[Severian]

I need some. I usually consider myself well read in these genres, having been through the classics and most of the contemporary heavy hitters, but I've been reading non fiction lately. Mostly political, philosophical, and science books and articles, and I can't find a new fiction book that's stimulating for the life of me. Anyone have any well kept secrets?

No point in recommending Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, Gene Wolfe, Gaiman or Dan Simmons. I'm a fan. Need something new

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Clive Barker is some of the only fantasy I read. It is well crafted fiction with substance, realistic dialogue, and everyone once in while moments of Garcia-Marquez brilliance in symbolism as well as deep philosophical insights like in an Alexandre Dumas novel. Try Weaveworld or Imajica, dense stuff but a good read. Elaborate characters.. I also have been enjoying some Arturo Perez-Reverte, great stuff, a bit trashy sometimes but well-written.

[Genteel Death]

Pitchfork and gay magazines.

[floatingslowly]

not new (by any means), but The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, is my all time fave.

although it may sound silly to you, most of the novels based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe are VERY well done. I sincerely recommend any of the Gaunt's Ghosts series, or books about Inquistor Eisenhorn that are written by Dan Abnett.

geekery? sure, but if you're reading sci-fi, you may as well put both feet in the pool.

ps: buy them used. I shop at Half Price Books, here in Texas.

[floatingslowly]

oh...philosophical? maybe not 40k, but the recommendation stands.

[SuchFriendsAreDangerous]

Originally Posted by Genteel Death

Pitchfork and gay magazines.

 

So I see you've read Clive Barker before..

[Rob Instigator]

HOUSE OF LEAVES - Mark Danielewski

(I recommend it to anyone who likes to have their mind blown)

Greg Bear has some of the greatest hard cyberpunk sci-fi around
I recommend Blood Music, Moving Mars

I always suggest Rudy Rucker. He has a series of books which rule. Hardware, software, wetware.

[ink.]

Originally Posted by floatingslowly

not new (by any means), but The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein, is my all time fave.

although it may sound silly to you, most of the novels based on the Warhammer 40,000 universe are VERY well done. I sincerely recommend any of the Gaunt's Ghosts series, or books about Inquistor Eisenhorn that are written by Dan Abnett.

geekery? sure, but if you're reading sci-fi, you may as well put both feet in the pool.

ps: buy them used. I shop at Half Price Books, here in Texas.

I <3 you.

[floatingslowly]

Originally Posted by ink.

I <3 you.

SCIENCE-FACT!

[demonrail666]

Maybe a bit obvious but for alt. history maybe P.K. Dick's Man in the High Castle?

[!@#$%!]

If you want philosophical why not cut the middleman and read some philosophy?

the book that blew my mind more than the whole dune saga or any cyberpunk books or anything i have read before or since was nietzsche's "beyond good and evil". the earlier stuff can be a bit adolescent, later on i think he goes bananas (though will to power was never a finished book).

read the walter kaufmann translation. it's great, has good notes, etc.

oh and unlike other philosophy books this one is neither dry as fuck nor incomprehensibly abstruse-- actually it's got plenty of laughs.

actually, come to think of it--- if you like shit with superheroes and magic animals and shit like that (i don't), then you could read the zarathustra!

[Severian]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Maybe a bit obvious but for alt. history maybe P.K. Dick's Man in the High Castle?

That I just re-read, when Amazon had a PKD blow out and priced a shitload of his books for 1.99 on Kindle. It has to be my favorite PkD book, though admittedly I haven't read them all.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

If you want philosophical why not cut the middleman and read some philosophy?

the book that blew my mind more than the whole dune saga or any cyberpunk books or anything i have read before or since was nietzsche's "beyond good and evil". the earlier stuff can be a bit adolescent, later on i think he goes bananas (though will to power was never a finished book).

read the walter kaufmann translation. it's great, has good notes, etc.

oh and unlike other philosophy books this one is neither dry as fuck nor incomprehensibly abstruse-- actually it's got plenty of laughs.

actually, come to think of it--- if you like shit with superheroes and magic animals and shit like that (i don't), then you could read the zarathustra!

I respect your recommendation, but like so many other great books, this one was ruined for me by a traditional liberal arts education. There's something about reading a book in a sterile classroom, and listening to a bunch of dillweeds wax philosophical over it to impress a bored teacher, that executes interest and thought like with the efficiency of a lethal injection.

I recreationally read speculative fiction because academia never goes anywhere near it, and because reading the right SF novel can sometimes rekindle an interest in books like this.

Honestly, it's SF more than any other genre that makes me independently investigate scientific and philosophical theories on my own time. I applaud your persistence and taste, though.

[E. Noisefield]

Pff... Just read the DeathGate Cycle by Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weiss. Don't get all fancy pants Dexter Palmer on me; just stick with good old fashioned dumbass 90s fantasy, and have some fun!!!

[floatingslowly]

If you're going with the classics, you may as well read the Dragonlance trilogy.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by Severian

I respect your recommendation, but like so many other great books, this one was ruined for me by a traditional liberal arts education. There's something about reading a book in a sterile classroom, and listening to a bunch of dillweeds wax philosophical over it to impress a bored teacher, that executes interest and thought like with the efficiency of a lethal injection.

