It might be helpful if you seek out books with good female characters. Several females I know site the paucity of female characters as one of the reasons they don't read more sci-fi or fantasy.
There are, of course, many examples of well-written females in sci-fi. One that springs to mind is the "Beggars" series by Nancy Kress. (Beggars in Spain, Beggar's Ride, Beggars and Choosers.) This series is my wife's favorite sci-fi, and Kress her favorite author of any genre, and have been since her teens. The series features several excellent female characters of different stripes, including a pretty good teen prodigy.
Other suggestions: "A Wrinkle In Time" series by Madeleine L'Engle "Wizard of Earthsea" series by Ursula K. Leguin I, Robot (short stories) by Isaac Asimov Any of the Pern books by Anne McCaffery
You might also consider Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, which is somewhere between sci-fi and fantasy. It's probably too advanced to start with, but it has some of the most engaging characters I've read anywhere. It's also the most popular sci-fi/fantasy series I know of among both men and women I know.
Finally, Piers Anthony does some good juvenile work, but most is very juvenile in my opinion. I would suggest reading these yourself before passing them on, as there's a wide range of quality among them. Also, every series of his that I've read degraded as it went on, some heavily. The Xanth series is immature fantasy, but is also quite funny and light reading. The Split Infinity has some sci-fi and fantasy, and a bit more intelligence in general. Most of his work deals with sex on occasion, usually in an immature, junior-high sort of way, which is probably fine if your niece is already educated about such things. The Incarnations of Immortality is perhaps my favorite of his work, but there isn't much need to read the series unless you adore the first book. If you read any of these, I would suggest alternating with books of greater consequence or intelligence.
Probably the best thing you can do, you are already doing. Reading with her and discussing the works periodically are excellent gifts that would serve any child well. Good work.
This guy should team up with my favorite scientist, Alex Chiu. Not only has Alex invented cheap, simple immortality with his Eternal Life Device, but he is also doing important work with Teleportation and Space Travel. With the added power of Hydrinos(tm), just imagine the possibilities.
With Mills and Chiu working together, maybe humanity could finally solve the awesome mysteries of Nature's Harmonic Simultaneous 4-Day Time Cube.
joe fusion
Dilbert Hole - Do bother
on
Quickielanche
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· Score: 1
Please do bother. These strips are taken from Tristan Farnon's LeisureTown. In context, they were quite funny: a disgruntled office worker re-captioned a bunch of Dilbert cartoons to offend his drone co-workers. The point was not to be independently funny, but to be offensive and to contrast Adam's style. The commentary is not on the content, but the lack thereof. Compare something like the excellent social commentary of The Onion (which on the surface is offensive to everyone but can actually be very intelligent and meaningful) with the inoffensive cartoon facade of Dilbert (which minimally covers material which would be honestly offensive if it actually said anything). This parody is an attempt to be maximally offensive and still not say anything, which I think it does pretty well.
This is just my impression of Tristan's work. Check it our yourself. (choose "A Comedy Crisis" on the left)
Slashdot Mirror
It might be helpful if you seek out books with good female characters. Several females I know site the paucity of female characters as one of the reasons they don't read more sci-fi or fantasy.
There are, of course, many examples of well-written females in sci-fi. One that springs to mind is the "Beggars" series by Nancy Kress. (Beggars in Spain, Beggar's Ride, Beggars and Choosers.) This series is my wife's favorite sci-fi, and Kress her favorite author of any genre, and have been since her teens. The series features several excellent female characters of different stripes, including a pretty good teen prodigy.
Other suggestions:
"A Wrinkle In Time" series by Madeleine L'Engle
"Wizard of Earthsea" series by Ursula K. Leguin
I, Robot (short stories) by Isaac Asimov
Any of the Pern books by Anne McCaffery
You might also consider Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series, which is somewhere between sci-fi and fantasy. It's probably too advanced to start with, but it has some of the most engaging characters I've read anywhere. It's also the most popular sci-fi/fantasy series I know of among both men and women I know.
Finally, Piers Anthony does some good juvenile work, but most is very juvenile in my opinion. I would suggest reading these yourself before passing them on, as there's a wide range of quality among them. Also, every series of his that I've read degraded as it went on, some heavily. The Xanth series is immature fantasy, but is also quite funny and light reading. The Split Infinity has some sci-fi and fantasy, and a bit more intelligence in general. Most of his work deals with sex on occasion, usually in an immature, junior-high sort of way, which is probably fine if your niece is already educated about such things. The Incarnations of Immortality is perhaps my favorite of his work, but there isn't much need to read the series unless you adore the first book. If you read any of these, I would suggest alternating with books of greater consequence or intelligence.
Probably the best thing you can do, you are already doing. Reading with her and discussing the works periodically are excellent gifts that would serve any child well. Good work.
(Apologies if I've erred on any names or titles.)
joe fusion
This guy should team up with my favorite scientist, Alex Chiu. Not only has Alex invented cheap, simple immortality with his Eternal Life Device, but he is also doing important work with Teleportation and Space Travel. With the added power of Hydrinos(tm), just imagine the possibilities.
.
With Mills and Chiu working together, maybe humanity could finally solve the awesome mysteries of Nature's Harmonic Simultaneous 4-Day Time Cube
joe fusion
Please do bother.
These strips are taken from Tristan Farnon's LeisureTown. In context, they were quite funny: a disgruntled office worker re-captioned a bunch of Dilbert cartoons to offend his drone co-workers. The point was not to be independently funny, but to be offensive and to contrast Adam's style. The commentary is not on the content, but the lack thereof. Compare something like the excellent social commentary of The Onion (which on the surface is offensive to everyone but can actually be very intelligent and meaningful) with the inoffensive cartoon facade of Dilbert (which minimally covers material which would be honestly offensive if it actually said anything). This parody is an attempt to be maximally offensive and still not say anything, which I think it does pretty well.
This is just my impression of Tristan's work. Check it our yourself. (choose "A Comedy Crisis" on the left)
joe harpe