I think it takes no small amount of courage to embrace and read deeply in the New Wave, especially if a person has been exposed to mostly fast-paced, tech-front SF that has been prominent on the market and on TV and in movies in the past generation. I'm reading Dangerous Visions (1967, ed. Harlan Ellison) which has stories from some of the authors mentioned here. Some of these are downright difficult and almost incomprehensible on a first read. Sam Delany falls into that category with Dhalgren, but Empire Star and Nova are more accessible. New Wave readers should be prepared to slow down and enjoy the ride. Thanks, Bart, for another great video.
Great points! I agree, there is a bit of a learning curve to many New Wave titles. I feel like my level of appreciation has grown as I have read deeper.Thanks!
Thanks Ben, but I’ve barely scratched the surface; there are so many more authors from this period I want to discover. But, that is the wonderful thing about our reading Journey. 😀
I’m reading Roadside Picnic right now! This was a great list. I’m really wanting to read more from Le Guin, and I would love to read Empire Star at some point! I actually really enjoyed Babel-17. Happy reading, Bart!
I find Le Guin an easy author to love. If you haven’t read The Lathe of Heaven, I’d recommend it, I think you’d like it. And it’s a quick read. Empire Star was weird, I didn’t get much of it, but it was warm and interesting and it made me smile. Happy reading Johanna.
I’m glad to change that. Lem was Polish, born in what now would be Ukraine, but at that time (before WW2) was Poland. When the war started he moved to Cracow where he lived for most of his life. He is considered one of the best Polish authors even though many others won Noble and he, writing SF, never had a chance to be taken seriously.
That's a really great selection of books! Of those I haven't yet read, probably the one I'm most interested in is A Time of Changes - it's such an intriguing premise, and as you have indicated Silverberg is a really engaging wordsmith. Have you read any J. G. Ballard or Roger Zelazny? I believe they are both also associated with the New Wave, and each have very distinctive writing. Zelazny's novel Lord of Light in particular I would highly recommend.
High-rise and Lord of Light are both books I want to read this year. Lord of Light intimidates me with the pantheon of Hindu gods I’m not familiar with…
😀 Yay! Friends! 🙌 Thanks, I always struggle with the thumbnails, creating them as the video is finishing its upload… 😂 I used an old Gym photo for this one.
I don't read a ton of science fiction but The Lathe of Heaven is outstanding. I also enjoyed The Forever War. I read that one recently. Excellent novel. The first half of A Canticle for Leibowitz was simply brilliant. I read the Roadside Picnic too but it did not stand out like the others. Enjoyed the video.
Thank You for watching! A Canticle for Lebowitz is on my list. Did the second half of the book disappoint? Or was it just not quite as good as the beginning?
When the time is right for 80s, there is a classic piece that many people keep overlooking but served as a huge inspiration for authors like A. Reynolds. It's Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling which has its place right next to Neuromancer defining the cyberpunk genre. Cheers!
All great books but 'Roadside Picnic' is not by any stretch New Wave SF - New Wave is not a period, it's a bricolage of two moments in SF history- in the UK 'New Worlds' magazine under Morocock's editorship and in the US, yes, Ellison's anthology. The Strugatskys were behind the Iron Curtain, writing in Russian and up against state censorship and control- and they come from a different tradition to the other writers. New Wave was strictly a transatlantic revolution between these two axes.
Hi. Yes, of course, you’re right. I was thinking more as the time period during which New Wave movement took place and wanted to rank some of my favorite reads from those years. But, in retrospect it is somewhat misleading to use the term if I don’t adhere to its limitations. By the same token, I should not have put Lem’s Futurological Congress on the list. He in fact, did not even like most American authors. 😂 Thanks for watching. I always appreciate your input.
@@bartsbookspace I always think there was probably a language problem in Lem's dislike of US SF in that time, even with PKD -they initially had a cordial relationship. Shame really.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, that is possible. Lem spoke 7 languages, but described his English skills as "guerilla English". He read and wrote well, but speaking and his accent were not great.
