Are there any science fiction fans at the lakeside?

gringal wrote:Vampire stuff just sucks, IMHO.

Could be you're just reading the wrong vampire stuff.

anything is possible and a bookclub is meant to expand one's reading choices in books

Tony_In_Mexico wrote:

gringal wrote:Vampire stuff just sucks, IMHO.

Could be you're just reading the wrong vampire stuff.

That was a bad joke on my part.....you know: Vampires/Suck

Tony_In_Mexico wrote:

gringal wrote:Vampire stuff just sucks, IMHO.

Could be you're just reading the wrong vampire stuff.

With all the good books out there both fiction and nonfiction who would want to read vampire stuff?
To each his own I guess.

If books of all kinds didn't sell, they wouldn't continue publishing them. There's a fan base out there for just about any genre you can think of. Consider the popularity of the vampire TV shows. Big hit. So who am I to say?

I was a big sci-fi fan back in the olden days; couldn't get enough of it. Somehow, the newer authors didn't grab me as much. Maybe I need some recommendations on the better current ones.

[quote="gringal" I was a big sci-fi fan back in the olden days; couldn't get enough of it. .[/quote]

I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, a classic series written by A. Bertram Chandler. He was a master mariner in real life and the world of 'gauss' driven ships, and the relationships with crew members, and excitement of sailing into exotic, unexplored locations, was very real and engaging. His writing might appeal more to the male imagination, more than the female, but it is still very entertaining.

I have lately been reading what has become a very popular genre with science fiction/paranormal and fantasy writers - odd people, in an odd world, who are private detectives. One of the most popular ones is the Dexter series, a dark humor ride (much better than the hit HBO series) about a serial killer, who hunts serial killers, and who works as a blood spatter technician for the Miami-Dade Police Dept.

So the rest are gone. I've given like four years of them to LCS. I should have kept them on my bookshelves.

I'll try to get over there when you are there and we can talk about it.

viajero wrote:

Tony_In_Mexico wrote:

gringal wrote:Vampire stuff just sucks, IMHO.

Could be you're just reading the wrong vampire stuff.

With all the good books out there both fiction and nonfiction who would want to read vampire stuff?
To each his own I guess.

Your question seems to assume that vampire stuff isn't good but is being read in spite of that. While I can't say I'm a fan of Stephanie Myers (pretty sure of the spelling, she's the Twilight lady) there are other writers out there who are actually good at what they do and create very compelling characters and worlds. I don't really care about subject matter one way or another as long as the writing is good, and the story is engaging. Just because there are people like Myers out there writing about vampires doesn't mean all vampire novelists are bad, just like you shouldn't stop reading crime fiction because there are talentless hacks like James Patterson cranking out one shitty book after another.

CHILLIN wrote:[quote="gringal" I was a big sci-fi fan back in the olden days; couldn't get enough of it. .

I read, and thoroughly enjoyed, a classic series written by A. Bertram Chandler. He was a master mariner in real life and the world of 'gauss' driven ships, and the relationships with crew members, and excitement of sailing into exotic, unexplored locations, was very real and engaging. His writing might appeal more to the male imagination, more than the female, but it is still very entertaining.

I have lately been reading what has become a very popular genre with science fiction/paranormal and fantasy writers - odd people, in an odd world, who are private detectives. One of the most popular ones is the Dexter series, a dark humor ride (much better than the hit HBO series) about a serial killer, who hunts serial killers, and who works as a blood spatter technician for the Miami-Dade Police Dept. [/quote]

I did see the Dexter series, TV version. Enjoyed the ride. I dunno about the ending; well, I suppose you have to stop somewhere, somehow. Do you know the writer's name offhand?

The male/female imagination ........I ain't gonna touch that one.

I will admit to being a closet Trekkie from away back, minus the costumes and the conventions, though. Patrick Stewart was my favorite captain: the most believable. Janeway didn't cut it...and Kirk was a little too ....well..... just too.

Mainecoons wrote:So the rest are gone. I've given like four years of them to LCS. I should have kept them on my bookshelves.

I'll try to get over there when you are there and we can talk about it.

Well I recovered six of them and will be asking in Dec in the newsletter to
return mags and we shall see what happens. Nature of the beast I am afraid.
Will be changing Mag program this season anyhoo and we shall talk and try
to accomidate the special stuff like this. Mainecoon I am sick of this also. If
I can't get people to bring em back I may shut it down and turn the whole
room into book sales. Sad people can't follow the rules like I have so many of
them :-).

