Tag: Science Fiction

H is for Heinlein and Herbert

Posted on by Neal Asher
 
PETER HAMILTON
SECOND CHANCE AT EDEN
CHARLES L HARNESS
THE ROSE
THE PARADOX MEN
HARRY HARRISON
STAR WORLD
PLANET OF THE DAMNED
ONE STEP FROM EARTH
ROBERT A HEINLEIN
STARSHIP TROOPERS
FARMER IN THE SKY
THE STAR BEAST
THE GREEN HILLS OF EARTH
THE MAN WHO SOLD THE MOON
PODKAYNE OF MARS
THE PUPPET MASTERS
FRANK HERBERT
THE JESUS INCIDENT
HELLSTROM’S HIVE
THE GREEN BRAIN
THE SANTAROGA BARRIER
THE DOSADI EXPERIMENT
THE BOOK OF FRANK HERBERT
THE WORLDS OF FRANK HERBERT
DUNE
DUNE MESSIAH
CHAPTER HOUSE DUNE
HERETICS OF DUNE
GOD EMPEROR OF DUNE
PHILIP E HIGH
COME HUNT AN EARTHMAN

Who Reads my Books? Phil Ackerman.

Posted on by Neal Asher

Hi Neal
You asked who was reading your books, well here I am an Electronic Engineer designing radios for air-traffic control. Small department of approx 20 people so have to put my hand to all sorts of designs, audio, PSU, RF etc.

I have been reading SF since finding my older brothers collection of Asimov and Heinlein, though I was put off Heinlein after reading Stranger in a strange land, too hippy.

I love reading most proper SF, you, Reynolds, Hamilton, Vogt, Smith, Egan etc etc. Best thing with SF though is getting Interzone every other month. My other hobbies include cycle racing, bird watching and walking.

Can find photos of me at www.PhilAckerman.co.uk and I have attached photos of part of my collection.

Phil Ackerman.

Pushing Ice — Alastair Reynolds

Posted on by Neal Asher

So Janus, one of Saturn’s ice moons abruptly takes off out of the solar system, shedding ice and rock as it goes to reveal the alien spaceship underneath. Fortunate choice, and in every sense, since Janus is the two-faced Roman god of gates and doorways. I could ramble on like the most anal of SF reviewers about how this was an ongoing theme throughout the whole book, but such themes can be found in any book.
Then, after Bella Lind puts it to a crew vote, the mining ship Rockhopper sets off in pursuit. A human story aboard that ship, friendships tested, broken, healed, life and death decisions to be made and sometimes not made too well.
I had a little problem with some of the characters, not because they weren’t well-drawn or weak as some reviewers seem to think, but because they were annoying. I constantly felt that they needed a kick up the behind, whilst one of them could have done with a rock chisel through the back of her head quite early on. Also there was what I’ll describe as a black box MacGuffin that fizzled a bit. Minor points, really.
All this was set against a backdrop of the immensity of space and deep time lovingly illustrated by Reynolds’ knowledge of astronomy and relativity, vast and ancient alien technology, human technology taken to the limit too, and aliens. Yup, sensawunda here, and Pushing Ice pushed all my buttons in that respect. I enjoyed this and I’m glad I bought it.

Who Read My Books? Alexander Kruel.

Posted on by Neal Asher

I’m 25 year old guy living in Germany. I call myself a transhumanist, atheist and vegetarian. I’m interested in science fiction, science, philosophy, math, language, consciousness and the nature of reality…

I grew up within a religious environment. Later decided to become vegetarian when I was around 14. That decision was likely my first revolt against religion. Shortly afterwards, still ‘believing’, I completely rejected god. I guess that made me a satanist? Anyway, around the age of 19, with the onset of prevalent Internet access, I quickly decided to call myself an atheist. Although my atheism is just a public statement. In an epistemological debate I’d position myself as agnostic.

