Hi

[Muskdog]

I have been browsing the forums for a few month's and kept forgetting to sign up and say Hi.

I love Sci-Fi, currently reading the Endymion Omnibus. Have loved the Hyperion Cantos so far. I am huge fan of Alastair Reynolds, Richard Morgan, China Mieville (not really sci-fi) more recently Dan Simmons, really enjoyed the Saga of Seven suns so far by I forget who. Also really enjoyed the Halo novels.

One of the reasons for joying is a bit selfish, as I have been after sci-fi about specific subjects, such as first contact, apocalyptic settings on modern Earth. Just interested to read some good Alien invasion stories I suppose as I have never stumbled upon any yet.


Also I was wondering where a good place to get started in the Culture universe might be? I have Consider Phlebas, The Use of Weapons and Player of Games so far, got them for 20 pence each at a boot sale.

[RimWorlder]

welcome aboard!

don't have any recommendations for you yet - well, that's not true.

Alien Invasion stories:

Footfall - Niven & Pournelle
The High Crusade - Anderson
The War with the Chtorr series - Gerrold (the guy who wrote the ST tribble script)
and then there's really old stuff like
Tumithak of the Corridors, collected in Asimov's Before the Golden Age anthology series

[Muskdog]

Thanks, I will add them to my list.

So are some of you folks writers, published and unpublished? If so do you offer any chance to read your work at any place on the web?

[Ropie]

Also I was wondering where a good place to get started in the Culture universe might be? I have Consider Phlebas, The Use of Weapons and Player of Games so far, got them for 20 pence each at a boot sale.

Hi Muskdog, I haven't read Consider Phlebas but it might be the place to start seeing as it was the first one published. Of the other two I would say start with Player of Games as it tells you much more about the Culture universe and is a more straightforward read generally. But FIRST of all, look here at Banks' own notes on Culture:

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.a...1fee4c2?hl=en&

[RimWorlder]

me personally, I'm a former non-fiction writer now trying my hand at fiction and working on several publishing projects.

I used to be a very 'activ-fan', working on various cons, publishing fanzines and semi-prozines, etc., then took a 25 year hiatus to be involved with the paintball industry and finally left that to come back to SF mostly full time.

[Hobbit]

Hi Muskdog: thank you for finally taking the plunge and joining in!

Think you'll find plenty of answers round here.

So are some of you folks writers, published and unpublished? If so do you offer any chance to read your work at any place on the web?

We have a mixture of writers round here, some published, some who'd like to be published, all with a love of the genre/s. Try the Writing area for some examples. David Forbes for example has just put something up to have a look at, for example.

Mark / Hobbit

[Nicolas]

Hi Muskdog,

Regarding Iain Banks, i would add The State Of The Art to the list, a story about the Culture visiting earth circa 1980, available in the short stories collection of the same name.
Otherwise, those three books (in order of publication Phlebas, Player, Weapons) are amongst the best modern SF you can read at the moment. Consider Phlebas is the one to start with, a bit too long sometimes, but giving you a good idea of the kind of universe the novels are about. Plus, it has a lot of quite spectacular moments ( the assault on the temple, the game of damage, etc...) and a lot lot of likeable characters.
I have been told Excession is amazing, but i haven't read it yet. Anyway, Banks is defenitely worth your time.

Also, check out Learning the world, by Ken Mcleod, a really good recent first contact novel.

Welcome aboard.
Nicolas

[Muskdog]

Cheers folks, I will check out the writing section.

Once I am done with the Hyperion cantos I will be diving into the Culture Universe. I read the Algebraist By Iain M Banks, that was fantastic, has he since written anything in the same universe as the Algebraist?

[Hobbit]

No, the Algebraist is stand alone.

Mark