Who do you rate as your best read in science fiction?

[The Zygon]

I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.

The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.

Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

[Bill Gill]

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.

Bill

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by The Zygon

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to

best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the
best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite
read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite
writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of
the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I
find most impressive.

Post by The Zygon
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She

takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something
special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel
Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies
is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers.
But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning
performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would
otherwise be very ordinary stories.

Post by The Zygon
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science

fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I
can name anyone.
My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.

Well, think how long it took Tolkien to write ... anything.

I was going to nominate Wrede myself, but y'know, there are still
people on this group who will yell "BUT THAT'S NOT SF, THAT'S
FANTASY!" So nyah to them.

She has a blog, which I read faithfully, and a year or so ago she
asked for ideas about, IIRC, a (fictional) place where three
competitive empires could meet on neutral ground. So we all made
suggestions, and we haven't heard a peep about it since.
Patience is a virtue.

(Now I'm forgetting what fictional character tells another
character to be patient and wait for something to happen: "My
mother had to wait nine months for *me*.")

[Kevrob]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by The Zygon

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to

best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the
best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite
read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite
writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of
the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I
find most impressive.

Post by The Zygon
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She

takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something
special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel
Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies
is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers.
But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning
performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would
otherwise be very ordinary stories.

Post by The Zygon
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science

fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I
can name anyone.
My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.

Well, think how long it took Tolkien to write ... anything.
I was going to nominate Wrede myself, but y'know, there are still
people on this group who will yell "BUT THAT'S NOT SF, THAT'S
FANTASY!" So nyah to them.
She has a blog, which I read faithfully, and a year or so ago she
asked for ideas about, IIRC, a (fictional) place where three
competitive empires could meet on neutral ground. So we all made
suggestions, and we haven't heard a peep about it since.
Patience is a virtue.
(Now I'm forgetting what fictional character tells another
character to be patient and wait for something to happen: "My
mother had to wait nine months for *me*.")

No reason not to have a parallel thread, or rename this to "Best
reads in SF/F," and nominate one of each.

Sometimes you can kill 2 birds: Poul Anderson, for example.

I love F. Paul Wilson, who is a triple threat: SF, fantasy and Horror,
sometimes all smooshed together.

Kevin R

[The Zygon]

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.
Bill

Thanks. I was hoping to discover some new names. Patricia Wrede is new to me.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to

best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the
best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite
read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite
writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of
the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I
find most impressive.

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She

takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something
special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel
Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies
is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers.
But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning
performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would
otherwise be very ordinary stories.

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science

fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I
can name anyone.

Post by Bill Gill
My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.
Bill

Thanks. I was hoping to discover some new names. Patricia Wrede is new to me.

You have some good reading ahead of you. Her early work was
standard-issue fantasy set in a world called Lyra; the best of
these is _The Raven Ring._

She then wrote several alt-worlds, Regency-era with magic, some
with Caroline Stevermer:
Sorcery and Cecelia
The Grand Tour
The Misslaid Magician
(Stevermer also wrote a YA adventure in the same world, _Magic
Below Stairs,_ which you should not miss either.)

and two by herself, _Mairelon the Magician_ and _The Magician's
Ward._

Meanwhile, Stevermer has written two volumes of what *ought* to
be (and I hope for) a four-volume series, _A College of Magics_
and _A Scholar of Magics._ Don't miss those either.

The Frontier Trilogy is Wrede's most recent work; as noted
upthread, she takes a while to put it all together.

[David DeLaney]

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science

fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name
anyone.

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill
My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.

Thanks. I was hoping to discover some new names. Patricia Wrede is new to me.

If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara /
West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.

Dave, there are certain authors I will buy in hardback on sight. Erikson and
Butcher have both recently demoted themselves from this status...

[David DeLaney]

Post by David DeLaney
If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara
/ West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.

And, duh, Daniel Keys Moran, though he's not the one I wasn't recalling. And
Sucharitkul's Inquestor tetralogy.

Dave

[1***@compuserve.com]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by David DeLaney
If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara
/ West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.

And, duh, Daniel Keys Moran, though he's not the one I wasn't recalling. And
Sucharitkul's Inquestor tetralogy.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/147-3298840-0763569?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Sucharitkul+Inquestor

Result: 'We found 0 results for "sucharitkul inquisitor"'

Spell-corrected without recourse.

JimboCat

[The Last Doctor]

Post by 1***@compuserve.com

Post by David DeLaney

Post by David DeLaney
If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara
/ West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.

And, duh, Daniel Keys Moran, though he's not the one I wasn't recalling. And
Sucharitkul's Inquestor tetralogy.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/147-3298840-0763569?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Sucharitkul+Inquestor
Result: 'We found 0 results for "sucharitkul inquisitor"'
Spell-corrected without recourse.
JimboCat

You want “Chronicles of the High Inquest”. Published, in the UK at least,
under his most common pen name, SP Somtow.

[David DeLaney]

Post by 1***@compuserve.com

Post by David DeLaney
And, duh, Daniel Keys Moran, though he's not the one I wasn't recalling. And
Sucharitkul's Inquestor tetralogy.

Result: 'We found 0 results for "sucharitkul inquisitor"'
Spell-corrected without recourse.

Huh. My Google brings up multiple correct hits, w/the correct spelling of
Inquestor anyway.

You want ???Chronicles of the High Inquest???. Published, in the UK at least,
under his most common pen name, SP Somtow.

Light on the Sound, The Throne of Madness, Utopia Hunters, The Darkling Wind.

Sweeping spaceopera told in a high mythic style. Caste systems, Inquestors
with absolute power who {play a game / enact a rite / make war on each other /
sorrowfully dam history at its roots} that ALWAYS ends with at least one
inhabited planet Falling Beyond, its people compassionately evacuated and towed
in stasis pods to other worlds to resettle behind starships whose navigation is
made possible by the extracted giant brains of a certain species of VERY
dangerous - ideologically, they wouldn't physically hurt a fly - space
cetaceans, and yes that's a lot for one sentence but it doesn't even BEGIN to
cover the major plotlines and wars.

Kelver, the protagonist, is a native of the world Gallendys, with the enormous
hollow mountain inside of which the spacewhales live and a separate race of
people, rendered compassionately blind and deaf by the Inquest, harvest their
brains from sailing skiffs and send them quick-frozen down the Cold River
pipeline to the planet's one city, .... aaand searching for its name brings
me somehow to a post of mine from 2007 at

< http://rec.arts.sf.written.narkive.com/b4mpM7FI/sucharitkul-s-inquestor
-series >

which gives entirely different descriptions and makes a point I'd entirely
forgotten about!

Anyway, Hijinx quickly Ensue, seals are broken, a terrifying journey, and
Kelver is inducted into a war he could never have imagined and raised to the
Clan of Ton. And that's all in the first book.

The series is over-the-top and glorious, and the fourth book has an appendix
that provides a Twist Ending. Dave-Bob says five screaming stars!

Dave, chocolate and marzipan under a pearled sky

[D B Davis]

Post by David DeLaney

Post by 1***@compuserve.com

Post by David DeLaney
And, duh, Daniel Keys Moran, though he's not the one I wasn't recalling. And
Sucharitkul's Inquestor tetralogy.

Result: 'We found 0 results for "sucharitkul inquisitor"'
Spell-corrected without recourse.

Huh. My Google brings up multiple correct hits, w/the correct spelling of
Inquestor anyway.

You want ???Chronicles of the High Inquest???. Published, in the UK at least,
under his most common pen name, SP Somtow.

Light on the Sound, The Throne of Madness, Utopia Hunters, The Darkling Wind.
Sweeping spaceopera told in a high mythic style. Caste systems, Inquestors
with absolute power who {play a game / enact a rite / make war on each other /
sorrowfully dam history at its roots} that ALWAYS ends with at least one
inhabited planet Falling Beyond, its people compassionately evacuated and towed
in stasis pods to other worlds to resettle behind starships whose navigation is
made possible by the extracted giant brains of a certain species of VERY
dangerous - ideologically, they wouldn't physically hurt a fly - space
cetaceans, and yes that's a lot for one sentence but it doesn't even BEGIN to
cover the major plotlines and wars.
Kelver, the protagonist, is a native of the world Gallendys, with the enormous
hollow mountain inside of which the spacewhales live and a separate race of
people, rendered compassionately blind and deaf by the Inquest, harvest their
brains from sailing skiffs and send them quick-frozen down the Cold River
pipeline to the planet's one city, .... aaand searching for its name brings
me somehow to a post of mine from 2007 at
< http://rec.arts.sf.written.narkive.com/b4mpM7FI/sucharitkul-s-inquestor
-series >
which gives entirely different descriptions and makes a point I'd entirely
forgotten about!
Anyway, Hijinx quickly Ensue, seals are broken, a terrifying journey, and
Kelver is inducted into a war he could never have imagined and raised to the
Clan of Ton. And that's all in the first book.
The series is over-the-top and glorious, and the fourth book has an appendix
that provides a Twist Ending. Dave-Bob says five screaming stars!
Dave, chocolate and marzipan under a pearled sky

Bless you David for using narkive.com. It's interesting (to me) how
narkive doesn't require secure sockets, nor javascript enabled for
itself and third party websites.
Your 2007 post ends up asking, "What sort of epiphanies have YOU-all
had this morning?
My epiphany is that narkive works better for me than the other guys'
website.

