Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

by **Bragatyr** » Wed May 7, '14, 2:43 am

I thought all three of those were phenomenal, I'm not gonna lie. Probably prefer A Clockwork Orange, myself, the decision to use Russian/Slavic as a basis for a theoretical slang was just brilliant, and the narrator is one of the best narrators in literary history, but I love 1984 and Brave New World as well. It's interesting to speculate about which of the three wound up being more prophetic, because I think they all touched on something that was real and pressing and contemporary both in their own times and in ours.

by **Hukos** » Wed May 7, '14, 8:22 pm

Agreed, but BNW resonates with me the most. Instead of a future society dictated by fear or terror, it does so through making people so "happy" that they can't possibly try to do anything else!

That and the whole herd mentality of the book speaks volumes to me and is still relevant today, as far as I'm concerned.

by **Bragatyr** » Thu May 8, '14, 12:28 am

Absolutely, that's one of the funniest and most interesting things to me about Brave New World, is that there were people at the time who thought it was kind of absurd and unlikely, at a time when 1984 felt much more threatening and resonant, and now, arguably, we're in more danger of being numbed and distracted into willing concession of rights than oppressed by an invisible regime.

Aldous Huxley is pretty underrated anyway, he was definitely one of the most perceptive writers of his generation.

by **Wolf Bird** » Sat Jun 21, '14, 2:25 pm

BNW is another one of those on my list. I think it's in the big pile of books next to my desk that I intend to read…*goes to check…….*

No, it's not. Well, guess that's another book to add to my "get list", along with two others that that my weekly podcasts so kindly added to it by interviewing the authors (Invisibles by David Zweig and Environmental Debt by Amy Larkin).

Anyway, I've moved onto Catch-22 for my fiction reading. I recently finished Risk and Reason (which I had to read half of for one of my spring classes and voluntarily chose to read the rest), and next in my non-fiction queue is Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel.

by **Bragatyr** » Sat Jun 21, '14, 3:16 pm

I'm reading the Norse Grettir's Saga, a book of early English ballads, and The Wisdom of Father Brown, by G.K. Chesterton.

by **augmentedfourth** » Thu Sep 11, '14, 2:45 am

I just finished Me Before You, by Jojo Moyes, and it was GOOD. One of the best books I've read in a while.

The book was going to end in either one of two ways, and maybe about halfway through, there was a short scene that telegraphed pretty clearly which one it was going to be. Even so, I couldn't put it down (and it's long-ish) and I loved it.

Also, the author is from the UK, so everyone talked like Xander, complete with their frequent breaks to drink tea.

by **Icecypher** » Thu Sep 11, '14, 6:21 pm

I am halfway through 3001: The Final Odyssey (after reading 2001, 2010, and 2061 consecutively). Very good sci-fi stories, especially now that I am playing PS II, PS III, PSP and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey.

by **Bragatyr** » Thu Sep 11, '14, 9:52 pm

I need to check out the later 2001 stuff, I've only read the first novel, really liked it. Arthur C. Clarke is awesome, probably my favorite of the big three early sci-fi writers.

by **Icecypher** » Thu Sep 11, '14, 11:38 pm

He does adaptive (loose) continuity. Sometimes because of technologic advancements in the years before writing a certain book, and sometimes in favor of the story he currently wanted to tell. He even has some forewords about how these books could be seen as happening in "alternate universes", where things happened in slightly different fashion.

One definitely has to accept this beforehand, or otherwise will be too busy thinking how continuity is broken to enjoy the books.

by **Bragatyr** » Fri Sep 12, '14, 4:02 am

I would be very cool with that, I'm a believer in the author's right to evolve and see things differently, and the idea of a strict canon bothers me. We can't even agree on how the world itself should operate, much less Middle-Earth or Star Wars. As a writer myself I love to write stories set in roughly the same universe with certain principles reimagined. And as a writer and human being I know that I don't see things the same way today as I did yesterday, ha ha, much less ten years ago.

Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

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