Search found 114 matches

by tanzeelat
Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:49 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: World's Worst Authors
Replies: 15
Views: 15052

Any Rand
by tanzeelat
Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:51 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Third Craft, by James T. Harris
Replies: 10
Views: 8680

From your review: "...an almost palpable enthusiasm for this story."

Is that legal in the US?
by tanzeelat
Fri Dec 05, 2008 5:01 am
Forum: Dune Secondary Source Bibliography
Topic: Dune Secondary Source Bibliography
Replies: 192
Views: 554709

Some more cool lunar vehicles can be found in this book.
by tanzeelat
Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:58 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Movies that never were
Replies: 8
Views: 9029

I'd have watched the Jodorowsky Dune , although I'm fairly sure it would have born no resemblance to the book. Well, even less than resemblance than Lynch's version. But the idea of Paul Atriedes as some sort of El Topo like figure, and with a story to match, with production design by Chris Foss and...
by tanzeelat
Fri Dec 05, 2008 4:56 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: 12 upcoming sci-fi remakes and revivals
Replies: 11
Views: 12075

Me too. While I didn't like Jules et Jim , I thought Fahrenheit 451 was excellent. Possibly because it failed so completely to look like any kind of plausible future, and instead just looked like the 1960s in a more forward-thinking part of Europe. Having said that, casting Julie Christie in two rol...
by tanzeelat
Thu Nov 27, 2008 2:10 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Life on Mars
Replies: 24
Views: 18737

From what I understand, the US version is going to be open-ended - they're never really going to explain how he went back in time (which they sort of did in the original BBC version). In other words, they're going to milk it for as long as they can before it gets cancelled... On balance, I think I p...
by tanzeelat
Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:46 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Dan Simmons and Jack Vance
Replies: 8
Views: 9220

Vance wasn't New Wave! He predates it by a decade at least. If not more. He wrote, chiefly, baroque space opera, and some of it was excellent - the Demon Princes series, for example.

The Songs of Dying Earth will be published by Subterranean Press - see here for the latest update.
by tanzeelat
Sat Nov 08, 2008 1:41 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: 2008 Vote
Replies: 53
Views: 43116

A Thing of Eternity wrote:Hey - we have culture, it's just all the way over in Quebec. (we have culture elsewhere too, but it ain't what I'd call quality :wink: )
From what I've heard, those Quebecois don't like to share it, though :-)
by tanzeelat
Fri Nov 07, 2008 7:04 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: 2008 Vote
Replies: 53
Views: 43116

I wasn't referring to that stuff that grows in petri-dishes...
by tanzeelat
Fri Nov 07, 2008 3:13 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: 2008 Vote
Replies: 53
Views: 43116

Freakzilla wrote:Living in Canada will be the new American Dream before long.
You should try living somewhere with culture, like Europe... :-)
by tanzeelat
Wed Nov 05, 2008 12:24 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: 2008 Vote
Replies: 53
Views: 43116

Wow. You lot actually did something right over there for once, and didn't put the right-wing warmongering religious nutjobs back in power. People all over the world can now sleep easier :-)
by tanzeelat
Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:41 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Gulp!
Replies: 13
Views: 12927

Gulp!

by tanzeelat
Sun Nov 02, 2008 2:48 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson
Replies: 8
Views: 8535

Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
White Mars - Brian Aldiss
Rainbow Mars - Larry Niven
by tanzeelat
Wed Oct 29, 2008 12:37 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Dune: House Corrino
Replies: 7
Views: 9566

Good reviewers imply it...

:-)
by tanzeelat
Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:02 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Dune: House Corrino
Replies: 7
Views: 9566

Dune: House Corrino

I thought I'd inflict this review on you. It was originally written back in 2001. Imagine if Jeffrey Archer had written a sequel to Anthony Burgess's The Clockwork Orange . It stands to reason that Archer would have missed the point, and so too have Herbert Jr and Anderson. While their trilogy is a ...
by tanzeelat
Tue Oct 14, 2008 7:51 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Life on Mars
Replies: 24
Views: 18737

The BBC version was excellent. There's also a sequel, Ashes to Ashes, set in the 1980s and with a female DI going back in time. Only one series of it has been broadcast so far, and it's not been as successful as Life on Mars, but I really liked it.
by tanzeelat
Wed Sep 24, 2008 12:57 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Warehouse 13
Replies: 3
Views: 5309

Isn't Warehouse 13 the name of the online shop for Steve Jackson Games?
by tanzeelat
Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:03 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Does any of this sound familiar?
Replies: 4
Views: 8012

Does any of this sound familiar?

