Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fiction Over Time

We had an interesting conversation last Thursday regarding Sci-fi and Fantasy Fiction that really wowed us as kids/teens and whether or not they stand up now that we are middle aged.



As an example: The Dragon Lance series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I read these as a kid in the early 80's and I really enjoyed them. I think the main attraction was that during those years I was fascinated by D&D, bought lots of modules, and worked on my very own setting. But it was difficult to find people to play. These books were like one big awesome adventure that I wished I could run or play in.

Reading them now it is obvious that the writing is pretty weak. The plot is fairly predictable and there are few surprises. However, they are still fun at least for a time. I equate them to the literary equivalent of a "pixie stick". Pretty tasty at first but by the time you're on your third one they are kind of making you sick.

Now take "Book of Swords" series by Fred Saberhagen.

These I acquired from the Science Fiction Book Club one month when I was too damn lazy to return that post card with the "I don't want" box checked off. That is to say like every month. Annoying but my laziness did expose me to some fine sci fi and fantasy I wouldn't have known about otherwise...oh and some real crap too.

Anyway, I was a big fan of them as a teen and still remember looking at the cover illustration (read: art) and trying to figure out what powers each of the swords would have based on the symbol on the hilt.

I have recently started re-reading them thanks to an ebook download and I have to say I still find them quite enjoyable. The setting is unique I think. Very medieval and magical on the surface but with an "Old World" mythology of a time when there was technology. Makes me want to know more which is a sign that Saberhagen was doing something right. And the story itself is intriguing and his action scenes are great.



I'd be interested to know what books that you remember from youth have or have not stood up to the test of time.

My favourite book from my youth was The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King (fantasy). I also really liked Pool of Radiance (along the lines of your DragonLance books, which I also remember). I read a really fun trilogy set in Buck Rogers universe. It was First Power Play (everyone at school asked if it was a hockey book), second was Prime Squared and third was Matrix Cubed. Those books are where Black Barney came from. He was awesome in those books.

Would they hold up now? That's a damn fine question. I would love to re-read them.

Harry Harrison's Deathworld, I thought was just great when I was 9 and all the Perry Rhodan books. I read Deathworld a couple of months ago and it was shit. Haven't even tried the Perry Rhodan books.

I read the Lensman series when I was pretty young and I have been tempted but not pulled the trigger yet.

Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat also holds up very well.

Larry Nivens early stuff, Crashlander in particular, still is very good. His books have little nuggets in them that pop up if you keep your eyes open -- a character in Crashlander appears in Ringworld which is set a few hundred years later. That kind of thing adds a nice unity to his writing.



S.

Sagrilarus wrote: Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat also holds up very well.

Larry Nivens early stuff, Crashlander in particular, still is very good.

I very much agree with this. I love the early Niven stuff. He creates a universe ("Known Space") that is both fantastic and fun. Everyone talks about Ringworld, but much of his best work is largely overlooked (Protector, A Gift From Earth, Neutron Star, etc.) Unfortunately anything he has written in the last decade or so is complete trash. Just garbage is search of a movie deal. I hated the last THREE BOOKS I read by him, and I am officially done.

Harrison has never been better than his SSR work.

I hate Ringworld's ending, and I don't recommend that one for that reason. His earlier stuff was when he was working with Astounding Science Fiction and it's more geared to the hard sci-fi crowd. A bit episodic in nature.

I think at some point around 1990 Niven realized he needed to build up a retirement fund. His writing became more "accessible" and appeals to a broader audience, but it seems to suffer from it. I'll argue that even Ringworld seemed to step away from harder sci-fi concepts.

But his universe has a great timeline that he works to his advantage. A pleasure to read his earlier stuff.

As usual Al is right. Don't know why he hangs out with us junior members.

S.

Just took a look at Larry Niven's bibliography and SAG (as usual) is right. Niven hasn't written anything of merit for a good 25 years or so. Except for possibly this:

"Old age is not for sissies"

Larry Niven

I haven't re-read any of the fantasy stuff I read when I was young which was mostly disposable stuff like Eddings, Warhammer 40K novels (these were dreadfully dull even back then), Forgotten Realms (disposable, wouldn't like to even try), and Star Wars novels (likewise).

I have however dipped back into some classics that I never got round to, namely A Wizard of Earthsea, and Neuromancer. WoE was good fun, very well written although perhaps not quite as good a story as I had hoped. As a work of fiction, it definitely stands up and is perfectly readable for 'older' people. Neuromancer was an odd one. I was gripped, but for vast portions of the book I was pretty lost as to what was going on. I definitely would have got a lot more out of this when I was an adolescent, the book certainly seems like it'd go down best with teens and 20 something guys who wear fedoras and post on Reddit.

For further experiments in this arena, on the shelf I have a Lensman book that I found in a bookshop for next to no money as it is falling to bits, and an Alfred Bester novel.

Stainless Steel Rat, I read all of those and liked them.

Neuromancer I am in the middle of. It can be exasperating when he uses slang and concepts that don't reveal themselves for half the book but kind of cool to in that not everything is spelled out right away.

I am not sure if The Galactic Primes counts as one of the Lensmen books but I have tried to get through it with limited success. Reminds me a lot of Stranger in a Strange Land which I despise for many reasons.

I used to read all the wish fulfillment magic teenager books I could get a hold of when I was around that age. Loved that stuff and the realization that it was all forced crap has been a pretty big influence on me. Slapped my shit together you know?

repoman wrote: I am not sure if The Galactic Primes counts as one of the Lensmen books.

Nope.

Wikipedia:

The Lensman series is a serial science fiction space opera by Edward Elmer "Doc" Smith. It was a runner-up for the Hugo award for best All-Time Series (the winner was the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov[1]).
The series was published in magazines, before being collected and reworked into the better-known series of books. The complete series in internal sequence and their original publication dates are:
Triplanetary (1948. Originally published in four parts, January–April 1934, in Amazing Stories)
First Lensman (1950, Fantasy Press)
Galactic Patrol (1950. Originally published in six parts, September 1937 – February 1938, in Astounding Stories)
Gray Lensman (1951. Originally published in four parts, October 1939 – January 1940, Astounding Stories)
Second Stage Lensmen (1953. Originally published in four parts, November 1941 – February 1942, Astounding Stories)
Children of the Lens (1954. Originally published in four parts, November 1947 – February 1948, Astounding Stories)

Stranger in a Strange Land's time has come and gone. It's truly a child of the sixties.

If you want to read better than A Wizard of Earthsea read the next in the series -- The Tombs of Atuan which has a strong female lead and in my opinion is the best of the set. Of course LeGuin's real monster work is The Dispossessed. I reread that about fifteen years ago (I was in my early thirties) and it had lost nothing from my first read in college.

S.

You guys keep reminding me I've been meaning to read Stainless Steel Rat. As for Neuromancer, I've tried to read it twice. I don't think there'll be a third attempt.

Zelazny holds up very well. So does some Moorcock, and early Asimov. Later Asimov isn't too bad, but talks a bit too much, as does Eddings.

The Dragonlance stuff is well past its due date, although the twins trilogy has a pretty solid story.

Been reading Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy every few years since I was a teenager. So I'd say it still holds up.

Hitchhikers is a proper book though for people who read books, not people that divide most of their reading time between the text on Magic cards and the back of hot pocket packets.