Hmmm...speaking of speculative/altered historical fiction, have you ever read anything by Harry Turtledove?
Hmmm...speaking of speculative/altered historical fiction, have you ever read anything by Harry Turtledove?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
I've tried, many years ago, but I just couldn't get into his stuff. I tried to start his Civil War series, but it kind of bored me.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Yes, pretty much everyone I know who likes his work is also deeply interested in war and the tactics used in historical battles, so I suppose his works attract a certain type of reader.
Just when you mentioned "speculative historical fiction", that's the name that came to mind right away.
Though I always thought his idea of injecting aliens into WWII was interesting.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Almost everyone I've ever known who likes Turtledove also likes and reads a ton of books about war and history. I'm just not that interested. Like I said in my review for The Forever War, I just don't care about military tactics and all that stuff.
The only hardcore speculative fiction novel I've ever liked, and finished, is PKD's The Man in the High Castle, and it doesn't ever deal with the military.
The Farmer book isn't really alternate history. He rips historical figures out of they own time, and plops them in the middle of fantastic situations. I guess you could call the Riverworld Saga, of which the above book is the first part of, anachronistic science fiction. "What if Mark Twain went to Mars," or something.
The imagination PKD had is incredible.
Even having just read one of his books (and excerpts from several others), it's like nothing else ever written.
He was a genius.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
This is true. I often sit and think about being in his mind. It's not that his stuff is just strange either. He truly had a unique mind, the mind of a true genius. That he was able to come up with his ideas while also tying them to the world around him is incredible. He was also prolific as hell. Between 1963 and 1964, he wrote 11 novels. Holy shit. And many of these are good!
1963Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb (1965)The Game-Players of Titan (1963) (ISBN 0-679-74065-1)The Simulacra (1964)The Crack in Space (1966+)Now Wait for Last Year (1966)1964Clans of the Alphane Moon (1964)The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1965)The Zap Gun (1967)The Penultimate Truth (1964)Deus Irae with Roger Zelazny (1976*+)The Unteleported Man (1966 / 1983+ / 1984*+ as Lies, Inc.)
(publishing date)
Yes, he has a massive library of work.
Takashi Miike should get to work adapting all of his books to film - he's probably the only filmmaker in the world who could do it all in one lifetime
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Harry Turtledove is a very predictable author. I can guarantee you at least one sex scene of dubious importance in each of his novels. I really enjoyed his books when I read them in middle school, but I highly doubt I'd enjoy them now.
"Modern weapons can defend freedom, civilization, and life only by annihilating them. Security in military language means the ability to do away with the Earth."
-Ivan Illich, Deschooling Society
This would be very interesting. PKD's work filtered through the eyes of a different culture.Yes, he has a massive library of work.
Takashi Miike should get to work adapting all of his books to film - he's probably the only filmmaker in the world who could do it all in one lifetime
I need to read more Dick. My first was Do Androids Dream and I was so obsessed I read it three more times before even thinking about moving on to another. Last summer I read A Scanner Darkly, Man in the High Castle, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Each is nothing short of invigorating, texts rich in ideas and narrative. I particularly enjoyed the way Dick played with reality and perception in Flow My Tears. The ending blew my mind so hard I couldn't think straight for weeks.
I have also only just started with Le Guin, having read The Left Hand of Darkness last year. I thought it was a sublime read.
(Okay, confession time: I've only recently developed an appreciation for science fiction, thanks in part largely to university courses. I am only "just starting" or "needing to read more" in general.)
Giving up in 2020. Who cares.
maɬni – towards the ocean, towards the shore (Sky Hopinka) ***½
Without Remorse (Stefano Sollima) *½
The Marksman (Robert Lorenz) **
Beckett (Ferdinando Cito Filomarino) *½
Night Hunter (David Raymond) *
Flow My Tears is, indeed, awesome. There's science fiction, and then there is Philip K. Dick.
My next Le Guin is going to be The Dispossessed, as it won a Hugo award, but I won't be getting to it for a while.
My "to possibly read next" shelf looks like this:
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
The Wanderer - Fritz Lieber
Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
The Way Station - Clifford D. Simak
Double Star - Heinlein
You should work your way through the Hugo winners, starting with the first, and perhaps the best, The Demolished Man.
Make sure you read some Alfred Bester and Theodore Sturgeon.
I started Heinlein's Double Star. It's about an out of work actor hired to impersonate an emissary to Mars. It one the Hugo in '55 or '56 I think. It is super short, under 150 pages.
I started reading "The Crack in Space" by PKD.
It's fantastic - I don't know why so many reviews are saying it's not very good.
The world is so overpopulated that a huge segment of the population has been cryogenically frozen, waiting for whenever more space is available. Then, a mechanic discovers a doorway to another world in one of the machines he is repairing. So, of course, people want to use this other parallel world as a second Earth.
There's a really funny scene near the beginning where one of the mechanics is recalling a story someone told him about when they found a similar portal in one of their machines. They looked in and saw tons of little people speaking a foreign language, and they began to converse with him. They asked him to answer some questions for him, and they gave him tablets to fill out his answers on. When he translated the questions and gave the tablets back to them with the answers, he found out they were speaking ancient Hebrew.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Aha! Another book you're reading that I've actually read. I remember it being fairly entertaining, but generally pretty silly.
