Ooh. I stumbled across a cool site called Food Republic which has an interview column with musicians called "Good Food, Rocks." I found it due to their interview with John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats, but they've also interviewed members of Thee Oh Sees and the Obits.

Just got me these SCI -FI gems...................

As far as SF goes today, it's fresher than it's ever been to me, tho' it is just as tough to find novels that don't have space battles/bug-eyed monsters/and those  scantily clad space wenches. With our world changing so quickly, it takes some kind of radical new ideas to inject new life into a form that may as well be embedded in amber most of the time.

I like the Cyberpunks: William Gibson, Bruce Sterling (man, is this guy funny! And he keeps throwing out the ideas at quite a pace), Rudy Rucker (The Hunter S. Thompson of Rock & Roll Sci-Fi, read his 'Ware tetralogy), 

Neal Stephenson was solid gold for awhile, but now has sadly ditched the cool ideas and is aiming more for the New York Times Bestseller List, meh. However, I second the motion to call Snow Crash a classic, as well as The Diamond Age and (for geeks) Cryptonomicon. 

Kim Stanley Robinson imbues his work with a sense of spirituality, and adds architecture, ecology and love of nature, plus a healthy dose of politics. Try his DC trilogy, which puts global warming front-and-center.

Corey Doctorow put me off at first, but his books of the past 5 or so years really grabbed me, they are political novels aimed at the Young Adult market, yet still remain exciting for adults. Little Brother, its sequel Homeland, For The Win, and Pirate Cinema all kick serious ass, and as a bonus, some of them teach us a few tech tricks.

Funhouse Skull said:

Wow. I see I'm joining this party a little late, but what the fuck? Science fiction is without a doubt my favorite genre in both literature & film. The drawback to SF in film is that fans are frequently given  short shrift as the perception is we will accept anything as long as it includes bug-eyed monsters & scantily clad space wenches.

But I digress.

I'd like to first establish that I am on board with Harlan Ellison's revised definition of SF as "speculative fiction" as this broadens the imaginary limits of the genre by opening possibilities outside the interstellar travel / alien invasion / dystopian society / post-apocalyptic / science gone awry tropes that dominated the genre many years. Not that there's anything wrong with exploring these domains. That said, my favorite SF novels are:

A Clockwork Orange - ANTHONY BURGESS

Logan's Run - WILLIAM F. NOLAN & GEORGE CLAYTON JOHNSON

A Canticle For Leibowitz -WALTER M. MILLER, JR.

The Sirens Of Titan - KURT VONNEGUT, JR.

Starship Troopers - ROBERT A. HEINLEIN

The Lathe Of Heaven - URSULA K. LE GUIN

Creatures Of Light And Darkness - ROGER ZELAZNY

The Road - CORMAC McCARTHY

Damnation Alley - ROGER ZELAZNY

The Lost Traveller - STEVE WILSON

Recently, I finished Terry Pratchett's DODGER, a re-telling of The Artful Dodger. It was a load of fun, despite being for juvenilles (don't ever let that stop you). Pratchett's Discworld novels don't do much for me (perhaps they remind me of Piers Anthony), but this stand-alone novel is great, as is Nation.  Recommended.

Thanks for your post. Concerning Niven's new Known Space novels, I found them immensely enjoyable, but noticed a rather dark, cynical worldview that's not in his earlier stuff. Comment?

Jersey City Mods said:

I love the classics of the genre as well and would add

Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein

Ringworld (and the rest of the Known Space stories) - Larry Niven

Niven's recently published 4 Ringworld prequels that I enjoyed as well.

I took a long break from SF, but now that I'm a librarian and commuting by public transport, I've got a lot more time and opportunity to catch up.  Trying to get into steampunk but haven't found a keystone for that sub-genre yet.
 
Funhouse Skull said:

Wow. I see I'm joining this party a little late, but what the fuck? Science fiction is without a doubt my favorite genre in both literature & film. The drawback to SF in film is that fans are frequently given  short shrift as the perception is we will accept anything as long as it includes bug-eyed monsters & scantily clad space wenches.

 

Everyone in Atlanta seems obsessed with this show (it's filmed and set in Georgia and also Atlanta just really loves zombies). I think this season (3rd) is the best yet, and it seems to get more dark and more gory with each episode.  The Woodbury town with its mysterious "Governor" is starting to remind me of "the others" in the show Lost.

Super Cannes, Cocaine Nights, and The Kindness of Women sound right up my alley, I'm a sci-fi fan who is starting to find the current world more science-fictional than anything that I can find lately.

Speaking a non-SF books by 'Sci-Fi' authors, have any of you read Anthony Burgess' The Piano Players? Read it aboot 20 years ago and quite enjoyed it. It's the 'memoir' of and old woman and the link that she has to her grandson.

My favorite Ballard books are High Rise, Concrete Island (auto accident, and how the survivor reacts), Vermillion Sands (loosely connected short stories about a community).

The Crystal World (a virus is turning everything in the world into a crystalline substance, it's a bit Heart of Darkness-y) and Crash weren't bad, but for some reason they didn't have as hard an impact upon my mind.

