what's your favourite fantasy/scifi book?

[TheDon]

That's some interesting shi.

[schuss]

If I'm remembering correctly, splinter of the minds eye is basically Han Solo on Acid.

[dookeyXXX]

If I'm remembering correctly, splinter of the minds eye is basically Han Solo on Acid.

methinks you are either remembering some other book or having an acid flashback of your own...



From Wikipedia entry on Splinter of the Mind's Eye: "The principal characters are Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, C-3PO, R2-D2, and Darth Vader. The characters of Han Solo and Chewbacca do not appear, and Solo is only referred to by Luke Skywalker as "a pirate and a smuggler" he once knew at the end of the book. The book was originally written to be filmed as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the original film was not a success."

From what I remember of the book is that it was basically Luke and Leia squaring off against Vader. And from re-reading the entry on Wikipedia methinks it might have made a pretty decent movie (albeit Empire Strikes Back was easily the best of the SW sagas and not ironically, the only one not written by Lucas...).

[Tippster]

...(albeit Empire Strikes Back was easily the best of the SW sagas and not ironically, the only one not written by Lucas...).

Actually Lawrence Kasdan also wrote the screenplay for Return of the Jedi. I think it's interesting that the the screenplay for darkest film of the series (ESB) was co-written by a woman - Leigh Brackett - and that neither V or VI were directed by Lucas.

[klar]

Bump. Looking through this thread again because I'm trying to decide on something to get for a long flight.

Best (as in most entertaining) fantasy I've read in quite a while was Patrick Rothfuss Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear, as per someones reccomendation in this thread. Good story and just really well written. Great page turners if you want to pass a few hours. Now waiting for book 3. If you like Game of Thrones you would almost certainly like this.

Also picked up the first Belgariad (is it Belgarion?) book, ok but not so great that I felt like I had to read the rest.

Liked the Mistborn books, finished the series although the first book was the best, imo.

Read and enjoyed three of the Foundation books. Not my first choice for true escapism but interesting.

[whyturn]

Tough call dune, the hobbit and lord fouls bane

[detrusor]

Enders game, second and third books blew though.

[up an down]

Bump. Looking through this thread again because I'm trying to decide on something to get for a long flight.

Best (as in most entertaining) fantasy I've read in quite a while was Patrick Rothfuss Name of the Wind and Wise Man's Fear, as per someones reccomendation in this thread. Good story and just really well written. Great page turners if you want to pass a few hours. Now waiting for book 3. If you like Game of Thrones you would almost certainly like this.

Also picked up the first Belgariad (is it Belgarion?) book, ok but not so great that I felt like I had to read the rest.

Liked the Mistborn books, finished the series although the first book was the best, imo.

Read and enjoyed three of the Foundation books. Not my first choice for true escapism but interesting.

Gene wolfes shadow of the torturer series.. john c. wrights golden age series.. i am also a sucker for jack vance.. emphyrio is my fave but he wrote many very good ones.. and for newish novels i love jasper ffordes thursday next series and lev grossmans magicians and the sequal the magician king

[Buster Highmen]

You've already read "The City of Dreaming Books" and "Rumo" then?
Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast series?
Rendezvous With Rama?

[klar]

Thanks for the continued suggestions everyone. YAY BOOKS.

Buster: yes, I read Die Stadt der träumenden Bücher and Rumo, Gormenghast is on the list, will check out the other one.

[Buster Highmen]

I just finished a rereading of Rumo. Friftar, Gornab's advisor, reminds me of Steerpike in Gormenghast.


Cabell too: 'Figures Of Earth', 'The Silver Stallion', 'The High Place', 'Jurgen', 'The Cream of the Jest'.

[mobygrape]

Just finished Wool and Shift. Two good sci-fi books, not sure if they were mentioned.

Third one in the series comes out next week!

[Sullywhacker]

For some very good hard-core sci-fi, try Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (first book of a three-spot >> #2 is solid but 1 and 3 are beyond the pale . . .).

[el hefe]

^^ My new favourite author. Pushing Ice is super good by him as well.

[Grange]

Anyone catch the Wheel of Time pilot on FXX this week? If you didn't you didn't miss anything. It was horrible.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/9/800...time-pilot-fxx

[TheDon]

Anyone catch the Wheel of Time pilot on FXX this week? If you didn't you didn't miss anything. It was horrible.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/2/9/800...time-pilot-fxx

Intriguing, I have a bunch of friends that would be interested to see this. Thanks

[summit]

The Deconstructed Man by Alfred Bester is extremely good

Also I need to read The Stars My Destination by Bester

[bodywhomper]

Rad thread. I've been on a big China miéville kick lately.

[doughboyshredder]

Re: Wool, Hugh Howey is one of my new favorites. The Wool series was outstanding, Sand was great also, and for something different, the Shell Collector was pretty cool.

I should add The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August here, because it really was incredible.

[nogophers]

The Martian was a fun read. A bit technical in the first few dozen pages, then it got fun.

Could use some good time travel recommendations, other than the obvious classics.

[kelly888]

"The High Place" is a favorite although I am more into the writings of Max Lucado and Paulo Coelho.

[NoPostholio]

Seveneves - Neal Stephenson

And another recommendation for hugh wooley and the silo series that starts with the book wool

[Brianskis]

Surprised there is no mention of "Brave New World" or "Island" by Aldous Huxley. It also took how many pages for the name Vonnegut to appear?

[Tippster]

... I started reading the Wheel of Time series based on a recommendation. It's too early to know if I'm going to like the series since I'm still on the first book, but so far it's pretty damn good. The author goes into a lot of detail, but so far the storyline is making it bearable.

You have no idea what kind of slog you have ahead of you.

Was I right? Holy shit that series took forever. Not sure I liked the last 2 books either, but hey, at least they ended it.

[Mustonen]

Seveneves - Neal Stephenson

The first 2 parts were great. Gripping. Perfect ending at the end of part 2. Top shelf.

Part 3 was fucking lame, though. Read like mediocre fan fiction.