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Yeah I recognized the name and author and had to google it to even see wtf. agreed they were obviously forgettable.
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The Sci-Fi Book Thread
- Thread starter Intrinsic
- Start date
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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Haldeman was a good author in his early years. If you want good novels from him:
- Mindbridge (1976), a sci-fi first-contact novel with massive twists (including the FTL travel mechanics)
- Tools of the Trade (1987), a sci-fi spy novel (KGB mole finds out mind-control tech, shenanigans ensue)
- Camouflage (2004), which I can't describe without spoiling (the ending is a bit flat, and calls for a sequel that never happened)
The rest pales in comparison. Old Twentieth might be tolerable, Marsbound okay (if you ignore completely the sequels).
Mist
Eeyore Enthusiast
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Re-reading Anathem right now. So fucking good.
Seveneves I eventually came around on the last part. By the end, I liked it. The climax itself is still real stupid though.
"You mean the fate of all life in the solar system really is going to come down to 7 bitchy women's views on eugenics/epigenetics and the title was literal the whole time?"
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Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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I totally absorbed Seveneves right up to that ending. Then I was Got S8 levels of dissapoint.
I own the book but I've yet to read it (my parents took all my books when I moved out and buried them in their garage). But I love the premise, and it's inspired me to write a similar story, about a group of scholars, mathematicians and theologians etc. who live in a walled in fortress after an apocalypse and guard what remains of humanities knowledge. They one day receive a signal from an extraterrestial race who offer them a major ultimatum.
Goatface
Avatar of War Slayer
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reading book 4 of Bobiverse, got a question about cloning and restoring
been wondering this for a while, why don't bobs just restore multiple copies from the same backup instead of making a clone of a clone of a clone......
if bob makes a clone would it still be gen 1/2?
if bob makes a clone would it still be gen 1/2?
Ukerric
Bearded Ape
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If you're reading book 4, you do have an answer to that. I think it comes mid-book.
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I own Anathem. It's buried in my parents garage and it's definitely my next up when I make time for a fiction book.
Also, Blindsight by Peter Watts is going to be right after that. Great concept for a sci-fi book too.
Void
Experiencer
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Jesus, you just triggered me out of nowhere! I had forgotten all about Blindsight until you reminded me. I'll let my own words from 2013 explain.
That was being kind. Years later I described it as one of the worst books I've ever read. Not saying others can't/won't like it, but it definitely requires very specific tastes I think. If you do read it, I'm interested to hear what you think of it.
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Apparently there is a book announcement tomorrow from James S.A. Corey. The two authors will be doing some stream event on whatever this is at 1PM ET.
www.crowdcast.io
New from James S.A. Corey: Title + Cover Reveal
Register now for New from James S.A. Corey: Title + Cover Reveal on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on November 9, 2023, 01:00 PM EST.
www.crowdcast.io
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Kithani
Blackwing Lair Raider
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Amos spin-offApparently there is a book announcement tomorrow from James S.A. Corey. The two authors will be doing some stream event on whatever this is at 1PM ET.
New from James S.A. Corey: Title + Cover Reveal
Register now for New from James S.A. Corey: Title + Cover Reveal on crowdcast, scheduled to go live on November 9, 2023, 01:00 PM EST.
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Blindsight certainly isn't a fun book ( it is pretty damn depressing), nor is it an easy read. No shame in not liking it.
That said I found it very thought provoking in a way that's surprisingly relevant to the current times - it's main theme is an exploration of what intelligence means and how the popular humanistic concept of self-awareness being a distinguishing requirement is not necessarily the case.
The questions around whether something that has no self-awareness and no concept of symbolic references could actually be intelligent seems startlingly familiar in the current debates about large language models and image generation.
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Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
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Idea came from the Book of Daniel from Old Testament as a science fiction story.
It is Space Opera. Expanse was more tied to / grounded with Earth history. This is more disconnected and independent, but still has humans. And aliens.
August 6th, 2024 publish date.
Trilogy.
It is Space Opera. Expanse was more tied to / grounded with Earth history. This is more disconnected and independent, but still has humans. And aliens.
August 6th, 2024 publish date.
Trilogy.
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Isn't that exactly what they do when they clone more than one at once (I know they did 2-3 at a time in the first and second books?) and they still turn out different?
Haven't found any mention of this series via the search function. Best sci-fi I've ever read and is currently my favorite series of all time.
"It was not his war.
The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders.
But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier.
On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world.
Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand."
"It was not his war.
The galaxy remembers him as a hero: the man who burned every last alien Cielcin from the sky. They remember him as a monster: the devil who destroyed a sun, casually annihilating four billion human lives—even the Emperor himself—against Imperial orders.
But Hadrian was not a hero. He was not a monster. He was not even a soldier.
On the wrong planet, at the right time, for the best reasons, Hadrian Marlowe starts down a path that can only end in fire. He flees his father and a future as a torturer only to be left stranded on a strange, backwater world.
Forced to fight as a gladiator and navigate the intrigues of a foreign planetary court, Hadrian must fight a war he did not start, for an Empire he does not love, against an enemy he will never understand."
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Tuco
I got Tuco'd!
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It's been a while since I read the Bobiverse series but iirc
It's a key part of the "spirituality" or "not yet understood physics" of the series, where they discover that each clone as a soul they can't really quantify. It's a big part of their search to create a planet sized AI or whatever I think. Again it's been a while and the concept of science fiction bringing in spirituality and making it non-spiritual is somewhat common in sci fi
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