See here . Okay, so the hacking isn't, but the "... the manifesto that the Lexicon recently put up, which pretty much took away posters’ freedom to share their true opinions on the book..." certainly does. 21st Century marketing - it's not the product that's shite, it's the consumers who a...
by tanzeelat
Tue Aug 12, 2008 11:42 pm
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Paul of Dune excerpt
Replies: 75
Views: 93977

Talk about graceless prose. The pair of them don't get any better.
by tanzeelat
Sun Aug 03, 2008 1:04 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

My other two grandfathers were in reserved occupations and worked down the pit. I don't know if they fought. I don't think they did.
by tanzeelat
Sat Aug 02, 2008 3:28 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

My grandfather was in the Home Guard, then he joined a 25-pounder crew in Germany in the closing weeks of the war. He stayed on afterwards, helping the MPs, and ended up as a clerk at Nuremberg.
by tanzeelat
Fri Aug 01, 2008 8:30 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Baraka Bryan wrote:yup. gotta love when it comes down to who's more childish than the other.
Be fair. Purge and myself were discussing the subject like adults.

Then orald steps in and thinks childishly insulting one party is a valid means of discourse. I'm surprised his carer lets him near a computer.
by tanzeelat
Fri Aug 01, 2008 1:43 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

You should look at Doctorow's website. If you found stuff that you would use in the class room there, you will find much, much more there. Doctorow has a huge online presence, and is outspoken on a several issues, including the free use of copyrighted material with a special set of rules to help wi...
by tanzeelat
Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:21 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Grow up.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 3:13 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Jewishness is not a race or religion. One can be born a Jew but never practice the mitzvot (though that obviously isn't the ideal). Someone can be born a non-Jew anywhere in the world and become a Jew by accepting the obligations of the Torah. The Jews are a nation. The laws of the Torah are the la...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:55 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Should Israel & Palestine be admitted to the union?
Replies: 54
Views: 51066

Purge wrote:Israel is more influenced by British English than American English, no?
Sadly, most places around the world these days are more influenced by US English. Thanks to Hollywood, US music, US television, and US marketing for product like McDonald's, Cocoa-Cola, KFC, etc.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:53 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Anti-Zionist is nothing but a catch phrase, because it is much more acceptable than outright claiming to be anti-Jewish, which is what anti-Zionist ultimately amounts to. Absolute rubbish. It's quite easy to be anti-Zionist - opposed to the political aims of the Zionist movement - while not being a...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:36 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Should Israel & Palestine be admitted to the union?
Replies: 54
Views: 51066

I suspect the American meaning is the original, and the British one has changed. British English has altered more since Elizabethan times than US English.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 9:34 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

orald wrote:Tan, stuff your "oh poor Arabs are being massacred by the evil Jews" down your A-hole. There's no massacre, there are no bodies, mass graves etc.
Either discuss the subject like an adult, or shtok.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 8:41 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

If you mean better than they are treated in their own countries, then no, they are very much different. The situations couldn't be any more different. Israel unfortunately has allowed no shortage of Jew-haters to fill the Knesset with the type of anti-semitic garbage which is often found in the UN....
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:21 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Jews were made subordinant to Muslims. Being made to pay a tax to escape death and expulsion =/= tolerance. They were infidels perpetually in the place of having to acknowledge Muslim superiority. So, that's be like the way Jews treat Arabs in Israel, then. The notion of some golden age of toleranc...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 7:07 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Sabbath observance only applies to Jews, as no other people observes or is commanded to observe it. The first line couldn't realistically be applied to anyone else but Jews (Christians do not observe the Sabbath in any way shape or form). Er, "sabbath" means day of rest. For Christians, i...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:07 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

