SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I've read "Hyperion" for the first time about a year ago and it is hands down among the very best SF I've ever read, timeless.

isn't there a thread about Hyperion?

No there isn't. Apparently barely anyone has even talked about Hyperion in this group which is not good.

I had to go check and yes, there was one:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

from way back in 2011 and there wasn't much discussion

Hyperion old?!? I suppose anything written before you were born or even an adult might be considered old. But for me, truly old is anything written before 1965 (several years before I was born, but not much). The feel is much different in those books that were written before the sexual revolution (USA). So, 1990, when Hyperion was published seems positively modern.

That said, I agree with everyone, despite having been written basically before the Internet was a widespread thing, that Hyperion is one of the most mind-blowing books I’ve ever read. Just a heads up: be prepared to read the next book in the series, the Fall of Hyperion, immediately after Hyperion. They are basically one story in 2 volumes.

30 years ago, isn't that old? It's definitely old for me, what I meant was that for someone like me who has read only the newer sci-fi books for example Dark Matter, Sleeping Giants, Recursion etc. it'd be difficult to read a 3 decade old book, I might be unable to adjust to it's writing, I might get bored. But so far I have only heard positive feedback for Hyperion so I will definitely try reading it & see if it's interesting & engaging.

Uh, 30 years old is only old if you are under thirty. But the general style of writing was not that different “back then” to what it is now and of course styles vary wildly from author to author. I’d say that generational writing styles don’t really diverge so much from modern day until you get older than about 1950/WWII. That’s separate to any technological advance or tech that is no longer in use that is or isn’t present. The biggest noticeable thing for me is that virtually no pre-1980’s author seems to have conceived of the digital era. So that you still get phone booths and tape/tapes in 2247 or something alongside space travel. It’s astounding. But if you can put that to one side, usually the stories are not that different to today’s.

Recently Completed
Books 1-4 of "Parno Series" by
N.C. Reed and while I hesitate to call them "books for Men" I guess anyone that enjoys PostPostApocalypse novels where the ancestors have risen to the iron age, spend most of their time fighting and trying to out flank each other; might enjoy these books, I did.

"My Vanishing Country" by Bakari Sellers a nonfiction memoir about a South Carolina Politician/Attorney/Political commentator.
Lots of information and insights e.g. Did you know? That actor Samuel L. Jackson was an Usher at Martin Luther King Jr's funeral because I sure did not. Or that South Carolina produces more peaches than Georgia.

Mystic wrote: "30 years ago, isn't that old? It's definitely old for me, what I meant was that for someone like me who has read only the newer sci-fi books for example Dark Matter, Sleeping Giants, Recursion etc...."

Books written only 30 years ago are lining the shelves of your local library. There's really no difference between those and books written today. I've read books from the 1960's to the present day and they're available in the library system. My favorite author is Philip K Dick, who wrote between 1950 and 1983. And you can still get a thrill reading The Time Machine written in the 1890's. Many of my favorite books range from the 20th century to the present.

Try to be more open-minded about the age of books; they really might surprise you.

I recently read A Court of Thorns and Roses dnf'd A Court of Mist and Fury and am now on the third book of the Shades of Magic trilogy. The book is good but I'm kinda in a reading slump right now.

What kind of slump, Torvi? Not loving the books? No time for books? Or just reading in general isn't gripping you?

Mystic, I have yet to read Hyperion but I'm told it holds up pretty well! I hope you have fun with it. For me sometimes some of the fun in reading books from different decades is the differences--we did a project last year where folks tried to read through different decades and then discuss trends we saw :)

I started Mutineers' Moon a few days ago. Now, I'm not a smart guy by no means, and after 30 pages when the computer Dahak is talking to the main character, explaining things in technical terms, I could not follow it if I attempted to grab a great cup of coffee being knocked off the table before it hit the floor.

However, after checking out a couple of reviews (reading a snippet of a spoiler), it helped me understand what exactly the computer was saying. Pretty bad, I know. But, like I said, I'm not a smart guy.

Since then, this character-driven story has taken off nicely!

I love reading. I loved the first and second book but I kinda don't want to finish the book because l don't know if the things I'm hoping will be resolved will be resolved.

Ahh being scared of a let down is an awful feeling. I hope you get to enjoy it and it works out for you, Torvi!

Brick, good for you for pushing through and finding the good part of the story. Sometimes patience pays off, which is a lesson I somewhat refuse to learn haha

I'm just starting Lost Boy by Christina Henry and hoping it's as good as Alice was! I do have a weakness for re-tellings and I like how dark her writing is.

