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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

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    • JDelageJ
      JDelage
      啓蒙家
      Joined:

      Robert Silverberg is very good. His best known book is "Lord Valentine's Castle". It's reminiscent of Jack Vance's work, IMHO.

      Another author who is mostly known of sci fi aficionados is Poul Anderson. He's got a good time-travel book (really a collection of short stories) called "Time Patrol". There's a whole series of books in that setting, see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson_bibliography#Time_Patrol

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      • neph93N
        neph93
        見習いボス
        Joined:

        I’ve read Andersen. Some good stuff for sure… a bit old school in his approach, like Asimov.

        “Some of those that work forces
        Are the same that burn crosses”

        • Virginia Woolf
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        • JDelageJ
          JDelage
          啓蒙家
          Joined:

          Very old school. Belongs to the Asimov, Heinlein, Vance, Clarke gang.

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          • J
            Jett129
            見習いボス
            Joined:

            Never read Anderson,but like Asimov,and Childhoods End by Arthur C. Clarke is my all time favorite book, so I might have to check him out. Thanks for the tip.

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            • B
              browniemcghee
              Joined:

              In the sci-fi sorta vein, I really think Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossed and The Left Hand of Darkness were both incredible.  Stunning prose and really compelling thought experiments abound.

              Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

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              • JDelageJ
                JDelage
                啓蒙家
                Joined:

                I never managed to get into her work but I am fascinated by this (which I have never read):
                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ones_Who_Walk_Away_from_Omelas

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                • neph93N
                  neph93
                  見習いボス
                  Joined:

                  Ursula is a queen. Been reading her all my life.

                  “Some of those that work forces
                  Are the same that burn crosses”

                  • Virginia Woolf
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                  • J
                    Jett129
                    見習いボス
                    Joined:

                    The Lathe of Heaven is one of my favorites.

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                    • ChrisC
                      Chris
                      Raw and Unwashed
                      Joined:

                      @Graeme:

                      Robin Hobb is good, but she's written an awful lot of books in that series! I'm halfway through the third part of the third trilogy. (And there are two more trilogies set in the same world and time period.

                      The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch is another good series. He's up to book three of seven, I think that four is pretty close.

                      I've actually read all the Hobb books, and it is a lot.  I think my two favorite trilogies within it were the liveship one and the rainforest one; basically, the ones without Fitz, that whiny prick.

                      I liked The Lies of Locke Lamora, but the second and third books were definitely better.

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                      • GraemeG
                        Graeme
                        啓蒙家
                        Joined:

                        "All You Zombies" by Robert Heinlein is a fun time travel short story. The movie Predestination is based on it.

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                        • peregrineP
                          peregrine
                          Haraki san Student
                          Joined:

                          Just started reading William Gibson's latest Agency and there's a neat little reference to Self Edge in Chapter 5. 😎

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                          • neph93N
                            neph93
                            見習いボス
                            Joined:

                            @peregrine:

                            Just started reading William Gibson's latest Agency and there's a neat little reference to Self Edge in Chapter 5. 😎

                            I have it in the pile but I keep on moving it down as a new Gibson novel is such an event for me that I want to be in a position to savour it. Given the number of kids both small and tall I have around me that may not be until 2022.

                            That being said, after some lighter, somewhat derivative sci-fo reads over the summer, I’ve just kicked it up a notch with this:

                            Late to the party, but I’ve been excited about it for ages, and two chapters in I know it is going to be quite the experience.

                            “Some of those that work forces
                            Are the same that burn crosses”

                            • Virginia Woolf
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                            • AetasA
                              Aetas
                              見習いボス
                              Joined:

                              Ancestry—Human; Origin—???

                              Your Avatar made me curious. Thanks @JDelage

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                              • JDelageJ
                                JDelage
                                啓蒙家
                                Joined:

                                @Aetas - Ah, you found me. One of my favorite books, and a lovely cover art.

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                                • AetasA
                                  Aetas
                                  見習いボス
                                  Joined:

                                  Found this book in the cellar of my my parents in law in a beatiful old handmade kitchen from 1960. I didn’t remember that I’ve already read this book and tacked a lot of pages in the late 90’. Asked about it in the family and several members recalled to know it  ???.

                                  Reread it and was fascinated.
                                  There is music in there, I’ve definitely overheard in the past, because I didn’t understood Bach at this time (and nowadays)! Digging deeper …

                                  Love the Bass Line starting around 8:25 minutes.

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                                  • AetasA
                                    Aetas
                                    見習いボス
                                    Joined:

                                    This book was a present today.
                                    Hiroshige; One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (Bibliotheca Universalis)

                                    Blown away…. but now I need this…

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                                    • mclaincauseyM
                                      mclaincausey
                                      見習いボス
                                      Joined:

                                      Dude! I have the English version @Aetas

                                      And a couple other Hiroshige books

                                      …and that same edition of the same Heinlein novel. And I love Bach.  😃

                                      Think it, be it.

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                                      • mclaincauseyM
                                        mclaincausey
                                        見習いボス
                                        Joined:

                                        I was thinking about 634 and its inspiration by Miyamoto Musashi, the legendary dual-wielding samurai who wrote A Book of Five Rings after his retirement, where he became a cave-dwelling ascetic monk-like figure. There was a serial biography written about him in Japan by Eiji Yoshikawa. It goes through his life from young adulthood through his battles, culminating with his final battle with Sasaki Kojirō and his  nodachi (Japanese version of a claymore). I read it long ago and have resolved that it’s time to read it again. Highly recommended for Japanophiles or people who just think medieval Japanese culture and samurai are cool.

                                        Think it, be it.

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                                        • goosehdG
                                          goosehd
                                          Mod Squad
                                          Joined:

                                          Agreed!

                                          "I don't give a shit what anyone else is doing, we will do what is best for us and our customers" - Giles P. :)

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                                          • A
                                            Al 916
                                            Joined:

                                            @JDelage:

                                            Not really a fantasy fan usually, but I was recommended Robin Hobb's "The Assassin's Apprentice" recently and it's excellent.

                                            If you like Heinlein-style space opera, I recommend Elliott Kay's "Poor Man's Fight" series. He also has an excellent series of urban fantasy X (light) eroticism novels…

                                            If you like a light Space Opera Neal Archer has written some fun stuff (I read them all early lockdown).

                                            When I was younger I really liked Roger Zelazny, his Amber books were fun but Lord of Light and Creatures of Light and Darkness had much more depth. Short stories were good too (A Rose for Ecclesiastes)

                                            Talking of which currently re-reading the exact same edition of Mr Pirsig's famous work. 41 years after the first and I still get lots from it.

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