Thought Provoking Sci-Fi

[merritt]

These are some of my favorites: older stuff but great nonetheless.
Way Station - Simak
Sirius & Odd John - Stapledon
R.U.R. - Capek

Good reads:
Alongside Night - Schulman
The Lights In The Sky Are Stars - Frederic Brown
The Stochastic Man- Silverburg
The Tide Went Out - Maine

I got an unbelievable deal this year: 200+ first edition hardcovers from the 70's & 80's

plus 500+ 1st edition(most) paperbacks!

This is mert signing off.

 

[The Master™]

What did you do to get so many 1st editions??? And why???

 

[Leto]

And why do you think all these titles are thoughts provoking ? I agree with you on most of them. But what kind of thinking did they provoke.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hi merritt, and welcome to the chronicles network.

Sounds like you've got yourself some long-term reading to do there.

 

[merritt]

Hi Brian,

Master: I found these books when I came across an ad listing, replied and found an ex-book dealer who needed cash. I have a large Victorian house to fill up with books. Thats what I enjoy.

I'm in my late forties, born to read. I started buying sci-fi in the early seventies after a former babysitter who worked for Avon sent me a box of sci-fis for Christmas. I've read thousands of books, some books over again. You don't remember the plots of some you may have read as a youngster. Some books that you like as a young'n, you don't as an adult.

Leto: All those books stand out in my mind for some reason. It very possibly can depend on when you read something.

Max Andrews single mindedness.
poignant love in Sirius.
a gritty realism in TTWO.

Have a happy 2005!

 

[The Master™]

Well, it certainly sounds like you got some serious reading matter to go at there... YOU LUCKY DOG!!!

I didn't know that the AVON did anything but beauty products... If they have a Sci-Fi section, I'll be in touch with my local supplier immediately...

If you ever feel the need to shift all that reading matter from the North East down through Yorkshire, gimme a shout!!!

Oh, and welcome to our little Shangri La... Or the Nut House as we like to call it...

BTW, I wish to publicly apologise, I had to feeling that that first thread was a wind up to some spam... I was wrong... That'll teach me to jump to conclusions...

 

[merritt]

Thanks for the welcome

Heres some more info for you. I am from the northeast u.s.a. , new york state to be exact!

This summer I captained a volleyball team named "Turbo Dorks" with the cover of Multiface (by Mark Adler) scanned in & pressed on to our shirts. My wife & son played on the team, we didn't come in last

But in my defense, I am of welsh heritage.

I just happened by this forum, I'm on vacation.

I'm just a lifelong reader of sci-fi surrounded by many books that need to be organized!

Best Regards, Merritt

 

[Leto]

Leto: All those books stand out in my mind for some reason. It very possibly can depend on when you read something.

Max Andrews single mindedness.
poignant love in Sirius.
a gritty realism in TTWO.

Have a happy 2005!

Seems like we'll have interesting conversations, welcome here.

 

[littlemissattitude]

"Turbo Dorks"

I love that!

Anyway, welcome to the forum, merritt. Sounds like you have an interesting book collection.

 

[angrybuddhist]

Sounds like you have quite a collection. Please tell us more. I have nearly all of Simak's, A.E. Van Vogt's, Laumer's, P. K. Dick, and others, mostly paperback. I tend to prefer the older fiction.

 

[merritt]

Well angry, I am blessed with a mind like a sieve so I forget them over the years & then re-read. I have a sci-fi bibliography (1979)to remind me of how much more I have to read.

Van Vogt- Slan one of my favs. (Great cover,paperback) I remember one of the early null-a stories was excellent but I don't remember which one.

Laumer-A Plague of Demons-one of the early books that got me hooked. revisited as an adult, starts out great but the ending is kind of "annnhhh"

Earthblood - also a good juvie.

Simak - Way Station - I haven't read it in years but I still get a good feeling when I look at the book.

I also have focused my collecting on paperbacks. I love the early art work. when I get a new(er) computer in my home office(constant blue screen of death) I have some scans of some old p-backs. I have The Green Girl, and some other vintage p-backs.

Lately I have been reading collections of stories & articles I pulled from one of my boxes in the attic. My son & I have been discussing converting our largest gable into a library so I can get organized.

Happy new Year!

 

[Neil040]

That sounds great Merritt! I am close to your age too and currently engaged in rediscovering some of my old favourite novels from way back.. I made the serious error of abandoning several boxes of my oldest sci fi books a few years ago when I was overloading a van to move myself here to Ireland! Its a constant source of chagrin to me now as I keep recalling just exactly how many of those classics I cannot find at home any more and some pretty difficult to re-buy if I want them.. sigh..

