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read any good books lately... |
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Atavachron 
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 Posted: January 05 2012 at 03:24 |
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tamijo
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Joined: January 06 2009 Location: Denmark Status: Offline Points: 4287 |
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Posted: January 05 2012 at 03:30 |
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Prog is whatevey you want it to be. So dont diss other peoples prog, and they wont diss yours
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ExittheLemming
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Posted: January 05 2012 at 04:57 |
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I beg to differ pear shaped compadre, just because you are a socially awkward nostril explorer (by all accounts) does not by itself undermine your aesthetic judgement. |
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Alitare
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Joined: March 08 2008 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 3595 |
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Posted: January 05 2012 at 13:10 |
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A new Prisoner AFTER the one AMC (or whichever) did in six parts? I loathed that vile piece of work. I was excited, too. I watched all the episodes in a row over two nights and was left less than amused.
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VanderGraafKommandöh
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Joined: July 04 2005 Location: Malaria Status: Offline Points: 89372 |
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Posted: January 05 2012 at 18:08 |
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Not sure. It could have been that series I was referring to. All I know is someone recently remade it.
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Atavachron
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Posted: January 05 2012 at 20:12 |
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TheGazzardian
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Joined: August 11 2009 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 8844 |
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Posted: January 07 2012 at 15:30 |
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I just finished Cryptonomicon last week, it was awesome. I still prefer The Baroque Cycle but will definitely be picking up Anathem in the near future. I love Stephenson, he is definitely one of my favorite authors currently writing.
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SaltyJon
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Posted: January 07 2012 at 15:34 |
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Awesome. I'm looking forward to starting into some Stephenson, once I finish Mona Lisa Overdrive. Snow Crash first for me.
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Apsalar
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Posted: January 07 2012 at 18:46 |
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Reading the complete works of Issac Babel (a collection of his short stories and scripts), might be a while, 'tis a weighty volume. Picked this up upon the a recommendation from Philip Guston (one of his favourite authors). He was a Russian Jew living in Odessa (tho' spent prolonged periods in Europe). In 1940 he was executed for crimes (espionage?) he did not commit, and in consequence was wiped off the maps (by the Russian SS) until 1954 when a revival of his works came about. The translation I have reads nicely, tho' unlike many of the 19th & 20th Century Russian writers he does not have a singular voice easy to pinned down, so I'd be interested to try and find some of the original Russian texts.
Oh, and I accidentally started reading 'Conversations with Stockhausen' this morning after using it as a pillow the past evening. It was text best left for a post-coffee enlightenment period. |
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Alitare
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Posted: January 07 2012 at 19:21 |
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My short stories binge has proven rather successful.
Autofac - Philip K. Dick [7/10] Interesting in that 'good concept, generic characterization' manner that is so befitting of most of Dick's work. Paycheck - Philip K. Dick [8/10] This is what he writes best - entertaining, inventive concepts with simple characters that are fleshed out just enough for you to care, but not enough to cut in on all the mental fun. The Jar - Ray Bradbury [8/10] Strange and creepy, with enough mystery and old-time folklore to appeal to me. Kind of like a good lost Twilight Zone episode 2BR02B - Kurt Vonnegut [8/10] Another tale involving population control and overcrowding, which makes this his fourth or fifth story regarding that particular subject. It's still great, though. More proof that Vonnegut was a short story man at heart. I Have no Mouth, and I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison [10/10] Brutal, depressing, to-the-point, and conceptually enthralling. My cup of apocalyptic tea, really. It rarely gets better than this. It's the story that brought me back into the short story realm. 'Repent, Harlequin', Said the Ticktock Man - Harlan Ellison [7/10] Perhaps the ending is too anticlimactic (not to mention blatantly derivative), but it still makes for a fun read. A Sound of Thunder - Ray Bradbury [9/10] The archetypical excellent short sf story - great flow and extremely influential. Bradbury, another fellow I feel was better suited to short stories The Lake - Ray Bradbury [5/10] It's got a fluidity to it that's instantly appreciable, but not instantly enjoyable. It's rather...empty, if you do't mind me saying. It was well-written, poorly conceived, and at that point execution is inconsequential. The Tower of Babylon - Ted Chiang [8.5/10] I have a difficult time deciding on how I feel about Chiang's output, exactly. On the one hand, Life Cycle is brilliant, on the other hand it's meandering. This story is, too, but it's too brilliant to let the flaws cause it to be forgotten. Interesting rendition of an old biblical story. Here there be Tygers - Ray Bradbury [9/10] Another real class winner, with Tygers - it's moving, short, comforting, and tinged with a little darkness - a whole world of ideas in but a few pages. Unaccompanied Sonata - Orson Scott Card [9/10] Brilliant, if anything. It makes you think it will be a dreadful world you're supposed to hate then completely turns the short fiction dystopia on its head by being sincerely sweet and endearing. I'd love any recommendations that you folks would be willing to offer.
