Robert A. Heilein

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

 

Read it the first time with an open mind.  Came to the conclusion that it had some strong authoritarian fascist elements in it.  

It is what it is, no need to dance around it.  It was a great book, well worth the read. 

[BReilley]

If you enjoyed Starship Troopers, I recommend Armor by John Steakley.  Somewhat similar, but longer and deeper.

Any William Gibson fans?  Neal Stephenson?  Larry Niven?

[RaspberrySurprise]

Armor was good too.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Neal Stephenson is my favorite author.  Never really found Gibson to be all that good.

Been meaning to read some Niven for a while, but I never seem to get around to it.  I'll add Steakley to my list, too.  Thanks.

[Balog]

If you enjoyed Starship Troopers, I recommend Armor by John Steakley.  Somewhat similar, but longer and deeper.

Any William Gibson fans?  Neal Stephenson?  Larry Niven?

Only read Neuromancer, and didn't like it as a 11 y/o. It's better with age, but not zomgelventyone awesome. Cool genre though.

Neal Stephenson is a great author, but his longer works take some effort to get through. Zodiac was great, even if it was about a duck squeezer. :)

Never read much Niven that I recall.Tried to read Lucifer's Hammer a couple times, but I couldn't make it past the first few chapters.

[BReilley]

Only read Neuromancer, and didn't like it as a 11 y/o. It's better with age, but not zomgelventyone awesome. Cool genre though.

Neal Stephenson is a great author, but his longer works take some effort to get through. Zodiac was great, even if it was about a duck squeezer. :)

Never read much Niven that I recall.Tried to read Lucifer's Hammer a couple times, but I couldn't make it past the first few chapters.

Gibson got better after Neuromancer, IMO.  I enjoyed Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive.  Pattern Recognition was interesting, though less SF.  The Difference Engine, Gibson's collaboration with Bruce Sterling, was quite good with a unique plot, though I thought it a bit dry.

I agree on Stephenson.  He puts an awful lot of detail into some of his books - and I had a hard time following Cryptonomicon.  Snow Crash was a blast, though, and The Diamond Age was a great read.

I find Niven's short stories to be more agreeable than his full-length books.  I bought Playgrounds of the Mind, which is a collection of short stories, excerpts from books, and Niven's own comments, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Viking]

If you enjoyed Starship Troopers, I recommend Armor by John Steakley.  Somewhat similar, but longer and deeper.

Any William Gibson fans?  Neal Stephenson?  Larry Niven?

Yep. Got to re-read the Sprawl trilogy soon again. Only managed to get through one book (The Diamond Age) by Neal Stephenson so far though.

[Fjolnirsson]

A lot All sci-fi authors  people who are into scifi  seem to devolve into perverts as they get older. be perverts.
FTFY

Nevermind... ..


_{Edited to remove useless comment.}

[Balog]

I've been holding off on reporting posts, but suggesting that all people who like scifi are supporters of pedophilia/incest is pretty damn unacceptable.

[jackdanson]

I've been holding off on reporting posts, but suggesting that all people who like scifi are supporters of pedophilia/incest is pretty damn unacceptable.  

 
Apologies, meant it as a joke, sorry if it didn't translate properly.  Certainly didn't mean to make fun of pedophilia either, although I did mean to make fun of scifi folk... some of whom have..... eccentricities.   ::L. Ron Hubbard:: Ahemm.
  
I read Starship Troopers.  Couldn't really get into it for some reason.  I liked Enders Game.
 

[Hutch]

Never read much Niven that I recall.Tried to read Lucifer's Hammer a couple times, but I couldn't make it past the first few chapters.

HERESY!!!!  The most bestest survivalist SciFi of all time!
Srsly, I re-read it every few years, just to get my Spidey senses tingling.  Many of the major themes ("Black Power", "Women's Lib") seem a bit pale by today's standard.

I read all of Heinlein's novels and short stories, and he seems to have had 3 "periods" of writing.  The juvenile ("Red Planet", "Have Spacesuit, Will Travel"), my faves from the middle of the career ("The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", "Puppet Masters").  After "Stranger in Strange Land", he just got toooooo incestuously weird.  Even at that, those little snippets from Lazerus Long were worth hefting the book.

[Harold Tuttle]

HEINLEIN

[jamz]

If you enjoyed Starship Troopers, I recommend Armor by John Steakley.  Somewhat similar, but longer and deeper.