✍

Thank you,

[Moriarty]

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 1:21:30 PM UTC+10, David DeLaney wrote:

<snip>

Post by David DeLaney
Dave, there are certain authors I will buy in hardback on sight. Erikson and
Butcher have both recently demoted themselves from this status...

I take it you're not a fan of Erikson's Kharkanas books? I haven't started them yet as I'm halfway through a re-read of the Books of the Fallen.

And what has Butcher done to earn this demotion? He hasn't published anything since 2015, unless I'm missing something.

-Moriarty

[The Zygon]

Post by Moriarty
<snip>

Post by David DeLaney
Dave, there are certain authors I will buy in hardback on sight. Erikson and
Butcher have both recently demoted themselves from this status...

I take it you're not a fan of Erikson's Kharkanas books? I haven't started them yet as I'm halfway through a re-read of the Books of the Fallen.
And what has Butcher done to earn this demotion? He hasn't published anything since 2015, unless I'm missing something.
-Moriarty

He'e been writing comics and collaborating with various authors in short story collections. But yes. nothing serious since 2015 that I know of.

[David DeLaney]

Post by Moriarty

Post by David DeLaney
Dave, there are certain authors I will buy in hardback on sight. Erikson and
Butcher have both recently demoted themselves from this status...

I take it you're not a fan of Erikson's Kharkanas books? I haven't started
them yet as I'm halfway through a re-read of the Books of the Fallen.

Oh, I'm still buying them in hardback, and the current series has shown itself
to be okay - but Crack'd Pot Trail made me swear to NEVER again buy an Erikson
book without investigating it first. Gaaaaah.

Post by Moriarty
And what has Butcher done to earn this demotion? He hasn't published anything
since 2015, unless I'm missing something.

The Aeronaut's Windlass, first in a new series recently, was good but not buy-
the-hardback good, I found out after buying the hardback. oops.

(He also has not been putting his books out in PAPERBACK since partway through
his <Blank's> Fury series, only in Very Small Trade Paperback. Also gaaaah.)

Dave, don't get me wrong, more Dresden? Will be snapped up in hardback with
visible trailing speed lines

[Scott Lurndal]

Post by The Zygon

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science

fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name
anyone.

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill
My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.

Thanks. I was hoping to discover some new names. Patricia Wrede is new to me.

If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara /
West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.

Michelle Sagara-West is amonngst my regular re-reads, along with MiaHM, SiaSL
and a selection of Weber's (Dahak, Apocalypse troll).

Like Terry, I'm fond of _Cities in Flight_.

I recently enjoyed a re-read of Second Foundation. Refreshingly brief (208 e-pages)
when compared with Ms. West's tomes :-)

[Greg Goss]

Post by Scott Lurndal
Like Terry, I'm fond of _Cities in Flight_.

The middle two. #1 and #4 never really worked for me.

[The Zygon]

Post by The Zygon

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill

Post by The Zygon
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science

fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name
anyone.

Post by The Zygon

Post by Bill Gill
My best read is the Frontier Magic series ("Thirteenth Child",
"Across the Great Barrier", and "The Far West) by Patricia C. Wrede.
Wrede is a really good writer, but she is amazingly slow.
We have been waiting years for her next book to come out.

Thanks. I was hoping to discover some new names. Patricia Wrede is new to me.

If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara /
West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.
Dave, there are certain authors I will buy in hardback on sight. Erikson and
Butcher have both recently demoted themselves from this status...
--
\/David DeLaney posting thru EarthLink - "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
my gatekeeper archives are no longer accessible :( / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.

By Erikson, do you mean Erik Erickson?

[David DeLaney]

Post by The Zygon

Post by David DeLaney
If we're including fantasy under SF, as usual, then I have to jump straight to
Diane Duane. With Graydon Saunders not holding top spot only because he only
has four books out. Right up near them are Diana Wynne Jones, Michelle Sagara

/ West, Larry Niven oddly enough, Doc Smith, and I _know_ there's at least one

Post by The Zygon

Post by David DeLaney
more giant-space-opera one but they're slipping my mind right now.
Dave, there are certain authors I will buy in hardback on sight. Erikson and
Butcher have both recently demoted themselves from this status...

By Erikson, do you mean Erik Erickson?

No - Stephen Erikson, author of the (finished) ten-volume Malazan Book of the
Fallen series, and some accompanying thinner books about a pair of
necromancers from the setting, and currently doing a prequel trilogy on the
order of two hundred thousand years earlier. There are also a series of books
by Esslemont filling in backstory, and recently a series focusing on the
ascension of Dancer and Kellanved to the Malazan Empire's throne (and, along
the way, on the beginnings of their _subsequent_ Ascension).

What would happen if an archaeologist wrote high fantasy, and put in some TRULY
Elder races? Read these and find out...

Dave

[-dsr-]

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

I'm going to toss out a few:

Daniel Keys Moran, especially The Long Run but I will happily re-read
anything he's written.

Steven Brust. I can even read the Paarfi novels, and ordinarily I hate
that sort of thing.

Miller and Lee, of Liaden fame. How else to explain my willingness to
read a 450 page book that doesn't even mention the characters I want to
hear about -- they're in the next book. Maybe.

Harry Connolly. Switched from horror-urban fantasy to epic fantasy and
took it for over a thousand pages in which All The Things Happened and
they made sense.

Matthew Hughes.

Matthew Woodring Stover.

I had better stop.

Um. Walter Jon Williams in an experimental mood, especially Aristoi.

-dsr-

[Panthera Tigris Altaica]

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

Lois McMaster Bujold is simply the best current writer out there. CJ Cherryth is a distant second, and fading; her best work (Cyteen, Downbelow Station, Serpent's Reach, The Pride of Chanur) is well behind her. Trailing them are the likes of Stross, Watt-Evans, and Banks, and then the general morass of mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber. With Ringo and Kratman bringing up the (distant) rear. Especially Kratman.

[Kevrob]

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

Maybe Bruce Sterling, but I wouldn't put him in the Big Jim McBob,
Billy Sol Hurok schoold of SF authors.

Kevin R

[Wolffan]

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

[Kevrob]

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.

They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Kevin R

[Peter Trei]

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

pt

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

[Kevrob]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

Stirling actually credits "alien space bats" as coined by the late
Alison Brooks in soc.history.what-if as the behind-the-curtain manipulators of the change d physical laws, so, it's vespertilio ex machina.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats

Kevin R

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Kevrob

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

Stirling actually credits "alien space bats" as coined by the late
Alison Brooks in soc.history.what-if as the behind-the-curtain manipulators of the change d physical laws, so, it's vespertilio ex machina.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_space_bats

Spoilers for a few books back in the Emberverse.













I remember hearing that Stirling said that. Later, when High King
Whatshisname went to Nantucket, he had a vision communication with the
party responsible for The Change. It was humans from the far, far
distant future along with other aliens who had all merged together into
a galactic god mind or somesuch that implemented it. The reason given
was the future humans were not as spiritual and in-touch with "nature"
as they wanted to be so they were changing their own evolution to become
so. That was the closest I've ever come to physically throwing a book
across the room.

[J. Clarke]

On Thu, 3 May 2018 11:23:40 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

I found myself wondering what kind of SCUBA gear they could make in
that society. I mean you keep pumping air in and the pressure doesn't
go up so you could have years worth of air in a CO2 cartridge.

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by J. Clarke
On Thu, 3 May 2018 11:23:40 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

On Monday, April 30, 2018 at 10:54:23 AM UTC-4, Panthera Tigris

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

I found myself wondering what kind of SCUBA gear they could make in
that society. I mean you keep pumping air in and the pressure doesn't
go up so you could have years worth of air in a CO2 cartridge.

Um, surely for a SCUBA apparatus you'd want O2, or an
oxygen-something-else mixture? (Helium works, at the cost of
making you sound like Donald Duck.) Or are the people using the
SCUBA gear plants? :)

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by J. Clarke
On Thu, 3 May 2018 11:23:40 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei
Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

I found myself wondering what kind of SCUBA gear they could make in
that society. I mean you keep pumping air in and the pressure doesn't
go up so you could have years worth of air in a CO2 cartridge.