I recall Slan quite well even tho that must be decades since I last read it..

Simak's Way Station... was that the one in which the guy lived in a station that aliens used to travel across the galaxy.. on earth and disguised as a rural home.. unknown to poor old earth as yet unfit to be part of the cosmic civilization out there and so kept in the dark totally?

Those early books were so atmospheric I think.. in modern bookshops you have to wade through shelves of crap fantasy before you can find the few stocked hard sci fi books I find.. I am determined to get some of those oldies back on my own shelves!

 

[merritt]

yes, that is Way Station. A quick read.

I am sorry about your loss of those books. My interest had lain semi-dormant thru my 20's & early 30's, but I ran across my original The Day of the Triffids with the great cover one day searching for reading material. That re-sparked it.

I confess that I usually buy used, we have a good book barn near me. I also lean towards the older stuff, (rarely read fantasy) but keep an open mind for newer hard sci-fi.

Dust by Charles Pelligrino comes to mind as a newer book I enjoyed, published in 1999.

Best Regards, Merritt

 

[Neil040]

I might search out Way Station now you have reminded me of it.. will look forward to that.. thanks!

I do still have a number of my old favs.. my original penguin issue of Day of the Triffids has never been at risk and is dog-eared but still never far away... one of the first real sci-fi books I ever read and still one of my top all time favourites.. I also just managed to record to hard drive the 1980's BBC series of Triffids that was shown in the middle of the night recently on sat here.. thats a pretty faithful renditon of the story.. unlike the movie of course!

I too try to find good new hard sci.. as I said above not so easy these days.. but am finding a few which I will mention at some point as I work my way through them and get organised (am renovating ancient Irish farmhouse and books tend to wander between boxes to bookcase and back to boxes sometimes)

One of my favourites from the 70's was Lucifer's Hammer, by Pournelle and Niven.. mentioned elsewhere here I noticed while glancing around.. loved that book too.. not quite the classic of some of those earlier pioneers.. but great anyway..

Nice site this.. just discovered it and is very interesting.. good work all!

 

[erickad71]

I've read Lucifer's Hammer before...it was the one where a meteor hits the earth, if I'm not mistaken. I really loved that book...I need to go find it again.

 

[Neil040]

I've read Lucifer's Hammer before...it was the one where a meteor hits the earth, if I'm not mistaken. I really loved that book...I need to go find it again.

Thats the one.. one hell of a good read!

A bit thoughtless of me to mention it just now considering the most significant effect of the meteor strike of course were mega tidal waves... Wasn't thinking about when it came to mind obviously.. was thinking more of the survival story and the charactors and their struggle to create a new civilization.. or at least save a semblence of one... oh well.. I have been watching real life tragedy almost non stop this last week and I forgot that escapism can be a little too close to reality sometimes...

 

[erickad71]

I wasn't thinking about that either...

One of my favorite books though, I especially liked the astronauts.

 

[Neil040]

I wasn't thinking about that either...

One of my favorite books though, I especially liked the astronauts.

I liked them too.. was a tremendous storytelling concept, to have them up there as witnesses of the the global disaster.. and the description of the uneasy alliance between the western and soviet astronausts.. and the tension of the moment when they thought that the soviets were launching a pre-emptive strike on the virtually defenceless usa.. but which turned out to be a retaliatory strike on china.. as the missiles headed east not west.. that was superbly scary..

And later of course when they managed to make it back to earth and the somewhat redneck locals had to deal with their famous visitors.. lol

 

[erickad71]

There are a couple of pieces of the story that have stayed with me. When the astronauts land is one of them.

Well, I know what the next book is that I will check out of the library.

 

[Neil040]

There are a couple of pieces of the story that have stayed with me. When the astronauts land is one of them.

Great to know you like that book so much too Ericka... I love the way bits of books stay with me for years.. more so than any films do I think.. thats the beauty of writing I guess.. it stimulates and provokes (as the title of this thread suggests) but also 'imprints' in so many ways sometimes..

Not only that.. but for me too, sometimes I even have vivid recall of WHERE I read a book! Maybe thats common and I dont know it... but the mention of a great book evokes in me the memories of when and where I read it... Lucifers Hammer I remember buying it in a shop near a beach in Wales when it was a bestseller.. I recall getting hooked on it and reading it at every opportunity including in restaurants during meals... lol well it was compelling! Other books I have to just look at the cover and an image of myself on a plane reading.. or a train... or in front of a fireplace come to mind...

But it could just be me being strange...