2:65 And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: "Be ye apes, despised and rejected." 5:60 Say: "Shall I point out to you something much worse than this, (as judged) by the treatment it received from Allah? those who incurred the...
by tanzeelat
Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:33 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

There is a difficulty in saying Christians and Jews worship or believe in the same God, because so many Christians worship Jesus as a god, which is completely antithetical to the Torah and the God of the Hebrew Bible. This doesn't account for all Christians, but it would certainly seem to be the ma...
by tanzeelat
Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:20 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Obama
Replies: 144
Views: 198813

Mandy wrote:oh yeah, women aren't allowed into them anyway, are they?
Depends on the mosque. And the sect of Islam. Some mosques are single-sex, some separate the sexes, and some allow them to worship side by side. The Sufis, for example, don't segregate the sexes.
by tanzeelat
Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:18 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: A Princess of Mars, by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Replies: 26
Views: 15610

So its good dump-fodder, huh? I shall acquire and suitably place the books in the crappatorium! I imagine there is nothing quite a satisfying as reading about hot, egg-laying Martian chicks while squeezing out an obscene one, right? I must disagree. I am a big ERB fan and while his books may not be...
by tanzeelat
Tue Jul 29, 2008 8:16 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Should Israel & Palestine be admitted to the union?
Replies: 54
Views: 51066

You can bum a fag in the UK too without being assaulted.
by tanzeelat
Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:57 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Hahahaha
Replies: 3
Views: 7280

Hahahaha

Check out the Conservapedia entry on Dune It's hilarious, and was clearly written by a moron. I especially liked: "House Atreides, the "siridar-dukes" of the planet Caliban, are supposedly descended from the ancient Mycenaean kings Agamemnon and Menelaus. Why Herbert chose to include ...
by tanzeelat
Mon Jul 07, 2008 12:53 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Persistence of Vision, by John Varley
Replies: 2
Views: 5831

No mention of the other stories in the collection?
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:50 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

I was reading Clarke's page on Wikipedia, and there's a section on his views on religion... and it struck me that ten years ago no one would have cared if an author had said he didn't believe in God. Then, any discussion on Clarke's views on religion would have been solely on his treatment of it in ...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:58 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

Just finished Rama II. What stood was out how well Clarke writes about religion and religious characters. Most athiest authors are condescending on one level or another towards religion, wheras Clarke is always extremely respectful, and his religious characters are often his best. Good book, now I'...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:46 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Paulo Bacigalupi has a new book out
Replies: 6
Views: 8401

I've read a couple of his stories, and I can't see what all the fuss is about. 'People of Sand and Slag' just struck me as depressing and not very well written. And 'The Fluted Girl' has been done before, and better - Eric Brown's 'The Death of Cassandra Quebec'.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jun 18, 2008 1:57 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Not sure if anyone has seen these before...
Replies: 7
Views: 9578

Not sure if anyone has seen these before...

Not sure if anyone's spotted these before - or even wanted to see them... They're reviews of the Legends of Dune trilogy:- The Butlerian Jihad The Machine Crusade The Battle of Corrin The reviews are both astonishing and amusing... The reviewer actually likes the first, but is then very disappointed...
by tanzeelat
Sun Jun 01, 2008 5:28 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Review of Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries
Replies: 0
Views: 6067

Review of Frank Herbert's Dune miniseries

Here's a review I wrote of the DVD of Frank Herbert's Dune back in June 2001. Frank Herbert’s Dune, adapted for the screen and directed by John Harrison In November 2000, the Sci Fi Channel screened a mini-series adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1966 novel Dune , the second attempt to adapt this comple...
by tanzeelat
Wed May 21, 2008 1:06 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Warehouse 13
Replies: 1
Views: 3859

Warehouse 13? Isn't that the name of the web site that sells Steve Jackson Games stuff?
by tanzeelat
Fri May 16, 2008 1:02 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

Lin Carter was a hack, but his Jandar of Callisto books are a pretty good homage to ERB's Barsoom books.
by tanzeelat
Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:33 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: War of the Worlds (graphic novel), by H.G. Wells
Replies: 3
Views: 6417

