Need something to read over the Holidays

[DonM]

Thank you all...

My wife is the director of a public library, so this is useful stuff.

Elizabeth Moon: I have all of her Paks books, but didn't enjoy her early sci-fi material. Perhaps it's time for a relook.

Niven: (time for shame) I really find his material... hard to put a word on it, but unexciting will work. Worse because Marc really likes Niven, even gave me some books (to better my appreciation for the genre!).

Bujold: I did try her material, but I'm actually not remembering anything; so I'll keep that on the list.

Ok, the rest of these are some great suggestions, thanks to all...

And Space Oprah? That's a scary Traveller inference. Well, with not being able to sleep, I'll be able to read.

 

[Supplement Four]

Don't leave us hangin'. When you finally decide, let us know the direction you took!

 

[DonM]

My wife's a librarian, so I asked her to dig through the list and order what was available locally.

And...

she sent me to the card catalogue

 

[Timerover51]

Have you read Belgarath the Sorcerer and the Rivan Codex by Eddings? I am not that thrilled with Polgara the Sorceress, but it is worth reading.

 

[darue]

just bumping this, because [FONT=arial,helvetica]Warren Norwood's work[/FONT] deserves to be read...

a surprise recommendation. Good author, not well known enough...
both these series are full of ideas quite compatible with Traveller too.
Warren C Norwood

Windhover Tapes
1. An Image of Voices (1982)
2. Flexing the Warp (1983)
3. Fize of the Gabriel Ratchets (1983)
4. Planet of Flowers (1984)




Double Spiral War
1. Midway Between (1984)
2. Polar Fleet (1985)
3. Final Command (1986)



and what did I just find? A (funded) kickstarter for...

 

[robject]

My wife's a librarian, so I asked her to dig through the list and order what was available locally.

And...

she sent me to the card catalogue

Wow, a real card catalog? Haven't seen one of those since...

 

[Enoff]

Just loaded all of Asimov's David "Lucky" Starr books onto my e-reader

 

[Supplement Four]

Just loaded all of Asimov's David "Lucky" Starr books onto my e-reader

I read all the time. I was at lunch not too long ago, reading a book, when this young girl with her family walked by. I heard her say, "Look! He's reading a real book!"

I just can't get into the readers. I know it's the wave of the future, and the future is here. I just still prefer good, old fashioned, paper books.

I feel like a Twilight Zone episode.

 

[Enoff]

I read all the time. I was at lunch not too long ago, reading a book, when this young girl with her family walked by. I heard her say, "Look! He's reading a real book!"

I just can't get into the readers. I know it's the wave of the future, and the future is here. I just still prefer good, old fashioned, paper books.

I feel like a Twilight Zone episode.

and thats all the television there is

I couldn't believe DonM was talking about an actual analog card catalog, talk about a Twilight Zone episode!

 

[Vargr Breath]

Hi
How about the books by Ian Douglas (William H. Keith)
The Heritage Trilogy
The Legacy Trilogy
The Inheritance Trilogy
The Star Carrier series -4 books with book#5 05/14
The Star Corpsman -2 books right now

David Drake
RCN-Lt.Leary series

Tanya Huff
Vallor series

 

[GypsyComet]

and what did I just find? A (funded) kickstarter for...

The same guy did a Kickstarter for a FATE treatment of that setting over a year ago. There is no sign that he ever delivered.

 

[Timerover51]

Hmmm, you have several Jack Vance books that might be good, if you can find them. I like the Dragon Masters, The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph, and The Galactic Effectuator.

And as you like the Eddings books, Andre Norton"s Witch World series might be interesting.

 

[DonM]

Have you read Belgarath the Sorcerer and the Rivan Codex by Eddings? I am not that thrilled with Polgara the Sorceress, but it is worth reading.

I own the Belgariad in the entire first printing paperback, along with all the hardbacks in that setting done by Eddings. I actually think the Elenium is a more playable world though. The Rivan Codex is really for folks wanting to write short stories in the setting, or for gaming.

 

[Timerover51]

I own the Belgariad in the entire first printing paperback, along with all the hardbacks in that setting done by Eddings. I actually think the Elenium is a more playable world though. The Rivan Codex is really for folks wanting to write short stories in the setting, or for gaming.

Just making sure, but I do find the Rivan Codex useful in working on some of my own writing, showing some of the ideas and material that needs to be there to make a story believable/enjoyable.

 

[rancke]

I own the Belgariad in the entire first printing paperback, along with all the hardbacks in that setting done by Eddings. I actually think the Elenium is a more playable world though. The Rivan Codex is really for folks wanting to write short stories in the setting, or for gaming.

I too have the entire Belgariad although I've yet to reread it. Eddings writes a very good fantasy novel. Unfortunately, I really do mean it in the singular.


Hans

 

[darue]

The same guy did a Kickstarter for a FATE treatment of that setting over a year ago. There is no sign that he ever delivered.

hmm, well I don't know about that, maybe it didn't fund?

Anyway the funding cycle only ended a couple months ago, and he does have the three books in PDF format for sale:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/123833/The-Double-Spiral-War

the only other way to get them (long out of print), well, besides the lulu option, is old paperbacks on amazon,etc.

 

[Enoff]

Been reading some classic sci-fi the last couple days; just finished Frederik Pohl's "Gateway"

Hugo award, John W Campbell Memorial Award, Nebula award
Wealth ... or death. Those were the choices Gateway offered. Humans had discovered this artificial spaceport, full of working interstellar ships left behind by the mysterious, vanished Heechee. Their destinations are preprogrammed. They are easy to operate, but impossible to control. Some came back with discoveries which made their intrepid pilots rich; others returned with their remains barely identifiable. It was the ultimate game of Russian roulette, but in this resource-starved future there was no shortage of desperate volunteers.

- I remember reading this novel looooong ago, it was fun to reread it. I had only remembered vague parts.

I haven't read much of C.J. Cherryh so just started her "Downbelow Station" The first book in the Alliance-Union : Company Wars series.

Hugo award
Downbelow Station is the book that won Cherryh a Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1982. A blockbuster space opera of the rebellion between Earth and its far-flung colonies, it is a classic science fiction masterwork.

- So far so good, interesting that she mentions jump ship carriers and rider ships. Did this later influence Traveller?

 

[GypsyComet]

hmm, well I don't know about that, maybe it didn't fund?

Anyway the funding cycle only ended a couple months ago, and he does have the three books in PDF format for sale:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/123833/The-Double-Spiral-War

the only other way to get them (long out of print), well, besides the lulu option, is old paperbacks on amazon,etc.

Both funded.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1292093911/warren-c-norwoods-double-spiral-war-rpg?ref=live
and
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ds-double-sprial-war-traveller-edit?ref=users
And he's been asked about the progress of the first with no response. His links to RPGNow remain empty. Either he has not been able to demonstrate sufficient IP control to satisfy RPGNow, he is a really slow writer, or something (from quite a list of possible things) has gone wrong.