SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Future is tempting, but I'm far too cynical about mankind to think things will be any better off. If mankind is headed down the path it feels like we're headed down, the last thing I'd want is to have that confirmed.

So I'd pick past. Comfort in familiarity, and all that, and I can remain blissfully ignorant of the future.

I’m tempted to see what happens in the future, but I fear that too far in the future would be unrecognizable to me. The past is what has made me what I am and shapes my thoughts. There are many events that I would like to see in the past. Watch The Beatles at the Cavern Club in 1962, see the real Julius Caeser on the Ides of March (March 15, 44 BCE), and attend the first Hugo Losers Party at the 1976 Worldcon all come to mind.

Laurie wrote: "We already know what happened in the past, and good authors are almost as good as a time machine. Future for sure!"

not really in some cases - don't forget that the winners write the histories.

Would you rather go into hibernation between November and March every year or an irresistible urge to travel 3000 miles twice a year?

How is that even a question? Unless, you mean .... I could only hibernate those months, not all year? :o

Yeah, regular diurnal schedule required outside of those 4 months. Sorry, I realize this is prejudiced against Finns.

I want to speak to your manager 😠

(After I arise from my comfy blanket coffin.)

The old cliché "if I only knew then what I know now..." Definitely keep moving towards the future who the heck wants to go through all the lessons, obstacles, challenges of becoming wiser again ??? Besides there is nothing new in the past.....

3,000 miles for me. I like winter and the snow.

You mean, I would be forced to travel?

I think I’ll choose the 3000 miles.

Allison wrote: "Would you rather go into hibernation between November and March every year or an irresistible urge to travel 3000 miles twice a year?"

Back in post #337 I chose to have an instant teleportation device and that’s been working out well for me, thank you. I therefore choose the 3000 miles, because it doesn’t take as long via teleportation.

I generally don't answer these because they are EVIL, but obviously sleep.

I'd travel 3000 miles to hibernate for 5 months.

The list of things I like less than sleeping keeps getting longer the older I get, so I'll go with the hibernation option.

Would you rather have your favorite novel:

1. Turned into a trilogy of movies.
2. Made into a multi-season television series.
3. Be converted into a video game.
4. Get to meet the author and have a one-on-one discussion on inspirations for a sequel.

#4!!

Multi season show or movies

If I choose 4, would they become resurrected as they were in life? Because I don't think talking to a grave or a zombie would really get me what I'm hoping for there.

But I would 100% want to be the sounding board for a sequel!

#2 if done well

4

4

Definitely 4. I already had 1 happen to me, and in my opinion that didn't work out very well.

With few exceptions my favourite novels wouldn't translate well to video gaming without the emphasis being shifted towards action sequences that I don't care for.
I've spoken with authors and always avoid talking about the direction I'd like them to take their series. Nothing they write can take away the imagined story that exists in my mind and I'm a big fan of leaving people to produce what they want for me to privately judge.
So having them turned into a trilogy of movies or a multi season television series would suit me best. Movies would work better than a TV series for a slight majority of my faves.

Would you rather:

1. Only be able to read the FIRST 50% of any book for the rest of your life.
2. Only be able to read the LAST 50% of any book for the rest of your life.
3. Only have access to books in a complicated language you don't understand (but the full 100%).
4. Can only listen to audio books (full book) but read by the worst narrator ever (whatever that means to you).

now I'm having nightmare!!!

however, I'll go with three and sign myself up for language lessons and use the auto translate option on Kindles/Fires for the more complex phrases

Ewww! I'm not picking any of these because they are horrendous choices, Phillip!!

Arrgh! Those are horrible choices! But I think I'm with CBR: No. 3 for me, I'd manage.

Phillip wrote: "Would you rather have your favorite novel:

1. Turned into a trilogy of movies.
2. Made into a multi-season television series.
3. Be converted into a video game.
4. Get to meet the author and have ..."

This is an ALMOST impossible choice... but since the movies/shows are never as good, and I'm all set 100% with #3...

I choose #4!

Phillip wrote: "Would you rather:

1. Only be able to read the FIRST 50% of any book for the rest of your life.
2. Only be able to read the LAST 50% of any book for the rest of your life.
3. Only have access to bo..."

This is a hard one... but I choose #1, because you can fill in the plot holes in series only knowing the first 50% :-) & I'd always invent endings where my favs survived (unless that would be ruined in the first past of the following book.)

Only be allowed to read one chapter a day (of only one book at a time) for the rest of your life, but it is always the most amazing thing you've ever read

or

Read as much as you want (still one book at a time) but you may never DNF anything you start with an equal chance of starting a dud?

I already do the latter...

ditto to Ryan

and I could handle the first as I read The Name of the Wind as i read it six times one summer

hmmmmm. that'd be like 50-60 good books compared to max 20 great books a year. so I guess i gotta go option 2, by the numbers

Definitely option 2 because:

a. I also already do that. I have no DNF skills, so it would be business as usual.

b. If I could only read amazing books, I would miss the fun of commiserating with fellow sufferers of the bad ones. I’d also miss out on gaining familiarity with well-known books that have influenced other works and are frequently referenced in pop culture -- books that might enhance my appreciation of other things but that I might not consider amazing in themselves.

And c. buddy reads / group reads would get a lot more difficult, because we don’t all agree on what’s amazing so we might not be able to participate as much as we'd like.

I'd have to go with Option 2 also.

Not much love for quality over quantity. Interesting.

A Claire North novel often has more than one hundred chapters...

Ryan wrote: "A Claire North novel often has more than one hundred chapters..."

and Sunshine has no chapters

Club no DNFs is popular :) I'm trying to leave it, but so far comfortable sitting at the no DNFs table!

And no, that doesn't mean I don't appreciate quality, it means that sometimes my brain needs stupid fluff so that I can enjoy the good stuff and have something to compare to. If I only had time to read 10 books a year, of course I'd DNF! But I sometimes read three books a day, so they can't all be the best book in the universe.

Anna wrote: "But I sometimes read three books a day..."

Wow. I haven't done that since I was an obsessed (and deeply troubled) teenager.

Would you rather surrender 5 IQ points and be regarded as 20% better looking. Or gain 5 IQ points and be regarded as 20% less good looking?

Assume you are given the option at age 30.

Option 2 for me, Adrian. Looks certainly aren't everything!

Playing the math, I'll take 20% better looking. Five IQ points isn't 20% of my IQ (even a less-than-average intelligence would only be about a 5% IQ hit), so I'm getting a better return on my investment by taking the vain option.

Phillip wrote: "Playing the math, I'll take 20% better looking. Five IQ points isn't 20% of my IQ (even a less-than-average intelligence would only be about a 5% IQ hit), so I'm getting a better return on my inves..."

LOL!

Option 2 for me also.

I wonder what it would feel like...

Assuming cities aren't exploding because nobody's maintaining little things like gas lines and nuclear power plants, would you rather:

Live in a world overwhelmed by zombies (does it matter if they're walkers or sprinters?)

or

One under an alien invasions (with the emphasis on stealing Earth's natural resources)?

I'll take the zombie world. If you read Zombies & Calculus you can see how you can always stay ahead of the zombies and that we can eventually come to an equilibrium. No such math on invading aliens.

I'm going to abstain I think. Or if there's no choice, number two?

I’ll go with the aliens since they’re more interested in our natural resources. Zombies are traditionally interested in brains, and that will have a more immediate impact. Maybe I can hijack an alien spaceship and find a planet with different, friendlier aliens who will come help Earth…

If the zombies just wander around and don’t eat people or consume our resources, then I’d take the zombies. Ignoring mindless creatures is just another day at work. ;)