Ballard is like PK Dick for me, a little goes a long way, so after my initial exposure to them I only read them every 5 or 10 years. Potent, often depressing stuff. When I read Blade Runner I was 20, and it bummed me out for 3 months, whew!

But there's no doubt that both writers are unique visionaries, no-one else comes close.

Hi everyone,

I just found this entry, so I'll come back later, but now I'll leave 2 links:

Why I want to fuck J. G. Ballard (title is a play on a short story)

pdf for The Complete Short Stories of JG Ballard

Glad so many people here love Ballard!

I just finished Warren Ellis' Gun Machine for both review and for January's Podcast.
I'm also working on Liquor and Prime by Poopy Z Brite for Feb. 

Incidentally early copies of The Illustrated Man never contained that story - I don't know if it was fixed eventually - but it only appeared in an Issue of Esquire in the 50's(?).

Hey, thanks so much sir! Likewise, I dig all the hand painted goodness, very sharp - and the shady tones of your color palette too. You got that stuff down like nothing else.

Gabi de la Merced said:

Thanks Idon mine. Congratulations for your work, very prolific. Cool style!

Thanks Idon mine. Congratulations for your work, very prolific. Cool style!

Hey Gabi,

Thanks for coming over and welcome to the Hideout! Very slick stuff there indeed. And cool re-interpretation of the Cramps records cover, Steve Blickenstaff is quite active here too FYI.

Hi guys, I'm new around here, while I upload images to the profile you can see some of my illustration & design work in gabidelamerced.blogspot.com

The comments are welcome!

Cheers

Thanks my friend you won't be let down. message me if you want a signed copy on the cheap. 

Bibliodiscoteque said:

"I ASSURE YOU THIS BOOK HAS GRAPHIC SEX, VIOLENCE, AND COPIOUS DRUG" - With this as the selling point I will certainly check it out!

"I ASSURE YOU THIS BOOK HAS GRAPHIC SEX, VIOLENCE, AND COPIOUS DRUG" - With this as the selling point I will certainly check it out!

True......it is pretty ironic....

John Battles said:

The Golem , of course , is an all time classic , and , it seems , not readily available until the 90's. What's ironic is , Paul Wegener , who played the legendary Jewish  monster - hero, later became the official Actor for The Nazi Party.

Glad I could help.....

Another favourite of mine is "Vampyr"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44B07oaEr6g

Another German silent (you may detect a theme here....)but a few years later than the other two....less well known, but well worth a look....

hips like cinderella said:

I actually have not seen The Golem, though I've been meaning to for a while. I appreciate the link, which saves me the effort of the search. I've been checking out some old documentaries, as well. I watched Nanook of the North (which has been said to be the first actual documentary film) a couple weeks ago and it was pretty damn cool.

The Blue Giant Zeta Puppies said:

Probably old news to you....but for my money, the original "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and "The Golem" are hard to beat...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrg73BUxJLI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTEN9JL1A_g

The Golem , of course , is an all time classic , and , it seems , not readily available until the 90's. What's ironic is , Paul Wegener , who played the legendary Jewish  monster - hero, later became the official Actor for The Nazi Party.

in honor of Thanksgiving , I suggest any and all interested parties seek out "Blood Freak". It's not "Psychedelic" , but , the "Plot" concerns a latter day mad Scientist who turns a disgruntled Vietnam Veteran into a monster by feeding him a drug - infused turkey , and giving him chemically saturated (Just like today !) Marijuana. The monster , of course , has a TURKEY'S HEAD , and goes on a killing spree.

But , if that's not enough , seek out the Ormand Bros.' "Monster and The Stripper" (aka "The Exotic Ones".), in which experimental skunkweed turns SLEEPY LABEEF into a monster , also. 

Well thank you Mr.! Glad ya dig em and Thompson is da Bomb.

NARCO STATES said:

The two bottom drawings remind me of Jim Thompson characters! Very cool work.

IDON MINE said:

LATE, LATE!

Keep on artin, fun stuff there!

PS: For future postings, you can also directly insert the pics into the post by the way of the little picture icon, 2nd from the left, makes it easier for us to oggle them, thanks!

Slighted Knight said:

I draw weird shit. I drew my profile pic all by myself, no grown ups.

True that, I guess it's also gonna be a hallmark for future Microsoft studio related games. Not all will get the gigantic financial backing this one got, but they all will profit of it in one way or another. The 720 will make it easier for third party devs to get at least close to that big shine of the Halo 4 visuals with the new Tech and all.

Side notes: I'm just wondering if MS will take the bitter pill and use Blue Ray from sony or if they will force a new format on the market? Sorry, if I sound kinda sounding off at MS...

I have to say, I never was a big HALO luvr, but the new one just seems to do right. Just a matter of time till I gets me one of those X-BOX things...

And more inspiration...

A real garage bar

Info: Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme Convertible (1969)
Original 42.700 km, in excellent conditions!! 17.000 €