Top 50 SF Books meme
This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasynovels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club. Bold the ones you’ve read, strike-out the ones you hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.
1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien**
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov*
3. Dune, Frank Herbert**
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson*
7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
The rest of the top 50
And sell the rest at the Auction House
Quote of the night from World of Warcraft general chat:
Player 1: How do I do [thing that’s clearly impossible in game]?
Player 2: Huh?
Player 3: You can’t do that.
Player 1: Yes you can, I’m sure of it.
Player 4: First, learn the Herbalism skill. Then, pick us all some of what you’re smoking, and we can all go do [thing] together.
More Star Wars Thoughts
Cinemax has been running six-movie Star Wars marathons all month. We just watched Empire while waiting for raininva‘s WoW raid to start… I’m amused by the fact that Vader contributes to his own failures in this story. He’s so determined to be eeeeevil, and show everyone how eeeevil he is, that he pushes Lando too far and loses Luke, Leia, and Chewie in the process. If he’d just backed off a tiny bit, he’d have made a clean sweep.
His lightsaber technique’s a bit shabby near the end, too. Maybe the fact that Luke’s involved is clouding his judgement. To quote Sarek: “My logic falters where my son is concerned.”
I have to keep reminding myself that the Falcon‘s a freighter. This isn’t nit-picking, I’m completely willing to believe that Lando, Han, and Chewie have done things to it that its designers would be horrified by… but watching it fly through those asteroids is like watching a Peterbilt 18-wheeler compete in FormulaOne racing. That’s one heavily-modded cargo hauler!
I mentioned to Rain that the Falcon and the TARDIS have a lot in common… heavily-modified antiques capable of impossible things, but rarely completely functional. This movie also reminds me that the Star Wars universe is a lousy place to be a sentient droid. Clearly, they have pain-analogue circuitry, and feelings to boot, but nevertheless they’re really physically abused and treated like crap by both heroes and villians. Do you suppose Bail Organa ordered memory wipes on any of his other troops that knew of Luke and Leia’s birth?
I play lead for “Rocketship X”
Guitar Hero II arrived in my house this week, thanks to the lovely raininva‘s observance of my birthday. Now, I haven’t had a lot of free time on my hands, and even my gaming is scheduled by priority these days, but ya gotta take some time out of the day to hold a plastic guitar in your hands and rock out to Cheap Trick, The Pretenders, and David Bowie. (I think some of our guests approved more of the Motley Crue and Danzig tracks, though.)
The game’s got a bit more realism than I’d like, though – Rain and I are developing blisters on our fret and strumming fingers.
The book – very little going on. I worked out some background changes to my universe which will allow for more sensible plotting and better conflict, but I’m still not real sure what the ending’s going to be. Clearly, this isn’t going to be done by the end of the month, but then I’m not that worried; I never expected it to. (The base universe is one I created round about 6th grade. It’s weird making changes to something that’s been mostly static in my head for 20-odd years.)
I have several episodes of Torchwood in my hands, but I haven’t finished watching the 2006 Doctor Who season – in fact, as of last night, I’m behind the SciFi Channel’s broadcast (it’s sitting on the DVR). Since I’m reliably informed that the series opener of Torchwood spoils much of the end of the Doctor Who season, this means I’ll have to wait a while longer to get my Captain Jack fix.
Apparently, Rising Star went extremely well this year. Kudos to Cathy and all how worked so hard to pull it off. I think many excellent decisions were made this year, and it bodes well for the future of the con.
I’m burning DVD data discs tonight in a desperate attempt to find clear space on my hard drives.
Trick or Treat!
I was working on a journal post this morning, but my USB 2 expansion card freaked in the middle of that, ruining an iPod update and crashing the computer. So no post.
That’s kinda the tone for the whole month of October. Good things certainly happened, but it’s been pretty rough. My workload’s been amazing – I netted almost 120 hours in one 2-week period. As well, a carefully-arranged Halloween costume failed to materialize; then sickness killed a carefully-planned Halloween party trip.
On the other hand, I was too lazy to put together an interesting outfit for a later party, and wound up just attending in my Enterprise uniform… winning First Place (Men’s), to my surprise!
I’m really bummed about missing Rising Star this year. It sounds like they’re gonna have some fun! But we’ve dropped $700 on car repairs this month, and holiday gift-giving’s on the way, so we have to watch the budget like a hawk. (Here’s hoping I don’t have to replace that PCI card.)