I am impatient of all misery in others that is not mad. Thou should'st go mad, blacksmith; say, why dost thou not go mad? How can'st thou endure without being mad? Do the heavens yet hate thee, that thou can'st not go mad?
lists and reviews
Yeah, it's totally silly. It reminds me of Team America, in that an actor is employed to save the day. Pretty funny. Reminds me a bit of The Stainless Steel Rat books as well - just pure, simple fun.
Very cool. This is one that I haven't read yet. I think D.S. recently read this.
To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer
I've always wanted to read Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld books. I have heard nothing but great things about them, but I just never got around to actually reading any of them. And so yesterday, on a cold and rainy Saturday, I curled up on the couch and read my way through To Your Scattered Bodies Go. It was invigorating, and the perfect book to devour in a single sitting. It tells the story of an intense journey of discovery; it is full of action, tragedy, endearing characters, and a plethora of interesting ideas and situations.
One by one, millions of dead people, humans and aliens from a vast array of different eras, find themselves waking up, completely naked and hairless, scattered along the grassy bank of a vast river. This strange afterlife is unlike any detailed in any of the world's major religions. Christians, Jews, Muslims, atheists, and agnostics all must come to the realization that “heaven” exists, only it's completely different from what anyone ever imagined. This “heaven” quickly becomes a hotbed of debauchery and decadence; orgies, violence, rape, murder, war, slavery and torture become all too commonplace. It seems that, even when given a second chance, the “Lazuri,” are unable to live with one another in a peaceful and productive manner. What's more, some of the Lazuri learn that when they die in this world, they are resurrected again at a different point along the river. Some of the characters use this to their advantage, and embark on what comes to be known as “The Suicide Express” - dive into the river, take in a lung-full of water, and presto, randomly wake up somewhere else.
To Your Scattered Bodies Go can been read as a sort of historical-parallel-alternate-history story. Many of the characters are ripped out of a real life historical context and are thrust into this strange world. Taking center stage is the English explorer-translator-swordsman-fighter-author, Sir Richard Francis Burton. Once, Sir Burton disguised himself as a Muslim and made the journey to Mecca, thus, unofficially, becoming the first Caucasian Hadji. This historical anecdote is paralleled in the book as Sir Burton and his unusual crew of Lazuri make a boat, christened The Hajji, and travel up river to the of source of power, Riverworld's “Mecca.” Joining Sir Burton is Alice Hargreaves (the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland), a strange alien (a harbinger of mankind's doom, circa 2008), a Neanderthal, and a man named Steven Frigate, who, in life, was an admirer of Sir Burton's.
What I enjoyed most about Farmer's Hugo award winning book is how effortlessly the author blends old fashion pulp with the ideas of the new wave sci-fi movement. At times, the narrative conjures the voices of Robert E. Howard and E. E. “Doc” Smith. Lustful and voluptuous ladies abound, brutish barbarians and savages fight in bloody melees, and adventure reigns supreme upon the banks of the mysterious river. On the surface, the book is a rip-roaring action yarn full of daring-do and heroism, scalawags and usurpers, pitfalls and cliffhangers. However, Farmer also injects a ton of social and political context into his grand adventure. He examines ideas of racism, anarchy, diplomacy and democracy, and builds an interesting, if somewhat frustrating, speculative world made even more captivating because of the anachronistic characters.
To Your Scattered Bodies Go is comprised of the best of both worlds. It's got the ideas and social commentary of the new wave, and the pulpy adventure of the golden age. While it does sometimes suffer from some repetition, the heroes are captured and escape a bit too often, for the most part it is masterfully paced. I also appreciate how the journey ends. Narratives like this can often end on a sour note. Their endings are usually greatly anticipated, and many times the final destination does not compare to the sheer immensity of the journey. Such is not the case here. Farmer delivers a satisfactory ending, but he does not dwell on its importance. It does not disappoint because it is just another stop along the epic journey. The mystery is left open, and yet I don't feel as if I need to read any of the other Riverwold books. This is a very good thing in this modern world of massive door-stop sagas, and I thank Farmer for such a concise and compelling read.
That sounds fascinating. I love different interpretations of the afterlife.
So there are other books in this series? And they all take place along this river?
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Yes. The next book is about Mark Twain, and then the third and fourth books combine the stories of Twain and Burton. Farmer also wrote a fifth book to the series, but I've heard it adds nothing, is best left unread.
I am freaking loving "The Crack in Space".
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Awesome. This one is definitely on my short list.
So I thought "The Crack in Space" was pretty close to being absolutely perfect.
One of the best science fiction stories I've read.
Considering this is considered by many to be one of Dick's lesser works - and it is only my second Dick experience (HA!) - I am looking forward to getting my mind totally raped with further readings.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Awesome. I need to crack into this one.
I can't wait to hear what you have to say about Three Stigmata...
I actually want to reread this for a review, so let me know when you might get to it.
Cool, I shall do that.
I plan on writing a review for "The Crack in Space", so I'll post here and forward it to GB whenever I get it done
EDIT: And I've gotten my mom interested in Philip K. Dick! she's going to read "The Crack in Space" now.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
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