Luzifer's right hand Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 Dude, you are aware this a message board based around a fantasy writer, right? And WE are not all American so we can't all take comfort from that ...though I do agree Vinge is the best on that list, just a shame he ain't exactly prolific. Tuf Voyaging is much better than ASOIAF. I heard that a new book by Vinge will come out soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 27, 2005 Author Share Posted November 27, 2005 I think Charles Stross is better than Vinge. You're not typical, Fee. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xanrn Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 I think Charles Stross is better than Vinge. You're not typical, Fee. Well I can't stand China "overhype" Mieville Honestly I have never heard of any thoose, I pay no attention what so ever to any awards that don't have MTV somewhere in their names. Wait or Golden Joystick (not thats not Porn awards) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john Posted November 27, 2005 Share Posted November 27, 2005 I'm the only person in the world who liked Market Forces *beats thread to death with a baseball bat* Anyway, if Morgan means to write traditional style sword and sorcery, that's fine by me. Lots of people are writing new weird now. Dark, gritty, traditional stuff is still not that common. I'd like to see something with sword and sorcery elements but instead of a grandiose, epic approach, a more nasty, personal drama like in the Kovacs novels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 Xanrn....I really hope you're kidding. (about everything you wrote) If not, I hear Dragonlance is pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Doran Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 I think Charles Stross is better than Vinge. We forgive you, fantasy reader. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerol Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 Morgan can do little wrong in my book. I eagerly await his entry into fantasy. I don't think Stross and Vinge are comparable. VV is an established master who's been around for quite a while. Charlie is fairly new on the scene. His best work is still ahead of him. On a political blog that I post on, a friend of mine said fantasy readers and SF readers don't cross genres. He's such a tool. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 Ummmmm....... Stross has written more books than Vinge. I don't know that 2 great books = master, but if you say so. I'm a Vinge fan, don't get me wrong, I just think Stross is something special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Doran Posted November 28, 2005 Share Posted November 28, 2005 I just think Stross is something special. Out of curiosity, why? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stego Posted November 28, 2005 Author Share Posted November 28, 2005 Stross, to me, has the ability to transfer the 'sensawundah' that makes Speculative Fiction so damn wonderful. On the one hand, I am deftly able to leave all doubts at the door and slip seemlessly into his pool of thought with nary a splash. He posesses the rare ability to create characters you know. 50 pages into a Stross novel and you KNOW the people you are reading about as if you'd partied with them, had a coffee with them, perhaps you've even fucked them a time or two. You KNOW these people. Couple this with the occasional kick in the balls from a scene that rivals a Bradbury moment or a Cordwainer epiphany, Charlie writes fiction that while modern, recalls the glory and hope and yes, sense of awe and wonder that drew so many of us to speculative fiction in the first place. Comparing him to Vernor Vinge is perhaps incorrect, his fiction is much more comparable to Asimov, Zelazny, Clarke, and the aforementioned Ray Bradbury and Cordwainer Smith. His fiction posseses the magic, if not the trope, of the classics. I agree he has not written his best work yet. I'm simply glad I get to be along for the ride. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 That's a really good way to describe Stross, Stego. He, more than any new author, captures that sense of wonder and newness and 'wow, that idea RULES'. He's a bit weak in his conversations with characters - and his characters could use a bit more depth - but he's getting better, and I've not read anything by him that I didn't instantly love. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaceBannon42 Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 AS we have gotten derailed into a Stross discussion... Are his sci fi novels connected, and should they been read in any particular order? I've got Iron Sunrise sitting on the shelf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise are connected, but not in a massive way. They're mostly tales about the same two people, but it's not essential that you read one or the other first - though I think that Singularity Sky sets up the universe a lot better than Iron Sunrise does, so it's worth it to read that one first. Family Trade wise, yeah, they're way connected, so read the first one first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaceBannon42 Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Thanks Kal, I've read both Merchant Prince books and loved them. I ordered Iron Sunrise at one point to get free shipping on something else... Hadnt gotten around to it yet. I guess I'll try and pick up SS and read that first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Doran Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Stross, to me, has the ability to transfer the 'sensawundah' that makes Speculative Fiction so damn wonderful. So reading him doesn't massively crash your suspension of disbelief. Well, fair enough. In that case, he is enjoyable. Unfortunately for me, he rather nukes my own SoD every way till Sunday, which I rather cannot forgive a SF writer of the hard persuasion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobodymN Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Interesting topic, first I'm loving anything Morgan decides to release. I'm not one to care abour authors staying in the box even if they created it. Doran, I think there's a lot of great science fiction coming out these days, and I point to people like Charlie Stross, Iain M Banks, Alistair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod, Ian McDonald, the aforementioned Richard Morgan, Vernor Vinge, Kim Stanley Robinson, Greg Bear, Robert Sawyer and Peter Hamilton to prove my point. I would include John C. Wright, Greg Egan, Liz Williams, Terry Bisson, Michael Swanwick, Zoran Zivkovic (The Fourth Circle is essential reading) and Adam Roberts to that list. I love Stross' work, but I think Vinges Deepness in the Sky is one of the truly great contemporary Science Fiction efforts, and neither is superior to Banks IMHO (which is not slight, but both are terrific) Kelly Link is the best short fantasist writing these days. Her latest collection, Magic for Beginners, is sublime. I will go a step further, and I'm thankful someone reminded me of this collection earlier this month (JP), I think Link's Stranger Things Happens may be the best collection since Ted Chiang's monumental Stories Of Your Life collection. Slightly off-topic but I'm currently in the middle of an interview with Kelly Link - just an outrageously gifted talent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kalbear Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Why is that, Doran? Anything in particular? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Doran Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 The larger than life Deus Ex and the nanomagic did it for me. I like SS and its sequels, but it needs to be read with your intellectual faculties switched to "off" mode. Which is rather enjoyable for guilty pleasure reading, but carries a grade penalty with me when determining just how great a piece of SF it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luzifer's right hand Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 The larger than life Deus Ex and the nanomagic did it for me. I like SS and its sequels, but it needs to be read with your intellectual faculties switched to "off" mode. Which is rather enjoyable for guilty pleasure reading, but carries a grade penalty with me when determining just how great a piece of SF it is. Nanomagic brakes your SOD and Vinges "Zones of Thought" not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doran Doran Posted November 30, 2005 Share Posted November 30, 2005 Well, no. The isotropic principle is a postulate, not an empirical result (although it has held up such empirical testing as has been done admirably). I'm not hot enough with astrophysics to know if the transcend setup would have to register on our telescopes or if suitably clever zone geometry would act as a lens that could make zone boundaries disappear when studied from the inside. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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