Well, the question is quite interesting, but my question is more about the limitation : is SciFi limited or can it be extended to Fantasy and such other books.
Here are presented some of the authors I think are quite relevent to read (but then again that is my opinion and I am ready to discuss it with whoever desire... as well as glad to hear of other great books). I will order the authors alphabeticaly, and precise genre when possible.
- Isaac Assimov (Space/Robots) : Well, maybe one of the best complex novel writer I can think of. I do recommend the entire Robot collection (it is always good to have to think), as well as Nemesis and Azazel. (sorry have not read foundation... yet)
- Ann Mc Caffrey (Epic Fantasy/Space) : well her most famous set of books are about the planet Pern and its Dragonriders, and I can only tell that it is quite normal due to the real epic presented here. The story introduces space fiction (later in the set of books) combined with human/dragon stories. A gret piece of art and it seems that a TV show is coming (I hope it will match my expectations).
- Orson Scott Card (Space/Alien) : here I want to speak of the "Ender" series... the four book that I very deeply recommend to people. It is about "existence" of species... but much more. (Btw, a 5th one was released recently)
- Philip K Dick (Fiction/Fantasy) : author of the book that became later Blade Runner. The book I really enjoyed here is Ubik.
- David (& Leigh) Eddings (Epic Fantasy) : well, simply my favorite fantasy authors, with a way to put clearly "annoying" characters together, and with such pleasant ways to interact that you really care about the characters. The Belgariad and the Malloreen are two set of 5 books each (plus 3 extras). The Tamuli and the Ellenium 2 sets of 3 books. To put it blunty (I will scare some people off here) : I could never go past the first book of any Tolkien book, and now I am afraid I will not try again... Great "semi" autobiographical work in "High Hunt" also.
- Neil Gaiman (Fantasy) : for his book "Neverwhere" about a parallel universe in london. We can also talk about his works with Terry Pratchett : Good Omens (or of Terry Pratchett works : The Discworld)
- Frank Herbert (Jihad/Conquest) : well the description tells it all, Dune and other books in the same series are about conquest through religious jihads... but other of his books also speak of such subjects (in the star and the whip series : "The Incident Jesus").
- Robert E Howard (Epic Fantasy) : Conan, Kull and Red Sonja... as well as Salomon Kane... plenty of Fantasy heroes are born from this mind.
- H P Lovecraft (Horror/Fantasy) : Well, if you ever heard of "Cthulu" you have heard of the legacy of Lovecraft.
- Michael Moorcrock (Epic Fantasy) : Elric and Stormbringer are a few examples of the the tragic heroes created by this writter.
- Ann Rice (Fantasy/Horror) : Best known for her work on the book which became the movie "Interview with the vampire", she has a very poetic way of describing vampiric needs and life.
Then, if I may present one classic (often read while in school) : 1984 from George Orwells; the Big Brother story.
Finally, if one may introduce another Sci fi writting art form in the subject, comic books :
- Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind) by Hayao Miyazaki (Laputa, Mononoke Hime...) which is the story of the epic of survival/discovery of the princess of a small country surrounded by poisonous forests... A must read (this description can not begin to engulf the beauty of this piece of art).
The Sandman written by Neil Gaiman, a fantastic piece of "Endless" fantasy (another "must read").
Plus many more, that I can not present here because of time... time being the only factor that prevent me from speaking at length of all those masterpieces.
I hope this little list is going to be useful, and if you want to contact me to talk about it (or present me with other master pieces (I am always interested)), please e-mail me at :
Extract from an SGI news : --- NVIDIA, SGI and VA Linux to Bring Graphics Standard to Desktop Linux Market Three Companies Collaborate to Deliver First Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL (1.2) Conformant Desktop Graphics for Linux --- Hope that helps,
The "-nolock" consider that I will only run seti when I "x"lock my system, with no other running version (for the current one is killed when I un"x"lock it).
Note that/local/software is just my method for installing new softwares that I compile/install without messing with the system install (I then have a script to create links to/local/bin,/local/include, etc... so that when I want to upgrade the software, I just have to run the perl script to delete the created links and create new ones;) )
I am using this small "xlock" solution for seti since I started using it (version 1.3), so that it only start when I actually lock my x screen on my system (going home, lunch, meeting...)
So that on my nice "old" afterstep 1.0, when I press "window+L" (the "window" key bind to "3" on my X), will actually run the script: start seti, then my xlock and the kill seti (and its lock) it once I unlock my screen.
The nice part is just so that unlocking is not a real issue (I do have cronjobs, but they are not that consuming).
I do recognize, that this method is a little overkill (I should just "stop" it and "continue" later) but it works for me this way so I thought I was going to share it.
I share this feeling... plus they should first decide to release the old ones on DVD in somewhat the same way they did for the THX LD box... the audio commentaries during the movies are very good... those are 3 DVDs I would buy... TFM, I am afraid not...
Slashdot Mirror
Sneekee (read "Sneaky") ... because it is good to have a good "sneak preview" of what the Linux future is to be ?
Well, the question is quite interesting, but my question is more about the limitation : is SciFi limited or can it be extended to Fantasy and such other books.
... as well as glad to hear of other great books). I will order the authors alphabeticaly, and precise genre when possible.
