Answers to Quiz

• Omicron Ceti III
• Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, Venus, and Titan.
• Clayton Endicot the Third, on "Benson"
• "The Sentinel"
• The 'waterhole'.
• "39". Brian May was teaching undergraduate classes in astronomy during the recording of Queen's first album.
  

  

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  My Best/Worst List

  My Favorite SF Novels

  Liturature is far too subjective a thing for anyone to propose their picks are the only picks. Still, all good stories should have in common believable, three-dimensional charectors, consistent universes, and realistic motives. We as readers have to care about the characters, and live with them across every page. All of these book meet these criteria in spades.

  (Not in any particular order.)

  • "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress."

    
    One of Heinlein's most exciting.

  • "The Crystal Cave"

    
    Mary Stewart at her very best. More historical fiction than fantasy, it puts the most human face on Merlin of any Aurthurian novel I have ever read.

  • Cyteen

    
    No one builds a detailed unviverse like C. J. Cherryh, and this trilogy is no exception. These three novels are filled with more insight into the human mind than most psych manuals.

  • Dune

    
    Pull on your still-suit and call a Maker, this is Frank Herbert's masterpiece.

  • The Lord of the Rings

    
    What list would be complete without it? If you haven't read the trilogy, read it. If you have, read it again!

  • The Mote In God's Eye

    
    Often imated, seldom surpassed. Messiers Niven and Pournelle team up to create one of the most interesting universes imagionable.

  • Ganwold's Child

    
    Diann Thornley's exciting first novel. Perhaps not as well known as the other's on my lists, it is definatly worth the time. Military SF at it's best.

  • The Dragonriders of Pern

    
    What list would be complete without mentioning Anne McCaffrey's infamous world of Thread and telepathic dragons. Call it science fiction, call it fantasy, I call the series one of my favorites.

  • The Shining

    
    What's that you say? Stephan King on a SF list? I don't care if it's fantasy or horror, it's a great read. (And it will scare the hell out of you on long, dark nights!)

  • Tao Zero

    
    Poul Anderson's far reaching novel of a starship doomed to outlive the galaxy itself. The concept is remarkable, but it is the charectors that will draw you in.

  • The Left Hand of Darkness

    
    Ursula LeGuin gives us a remarkable look at ourselves through the eyes of an alternate humanity.

  • Dying Inside

    
    Robert Silverberg's classic novel of telepathy and despair.

  Best books I have read lately?

  
  

  "Finity's End"

  by C.J. Cherryh.
  

  "The Case For Mars"

  by Robert Zubin
  

  "Creating Short Fiction"

  by Damon Knight

  "The Ascent of Wonder"

  edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer

  Interested? Find these and thousands of others at

  Amazon Books

  
  
  

  Want to have a look at some more great reading? Just click the old mouse here for>

  THE OUTER RIM

  
  

  
  

  And now it's time for...
  

  The Movies!

  My own take on the best, and worst, in sci/fi cinema.

  My tops.

  Twelve Monkeys

  
  This dark, moody film portrays time travel at it's most confusing best. Well acted, well written, and thought provoking, the show leaves only one question unanswered. How is it possible that director Terry Gilliam was a member of Monty Python?

  Alien

  
  The movie that set the feel of science fiction for the last twenty years. A superb cast plus an origional story line levitate this origional far above its many imatators. And it scared the hell out of me on the big screen. (If you want a real ride, rent "Dark Star" and compare writer/director Dan O'Bannon's first attempt to "Alien."

  The Star Wars Trilogy

  
  George Lucas takes a story line as old as humanity, and makes it something new and wonderful. This is our culture's version of the epic poem.

  2001: A Space Oddyssey

  
  Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke team up to prove that you can make serious science fiction that appeals to a broader audiance. This movie was ground breaking in it's time, and the story line still holds up.

  Contact

  
  Perhaps the most intelligent science fiction movie ever filmed. Enthralling.

  Blade Runner

  
  Time has proven this dark masterpiece deserved better than it's initial release warrented.

My Bottom Five Movies

(Major release only. I'll leave the B list to MST 3K. They do a much better job, anyway.)

• Battle Beyond The Stars

  
  John Boy Walton in a moose shaped starship. A real stinkeroo!

• Dune

  
  Dino DeLaurentis tries his comic book approach on serious science fiction, and falls flat on his still-suited arse.

• 2001: A Space Oddyssey

  
  Yes, it is on both of my best AND worst lists. It was such a ground breaking film, and had such a wonderful story line, that we tend to forget how tedious it could be in places. Kubrick's one shot camera technique during so much of the space station scenes, and aboard Discovery, drag on longer than needed.

• The Abyss

  
  Abyssmal.

• Star Trek V

  
  The Search For Santa Clause. A dissapointment, even for hard core Trekkers.

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