FUCK... Ok the "real" Sci-Fi books thread... This is my question for you...
 

I'm thinking of writing one -- I'm wondering what you look for when you read these books -- and what's your biggest complaint...?

I think most of these books have crappy writing -- in terms of the flow, sentence structure, etc... and like Asimov or some of these guys just get bogged down in the science or politics and it gets real boring... Anyway just looking for general opinions... Thanks.

Read some Philip Jose Farmer, he's got crazy ideas and never gets too technical...

people dont read books anymore.

Who has time to read books? I read newspapers, magazines and some marketing and business books and that's about it.

That's a tough category to make money with unless you're just doing it for the fun of it.

Lots of people read... I go to the library almost every day to read...

Look at Philip Dick -- how many movies were made from his books -- Total Recall, Blade Runner, Minority Report just to name a few... :1orglaugh

I got big plans -- I'm going to have theme parks surrounding the books -- the works... Sci-fi is mainstream now...

The Martian Chronicles is the last scifi i had read, years ago

Cyberspace is moving to a whole new level... it's happening already -- collective consciousness is already in progress. The Borg is no longer a StarTrek fantasy... Well that's just one aspect of cyberspace... I think William Gibson did a good job -- and the Matrix movies are giving people a surface taste of what is to come... but I think there's a lot of room for exploration here -- considering the internet is the biggest thing to happen since the industrial revolution...

I'm going to give cyberspace a makeover.

anyway sorry about the triple-post -- GFY kept giving me error messages -- I guess all 3 got hijacked... that was odd... must be a bug in VBulletin.

Took the words out of my mouth. Philip K. Dick is a great writer. William Gibson writes some cool stuff too.

I happen to like old school science fiction such as Robert Heinlein, Philip K. Dick and Isaac Asimov. I like the fantastic and not the hardcore science fiction. I loved the first three Foundation books but after that I just asked why? SF writers has the same problem as fantasy writers: they keep revisting the same world over and over. I don't want to read the tenth book in the Dune series any more than I want to read the twenty-fifth book in the Wheel of Time series.

I like shorter works instead of the five hundred page books. I also like stand alone books more than a series of books (unless the characters and writing style are very good).

The last book I read was The Stainless Steel Rat Is Born by Harry Harrison. Yes, there is more than one book but at least it has humor and does not bog the reader down with explaining how every little gadget works. Philip Jose Farmer's books are very different, some good and some just bad.

My biggest complaint is that none of the stores in this damn town stock any science fiction books.

The only fiction I read is GFY...............

Are you looking for any old Sci books ?

I have a bunch from when I had an used book store..

Anyway, I love sci fi movies especially Dick's but I read mystery..

:thumbsup :thumbsup

hahahaha

So true....

Unfortunately, I tell the truth.....:(

My biggest complaint is when other authors take over a story with an established character. They *never* portray the character the same way.
Collaborated works are okay; except for the blaring changes in writing style as the story switches from one author to another.

With Sci-Fi I think the fault is trying to describe every little detail of something rather than just the concept. A reader can construct your vision in his mind with just a few details; he really doesn't need to know that tab A fits into slot B (or in this case, that the curve of the aperture was offset only by the oddly mechanical tubing connected to the posterior housing unit...).

I guess the only other complaint I'd have about Sci-Fi is that many times the authors get so caught up in the world that they forget the characters. By the end of the story the plot has worked itself out and you still don't know why something happened, simply because the author didn't flush out the key players well enough.

Good luck, Fly! I've written a fantasy novel and it's been sitting and collecting dust for well over 10 years. Never even tried to send it to a publisher, it was enough for me just to finish it. :)

I agree that some sci-fi writers are indeed not very good 'writers' at all. For instance, Willian Gibsons Neuromancer. An excellent story but it is one of the worst written books I have ever read.

The thing that I despise most about sci-fi is when you get guys like Gibson who think that showing off your vocabulary of useless words and arcane sentence structure is good writing.

If you want some examples of what I consider good Modern day sci-fi check out Enders Game by Orson Scott Card and Hyperion by Dan Simmons.

speak for yourself... the spice is life!

that with a mix of Aldous Huxley ;)

good luck fly ;)

definately william gibson is the man to be

i also like timothy zahn

I have always loved Science ficton, great forum to experiment with social structures.

It took me years after Law School to read recreationally but Science Fiction help bring back the pleasure and the thought provocation.

I like reading books..I agree, still think a lot of people enjoy reading books.

Jerry Pournelle had an interview published recently, in which he says it's still a tough road to being a sucessful science fiction author.

http://www.scifi.com/sfw/issue333/interview.html

Good luck. It's easier to make money in porn. But writing science fiction is sometimes worth doing wether or not you make money at it.