I recreationally read speculative fiction because academia never goes anywhere near it, and because reading the right SF novel can sometimes rekindle an interest in books like this.

Honestly, it's SF more than any other genre that makes me independently investigate scientific and philosophical theories on my own time. I applaud your persistence and taste, though.

ha ha, i hear what you're saying! grad school (in the humanities) got me off reading for a few years-- i couldn't look at a book without wanting to vomit. as a result i watched a lot of movies.

i was lucky to read nietzsche in an independent study so i wasn't encumbered by assholes-- "class" was usually talk and cigarettes in a bench. the thing is i got hooked since then and kept reading afterwards.

what i love about nietzsche is that he *truly* blows your mind. why? because even in the most far-fetched scifi story, in the end it all boils down to preserving the same ideology that everybody else repeats-- who is good, who is the villain, bla bla-- predictable. everybody evaluates the world the same way in our era.

but that little fucker goes to the core of things-- he makes you take a look at your values and proceeds to give them a thorough skewering. it doesn't matter if you agree with his morality or not, in the end-- the thing is that he makes you question the very core of your assumptions about the way you judge the word, and in that sense he is truly fucking mindblowing.

oh, the manchester united game started. anyway, your loss, i'm afraid, and i hope you can recover your health soon-- school can fuck you up in so many ways. don't let the bastards grind you down, etc.

--

i assume you've already read dune so i won't bother recommending it.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

ha ha, i hear what you're saying! grad school (in the humanities) got me off reading for a few years-- i couldn't look at a book without wanting to vomit. as a result i watched a lot of movies.

i was lucky to read nietzsche in an independent study so i wasn't encumbered by assholes-- "class" was usually talk and cigarettes in a bench. the thing is i got hooked since then and kept reading afterwards.

what i love about nietzsche is that he *truly* blows your mind. why? because even in the most far-fetched scifi story, in the end it all boils down to preserving the same ideology that everybody else repeats-- who is good, who is the villain, bla bla-- predictable. everybody evaluates the world the same way in our era.

but that little fucker goes to the core of things-- he makes you take a look at your values and proceeds to give them a thorough skewering. it doesn't matter if you agree with his morality or not, in the end-- the thing is that he makes you question the very core of your assumptions about the way you judge the word, and in that sense he is truly fucking mindblowing.

oh, the manchester united game started. anyway, your loss, i'm afraid, and i hope you can recover your health soon-- school can fuck you up in so many ways. don't let the bastards grind you down, etc.

--

i assume you've already read dune so i won't bother recommending it.

I like you.

I have a lot to say in response to this, but not a lot of time. I just want to ask one thing, regarding your understandable cynicism about SF:

Have you ever read Gene Wolfe? Specifically the "Book of the New Sun" (which is actually four books, plus a "coda" fifth volume, all of which lead into a second four part, distantly linked sequel (Book of the Long Sun) which itself leads to a three part finale, (Book of the Short Sun) ?

If you haven't, it's imperative that you do so immediately. I did a minor in philosophy for my undergrad, and I think New Sun should be required reading for any philosophy program. It's the greatest work of speculative fiction I've ever encountered.

(Ps, The only philosophy that I enjoyed in the presence of the dullards in my program, was religious philosophy. I loved it, and that plays a role in my interest in SF. More later, hopefully)

[demonrail666]

If you're into the more theological side of SF, have you read Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man? Some of his books also fall into the alt history genre, like Dancers at the End of Time. Another good one in the alt history SF is Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt.

[Severian]

Originally Posted by demonrail666

If you're into the more theological side of SF, have you read Michael Moorcock's Behold the Man? Some of his books also fall into the alt history genre, like Dancers at the End of Time. Another good one in the alt history SF is Kim Stanley Robinson's Years of Rice and Salt.

I've never read this author, but I've seen his name in a lot of SF lists, especially in the "most underrated" and "most prolific" ones.

I tracked down his section at the library and it was just packed. I had no idea where to begin.

I'm glad you brought him up. Would you mind recommending a few of his hooks, and telling me a bit more about them? Particularly anything in the "steam punk" category.

[demonrail666]

As you say, he's written tons. The hardest thing about recommending anything is that most of his novels are just episodes of far bigger stories. His most interesting concept is that of of the 'eternal champion' (a person with multiple identities who exists in multiple universes) but it's an idea that stretches across most of his books (some SF, some Fantasy, some 'historical') so it's hard to really pinpoint a single key novel to get the idea in full. If I were to start though, you can't go wrong with The Eternal Champion novel, and then decide from there if you want to persevere with the rest of it.

 

Note that's the novel, not one of the omnibus editions using the same name which will include the original novel (depending on the volume you get) but also other stories in the series.

You could literally spend a lifetime navigating your way through the various combinations of his multiverse books (which total around 60 novels or about 15 omnibus editions) and still never settle on a final 'definitive' sequence. There's even debate as to whether the omnibus volumes are in the 'right' order, not helped by the fact there's more than one series of them, from different publishers that put the novels in different order.

Here's some indication of just how daunting it all is:
http://www.multiverse.org/wiki/index...mpion_(series)

Moorcock touches on steam punk a lot but I can't think of a single book where it plays a major role. It's more just another part of his overall 'multiverse' thing.