Re: books that might be somewhat tolerable

jpcookie@xxxxxxxxx wrote:

"> I'm wondering what types of books that I should persue if I'm
interested in reading if I like the Star Trek franchise and such.

A general note to start, you look like you're trying to quote using the
Google interface. You may find the information in my .sig below of
value.

It would be be helpful if you'd list some of the ones (if you
remember) that you didn't like. Often that's as helpful as what
you do. "

For example I've read a book called (I believe) "Evergence" or
something like that.

I'm guessing that this is the one:

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue149/books.html#b2

That review mentions "A Fire Upon the Deep". That's one that I was
thinking of recommending if you haven't tried it.

Sounded really nice. Kicking Evil's Ass and then a cheesy plot turn
with the person they untimately trusted being
One of Them (tm) and just killing them all.

Silly PC nonsense about not being unkind to others, etc.

Liked the kick ass AI thing.

Kick-ass AI makes me think right away of Culture novels. The AIs that
run the big ships can be mighty cool. They aren't always the most
upbeat books though, sometimes downright grim. Many people liked
"Player of Games", but it wasn't my favorite. I personally like
"Excession" better, though many here hated it. "Consider Phlebas" isn't
a bad place to start, POG is good as well.

The second major work I didn't really care for was something like
"Flight of The Star Wolf" or some crap.

collection of three mini-crappy books.

Looks like "Voyage of the Star Wolf" by David Gerrold.

Apparently the idiot who wrote those thought that he'd make it with
some silly pandering crap about being nice to everyone and such and
got pissed when Roddenberry failed to see his "vision".

Well, Gerrold isn't one of my favorites, but I wouldn't call him an
"idiot". That being said, that series doesn't seem to be getting great
reviews.

"> One in particular was something I liked a great deal nearly 800+
pages
and it essentially genocided all the good characters in a plot twist
which resembled the author being told that he needed to get his book
out 2 months early.


What was that? "

It just reminded me of what I did when I was fantasy playing with
friends around like 10 when I found that I had to go home for dinner
in 10 minutes. A bad resolution and a total lack of power for an
organized nation state.

Sorry, I meant which series.


What aspects of the Trek stories appeal to you? Try to be specific if
you can. "

The major themes that I like in Trek stories are usually (but not
totally limited to).

1. People bahaving in ways which are consistent with our theories of
social and psychological causation.

People don't do stupid things that flagrantly violate rules unless
faced with a very good reason. People don't do something without
having a good excuse or say things on the reccord which would/do sound
silly.

2. Nation states are surpreme. Anyone with a massive army and power
isn't/won't relinquish that power. If people threaten that power you
use force, coercion, or blackmail to get your ends.

3. Social trends don't recycle or degrade so that supposed mores
become more and more simplistic, silly, or obviously flawed.

4. telling of tales in the same universe with the same characters (I'm
obviously flexible on this one). It's nice to be familar with things.

The Larry Niven "Known Space" stories and books might appeal to you,
although don't know how well those work with 1-3. If you haven't tried
them, I'd start with the collection "Neutron Star".


I just like stuff that isn't maybe just a political excuse. I know for
a fact that a number of theses of Heinlein's are things that I could
disagree with footnotes included if I took the time (I'm thinking of
in particular his ditty about the guy who could predict people's
deaths with some silly fluroscope type device).

Or his hippie ideals about justification of settlements of the moon
(I''m thinking about "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" here) and their
frankly totally primitive and debased culture. Honestly you can be
sexually promiscuious(obvious sp) and still not be morally as bad as
those.

I think that's the first time I've seen "hippie ideals" applied to
Heinlein.

Anyhoo honestly I''ve not done any real posting via the internet in
probably easily 6+ months so if this seems a little tad disorganized:
It will get better.

Following are some things I've liked that might fit your needs. I'd
recommend researching them via google.

"Permanence" by Karl Schroeder.

"The Hub: Dangerous Territory", a recent collection of older stories by
James Schmitz. There are many other books and stories in his general
"Hub" universe. If you like strong female characters, this is a good
source.

"The Dragon Never Sleeps", Glen Cook. It's way out of print, I got it
via Inter-Library Loan.

The various "Empire of Man" books by Mike Resnick. These are more like
tall tales, with bigger than life characters.

"Gateway", by Frederik Pohl.



Hope this helps some.



Brian
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