... yet)
... the four book that I very deeply recommend to people. It is about "existence" of species ... but much more. (Btw, a 5th one was released recently)
... Great "semi" autobiographical work in "High Hunt" also.
... but other of his books also speak of such subjects (in the star and the whip series : "The Incident Jesus").
... as well as Salomon Kane ... plenty of Fantasy heroes are born from this mind.
...) which is the story of the epic of survival/discovery of the princess of a small country surrounded by poisonous forests ... A must read (this description can not begin to engulf the beauty of this piece of art).
... time being the only factor that prevent me from speaking at length of all those masterpieces.
Here are presented some of the authors I think are quite relevent to read (but then again that is my opinion and I am ready to discuss it with whoever desire
- Isaac Assimov (Space/Robots) : Well, maybe one of the best complex novel writer I can think of. I do recommend the entire Robot collection (it is always good to have to think), as well as Nemesis and Azazel. (sorry have not read foundation
- Ann Mc Caffrey (Epic Fantasy/Space) : well her most famous set of books are about the planet Pern and its Dragonriders, and I can only tell that it is quite normal due to the real epic presented here. The story introduces space fiction (later in the set of books) combined with human/dragon stories. A gret piece of art and it seems that a TV show is coming (I hope it will match my expectations).
- Orson Scott Card (Space/Alien) : here I want to speak of the "Ender" series
- Philip K Dick (Fiction/Fantasy) : author of the book that became later Blade Runner. The book I really enjoyed here is Ubik.
- David (& Leigh) Eddings (Epic Fantasy) : well, simply my favorite fantasy authors, with a way to put clearly "annoying" characters together, and with such pleasant ways to interact that you really care about the characters. The Belgariad and the Malloreen are two set of 5 books each (plus 3 extras). The Tamuli and the Ellenium 2 sets of 3 books. To put it blunty (I will scare some people off here) : I could never go past the first book of any Tolkien book, and now I am afraid I will not try again
- Neil Gaiman (Fantasy) : for his book "Neverwhere" about a parallel universe in london. We can also talk about his works with Terry Pratchett : Good Omens (or of Terry Pratchett works : The Discworld)
- Frank Herbert (Jihad/Conquest) : well the description tells it all, Dune and other books in the same series are about conquest through religious jihads
- Robert E Howard (Epic Fantasy) : Conan, Kull and Red Sonja
- H P Lovecraft (Horror/Fantasy) : Well, if you ever heard of "Cthulu" you have heard of the legacy of Lovecraft.
- Michael Moorcrock (Epic Fantasy) : Elric and Stormbringer are a few examples of the the tragic heroes created by this writter.
- Ann Rice (Fantasy/Horror) : Best known for her work on the book which became the movie "Interview with the vampire", she has a very poetic way of describing vampiric needs and life.
Then, if I may present one classic (often read while in school) : 1984 from George Orwells; the Big Brother story.
Finally, if one may introduce another Sci fi writting art form in the subject, comic books :
- Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa (Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind) by Hayao Miyazaki (Laputa, Mononoke Hime
The Sandman written by Neil Gaiman, a fantastic piece of "Endless" fantasy (another "must read").
Plus many more, that I can not present here because of time
I hope this little list is going to be useful, and if you want to contact me to talk about it (or present me with other master pieces (I am always interested)), please e-mail me at :
martial@users.sourceforge.net
Sincerely,
Extract from an SGI news : --- NVIDIA, SGI and VA Linux to Bring Graphics Standard to Desktop Linux Market Three Companies Collaborate to Deliver First Hardware-Accelerated OpenGL (1.2) Conformant Desktop Graphics for Linux --- Hope that helps,
I just upgraded to v2.0 for my small linux box, so here is the updated version of the script :
/bin/tcsh
/local/software/setiathome-2.0 /dev/null &
/local/software is just my method for installing new softwares that I compile/install without messing with the system install (I then have a script to create links to /local/bin, /local/include, etc ... so that when I want to upgrade the software, I just have to run the perl script to delete the created links and create new ones ;) )
;)
------ setilock
#!
cd
./setiathome -nice 19 -nolock >&
xlock -mode blank
kill `cat pid.sah`
------
The "-nolock" consider that I will only run seti when I "x"lock my system, with no other running version (for the current one is killed when I un"x"lock it).
Note that
Hope that helps
I am using this small "xlock" solution for seti since I started using it (version 1.3), so that it only start when I actually lock my x screen on my system (going home, lunch, meeting ...)
/bin/tcsh
/local/software/setiathome-1.3 /dev/null &
----- setilock
#!
cd
./setiathome -nice 19 >&
xlock -mode blank
killall setiathome
rm -f lock.txt
------
So that on my nice "old" afterstep 1.0, when I press "window+L" (the "window" key bind to "3" on my X), will actually run the script: start seti, then my xlock and the kill seti (and its lock) it once I unlock my screen.
The nice part is just so that unlocking is not a real issue (I do have cronjobs, but they are not that consuming).
I do recognize, that this method is a little overkill (I should just "stop" it and "continue" later) but it works for me this way so I thought I was going to share it.
Hope that helps.
I share this feeling ... plus they should first decide to release the old ones on DVD in somewhat the same way they did for the THX LD box ... the audio commentaries during the movies are very good ... those are 3 DVDs I would buy ... TFM, I am afraid not ...