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JackM Science Fiction 2013


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I mainly read Crime Fiction and I would like to try some science fiction, short oneoffs or triloigies, but not long sets.

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Thanks, Kreader.

 

I'm finding that when I start a new series that they tend to lack impact or originality, because I read so much crime.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I haven't read a lot of sci-fi so I'm really not one to make recommendations, but I did enjoy The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

 

Oh and Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (I think that's an easy intro to the genre, very interesting and readable!).

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  • 2 weeks later...

I mainly read Crime Fiction and I would like to try some science fiction, short oneoffs or triloigies, but not long sets and probably not dystopian novels.

 

 

1. Old Man's War - John Calzi

I don't know if you've read 1984 (the classic), but I think it's the best science fiction book ever and it's just so spot-on! 

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I read 1984 at school and I have that book, Sonia.

I have read some Silverberg , But not recently, Pontalba.

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  • 1 month later...

I did find some Robert Silverberg and James Blish stories on project gutenberg, so I've downloaded those and will get round to trying them sometime. I also saw some RS ebooks on amazon, there seem to be quite a few on there at the moment.

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SciFi Reading List 2013

Old Man's War - John Calzi 3/5
In The Country Of The Blind - Michael Flynn 3/5
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester 3/5
The Philip K. Dick Megapack - Phillip K. Dick 3/5
Martian Time- Slip - Philip K. Dick 3/5
Dr Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick 3/5
The Three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick 2/5

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Book Buys

1. The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester 2.80

2. Martian Time Slip - Philip K. Dick 2

3. Dr Bloodmoney - Pkd 2

4. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Pkd 2

5. Ubik - Pkd 1

6. Total Recall / We will remember it for you wholesale - Pkd Shorts 2

7. Second Variety - Pkd Shorts 2

8. Flow my tears, The policeman said - pkd 2.84

9. Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep - pkd 2.41

11. Minority Report - Pkd shorts 2.64

12. A Scanner Darkly - pkd 2.80

13. Look To Windward - Iain M. Banks Given

14. Cities In Flight - James Blish 1

15. The Father Thing - pkd shorts 3.42

16. Time Out Of Joint - pkd 2.75

17. A Maze Of Death - pkd 2.80

18. Now Wait For Next Year - pkd 2.65

19. The Ghost Brigades - John Scalzi 2.80

 

I think for now I'm going to concentrate on Philip k. Dick as he does have 14 books on the Science Fiction Masterworks list.

For some reason on Goodreads they specify the books, should be the Masterwork editions, but I won't be worrying about that.

 

Books In Reading Apps,

Around the world in 80 days - Free

The Complete Soldier Son trilogy - 49p

Dracula - Free

Frankenstein - Free

Ghost in the machine ( No not that one ) - Free

Gulliver's Travels - Free

The Jungle Book - Free

Philip K. Dick 15 classic sci-fi stories - 34p

Robinson Crusoe - Free

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde - Free

The Thirty Nine Steps - Free

Three men In A boat - Free

The Time Machine - Free

Treasure Island - Free

Robert Silverberg

Starmans quest

Judas Valley

Postmark Ganymede

The Happy Unfortunate

The Hunted Heroes

James Blish

The Thing In The Attic

One Shot

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Science Fiction Masterworks

Read
H.G. Wells - The War Of The Worlds
H.G. Wells - The Time Machine
Dan Simmons - Hyperion
Greg Bear - Eon
Douglas Adams - The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy
Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination
Philip K. Dick - Martian Time Slip
Philip K. Dick - Dr Bloodmoney

Philip k. Dick - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

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In The Country of the Blind - Micheal Flynn

 

What If there was a conspiracy running things behind the scenes...and they were incompetent? The Babbage Machine: aborted brainchild of a Victorian scientist, derided by history as unworkable. But the history books lie.Can they do it? Even though their methods are imperfect,unless they are stopped, their success is assured. In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king...I enjoyed this book with it's secret cabals trying to control the running of the country, by spreading certain ideas into the culture of their country. It was an entertaining read and reminded me to some extent of Phillip Jose Farmers - Dayworld.

