Hello all.

It was Neal Stephenson that brought me here. From reading the first book by Mr. Stephenson, I was hooked. Then there was the Wheel of Time series, the Sword of Truth series, ... science fiction.

I love to travel, and read on the beach.

Reading + being outside is the perfect formula for me.

My educational background is in computer science and product design. A career in the game industry is where my education lead me.

A toast to all of you readers and writers!

Everything you mentioned is right up my alley. Those massive fantasy series, as well as the exposition laden sci-fi. Have you read Peter F Hamilton yet? Or Brandon Sanderson, who finished the wheel of time?

I almost forgot... welcome to Booktalk!

Thanks.

I have not read any of Hamilton's work. It looks like a lot of his work is Space Opera's? That is one area I haven't explored.

Other authors I have followed are William Gibson, Kim Stanley Robinson, and Dan Simmons, for examples. Most of what I look for are considered "Hard Science," which is a very small niche, but I do jump out and read those epic series (as the WoT and SoT are classics).

I know I am in a very small group by narrowing my focus. I want to explore the future through this type of writing.

I love that genre as well. There are merits to diversifying what you read, I think. A more relaxed approach comes up with the crazier ideas that harder science fiction might not explore.

So many of the tips I've come across from professional authors is to read far and wide, rather than sticking to a narrow focus. It might be worth considering. Stretch your experience while maintaining a core. Reading far and wide will give context to the style of writing you're trying to emulate. You'll see the differences, so better understand what makes your chosen genre stand out from the rest.

So have you read Steven Baxter, Larry Niven, Arthur C Clarke, or Isaac Asimov? Or Heinlein? His prose is light, but I think he's hard SF. John Scalzi is a good successor to Heinlein.

Interbane wrote:I love that genre as well. There are merits to diversifying what you read, I think. A more relaxed approach comes up with the crazier ideas that harder science fiction might not explore.

So many of the tips I've come across from professional authors is to read far and wide, rather than sticking to a narrow focus. It might be worth considering. Stretch your experience while maintaining a core. Reading far and wide will give context to the style of writing you're trying to emulate. You'll see the differences, so better understand what makes your chosen genre stand out from the rest.

So have you read Steven Baxter, Larry Niven, Arthur C Clarke, or Isaac Asimov? Or Heinlein? His prose is light, but I think he's hard SF. John Scalzi is a good successor to Heinlein.

I know what you mean about exploring outside the genre's. I do read a lot of books outside science fiction and fiction as well, like the sciences, about music, art and so forth. It's a fine balancing act, working and reading (which can be working!).

I also work with my hands, in creating art, so I have that release of logic and rational thought. I've cast metals, made some jewelry, hand thrown some clay pottery, and made some furniture, wood-working. I also have my hands in the dirt from time to time in landscaping and gardening.

I actually re-read Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land a year or so ago because I had read it in university, I believe, and barely remembered it. It was in my library, so I grabbed it (print! imagine that!) and read it again.

I've been reading and accumulating a library all of my life. On my shelf (pre-Kindle!), I've read outside the genre I favor (just staring at my bookshelves while I write this; I keep my fiction and non-fiction in separate cases - and stacked all over the place);

The Art of War
The Tao of Pooh
Joseph Campbell's Masks of God series (intense reading)
The Singularity is Near, Kurzweil
The Lord of the Rings series
Harry Potter series
McGilvray's book on Chomsky
The beautiful Griffin & Sabine series
Jacqueline Carey's wonderful Kushiel's series
The Life of Pi
Michener's Alaska
Even Steve Martin's Shopgirl
The DaVinci Code
The Horse Whisperer
Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum
Watchmen
Grisham's books, the Summons is on my bookshelf, with A Painted House in my stack of To-Read's.
Also, in my To-Read's is The Rule of Four, Atwood's The Blind Assassin, and partially read The Crimson Petal and the White (I keep putting it down for some reason).

But, probably a balance of more sci-fi, including Forever Peace, The Fortunate Fall, Einstein's Bridge, Society of the Mind by Eric Harry, (also read The Society of the Mind by Minsky, which is why I grabbed that one), Ender's Game, Earthling, etc.

Of course, Hemingway, T.S. Elliot, Keats, Yeats, Dickinson. Even struggled through some Proust (In Search of Lost Time, which is partially read - on my To-Finish-Reading stack, haha!).

The book that probably influenced me the most as far as the pattern of writing I like is Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid 1st Edition, by Douglas R. Hofstadter. It truly shows the connections. It is a work of art.

The last book I read was the latest in the Sword of Truth series, The First Confessor: The Legend of Magda Searus, which released this July, but I really need to wrap up my own book, so put the reading aside. I pre-ordered Goodkind's next, Warheart, which releases in November, which I will devour quickly, before returning to authoring my next.

This list should give you an idea of my breadth. I have a ton of science books, too. And mythology, and spiritual.

Tricky business, reading and writing, and working, and life.

There is not enough time in life to read all that you want to.

Welcome to the community!