Um, surely for a SCUBA apparatus you'd want O2, or an
oxygen-something-else mixture? (Helium works, at the cost of
making you sound like Donald Duck.) Or are the people using the
SCUBA gear plants? :)

Most recreational SCUBA diving is on simple compressed air. You only go
to strange mixes if you're going particularly long and/or deep, where
you would usually add helium to air to reduce the narcotic effect of
nitrogen and the poisonous effect of oxygen at depth, as well as the
danger of 'the bends' since helium leaves the diver's tissues more
easily.

"Trimix" is your google search term for more info.

Cheers - Jaimie

[J. Clarke]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by J. Clarke
On Thu, 3 May 2018 11:23:40 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

On Monday, April 30, 2018 at 10:54:23 AM UTC-4, Panthera Tigris

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I?l pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

I found myself wondering what kind of SCUBA gear they could make in
that society. I mean you keep pumping air in and the pressure doesn't
go up so you could have years worth of air in a CO2 cartridge.

Um, surely for a SCUBA apparatus you'd want O2, or an
oxygen-something-else mixture? (Helium works, at the cost of
making you sound like Donald Duck.) Or are the people using the
SCUBA gear plants? :)

Don't want pure oxygen--it's toxic below about 30 feet. Air works
fine until you're going deep--two issues with it--nitrogen in the
bloodstream comes out of solution and with enough pressure nitrogen
becomes a narcotic.

Heliox is used when divers are going deep enough for bends or nitrogen
narcosis to be issues.

[Moriarty]

<snip>

Post by J. Clarke

Post by Dorothy J Heydt
Um, surely for a SCUBA apparatus you'd want O2, or an
oxygen-something-else mixture? (Helium works, at the cost of
making you sound like Donald Duck.) Or are the people using the
SCUBA gear plants? :)

Don't want pure oxygen--it's toxic below about 30 feet. Air works
fine until you're going deep--two issues with it--nitrogen in the
bloodstream comes out of solution and with enough pressure nitrogen
becomes a narcotic.
Heliox is used when divers are going deep enough for bends or nitrogen
narcosis to be issues.

I've had nitrogen narcosis. Getting narced feels euphoric, not unlike the feeling you get after those first few beers or a post-op pain med. Which all sounds great, except in order to get it you've got to be at more than about 40 metres below the surface and quite likely to die if something goes wrong.

-Moriarty

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by Moriarty
<snip>

Post by J. Clarke

Post by Dorothy J Heydt
Um, surely for a SCUBA apparatus you'd want O2, or an
oxygen-something-else mixture? (Helium works, at the cost of
making you sound like Donald Duck.) Or are the people using the
SCUBA gear plants? :)

Don't want pure oxygen--it's toxic below about 30 feet. Air works
fine until you're going deep--two issues with it--nitrogen in the
bloodstream comes out of solution and with enough pressure nitrogen
becomes a narcotic.
Heliox is used when divers are going deep enough for bends or nitrogen
narcosis to be issues.

I've had nitrogen narcosis. Getting narced feels euphoric, not unlike
the feeling you get after those first few beers or a post-op pain med.
Which all sounds great, except in order to get it you've got to be at
more than about 40 metres below the surface and quite likely to die if
something goes wrong.

Now, my dentist used to use nitrous oxide -- which of course isn't
the same thing -- along with novocaine when he had to do
something serious to my teeth. He's stopped using it now. But I
wonder if the effect is comparable.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Moriarty
<snip>

Post by J. Clarke

Post by Dorothy J Heydt
Um, surely for a SCUBA apparatus you'd want O2, or an
oxygen-something-else mixture? (Helium works, at the cost of
making you sound like Donald Duck.) Or are the people using the
SCUBA gear plants? :)

Don't want pure oxygen--it's toxic below about 30 feet. Air works
fine until you're going deep--two issues with it--nitrogen in the
bloodstream comes out of solution and with enough pressure nitrogen
becomes a narcotic.
Heliox is used when divers are going deep enough for bends or nitrogen
narcosis to be issues.

I've had nitrogen narcosis. Getting narced feels euphoric, not unlike
the feeling you get after those first few beers or a post-op pain med.
Which all sounds great, except in order to get it you've got to be at
more than about 40 metres below the surface and quite likely to die if
something goes wrong.

Now, my dentist used to use nitrous oxide -- which of course isn't
the same thing -- along with novocaine when he had to do
something serious to my teeth. He's stopped using it now. But I
wonder if the effect is comparable.

The one time nitrous oxide was used on me it sent me into a panic attack.

[Robert Woodward]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Peter Trei

Post by Kevrob

Post by Wolffan

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica
mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber.

Sterling? Not S M Stirling? If you mean him, he went to the trouble
of creating a universe where things can't really `splode. :)

He substituted napalm and sulphuric acid and big honking javelins and large
chunks of metal and stone. Not to mention lots and lots of crazy men (and
women) with swords. And Magic(tm). I’ll pass.

I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.
They do get to use airships w/hydrogen without having them
be too `splody. I imagine they'd burn, though. I may be
conflating that with a crashing, burning airship in the
flipside of the Dies The Fire books, the Nantucket trilogy.

Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

Airguns won't work, for the same reason that steam power doesn't work,
"excess" pressure gets siphoned off to "somewhere". And it doesn't
interfere with biology for the same reason that the electricity
dampening doesn't shut down nervous systems and lightning, the process
is selective.

The number of Murphy's demons needed for this is staggering (and I
wonder about their energy needs).

[David DeLaney]

Post by Peter Trei
Not a reader of Stirling, but how are airguns excluded? Air rifles reached
the 'sniper weapon' level of power and accuracy over 100 years ago, and if
Striling doesn't allow air to compress and spring back, there's a lot of
biology that won't work - breathing and birds for a start.

If I remember right, the Alien Space Bats have made it so too much compressed
potential energy in one place _drains_.

Airguns on the order of blowpipes? Probably still quite possible.

Dave

[Dorothy J Heydt]

In article <98bee90e-3e9a-4de6-a4d5-***@googlegroups.com>,
Kevrob <***@my-deja.com> wrote:
--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com

Post by Kevrob
I could do without the Magic(tm,) but the rest is mainly
trying to recreate all the lovely ways people managed to
kill each other before the invention of gunpowder.

Let alone nukes:

https://www.ablemuse.com/erato/showthread.php?t=427

[Bill Gill]

Post by Panthera Tigris Altaica

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

Lois McMaster Bujold is simply the best current writer out there. CJ Cherryth is a distant second, and fading; her best work (Cyteen, Downbelow Station, Serpent's Reach, The Pride of Chanur) is well behind her. Trailing them are the likes of Stross, Watt-Evans, and Banks, and then the general morass of mostly trigger-happy explosion lovers, such as Sterling and Weber. With Ringo and Kratman bringing up the (distant) rear. Especially Kratman.

Well, I liked Ringo's Looking Glass books. Mostly for
the gadgeteering. I tried several of his other books, but
couldn't get through them.

Bill

[David Johnston]

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

I really enjoy Lindsay Buroker and wish she was more published on paper.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by David Johnston

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

I really enjoy Lindsay Buroker and wish she was more published on paper.

I've never done it since I have a kindle, but why not buy the paperback
versions of her books on Amazon or bn.com?

If you just mean, "I wish she were in bookstores", I agree.

[David Johnston]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by David Johnston

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

I really enjoy Lindsay Buroker and wish she was more published on paper.

I've never done it since I have a kindle, but why not buy the paperback
versions of her books on Amazon or bn.com?

Too damn expensive.

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the best writer than simply having the best writing style. My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ in _Training Day_. Without his performance, that movies is a nothing movie. There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. But people remember _Training Day_ because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science fiction/fantasy author I have read. Indeed, I am not certain that I can name anyone.

David Weber.

Lynn

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to
best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the
best writer than simply having the best writing style.   My favorite
read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite
writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense
of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the
writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_.  She
takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes
something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am
reminded of _Denzel Washington_  in  _Training Day_.  Without his
performance, that movies is a nothing movie.  There are hundreds like
it that no one remembers.  But people remember _Training Day_  because
of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_
does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science
fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed, I am not certain that I
can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

Lynn

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors
go into being the best writer than simply having the best
writing style.   My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he
is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson
Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J
Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the
alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the
writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_. 
She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and
makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her
books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_  in  _Training
Day_.  Without his performance, that movies is a nothing
movie.  There are hundreds like it that no one remembers. 
But people remember _Training Day_  because of his
Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_
does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science
fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed, I am not
certain that I can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors
go into being the best writer than simply having the best
writing style.   My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he
is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson
Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J
Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the
alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the
writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_.Â
She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and
makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her
books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_  in  _Training
Day_.  Without his performance, that movies is a nothing
movie.  There are hundreds like it that no one remembers.Â
But people remember _Training Day_  because of his
Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_
does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science
fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed, I am not
certain that I can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that. And I have read everything David Weber has
written except for his War God series. Several of the Honor books
(earlier) were most excellent.