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2. The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester

Education: None.Skills: None.Merits: None.Recommendations: None.

That's the official verdict on gully Foyle, unskilled space crewman. But Gully has managed to survive for 170 days in the airless purgatory of deep space after the wreck of his ship, and has escaped to Earth carrying a murderous grudge and a secret that could change the course of history.I'm enjoying the book so far. What a strange story, with a really srange presentation of the end chapter of the book.Whilst not likeable as a character, you could definitely feel Foyle's motivation for his pursuit of vengence. It was a conspiracy based in a science fiction setting. I think some of the inventiveness and technology was really out there. The final twist was also unexpected.

(The extent of the preparationfor the plot.

 

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3. The Philip K. Dick Megapack

1 Exhibit Piece 3

2 Beyond Lies The Wub 3

3 The Defenders 3

4 The Crystal Crypt 3

5 Beyond The Door 3

6 Second Variety 3

7 The Eyes Have It 1

8 The Gun 2

9 The variable Man 3

10 Tony And The Beetles 2

11 The Hanging Stranger 3

12 The Skull 3

13 Piper In The Woods 2

14 Mr Spaceship 3

15 Strange Eden 3 funny

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I've seen a lot of films based on his books, I enjoyed the short stories I read and with the 10 books to read , I think I will enjoy him.

4. I'm only a few pages into MTS, but there's already humour and a good setup going.
Martian Time Slip - Philip K. Dick
plots, Machinations, aliens. It's a slow buildup.
It did have a mix of plots going on and I found it an okay read. I thought he'd make more of the time-shift than he did.

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I've picked up a dvd of A Scanner Darkly. Animated Version with Keanu Reeves. So I'll watch that soon.

 

Yes it was weird and good, Thanks.

 

I listened to H.G.Well's The Men in the Moon and am now listening to John Wyndham's Chocky.

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5. Dr Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick

A few years on from the day the bombs fell, the community of Point Reyes is doing just fine. The barter economy is working well enough, the people are relatively normal - with the exception, of course, of the girl with her twin brother growing inside her - and the local genius can repair just about anything that breaks down. There's mushroom gathering, there are town meetings and the astronaut DJ broadcasting from space. But the residents of Point Reyes don't know that they are harbouring the one man who almost everyone left alive wants dead...

I've finished this now and I found it quite good.

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6. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch 243 pages.

In the overcrowded world and cramped space colonies of the late twenty-first century, the wretchedness of life is endured through the use of Can-D, a drug that allows the user to inhabit a shared illusory world. But when the renegade industrialist Palmer Eldritch returns from an interstellar trip, he brings with him a new drug, Chew-Z, which offers a far more addictive experience than Can-D. But could the permanent state of drugged illusion it induces be part of something more sinister?

 

I found this book confusing and the way it ended dissapointed me. It definitely gave me a headache.

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  • 2 weeks later...

SciFi Reading List 2013

Old Man's War - John Calzi 3/5
In The Country Of The Blind - Michael Flynn 3/5
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester 3/5
The Philip K. Dick Megapack - Phillip K. Dick 3/5
Martian Time- Slip - Philip K. Dick 3/5
Dr Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick 3/5
The Three stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick 2/5

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  • 2 months later...

It was an unfortunate coincidence that this post contained the words, Thanks V

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  • 6 months later...

Just needed to save this somewhere

@Jm9Jack

All the nations in the UK should now draw up an agreement on what powers All the separate countries should have within the UK. English MP'S vote on English laws etc. We need an English assembly, Welsh and Scottish people should be campaigning for England to have separate powers.

When England is talked about, It Always gets split into Regions.

Help England to get it's own devolved powers, then by a process of elimination everyone else would have theirs.

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