Many thanks for the feedback, chronites. Sounds like he can be great, or not, depending on the book. Also sounds as though if were to read anything else by him, I should look out for Blood Music and Forge of God series. Cheers.
Absolutely. I wonder about how many authors out there are great and I just picked up the wrong book. That's why, while there are some people I'm just not motivated to try again, I'm usually at least theoretically willing to give authors of all but thoroughly bad books a second try, just in case.Yea and thats the trouble isn't it! You discover an author, hate the book he wrote and it puts you off that author! So if someone discovered Bear with Slant they might not pick up another of his books,and that would be a big shame!
Yea it kinda gives you a wake up call when you realise that!Absolutely. I wonder about how many authors out there are great and I just picked up the wrong book. That's why, while there are some people I'm just not motivated to try again, I'm usually at least theoretically willing to give authors of all but thoroughly bad books a second try, just in case.
I think by the sounds of this thread, my high standing of Bear's work would drop if I read him more comprehensively.wonder how many Bear completists there are and how many like everything even so? It seems like it doesn't take long for most people to run into something (or things) they don't like. But, by the same token, I'd guess there are few people who wouldn't really like some Bear book or other.
My boss is a BDO....Yeah - it's been a long time (too long for Rendezvous) since I read either but I recall their only real commonality being that they're both BDO stories.
My boss is a BDO....
You may be right - I recently started to read a novella online (web browser rather than e-reader, but still) and couldn't finish it (could hardly start it) and then I got a book which included it and it was amazing the difference it made. Not that it completely transformed it from one thing into another but the stylistic things that made the story such a slog online were so much better in print. (And it did transform it from something I couldn't finish to something I pretty much liked.) If these ebook things do take over (which the corporations and many users have decided is already a done deal) I wonder if enough people will be affected in such a way that it causes an upheaval in what old things are still read and in the way new things are written?Finally, I am reading Hull Zero Three at the moment and have to admit I am finding it tough going. To be fair, this may be because it is the first full length novel I have read on my Kindle and I'm just not used to it.
Yeah, that's a key point. As much as we and some others find him hit-or-miss, his hits are such that you can't miss him.Greg Bear's writing can veer between straight forward and simple to downright oblique and confusing, but still I would regard him as one of the giants of hard SF from the last 30 years.
Reading on the web on a computer screen is very different from reading on a kindle or other black and white e-reader, which is different again to reading on a tablet. I personally can't read a book or large passages of text on a computer screen. Could be I've just grown used to having lines and pictures and dividers split everything up into neat, easily readable chunks, just as you get on a forum or facebook or on a well written blogYou may be right - I recently started to read a novella online (web browser rather than e-reader, but still) and couldn't finish it (could hardly start it) and then I got a book which included it and it was amazing the difference it made. Not that it completely transformed it from one thing into another but the stylistic things that made the story such a slog online were so much better in print. (And it did transform it from something I couldn't finish to something I pretty much liked.) If these ebook things do take over (which the corporations and many users have decided is already a done deal) I wonder if enough people will be affected in such a way that it causes an upheaval in what old things are still read and in the way new things are written?