Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Next Month - Sci-Fi!!

I have picked a book for us to read for next months Sci-Fi theme: Edenborn by Nick Sagan.

Since I officially know NOTHING about science fiction, I decided to select a title from the recommended reads listing on Novelist. If you can't get a copy of Edenborn, I suggest you find your way onto Novelist and pick another title from the same science fiction genre (there are a heap to choose from). Just look for the heading of 'Playing God'.

15 comments:

detecktive said...

Welcome to the new world.

Nic said...

I've just reserved a copy from Hornsby Library, they have a four week loan period, so if someone wants it after me, let me know (sci-fi fan, expect to be through it, next week :) )

Nic said...

I just picked up Edenborn and realised it's a sequel, so have reserved Idlewild. It has an endorsement from Neil Gaiman on the back - I like it already!!

Hettie Betty said...

is it a sequel or just by the same author? i snagged one of the gosford copies. bwah ha ha!

Nic said...

It is a sequel, but they are set 18 years apart, don't think it's imperative to read Idlewild first. Idlewild was very Matrix-esque. There's a third one called Everfree but I haven't checked if we've got it.

detecktive said...

I'm actually going to do the Minority Report instead - I figure it falls into the 'God Sci Fi' arena as it talks about detemining peoples future on the basis of events that haven't taken place yet.

Unfortunately don't think I'd make it through Idlewild or Eden Born in time, but would be good to get an overview.

Hettie Betty said...

I'm reading, when can we start talking about it??

Nic said...

Start talking and everyone else will join in :) First impressions of God sci fi?

detecktive said...

My first impression of God Sci Fi is that it tends to feature a person/being/construct that assumes the role of determining (or governing) how people live their lives or the conditions they exist under.

Anyone else found this as a common theme?

Hettie Betty said...

Yes, I can dig that as a theme. But it goes beyond that too, lots of things determine and govern how people live and their conditions.
Watchmen has God Scifi, Matrix...

I suppose there needs to be an element of hubris in there too. Whether it is things actually failing or going crazy- like in Idlewild, indicating that if we reach too high we will suffer consequences, or simply our moral outrage- such as they 'how dare you take on that role?' in Watchmen.

I think I would like to live in a virtual reality world though. I realised this when I was taking a wii fit jog this morning and waving at all my pretend friends. They were all so happy and friendly. La la la...

PJ said...

Non-book related comments -

Nic your theme on the blog this month is fantastic I love it!!

Thanks to Heather for hosting our get together last night. Had a great time!

Nic said...

Right - here's my first thoughts on God SciFi.

I think VR has pushed the ascendant star of God SciFi. My favourite science fiction novels are Dune (space opera), the Hyperion Cantos (flat out weird and brilliant - also quest scifi) by Dan Simmons and military scifi by Elizabeth Moon. I grew up reading Robert Heinlein and Edmund Cooper books, which were basically cowboys and indians in space. All this internet/technology based scifi was less familiar for me. Until I saw the Matrix. Which was AWESOME. So now I read a lot more God SciFi.

I found Idlewild more difficult to get into than I expected, I think because the scifi aspects took a backseat to the thriller plot of who was trying to kill the main character. I wanted to know more about why they were in the virtual reality world and what would happen next. Come on Edenborn...

I find God SciFi seems to roll in two directions - genetic engineering and virtual realities or AI. Nick Sagan's books seem to have both. I find these the scariest forms of SciFi because they seem the most plausible as actual future scenarios. AND NO GOOD WILL COME OF THEM! hehe ok, so I'm a bit of a luddite and I don't want my toaster to talk to me or people to be able to pick the traits they want in their children.

At first I thought God SciFi would be an easy way for a non-scifi reader to get into the genre. Familiar worlds and not such a stretch to imagine. Now I'm not so sure because Idlewild was not a "comfortable" read, mostly because you live through the main character's amnesia and distrust in first person. I'll be interested to here what others think, if you are reading the same books.


Heather - I'm sorry I missed your meeting, wanted to hear you talk about On the Road!

Hettie Betty said...

When I was reading Idlewild I thought the same thing that Nicole just said, that I was probably more comfortable with it than I expected sci fi to be because it was a familiar world- our own world gone 'wrong' rather than some alien planet or space ship.

I'd like to see a God scifi where it works- does one exist, anyone know?

VR and God sci fi seems to me to go all the way back to existentialism and the human question 'why do i exist?' and 'does the world exist outside my perception?'

A great snippet of what I guess you could call God sci fi is in Hitchhiker's Guide, where there is that machine that makes everyone's head explode by showing them a VR universe and how insignificant the person is in the universe. It was designed specifically to catch Zaphod Beeblebrox though, and make his heads explode. So when they put him in there, the MACHINE exploded because Zaphod turned out to be the most important person in that VR universe, since it was designed just for him. Get it? Or am I babbling too much?

goswans said...

I would definitely agree with last couple of posts that I found this type of sci-fi easy to read & also probably would have struggled with a spaceship type book. I read Edenborn & enjoyed it, but sometimes wished i had Idlewild first so i could understand some of the older characters moviations. It ended quite abrubtly for me, i guess that's because its part of a trilogy and its setting up for the final book - this is why i don't read series, requires to much commitment hahahaha. My favourite quote:
"Whatever you have in your mind, forget it.
Whatever have in your hand, give it.
Whatever is to be your fate, face it"

detecktive said...

Don't know if I've ever seen a god sci fi where it works. Wonder if that says as much about the human condition than anything else?

I came across another book that had a style of God Sci Fi called Altered Carbon. In it, humans who have had their lives prolonged indefinitely because they can afford to have their minds swapped to new bodies whenever they like are called Meths (short for Methuselah - the person of the oldest age in the Bible) and they essentially are a law unto themselves. They have accumulated so much wealth and power that they essentially do whatever they want and use normal humans as pawns in their power games. So in this case, God Sci Fi would refer to a) human immortality and b) control exercised over others lives (with and without their knowledge).