You should see their sequels to War of the Worlds - Scarlet Traces and Scarlet Traces: The Great Game. They're excellent.
by tanzeelat
Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:02 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: John Clute is a heretic
Replies: 11
Views: 13125

Well, to be fair God Emperor of Dune is a talkfest. But I'd also maintain that the writing is sharper in the sequels than it is in Dune.
by tanzeelat
Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:45 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Cenotaxis, by Sean Williams
Replies: 1
Views: 4453

Sean Williams is definitely worth trying. I happen to think that Saturn Returns (the first of the Astropolis trilogy) is not the best he's done. The Evergence trilogy (written with Shane Dix) is a lot of fun. The Orphans of Earth trilogy starts well, but gets a bit samey - although the ending is goo...
by tanzeelat
Tue Apr 15, 2008 7:38 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: The Eye of Argon, by Jim Theis
Replies: 4
Views: 7407

The fanzine mostly reviewed books by Lionel Fanthorpe and the like. Old Badger books and stuff. Michael Kring. Terence Haile. It was partly responsible for starting the whole Thog thing in Ansible.
by tanzeelat
Mon Apr 14, 2008 11:37 pm
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: The Eye of Argon, by Jim Theis
Replies: 4
Views: 7407

I have a mimeographed copy somewhere and I reviewed it for a fanzine dedicated to sf turkeys I once published. I'll see if I can dig out the review.
by tanzeelat
Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:09 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: V: The Second Generation
Replies: 132
Views: 125961

Maybe what they actually needed was fluoridated water. And you can only get that from Earth - from certain nations on Earth, in fact. There's no fluoridated water on the moons of Jupiter. They probably have rotten teeth there too.
by tanzeelat
Fri Apr 11, 2008 1:07 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 24
Views: 16260

KJA doesn't read. Given that he spends all his time talking into a tape-recorder (he calls it "writing a novel"), he wouldn't be able to hear someone else reading a book to him over the sound of his own voice.
by tanzeelat
Tue Apr 08, 2008 11:31 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Where Time Winds Blow, by Robert Holdstock
Replies: 3
Views: 6413

Mythago Wood is probably a better book, although the central premise of Where Time Winds Blow appeals more to me. But they're both of a similar style.
by tanzeelat
Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:27 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Upcoming SF Movies
Replies: 13
Views: 10166

John Carter has been in and out of pre-production for years. It was originally going to be a Kerry Conran project. They're remaking Barbarella ? Nooooooo! And Clash of the Titans ? WTF. What is wrong with Hollywood? Not content with remaking perfectly good old films, they now have to remake shit ol...
by tanzeelat
Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:14 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 24
Views: 16260

Shame Nolan hasn't produced anything quite so good. His first film, Following, was more like a trial run of Memento than anything else. Insomnia I didn't bother seeing - I liked the original. Batman Begins was fun, as was The Prestige, but neither of them are as good as Memento...
by tanzeelat
Mon Mar 31, 2008 11:29 pm
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Genre Best of Lists
Replies: 44
Views: 40859

That first list has been "hacked". Notice how the first seven are series... and then you get Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky Brothers. Oh, and the Witchfinder series is at No. 5, but was only published in English last year. A bunch of Polish or Russian fans appear to have block-voted and...
by tanzeelat
Mon Mar 31, 2008 12:47 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 24
Views: 16260

GamePlayer, it all depends on how the degree of the "clomping foot of nerdism" you'll accept. High fantasy seems to demand rigid world-building - Chekov's maxim about the gun on the mantle-piece taken to the nth degree. Most sf is not so rigourous... but neither do readers expect to have r...
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 30, 2008 11:30 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 24
Views: 16260

Er, I hate to shatter your illusions... but those are Arabic letters. And it basically spells - w-h-r-m r-aa-dd-aa-r. Or it would if the correct forms were used.
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 30, 2008 2:34 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 24
Views: 16260

I think Banks is one of the most interesting writers in the genre at the moment, but that doesn't mean all his books are perfect. But a bad Banks is still a damned sight better than a lot of other stuff that's been published. Btw, the Arabic in your signature is all wrong. Aside from not actually me...
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 30, 2008 1:42 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Stations of the Tide, by Michael Swanwick
Replies: 2
Views: 5250

