So I know this is about the TV shows, but it is probably the best place for this topic.
I was at the Barnes-a-Million earlier and was going nuts in the science fiction ailses looking for something to read, that didn't have to do with alien invasions, military epics, alternate histories, of some form of furries. What ever happened to books about a bunch of guys tear assing around the galaxy!?!?!?
Any recomendations?

Hummmmm you could always read Alan Dean Foster's Pip & Flinx series. I found them very entertaining when I was younger and he just released a few more books in the series. Quite a good serie actually, very light read though. Or are you looking for a more serious long read?

How about some Battlestar Galactica? "The Cylons' Secret" gives a little history of before the start of the tv show.

Nah... I'm not int tie-ins. Although I loved "How Much For Just the Planet?"
I found something from my youth though that surprised me. Moon Mission: A Major Matt Mason Story. I'm starting to re-discover my love of R.A.H. again.

I try and re-read all his books at least once a year. He is my altime favorite author. "Time Enough for Love" is a great book and one of my favorites of his besides "Stranger in a Strange Land" but to read the afore mentioned you need to read some of the ones leading up to it. He is who I reference with my screen name:)

Depends on what you define as science fiction, and whether you lean toward series or one-offs.

Lately, there seem to be a lot more fantasy authors/books than hard core science fiction.

Have you tried any of William Gibson's works? He's known for creating the cyberpunk subgenre.

One quick and dirty way to check out who's hot right now in science fiction is to pick up the Best of SF anthologies - there's one every year and they feature short stories by the current hot writers in genre. You can get a sense of what the writers are like and you can check out their books.

Lately, I've been delving more into fantasy, so I'm a bit out of the loop on what's hot for science fiction right now.

I don't know if you have ever read Frank Herbert's Dune series (I did - except the series sort of went downhill after the third book) - but there's been a slew of prequels written in the past few years for that series, which are pretty decent.

My passion in reading has been for an old book series I loved when I was in High School... It's somewhat alternate history though, but if anyone has ever seen The Wingman series by Mack Maloney, I'd recommend it if you're wanting a good solid adventure read.

I was always partial to the Phule's Company series by Robert Aspirin. Pretty cool with a good deal of humor and tear-assing !

All of his books are hilarious, the Myth series too. If he wasn't having problems with the IRS he would make more, but as of now he only co-authors books so he can actually make some money. IRS takes anything he makes under his name solo

for super hard sci fi i also recommend Gibson, he is amazing.

also try Larry Niven, i am reading "Scatterbrain" its an anthology, snippets short stories etc, very interesting--

--- we should all list what we are reading right now, that gives everyone ideas for what to explore next trip to the booksellers or library!--

i am also re-reading some early TSR Ravenloft books, manly the ones dealing with Vampires, like "Vampire of the Mists" and "I, Strahd"

I recommoned anything by Frank Herbert, Robert A. Heinlein, Neil Gaiman, or Terry Pratchett.

What about Grany Naylor or Eric Idle?

Levity is the cosmic expansion force! hehe

I pretty much stick to reading Forgotten Realms novels or Mechwarrior Dark Age these days. Picked up a couple Alan Dean Foster books last spring/summer. I do miss the authors of my youth: Foster, Heinlein, Gordon R Dickson, Brian Daley... *sigh*

Russ

it is hard to find good books now days

I try to read LotR once a year. Right now I'm reading Star Wars: The Joiner King. I've been slacking on my SW reading since the Yuuzhaan Vong War ended, and now I'm finally getting on with the story.

While not a book proper I'm also reading trade paperback collected volumes of a comic called Powers. It's the title that put Brian Michael Bendis (Ultimate Spider-Man) on the map. Focuses on two homocide cops that deal with superhero (or Powers) related homocides. Started out as an Image then moved to Marvel Icons, so they can be more mature with content. It's a great twist on the superhero genre, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone curious.

avid signed book collector and ameteur writer myself. will be checking out some of the above recommendations. Already collecting Gaiman. Although I lean more towards fantasy myself - Jordan, George RR Martin, and such. It's actually what got me going to Con's in the first place.

Weaned myself growing up on LOTR, so it was only a matter of time before I was hopelessly sunk.

Gamain's Neverwhere was really awesome, however i am having the worst time with Anansi Boys....