Z

It does seem like there is enough interest to try to start a science fiction book club. The normal type of book club where there is assigned reading is not what we are looking for. I have discussed this with Zed and we agree that we want members to tell which books and authors they enjoy. In my youth there were not very many scifi authors. A reader could keep up with pretty much all types of scifi. Today, there are many, many authors and many styles of scifi. I personally don't read much fantasy, but that does not mean that I am closed to fantasy. A strong recommendation could have me trying a style that I have not tried before. All scifi readers are welcome, fantasy, vampire, whatever. Come and see if you are interested in meeting others with the same inclinations.

The first meeting will be on Tuesday at two PM on December fourth. Please PM Zed or Me with your email address. We will let you know where to go for the meeting. I am looking forward to meeting fellow scifi readers.

Charlie

Zedinmexico wrote:

Mainecoons wrote:So the rest are gone. I've given like four years of them to LCS. I should have kept them on my bookshelves.

I'll try to get over there when you are there and we can talk about it.

Well I recovered six of them and will be asking in Dec in the newsletter to
return mags and we shall see what happens. Nature of the beast I am afraid.
Will be changing Mag program this season anyhoo and we shall talk and try
to accomidate the special stuff like this. Mainecoon I am sick of this also. If
I can't get people to bring em back I may shut it down and turn the whole
room into book sales. Sad people can't follow the rules like I have so many of
them :-).

Z

Zed, let me know how this pans out. I'm not bringing any more of them there until they are treated like paperback books and checked out. The idea was to give a lot more people the enjoyment of reading them but if LCS is simply letting the first or second person who sees one walk off with it, that defeats my intention.

Mainecoons wrote:

Zedinmexico wrote:

Mainecoons wrote:So the rest are gone. I've given like four years of them to LCS. I should have kept them on my bookshelves.

I'll try to get over there when you are there and we can talk about it.

Well I recovered six of them and will be asking in Dec in the newsletter to
return mags and we shall see what happens. Nature of the beast I am afraid.
Will be changing Mag program this season anyhoo and we shall talk and try
to accomidate the special stuff like this. Mainecoon I am sick of this also. If
I can't get people to bring em back I may shut it down and turn the whole
room into book sales. Sad people can't follow the rules like I have so many of
them :-).

Z

Zed, let me know how this pans out. I'm not bringing any more of them there until they are treated like paperback books and checked out. The idea was to give a lot more people the enjoyment of reading them but if LCS is simply letting the first or second person who sees one walk off with it, that defeats my intention.

I understand and maybe just maybe they will be returned during Dec after
I ask in the newsletter for magazines.

Hey I saved six of them.
Z

Got 8 Analogs back so far. Also found an Asimov and an old Sci/fi and Fantasy.

Thanks for bringing them back.

Z

If you want to sample a large collection of science fiction, paranormal, and fantasy, all in kindle (mobi) format, you need to join a free website called tehparadox.com (yes-that is the correct spelling). It is a file sharing website which means the posters download to anonymous file sharing sites. You need to go to the ebook resources section, go to search, and search the username (not the post title) of "jasco2k". There are over a thousand excellent titles on this one thread, and he maintains them well. He specializes in collecting series of books, mostly hosted by rapidshare which you can download in the free mode or pay for a day or two, dedicate a few hours, and receive 1000's of books. You can choose to pay for copies on Amazon. or whatever, or just keep the free ones -your comfort level, not mine. Most of the public libaries in the U.S.A. are investing heavily in digital ebooks lending library. Many public libraries have over 20,000 titles now, and many offer non-resident cards for around $40 (U.S.) per year. By law, publishers have to offer titles to public libraries for sale - but what the publishers were doing was holding back on popular titles for many months. This practice has recently been challenged in the courts, and I believe the Public Libraries were successful.

We had the first meeting on Tuesday at Zed's house. The turnout was light, just six in total. We got to know what each of us likes to read, and watch, in some cases. Most cases, actually, I prefer books, the rest like books and scifi movies. We all had a good time and enjoyed the company of fellow scifi fanatics. There will be another meeting in two weeks. For the time being, we will be meeting on every other Tuesday at two PM. If you are a scifi fan and are interested, please send me a personal message.

For you Sci-Fi fans, there is a series going into it's third season called Falling Skies. It is about the aftermath of an alien invasion. Kind of like the Walking Dead with aliens instead of zombies. It is produced by Steven Spielberg and is very good with great special effects. It usually airs on the TNT network and I believe season 3 starts in June. I have the first two seasons on my hard drive that can be burned to DVD. If anyone is interested let me know.