I'm reading Roadside Picnic currently and I just finished A Time of Changes. Not sure how I feel about Roadside just yet but I really liked A Time of Changes
I didn’t love Roadside Picnic when I read it. I thought it was a bit boring, but then the more I thought about it (and read about it) the book kind of came back to me. It’s not one of my favorites, but I value its philosophical depth. A Time of Changes was an instant hit for me as well. 👍
Love this video! This has become tied as my second favorite genre/subgenre (tied with the New Weird). The way they explore ideas in a bleak feeling world. It's all incredible! You've given me a few I need to try! I'm reading The Fifth Head of Cerberus right now and absolutely loving it! Ice was absolutely superb and my be my second favorite of the year so far but it's close! Dhalgren, inverted world, the dispossessed, gravity's rainbow, and a time of changes are all on my short list for sure!
@bartsbookspace9798 I read the book of the new sun and absolutely adored it! But I did watch like 6 hrs worth of discussions after every book to understand just the plot lol. I'm not super far into Cerberus, but it is a fixup novel. 3 novellas combined to make 1 novel. The first one feels alot like David Copperfield to me. To me, Wolfe isn't as complicated at people make it out to be. The words flow well and the ideas are interesting. The difficulty comes with how much meaning you want to take out of it and how much authorial intent. You'll understand what happens in the novel relatively well. Why or how gets confusing. The smallest details is what makes it interesting. For example (very light spoilers for shadow of the torturer): He has a paragraph where he explains this painting about a guy in a suite of armor in a pale desert with a Staff in his hand. You can read that as just looking at a picture and move on. But if you really think about it, you realize it's actually a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon but they are so far in the future the story has been lost in time. Only the image remains.
@@Dylan13Collins This is tremendously helpful. Thanks! You convinced me to commit to giving Book of the new Sun a shot this year. I hope it works for me. 🤞The N. Armstrong bit is the kind of “riddle” I love trying to catch!
@bartsbookspace9798 they are EVERYWHERE in that series! The more you catch the more scifi the series feels. The less you notice the riddles the more fantasy it feels. Also, make sure you read the 5th book The Urth of the New Sun. It explains what happens next and also explains some of the more definitive things you may have missed. The author does love to leave things up for interpretation so it won't give you all the answers, but definitely enough to never want to stop talking about it! I'm excited to hear what you think! And happy reading. Alzabo soup (podcast) and Media Death Cult (RUclips channel) are where I went after every book so they could explain some of what I missed and check out if I was write in my solutions to riddles lol. All great stuff!
Thank you for the recommendation. I have not heard of that title. I’ll definitely due some research. You are correct, original ideas in SF these days, are few and far between.
@@bartsbookspace nice combo!! I was In Boulder for triathlon camp, liked it a lot. Now consider moving there from Florida. Great for cycling . And I’ve heard it had biggest bookstores per capita
@@godzillasan1817 All true! We have lots of athletes training here. Especially endurance. Altitude helps with training -5,600feet is a sweet spot- and 300+ days of sunshine is hard to beat. And yes, there are some fantastic bookstores!
I think it takes no small amount of courage to embrace and read deeply in the New Wave, especially if a person has been exposed to mostly fast-paced, tech-front SF that has been prominent on the market and on TV and in movies in the past generation. I'm reading Dangerous Visions (1967, ed. Harlan Ellison) which has stories from some of the authors mentioned here. Some of these are downright difficult and almost incomprehensible on a first read. Sam Delany falls into that category with Dhalgren, but Empire Star and Nova are more accessible. New Wave readers should be prepared to slow down and enjoy the ride. Thanks, Bart, for another great video.
Great points! I agree, there is a bit of a learning curve to many New Wave titles. I feel like my level of appreciation has grown as I have read deeper.Thanks!
Wow your breadth of experience with New Wave sci-fi is incredible! I haven’t explored that era at all yet, so thanks for all the recs!!