Any William Gibson fans?  Neal Stephenson?  Larry Niven?

Loved ringworld, and there were a couple sequels to that, right? I'd need to check those out too.

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books, and I loved Snow crash, but man, Quicksilver... too painful, worked really hard for 300 pages, just never got into it.  I have it on tape now, so I'll see how it is to listen to it.

[Gewehr98]

I've been holding off on reporting posts, but suggesting that all people who like scifi are supporters of pedophilia/incest is pretty damn unacceptable.

Oh, hell, when has that ever stopped you from reporting stuff, Balog?

(reminding self to clean out inbox again...)

Regardless, it's a given that we should play nice here, kids.  

The thread doesn't have to devolve, even though I cannot hold off on repeating that the guy's name is Heinlein.

[roo_ster]

Everything of Jerry Pournelle's that I have read was pretty darn good:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pournelle#Bibliography_2

My only complaint is that he wasn't prolific enough and he's on death's door.  I'll take it as a personal affront when he shuffles off his mortal coil.

[MechAg94]

Loved ringworld, and there were a couple sequels to that, right? I'd need to check those out too.

Cryptonomicon is one of my favorite books, and I loved Snow crash, but man, Quicksilver... too painful, worked really hard for 300 pages, just never got into it.  I have it on tape now, so I'll see how it is to listen to it.

I've read Ringworld 2 and it is pretty good.  I was always a fan of the Man-Kzin Wars books and short stories.  

Look up the "The Lost Fleet" on Amazon.  That is a good series.  

If you like SciFi that has some comedy to it, Dave Freer is a good author.

If you want another author with very strong Libertarian ideas, Michael Williamson's Freehold is pretty good.  He has several other books also.
http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Michael-Z-Williamson/dp/0743471792/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3

I didn't see Starship Troopers as fascist at all.  I don't think it even fits the definition.  I don't recall a lot of big centralized govt control mentioned at all.

[AJ Dual]

I didn't see Starship Troopers as fascist at all.  I don't think it even fits the definition.  I don't recall a lot of big centralized govt control mentioned at all.

Some people just see it/read it that way, and I'm not sure why. RAH specificaly set up that imaginary world government as a reaction to people who were statists or power-hungry. 

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

That makes sense.  RAH had a habit of mocking social or political trends disagreed with.  It would be characteristic of him to set a story in an imaginary authoritarian government as a reaction to real-world statists.

[AJ Dual]

(facepalm)

RAH set up the service requirement for the franchise in his imaginary government weed out the power hungry and statists, it wasn't intended to be a mock fascist state. The government in Starship Troopers was set up by veterans of WWIII who were sick of the politicians (and uninformed voters those politicians could lead about by the nose) from the era  of the unearned franchise leading the world into a disasterous war.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

In that case, the ironing is delicious.

[Devonai]

So far I've read Starship Troopers, Beyond This Horizon, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, and Friday.  I need to try Stranger In A Strange Land one of these decades, as well as The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls definitely crossed over into the creepy realm as far as depictions of sex with much younger women, but I attribute that more to the author making fun of his own fame and writer's fiat than actual intellectual masturbation.

Heinlein hasn't influenced my own writing much, other than to reinforce my ideas of authority and freedom.

[MechAg94]

That makes sense.  RAH had a habit of mocking social or political trends disagreed with.  It would be characteristic of him to set a story in an imaginary authoritarian government as a reaction to real-world statists.

It wasn't an authoritarian govt.  It was a free republic with a restricted voting franchise.  Restricted voting does not equal fascism. 

Which particular part of it struck you as "authoritarian"? 

[grislyatoms]

HERESY!!!!  The most bestest survivalist SciFi of all time!
Srsly, I re-read it every few years, just to get my Spidey senses tingling.  Many of the major themes ("Black Power", "Women's Lib") seem a bit pale by today's standard.

paraphrased

"So, what do you think you can make with that stuff?"

"I'm positive I can make thermite, and I may be able to make mustard gas."

 

One of my favorite little bits of Lucifer's Hammer.

[Matthew Carberry]

I liked Footfall.

I'm still waiting on my atom bomb propelled spacecraft, how bout it science?

(edit:  RAH was a character in the book, "Bob Anson", so it is on topic)

[RocketMan]

I liked Footfall.

Footfall is a good one.  I bloody lost my copy.  Don't know what happened to it, other than I may have accidentally donated it to the library or Goodwill.