This is what I thought to it after I reread it last year... I last read Stations of the Tide over ten years ago. However, I'd forgotten very little of the plot - so the twist ending wasn't much of a twist. A bureaucrat visits the world of Miranda, shortly before its sole continent is inundated by th...
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:24 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock - tanzeelat's review
Replies: 1
Views: 4674

Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock - tanzeelat's review

I first read this years ago, between 1986 and 1989. I remember appreciating Behold The Man at the time, but what I had forgotten was how well-written it is. Karl Glogauer is sent back through time via some off-stage sleight-of-hand to Biblical Israel. He wants to meet Jesus, for a variety of reasons...
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 30, 2008 4:13 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 24
Views: 16260

Look to Windward, by Iain M Banks

Since the publication of The Star Fraction , MacLeod has been linked with Banks: as well as their shared home-city of Edinburgh, there’s a similarity in tone in their fiction, and a common political dimension. In Cosmonaut Keep , MacLeod has based his story around a joke. And so too has Banks in Loo...
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 30, 2008 3:41 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: A Game of Thrones, by George R R Martin
Replies: 0
Views: 5110

A Game of Thrones, by George R R Martin

There is little in A Game Of Thrones that can be counted as truly original. The setting is stock high fantasy: a mix and match of Dark Ages peasantry and Camelot-style pageantry. There are, fortunately, no elves, dwarves, gnomes or (gag) hobbits. But there are dragons (although they only appear near...
by tanzeelat
Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:33 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Loose Children of Men adaptation
Replies: 7
Views: 8749

They can't leave dead horses alone, can they?
by tanzeelat
Thu Mar 20, 2008 9:09 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Fifth Head of Cerberus, by Gene Wolfe
Replies: 4
Views: 6448

I look forward to reading it.
by tanzeelat
Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:53 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells
Replies: 6
Views: 8619

Omphalos wrote:Youngquist seems to be some sort of Victorian England scholar.
Cor. He must be really old then :-)
by tanzeelat
Thu Mar 20, 2008 12:50 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Fifth Head of Cerberus, by Gene Wolfe
Replies: 4
Views: 6448

We'll have to see if we agree on what the story is actually about :-)
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 19, 2008 3:04 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Fifth Head of Cerberus, by Gene Wolfe
Replies: 4
Views: 6448

The Fifth Head of Cerberus, by Gene Wolfe

Wolfe is famous for writing short stories and novels which are also complex puzzles, and The Fifth Head of Cerberus is perhaps one of his best known ones. I think I might have worked it out... CAUTION: SPOILERS The Fifth Head Of Cerberus comprises three novellas, all sharing a common location, the t...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 3:03 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Paradox Men, by Charles Harness
Replies: 5
Views: 8128

Sold any what? Reviews? I used to review books for the British Science Fiction Association many years ago.
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:25 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Gap Cycle, by Stephen Donaldson
Replies: 0
Views: 5723

The Gap Cycle, by Stephen Donaldson

Stephen Donaldson joined the ranks of bestselling genre writers with the twin trilogies of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever. The first book in this series had been rejected by 42 publishers when, in desperation Donaldson submitted it once again to his first choice of publisher, who had just had a cha...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:13 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Chasm City, by Alastair Reynolds
Replies: 0
Views: 4997

Chasm City, by Alastair Reynolds

This is Reynold’s second novel and set in the same universe as his debut, Revelation Space . But that’s where all resemblance ends — Reynolds has not managed to capture the same feel in Chasm City as that of the earlier novel. There are shared locales, and the action takes place around a generation ...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:07 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Zeitgeist, by Bruce Sterling
Replies: 0
Views: 4898

Zeitgeist, by Bruce Sterling

If there’s one thing Sterling does superbly, it’s extrapolate a plausible near-future out of today’s cutting-edge. Which means Zeitgeist must be a piss-take. Not only is it set in 1999 — and the plot leads up to the Millennium — but it features all the neat gizmos that did not exist then but might w...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:03 pm
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Bold As Love, by Gwyneth Jones
Replies: 0
Views: 5265

Bold As Love, by Gwyneth Jones

It's fitting that the first puff on the back of the Bold As Love hardback is Bruce Sterling's, because Gwyneth Jones's novel is a very English version of what Sterling does so well for the US. In Sterling’s Heavy Weather , Holy Fire and Distraction , he has taken one element of American fringe cultu...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:55 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Paradox Men, by Charles Harness
Replies: 5
Views: 8128

Reviewing it is good, and useful. I was just disagreeing with your review. As you no doubt would disagree with my opinion of some books.

