The GMG SF/Fantasy/Horror Club

[Fëanor]

About to open this one.  Merci, David!

Is good!

I read this many years ago on a flight from San Francisco to Toronto.

[Bogey]

Forsooth!

Trust you & the family are enjoying the summer, Bill!

Doing great. Thanks.  How is the Pulse? 

30 pages in and enjoying it. Love his vocabulary.  Just enough "not explaining everything" moments to keep it fresh.  I enjoy it when an author does this in spurts.

[DavidW]

30 pages in and enjoying it. Love his vocabulary.  Just enough "not explaining everything" moments to keep it fresh.  I enjoy it when an author does this in spurts.

Then you should check out Steven Erikson, he does that not explaining anything in thousand page spurts!

No seriously rereading Gardens of the Moon is so awesome because there is so much that I'm getting now that was completely lost on me the first time.  What I first saw as he hates readers now I see as he rewards those that reread.

I'm glad that you're liking Neuromancer.  Some day I need to read the sequels.

[Karl Henning]

Doing great. Thanks.  How is the Pulse? 

More civilized, now that we've done with dumping tea into the Harbor 

[jochanaan]

About to open this one.  Merci, David!

It was mind-bending when it came out.  Perhaps less so now that technology has caught up to what Mr. Gibson was postulating, but still a fun read.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Can anyone on this thread identify the title and/or author of a science fiction story I once read in an anthology (the anthology was titled something on the order of Social Science through Science Fiction or perhaps Political Science through Science Fiction) in the mid to late '70s?  The story concerns a future time when model building (in fact, any kind of homemade production) is outlawed; a group of guys discover in the attic of an abandoned house part of a plan of a steam locomotive.  They don't know what it is or what it's for, but they attempt (against the law) to construct a model of it.  Thematic indexing is outstandingly good for sci fi, but still, after searching through it and asking many readers, I've been unable to find this story again.  Don't go to trouble, please, just wonder if anyone might recognize it.

[DavidW]

Is the collection Above the Human Landscape?  If so table of contents:

https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/242396/TOC

And buy it for a penny plus shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Social-Science-Fiction-Anthology/dp/0876200021

[kishnevi]

Bought some books at the local used book store
Randall Garrett Lord Darcy. 
An omnibus of one novel and several short stories published in the 60s and 70s.  Part fantasy part alternate history part Inspector Morse.  Read it a couple of times before but never owned it.
Simon R Green Swords of Haven.
A compilation of the first three Hawk and Fisher novels.  Green's current series is a sort of British equivalent of the Dresden Files.  Hawk and Fisher is sort of medieval urban fantasy, going by the blurb.
And three recent books that are generic urban fantasy
Elliot James. Charming
Kevin Hearne. Hounded
Tad Williams. The Dirty Streets of Heaven.

[ZauberdrachenNr.7]

Is the collection Above the Human Landscape?  If so table of contents:

https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/242396/TOC

And buy it for a penny plus shipping:

http://www.amazon.com/Landscape-Social-Science-Fiction-Anthology/dp/0876200021

THANKS, David, that might well be it!!  The date is within range and it is not a title I remember physically checking but it does correspond to vague memory!  I've ordered a copy and will report back.  Blessings of a thousand golden suns upon ye. 

[Bogey]

Chapter 9 was some of the best sci-fi I ever read.  Wintermute is stinkin' cool!

[Bogey]

On a side note, snuck this one in during a workout via a podcast (free):

Mr. Spaceship (1953) by Philip K. Dick.  Classic sci-fi in all regards.   A basic "brain used to run a spaceship" story, but written well.  Some twists here and there, but no major curve balls.



Sorry for the double posts MNDave, but good discussion on books should know no boundaries.

[Bogey]

Neuromancer in the can.  Had to use a site to help me with characters a bit, but once I got those straight I just let it ride. Gave it 5 out 5 stars.  Probably one of the more difficult pieces of fiction I have ever read, but great writing can trump that easily.

Now, a rec from a friend:

[DavidW]

Neuromancer in the can.  Had to use a site to help me with characters a bit, but once I got those straight I just let it ride. Gave it 5 out 5 stars.  Probably one of the more difficult pieces of fiction I have ever read, but great writing can trump that easily.

Now, a rec from a friend:

Awesome Bill, glad you liked it!  As for Farmer's series I read some of them when I was a kid.  Pretty cool stuff.

[Bogey]

Almost 100 pages in.....ah, such are summers for teachers.  Definitely easier to navigate than the previous read.  It is starting to pick up a bit so I will continue it.

[DavidW]

Almost 100 pages in.....ah, such are summers for teachers.  Definitely easier to navigate than the previous read.  It is starting to pick up a bit so I will continue it.

Yes I've been thinning my to read pile this summer.  Also trying to do some organizing and cleaning.

[Bogey]

Another Philip K. Dick podcast under my belt. 



This one was better thought out and plotted than Mr. Spaceship IMO and still came from 1953.  Not sure how much of his stories are in public domain for listening, but what is there I will find.

[Bogey]

Finished up the first Riverworld book.  Excellent.  Will snag the second one soon.  However, giving this one a go:

[jochanaan]

Finished up the first Riverworld book.  Excellent.  Will snag the second one soon.  However, giving this one a go:

I liked that one well enough.  I usually don't care much for such quasi-militaristic SF, but this had some interesting ideas.

[Daverz]

Finished up the first Riverworld book.  Excellent.  Will snag the second one soon.  However, giving this one a go:

Don't remember much about it at all.  I still remember bits of Ringworld.

[DavidW]

It's been along time since I read that.  What I remembered most was when overpopulation became so great the aliens couldn't even collect trash fast enough and the cities became like living in landfills.