Subject: Re: Anyone out there a fan of obscure sci-fi series?
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Posted on: 2014-01-26 00:26:00 UTC
The Retief short stories are fun.
The Lensman series, though I don't know if those really count as "obscure".
I'm most of the way through the Pelbar Cycle -- a postapoc series, seven novels long and I've read the first six.
If you are, please say which one. There are plenty of obscure series out there that are actually awesome, and I'd like to see some.
I am a fan of an old series called Bolo, about giant, sentient super tanks, for starters. Anyone else? First post gets nms and nms!
I like sci-fi TV shows. Including Sanctuary, Haven (my current fad), Warehouse 13, and Stargate (okay, so not tiny, but getting to be a while since it was on the air). I am sure there are more that I am not thinking of at the moment
The Ukiah Oregon series of books by Wen Spencer are some of my favorites. Definitely worth a read-through.
How obscure is the series Quantum Leap? Most sci fi fans have forgotten this great series. Its very good though.
It was semi-similar to Sanctuary, except that the paranormal investigators used a nonsensical tabloid magazine as the front for their behavior. It was loads of fun, and the topics it covered had a good range: aliens, ghosts, demons, time travel, all kinds of stuff. I was fairly upset when it got cancelled.
Bad quality recording of the first episode starts here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfOd7cpknGM
Unfortunately, I can't seem to find any more of it available anywhere.
Might not be as obscure as the others, but it's good
I'm a huge fan of the BBC series Hyperdrive. It's kind of a spiritual successor to Red Dwarf, it's got Nick Frost (of "starring Simon Pegg and" fame) at the conn, it mercilessly takes the mickey out of TOS-era Trek... what's not to like?
I really love the Brainship series by Anne McCaffery. I think that was the first actual sci-fi series I got into.
I'm a fan of Neal Stephenson's work, especially Anathem (I actually have an Anathem-verse agent kicking around, whose first mission is nowhere near done). I'm also a fan of C. J. Cherryh's Chanur Saga, which is quite obscure.
The Retief short stories are fun.
The Lensman series, though I don't know if those really count as "obscure".
I'm most of the way through the Pelbar Cycle -- a postapoc series, seven novels long and I've read the first six.
... because I was posting from work last night, right before closing (and needed to get out of there right away).
It's closer to a mystery/urban fantasy crossover than SF, but I really like the Lord Darcy stories by Randall Garrett. (I haven't read any of the continuations by other authors.) It's an alternate history with two major changes from our world; Richard the Lionheart survived to become a good king, and the laws of magic were codified in the middle ages. Lord Darcy is the chief investigator for the Duke of Normandy, assisted by a forensic sorcerer.
I always recommend Iain M. Banks' The Culture series, which is so obscure it only has two 'fics in the Pit (both are meh crossovers, by the way). It's an awesome series and the books are surprisingly deep for sci-fi, though some of them are really depressing. Oh, and the last one's pretty bad.
Other than that... I read an obscure sci-fi novel called The Forge of Mars by one Bruce Balfour some years ago and quite enjoyed it.
I've heard of Bolo, but haven't got around to checking it out yet. What's it like? Other than involving giant sentient tanks, which sounds pretty damn cool to me.
On the subject of the more obscure stuff that I have read:
Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.
James Blish's Cities in Flight.
Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series.
Chris Bunch's Star Risk series.
Chris Bunch and Alan Cole's Sten series.
The JAG in space, Lost Stars and Stark's War series by Jack Campbell.
Pretty much anything by Robert A. Heinlein, although Starship Troopers is a personal favourite.
And finally, David Weber's awesome Honor Harrignton series, which I think is probably the widest known of this bunch, presumably making it either the most mainstream obscure series I read, or the most obscure mainstream series.
How do those rate on your obscure-o-meter?
Man designs giant, sentient tanks called Bolos. Bolos are so huge and powerful, they can snipe spaceships out of orbit and are used as planetary siege units. :)
Most of the stories have tragic endings, but they are drop-dead awesome nonetheless. I mean… well… you'd have to read the books to understand. So do so.
I managed to find some short stories on the Baen Free Library, my favourite so far is 'Field Test' - I love the explanation that "Denny" gives for its/his behaviour at the end.
I'll have to see if I can track down some of the actual books now.
Well, I really like a series by Piers Anthony... I don't think the series itself has an official name; I just call it the Xanth Chronicles. I know it used to be fairly popular a few decades ago, but it's pretty much faded out, which is sad. The pun overloads are the best.
Retief, The Instrumentality of Man... I collect old sci-fi magazines.
Because that would be me over here. I'm a vague part of so many random tiny fandoms I can't list them all.
-Aila
One of my favorite authors at the moment is Brandon Sanderson, I think I've read just about every series he's written and liked them.
Oh, you read Sanderson too? Awesome. Now for my barrage of questions.
How did you like Elantris, if you read it.
How did you like Mistborn?
What about the Alcatraz series? That one was pretty good.
And did you like Warbreaker?
Did you find the Rithmatist to be any good?
How about Steelheart?
Did you like the Way of Kings?
Have you read any of his short stories?
... Yeah, I got a bit exited here, didn't I? Sorry about that.
Yes I've read Elantris, thought it was good.
Mistborn's probably my least favorite of his books, I don't really know why though, it's weird I just don't like it as much.
No I haven't read Alcatraz although I'll try and get it if I can.
Warbreaker's probably my favorite of his books, the twists and turns in it, brilliant. Also loved the magic system he created.
Wow Ok, that's another of his books I haven't read.
Yeah, I like it.
Yes, eagerly waiting for the next book to come out so I can read it, liking the plot twists so far.
No
Maybe, don't worry
Warbreaker is probably my favorite of his books. All the characters were great, especially Lightsong. It was also awesome how it was able to take color changing hair, which is normally a Sue characteristic and turn in into a display of character development. Awakening was also a great magic system, and he managed to show how such a system would create superstition.
As for his short stories, I recommend I Hate Dragons. The main character has two 'knacks': he smells good to dragons; and he can hear spelling, punctuation, and grammar. Both of these annoy him. I'll link below.
http://brandonsanderson.com/i-hate-dragons-extended-version
And did you know that the skipping to the end of books to read the ending is the second leading cause of cancer in fruit bats? The first leading cause is Brandon Sanderson.
Read Alcatraz Smedry.
I really enjoy the Garrett, P.I. books. It's about the cases of a hardboiled detective living in a city in a fantasy reality, encountering the fantasy standards like gods and wizards, and a few less-than-usual features like a psychic ghost haunting its own body, but focuses on using the fantasy elements to tell its detective stories instead of it just being one genre with elements of the other running about in the background. Not every book has been great, but most of them were a lot of fun. The same author's also made a few other series, but I've only read his space opera one all the way through. It contained intangible space sharks and a race of people that comb the galaxy for free-floating FTL communication crystals with the help of giant psychic starfish, though, so I'm glad I spent the time.
Also, if fantasy Internet works also count, I've liked all of the Overside webcomics I've read so far. I've not caught up with Vattu, but I'm planning on dedicating a few hours to it in the near future. I always enjoy the Overside comics more when I have time to look through several dozen pages in one sitting.
One of my favourite authors is Susan Cooper, and not just for The Dark Is Rising, which is perhaps her best-known work. King of Shadows made me cry, Seaward is just... beautiful, and so on. And her stuff is just the beginning. I have read an absurd amount of books in the past threeish years, and most of them have been fantasy. Robin McKinley's worldbuilding is fantastic.
-Aila