"when worlds collide" and "after worlds collide" (1932, 1933, respectively), by philip wylie and edwin balmer... book 1 is story of the destruction of earth, from collision with another planet, and details the construction of ship to transport selected individuals to a second planet, which more or less takes earth's place in solar system afterwards... book 2 is story of life on the new world (book 1 was also made into a pretty decent film, by george pal, in '51)... i really love the feel of 30's sci-fi (a imov's anthologies are wonderful)... also, bradbury's "martian chronicles", and "illustrated man", as well as "s is for space", "r is for rocket", etc... very literary, high quality sci-fi...

wow....i've never heard of either of those, and they sound pretty interesting. I've just been subjected to Arthur C. Clarke's technology-prediction so a bit of sci-fi that was "off-the-wall" might go down well :)

Reminded me of an INXS song actually... "two worlds collided and they could never tear us apart"

Flatland? The Number of the Beast? The Word for World is Forest? Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Stranger in a Strange Land? Brave New World? The Island of Dr. Moreau? Dune? The Foundation Trilogy? Mona Lisa Overdrive? A Swiftly Tilting Planet? Time Enough for Love? Methusalah's Children? Ender's Game? The Time Machine? Man, this is a tough question. This is almost all that I read when I was younger.

that is a most beautiful thought (the inxs song)...

Ya want to talk, Nick? You've listened to me enough...

I'm alright... december's just a bad month for me... how you doing?

Better, but that is about as transient as anything else with me. Thought I might have understood a little from listening in on you and Wolf in the poetry conference, and was wanting to thank you for the time you've given in responding to my babbling. And reciprocate, if needed.

It's not as bad as it seems... When I remember, I am connected... and that is a very good thing, on balance... What got me tonight was so trivial... was thinking about her hair... i really loved her hair... it was really long, nearly to her waist, and it was very dark brown, nearly black, but not quite... and it had these tight little rings, which always made me think of that yeats thing (looped in the loops of her hair)...she used to wear it out, let it flow, most of the time, but sometimes she wore it up... and when she did, these little ringlets would dangle next to her ear, and she never liked that... for some reason, I couldn't get that out of my head... thinking about how she might've worn it now, and if those little ringlets would still be dangling there, and if she'd still bother with them... make that frustrated little face... but that's good... when I feel moments like that, I feel close to her... and I know that's good...

With descriptions like that, I miss her, too.

Hell, I want to BE her.

Me too!

lost the thread. Who's the icon?

weaver. she is deceased.

Well I sure as hell don't want to be dead but... I wouldn't mind some admiration. D'ya all remember Madeline L'Engle? A Wrinkle in Time was one of my favorite childhood books. In fact, I think I may read it again for I'm sure the magic is not lost.

And there was A Swiftly Tilting Planet, what was the name of the third? Enjoyed them myself.

Ring of Endless Light?

I too enjoyed Wrinkle in Time...But if you're interested in a "grown-up" historical time travel, try Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander." Some parts of it smack of a real bodice-ripper, but overall it's historically quite accurate and entertaining.

Having read most of Madeleine L'Engle's body of work, but none of her sci fi (which is usually in the kids' section at bookstores here), you all are inspiring me to go check them out. Off topic, but her adult fiction is good. And for those who like sequels and series, I understand that some of her recent books like "A Live Coal in the Sea" actually are picking up the life story of characters from older books. A Yahoo search of her name brought up a good site, but I don't have the link, which explained some of those tie-ins. Evidently, once she has a character she doesn't let them go. And in later novels when she needs them, she pops them in. Kind of cool, I thought.

Speaking of L'Engle. There is a site "A Wrinkle in Time" where 51 photographers in different cities, states and countries all took panoramics of an area at the same time. The photos are interactive and you can spin around (and up and down) photos of Singapore, Austin, Australia, Boston, Hawaii, Colorado, New Orleans, London, Paris, Fort Worth, etc. Kept me amused for quite sometime and I thought it was fascinating to see what individuals thought represented their 'wrinkle in time.'

Has anybody seen mike g. around? Haven't seen him post since before xmas.

I'll see if I can raise him from the dead.

