Another "What next?" thread

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Another "What next?" thread

Postby Andorbal » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:59 am

I'm 80 pages away from being done with SotG and I'm looking for where to go next.

I've got the fourth Halo book and a friend loaned me Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, so I've got some material ready to go. The problem is that I've been tearing through books lately, and I fear that those four books will be done before I know it!

I don't really know anything about Card's other books, which is why I'm asking for recommendations. If it helps, even though I am really enjoying the Shadow series, I think I like the Ender series more than any other books I've read (except maybe Dune).

Thanks!
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Re: Another "What next?" thread

Postby Sibyl » Mon Jan 08, 2007 11:56 am

I'm 80 pages away from being done with SotG and I'm looking for where to go next.

I've got the fourth Halo book and a friend loaned me Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, so I've got some material ready to go. The problem is that I've been tearing through books lately, and I fear that those four books will be done before I know it!

I don't really know anything about Card's other books, which is why I'm asking for recommendations. If it helps, even though I am really enjoying the Shadow series, I think I like the Ender series more than any other books I've read (except maybe Dune).
It really depends on what you like: Card is a versatile writer.

For one thing, your religion (if any) and religious prejudices (yes, we all have them, sometimes unnoticed). For another, your interests. The books you mention above are "hard science" SF, including both forks of Ender.

If you also like Fantasy and/or Alternate History, you'd like Card's Alvin Maker series, set in the American 19th Century, pre-Civil War, which may or may not happen, because there are so many differences already, though still divisions over slavery. And magic works, and people have talents, called "knacks" which some in that world call magic, and others might call ESP. I'd highly recommend "Folk of the Fringe", which is "future history", a post-holocaust America, not a novel but a group of related short stories, but so Mormon that if you have anti-Mormon prejudices or even anti-religious prejudices you might well be turned off by it.

Then there's "Lost Boys", not really SF at all, more of a ghost story, and "serious novel". It's also quite Mormon. I was put off from reading it for a long time, because the cover blurbs made it look like pseudo-StephenKing, (and I _really_ don't like SK, but I bought the paperback because it was the only OSC on the shelf that I hadn't read at that time). I was wrong, and once I did get around to reading it, loved it.

And so it goes.
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Re: Another "What next?" thread

Postby zeroguy » Mon Jan 08, 2007 3:51 pm

For one thing, your religion (if any) and religious prejudices (yes, we all have them, sometimes unnoticed). For another, your interests. The books you mention above are "hard science" SF, including both forks of Ender.
I thought Ender (at least the Speaker series) was soft SF? That's what I've heard... "ships go there" without much explanation....

I would recommend The Worthing Saga, but that only gets you one more book. It's kind of a mix of OSC's scifi and fantasy stuff, so it might intro you a bit into his more fantasy-like writing.

I would also recommend Treason, which others around here also seem to like. I don't really know how to describe it, though... it's very strange, but a good read, I think.
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Postby Andorbal » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:18 pm

Thanks, both of you for your suggestions. I've heard Card is a versatile writer, which is precisely why I asked the question! Ultimately, I'm sure I'll get around to reading most of his stuff because I really do like the way he writes.

As far as religious prejudices, I really don't care what a book has to say about a religion, so long as I'm not beaten over the head with it. And even then, I don't like it because it's tacky that a writer couldn't get a point across without leasing time on a billboard. Unless a book comes out and insults me by name, I haven't found anything yet that's been offensive.

Any other writers you'd recommend? I know so much depends on taste, but if it helps, the books I've read most recently, aside from the Speaker and Shadow series(es?) are:
Starhammer and both Vang books
The Halo trilogy
Dune
Contact
Starship Troopers

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Re: Another "What next?" thread

Postby Sibyl » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:32 pm

For one thing, your religion (if any) and religious prejudices (yes, we all have them, sometimes unnoticed). For another, your interests. The books you mention above are "hard science" SF, including both forks of Ender.
I thought Ender (at least the Speaker series) was soft SF? That's what I've heard... "ships go there" without much explanation....
Nah. None of the plot would be even possible without new and extrapolated science, from the zero-g of The Game ("The Enemy's gate is down"), achieved by being in the center of a wheel space station, the standard gravity at the rim from centrifugal force, to the virus technology of the descolador, both its creators and its solvers, the use of viruses for genetic carriers and modifiers, the computer science that makes Jane possible, the relativistic time distortion that provides many of the complications, and on and on. He doesn't go into great detail on the ship's propulsion, but that's not terribly necessary for it to be "hard science".
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Postby Sibyl » Mon Jan 08, 2007 4:38 pm

Starship Troopers
If you like "Starship Troopers", you'll love anything by Heinlein that you can get your hands on, especially his earlier things. About the only thing that he published that I might disrecommend would be "Job", and that only in some circumstances for some people that I'm not sure you'd fit. But try others first.
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Re: Another "What next?" thread

Postby zeroguy » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:18 pm

I thought Ender (at least the Speaker series) was soft SF? That's what I've heard... "ships go there" without much explanation....
Nah. None of the plot would be even possible without new and extrapolated science, from the zero-g of The Game ("The Enemy's gate is down"), achieved by being in the center of a wheel space station
Well, that was never fully explained (Petra "warned" Ender not to ask too many questions), but the point is well taken, and the rest examples make sense. And I think I'll defer to your greater experience of the genre, anyway.

And for other writers, I would recommend John Steakley's Armor. I'm not a fan of Starship Troopers myself, but I have heard people who like it tend to like Armor, as well.

I'm also not sure of the Dune series you've read. Have you looked at the new sequel to the original series, Hunters of Dune?
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Postby Sibyl » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:25 am

Starship Troopers
If you like "Starship Troopers", you'll love anything by Heinlein that you can get your hands on, especially his earlier things. About the only thing that he published that I might disrecommend would be "Job", and that only in some circumstances for some people that I'm not sure you'd fit. But try others first.
I just thought of Heinlein's "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", in which a computer system "comes to life" or "wakes up". Luna is a penal colony, and the computer is the extremely complex system that runs all the life support there, and everything else. When I first ran into Jane, she reminded me of Mike (named for Mycroft Holmes, Sherlock's genius brother who did nothing much but sit and think). If you have a choice of Heinlein available, that would be a good one for you.
It is better to keep silent and be thought a fool, than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.

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Postby Seiryu » Tue Jan 09, 2007 12:31 am

Read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. It's a comedy/sci-fi.
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I don't believe in fairies!
(Dresden's battle cry going against fairies in book 4.)


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