Questionable Content – one of my favorite webcomics, and worth reading through from the beginning – is selling a t-shirt which proclaims, “She Blinded Me With Library Science!” which keeps bringing to mind a certain Yeager crew member.
I did in fact begin NaNoWriMo this week. I have no expectation of finishing in time – the demands on my time are manifest right now – but I’m starting it anyway. This is the closest my head has been in years to having a complete plot and interesting characters lined up, and I’m not giving up now. I may even get around to reposting my WARS stories to elfie, just for my own inspiration.
Taverncast – a WoW podcast – did a Halloween episode called “War of the Murlocs” this year. Despite the fact that I listened to it during the day at work, am closely familiar with the old Orson Welles broadcast, and caught many of the in-jokes, they still managed to creep me out a tiny bit. Maybe it’s my overactive imagination: judge for yourself at war-of-the-murlocs.mp3 if you like. I’ll be having fish for dinner tonight as my own strike back against the slimy rampagers.
Billyuns
Carl Sagan’s Cosmos – on Google Video, and freely downloadable for your desktop computer or in iPod/PSP format.
Yes, he talked funny. Yes, the clothes are so early 80’s. But the man believed that the discoveries and ideals of science were within the reach of anyone who could operate a TV set, rather than the private property of Ph.D.s and research corporations. He spent a great deal of his life backing up his belief with actions.
Though the show is over 20 years old, there’s little that needs to be revised or edited. Though we’ve learned much more about all the subjects he covers, the base concepts are still solid. It’s really worth several hours of your time to watch it, if you haven’t… or to watch it again if it’s been a decade or two. One of my favorite nuggets of information is his observation on organic chemistry: since the birth of the universe produced only hydrogen and perhaps some helium, heavier elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen had to be produced in the fiery deaths of the first suns.
You, me, and every human being who ever lived can claim stars as ancestors. 🙂
And for those who like their science a little more ‘splody, free Mythbusters episodes. It’s more propaganda for such a crazy idea: if you’re not sure whether to believe a story, do your own checking!
Eat at Gamera’s
There is a restaurant only a few blocks away from us named “Megallon’s Gourmet Barbecue”. Naturally, when I pass by and am in appreciative company, it’s difficult to avoid making Godzilla vs. Megalon references. “Straight from the underwater farms of Seatopia!”
Last week I composed a business card for them. Imagine my delight to discover that the owner’s partner was nicknamed “Jet Jaguar” and the place is full of kaiju memorabilia. I may have to eat there sometime soon, just on general principle.
Today, a weblog link took me to a site comparing shots of the 1977 LD release of Star Wars and the 2004 Special-Special Edition DVD release. It got me to thinking what a difference a little time can make in a story; if we agree that Luke is approximately 25 by the end of Return of the Jedi, then Darth Sidious’ great Galactic Empire only lasted 25 years. The Old Repulic had lasted for at least 1000 according to Lucas. Not really a proud entry in Sith history, hmm?
Ben Kenobi certainly didn’t act like he’d been jumping lava rivers only two decades ago. Yoda absolutely suffered a decline in health and strength from age 875 to age 900. And Han Solo talked as if no one had seen public use of the Force, or a Jedi for that matter, in a century or so. How quickly the Galaxy forgets…
Technomancer issues
After picking up SR4 last year, I’ve finally found enough people in my circle of friends to start up a campaign. We spent an entertaining evening last night working up character concepts and doing Build Point math. The veteran SR2 players were a little thrown by some of the changes, and not completely thrilled at first blush, though I suspect they may get used to them given time. That’s not really what’s on my mind.
Technomancers.
Now, from a game design standpoint, I love the idea, and I have no problem with any of my players building one. No, what’s driving me crazy is the logic behind them… it may not faze anyone else, but it’s bugging me. Here’s the thing:
When you use the Matrix, even if you are in Seattle and hacking a mainframe in Moscow, you don’t go anywhere. Your brain is still receiving nervous impulses as it sits there in your meat body, and the only places you go are in your imagination. In fact, skilled hackers can change the appearance and geography of the Matrix to suit themselves – the Matrix is nothing but documents on servers and pictures in your head.
If you are disconnected from the Matrix suddenly, your consciousness cannot “stay in” the Matrix because it never actually went anywhere. Your brain will suddenly resume taking signals from your sensory nerves instead of your interface, and you will be back in reality. It may be jarring, and unpleasant – I’ll even buy that the experience could kill some fragile folks – but there is no more Matrix signal fro your brain to process. There is nowhere, in fact, to be trapped in.
