Classic Science Fiction

I love classic sci-fi. I've been reading it since I was eleven, and I've read an awful lot of it. I drive the librarians in my town crazy because of it. But the one author whose work has always had a special place in my heart is Isaac Asimov--mostly because that was the first sci-fi I read. The Powell and Donovan stories got me hooked, I think--hence my username.

I also like Arthur C. Clarke a lot too...

So... your favorite classic sci-fi author/book/etc... GO!

Yes! This is the thread I've been waiting for my entire mibba life. There aren't many people that I know who read classic science fiction, unfortunately.

I started with H. G. Wells a couple years ago (actually, I recently did a literary analysis on one of his novellas). Asimov is my favorite, however. I really like how he managed to link three series in the same universe. I've also read the classic dystopias by Orwell and Huxley, and I guess The Time Machine could be a dystopia-type novel as well.

I do appreciate the three-universe thing. It gives me hope for my writing. Haha. And I know, it's sad how many people will forgo classic sci-fi because it's "old."

-glances around- I'm not quite sure if I belong here... there's an old(ish?) author, John Steakley, who wrote a book called Armor. It's an obvious sci-fi if you just read the description, and it's an AMAZING book! I completely fell in love with the plot idea, and Felix.

Basically, Felix is what these people call a "scout". He's sent on these missions, usually minor instead of major, with other scouts and warriors. These missions are called drops, and they take him to a planet who everyone calls Banshee. His first drop on Banshee ends up with everyone on his team dying except for him, everyone being killed by these 20 foot tall monsters called Ants, and he gets sent on countless drops. There's a glitch in the system, because you're only supposed to be sent on so many. Well, he just keeps going and going... normal people would either die or have a nervous breakdown honestly. Not Felix. In his mind, he has this thing he calls The Engine. It's kind of like a defense mechanism, and it won't let him die. It gets switched on somehow while he's battling the Ants, and it's almost like he's not even there but something else has taken over for him to keep him alive.

Anyone read this book?

No, I haven't, but I'll definitely have to check it out. You definitely belong here though... The lesser-known stuff deserves to be brought to the light as well! :)

HI I AM SO REVIVING THIS HOT DAMN
So I read whatever sci-fi I can get my hands on. Asimov, Douglas Adams (hence username), a bunch of random science fiction novels from little-known authors that turned out to be pretty great.

A lot of scifi is hard for me to read though, as I'm a very factual thinker and anytime there's mention of a "positronic brain" or this or that or whatever I squint and go "and how does that work exactly?"

I ruin my own enjoyment of good science fiction. Go team.

arthur dent:

A lot of scifi is hard for me to read though, as I'm a very factual thinker and anytime there's mention of a "positronic brain" or this or that or whatever I squint and go "and how does that work exactly?"

I envision a quantum computer (where the bianary 0s and 1s are based on atomic spin; extremely fast computing) but with positrons (anti-electrons). Honestly though, I think you could use protons or quarks for that

@ caves of steel.
I've no idea how you'd go about it (perhaps it is binary digits or quarks) because "positronic" was a term Asimov created because it sounded good. It's not a word. If we're to someday make it a word, though, look at all we could accomplish.

@ festive arthur dent
He did have a habit of making up words, that's for sure. I just always assumed that he meant positrons as in Dirac-esque (see, I can do it too) anti-electrons.

@ caves of steel.
I found Foundation somewhat hard to follow, but I can tell he was a brilliant author; he has every right to create words at random. That'd make sense seeing as they're called positrons.