Read a good book lately?

[HenryDorsetCase]

They did far better than Star Trek with its 2-second full stops from Warp 8 and spaceships that coast to a stop when the engines stop working...

Yes but for all its faults, Star Trek has Captain James T Kirk, and Mr Spock, and Uhura etc.... so thats OK.

I must look out for Babylon 5 now I have access to stuffs on the interwebs. Ive never seen it on TV. (and Walter Koenig was in it)

To digress even further, I really love Joss Whedon's Firefly and Serenity. What Star Wars should have been... and I blame George Lucas personally for killing the franchise stone dead. Fuck him!

[Wolf]

Sorry, a bit

Yes but for all its faults, Star Trek has Captain James T Kirk, and Mr Spock, and Uhura etc.... so thats OK.

Lt Cmdr Susan Ivanova. 'nuff said.

Oh, and then there're aliens that don't merely look like humans with a bit of silly-putty on their noses, Pulsed Plasma weapons, Star Furies and Daffy Duck. (Seriously)

I must look out for Babylon 5 now I have access to stuffs on the interwebs. Ive never seen it on TV. (and Walter Koenig was in it)

Ah, Bester. Proof that Star Trek never used Mr Koenig to his full capacity. Brilliant characterisation and acting.

Be warned, you have to watch B5 from "The Gathering" (Pilot) to its end in sequence or you'll never "get it".

There are (at grave risk of actually being on topic) some excellent books that are deemed part of the canon (as opposed to the usual drek written by various authors to cash in on the success of major movies/series) including a trilogy by J. Gregory Keyes that follows Bester's life. Best to read it after you've watched the series though as it contains serious "spoilers". Well written, delves into his character and finally answers a few questions that the series never did (and it's deemed canonical by JMS).

Also recommend the "Legions of Fire" trilogy by Peter David (what really happened on Centauri Prime) and "To Dream in the City of Sorrows" by Kathryn M. Drennan (which ties up a lot of loose ends in the series and explains/reveals a lot)

Edit:

Read them all and thoroughly enjoyed them. Well written and entertaining, all of them. Each of the authors does a great job of getting into the minds of the characters and the events/situations that test and shape them.

[Wolf]

Any of you heard of or read "Raven" by S A Swiniarski?

I found it in the cheap-bin at a book store and figured that if it sucked I'd probably get more than I paid for it at the second hand shop.

Turned out to be one of the best modern Vampire yarns I've ever read.

Basic premise is a bloke wakes up freezing in a culvert showing signs of a fight with very little memory. Comes to realise he's an ex-cop turned PI, his wife has been hideously murdered and he also finds he now has a disturbing appetite and an aversion to daylight...

The vampire aspect is well handled - a human doctor who helps the vampires is convinced it's some kind of transmissible virus that altered the body to regenerate it but it requires fresh blood to function. But one of the other vampires says something along the lines of "all very well and good, but his theories don't explain the other things you can feel and sense". So you're left making up your own mind about the nature of vampires.

His investigations - into what has happened to him, who killed his wife, who is vanishing young people (which he was investigating before his wife was killed and he was left for dead in a culvert) and where his daughter is - take him into the pagan community of the city and Swiniarski writes pagans as they really are with no retarded Hollyweird crap. They're Average Joes with non-standerd beliefs, no supernatural powers (there was a Tarot reading done that seemed on the mark but we all have our theories about that, right?) and no fucking idea that some of those in their midst are vampires.

Surprisingly good book, excellent read. Swiniarski seems to be a bit of a One Hit Wonder - unfortunately, as I'd love to read a sequel.

I really enjoyed Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series about how Death, War, Fate, Time, Gaia - and even Satan and God - are "offices" held by humans who are bestowed with the special powers that go with that office. There are various mechanisms whereby humans are inducted into the offices (the new Death takes the office by killing his predecessor).

Excellent stories but not for closed-minded people.

Anthony's Death (Zane) is my second favourite version of Death I've ever read. (No prizes for guessing who's Death is my #1 favourite).

Really enjoyed John Varley's Titan/Wizard/Demon trilogy about an space exploration team that encounters a strange sentient artifact that calls itself "Gaea" and seems to have watched way too many Earth movies and has the genetic engineering capacity to manufacture mythical creatures.

Sirocco Jones is right up there with Louis, Nessus, Speaker and Bey Schaeffer, IMO.

[HenryDorsetCase]

If we're confessing to guilty pleasures, I have read all four of Kim Harrisons vampire books starting with Dead Witch Walking. They're OK actualy (though appalling typesetting and editing errors abound in the paperback I have....) They arent generally my sort of reading at all but Ive enjoyed them.

Ive also enjoyed all of Anthony Bourdain's books: Kitchen Confidential, The Nasty Bits and A Cooks Tour. Bourdain is all over one of the sky channels apparently with TV: He is in his 50's, worked as a chef in New York for a number of years, and has a fantastic funny and jaded view of the world. Also his favourite band is the Ramones..... I like his books a lot.

Similar vein is Heat by Bill Burford: average joe wants to learn to cook like a professional chef.... really good, and really well told.

Kevin Cameron (technical editor of Cycle World magazine) has a book out of his collected writings (check the Cycleworld website). I am getting that next.