Given that, exactly what is a technomancer accessing? I’ll buy the idea that, though magic or genetics or both, his brain is now a Matrix terminal. No problems at all with that. But given that the only way to see the information in the Matrix is for your “terminal” to connect to a server somewhere, somehow, how is it doing so? Can your brain magically access any Matrix port nearby as if it were a juicy version of my hacker’s handheld PDA? If so, does that mean my technomancer is going to be SOL out in the Mojave Desert? (Or does wireless coverage in the Sixth World reach EVERYWHERE – Antarctica and the middle of Amazonia included?)
Perhaps there’s data in a late 3rd edition or early 4th SR supplement that would clear this up for me. But a lot of the writing in the base 4th SR rules implies that the Matrix is an entire plane of its own that exists independently of the servers and network through which we access it – that if every electrical source on the planet stopped functioning tomorrow, the Matrix would still somehow be there.
Which by the way, is not necessarily an uninteresting idea. But it somehow doesn’t seem to fit in well with the otherwise somewhat realistic nature of the Matrix so far.
Edit: This was supposed to go in the
The flooded dragon podcast planet of Freon
A year after having it loaned to me, I have finally picked up and read “Eldest” by Christopher Paolini. This book is the sequel to “Eragon”, which I found to be enjoyable, if lacking in originality. “Eldest” is more of the same; I’d suggest it to any reader I know, with the caveat that they shouldn’t expect anything mind-blowing. The writing is good, and the characters are interesting, which is more than many fantasy books can claim.
Still, one day I want to read a high fantasy novel where the elves are short-lived and highly industrial, if not technological. Perhaps the ancient lost civilization that left behind all the ruins and dungeons could be one of humans, or lizard men, or Things We Barely Understand instead of the freakin’ elves again. And hey, how about hippie, type B dwarves that live simple lives of farming and woodcarving? You get my drift, here?
We lived through Ernesto – our house was never in danger, though I did lose power halfway through my morning webcomic troll. Driving to work was a dumb idea – two different blocks were flooded, and when the tires stop making the “zzziiiisssshhh” noise and begin making the “blubble-blurble-splep-blobble” noise, the water’s too deep – but dumb luck saved me, and the drive home was a little better. The yard looks a bit battered, though.
The International Astronomers Union voted last week that Pluto isn’t a full planet, but a “dwarf planet”. They did this in part because Pluto’s moon, Charon, is almost the same size as Pluto and might have deserved planet status; and a more distant body in our solar system, “2003 UB313”, is even larger and might have been awarded the same privileges. “2003 UB313” has been nicknamed “Xena” by its discoverer, and no stuffy astronomers’ group is going to sit still for “Planet Xena”. (The nickname is unofficial, but may well stick.) (And yes, Xena has a satellite… Gabrielle.)
Pluto, Charon, Xena, and the asteroid Ceres all qualify for “dwarf planet” status under the IAU’s new rules. I say Pluto still deserves the love, and we all know what’s a planet and what’s an asteroid, whatever they say. Manned mission to Planet Xena!
Podcast recommendations of the day: Taverncast, for WoW players; not only is the material useful and interesting, but it’s presented in a very light-hearted, entertaining manner by the hosts. Also, Geek Counterpoint, for those with a science bent; much drier in tone, but still well-presented and interesting – my interest was caught by the episode on inflatable spacecraft. Seriously.
The Hyundai is very mad at me right now. The dash clock and stereo are cutting out intermittently (and separately), the a/c has stopped working (and with it, my defogger, which has made driving in the rain interesting), and my temperature gauge is running high. Given how much of the car is factory-sealed, that may mean a trip to the dealership. 🙁
I may finally attend a NekoCon this year, given that it’s right on my doorstep and all. Thinking about it.
Operator 7-G, please contact me immediately
Robotech.com is offering a large-scale transforming Garland motorbike toy from one of my favorite anime flicks, Megazone 23. And at the low-low bargain price of $99.95! Sigh. Pout.
I have just finished clearing out a large section of my office – yes, you can actually see floor now – so that Rain can move her computer in here. We need the room, ’cause we’ve offered the spare bedroom to our friend Starr, who really needed a place to sleep while wrapping up nursing school. The help with expenses will be nice, but what clinched the deal was her offer to do dishes for us!
Large rant coming about gamers who think they are the center of the fan universe. Film at 11 (of one day or another.)