Thanks Ben, but I’ve barely scratched the surface; there are so many more authors from this period I want to discover. But, that is the wonderful thing about our reading Journey. 😀
I’m reading Roadside Picnic right now! This was a great list. I’m really wanting to read more from Le Guin, and I would love to read Empire Star at some point! I actually really enjoyed Babel-17. Happy reading, Bart!
I find Le Guin an easy author to love.
If you haven’t read The Lathe of Heaven, I’d recommend it, I think you’d like it. And it’s a quick read.
Empire Star was weird, I didn’t get much of it, but it was warm and interesting and it made me smile. Happy reading Johanna.
Good reminders. Thanks, Bart.
PS: I used to think that Stanislas Lem was Russian..
I’m glad to change that. Lem was Polish, born in what now would be Ukraine, but at that time (before WW2) was Poland. When the war started he moved to Cracow where he lived for most of his life. He is considered one of the best Polish authors even though many others won Noble and he, writing SF, never had a chance to be taken seriously.
That's a really great selection of books! Of those I haven't yet read, probably the one I'm most interested in is A Time of Changes - it's such an intriguing premise, and as you have indicated Silverberg is a really engaging wordsmith.
Have you read any J. G. Ballard or Roger Zelazny? I believe they are both also associated with the New Wave, and each have very distinctive writing. Zelazny's novel Lord of Light in particular I would highly recommend.
High-rise and Lord of Light are both books I want to read this year. Lord of Light intimidates me with the pantheon of Hindu gods I’m not familiar with…
Bart!! We really need to be friends! 😊 enjoyed this one alot!! Especially fun thumbnail!
😀 Yay! Friends! 🙌
Thanks, I always struggle with the thumbnails, creating them as the video is finishing its upload… 😂 I used an old Gym photo for this one.
I don't read a ton of science fiction but The Lathe of Heaven is outstanding. I also enjoyed The Forever War. I read that one recently. Excellent novel. The first half of A Canticle for Leibowitz was simply brilliant. I read the Roadside Picnic too but it did not stand out like the others. Enjoyed the video.
Thank You for watching!
A Canticle for Lebowitz is on my list.
Did the second half of the book disappoint? Or was it just not quite as good as the beginning?
The novel has 2 parts. The second part takes place in another time and for me was not as interesting. Happy reading.
@@jobuckley2999 Got it. Thanks
When the time is right for 80s, there is a classic piece that many people keep overlooking but served as a huge inspiration for authors like A. Reynolds. It's Schismatrix Plus by Bruce Sterling which has its place right next to Neuromancer defining the cyberpunk genre. Cheers!
Interesting. I’ll have to do a bit of reaserch as I’m not familiar with the title. Thanks!
All solid selections here. You should do another video on this topic.
Thanks!
All great books but 'Roadside Picnic' is not by any stretch New Wave SF - New Wave is not a period, it's a bricolage of two moments in SF history- in the UK 'New Worlds' magazine under Morocock's editorship and in the US, yes, Ellison's anthology. The Strugatskys were behind the Iron Curtain, writing in Russian and up against state censorship and control- and they come from a different tradition to the other writers. New Wave was strictly a transatlantic revolution between these two axes.
Hi. Yes, of course, you’re right.
I was thinking more as the time period during which New Wave movement took place and wanted to rank some of my favorite reads from those years. But, in retrospect it is somewhat misleading to use the term if I don’t adhere to its limitations. By the same token, I should not have put Lem’s Futurological Congress on the list. He in fact, did not even like most American authors. 😂 Thanks for watching. I always appreciate your input.
@@bartsbookspace I always think there was probably a language problem in Lem's dislike of US SF in that time, even with PKD -they initially had a cordial relationship. Shame really.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, that is possible. Lem spoke 7 languages, but described his English skills as "guerilla English". He read and wrote well, but speaking and his accent were not great.