I have read almost all of the "J.D. Robb" books, and while not strictly science fiction, they take place in New York in the future and have a 'cyberpunk' flair. Technically i think that her works are considered murder mysteries but, they are interesting.

For a really enjoyable read, check out any of Mercedes Lackey's short stories about 'Skitty' a ships cat w a difference.

never thought about Robb as sci-fi, but I think you are right - she totally fits and she is a very good writer. I have a bunch of hers as well, both as Robb and Nora Roberts.

I flat out quit reading Star Wars when they killed Chewbacca. I refuse on the general principle of the thing. And I did have all of them up to that point.

Just picked up the latest Mechwarrior: Dark Age book and it's pretty decent. It's strange too because each chapter takes place at a different time in a given two year (or so) stint. Interesting nonetheless. I wish they'd get off their collective @$$ and make a Mechwarrior/Battletech film. There's such a wealth of history in the setting that it should be "easy" to do. And with modern CG FX technology, the 'mechs would be easy to do as well.

Supposedly Jerry Bruckheimer was attached to do a Mechwarrior/BT film a few years ago, but i haven't heard anything on it recently.

Russ

Russ

Just get books by Issac Asimov and shut yourself in your room.

Assimov can be hard, tho the foundation books are really good.


For some really good envrioment toned science fiction try the 'Crystal Singer' books by Anne McCaffrey i read those every few years and never tire of them. Right combo of people and gadgets with some space travel thrown in. Its a lighter science fiction, therefore more character driven than some of the more technical books, but very enjoyable.

I'm still more of a fantasy reader, and more scifi for tv than fantasy...

but, I read a lot of D&D forgotten realms. I love RA Salvator, Ed Greenwood & Elaine Cunningham for that genre.

also have read/reading Terry Goodkind, his sword of truth series, the first one "wizards first rule" is just awsome, and they get better...

If you think Asimov is hard, you haven't read many of his books. Most are easy going and very very entertaining.

Not SciFi, but good read is the "Tales of the Black Widows."

grr sticky keys, looks like i can't spell.

Forgot Goodkind - I love his writing too. Good call Goomba!

yea, I have almost all of his current books...but I just picked up Chainfire in paperback, I have most of those in hardback, but completly forgot to pick up chainfire when it first came out.

i have had the worst luck with books lately, i have abandoned almost every book i have tried to read lately... i just can't get through them, or i force my way through and they are sooooo not worth it.

So i go and buy 'Outbound Flight' by Timothy Zahn, and my boyfriend took it.

Has anyone else read any of the Elemental Mage books by Mercedes Lackey? i love them, the one i just read Pheonix and Ashes was amazing-- and the only book in months that i actually fininshed and enjoyed.

World War Z by Max Brooks.

The Honor Harrington series by David Weber is an outstanding space naval saga. Starts strong with On Basilisk Station and becomes more fun than your staring down someone's light cruiser with a fully loaded superdreadnaught.

Pick up The Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection From The Living Dead by Max Brooks and start working on your zombie plan for the impending undead uprising!

thanks guys, i knew i could count on you... next stop, the bookseller!!!!
....wait Jason, you can READ???? LOL

This is a great series, I have read and reread them. It is space opera with a lot of spaceship and battle stuff that gives it a nice edge.

No, but it has some nice pictures...

I LOVE the Honor Harrington series!!

I never thought I would go for military science fiction, but this was the exception.

I'm still waiting for the latest book, "At Any Cost" to come out in paperback - the hardback version of the book had a CD-Rom/DVD with it - which I probably should have purchased but didn't - does anyone have it?

David Weber is the guest of honor for MileHiCon this year...and the one of the con organizers wondered if I would be willing to play the role of Honor Harrington at the con....(Honor Harrington, for those who don't know, is half Chinese)

I haven't decided yet, since it means that it's another costume that I need to commission to have made...

Yes, and it is well worth it, as it has, among other things, electronic copies of the books up to and including At Any Cost with it! Woot!



If you decide to, I have two suggestions to make.

1. Jayne's Intelligence Review: Royal Manticoran Navy - This book has lots of 100% David Weber-approved fluff material on the RMN. Should have good pictures of the RMN uniform for you - mine has been ordered but not shipped yet.
2. Let me know who you get to do it, as it's been something I've been thinking about doing myself.

