Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 12:43 pm
Far from the best in my opinion, but only because it stands among giants. Certainly one of my favorites, in spite of a few holes in the science (which I did not just mention, you must have imagined it).
Here are a few of my other favorites that might appeal:
Dickson: Gordon R. Dickson's Childe cycle spans about 1000 years (from about century 14 to century 24) and consists of several novels and short stories, my favorite of which is "Soldier, Ask Not," (actually a Novella I think). I bring him up because SRD's work reminds me of Dickson's, with prose that transcends any genre, and characters that get chewed in the teeth of hell and walk out heavily scarred and fundamentally changed (when they walk out at all). I seem to see some of his influence in the Gap cycle, or perhaps they share some influences.
Other books in that series include "Necromancer" and "The Final Encyclopedia," and "The Tactics of Mistake," (others too, not sure how many). They don't have to be read in any particular order.
Baxter: I loved Wells' "The Time Machine," but that was more about politics than time travel. However, about a hundred years later comes Stephen Baxter with a sequel. "The Time Ships" begins where "The Time Machine" leaves off, with the Time Traveler getting back on his machine to return to the Eloi and Morlocks in the year 802,701.
As he sits in his machine and the years, then centuries, roll past in an "attenuated blur," the sun's movement across the sky slows and stops (decades are going by in seconds, but the sun is hanging in one place). Then the sun goes out.
After that things start to get <i>wierd</i>.
This is the book many of us thought we were picking up when we picked up "The Time Machine," a mind-boggling story about time travel and its implications. It seems that quantum physics was developed at some point between when the two books were written. There aren't many authors who can try to convey this much breadth and scope and wierdness without it coming off like a load of horseshit, and I'm not one of them, so I leave it to the interested to find out more. Baxter's work will mess you up.
Clarke: It is my skewed opinion that there's only one sequel to 2001 that counts, and that's 3001, because these are the ones with the really big changes. In 2001, humankind learns that they are not alone. In 2010 the plot thickens, and in 2061 it thickens some more. Both are plenty good, but 3001 is when the other foot falls, so to speak. It's the one that made me sit down heavily, mouth hanging open, and go 10 minutes without blinking.
Niven/Pournelle: "The Mote in God's Eye," and sequel "The Gripping Hand," are essential. In "The Gripping Hand" are some of my favorite space battles of all time. Faster-than-light travel (it's just magic, damnit) aside, there is more realism "laid up for you here than your petty mortal heart can bear." Or at least my petty mortal heart.
Bear: FaTeke is dead on about "Eon". I have to read that at least once every two years. Wierd wierd wierd. Same with "Moving Mars". Bear also wrote a good fantasy called "Songs of Earth and Power," which I dare not try to talk about after being up all night, beyond saying this: Very, very droll. I'm not much of a reader of fantasy (Tolkien and Donaldson and not much else), but this book also makes my short list.
Now I'm fraying into mist. If you have read this far, you win a cookie!
Here are a few of my other favorites that might appeal:
Dickson: Gordon R. Dickson's Childe cycle spans about 1000 years (from about century 14 to century 24) and consists of several novels and short stories, my favorite of which is "Soldier, Ask Not," (actually a Novella I think). I bring him up because SRD's work reminds me of Dickson's, with prose that transcends any genre, and characters that get chewed in the teeth of hell and walk out heavily scarred and fundamentally changed (when they walk out at all). I seem to see some of his influence in the Gap cycle, or perhaps they share some influences.
Other books in that series include "Necromancer" and "The Final Encyclopedia," and "The Tactics of Mistake," (others too, not sure how many). They don't have to be read in any particular order.
Baxter: I loved Wells' "The Time Machine," but that was more about politics than time travel. However, about a hundred years later comes Stephen Baxter with a sequel. "The Time Ships" begins where "The Time Machine" leaves off, with the Time Traveler getting back on his machine to return to the Eloi and Morlocks in the year 802,701.
As he sits in his machine and the years, then centuries, roll past in an "attenuated blur," the sun's movement across the sky slows and stops (decades are going by in seconds, but the sun is hanging in one place). Then the sun goes out.
After that things start to get <i>wierd</i>.
This is the book many of us thought we were picking up when we picked up "The Time Machine," a mind-boggling story about time travel and its implications. It seems that quantum physics was developed at some point between when the two books were written. There aren't many authors who can try to convey this much breadth and scope and wierdness without it coming off like a load of horseshit, and I'm not one of them, so I leave it to the interested to find out more. Baxter's work will mess you up.
Clarke: It is my skewed opinion that there's only one sequel to 2001 that counts, and that's 3001, because these are the ones with the really big changes. In 2001, humankind learns that they are not alone. In 2010 the plot thickens, and in 2061 it thickens some more. Both are plenty good, but 3001 is when the other foot falls, so to speak. It's the one that made me sit down heavily, mouth hanging open, and go 10 minutes without blinking.
Niven/Pournelle: "The Mote in God's Eye," and sequel "The Gripping Hand," are essential. In "The Gripping Hand" are some of my favorite space battles of all time. Faster-than-light travel (it's just magic, damnit) aside, there is more realism "laid up for you here than your petty mortal heart can bear." Or at least my petty mortal heart.
Bear: FaTeke is dead on about "Eon". I have to read that at least once every two years. Wierd wierd wierd. Same with "Moving Mars". Bear also wrote a good fantasy called "Songs of Earth and Power," which I dare not try to talk about after being up all night, beyond saying this: Very, very droll. I'm not much of a reader of fantasy (Tolkien and Donaldson and not much else), but this book also makes my short list.
Now I'm fraying into mist. If you have read this far, you win a cookie!