Speaking of which, I'll see if I can dig out any more past reviews to bung up on here...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:54 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

Read it many, many years ago. The movie is... disappointing. Why can't Hollywood remake that instead of bloody The Day The Earth Stood Still? Oh, wait. The film of Slaughterhouse Five flopped. They wouldn't remake a flop. It might flop again.
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 11:52 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Time and Again, by Clifford D Simak
Replies: 10
Views: 11587

Who? Chabon? No, The Yiddish Policemen's Union is my first, although friends have been recommending him to me for years.
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 10:53 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Time and Again, by Clifford D Simak
Replies: 10
Views: 11587

It's worth bringing forward. It's a good book.
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 9:42 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Time and Again, by Clifford D Simak
Replies: 10
Views: 11587

I had to make a list of the books I was going to read over the next 4 months, just so I actually got around to reading the books I wanted to read. And then I went and bought The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon because it's on the BSFA Award shortlist, and had to cram that in before the e...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 5:12 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Time and Again, by Clifford D Simak
Replies: 10
Views: 11587

Simak was one of my favourite authors when I was a kid, and I still have several of his novels. Other than Time and Again , I've not reread any of them for, er, decades. And after rereading that book, I'm somewhat afraid to. Mind you, I have enough books I've not read that I can't really afford to r...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:50 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Time and Again, by Clifford D Simak
Replies: 10
Views: 11587

Time and Again, by Clifford D Simak

Time and Again was first published in 1951 under the title First He Died . It's also one of the earliest sf novels I ever read. I can distinctly remember reading it when I lived in Dubai - likely borrowed from Dubai Country Club's subscription library. That would be sometime between 1976 and 1979. ...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:48 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Where Time Winds Blow, by Robert Holdstock
Replies: 3
Views: 6413

Where Time Winds Blow, by Robert Holdstock

Where Time Winds Blow is, like many British science fiction novels of its time, literate, slightly mannered, and very considered in its treatment of its characters. Its central idea is the framework on which the entire plot is hung. On the world of Kamelios, winds blow in and out of time, picking u...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:44 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: The Paradox Men, by Charles Harness
Replies: 5
Views: 8128

I thought The Paradox Men was just silly. I'd heard it was good from several people, but it was a bit too slapdash for me to take seriously.
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:22 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

Foundation is the first book in the Foundation trilogy. Prelude to Foundation was written years later. I remember enjoying the Foundation trilogy when I was a kid, but I reread it recently and thought it was terrible. Asimov is definitely a Golden Age of sf writer - i.e., he should only be read whe...
by tanzeelat
Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:18 am
Forum: Dune Secondary Source Bibliography
Topic: Dune Secondary Source Bibliography
Replies: 192
Views: 554709

I'll go through my collection of "Duniana" and PM you with all the publication details, ISBns, etc.
by tanzeelat
Fri Mar 14, 2008 12:40 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Dune, by Frank Herbert - tanzeelat's review
Replies: 9
Views: 9885

I like some poetry - Wilfred Owen, John Jarmain, some of Lawrence Durrell's, 'The Waste Land'... But a lot of poetry leaves me cold.
by tanzeelat
Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:43 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Dune, by Frank Herbert - tanzeelat's review
Replies: 9
Views: 9885

A few more reviews to cut & paste in yet.
by tanzeelat
Thu Mar 13, 2008 12:20 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Dune, by Frank Herbert - tanzeelat's review
Replies: 9
Views: 9885

I thought I'd inflict them on a few more people :-)
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:45 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Matter, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 5
Views: 6720