Lynn

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more
factors go into being the best writer than simply having the
best writing style.   My favorite read is _Dan
Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My
favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability
to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about.
Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster
Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite
ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I
read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ 
in  _Training Day_.  Without his performance, that
movies is a nothing movie.  There are hundreds like it
that no one remembers. But people remember _Training
Day_  because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is
what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be
very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best
science fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed,
I am not certain that I can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that.

I am.

You like a lot of crap books.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more
factors go into being the best writer than simply having the
best writing style.   My favorite read is _Dan
Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My
favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability
to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about.
Even so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster
Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually quite
ordinary and makes something special out of them. Whenever I
read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_ÂÂ
in  _Training Day_.  Without his performance, that
movies is a nothing movie.  There are hundreds like it
that no one remembers. But people remember _Training
Day_  because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is
what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be
very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best
science fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed,
I am not certain that I can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that.

I am.
You like a lot of crap books.

The correct term is pulp.

Remind me, what SF/F books are your favorites ?

Lynn

[Ninapenda Jibini]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more
factors go into being the best writer than simply having
the best writing style.   My favorite read
is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before
I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite
read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of
her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she
writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most
impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster
Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually
quite ordinary and makes something special out of them.
Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel
Washington_ in  _Training Day_. 
Without his performance, that movies is a nothing
movie.  There are hundreds like it that no one
remembers. But people remember _Training
Day_  because of his Oscar-winning performance.
This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would
otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best
science fiction/fantasy author I have 
read.  Indeed, I am not certain that I can name
anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that.

I am.
You like a lot of crap books.

The correct term is pulp.

A correct term is pulp. Another is crap.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Remind me, what SF/F books are your favorites ?

#1 book would be the Cordelia's Honor omnibus (which is really only
one story), very closely followed by Brust's Phoenix Guards. Both
series (including the Vlad stuff from Brust, which really is a
separate series, I know) are at the top of my list. Those get
reread regularly.

Just finished the latest from Jack McDevitt. Keeping current on The
Expanse books as they come out. Rereading the Discworld books right
now. Mary Stewarts Merlin trilogy (all four books).

While they don't hold up espcially well to today's standards (mine,
that is, not the world's), I have a fondness for Julian May's
Pliocene Exile books (and to a rather less extent, the sequels) and
Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books (the first two trilogies, that is,
the rest . . . OK, but not among my rereads), The first Pern
trilogy.

It holds up even less well in many ways, but I have a great
fondness for Blish's Cities in Flight books. The Sten books by
Bunch and Cole *does* hold up pretty well. Everything of Ryk's that
I've read (haven't tried the fantasy stuff so far). Anything by
Barry Hughart (but there's only three) or Tom Holt.

Howl's Moving Castle (not the movie, though I like that, too, but
it's a completely different story) and the two sequels. Pournelle's
Falkenberg's Legion stuff, and the related stuff in the same
universe. Maybe Hammer's Slammers. Maybe. I'd mention Ellis Peters,
but Brother Cadfael isn't SF/F.

Pretty much anything by Connie Willis.

That's all stuff I've either reread, or probably will.

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more
factors go into being the best writer than simply having
the best writing style.   My favorite read
is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before
I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite
read. My favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of
her ability to evoke a sense of the alien in the ET's she
writes about. Even so, she is not the writer I find most
impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster
Bujold_. She takes stories which are conceptually
quite ordinary and makes something special out of them.
Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of _Denzel
Washington_ÂÂ in  _Training Day_.ÂÂÂ
Without his performance, that movies is a nothing
movie.  There are hundreds like it that no one
remembers. But people remember _Training
Day_  because of his Oscar-winning performance.
This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_ does to what would
otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best
science fiction/fantasy author I haveÂÂÂ
read.  Indeed, I am not certain that I can name
anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that.

I am.
You like a lot of crap books.

The correct term is pulp.

A correct term is pulp. Another is crap.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Remind me, what SF/F books are your favorites ?

#1 book would be the Cordelia's Honor omnibus (which is really only
one story), very closely followed by Brust's Phoenix Guards. Both
series (including the Vlad stuff from Brust, which really is a
separate series, I know) are at the top of my list. Those get
reread regularly.
Just finished the latest from Jack McDevitt. Keeping current on The
Expanse books as they come out. Rereading the Discworld books right
now. Mary Stewarts Merlin trilogy (all four books).
While they don't hold up espcially well to today's standards (mine,
that is, not the world's), I have a fondness for Julian May's
Pliocene Exile books (and to a rather less extent, the sequels) and
Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books (the first two trilogies, that is,
the rest . . . OK, but not among my rereads), The first Pern
trilogy.
It holds up even less well in many ways, but I have a great
fondness for Blish's Cities in Flight books. The Sten books by
Bunch and Cole *does* hold up pretty well. Everything of Ryk's that
I've read (haven't tried the fantasy stuff so far). Anything by
Barry Hughart (but there's only three) or Tom Holt.
Howl's Moving Castle (not the movie, though I like that, too, but
it's a completely different story) and the two sequels. Pournelle's
Falkenberg's Legion stuff, and the related stuff in the same
universe. Maybe Hammer's Slammers. Maybe. I'd mention Ellis Peters,
but Brother Cadfael isn't SF/F.
Pretty much anything by Connie Willis.
That's all stuff I've either reread, or probably will.

I've got three by McDevitt and two from Connie Willis in my SBR. Maybe
the last Deryni book. I've got one or two Expanse books in my SBR.

The Sten books ARE great. I've got about three of Ryk's book in my SBR.

Sounds like you read more fantasy than I do.

Lynn

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

On 4/30/2018 5:48 PM, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read"
as opposed to best writer, because I think that far more
factors go into being the best writer than simply having
the best writing
style.   My
favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my
favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson
Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is
_C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a
sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even
so, she is not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster
Bujold_. She takes stories which are
conceptually quite ordinary and makes something special
out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am reminded of
_Denzel Washington_ÂÂ
in  _Training Day_.ÂÂÂ
Without his performance, that movies is a nothing
movie.  There are hundreds like it
that no one remembers. But people remember
_Training Day_  because of his
Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster
Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary
stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best
science fiction/fantasy author I haveÂÂÂ
read.  Indeed, I am not certain that
I can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that.

I am.
You like a lot of crap books.

The correct term is pulp.

A correct term is pulp. Another is crap.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Remind me, what SF/F books are your favorites ?

#1 book would be the Cordelia's Honor omnibus (which is really
only one story), very closely followed by Brust's Phoenix
Guards. Both series (including the Vlad stuff from Brust, which
really is a separate series, I know) are at the top of my list.
Those get reread regularly.
Just finished the latest from Jack McDevitt. Keeping current on
The Expanse books as they come out. Rereading the Discworld
books right now. Mary Stewarts Merlin trilogy (all four books).
While they don't hold up espcially well to today's standards
(mine, that is, not the world's), I have a fondness for Julian
May's Pliocene Exile books (and to a rather less extent, the
sequels) and Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books (the first two
trilogies, that is, the rest . . . OK, but not among my
rereads), The first Pern trilogy.
It holds up even less well in many ways, but I have a great
fondness for Blish's Cities in Flight books. The Sten books by
Bunch and Cole *does* hold up pretty well. Everything of Ryk's
that I've read (haven't tried the fantasy stuff so far).
Anything by Barry Hughart (but there's only three) or Tom Holt.
Howl's Moving Castle (not the movie, though I like that, too,
but it's a completely different story) and the two sequels.
Pournelle's Falkenberg's Legion stuff, and the related stuff in
the same universe. Maybe Hammer's Slammers. Maybe. I'd mention
Ellis Peters, but Brother Cadfael isn't SF/F.
Pretty much anything by Connie Willis.
That's all stuff I've either reread, or probably will.

I've got three by McDevitt

The Alex Benedict series is reminds me quite a bit of classic, old
school stuff. Fairly optomistic view of the far future. The Academy
(or Hutch) series is nearer future (though still a couple hundred
years out), and not quite dystopic, but not a bright, shiny future.
Given the sort of stuff you usually seem to like, I suspect you'll
like the Hutch series better, but it's all good.

Post by Lynn McGuire
and two from Connie Willis in my SBR.

Which ones? A lot of her stuff is the time travel series, but the
rest is all over the place. (It, too, is all good.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
Maybe the last Deryni book.

The very first trilogy are classics of the genre. The first Camber
trilogy really appeals to an appreciation of ritual and flowerly
language. After that, you *really* need to like the writing style.
A *lot*. With long, adoring descriptions of inane rituals, the
content of which could be presented in about one paragraph. The
latest, the Childe Morgan stuff, is better on that score, though.
(A friend of mine has one of the Camber books dedicated to him, and
Rhys Thuryn is based on him.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
I've got one or two Expanse books
in my SBR.

