pALEPHx wrote:

Got anything to recommend?

Thanks for the link. I'll have to put That One on my reading list. I don't have any recommendations yet, but yesterday I ordered Wisconsin Death Trip. I think I first saw it discussed here on High Street. I'll report back after I've read it.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

"Not Wanted on the Voyage", by Timothy Findley.

Oh, come on, Wilbie. It's got a rape scene with a unicorn horn, a dead Yahweh, Lucifer as a transvestite, and numerous butchered kittens. What more could you ask for?

The Invisibles, Grant Morrison

...it's basically not entirely unlike Illuminatus!, the comic book, only with much, much better writing and characters.

Last edited by jesusluvspegging (2008-10-10 23:08:45)

It depends on how heavy you want to go.  My reading these days is mostly light stuff.  I'm gnawing my way through one of David Hartwell's anthologies at the moment.  I lerve short stories.

Do you like Octavia Butler?  Xenogenesis is a great book provided you like that kind of unfettered speculation...probably dead depressing if you prefer your characters human.

George Orr wrote:

It depends on how heavy you want to go.  My reading these days is mostly light stuff.  I'm gnawing my way through one of David Hartwell's anthologies at the moment.  I lerve short stories.

Do you like Octavia Butler?  Xenogenesis is a great book provided you like that kind of unfettered speculation...probably dead depressing if you prefer your characters human.

If you want unfettered speculation, read Charlie Stross's 'Singularity Sky.'

I'm not particularly enthralled by transhumanist/singularity sci-fi.  It takes nanotech and computational density to an extreme that I'm not sure is physically possible.  Oh, it's fun, when it's done well, but way too often it's I-want-out-of-my-obese-disgusting-meat-sack nerd rapture BS. 

Stross does it well, with strong characters, truly twisted plot devices, and a machine-gun pacing.  He gets a little transhumanist fruity at times (they so remind me of Furries, in ways), but it's well worth putting up with.

(I think it's also worth noting that post-singularity is the easiest thing to write, because you have God's own deus ex machina sitting in the middle of your god damned story.  Post-singularity is usually boring for the same reason Superman comics put you to sleep: the conflict has to be contrived around an unstoppable force, which evolution dictates that we interpret as "good.")

No I'm not stoned.

Last edited by jesusluvspegging (2008-10-10 23:37:10)

orangeplus wrote:

jesusluvspegging wrote:

The Invisibles, Grant Morrison

...it's basically not entirely unlike Illuminatus!, the comic book, only with much, much better writing and characters.

OP, you and I have such similar tastes that it terrifies me to my very core. 

Have we ever posted on here at the same time?

Am I awake?

Have I been sleeping?

Taint wrote:

I'm a sucker for religious allegory anyway

Have you ever read Small Gods?  It'd probably be light reading for you, but if the above statement is true I think you'd like it.

Wilber wrote:

I don't know O. Butler, I don't care for humans, and I do like sci-fi.

Octavia Butler was a pretty prolific sci-fi writer who went to some weird places in her fiction.  I have not read very much of it, because it is stark and more than a little depressing.

Apparently Xenogenesis was dense enough to be split into three volumes in later editions, but the link provided is for the edition I have.

Last edited by George Orr (2008-10-11 00:29:08)

Skimming the top of my disheveled book shelf, more or less at random, I find 3 pitifully dog eared anthologies.

The Great Shark Hunt. HS Thompson. 1979

Hunter's best work from the late 50s on; his books excerpted, articles printed in their entirety.

Palm Sunday. Kurt Vonnegut. 1984

Vonnegut described this book as, "an all frequency assault on the sensibilities. I propose the name blivit. This is a word which during my adolescence was defined by peers as "two pounds of shit in a one pound bag."

The Best of John W Campbell, Edited with an introduction by Lester Del Rey. 1976

Learn where modern science fiction began, my fine feathered peeps.

Also, for no particular reason, this:

Where wizards stay up late: The origins of the internet. Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon. 1996

And here:

Book Report

Auto-edited on 2020-08-02 to update URLs

opsec wrote:

jesusluvspegging wrote:

The Dosadi Experiment, by Frank Herbert.

Also, Destination Void and The Jesus Incident by the same author.  I can't believe he's known for writing Dune.

Personally I think the Dune series is better than the Pandora Sequence, but Destination Void and the three sequels are quite good as well.

Basically anything Herbert ever wrote is gonna entertain.  For an interesting juxtaposition, try reading The Green Brain and Hellstrom's Hive back to back.  Other great FH books: Godmakers, Santaroga Barrier, The White Plague (one of his last books and, IMHO, one of his best), the Eyes of Heisenberg (from which Children of Men took a certain amount of inspiration, I believe (not that that's bad - CoM was certainly not a rip-off of it)), the Whipping Star (Dosadi Experiment is the "sequel" to this, but Dosadi is the better book and you don't need to read them in order).

Frank Herbert provides a grade-A mindfuck and you need to read his books right the fuck now.  If you buy one of Brain Herberts so-called "dune" books, then I'm gonna know about it, and you will die in your sleep.

120 Days of Sodom, de Sade

120 days gets a bit dull, honestly.  De Sade had this bizarre fixation on the anus that, I think, held him back as an artist.

Dmtdust wrote:

I saw this at its premiere in NY.  A worthy interpretation....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sal%C3%B2_ … _di_Sodoma

That's a good one.  I also recommend Quills, which isn't graphic as it should be for being about de Sade, but is still a pretty good flick.  Good acting in it.

Last edited by jesusluvspegging (2008-10-11 13:17:33)

Dmtdust wrote:

orangeplus wrote:

jesusluvspegging wrote:

The Invisibles, Grant Morrison

...it's basically not entirely unlike Illuminatus!, the comic book, only with much, much better writing and characters.

Thank you for this.  Wonderful.

D

Yes, that was an outstanding video.  Ol' Grant's mad as a shithouse rat, but there's some good points he makes in there.

Dmtdust wrote:

It actually makes a lot of sense to me.  Not that I have been to Alpha Centauri, but I have been working in these areas for many a year.  It is nice to hear someone get up and talk in front of an audience, whereas people usually make appointments with me.

It does make a lot of sense, in places, but I have yet to see evidence that "magic" can alter anything other than the mind (and physical health) of the practitioner.

Dmtdust wrote:

It does take lots of personal work, and self-observation, and cleaning up of ones motives.  The tale he talks about summoning up the female... works.  But, oh some of the results.

But is it "magic" or is it just enhancing your own confidence and selling yourself better?  Is there a difference?

This happened with other things as well.  I abandoned the process as I thought I was screwing with reality a bit much.  Now, I am not so sure.

Discorporate?

I am heading out but I'll talk with you at dmtdust01 at Yahoo later, okay?

Morans.