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    Iron Heart Fall/Winter 2025 Collection Preview - Now Live

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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.

          «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
          We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

          • Dame Vera Lynn
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          • J
            Jett129
            見習いボス
            Joined:

            The Lathe of Heaven is one of my favorites.

            last edited by 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • 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.

                    «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                    We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                    • Dame Vera Lynn
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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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                                    • neph93N
                                      neph93
                                      見習いボス
                                      Joined:

                                      I think you got auto-corrected ^ I assume you’re  taking about Neal Asher who is indeed great fun.

                                      «Stevie Heighway on the wing!
                                      We had dreams, and songs to sing…»

                                      • Dame Vera Lynn
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                                      • A
                                        Al 916
                                        Joined:

                                        @neph93:

                                        I think you got auto-corrected ^ I assume you’re  taking about Neal Asher who is indeed great fun.

                                        Think I sub consciously mistyped, I used to work with a Neal Archer who also read SF.

                                        Neal Asher. Thank you

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                                        • JDelageJ
                                          JDelage
                                          啓蒙家
                                          Joined:

                                          Speaking of SF, currently reading the new Andy Weir (who wrote The Martian). It's called Project Hail Mary, and it's a lot of fun.

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                                          • mclaincauseyM
                                            mclaincausey
                                            見習いボス
                                            Joined:

                                            Glad you mentioned it @JDelage . I loved The Martian and also enjoyed Artemis (the setting took me back to Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, a favorite) and was not aware he had another one yet.

                                            Next in queue in Gary Shteyngart's Super Sad True Love Story. Big fan of The Russian Debutante's Handbook and Absurdistan but never got around to this one.

                                            Think it, be it.

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