I read the first one a long time ago, on a lark. It was OK, but too
dark for my normal tastes. Then the TV show started, and really
brought it all to life. They have mastered characterization to a
rare degree. Hack writers rely on stereotypes, and never vary from
them. Better hack writers rely on archtypes, but with a twist that
virtually always reverses it so the character can grow beyond their
flaws. Abraham and Franck manage to let their characters grow and
expand while staying true to their archtype.

Post by Lynn McGuire
The Sten books ARE great.

Classics. And Allan Cole is a hell of a nice guy. And his memoirs
from his days as a Hollywood script writer are hysterical. (Chris
Bunch is, sadly, no longer with us.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
I've got about three of Ryk's book in
my SBR.

Well, get to it.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Sounds like you read more fantasy than I do.

Not much more, these days, unless you retreat to a purist
definition of science fiction (which makes pretty much all of the
above fantasy except The Expanse and some of Ryk's stuff). The
actual fantasy - the Deryni stuff, the original Pern trilogy
(which, regardless of what McCaffrey intended at the time or has
claimed since, was certainly presented in a fantasy style), the
Pliocene Exile stuff (same as McCaffrey), etc., that's all old
stuff. I read very little *new* fantasy these days, other than
Bujold's Penric stories. (Especially now that Pratchett is gone.)
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Lynn McGuire]

On 5/1/2018 4:28 PM, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha wrote:
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by Lynn McGuire
Remind me, what SF/F books are your favorites ?

#1 book would be the Cordelia's Honor omnibus (which is really
only one story), very closely followed by Brust's Phoenix
Guards. Both series (including the Vlad stuff from Brust, which
really is a separate series, I know) are at the top of my list.
Those get reread regularly.
Just finished the latest from Jack McDevitt. Keeping current on
The Expanse books as they come out. Rereading the Discworld
books right now. Mary Stewarts Merlin trilogy (all four books).
While they don't hold up espcially well to today's standards
(mine, that is, not the world's), I have a fondness for Julian
May's Pliocene Exile books (and to a rather less extent, the
sequels) and Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books (the first two
trilogies, that is, the rest . . . OK, but not among my
rereads), The first Pern trilogy.
It holds up even less well in many ways, but I have a great
fondness for Blish's Cities in Flight books. The Sten books by
Bunch and Cole *does* hold up pretty well. Everything of Ryk's
that I've read (haven't tried the fantasy stuff so far).
Anything by Barry Hughart (but there's only three) or Tom Holt.
Howl's Moving Castle (not the movie, though I like that, too,
but it's a completely different story) and the two sequels.
Pournelle's Falkenberg's Legion stuff, and the related stuff in
the same universe. Maybe Hammer's Slammers. Maybe. I'd mention
Ellis Peters, but Brother Cadfael isn't SF/F.
Pretty much anything by Connie Willis.
That's all stuff I've either reread, or probably will.

I've got three by McDevitt

The Alex Benedict series is reminds me quite a bit of classic, old
school stuff. Fairly optomistic view of the far future. The Academy
(or Hutch) series is nearer future (though still a couple hundred
years out), and not quite dystopic, but not a bright, shiny future.
Given the sort of stuff you usually seem to like, I suspect you'll
like the Hutch series better, but it's all good.

Post by Lynn McGuire
and two from Connie Willis in my SBR.

Which ones? A lot of her stuff is the time travel series, but the
rest is all over the place. (It, too, is all good.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
Maybe the last Deryni book.

The very first trilogy are classics of the genre. The first Camber
trilogy really appeals to an appreciation of ritual and flowerly
language. After that, you *really* need to like the writing style.
A *lot*. With long, adoring descriptions of inane rituals, the
content of which could be presented in about one paragraph. The
latest, the Childe Morgan stuff, is better on that score, though.
(A friend of mine has one of the Camber books dedicated to him, and
Rhys Thuryn is based on him.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
I've got one or two Expanse books
in my SBR.

I read the first one a long time ago, on a lark. It was OK, but too
dark for my normal tastes. Then the TV show started, and really
brought it all to life. They have mastered characterization to a
rare degree. Hack writers rely on stereotypes, and never vary from
them. Better hack writers rely on archtypes, but with a twist that
virtually always reverses it so the character can grow beyond their
flaws. Abraham and Franck manage to let their characters grow and
expand while staying true to their archtype.

Post by Lynn McGuire
The Sten books ARE great.

Classics. And Allan Cole is a hell of a nice guy. And his memoirs
from his days as a Hollywood script writer are hysterical. (Chris
Bunch is, sadly, no longer with us.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
I've got about three of Ryk's book in
my SBR.

Well, get to it.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Sounds like you read more fantasy than I do.

Not much more, these days, unless you retreat to a purist
definition of science fiction (which makes pretty much all of the
above fantasy except The Expanse and some of Ryk's stuff). The
actual fantasy - the Deryni stuff, the original Pern trilogy
(which, regardless of what McCaffrey intended at the time or has
claimed since, was certainly presented in a fantasy style), the
Pliocene Exile stuff (same as McCaffrey), etc., that's all old
stuff. I read very little *new* fantasy these days, other than
Bujold's Penric stories. (Especially now that Pratchett is gone.)

I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I have
read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis book that I
have in my SBR is _Blackout_. I am unsure what the other one is. Or, I
might be thinking of Jo Walton's _My Real Children_.

I have 400 to 500 books in my SBR. I could stop buying new books now
(that would make the wife happy) and never finish them all.

Should you be bored, you can see everything that I have read in the last
fourteen years at:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHV2C7F5C3SWNVJAYRZOU7ORTWYA/

Lynn

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by Lynn McGuire
Remind me, what SF/F books are your favorites ?

#1 book would be the Cordelia's Honor omnibus (which is
really only one story), very closely followed by Brust's
Phoenix Guards. Both series (including the Vlad stuff from
Brust, which really is a separate series, I know) are at the
top of my list. Those get reread regularly.
Just finished the latest from Jack McDevitt. Keeping current
on The Expanse books as they come out. Rereading the
Discworld books right now. Mary Stewarts Merlin trilogy (all
four books).
While they don't hold up espcially well to today's standards
(mine, that is, not the world's), I have a fondness for
Julian May's Pliocene Exile books (and to a rather less
extent, the sequels) and Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books (the
first two trilogies, that is, the rest . . . OK, but not
among my rereads), The first Pern trilogy.
It holds up even less well in many ways, but I have a great
fondness for Blish's Cities in Flight books. The Sten books
by Bunch and Cole *does* hold up pretty well. Everything of
Ryk's that I've read (haven't tried the fantasy stuff so
far). Anything by Barry Hughart (but there's only three) or
Tom Holt.
Howl's Moving Castle (not the movie, though I like that, too,
but it's a completely different story) and the two sequels.
Pournelle's Falkenberg's Legion stuff, and the related stuff
in the same universe. Maybe Hammer's Slammers. Maybe. I'd
mention Ellis Peters, but Brother Cadfael isn't SF/F.
Pretty much anything by Connie Willis.
That's all stuff I've either reread, or probably will.

I've got three by McDevitt

The Alex Benedict series is reminds me quite a bit of classic,
old school stuff. Fairly optomistic view of the far future. The
Academy (or Hutch) series is nearer future (though still a
couple hundred years out), and not quite dystopic, but not a
bright, shiny future. Given the sort of stuff you usually seem
to like, I suspect you'll like the Hutch series better, but
it's all good.

Post by Lynn McGuire
and two from Connie Willis in my SBR.

Which ones? A lot of her stuff is the time travel series, but
the rest is all over the place. (It, too, is all good.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
Maybe the last Deryni book.

The very first trilogy are classics of the genre. The first
Camber trilogy really appeals to an appreciation of ritual and
flowerly language. After that, you *really* need to like the
writing style. A *lot*. With long, adoring descriptions of
inane rituals, the content of which could be presented in about
one paragraph. The latest, the Childe Morgan stuff, is better
on that score, though. (A friend of mine has one of the Camber
books dedicated to him, and Rhys Thuryn is based on him.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
I've got one or two Expanse books
in my SBR.

I read the first one a long time ago, on a lark. It was OK, but
too dark for my normal tastes. Then the TV show started, and
really brought it all to life. They have mastered
characterization to a rare degree. Hack writers rely on
stereotypes, and never vary from them. Better hack writers rely
on archtypes, but with a twist that virtually always reverses
it so the character can grow beyond their flaws. Abraham and
Franck manage to let their characters grow and expand while
staying true to their archtype.

Post by Lynn McGuire
The Sten books ARE great.

Classics. And Allan Cole is a hell of a nice guy. And his
memoirs from his days as a Hollywood script writer are
hysterical. (Chris Bunch is, sadly, no longer with us.)

Post by Lynn McGuire
I've got about three of Ryk's book in
my SBR.

Well, get to it.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Sounds like you read more fantasy than I do.

