Fuck me Ray Bradbury

[harry]

Why am I not at all surprised that Wynter Stark is a George R. R. Martin fan.

By the way, Martin recently announced a publication date for "A Dance With Dragons" July 12th! I've preordered my copy

Wynter, do you have a Dany outfit? lol

[TomServo]

would highly recommend some of the new wave of hard scifi authors coming out of the UK - Neal Asher and Alastair Reynolds chief among them.

and must own up to the inadvertent boner reading this thread of a well-read, well-spoken, gorgeous female scifi reader. :}

[Randy4Candy]

While it's nice to get down, dirty and esoteric regarding ranking sci-fi writers (or other authors, for that matter) the song could essentially be about "F3ck Me, Zane Grey" since it's about a decently hot chick getting wet down south due to liking what someone writes.

[wynterstark]

Harry, yes and I was so excited about him finally announcing a release date that I posted about it on my blog! I don't have a Dany outfit at this time but if you bring one, I sure as hell will wear it. Does anyone know if it will be released in hard cover and e-book simultaneously? I'd love a copy but the line is bound to be out the door... especially since the HBO series is coming out just a couple months before the book will be released.

Tom Servo, I've yet to run into either Reynolds or Asher but I love your MS3K reference in your handle so we likely have some similar tastes in literature too. I'll look them up, any place in particular I should start?

Randy, that's so true and I have to admit I'm thrilled at the response this thread has gotten. I was expecting it to pass by unnoticed but now I've got at least a month's worth of new books to hunt down and read!

[harry]

Hi Wynter... I don't have a Dany costume, I'm not sure where I could find a Dothraki Khalessi outfit. lol But I'm sure you would be stunning in it.
I'm not sure about the ebook, but I do know that Amazon is taking preorders for the hardback at a very good discount. Almost half off in fact and they are offering free shipping too.

Another author I really like is Eric Flint and his Ring of Fire/1632 series. It's about a small West Virginia town from the present time that somehow gets transported back to central Germany during the 30 Years War of the 1630's.

I also like Jerry Pounelle's "Janissaries" series and "Lest Darkness Falls" by L. Sprague de Camp is great. As you can see, I'm a big fan of alternate history fiction.

[((made))'a'((cumback))]

i love steven king

[kinkmeister76006]

What a pleasant surprise to see such a thread on eccie. I agree wholeheartedly with TWK that RB is not be one of the top hard scifi writers. That being said, RB's work for me was ever bit as entertaining and many times more enlightening about the human condition. Asimov liked to say that he (Asimov) was the greatest science writer and that Clarke was the greatest science fiction writer. If that is true, RB had to be the greatest fantasicst and one of the best storytellers of all times. His lineage came not so much from Verne and Wells but Orwell and Huxley. It seems to me that he has more in common with Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick and Philip Jose Farmer than Asimov and Heinlein although I think he would appreciate Stranger in a Strange Land.

As for cyberpunks, I think Lucius Shepard's Life During Wartime came out about the same time as Neuromancer. A very under appreaicated book and author in my opinion.

[wynterstark]

I love, love, love Phillip K. Dick. It seems like every time I watch a really fantastic sci-fi movie, he was the one who wrote the book. The depth of his characters always blows me away, it's so rare when you find someone who creates a character who is so... real... Scanner Darkly is a movie that I could watch a million times and always get something new from it. Some of the characters are just plain jerks but you love and identify with them anyway. Tennessee Williams is another of my favorites for exactly that reason, I always have a hard time outlining the plot to anything he's ever written because the story line is secondary to the characters. To me, that's the mark of talent, you want to continue reading, not because the story is well written but because the players are.

As for Steven King, his fantasy blows his horror away and it's a shame that it goes so often unnoticed. I would vote The Gunslinger in my top twenty fantasy novels but so many people ignore it because it isn't typical King fare.

[The_Waco_Kid]

Originally Posted by wynterstark

I love, love, love Phillip K. Dick.