Waterstone's were selling the hardback at half-price for the first couple of weeks after it was published. But I'd always planned to buy that edition.
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:35 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Take Back Plenty, by Colin Greenland
Replies: 2
Views: 6011

No white rabbits or red queens that I remember. There is a Frasque queen, though. It's definitely worth reading. It was published in the US, so you should be able to find copies.
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:24 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Take Back Plenty, by Colin Greenland
Replies: 2
Views: 6011

Take Back Plenty, by Colin Greenland

I remember the buzz when Take Back Plenty was published back in 1990. It "reinvented" space opera. Arguably Iain M Banks had done that three years earlier with Consider Phlebas , but Take Back Plenty was different. Colin Greenland's novel was a reworking of - and homage to - pulp sf tropes...
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:13 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Against A Dark Background, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 0
Views: 4761

Against A Dark Background, by Iain M Banks

Against A Dark Background was the first of Banks's non-Culture space operas. It's actually set within the Golter planetary system, located millions of light-years from its nearest neighbouring star. It could be a Culture novel - there's no reason why its story might not take place in some unexplore...
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 12, 2008 2:04 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Dune, by Frank Herbert - tanzeelat's review
Replies: 9
Views: 9885

Dune, by Frank Herbert - tanzeelat's review

Some people have The Lord of the Rings , some people have Dune . They reread one of the two books on a regular basis. While I don't read Dune every year, it's the sf novel I've probably read the most times (and I haven't reread The Lord of the Rings since I was about nineteen). This year I read Dune...
by tanzeelat
Wed Mar 12, 2008 1:57 am
Forum: Book Reviews
Topic: Matter, by Iain M Banks
Replies: 5
Views: 6720

Matter, by Iain M Banks

NOTE: THIS POST INCLUDES SPOILERS Matter is Iain Banks' first Culture novel since Look to Windward in 2000. So there was a great deal of eagerness - and not just by myself - when it was announced. Orbit clearly realised that Matter 's publication was an event - Waterstone's has been selling the har...
by tanzeelat
Sun Mar 09, 2008 4:29 am
Forum: Dune Secondary Source Bibliography
Topic: Dune Secondary Source Bibliography
Replies: 192
Views: 554709

A few more notes on your bibliography: Songs of Muad'Dib also includes many of the haiku FH had published in newspapers. The Avalon Hill Dune game is a boardgame, not a RPG. Two expansion packs were also published - Spice Harvest and Duel . Also worth noting: Métal Hurlant No. 107 (January 1985) - D...
by tanzeelat
Thu Mar 06, 2008 9:32 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: RIP Gary Gygax
Replies: 67
Views: 62692

I was more of a fan of GDW's games - Traveller, Space: 1889 and 2300AD. I still have a massive collection.
by tanzeelat
Fri Feb 29, 2008 2:12 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: Nebula Final Ballot Nominees
Replies: 3
Views: 6646

Does anyone take any notice of the Nebula Awards these days? They should rename the novel category the Jack McDevitt Award...
by tanzeelat
Thu Feb 28, 2008 12:37 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Starship Troopers....III?
Replies: 40
Views: 34348

He wasted his money then. He didn't need to buy him. Blair was quite happy to stick his head up Bush's arse of his own free will.

The world would be a much nicer place if we got rid of all the politicians...
by tanzeelat
Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:50 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Starship Troopers....III?
Replies: 40
Views: 34348

Why are you Americans complaining about who gets to vote? It doesn't make any difference anyway. Bush bought his presidency. And you let him.
by tanzeelat
Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:44 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Starship Troopers....III?
Replies: 40
Views: 34348

The first film was the only sane response to Heinlein's novel. The second film was a straight-video cash-in, which managed to miss the whole point of the first one.