Not much more, these days, unless you retreat to a purist
definition of science fiction (which makes pretty much all of
the above fantasy except The Expanse and some of Ryk's stuff).
The actual fantasy - the Deryni stuff, the original Pern
trilogy (which, regardless of what McCaffrey intended at the
time or has claimed since, was certainly presented in a fantasy
style), the Pliocene Exile stuff (same as McCaffrey), etc.,
that's all old stuff. I read very little *new* fantasy these
days, other than Bujold's Penric stories. (Especially now that
Pratchett is gone.)

I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Post by Lynn McGuire
Should you be bored, you can see everything that I have read in
https://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHV2C7F5C3SWNVJAY
RZOU7ORTWYA/

If I were that bored, I'd rather reread something I know I'll enjoy
again that a list of what someone else has read.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Lynn McGuire]

On 5/1/2018 5:43 PM, Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha wrote:
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.

I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into the ditch
on me.

Lynn

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books.
I have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie
Willis book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other
half is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.
I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into
the ditch on me.

Sensible enough. Who knows what you will or won't like, but they're
both (to the extent they're two book, which they're not, they're one
book that was too big to fit in a single volume) consistent with her
other writing.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[D B Davis]

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.
I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into the ditch
on me.

This thread serves to illustrate my own surreptitious path to a re-read.
Just in case anyone truly gives a tinker's dam. _Blackout_ is also in my
SBR. "Firewatch" and _Doomsday Book_ are both known to me.
A quick re-read of "Firewatch" was called for in order to refresh my
memory. It has a cat. You often find a cat in the better time travel
stories.
"Firewatch" also uses endorphins to cram pertinent historic data
into the long term memory of a time traveler. Although it's hard to
retrieve, the data can help a traveler spontaneously cope with a given
historic period.
Endorphines are endogenous opioid neuropeptides. And it turns out
that "Endogenous neuropeptides such as ... opioids have significant
effects on learning and memory." [1]

Note.

1. http://ispub.com/IJPHARM/7/1/12011

✍

Thank you,

[D B Davis]

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.
I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into the ditch
on me.

This thread serves to illustrate my own surreptitious path to a re-read.
Just in case anyone gives a tinker's dam. _Blackout_ is also in my SBR.
"Firewatch" and _Doomsday Book_ are both known to me.
A quick re-read of "Firewatch" was called for in order to refresh my
memory. It has a cat. You often find a cat in the better time travel
stories.
"Firewatch" also uses endorphins to cram pertinent historic data
into the long term memory of a time traveler. Although it's hard to
retrieve, the data can help a traveler spontaneously cope with a given
historic period.
Endorphines are endogenous opioid neuropeptides. And it turns out
that "Endogenous neuropeptides such as ... opioids have significant
effects on learning and memory." [1]

Note.

1. http://ispub.com/IJPHARM/7/1/12011

✍

Thank you,

[D B Davis]

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.
I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into the ditch
on me.

This thread serves to illustrate my own surreptitious path to a re-read.
Just in case anyone gives a tinker's dam. _Blackout_ is also in my SBR.
"Firewatch" and _Doomsday Book_ are both known to me.
A quick re-read of "Firewatch" was called for in order to refresh my
memory. It has a cat. You often find a cat in the better time travel
stories.
"Firewatch" also uses endorphins to cram pertinent historic data
into the long term memory of a time traveler. Although it's hard to
retrieve, the data can help a traveler spontaneously cope with a given
historic period.
Endorphines are endogenous opioid neuropeptides. And it turns out
that "Endogenous neuropeptides such as ... opioids have significant
effects on learning and memory." [1]

Note.

1. http://ispub.com/IJPHARM/7/1/12011

✍

Thank you,

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by D B Davis

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.
I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into the ditch
on me.

This thread serves to illustrate my own surreptitious path to a re-read.
Just in case anyone gives a tinker's dam. _Blackout_ is also in my SBR.
"Firewatch" and _Doomsday Book_ are both known to me.
A quick re-read of "Firewatch" was called for in order to refresh my
memory. It has a cat. You often find a cat in the better time travel
stories.
"Firewatch" also uses endorphins to cram pertinent historic data
into the long term memory of a time traveler. Although it's hard to
retrieve, the data can help a traveler spontaneously cope with a given
historic period.
Endorphines are endogenous opioid neuropeptides. And it turns out
that "Endogenous neuropeptides such as ... opioids have significant
effects on learning and memory." [1]
Note.
1. http://ispub.com/IJPHARM/7/1/12011
✍
Thank you,

I have not read _Firewatch_ as I dislike short stories. But I have read
_The Doomsday Book_ and _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. I found both to be
excellent.

Lynn

[The Zygon]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by D B Davis

Post by Lynn McGuire
...

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire
I have read all of the older Deryni books and McDevitt books. I
have read the first 4 ? 5 ? Expanse books. The Connie Willis
book that I have in my SBR is _Blackout_.

I would note that Blackout is only half the story. The other half
is All Clear.

Yes, if I like _Blackout_ then I will purchase _All Clear_.
I try not to get too far ahead in series in case they go into the ditch
on me.

This thread serves to illustrate my own surreptitious path to a re-read.
Just in case anyone gives a tinker's dam. _Blackout_ is also in my SBR.
"Firewatch" and _Doomsday Book_ are both known to me.
A quick re-read of "Firewatch" was called for in order to refresh my
memory. It has a cat. You often find a cat in the better time travel
stories.
"Firewatch" also uses endorphins to cram pertinent historic data
into the long term memory of a time traveler. Although it's hard to
retrieve, the data can help a traveler spontaneously cope with a given
historic period.
Endorphines are endogenous opioid neuropeptides. And it turns out
that "Endogenous neuropeptides such as ... opioids have significant
effects on learning and memory." [1]
Note.
1. http://ispub.com/IJPHARM/7/1/12011
✍
Thank you,

I have not read _Firewatch_ as I dislike short stories. But I have read
_The Doomsday Book_ and _To Say Nothing of the Dog_. I found both to be
excellent.
Lynn

I have never liked short stories, and I have always been somewhat embarrassed about it. It is good to hear someone else say out loud, "I dislike short stories".

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Removing all the attributions to save space:

I recently got hold of Becky Chambers' _The Long Way to a Small,
Angry Planet,_ which I'd seen reviewed a couple of years before.
The title had stuck in my head, and I'd allocated a little bit of
spending money for FogCon, so I bought it. It's good. The
aliens are not so different one can't sympathize with them, but
different enough from your bog-standard human to be interesting.

I see there's a second book in the same universe, and a third
predicted for this summer. I'll have to look for them.

Mind you, this isn't my *best* SF/F; that's still Tolkien. But
she's good.

[Panthera Tigris Altaica]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as
opposed to best writer, because I think that far more factors
go into being the best writer than simply having the best
writing style.   My favorite read is _Dan Simmons_, but he
is not my favorite writer. Before I read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson
Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite writer is _C J
Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense of the
alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the
writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_.Â
She takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and
makes something special out of them. Whenever I read her
books, I am reminded of _Denzel Washington_  in  _Training
Day_.  Without his performance, that movies is a nothing
movie.  There are hundreds like it that no one remembers.Â
But people remember _Training Day_  because of his
Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_
does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science
fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed, I am not
certain that I can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.

But nothing he's written since he got too popular to edit.

I am not sure of that. And I have read everything David Weber has
written except for his War God series. Several of the Honor books
(earlier) were most excellent.
Lynn

I used to buy everything Weber wrote, many of them in hardback. I have yet to buy the last three Honorverse books at all. I once also bought the allied 'Worlds of Honor' books'; again, I haven't bought the last two. I once also bought the 'Saganami' books; not the last two, though. I have bought none of the Stephanie Harrington books or the 'Manticore Ascendant' books. Weber's early books sometimes had problems (the iffy biology in many, especially the Dahak books) but were redeemed by the characters and the writing. Both the characters and the writing have gone downhill, in some cases quickly, and in most cases predictably. When Baron Tellian's daughter was first introduced in the 'War God' books, for example, it was an easy guess as to what would happen... and it did. The actions of the Good Shepard in Zion had entirely predictable consequences, especially when allied with the actions of the estimable head of the Mighty Host of God and the Archangels. In the Honorverse and the Safehold books the original protagonists stopped being the main characters several books ago; Merlin barely qualifies as a supporting character in the last Safehold book, though I suspect that there will be a follow-on series, 'At the Sign of Triumph' left too many loose ends.

[Magewolf]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to
best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the
best writer than simply having the best writing style.   My favorite
read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I
read _Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My
favorite writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke
a sense of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is
not the writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_.  She
takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes
something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am
reminded of _Denzel Washington_  in  _Training Day_.  Without his
performance, that movies is a nothing movie.  There are hundreds like
it that no one remembers.  But people remember _Training Day_
because of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster
Bujold_ does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science
fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed, I am not certain that I
can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.
Lynn

The Dahak books are a lot of fun. I am still upset that the anime
version was canceled when ADV imploded.

