First, to all those Canadians out there: Happy Thanksgiving.
Secondly, I picked up Halo: The Fall of Reach (Based on the X-Box FPS)
at
the used book store for $5. It was one of the better Sci-Fi novels I've
read in the last while.
The action was more focused on Ship to Ship battles rather then ground combat,
which I found surprising, as Halo is a FPS not a Ship Sim. I won't revel
anything about the plot here, but the battles were rather good. I
finally have respect for MAC users. :-) In fact the Magnetic Accelerator
Cannons from the last battle would make the Kra'vak turn... some colour with
envy :-) For those who have read the book: Any idea what Class of K-gun
the Super MACs would be?
Sure, it was not Honor Harrington, but a worthwhile read nonetheless.
Also I just read "The Rock Rats" by Ben Bova, a near-ish future novel
focused on mining the Asteroid Belt. It was really good. Anyone know what the
next book in the series is called? Has anyone done any conversions to FT
involving early space exploration, where mining lasers are jury rigged and
used against other ships?
Finally anyone have any other books they want to suggest to the other avid
readers on the list? Everything ever written by David Weber and John Ringo
might be a good place
to start :-)
http://www.baen.com/library/
for some great book 1s and 2s
Night all
Here's another recommend I've been meaning to drop on the list: Ken McLeod.
If you're an Iain M. Banks fan, I think you'll like McLeod. He's insane,
Scottish, and writes mind-warping, very original SF...
He's up to seven books now, all set in more or less the same universe (maybe).
The first quartet he calls the "Fall Revolution" group: "The Star Fraction",
"The Stone Canal", "The Cassini Division" & "The Sky Road".
These four are linked, but you can read them in any order, pretty much. I
started with "Sky Road" and more or less worked my way backwards...
His 2nd trilogy is "The Engines of Light": "Cosmonaut Keep", "Dark Light",
"Engine City". These're much more closely linked, forming a proper trilogy
rather than a suite of books.
The plots are political, complex, and excellent. He's also markedly left
wing, which is a relief from all the right-wing political SF out
there...
it's a pretty realistic, dystopic future tho... Lots of fun.
I gather McLeod has been available in the UK for quite a while now, but I
first saw his books here in Canada last year. Worth looking up!
(Not much gaming content in them, though. FMA skirmish stuff, maybe. Just very
good reads!)
> Finally anyone have any other books they want to suggest to the other
These actually fit the thread title quite well, but I'm almost hesitant to
mention them on this list at all....
Dan Abnett's "Gaunt's Ghosts" novels. There's...I think...six of them at this
point. Very well written military SF, for all that they are set in the
Warhammer 40K universe. The character are very normal, and very mortal,
human beings -- not Space Marines, not supermen.
Abnett is a very good author, and I've found myself making an effort to pick
up *anything* from GW that he's written.
(And for fantasy fans, anything by "Jack Yeovil" -- pseudonym of Kim
Newman
of _Anno Dracula_ fame -- is equally worth seeking out.)
The books are good SGII inspiration, and frankly I'd have to consider
Stargrunt to be a much better system than 40K for emulating them.
> Finally anyone have any other books they want to suggest to the other
....and just to give a good mate a plug (even though he IS writing for GW...),
look out for "For The Emperor" by Sandy Mitchell, out very soon now from the
Black Library. For those of you who don't know him, Sandy Mitchell is actually
Alex Stewart; FTE is the first
full-length novel using the characters he's already established for a
couple of 40K short stories he's had published - Commissar Caiaphas
Cain is basically a "Flashman" character, who gets a reputation as a great
hero when mostly he's just trying to save his own skin. Add in
a scruffy, smelly Baldrick-like assistant (Gunner Jurgen) and you
have what is actually a FUNNY 40K novel....!
Amazingly, the GW editors are actually allowing Alex to (gently) take
the p*ss out of the usual over-serious 40K gothickyness - it makes a
surprisingly good read!
> John C wrote:
> Finally anyone have any other books they want to suggest to the other
> avid
> at this point. Very well written military SF, for all that they are
Second that. Book 3, _Necropolis_, is a great sci-fi take on
Stalingrad.
> Jalinth wrote:
If you're looking for gaming inspiration, David Drake's _Redliners_ has
a raftload of material suitable for Stargrunt. It's on the Baen library as I
recall.
I liked "Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan.
There is also a sequel "Broken Angels" that I have not read yet.
> On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 s666@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca wrote:
> I liked "Altered Carbon" by Richard Morgan.
This was a great book - read it a couple of months ago. I didn't know
there was a sequel, either - I'll have to look it up!