[Curious_AJ]

I've just finished "Jessica" by Bryce Courtney It was so sad at the end.... Can't say too much as Doug hasn't read it yet. When he's finished "The Potato Factory" (same author) I'll read it In the meantime I'll read "Harry Potter's Last book to keep me going

sounds like a brilliant idea to me... I'm reading The Deathly Hallows... it's the best by far i think.. the last book wasnt THAT good... but then I did have it spoilt for me before I got to the end

[Winston001]

An author I can thoroughly recommend is Richard Preston. "The Hot Zone" is a true story about viruses and potential breakout from USAMRID.

"The Cobra Event" is an excellent thriller about viruses. Scary stuff and educational.

[Winston001]

I'm also a total fan of Larry Niven and have many of his books. Some of his collaborations with Gerry Pournelle work, others aren't quite so strong but always readable.

I recommend "Legacy of Heorot" and "Inferno" (which is sometimes overlooked) which is a retelling of Dante's Inferno. Both books are apart from the Known Space Universe.

I also enjoyed the first 4 books of the Man-Kzin Wars - great fun.

[Wolf]

I'm also a total fan of Larry Niven and have many of his books. Some of his collaborations with Gerry Pournelle work, others aren't quite so strong but always readable.

I recommend "Legacy of Heorot" and "Inferno" (which is sometimes overlooked) which is a retelling of Dante's Inferno. Both books are apart from the Known Space Universe.

I gather you've read Integral Trees and Smoke Ring? Some serious science at work in those to figure out how such an environment could plausibly exist and what living in it (and adapting to it, in the case of the humans) would entail.

Legacy of Heorot was brilliant. Haven't read any of its sequels yet. Inferno was an excellent retelling - love the bit how the mega-industrialists and the greenies were both in the Circle of the Wasters... Wish they'd carried on and redone Purgatorio and Paradiso. Or were they worried they'd drop dead on completing the third one?

In the non-fiction areas, I heartily recommend Lois on The Loose by Lois Pryce - riding her XT225 from Alaska to the bottom of South America. Delightfully and humorously written and a gripping read. Far easier going than Ted Simon's Jupiter's Travels.

Currently reading Race to Dakar by Charlie Boorman. Have the Silk Riders - In the Footsteps of Marco Polo and The Last Hurrah - Beijing to Arnhem to get through as well.

[Ocean1]

Legacy of Heorot was brilliant. Haven't read any of its sequels yet.

Worth doing so, in spite of some minor unnecessary character stuffing they're as good, or better.

I'll add Isle of the dead to my previous list, compulsory reading for Zelazny fans. He also fabricated The mask of Loki with Thomas T Thomas. A typical Zelazny blend of mythology, mysticism, science and awe. One of his last full novels and possibly my favourite. Pity it seems to have disappeared from my shelves...

I liked Jane Jensen's Dante's Equasion

And one completely off the wall: Robert Holdstock's The Fetch, very much avant guard and just creepy as hell.

[Winston001]

I gather you've read Integral Trees and Smoke Ring? Some serious science at work in those to figure out how such an environment could plausibly exist and what living in it (and adapting to it, in the case of the humans) would entail.

Legacy of Heorot was brilliant. Haven't read any of its sequels yet

Beowulfs Children (sequel) is good as Ocean says.

Really liked the Integral Trees environment although once you'd left the tree survival seemed a bit hit and miss. Gravity does have it's benefits.

One other favourite SF writer whom I haven't read for years is Stanislaw Lem. I always found his books fascinating. Alas our local library has none of his books now.

[JimO]

angelas ashes is a good read

[Wolf]

One other favourite SF writer whom I haven't read for years is Stanislaw Lem.

And those who don't like Stanislaw Lem need a good "shellacking".

Beowulf's Children is on my must own and must read list - I intend on owning every Niven Book ever written.

Kids destroyed my copy of "The Magic Goes Away" so I need a new copy of that as well.

Any of you SF fiends read "Dragon's Egg" by Robert L Forward? He makes Niven and Pournelle look like an easy read.

Very good story and you run the risk of learning a bit of science in the process.

[Street Gerbil]

Wow, Lem is known and appreciated in this part of the globe? People who love Lem should really try reading Roadside Picnic (Careful, link contains spoilers!!!) and The Hexer series by Sapkowsky which at the moment, unfortunately are only available in rogue translations, but enjoyable nevertheless. Oh, did I mention that Goodkind's Phantom is out and it has *wink*wink* already leaked to the internet?

---- EDITED:
I was thinking about The Confessor and alas it is not due for another month.

[kelleyb]

For the music fan I would recommend I'll Sleep When I'm Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon by Crystal Zevon.

Very good read and interestingly put together as a series of anectodes from the people who knew The Excitable Boy the best.

[Bren]

My wife does enough reading for both of us. She is a Childrens librarian and is always reading books...mainly young adult fiction. The scary thing is that she uses her "storytime" voice at times when we are doing interesting things in the bedroom (and I am not talking about reading)
Anyway, guess ya could say she is a stereotypical librarian...eg glasses, sometimes has her hair tied up etc...seems sweet, but has a wild streak too

I dont read much myself, but when I do its usually sci fi/fantasy...