[The Zygon]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by The Zygon
I quite deliberately posed the question as "best read" as opposed to
best writer, because I think that far more factors go into being the
best writer than simply having the best writing style.   My favorite
read is _Dan Simmons_, but he is not my favorite writer. Before I read
_Dan Simmons_, _Orson Scott Card_ was my favorite read. My favorite
writer is _C J Cherryh_. I am in awe of her ability to evoke a sense
of the alien in the ET's she writes about. Even so, she is not the
writer I find most impressive.
The writer I find most impressive is _Lois McMaster Bujold_.  She
takes stories which are conceptually quite ordinary and makes
something special out of them. Whenever I read her books, I am
reminded of _Denzel Washington_  in  _Training Day_.  Without his
performance, that movies is a nothing movie.  There are hundreds like
it that no one remembers.  But people remember _Training Day_  because
of his Oscar-winning performance. This is what _Lois McMaster Bujold_
does to what would otherwise be very ordinary stories.
Even so, I would not name any of the above as the best science
fiction/fantasy author I have  read.  Indeed, I am not certain that I
can name anyone.

David Weber.
Lynn

Explicitly for his Dahak series.
Lynn

I read Dahak 1. Enjoyed it immensely. I plan to complete the trilogy eventually.

[Mike Van Pelt]

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.

Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.

(This is whatever group is using that McGuffin to take over
someone's body and make them do things against their will. The
last one I read, Honor had to shoot one of her trusted guardsmen
in the head; through Nimitz, she could tell he was frantically
trying to prevent his body from shooting Honor, but was
completely disconnected from any control. Yeah, it's been a
few years.)

I did think the earlier ones were better. He's gotten a bit too
cute with the tree cats. I think it was better when they were
maybe intelligent, but too alien to communicate with, except for
those few humans they had adopted.

[J. Clarke]

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.
(This is whatever group is using that McGuffin to take over
someone's body and make them do things against their will. The
last one I read, Honor had to shoot one of her trusted guardsmen
in the head; through Nimitz, she could tell he was frantically
trying to prevent his body from shooting Honor, but was
completely disconnected from any control. Yeah, it's been a
few years.)

FWIW, that got dealt with, at least for people who were "important"
enough to rate protection. The protection turned out to be available
in limited quantity although eventually that should change.>I did
think the earlier ones were better.

Post by Mike Van Pelt
He's gotten a bit too
cute with the tree cats. I think it was better when they were
maybe intelligent, but too alien to communicate with, except for
those few humans they had adopted.

I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After all
he's been picking the brain of the most capable military commander in
the universe for decades.

[Ninapenda Jibini]

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

[Dorothy J Heydt]

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[m***@sky.com]

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.

PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship.
After all he's been picking the brain of the most capable
military commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking
Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe
fortunately), I don't have it any more. Three moves equal
one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd
like and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in
the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include
Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl,
though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that
Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair
fight.

I would imagine it would all depend on whether it's an Honorverse
book or an episode of Star Trek.

But that wasn't really the point.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

The quote probably not actually said by Patton, "A soldier's job isn't
to die for his country, its to make the other guy die for his country."
would seem to apply. :)

[J. Clarke]

On Tue, 1 May 2018 15:34:07 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

The quote probably not actually said by Patton, "A soldier's job isn't
to die for his country, its to make the other guy die for his country."
would seem to apply. :)

There's reason to believe that he said some variation of it on more
than one occasion.

https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/04/24/war/

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by J. Clarke
On Tue, 1 May 2018 15:34:07 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

The quote probably not actually said by Patton, "A soldier's job isn't
to die for his country, its to make the other guy die for his country."
would seem to apply. :)

There's reason to believe that he said some variation of it on more
than one occasion.
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/04/24/war/

Interesting. Thank you for that.

[J. Clarke]

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

Post by m***@sky.com
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

But Harrington knows dirty tricks that Kirk hasn't even dreamed of.
After all, she's been at war for longer than Kirk's been alive.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by J. Clarke

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

Post by m***@sky.com
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

But Harrington knows dirty tricks that Kirk hasn't even dreamed of.
After all, she's been at war for longer than Kirk's been alive.

But Kirk cheats. :)

[J. Clarke]

On Tue, 1 May 2018 19:36:46 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by J. Clarke

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking Star
Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), I
don't have it any more. Three moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

Post by m***@sky.com
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

But Harrington knows dirty tricks that Kirk hasn't even dreamed of.
After all, she's been at war for longer than Kirk's been alive.

But Kirk cheats. :)

Well, yes, that's what "dirty tricks" are all about.

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by J. Clarke

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship.
After all he's been picking the brain of the most capable
military commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking
Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe
fortunately), I don't have it any more. Three moves equal
one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk
and Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but
she'd like and they'd end up in bed together. I was
disappointed in the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include
Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl,
though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that
Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair
fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

And she'd pine for him for years after he moved on to the next
woman.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[Lynn McGuire]

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by J. Clarke

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship.
After all he's been picking the brain of the most capable
military commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking
Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen. Unfortunately (or maybe
fortunately), I don't have it any more. Three moves equal
one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk
and Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but
she'd like and they'd end up in bed together. I was
disappointed in the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include
Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl,
though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that
Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair
fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

And she'd pine for him for years after he moved on to the next
woman.

Decades if not centuries.

Lynn

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by J. Clarke

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship.
After all he's been picking the brain of the most capable
military commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking
Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen.  Unfortunately (or maybe
fortunately), I don't have it any more.  Three moves equal
one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk
and Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but
she'd like and they'd end up in bed together. I was
disappointed in the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
     -- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include
Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl,
though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that
Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair
fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

And she'd pine for him for years after he moved on to the next
woman.

Decades if not centuries.

Perhaps more relevant is, what would Nimitz think of Kirk?

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by J. Clarke

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 4:49:37 PM UTC+1, Jibini Kula

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

In article

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a
starship. After all he's been picking the brain of the
most capable military commander in the universe for
decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic
linking Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen.  Unfortunately (or
maybe fortunately), I don't have it any more.  Three
moves equal one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk
and Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass,
but she'd like and they'd end up in bed together. I was
disappointed in the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
     -- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would
include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to
get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend
to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for
something other than a fair fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in
bed together.

And she'd pine for him for years after he moved on to the next
woman.

Decades if not centuries.

Perhaps more relevant is, what would Nimitz think of Kirk?

I'm gonna go with sexual arousal. And if Nimitz is green, Kirk
might well return the interest.
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[J. Clarke]

On Wed, 2 May 2018 14:45:19 -0700, Dimensional Traveler

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by J. Clarke

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 4:49:37 PM UTC+1, Jibini Kula Tumbili

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship.
After all he's been picking the brain of the most capable
military commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking
Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen.  Unfortunately (or maybe
fortunately), I don't have it any more.  Three moves equal
one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk
and Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but
she'd like and they'd end up in bed together. I was
disappointed in the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
     -- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include
Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl,
though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that
Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair
fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

And she'd pine for him for years after he moved on to the next
woman.

Decades if not centuries.

Perhaps more relevant is, what would Nimitz think of Kirk?

Flashing on Nimitz having the same reaction to Kirk as Tribbles have
to Klingons, only Nimitz can _do_ something about it.

And this leads to Nimitz' reaction to Tribbles . . .

[m***@sky.com]

Post by Dimensional Traveler

Post by Lynn McGuire

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by J. Clarke

On Tuesday, May 1, 2018 at 4:49:37 PM UTC+1, Jibini Kula Tumbili

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha

Post by Dorothy J Heydt

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship.
After all he's been picking the brain of the most capable
military commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

Astrid Anderson (now Bear) and I once wrote a fanfic linking
Star Trek TOS to the Lensmen.  Unfortunately (or maybe
fortunately), I don't have it any more.  Three moves equal
one fire.

I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk
and Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but
she'd like and they'd end up in bed together. I was
disappointed in the small number of death threats I got.
--
Terry Austin
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more
asshole."
     -- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include
Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl,
though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that
Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair
fight.

So basically she'd kick his ass and they'd _still_ end up in bed
together.

And she'd pine for him for years after he moved on to the next
woman.

Decades if not centuries.

Perhaps more relevant is, what would Nimitz think of Kirk?
--
Inquiring minds want to know while minds with a self-preservation
instinct are running screaming.

Assuming that Kirk is given warning of Nimitz's emphatic abilities I think this is within his poker-playing skills. Kirk concentrate on the thought "this woman could take me in a fair fight" hard enough to conceal other plans - and that thought is probably too common among people evaluating Harrington to raise an alarm. Nothing is going to leak from Spock, of course.