Allison wrote: "Ahh being scared of a let down is an awful feeling. I hope you get to enjoy it and it works out for you, Torvi!

Brick, good for you for pushing through and finding the good part of the story. Some..."

Thanks, Allison! Sometimes you definitley need patience to get sift through the beginning of a tale before it takes off.

Another thing that I learned while reading "My Vanishing Country"
by Bakari Sellers is that he is a miracle whip person and hates mayonnaise I never never trust miracle whip people.

Just finished Slaughterhouse. Struggling with Cloud Atlas. Taking lots of breaks for memoirs and historical fiction in between. Then on to Annihilation series (loved the movie, can’t wait to start the series!)

LOL Don! My threatmeter goes off when I find people who bite string cheese.

David Mitchell is a whole experience, Lauren, and the rides are never short! I hope it's worth your time in the end :) But leaving something for a more promising book is also totally valid!

YES! anyone who'd bite string cheese rather than unstring it needs watching.

As a person who devours their string cheese in whichever way is most amusing and convenient at the time....

I do so enjoy making people uncomfortable by biting it.

Don wrote: "YES! anyone who'd bite string cheese rather than unstring it needs watching."

Gosh. I didn't even know that it could be unstrung. I mostly get it so that my wife has a "high value" treat for our dog. He can't be bothered. Plus there's that whole lack of opposable thumbs thing.

demons! Haha

Raucous, string cheese is an even higher value treat when properly unstrung... that is a fine idea for a dog treat, though when I'm going to be around dogs I generally carry bacon which always goes over well.

I just read the first Murderbot novella. Essentially a short story. Short on a lot of things, but still a fun read. Other opinions? (I don't eat string cheese. Prefer a fancy tub of brie or something else complex and savory. Give me some crackers and fig spread to go with it, please.)

Cecile wrote: "I just read the first Murderbot novella. Essentially a short story. Short on a lot of things, but still a fun read. Other opinions? (I don't eat string cheese. Prefer a fancy tub of brie or somethi..."

I prefer a pepper brie myself

and I'm getting into Midnight Tides which has two of my favorite characters Bugg & Shurq

Still currently reading Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. I'm sure that I'll finish it at some point in the nearish future.

String cheese eh....yeah string cheese and it's other mass produced cheese friends have their place and I do enjoy them but give me a good cheddar or a gouda or maybe a Double Gloucester. I'm not a fan of the soft cheeses like brie and camembert even though the local faux Italian place (reckons it is but is it really) does do a very nice baked brie as does the local pub even though I'd rather have their pork belly chunks as a starter. My dog enjoys whatever cheese you give him. He really loves his cheese. And peanuts.

Currently I am reading Scourge. I like it so far. However I do feel the writing could have been tightened up by 100 pages or so with less repetition and exposition.

I just learned that Brandon Sanderson released his first version of "The Way of Kings" as a free download (can't link cause I'm still on the app). 800 pages and apparently a whole different story. Now I'm itching to read it on the spot, but I'm still in the middle of this group's read "Servant of the Underworld" and another group's read "Pride of Chanur" ... do I show discipline or do I just push everything aside? Tough one ...

Currently reading All Systems Red ,Never Let Me Go & Saga, Vol. 2 for this special week!

-All Systems Red has a strong start let's see if it's able to stay like that.
-I think I'm gonna cry after a few more chapters of Never Let Me Go.
-Saga is incredible, you're really missing out on a lot if you haven't read it yet.

Cheese people please continue in one of the food threads!

Mystic, all of those are excellent!

I just started The Philosopher Kings as I'd enjoyed our group read of The Just City and had been meaning to read more of the series.

I just read the "Comache" is a Ute
word for "Someone who wants to fight me all the time". The Comanche self name is "Nermernah".

Allison wrote: "LOL Don! My threatmeter goes off when I find people who bite string cheese...."

That's why I just buy my cheese in those spray containers and spray it directly into my mouth. It's much easier that way.

I finished two collections by Charles Beaumont, one of the writers behind the scenes of the original Twilight Zone TV series:


Perchance to Dream by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...


The Howling Man by Charles Beaumont
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

And I started reading another Beaumont collection (there is a lot of overlap between his collections, so I have already read many of the stories):


The Hunger: And Other Stories by Charles Beaumont

Currently reading:

The Worst Is Yet to Come. I am almost halfway though this and honestly still don't know how I feel about it. It's a Bram Stoker nominee, but so far it just feels flat. It's short enough that I'll finish it though, so hopefully it really picks up in the second half.

