Yakoob on 10/8/2016 at 03:46
Any good recommendations for Steampunk, SciFi or maaybe fantasy that is more on the short side? I don't want to dig into a 1000 page epic at this point and prefer something succinct, world/setting focused, without too much silly gory action. The aforementioned Naked Came the Robot is only like 200 pages and each chapter is no more than 4-10 pages which is perfect on a quick bus commute or as quick break from work. The first and last Witcher books were great for that too.
I know Sanders tends to have that style.
Severian_Silk on 10/8/2016 at 08:59
Quote:
I'm actually reading Nostromo on my train commutes right now, maybe 50 pages in or so, and frankly finding it hard to get into just as you mentioned. Already action is happening with the coup, and his use of language is excellent as expected. The real problem is that it's not a story designed to be taken in bite-sized 30 minute chunks of a train commute, because I only get more lost in the trees with each continuation and keep losing the forest. I don't want to drop it, so I'm hoping it starts gelling, but I might switch over to some scifi pulp and then come back to it when I'm ready for the slog.
Glad it's not just me who found it difficult at first. I was into page 80, I think, when it occured to me that I really lose a lot by reading it during a train ride. Then I've started from the beginning, reading it slowly while sitting on a comfy sofa and sipping some strong, black coffee and, goddamn, what a great read Nostromo was! (I've always wanted to create a Thief FM loosely based on this book, but alas, I possess no dromed skills at all.)
Conrad's
The Secret Agent and
Under Western Eyes are also pretty great.
As for me, I'm reading Nabokov's
Ada or Ardor, Ariosto's
Orlando Furioso and Gene Wolfe's
Book of the New Sun (for the n'th time).
Ada is a beautiful read about a very passionate, incestous relationship kinda set in a parallel universe where historically it's similar to our 19th century, but with 20th century technology.
Orlando Furioso is a 16th century Italian epic poem about knights fighting it out with mages and monsters. It's seriously the most entertaining book I've ever read: the poetry is beautiful and very simple, it's incredibly imaginative, it has great characters, and has a very pro-humanity message hidden between the non-stop action and intrigue (the author is actually the dude who coined the term "humanism"). It's kinda like a renaissance version of Star Wars or Game of Thrones.
demagogue on 10/8/2016 at 11:43
Haha, I got Flowers for Algernon and was surprised to finish it off in one sitting. I looked it up and only then realized there's a short story version and novel version with the same name, and obviously I got the former. It was an electronic version, so I didn't even realize it'd be so short until it was suddenly wrapping up.
I guess I have to get the novel now. It's not like the outcome per se is the important part anyway, in the sense that it doesn't hurt the story to know it, but it's Charlie's feelings about it along the way that matter.
SubJeff on 14/8/2016 at 08:10
Flowers is great.
I'm still working my way through the sci-fi masterworks series. So many of this would make great films if done properly.
Currently on The Lathe of Heaven and I should finish Eon.
demagogue on 14/8/2016 at 11:06
Speaking of which ... another coincidence. I recently saw the film of Lathe of Heaven. Had no idea it was a book.
The film was like a made-for-TV low-fi B-movie, very retro 80s, bad hairdos, sfx, and acting. It was awesome! Cybercheese would sum it up. The premise itself was cool too. And best of all, they used my hometown, DFW, as the 80s vision of the future, haha, what?
demagogue on 19/8/2016 at 13:26
Contender for book of the year here:
Inline Image:
http://i63.tinypic.com/2zqsocj.jpgI'm also still up for scifi classics. I tried Ring World. Maybe it's a victim of its own success, but it's so chock full of cliches that it may well have done first but are now in everything. Anyway, it didn't really stick & I got distracted by Cryptonomicon, and so far that's stuck. Still kind of cliche, but at least I want to know where it's going. It's not obvious yet.
theriser on 19/8/2016 at 13:56
Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Just started last night. This will be my first experience with a graphic novel, so I'm excited to check it out.
Yakoob on 19/8/2016 at 17:37
Brave New World > 1984
Personally, my favorite "art" in the dystopian genre is Equilibrium. GATTACA is pretty good too. Need to re-watch it...
Also need to read Farenheit...
Starker on 19/8/2016 at 19:34
To me Brave New World always seemed more realistic of the two. You don't really need a shadowy omnipotent cabal micromanaging every aspect of society when people are perfectly capable of creating their own dystopias.