I Visited elementary school and afterwards went onto middle school. In Germany we have 3 school types that follow upon elementary school. Basically the lowest one is for dumb people, the middle one for average and another one for smart kids. I quit middle school at 15 and went onto the lowest school type to quit altogether after a year, without graduation.

I started to work as baker. Though found I’d rather sleep at night, since staying up basically turns me into a zombie. Afterwards I did various jobs, amongst other things working as digital media designer. The horror of push-button creativity…

These days I’m mainly trying to get a decent education.

P.S.
As you’ve probably guessed, I’m not neurotypical 😉

Photos? http://www.flickr.com/photos/xixidu/sets/1026306/

Who Read My Books? Mark Chitty.

Posted on by Neal Asher

Where to start with the exciting information about Mark Chitty? Well, I’m a 29 year old guy living in North Wales with my wife, Jane, and hyperactive cocker spaniel, Snoop. I work at Bangor University where I deal with students on a day to day basis and help them with any problems they have while also attending to vital jobs such as unjamming the photocopier, ensuring adequate stock of yellow highlighters and whiteboard markers for the academic staff, and other generally riveting and challenging duties. Before doing this I’ve been an NVQ assessor, a paperwork processor, an admin dogs-body and also worked in a hotel doing all the things associated with it. Yes, that also includes cleaning the vomit stained beds after rather inconsiderate guests.
Due to the high excitement (or rather lack of) in my working day I found sci-fi as the perfect escape route. While I’ve always been a fan of tv shows and console games in the genre, it wasn’t until 2004 that I really started reading as heavily as I do now. While I’ve read some of the classics I much prefer fiction from the mid 90’s onwards with the likes of Peter Hamilton, Neal Asher, Alastair Reynolds, Gary Gibson, Eric Brown and a host of other British authors taking the top spots. John Scalzi and Tobias Buckell are really the only recent American authors that I like enough to name, but anything sci-fi will get a look in one way or another.
Because of this new found love of sci-fi literature I run a blog, www.walkerofworlds.com, where I review what I read and post other bits of information, cover art and press releases whenever I get them. I also run a Peter Hamilton fan site at www.theunisphere.com, something that stemmed from that book I picked up in 2004 that started this all off (Pandora’s Star, in case you’re wondering).
Other than reading I’m still a fairly avid gamer, but I get nowhere near enough time to play anymore. Favourites are the Final Fantasy series and Star Ocean games, although give me a bit of Resident Evil any day of the week. I just got an Xbox too, so more time and money are slowly being absorbed by it’s seductiveness! TV shows and movies are again pretty much sci-fi orientated – the Alien series is a particular favourite, as too are the Stargate shows.
As for hobbies, after reading and squeezing some game time into the week I still like to try and play some basketball. I started playing while at school and used to play in the national under-19s league, way back in the day! Nowadays it’s all about playing for enjoyment and keeping fit – it’s one of the few sports I will actually play.

Who Read My Books? Taylor Preston.

Posted on by Neal Asher

I recently graduated from North Carolina State University with a BA in English and am currently in the process of applying for graduate school. I studied abroad in Oxford last summer and absolutely loved it. As soon as I have enough money I hope to come back. No technical or scientific background, but I love science and always have. Not enough people with English degrees appreciate the beauty and complexity of the natural world, and more’s the shame.

It’s safe to say I’ve read a lot of books, but I’m particularly fond of science fiction. Current favorites writing in the genre are Reynolds, Banks, Morgan, Kessel, Gibson (Gary, though I do like William as well), Hamilton, and, of course, Asher. I’m starting to reread many of the classics and I’ve found a lot to like in A.E. Van Vogt, Larry Niven, and Samuel Delany.

As well as reading, I also enjoy writing since my undergrad concentration was Creative Writing. I’ve taken fiction writing from John Kessel, which was loads of fun, particularly since he’s a science fiction writer and all around great guy.

G is for Gemmell and Gibson (either).