Thanks for the link - I haven't done much in exploring the Honorverse, so I didn't even know about the book! I should order it...

There was a person who attends Starfest/MileHiCon in Colorado who has done a Manticoran Navy uniform - I took a picture of him in it but never talked to him on where he had it made or where he found all the bits and parts for it. But I know I was one of the few people who recognized the uniform!

I need to find the photo so I can post it.

I will probably need to find a local tailor to do the uniform (I'm still looking for one to do my Atlantis costume!)

Well, I would have to suggest an old classic...the David Brin, uplift wars trilogy: Sundiver, Startide Rising, and the Uplift War. (although I suggest BUYING from half.com or the like, not Amazon).

It is basically a series about a universe in which all races became sentient by being "uplifted" by previous intelligent races. The Human race is the only race arrogant enough to claim to have evolved. Humans would have been "adopted" into slavery but for the fact that before meeting the universe at large, we "uplifted" dolphins and monkeys. Humans are also considered arrogant because we believe in the value of human technology, while the rest of the universe just "retrieves" their technology from the "library"....but not all libraries are created equal.....

Each book is unique, captivating, and builds to the whole story (although Brin does not answer all questions). I haven't found anybody similar, all said and told. While Sundiver is the first book, I started with Startide Rising, which is still my favorite. There wasn't any real problem, but the Uplift War probably should be read last. Also, a decade or so later Brin created a second trilogy in this universe. I haven't found them nearly as inspired and amazing as these three.

Councelor

Honestly, I ordered it mostly to go with the RMN T-shirt and a copy of Saganami Island Tactical Simulator, an Honorverse tactical game (based off the Attack Vector: Tactical engine, for the gamers out there).

If nothing else I can take pictures of the uniform and insignia pictures, start doing some digging, and email/PM you you what I find.



Yes. Yes you do.



Another option would be to talk to the people at Shadow Dale Creations. I've heard good things about them, and on several places on their page they encourage people to contact them for custom requests... although I think talking to a local tailor face-to-face would at least help make sure you weren't getting ripped off.

(Note that if there's some glaring loophole in my logic here, I've been up for almost 27 hours now, and if that's not enough, this would be the first costume of this type I haven't done based off others' prior detective work. )

EDIT: And a brief bit of Google-fu and look what I find... Honor Harrington uniform bible posted from the alt.books.david-weber newsgroup.

I would love to do an Honor costume, thanks for the book tip, I had never heard of it, it is now on my list of have to gets. When is the most recent book due out in paper back, I feel like I have been waiting forever!

Just got my copy of Jayne's today, along with SITS. Most of the stuff deals with the ships, but it does have lots of good info (including a decent picture and an outstanding written description of both officer's and enlisted personnel's uniforms for both the Royal Manticoran Navy and Royal Manticoran Marine Corps).

Can anybody here recommend a good sci-fi novel/series that is primarily from the perspective of fighter pilots? *(besides Star Wars)

not sure about a particular series that focuses on a fighter pilot....

but for other military science fiction writers (other than David Weber) there's David Drake (Vietnam vet - not sure what capacity) and John Ringo...

George RR Martin has a book, "Night of the Vampyre" which is about a lone fighter pilot...but I have not read the book to be able to recommend it or not - I've not read him, but I have team members who adore him (he was at a con in Denver last year)...

Robert Aspirin co-edited with Lynn Abbey (his ex-wife) a wonderful anthology series called "Thieves' World" - it probably falls within fantasy more than science fiction - about a town and kingdom with all kinds of weird characters (an artist who can only pant the truth, an almost immortal mercenary soldier, to name a few) that different authors get to play with -

Myth Adventures also came out as a comic book series at one time as well...I believe the artist was Phil Foglio (who, if you're a Star Trek fan, would recognize - I think he still does cartoons for Starlog magazine sometimes...

I have the trilogy for Crystal Singer but haven't read them yet - I tend to like her Dragonriders of Pern books a lot more...and her Acorna books aren't too bad...

McCaffrey is a pretty easy read, no matter what series you pick up of hers...

James Doohan and S.M. Stirling did a 3-book series of "The Flight Engineer". The Rising, The Privateer, and The Independent Command. They were pretty good. Though the main character is flight engineer for a fighter squadron, he is a former fighter pilot and there is a lot written from the fighter pilot's perspective.