Maybe they're still celebrating in the UK! :)

I'm not sure if this thread is still going, but here goes... I've got a huge list - let's see if I can skim some representative samples off the top... Starship Troopers - RAH Stranger in a Strange Land - RAH again The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - RAH The Foundation Trilogy - Asimov Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card A Princess of Mars - ERB Anything by Harlan Ellison The Postman - David Brin David Brin's Uplift novels A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter Miller Last Call, The Stress of Her Regard and Expiration Date - Tim Powers Soldier of the Mist - Gene Wolfe and many more... I find myself more and more moving away from "hard SF" and into dark fantsy and speculative fiction in my reading. This is partly due to my wife's influence - when we got married, our libraries did also, and that did wonders to broaden my reading. Also, I think, as I have grown older, I am more interested in the style and form in a piece of writing than the actual plot. Moby Dick, a story about this crazy one-legged guy and a big white fish, interests me more than, say, Battletech, a series of stories bout aliens in giant robots invading Earth. Why? Moby Dick is passionately written, possibly the first modern American novel, and certainly one of the greatest novels ever written. My forays into the classics and other genres have made me a tougher critic of the SF I read.

Have you read any of Bruce Sterling's stuff?

Oh, yes! _Islands in the Net_, _Schismatrix_, _The Difference Engine_. I'm a few years behind in my Sterling - I just finished a huge David Brin binge, which was preceded by my repurchase of all the Heinlein paperbakcs I've read to pieces. I also like the articles he has done for Wired and other magazines - in fact, his piece on St. Petersburg was the only reason I picked up the last issue of Wired. Have you read anything by Michael Bishop?

Nope, I went to a huge party at Bruce's house the other night. You can read his speech and some accounts of the party in the cfp conference. What a blast it was!

A friend of mine was at the conference, and he talked me into coming to the party with him. I wish I had been able to attend the conference, but I did have some fascinating conversations while at the party. I think events like that, especially with all of the relaxed networking and idea exchanging, are possibly the best way to get new ideas across to people that can do things with them. Hmmm... perhaps a kegger for the UN could go a long way toward solving some problems....

You were *there*! Wow, did we talk? How would I have recognized you?

We spoke briefly towards the end of the party. You invited me to check out this community (which I obviously did, and I like it a lot!), and I gave you a stock tip. I'm about 6'0", light brown hair, glasses, goatee - I was wearing a denim jacket. That probably doesn't narrow it down much - 90% of the men in Austin look like that. I work for IXC Communications, if that helps.

It's all coming back now! I remember it well. What a night at Bruces. I wish we could reel a few more of the partyers in who were at CFP and the party, it would be fun to extend the conversations we had at CFP98 further.

Welllllll, let's not be close-mouthed about this stock tip, shall we, gentlemen? Feel free to share it with those of us who couldn't make it to Bruce's!

Promise not to tell?

Cross my heart! :-)

It was ICX. Now, don't tell.

My lips are sealed!

The price at the time of the party was about $47 a share. Since then, it's gone up to about $58. The company is scheduled to finish a coast-to-coast fiber optic network in the next few weeks, and the price should go up even more then. Don't worry, this is public info, so the SEC can't raid you guys, but after that clarification, my lips are also sealed.

Sorry, I ment to type "The Stainless Steel Rat" trilogy by Harry Harrison Slippery Jim Degriz to the rescue! Because he has a reality about him that coincides with the plot and concept of the trilogy and the reader is gradually exposed to this universal point of view as the reader gets deeper into it. Jim isn't a good guy or a bad guy, he's just a very talented thief! He tries to only steal from planetary government systems that are obviously corrupt. He usually ends up saving or helping a few truly interesting people on the way. better?

much!

Are we still discussing favorite sci-fi books? I love anything by Ray Bradbury-especially those fabulous "Martian Chronicles". Never heard of the "Stainless Steel Rat" but the title sounds interesting.

Bradbury is good, and I'll bet you'd like the "Rat" also... think I'm gonna reread Flatland...

Wer, yo ma man! Our libraries should match to some extend... What was that Stacey said about us two stooges? A few months back...

now that is a loaded question!