Posted on by Neal Asher

DAVID S GARNETT
TIME IN ECLIPSE
DAVID GEMMELL
LEGEND
WAYLANDER
FIRST CHRONICLES OF DRUSS THE LEGEND
THE KING BEYOND THE GATE
HERO IN SHADOWS
QUEST FOR LOST HEROES
GHOST KING
MORNINGSTAR
KNIGHTS OF DARK REKNOWN
THE LAST GUARDIAN
DARK MOON
MIDNIGHT FALCON
RAVENHEART
STORMRIDER
THE LION OF MACEDON
MARK S GESTON
OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE DRAGON
GARY GIBSON
AGAINST GRAVITY
ANGEL STATIONS
TERRY GREENHOUGH
TIME & TIMOTHY GRENVILLE
PARKE GODWIN
WAITING FOR THE GALACTIC BUS

Who Reads My Books? Graeme Finch

Posted on by Neal Asher

IT server hardware engineer on site, RFS Qualified but no longer practising Arborist (Tree Surgeon), one time lifegaurd (swimming pool variety). Grounds and terminal maintenance person at London City Airport when it first opened, cutting grass on the runway, painting terminal lounges and the like so dignitaries could get their fix of emulsion smell. One time mechanical and electrical maintenance estimator for the UK’s (then) largest facilities maintenance company, all these fields look random but are each connected by that six degrees of separation rule, what employment agencies call transferable skills.

I scuba dived extensively in my early twenties, and read the Godwhale and Cachalot for the first time during this period. I do a fair bit of walking, swimming and cycling, I read as much historical fiction as I do science fiction and have trawled through some Dickins. I will read Moby Dick this year and have tackled both the Illiad and Odessy both original translations and novelised versions and Dan Simmons Illium series that takes the themes of the Illiad and incorporates them into a far flung future and our very own past as well as a parallel universe (or two). The classics offer us a window on the past, attitudes to life and death, towards each other and reflect in some ways what was socially cohesive or topical at the time (a bit like climate change, and over population today). Neal’s own references to strong diseases and weak humans in Cowl will if we are unlucky prove to be one of those Scfi “cos that’s wot’l appen” moments some time down the line.

The first series of books I read were the Amtrak Wars by Patrick Tilley, before that I’d been a reluctant reader, after that I couldn’t get enough. My favourite book of all time is The Silmarillion by Tolkien, closely followed by The Lord of the Rings. I’m currently reading the Seven Suns Saga by some bloke called Kevin J Anderson, who I’d not heard of but is apparently a notable in StarWars circles and Co wrote some Dune books (I’ve only read Dune, it was brilliant), I’m struggling with the first book of the series because I feel a bit patronised by it, though it has some good stuff in it. I’ve read a good few Stephen Kings, Dean Koontz and Brian Lumley books. And down the years I’ve read countless odds and sods, from detective novels that were the only thing avaiable when I had a long stay in hospital when I was eighteen, to erotic fiction with some rampant bird I met during my divorce (I needed help maintaining my hormone levels at overdrive, though to be fair she wore me out and then gave me the Spanish archer treatment “El Bow”).
I have a hard back copy of Orbus which I’ll be reading next (though to be fair I can’t abide hardbacks), they don’t fit in my backpack pockets and take up too much room, and if they do go in the pack they invariably get damp damage because they share space with my swimming gear.

I Have a broad understanding of Particle physics, Cosmology, Theory of relativity and many other subjects science related. In part through science fiction and that nagging bit of the brain that says “is that actually plausible”? I’m curious, about the very massive and the very small and how if you could stand on an atom and look out through the rest of a cell at all the other atoms in the human body (for instance). Would the specs of light look like the stars in our galaxy and would the distances be relative. Then you take that idea out to the size of a planet and get your head around how far our nearest neighbour planet is, then our largest planet neighbour, then the next nearest galaxy and so forth.

Science fiction, generally makes you optimistic (I think) (someone I know of disagrees), though sometimes it makes you wish you were born in a couple of hundred years time. I also think older science fiction is a great gauge of what we imagined and what has now been realised (see line above).