Mrs M despairs of threads like this.....so many choices.......
Bomb 20 from Dark Star; technically a thermo-stellar device.
Valley Forge as others have said (also made an appearance in both BSG series)
The Bucket (BSG mini series), favourite moment was the jump into the atmosphere for the rescue at New Caprica.
Fighter, has to be a Viper Mk2.
Special mention for the Rossi for technical accuracy (Mrs M finally understands why they burn "backwards" when approaching a planet....but its still wrong apparently).
Ship I'd most like to pilot; a Shadow warship, they sound of rage/despair/pain they make, raises the hackles on my back, I can't see a picture of one without hearing the scream, but that chance to feel space as part of a living ship.............
From books it has to be the Lady MacBeth from the Nights Dawn Trilogy, a space trader, very "overbuilt", which allowed her to "jump" in a very small Jovian ring system LaGrange point whilst travelling at "telephone numbers". She also has an unusual drive configuration with an antimatter drive amongst her normal deuterium fusion drives (the AM drive is highly illegal if fuelled, normally resulting in a death sentence for the skipper).
"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
MingtheMerciless wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:48 pm
Nights Dawn Trilogy,
I read the Nights Dawn Trilogy after reading the Commonwealth Saga. I was expecting more hard Sci-fi.
To this day I'm still not sure how I feel about Nights Dawn, the whole dead possessing the living thing feels more religious than Sci-fi.
I enjoyed the Void Trilogy the most.
OT, apologies, I've just finished the Saints of Salvation Trilogy, that has some proper space battles of epic proportion's in the last one (weapons of gods). NDT was my first Hamilton novels, the first two were very good but the last went a bit wayward for me but I did like the idea of the dead returning.
"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
Just been down the internet rabbit hole looking at space ships and found this:
Many people noted the apparent similarities, aesthetic and plot-wise, between Star Wars and "Battlestar Galactica. George Lucas even (unsuccessfully) sued the makers of "Battlestar Galactica," citing forty-four specific counts of plagiarism.
In reply to these allegations, the Apogee special effects team "wrote" the words "Fuck Off" by using the lights of the Caprican city. This can be seen as the Cylon Raiders approach in the attack sequence on Caprica.
Arf!
Nice to see so many Bab5 and BSG fans on here. I always knew you were the 'right sort'.
Also, an SF books thread might be cool. I could do with some recommendations.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
KungFooBob wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:11 pm
Have you read any of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space series?
That's proper great HARD sci-fi.
Yes I have, good, but not as good as Hamilton at his best (for me). I still enjoy reading The Lensman series (it's very dated in some respects).
"Of all the stories you told me, which ones were true and which ones weren't?"
"My dear Doctor, they're all true."
"Even the lies?"
"Especially the lies."
I've read a lot of Neal Asher, it's less hard sci-fi, more Hollywood action movie, but I love it.
I've just finished the Rise of the Jain trilogy and I think he's done the whole Jain thing to death, the last book was a slog.
I've read a lot of Joe Scalzi too, it's a bit pulpy in places, but still entertaining.
I read a lot of Sci-fi and most of it is great, but the most disappointing stuff I've read recently...
1. Velocity Weapon - Megan O'keefe: Average at best
2. A Memory Called Empire - Arkady Martine: sold as sci-fi, more political wrangling, put it down one day 3/4 of the way through, still haven't picked it up again.
3. Humanity's Fire Trilogy - Michael Cobley: What a load of old bollocks
4. Shoal Trilogy - Gary Gibson: Even more bollocks than Cobley.
I finished A Memory Called Empire and thought it was readable enough to buy A Desolation Called Peace - which I haven't read yet. I'll check out Alastair Reynolds - probably have read some short stuff (subscribe to Interzone and he's been in it).
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
KungFooBob wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:46 pm
How could I forget!
N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy.
It's not Space Opera, you could even argue it's not Sci-fi (it's more fantasy until the last book).
But it's frickin' amazing. Everyone should read it. I think all three won (or were at least nominated) for the Hugo.
The best thing I've read since The Left Hand of Darkness.
Yup. Three Hugos. Definitely on the fantasy side of things 'cos the orogene's skills are more like magic than science. Got through them at a fair lick as they were all published before I started on them. Left Hand of Darkness is one of Mrs S's favourite books...she's a Le Guin fan-boi.
Last edited by Count Steer on Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire
Count Steer wrote: ↑Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:54 pm
Left Hand of Darkness is one of Mrs S's favourite books...she's a Le Guin fan-boi.
I read it at the same time I read Ancillary Justice, they're somehow perfectly complimentary books.
There's a few years between them! Left Hand of Darkness was published in 1969. The Mrs likes it so much she bought the Folio Society publication along with The Disposessed and has a copy of Ursula's 'Steering the Craft' on how to write (she writes short stories - most profitable one was a psycho horror thing ).
for the Ann Leckie books too.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Voltaire