I'm not much of a Sci-Fi guy but I thought the "Three-Body Problem" trilogy by Liu Cixin was fairly interesting.
(The translation from Chinese is not stellar and the characters are somewhat one dimensional...but the "science" was interesting as were the moral, ethical, scientific and political issues which developed over a period of centuries.)
There's nothing civil about this war.
I read a lot, tending toward literary sci fi, usually but not always feminist in bent.
I’m enjoying 13 by Richard K Morgan. It’s sci fi, set 100 years from now. The discussion of how and why the United States imploded, and along what lines, and where the fault would lie, rings true. And Morgan’s muscled, virile prose and good story telling is always fun.
Ann Leckie’s Ancillary Justice is fascinating. Ursula LeGuin’s Left Hand of Darkness is old but classic.
Scanning the thread for suggestions....always appreciated.
You might enjoy "The Murderbot Diaries" by Martha Wells. I started on them right after I finished the Leckie's Justice series. They are short reads, but fun.Originally Posted by Rapid Butterfly
You might also like "The Ninefox Gambit" by Yoon Ha Lee, its a bit odd, but enjoyable.
If you like Thirteen you might also like Morgan’s most recent release, Thin Air, which is based in the same universe.
I like Morgan’s stuff too, though all of his protagonists are basically the same guy. But I like that guy.
I did enjoy his short stint writing some Black Widow comics. They’d make a decent movie, but too edgy for the MCU.
Last edited by JSGlock34; 02-09-2019 at 05:58 PM.
"When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man."
Yes, I read and enjoyed Ninefox - like Ancillary Justice, it’s a genuinely original universe. There is a sequel to it I’ve read, and I understand he has a new book out too.
I read Wells’ The Cloud Roads and found it competent if a bit of a shrug. Murderbot is on my list but my library doesn’t have it and I’m not sure I’m willing to spend an audible credit or drop coin on such a short book when my library (which is an amazing system) has so much else to read. But I appreciate the suggestion!
Indeed, I’ve read all the Altered Carbon books and Thin Air as well, the latter being slightly gun pornish at times (which I’m fine with when in the mood). I agree his male protagonists are mostly the same guy, a guy I’d love to f*ck, savagely, and would then likely regret it yet repeat the error.many of his female protagonists are also very similar and not hard to identify with. So they are fun books; 13 has more philosophical substance and I think is the better for it.
He can be very uneven....the last AC book was pretty weak sauce I thought.
I’m terribly ignorant of comics. I try but just haven’t found the right one....
Last edited by Medusa; 02-09-2019 at 07:03 PM.
Big Week, by James Holland. It's about the events leading up to the week-long air battle (Operation Argument) that was fought February 18-25, 1944.
The author is British; he comes down very hard on RAF Air Marshals "Bomber" Harris and Leigh-Mallory; the former for rigidity to the point of zealotry and the latter for timidity. He makes the point that Operation Argument was a necessary precursor for D-Day, in that the Luftwaffe's losses were so high that they ceased to be an effective force. By May, 1944, the USAAF and the RAF had a nearly 10-1 superiority in fighters over the Luftwaffe. The training differences were stark; American pilots had several hundred hours of flight time before joining an operational squadron (including instrument qualification); new German pilots had 110 or so hours and little instrument training; they were slaughtered. Besides poor training, other than the new Me-262, by then, all of the German fighters were obsolescent and could not outfight a good pilot flying a P-47, let alone a P-51.
By the end of Operation Argument, the western allies had achieved air supremacy.
If we have to march off into the next world, let us walk there on the bodies of our enemies.
I read that a few months back, and thought it was excellent.
That lead me to a The German Aces Speak, also an interesting book.
Horrido! by Toliver and Constable is another good book on that subject.
I read Stuka Pilot by Hans Ulrich Rudel as a girl (yeah, I’m weird, I know) and what stayed with me was his saying - only he is lost who gives himself up for lost. An impressive warrior and athlete with much to teach....even if he literally went to war on the orders of one of the most evil governments of modern times. If you’re interested in the era and these pilots it’s a worthy read.
I have Rudel's book as well. Two other pilots I have enjoyed reading about are Robin Olds and Adolf Galland.
If we ever perfect human cloning, I hope they kept some of Olds' DNA.
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