Don't we all? LOL Was cruising the web recently and found some writer/critic's list of top 50 sci-fi movies and Phil had several in the list, including the number 1 movie - "Do androids dream of electric sheep" AKA "Blade Runner", not sure i'd put Blade Runner number one compared to "2001: A Space Odyssey" but it would certainly be in the top 10 if not top 5. Didn't find the one i saw but there's zillions on the web. this one had Blade Runner at 5.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/art...10.html?cat=40

Blade Runner was disappointing at the boxoffice mainly based on the fact it had all the ingredients for a great move 1) based on a good novel 2) starring Han Solo! 3) directed by Ridley Scott. It should have grossed more most think especially since it came out in 1983 at the height of the original Star Wars movies' popularity. Blade Runner is a dark vision which is partly why it didn't have the appeal it should have. The novel by the way is very much different but just as dark as the film.

Harrison Ford was great as Deckard but Rutger Hauer stole the movie away from Han Solo! He makes that movie. One of the best all-time bad-ass lines ever:

"I want more life, Fucker!"

don't we all?

[The_Waco_Kid]

I'm sure no one noticed but Blade Runner came out in 1982, what i was thinking was 1983 when Return of the Jedi was released so Ford was now famous as H Solo and in between the 2nd and 3rd Star Wars films so he should at that peak have drawn in a lot of biz for the movie. its domestic gross was a measly 28M.

http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=bladerunner.htm

now back on sci-fi track, one of the cool things about being a thrift store junkie is access to cheapo paperbacks, had boxes of 'em at one time. for many of the well published, their art covers during their publishing runs is a very interesting set of pure art. an example my second greatest novel, Nova and a set of covers starting with
1st Edition - 70s Edition
SF Masters re-print
current edition
60s Edition

[wynterstark]

I went to the official Philip K. Dick site and was amazed at how prolific an author he was. I truly had no idea that he had written so many novels, it looks like I need to make a trip to the bookstore and I've got my summer reading all plotted out.

I enjoy the Star Wars franchise but in truth, I believe that Blade Runner is the better, more engaging story. I'm not knocking Lucas' work by any means but there's just something so wonderful about Dick's work that Star Wars looks rather immature in comparison.

Hauer is awesome, and the first thing I saw him in wasn't Blade Runner but Ladyhawke. I'm a huge fan of cheesy 80's movies and that one ranks pretty high on the cheese factor. Later on he did a version of The Hitcher and his performance was what made the whole movie scary. I'm sure that I'm missing some stuff he's done but those are the only things I can come up with off the top of my head, he wasn't in nearly enough movies.

[zelazfan]

Blade Runner is my favorite! Ford, Hauer, and Scott are all fantastic!

Thanks for the reading suggestions. I love Philip K Dick - especially his short stories! There's a great 5 vol collection of many of these. Read a couple of his novels, but don't enjoy them as much.

For those interested, Texas (San Antonio) has put in a bid to host the 2013 World Science Fiction Convention.
http://www.texasin2013.org/ The site selection will take place in Aug at the 2011 meeting in Reno, NV. If you can't attend, you can still buy a supporting membership and vote for the 2013 site and for the Hugos. http://www.renovationsf.org/register.php

[humble&horny]

Originally Posted by wynterstark

And actually, I forgot to mention. I just finished up some new photo sets, among which are a whole set of nerd/book lover images. They'll be popping up on my site over the new few days as I get them resized.

well that certainly seems appropriate

[licksherwell]

That was a hilarious video. Loved it! Thanks for sharing! I am a huge Heinlein fan.
My favorites were Friday, Time Enough for Love, and Cat Who Walked Through Walls. The Long family - damn. And Friday would make any scifi lover blush.
Although I haven't seen you in person Wynter, I'm sure you make an amazing Frank Frazetta picture!
"Sex, whatever else it is, is an athletic skill. The more you practice, the more you can, the more you want to, the more you enjoy it, the less it tires you."
— Robert A. Heinlein (The Cat Who Walks Through Walls)

[wynterstark]

@Licks, I enjoyed the Friday novel and while I haven't read the Cat Who Walked Through Walls *yet*, it's on my to be read list. Especially if it's got a quote like that.

Frank Franzetta does some amazing artwork with some gorgeous ladies, thank you for the compliment. I think my other favorite(s) are Guthrie and Olivia, very sexy artwork.