Another fantastic video. Thanks for all the great recommendations and information.
Thank You Jonathan! 😀
I'm reading Roadside Picnic currently and I just finished A Time of Changes. Not sure how I feel about Roadside just yet but I really liked A Time of Changes
I didn’t love Roadside Picnic when I read it.
I thought it was a bit boring, but then the more I thought about it (and read about it) the book kind of came back to me. It’s not one of my favorites, but I value its philosophical depth.
A Time of Changes was an instant hit for me as well. 👍
Blowing up my TBR...thanks for that
😂 your welcome! I feel like all of these books are titles that even if one doesn’t fall in love with, you’re not sorry to have read them.
Love this video! This has become tied as my second favorite genre/subgenre (tied with the New Weird). The way they explore ideas in a bleak feeling world. It's all incredible! You've given me a few I need to try! I'm reading The Fifth Head of Cerberus right now and absolutely loving it!
Ice was absolutely superb and my be my second favorite of the year so far but it's close!
Dhalgren, inverted world, the dispossessed, gravity's rainbow, and a time of changes are all on my short list for sure!
I want to start reading Wolf... but I've been intimidated by The Book of the New Sun. Maybe The Fifth Head is a better place to start?
@bartsbookspace9798 I read the book of the new sun and absolutely adored it! But I did watch like 6 hrs worth of discussions after every book to understand just the plot lol.
I'm not super far into Cerberus, but it is a fixup novel. 3 novellas combined to make 1 novel. The first one feels alot like David Copperfield to me.
To me, Wolfe isn't as complicated at people make it out to be. The words flow well and the ideas are interesting. The difficulty comes with how much meaning you want to take out of it and how much authorial intent. You'll understand what happens in the novel relatively well. Why or how gets confusing. The smallest details is what makes it interesting.
For example (very light spoilers for shadow of the torturer):
He has a paragraph where he explains this painting about a guy in a suite of armor in a pale desert with a Staff in his hand. You can read that as just looking at a picture and move on. But if you really think about it, you realize it's actually a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon but they are so far in the future the story has been lost in time. Only the image remains.
@@Dylan13Collins This is tremendously helpful. Thanks! You convinced me to commit to giving Book of the new Sun a shot this year. I hope it works for me. 🤞The N. Armstrong bit is the kind of “riddle” I love trying to catch!
@bartsbookspace9798 they are EVERYWHERE in that series! The more you catch the more scifi the series feels. The less you notice the riddles the more fantasy it feels.
Also, make sure you read the 5th book The Urth of the New Sun. It explains what happens next and also explains some of the more definitive things you may have missed.
The author does love to leave things up for interpretation so it won't give you all the answers, but definitely enough to never want to stop talking about it!
I'm excited to hear what you think! And happy reading. Alzabo soup (podcast) and Media Death Cult (RUclips channel) are where I went after every book so they could explain some of what I missed and check out if I was write in my solutions to riddles lol. All great stuff!
@@Dylan13Collins 😀 I’m excited to dive in!
I have a recommendation for you. Read Alien from earth by sobers rodrigues. Its the book with original content which is rare nowday.
Thank you for the recommendation. I have not heard of that title. I’ll definitely due some research. You are correct, original ideas in SF these days, are few and far between.
Glad to find your channel and subscribed. What part of Colorado do you live? Thank you!
Thanks!
I’m in Boulder and NYC. I split my time due to work.
@@bartsbookspace nice combo!! I was In Boulder for triathlon camp, liked it a lot. Now consider moving there from Florida. Great for cycling . And I’ve heard it had biggest bookstores per capita
@@godzillasan1817 All true! We have lots of athletes training here. Especially endurance. Altitude helps with training -5,600feet is a sweet spot- and 300+ days of sunshine is hard to beat. And yes, there are some fantastic bookstores!
I haven’t read any of the books you are talking about. Maybe you can convince me:))
I'll do my best! I think The Lathe of Heaven is a good place to start.