Science Fiction

I read lots and lots of Science Fiction and have done since I was about 8. I don't have enough time to read much else these days - there is just too much good stuff outthere. Besides, most other literature is pretty boring by comparison; who needs War & Peace when you can have Kzin, Idirans, Lord Foul etc?

If you're a B5 fan, the Lurkers Guide will interest you. If Filk is your thing, take a peek at filk.org or XenoFilkia.

Some Favourite authors

• Robert Heinlein. I grew up on his stuff. Decidedly a formative influence upon my life. Probably the cause of my lusting after redheaded twins. Nip over to WeGrokIt for lots of fun stuff on the old master.
• Spider Robinson. Yes I know he can't get some characters right, and that he always wants a way out to make everything happy. So what? Don't all of us? When I finally got to meet him whilst I had a pen and paper handy, he signed it 'with all my pancreas, Spider'. You gotta love a guy with that sort of humour. His site is here
• David Brin. A Heinlein for today. A nice guy as well; though he seems to hold me partially responsible for creating a 'safe, sane net' according to the dedication in my copy of Earth. David's website is at DavidBrin.com
• Larry Niven. I love Known Space. Try out the Niven FAQ.
• Iain Banks. The Culture is a superb setting for some wonderful tales. The GCUs' sense of humour really appeals to me, particularly the irrepresible 'Very Little Gravitas Indeed'. I think I could get on with Skaffen Amtiskaw the drone; I could certainly do with one to assist me! My powerBook is called 'Diziet', my iBook is 'Gurgeh', my powerMac is 'Zakalwe' and my latest RISC OS machine is 'Gravious'. The official place to go is here.
• Neal Stephenson. One of the best recent writers; anyone not read SnowCrash and Diamond Age? do yourself a favour and give them a try. Look on AltaVista for references to "neal stephenson"; there's too many to link to here.
• Ken Mcleod. Try 'The Stone Canal' and 'The Cassini Division'. The Crowsnest has an interview
• Kage Baker. Her tales of The Company are time well spent. One of my favourite scenes ever is the chocolate feulled binge in the Ghirardelli cafe in San Francsisco.
• Sean McMullen. 'Souls in the Great Machine' is simply wonderful. 'Eyes of the Calculor' was a touch disappointing though.
• John Ringo. Well, I'm not a huge fan of military SF generally but the Posleen Invasion series grabbed me. Not least because of Bun-Bun the giant SheVa gun. Now I'm hooked on the real Bun-Bun comic strip!

There's a few pics from the BayCon 2002 Masquerade as well. Those naughty Disney girls...

email me at tim@rowledge.org