I suspect the third one will be exactly the same.
by tanzeelat
Mon Feb 18, 2008 6:04 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

I've jusy started Iain Banks' new novel, Matter.
by tanzeelat
Fri Feb 15, 2008 3:08 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: Tropical Nights at the Natatorium, by Richard Paul Russo
Replies: 1
Views: 4887

I wasn't all that impressed by Ship of Fools. The religious aspect remindedme of The Sparrow, the alien ships reminded me of David Feintuch's Seafort Saga, and from what I recall nothing in the book was actually resolved.
by tanzeelat
Wed Feb 06, 2008 7:30 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Which First: FH Books or the New Ones?
Replies: 42
Views: 44332

I was at prep school (a British prep school is different to a US one), when I saw a lad in the year above me reading Dune . That would be in 1978 or 1979. Up to that point, all I'd read was Heinlein, Asimov and EE 'Doc' Smith. He told me it was very good. A year or two later, I got the first three b...
by tanzeelat
Tue Feb 05, 2008 6:09 am
Forum: Dune Talk
Topic: Which First: FH Books or the New Ones?
Replies: 42
Views: 44332

Why would anyone with two brain cells to rub together want to read any of the BH/KJA books?
by tanzeelat
Sat Feb 02, 2008 3:14 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: The Dune Encyclopedia, Willis McNelly, ed.
Replies: 15
Views: 15089

I have a first edition hardback of the Dune Encyclopedia. Not a book club edition, a proper first edition hardback - although I believe the trade paperback beat into print by a month or two.
by tanzeelat
Fri Feb 01, 2008 11:29 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: On-line SF Magazines
Replies: 8
Views: 10718

Will do.
by tanzeelat
Fri Feb 01, 2008 8:21 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: On-line SF Magazines
Replies: 8
Views: 10718

I have #0 of GUD at home, although I've not read it yet.

I'll add more mags to the list soon.
by tanzeelat
Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:50 am
Forum: Fiction Links
Topic: On-line SF Magazines
Replies: 8
Views: 10718

On-line SF Magazines

Infinity Plus - reprint site, now sadly defunct. Some excellent stuff there, though http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/ SF Site - reviews and news. http://www.sfsite.com/ Locus - nuff said. http://www.locusmag.com/ SF Crownsnest - UK sf news and reviews http://www.sfcrowsnest.com/ SciFi Weekly - gloosy s...
by tanzeelat
Fri Feb 01, 2008 3:40 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: Dr Who and Torchwood
Replies: 15
Views: 12566

I can't say I'm a fan of Torchwood. Russell T Davies clearly wants to be Joss Whedon, but since I could never understand the appeal of Buffy, I don't see what's so good about Torchwood. The characters are unlikeable, the plots are silly, and having snog each other and anything else that moves is... ...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jan 30, 2008 11:07 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: The saying "hello" thread.
Replies: 540
Views: 1724651

sffchronicles isn't bad. Bit too much "which is the best spaceship in Star Wars" and "which Ajah would you be in WoT", but there are some good people there.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jan 30, 2008 7:28 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: The saying "hello" thread.
Replies: 540
Views: 1724651

Real Life, I guess :-)

Didn't like Arrakeen - aie! the goggles they no work... So I stopped dropping by.
by tanzeelat
Wed Jan 30, 2008 3:13 am
Forum: Genre TV and Movies
Topic: The movies that are better than the books
Replies: 14
Views: 11650

Marnie - Alfred Hitchcock's film is much better than Winston Graham's book.

The Commitments - Alan Parker's film is much better than Roddy Doyle's book.

I'd also agree that Blade Runner is better than Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
by tanzeelat
Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:49 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Ten favorite books
Replies: 32
Views: 22935

My top ten sf novels: Undercover Aliens , AE van Vogt (1950) Dune , Frank Herbert (1965) Dhalgren , Samuel Delany (1975) The Ophiuchi Hotline , John Varley (1977) Where Time Winds Blow , Robert Holdstock (1981) Kairos , Gwyneth Jones (1988) Metrophage , Richard Kadrey (1988) Take Back Plenty , Colin...
by tanzeelat
Wed Jan 30, 2008 2:45 am
Forum: General Chat
Topic: Books in the pile
Replies: 947
Views: 6614154

Stations of the Tide is very good, although I didn't like quite as much as I did the first time I read it many years ago. My to read pile is embarrassingly large. I just finished Charles Stross' Glasshouse - well, I've been acquainted with the bloke for years, so I thought I should read something o...

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