Yes! In fact, my friend Charles McCarthy had quite a crush on...let's see..I think her name was... Ah, yes! Riabouchinska!

I'd give my right nad for an Oscar Goldman doll. Is it lifesize and anatomically correct?

Why, Robo, why?

Have you been swiping the kids' Adderral again?

Well, this site's getting a bit weird, but, to quore Colin Clive, "It's alive! It's alive!"

An April 1st aphorism to the 3 or 4 of us who visit here:

Before you judge someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.
That way, when you judge them, you're a mile away
and you have their shoes.

I have a confession to make.

I have wroetz syndrome, where I suddenly write innopropriate curse words or lengthy rude stories. I thought I had it solved by a two day delay in my postings but I guess not. My apologies to the Goldman family.

thats a great quote Braling, i wrote that one down.

[This message has been edited by Robot Lincoln (edited 04-01-2006).]

I think he'd be flattered.

lol, he was good in Long Hot Summer. Two of my favs, the other is Cat On A Hot Tin Roof.

Okay, I can tell by all the grokking going on around earlier that Robo and B-II have read some pretty good SF.

My three faves-

EARTH ABIDES by George R. Stewart - this book is the only "perfect" book I've ever read. Every sentence, every word, every character, every storyline, beginning-middle-end... all perfect.

FAHRENHEIT 451--what needs to be said?

STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND - this book challenged me as well as entertained me. Jubal was a blast. The book did get kinda weird towards the end, but what the heck. I liked the grass instead of carpet in the reporter dude's apartment and I sure wish I could make people go away like Michael Valentine Smith could. The whole water sharing thing was cool but I can see how people like Manson, Karesh, and Jones could take it way too far.

I'd also like to add RENDEZVOUS WITH RAMA by A.C. Clarke. RWR had me mesmerized. The only book I've ever read that drew me in and kept me there til the end. I'm not talking about this book merely being an "on-the-edge-of-your-seat-page-turner", it flat out seduced me.

Clarke often has his protagonists on a quest, shrouded in mystery, searching for hidden answers to forbidden questions. He never did it better than in RWR, despite all the unanswered questions in the end. The hang-glider was a touch only Clarke could have added and all the different kinds of robots with different strengths and weaknesses depending on what exactly their functions were was also classic Clarke and really shows how much scientific thought went into the novel.

In the end all the questions that really mattered (what is this thing? who built it? where are they? where did they come from?, where were they going?) may not have been fully explained and may have bothered me a little at that time, but looking back years later it doesn't really matter. It's the journey that matters. Like peeling the leaves one-by-one off an artichoke, only to find no heart in the center... and not caring because you're too full to eat the heart anyways.

AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT by Clarke also had a protagonist on a quest and I really loved that one too. The expanded version CITY AND THE STARS was a little too umm... err... well, expanded. CHILDHOOD'S END left me cold. I generally don't like books about mankind being uplifted by other species or suddenly evolving into super-organisms. I like being human, not more than human. Although, Sturgeon's MORE THAN HUMAN is another of my favorites.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 04-01-2006).]

well put grass! I love Stranger, probably because i know that if there was another "savior" today, we'd do the same thing as in Stranger. I read Rendezvous in high school and remember loving it. The Dune books i dug. Lets see, I like Vonnegut too. I've never read Asimov's Robot series books, those I'd like to tackle soon. May need a little break from Bradbury. A short one anyway.

Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron" is my favorite story of all time. I didn't realize until telling the tale to a coworker a few days ago that the entire story takes place in the couple's living room while watching TV. Pretty ingenious stuff, there.

DUNE had way too much treachery for me. I was occasionally looking over my shoulder while reading it, expecting to find a hand with a dagger positioned above my head. I guess being able to induce such paranoia in the reader shows good writing, but I'm particularly sensitive to that kind of thing anyway. I do often think about Paul's little sister and that last image of her weilding a bloody dagger and absolutely caught up in the bloodlust of battle. Wicked little child. She was cool. Maybe I'll read the second book just to find out what happens to her.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 04-01-2006).]

I agree, todays savior would probably be imprisoned at Guatanamo Bay, hidden from the world, interrogated, beaten, probeb, and finally chopped into pieces and fed to the sharks. They'd probably keep a blood sample for cloning, in case they later decided they made a mistake, or could find a political or military application to justify his existence. WMD VS WWJD

Richard Morgan is all the rage right now. Try ALTERED CARBON. Charles Stoss' ACCELERANDO is getting a lot of Hugo hype. Old school stuff is always cool, especially Heinlein. Try THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS or TUNNEL IN THE SKY.

Don't forget the "original sf author" Jules Verne!
I also love the C.S.Lewis trilogy: "Out Of The Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength".

PERELANDRA was my favorite. Spongy floating islands, the evil Weston mutilating frogs, giant fruit, slip-sliding down into the volcano. All very cool. I keep the spongy floating islands always within reach, and go there when I need to get away, a kind of lifeboat for escaping reality. Totally unforgetable!

I liked Farnhams Freehold, and Door into Summer. I love time tripping stuff. I want to also re-read Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-5 when I get a chance.