[David DeLaney]

Post by m***@sky.com
Nimitz's emphatic abilities

DISSEMINATION of this IMPORTANT INFORMATION is ENCOURAGED

Dave, out of the depths of time they come

[Gene Wirchenko]

On Tue, 1 May 2018 12:10:38 -0700 (PDT), ***@sky.com wrote:

[snip]

Post by m***@sky.com
My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

"Always fight fairly, unless it is an inconvenience." -- me

Meant jocularly, mostly.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

[The Zygon]

Post by Gene Wirchenko
[snip]

Post by m***@sky.com
My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights against opponents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from https://www.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair advantages are to be had.

"Always fight fairly, unless it is an inconvenience." -- me
Meant jocularly, mostly.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko

A fair fight is, by definition, a sport. In a real fight, try whatever works. If there are to be consequences, better that you be alive to face them, than he. - me.

[Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha]

On Wednesday, May 2, 2018 at 1:43:31 AM UTC-4, Gene Wirchenko

Post by Gene Wirchenko
[snip]

Post by m***@sky.com
My impression of Kirk is that he tends to lose fair fights
against oppon

ents with a superhuman edge, which would include Harrington's
genetic engineering. He does tend to get the girl, though, and
when push comes to shove you tend to find out that Kirk has
found a way to arrange for something other than a fair fight.

Post by Gene Wirchenko

Post by m***@sky.com
PS - thinking of Admiral Byng and the 12th Article of War from
https://w

ww.hmsrichmond.org/rnarticles.htm and the phrase "or shall not
do his utmost to take or destroy every ship which it shall be
his duty to engage" - I think fair fights are illegal if unfair
advantages are to be had.

Post by Gene Wirchenko
"Always fight fairly, unless it is an inconvenience." --
me
Meant jocularly, mostly.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko

A fair fight is, by definition, a sport. In a real fight, try
whatever works. If there are to be consequences, better that you
be alive to face them, than he. - me.

"Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six."
--
Terry Austin

Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB

"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek

Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.

[David DeLaney]

Post by m***@sky.com

Post by Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
I once proposed, in the David Weber fan group, that if Kirk and
Harrington ever met, not only would he kick her ass, but she'd like
and they'd end up in bed together. I was disappointed in the small
number of death threats I got.

He does tend to get the girl, though, and when push comes to shove you tend
to find out that Kirk has found a way to arrange for something other than a
fair fight.

Well yeah. If you're not cheating, you're not trying hard enough.

"THAT'S CHEATING!" "THAT'S _TECHNIQUE_" - exchange between two of the three
first-year armies in HP&tMoR, sometime before the final battle of the semester
in which spies were allowed and one student ended up as a quintuple agent

I think Kirk might be given pause, these days, on finding out that it was
gonna be a four-way...

Dave, but not for long, of course

[Greg Goss]

Post by Ninapenda Jibini

Post by J. Clarke
I'm waiting for Nimitz to learn how to handle a starship. After
all he's been picking the brain of the most capable military
commander in the universe for decades.

Weber finally introduce Captain Kirk to the Honorverse?

A crossover fanfic marries Honor off to "The Short Victorious Vor".
Does that count?

I liked that the crossover matched Beta Colony to Beowulf, and had a
Betan science colony in the otherwise uncolonized three planet binary
system at the other end of the "gravitic tangle" near both systems.

[Robert Woodward]

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.

You are going to have to wait until he writes the followup series.

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by Robert Woodward

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.

You are going to have to wait until he writes the followup series.

Hmm? Are you thinking of Safehold and the Gaba? I'm pretty sure
he plans to take-on/defeat Mesa (and the appurtenances thereof) in
the current Honor Harrington series.

[Robert Woodward]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Robert Woodward

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.

You are going to have to wait until he writes the followup series.

Hmm? Are you thinking of Safehold and the Gaba? I'm pretty sure
he plans to take-on/defeat Mesa (and the appurtenances thereof) in
the current Honor Harrington series.

According to rumor (from reliable sources), the defeat of the Alignment
will be left to the next generation; i.e., the followup series (assuming
he lives long enough).

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by Robert Woodward

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Robert Woodward

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.

You are going to have to wait until he writes the followup series.

Hmm? Are you thinking of Safehold and the Gaba? I'm pretty sure
he plans to take-on/defeat Mesa (and the appurtenances thereof) in
the current Honor Harrington series.

According to rumor (from reliable sources), the defeat of the Alignment
will be left to the next generation; i.e., the followup series (assuming
he lives long enough).

Huh. That surprises me. The last time I checked in, it appeared that
the scales were about to fall from everyone's eyes re Mesa. Although
they may never get out of their scheduled meetings to do anything about
it I suppose.

[Dimensional Traveler]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Robert Woodward

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Robert Woodward

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.

You are going to have to wait until he writes the followup series.

Hmm? Are you thinking of Safehold and the Gaba? I'm pretty sure
he plans to take-on/defeat Mesa (and the appurtenances thereof) in
the current Honor Harrington series.

According to rumor (from reliable sources), the defeat of the Alignment
will be left to the next generation; i.e., the followup series (assuming
he lives long enough).

Huh. That surprises me. The last time I checked in, it appeared that
the scales were about to fall from everyone's eyes re Mesa. Although
they may never get out of their scheduled meetings to do anything about
it I suppose.

Mesa is going to get smacked down but the _Alignment_ looks like it is
going to go underground for a while.

[Greg Goss]

Post by Ted Nolan <tednolan>

Post by Robert Woodward
According to rumor (from reliable sources), the defeat of the Alignment
will be left to the next generation; i.e., the followup series (assuming
he lives long enough).

Huh. That surprises me. The last time I checked in, it appeared that
the scales were about to fall from everyone's eyes re Mesa. Although
they may never get out of their scheduled meetings to do anything about
it I suppose.

Yeah, but remember "Houdini". Mesa is defeated, and the existence of
an "onion" with ever-deeper levels of perfidity, but the Alignment has
bailed out to their secret industrial planet and several other
controlled planets.

[Greg Goss]

Post by Mike Van Pelt

Post by Lynn McGuire
David Weber.

I've enjoyed the Honor Harrington books, but the last one I
read, there's an unknown enemy so horrifying that I want to wait
until I know that I can read at least up to where I get to see
that enemy unmasked, utterly defeated, and Cast Into the Lake Of
Fire (or some equivalent) before I can bear to read any more.
Maybe that's happened already; I haven't kept up.
(This is whatever group is using that McGuffin to take over
someone's body and make them do things against their will. The
last one I read, Honor had to shoot one of her trusted guardsmen
in the head; through Nimitz, she could tell he was frantically
trying to prevent his body from shooting Honor, but was
completely disconnected from any control. Yeah, it's been a
few years.)

A little bit obfuscated to reduce spoilerization.





and some space












The bad guys "M.A." use the technique a few more times. I think we
see it used on a Havenite cabinet minister earlier in the sequence
than that ... the Havenites get a hint of the technique, but don't
follow up on it. The initial test case was an, also failed, attempt
on an Andermani heir.


A bunch of books later, a defector from the bad guys explains a better
hyperdrive (two levels deeper into hyperspace than anyone else can
manage) and a non-wedge (thus invisible to most gravitic detectors)
in-system drive. A second defector had explained the existence of the
reprogram-your-motor-system technology, but not the details.

In later books, we see the top baddie in cabinet meetings with his
sons, and in conspiracy presentations to his rule-the-galaxy proxies.

I haven't read the "final" book yet - I'm re-reading the seeries up to
it, and am close.

[Robert Carnegie]

Lately I've been finding John G. Hemry / Jack Campbell
more fascinating than spaceships just mostly shooting
at each other - or soldiers shooting at each other -
seems that it would be. So... a pretty good read.

[Robert Carnegie]

Post by Robert Carnegie
Lately I've been finding John G. Hemry / Jack Campbell
more fascinating than spaceships just mostly shooting
at each other - or soldiers shooting at each other -
seems that it would be. So... a pretty good read.

...but, on reflection, is it perhaps time to
re-read E. E. "Doc" Smith?

[Ted Nolan <tednolan>]

Post by Robert Carnegie

Post by Robert Carnegie
Lately I've been finding John G. Hemry / Jack Campbell
more fascinating than spaceships just mostly shooting
at each other - or soldiers shooting at each other -
seems that it would be. So... a pretty good read.

...but, on reflection, is it perhaps time to
re-read E. E. "Doc" Smith?

I think there is more character stuff in Smith than probably you remember,
though of course there is quite a bit of spaceships shooting at each other.
(Except in _The Vortex Blasters_)

[David DeLaney]

Post by Robert Carnegie
Lately I've been finding John G. Hemry / Jack Campbell
more fascinating than spaceships just mostly shooting
at each other - or soldiers shooting at each other -
seems that it would be. So... a pretty good read.

...but, on reflection, is it perhaps time to re-read E. E. "Doc" Smith?

_Always_.

Dave, Sea Wasp will agree