Wow, not just the master of the double (and even triple) entendre, but a science fiction fan to boot!
I have a copy of Brin's Startide Rising knocking around that's maybe two down on the "to be read" list, but it's been there for awhile and other things keep leapfrogging over it.
If I had thought about it, I would have included Bear just on the strength of his short story Petra. I believe that was in one of the Dangerous Visions anthologies and is a story that has stayed with me ever since. It's just a wonderful and amazing story. The only other thing of his that I've read is Queen of Angels, which I liked, but it didn't grab me. I've got both Eon and Eternity, but they're even further down on the "to be read" list than Startide Rising. I've been kind of concerned with the apparent Rendezvous with Rama similarities, so...
However, on the strength of your enthusiasm, I'm thinking I might bump them up a bit.
Lately, partly because of the debate on Feelies, I've been rereading Valis by Philip K. Dick. This is Dick's definitive statement on religion and belief and reality and...
On the subject of religion, I realized that in the last post I failed to mention Zelazny's Lord of Light. One of my favorite books ever.
And since I got my brain running on this track again, how about some more:
Brian Aldiss, especially Cryptozoic, The Saliva Tree and the Helliconia Trilogy (Helliconia Spring, Helliconia Summer and Helliconia Winter). Helliconia is a planet that orbits a pair of binary stars on a huge ellipse, and the planet goes through centuries long "seasons" as its proximity to the two stars changes.
George Alec Effinger's When Gravity Fails is part cyberpunk and part potboiler mystery and takes place mostly in a walled "sin city" in an unnamed middle eastern city. The protagonist, Marid Audran, is a sort of Algerian Sam Spade. Cool book.
I also need to mention David Gerrold. In addition to writing the funniest episode of the original Star Trek (The Trouble with Tribbles), he wrote my all time favorite time travel story, The Man Who Folded Himself, a great story called When Harlie Was One, and scads of other good stuff.
Man, once I get started...
-BLT |