Edited by Alitare - January 07 2012 at 19:29 |
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Snow Dog
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Posted: January 07 2012 at 19:34 |
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^Orson Scott Card is a great writer and that is a great story.
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VanderGraafKommandöh
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 02:57 |
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As I mentioned previously, you should check out Jeffrey Ford. Do not dismiss him if you find one of his short-stories unsatisfactory as all his work is varied but interesting.
In regards to Vonnegut, I still feel his novels are superior to his short fiction. I love both though. I have 2BR02B on my 'phone as an eBook. I'll try and read that one soon. |
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Alitare
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:10 |
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^I plan on it. I don't dismiss Vonnegut's novels - SH5 and Sirens of Titan were excellent, but Cat's Cradle seemed ''lost before it had begun', and what little I've read of Player Piano frightens me.
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VanderGraafKommandöh
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:27 |
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Player Piano was his debut novel and I believe (as I've not read it yet) that is wasn't like his later work and pretty much his own re-writing of Nineteen Eighty-Four. I believe he even says this himself.
Cat's Cradle was not as good as Slaughterhouse-5 or Sirens of Titan, I completely agree. I did not get into it as much. Having said that, I actually found Breakfast of Champions the least satisfying. Mostly because there really is not much of a story going on and it's the first of Vonnegut's work I've read with his drawings in them, The humour is there, most definitely and some of it is perhaps more amusing than some of his others but it's the overall whole that is disappointing. There was a website I found once that listed all of Ford's free short fiction that was/is online. I'll try and find it, as it'll mean you'll have to do less searching. Some of it quite short indeed and won't take long to read. This a different site to the one I found before, so I'm not sure how complete it is but it's a starting place. http://www.freesfonline.de/authors/Jeffrey_Ford.html Edited by James - January 08 2012 at 06:29 |
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tupan
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:32 |
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A Plague of Butterflies is a masterpiece. |
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"Prog is Not Dead and never has been." (Will Sergeant, from Echo And The Bunnymen)
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tupan
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:33 |
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Read Slaughterhouse Five. |
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"Prog is Not Dead and never has been." (Will Sergeant, from Echo And The Bunnymen)
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Ricochet
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:35 |
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Again, perhaps.  |
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tupan
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:40 |
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^ops, sorry, I didn't see the acronym...
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"Prog is Not Dead and never has been." (Will Sergeant, from Echo And The Bunnymen)
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tupan
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 06:45 |
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Short stories recommendations: A Plague of Butterflies, by Orson Scott Card. The Electric Ant, by Philip K. Dick In The Walls of Eryx, by Lovecraft The Mist, by Stephen King The Terror, by Arthur Machen (Arthur Machen is an overlloked and escellent writer) Netherscurial, by Thomas Ligotti and please, read anything by Neil Gaiman. |
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"Prog is Not Dead and never has been." (Will Sergeant, from Echo And The Bunnymen)
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Alitare
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Joined: March 08 2008 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 3595 |
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Posted: January 08 2012 at 07:07 |
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^Thanks. I've been wanting to get into Gaiman for a long time. I have a copy of American Gods, but it's so dilapidated that I feel bad for trying to read it (curse those damn free book bargain bins!...sometimes)
Any Philip Dick recommendation is a friend o' mine. I got all his stories in a five part collection, so I'll be getting to it. Absolutely appreciate the links, James. I'd been searching for his material and only came across a novella. Hmm, apparently The Empires of Ice Cream isn't free, which is the one you made me most anticipate. But others are. I'll check them out.
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ExittheLemming wrote:
