Stoner on the GP18, Rossi, whether MotoGP has changed and more

michaelm said:

It may well have always been self-serving as his book may also have been, but it remains the case that it is always what he has said about the 2009 Ducati.

As far as psychotic (in the medical sense) science fiction riders are concerned, my preference was for Cordwainer Smith, and AE Van Vogt who had his own wacky philosophical system, over L Ron, both far more entertaining as actual writers.

Click to expand...

Never read those two but read a lot of Hubbard in my teens. Most of it I enjoyed, particularly Battlefield Earth. I don't know how it stands up now as I am much more discerning as a reader now.
Lately I've read quite a bit about Hubbard and his religion. What a mad genius he was. Scientology is nothing but the self psychoanalysis of his own madness and implementation to try and reconcile it.
Some of it is quite brillant.
I've dabbled in 20 or so sci fi classics the last few years and dont care for the direction of the genre. Overuse of AI and VR seem to be lazy writing. It's reminiscent of 80's fantasy where every conflict is solved with magic.
I don't care much for the constant philosophizing of humanity either.

JohnnyKnockdown said:

Never read those two but read a lot of Hubbard in my teens. Most of it I enjoyed, particularly Battlefield Earth. I don't know how it stands up now as I am much more discerning as a reader now.
Lately I've read quite a bit about Hubbard and his religion. What a mad genius he was. Scientology is nothing but the self psychoanalysis of his own madness and implementation to try and reconcile it.
Some of it is quite brillant.
I've dabbled in 20 or so sci fi classics the last few years and dont care for the direction of the genre. Overuse of AI and VR seem to be lazy writing. It's reminiscent of 80's fantasy where every conflict is solved with magic.
I don't care much for the constant philosophizing of humanity either.

Click to expand...

The Scientologists still immediately pursue any scandal involving psychiatry anywhere in the world, rather relevant to your recent posts.

AE Van Vogt had his own "system of knowledge" he called Nexialism, but on looking him up after our discussion was also involved in dianetics early on before L Ron transmuted it into Scientology.

No doubt L Ron had a touch of genius, and I don't totally reject Laingian notions. I read "Battlefield Earth" many decades ago myself, and it is not the worst SF novel I have ever read, if overly long, perhaps related to L Ron being a product of his generation; the early SF guys got paid by the word for short stories they sold to the pulp magazines.

michaelm said:

The Scientologists still immediately pursue any scandal involving psychiatry anywhere in the world, rather relevant to your post.

AE Van Vogt had his own "system of knowledge" he called Nexialism, but on looking him up after our recent discussion was also involved in dianetics early on before L Ron transmuted it into Scientology.

No doubt L Ron had a touch of genius, and I don't totally reject Laingian notions. I read "Battlefield Earth" many decades ago myself, and it is not the worst SF novel I have ever read, if overly long, perhaps related to L Ron being a product of his generation; the early SF guys got paid by the word for short stories they sold to the pulp magazines.

Click to expand...

Have you read any of the Takeshi Kovacs books? Some of the best Sci Fi in the last 15 years.

Keshav said:

Have you read any of the Takeshi Kovacs books? Some of the best stuff in the last 15 years.

Click to expand...

In a word, yes, the first one was particularly excellent. I have read his fantasy novels as well.

Also like all the William Gibson stuff, except the most recent one. I like the later near future techno-thriller novels almost more than the initial epochal cyberpunk stuff, and believe he can actually write and somewhat akin to Raymond Chandler transcends his genre.

As a teenager I read a lot of sf, my favourite being in those days E E Smith, but I think nowadays I lean more towards the works of Stephen Donaldson and the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, wonder what that makes me lol.

All this talk of sci-fi authors and no one has mentioned the late, great Philip K. ....?

I've been reading collections of his stories lately, and the first volume is collected from the 1950s. You'd have a hard time realizing it with how visionary he was. A pity the fame that escaped him in life only came towards the end of his life. He was well beyond his time and gave us some incredible stories. If you watch movies at all, there's a good chance you've seen something that was a story written by .....

JPSLotus said:

All this talk of sci-fi authors and no one has mentioned the late, great Philip K. ....?

I've been reading collections of his stories lately, and the first volume is collected from the 1950s. You'd have a hard time realizing it with how visionary he was. A pity the fame that escaped him in life only came towards the end of his life. He was well beyond his time and gave us some incredible stories. If you watch movies at all, there's a good chance you've seen something that was a story written by .....

Click to expand...

I found him hard work, therefore have avoided anything with his name attached.

BTW are there any surrealist authors out there

JPSLotus said:

All this talk of sci-fi authors and no one has mentioned the late, great Philip K. ....?

I've been reading collections of his stories lately, and the first volume is collected from the 1950s. You'd have a hard time realizing it with how visionary he was. A pity the fame that escaped him in life only came towards the end of his life. He was well beyond his time and gave us some incredible stories. If you watch movies at all, there's a good chance you've seen something that was a story written by .....

Click to expand...

It's no surprise to me that your into .....

I have not read any of his work yet, though my feed is always suggesting it.
Maybe I'll give it a try.
I just finished a Neil Asher book who was highly recommended but didn't care for it. Trying to decide if he is worth a second try.

Check out Altered Carbon on Netflix. It just came out. Its cyberpunk noir. The ideas aren't original for Sci Fi, but it was entertaining.

Theo said:

I found him hard work, therefore have avoided anything with his name attached.

BTW are there any surrealist authors out there

Click to expand...

Try Jumkie. A bit long winded but his alternate reality is fascinating.

JPSLotus said:

All this talk of sci-fi authors and no one has mentioned the late, great Philip K. ....?

I've been reading collections of his stories lately, and the first volume is collected from the 1950s. You'd have a hard time realizing it with how visionary he was. A pity the fame that escaped him in life only came towards the end of his life. He was well beyond his time and gave us some incredible stories. If you watch movies at all, there's a good chance you've seen something that was a story written by .....

Click to expand...

The surface is not even scratched. PKD is without a doubt in the pantheon of the SF Gods. In a category of his own. Read all his books at least 3 times - except "Man In The High Castle" - which just didn't move me. I've never found another writer who could so evoke in the reader, the queasy, nightmarish unease of questioning one's own perception of reality. Ubik was one of those books one didn't want to be alone while reading.

I've been watching the Netflix series based on a series of essentially unknown short stories published in cheap pulp fiction books before his full length books started being published. So far only one of the episodes I've seen really conveys that PKD essence.

Re: Altered Carbon; read the books. Much more satisfying than the Netflix series which tries VERY hard - but ultimately feels very generic and fails to adequately convey the worlds and characters in the wonderful books that Morgan authored.

JohnnyKnockdown said:

Try Jumkie. A bit long winded but his alternate reality is fascinating.

Click to expand...

He wrote the really long sequel to war and peace titled The Real Alternative Facts. I started it on cd and over the years have moved on to mp3 and to e reader. I'm about half way in. Nothing yet.