Far and away for me is Gene Wolfes tetralogy, Book of the New Sun, starting with Shadow of the Torturer. Takes place far in the distant future when the sun is dying, civilisation has reverted to a feudal state on earth and is almost medieval in its works. Technology has been forgotten and is misunderstood and akin to magic. Punishment as meted out by the ruling class is at the same level as the inquisition, with a Guild of Torturers residing in an old disused tower, which is in fact a rocket. The hero, a torturer escapes the guild and begins his journey across the land, eventually becomes ruler and ultimately, in a position to bring a new sun into the system via extraterrestial intervention. Amazingly detailed, it spans an initial four books and then branches out into a further four.
or for more contemporary fiction, William Gibsons 'Neuromancer', Pattern Recognition or Burning Chrome - amazingly prescient stories of the near future and a fabulous read.
ya know, I've been out of the habit of reading books for a long time. I've read so many that I think I burnt out (although I did have a reread of 'The Hobbit' this year and am s-l-o-w-l-y working on Heinz Guderian's 'Panzer Leader'). But back in the day I was a long standing member of the Science Fiction Book Club and read sooooo many Sci-Fi books. I think my overall impression was not of a single book but a fond remembrance of Asimov's 'I Robot' series and his work in general. I can only pin it down to a generalized feeling of a warm, comfortable reading experience. Two short story's do come to mind: Asimov's 'Nightfall' (it was creepy/scary in the vein of '40/'50s sci-fi type movies); and a story that I remember the basic plot but cannot tell you who wrote it or what the title was. It was essentially about a detective who, during the course of investigating a crime and trying to think through the motives etc, waited for the rest of his team (kind of a future C.S.I. squad). The team brought with them a piece of very special photographic equipment (the actual real 'purpose' of presenting the story). This 'camera' had the ability to take pictures of the past!! The premise was that people left behind their aural presence which could be photographed up to several hours after their departure and in so doing they leave their spectral imprint behind long enough to photograph allowing detectives to identify perpertrators through these photographs of the recent past. The actual story wasn't all that great, it was the presentation of this novel idea which really struck me.
Far and away for me is Gene Wolfes tetralogy, Book of the New Sun, starting with Shadow of the Torturer. Takes place far in the distant future when the sun is dying, civilisation has reverted to a feudal state on earth and is almost medieval in its works. Technology has been forgotten and is misunderstood and akin to magic. Punishment as meted out by the ruling class is at the same level as the inquisition, with a Guild of Torturers residing in an old disused tower, which is in fact a rocket. The hero, a torturer escapes the guild and begins his journey across the land, eventually becomes ruler and ultimately, in a position to bring a new sun into the system via extraterrestial intervention. Amazingly detailed, it spans an initial four books and then branches out into a further four.
ReplyDeleteAlan Dean Fosters Commonwealth series is another fabulous read!
ReplyDeleteor for more contemporary fiction, William Gibsons 'Neuromancer', Pattern Recognition or Burning Chrome - amazingly prescient stories of the near future and a fabulous read.
ReplyDeleteya know, I've been out of the habit of reading books for a long time. I've read so many that I think I burnt out (although I did have a reread of 'The Hobbit' this year and am s-l-o-w-l-y working on Heinz Guderian's 'Panzer Leader'). But back in the day I was a long standing member of the Science Fiction Book Club and read sooooo many Sci-Fi books. I think my overall impression was not of a single book but a fond remembrance of Asimov's 'I Robot' series and his work in general. I can only pin it down to a generalized feeling of a warm, comfortable reading experience. Two short story's do come to mind: Asimov's 'Nightfall' (it was creepy/scary in the vein of '40/'50s sci-fi type movies); and a story that I remember the basic plot but cannot tell you who wrote it or what the title was. It was essentially about a detective who, during the course of investigating a crime and trying to think through the motives etc, waited for the rest of his team (kind of a future C.S.I. squad). The team brought with them a piece of very special photographic equipment (the actual real 'purpose' of presenting the story). This 'camera' had the ability to take pictures of the past!! The premise was that people left behind their aural presence which could be photographed up to several hours after their departure and in so doing they leave their spectral imprint behind long enough to photograph allowing detectives to identify perpertrators through these photographs of the recent past. The actual story wasn't all that great, it was the presentation of this novel idea which really struck me.
ReplyDelete