald-Mage trilogy (telepathic horses, with a gay magic-using hero and lots of tragedy), By the Sword (female mercenary heroine; and its prequels, the Vows and Honor duology, which features her grandmother and her blood sister, also mercenaries), her Diana Tregarde books (set on earth, female magic-using hero), Born to Run (racing cars, with elves), Summoned to Tourney and Knight of Ghosts and Shadows (music as magic, with elves). If you absolutely have to, the trilogy that starts with Arrows of the Queen (in the telepathic-horses universe) is what really launched her career. Read enough of her books, and they start to feel distinctly recycled after a while.
Anne McCaffrey. An SF writer who used to be an online debate buddy of mine remarked that Anne McCaffrey had mined out the Pern material (the series for which she is most famous) years ago. Many of her books end with the heroine getting the guy, and then, of course, everything is all fine, because then they can spawn, and everyone will be happy. Everything is always all fine. Gah. Anyway. (I spent a good chunk of time writing fanfiction for this series. I'm pretty familiar with it. :/) If you absolutely must, I'd recommend the trilogy that starts with Dragonflight, and Dragonsdawn. Those mostly manage to avoid horrible twee-ness. She's written other series, and I'm trying to think if any of her other books were particularly worthwhile. I'm blanking now, but if I come up with anything, I'll let you know.
Andre Norton: Probably the first really successful SF writer. Read Witch World just to say you have. Someone who remembers more of her early non-WW work than I might have something else to recommend.
Marion Zimmer Bradley: Read The Mists of Avalon if you haven't already. Morgan-is-not-totally-evil reworking of the Arthurian mythos. As for her other work ... of the Darkover books, I enjoy The Forbidden Tower. You might also like Thendara House, The Shattered Chain, and City of Sorcery. The Heritage of Hastur and Sharra's Exile are decent. She deals with homosexuality in those two rather a lot. The cool thing about the Darkover books is that recently they've started releasing the related novels in paperback omnibus editions, which should be easily available.
Robert Jordan: OMG AVOID AVOID AVOID. If it's not too late. The man goes on and on and on, in his series and within the novels. They're apparently tracing the lives of a group of souls who keep getting reincarnated. I couldn't finished the one I tried to read.
Laurell K. Hamilton: I'd say stay away. I haven't read the Anita Blake series, but from what I hear it's going down the tubes in terms of being non-ridiculous in its lack of obstacles for the heroine. And the Merry Gentry series starts out in an interesting way but the plot:sex (that doesn't advance the plot or provide much revealing characterization) ratio keeps getting lower.
If I think of anyone else, pro or con, I will post, though it would probably be redundant. (I'd consider reading The Once and Future King, a fantasy-ish take on King Arthur, just to say you had.)
Yes, I am embarrassed that this was more than twice as long as the max comment length. I'm such a dork.
Oh. One more. Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress. Story of what would happen if some of us were bioengineered to not need sleep. Two sequels, but they're merely okay. Same author, different setting: Maximum Light. Logical extrapolation of the fertility problems which are becoming more and more common.
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The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle, oh it kills me. The movie is good, but the book, I love it.
The Chronicles of Pyrdain, by Lloyd Alexander. Yes they are classified as YA, but very good.