Red Sister. Just, wow. Only a couple hours in to the audio, but I am pretty certain that I will love this book. Which is probably good since I already own the next two on Audible. My only minor complaint is that sometimes the accents the narrator does make it hard to hear so I have to crank up my audio.

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre. So far this isn't quite up to the level of World War Z, but it is a ton of fun anyways. I'm just a big fan of epistolary novels in general.

I loved Twilight Zone as a kid. Basically SF short stories often with a clever twist -- I still recall a bunch of my favorites! I read a collection of stories that inspired the episodes back in the '80's, but I don't see it on Goodreads so it's likely out of print (I know it had the Howling Man as one of them). If you like this kind of thing I also enjoyed some of Roald Dahl's short stories such as Man from the South which was on a competing program, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Some favorite episodes:

Original Series --

"To Serve Man"
"Time Enough at Last" (often think about this with my TBR)
"It's a Good Life"

1985 series -- (which was when I was watching them not in rerun)
"The Shadow Man"
"The Misfortune Cookie" (great title)
"Dead Run"
"Button, Button" (this was adapted to a film in the 2000's)
"Shadow Play" - written by Beaumont

I really enjoyed Peace Talks. So much so that I finished it in less than 2 days and wrote a review while I was at it (I haven't written a review in about 5 months or so).

It's hard to believe it's been 6 years since the Dresden book. No spoilers as it's book 16 in the series, but is has the usual Harry snark and fast-paced action sequences that made me fall in love with this series while building on the plot arc in a way that has me glad Battle Ground comes out in October.

★★★★★ - My Review

Just starting The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas.

Aerosol Cheese does have its fans.

Currently reading
Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan
and
The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson
and
PleshaCore by Micah Sisk

CBRetriever wrote: "Finally, finally finished Lammas Night. This was a bit of a slog for me. Too much religion, too much agonizing, and the ending was too much of a downer...."

I enjoyed Lammas Night because I'm a glutton for anything WWII/paranormal related. But yeah, it isn't a happy book. I did like the way they linked it up with the myth of the sacred king.

Thought I'd give Laini Taylor a try. Daughter of Smoke & Bone

Excellent thought Eric.

I just finished reading Mexican Gothic. I wouldn't say it was particularly scary but it sure was disturbing. I think I'll lay off horror for a while.

Just A Reaper at the Gate by Sabaa Tahir. IT MADE ME SO STRESSED! I need it to be next year so I can read it already. 😭Anyone rose an Ember in the Ashes fan?

Christopher wrote: "I loved Twilight Zone as a kid. Basically SF short stories often with a clever twist -- I still recall a bunch of my favorites! I read a collection of stories that inspired the episodes back in the '80's, but I don't see it on Goodreads so it's likely out of print (I know it had the Howling Man as one of them)...."

I wonder if you are thinking of this one?


The Twilight Zone: The Original Stories

Christopher wrote: "..."

Good suggestion. I have The Best of Roald Dahl sitting on a shelf waiting to be read. I've heard good things about his grown-up stuff.

Christopher wrote: "Some favorite episodes:

Original Series --

"Time Enough at Last" (often think about this with my TBR)..."

I like that one too. ;-)

Oh yeah I didn't put two and two together with your photo.

That looks like the book I read! I brought it into my elementary school to read for DEAR time. Thinking back on it sort of an odd choice for an elementary school kid to bring to school! I made a list on graph paper with all the story titles and would highlighter a box next to each one as I read them.

- The Martian Chronicles - This was fun! A bit dated but there were several amazing stories mixed in the batch. Overall dark atmosphere with a thread of hope.

- Dresden Files Re-Read Completed! This time around, I added the two short story collections to my reading pile. I enjoyed them! Brief Cases is the second collection of shorts and one of the best collections I've read in a while. I like the way each story added to the Dresden world or characters.

Peace Talks was good. Excellent beginning that gets a bit bogged down in the middle. I wasn't sure what to expect from this installment but it was more than what I could have asked for and less than what I wish. A part of my expectations have been poofed up by reading Brief Cases. There were great character based stories in there that I want to see more of or unfold in the main series. The other part has to do with the book being part one of a whole book. Can't wait for Battle Ground!

- The Sandman Audible Adaptation was great! Lots of talent in the narration crew and a good audio production. I can't stand it when background music and sound effects are louder than the narration. I hope the audiobook does well and the rest of the series goes into production. Sandman comics is one that I've wanted to finish and haven't for a few reasons. It would be great to get a taste of the series with the adaptations.

An Easy Death was great fun. I really liked the world building - an alternate USA after Franklin Roosevelt is assassinated.

My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...