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I've had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any s
by detritus 9y ago
I've had problems with Niven — his scope is grand and majestic, but I've often found his narrative a little bit clunky and paint by numbers, if that makes any sense?
I've jotted down your other suggestions for further reading, thanks!
- carapace 9y agoNiven was once my favorite Sci-Fi author, but I think I know what you mean. Have you read "The Book of the New Sun" by Gene Wolfe? It is really really good.
- jessaustin 9y agoIt would be difficult to do Wolfe justice in a film? Maybe something self-contained like Pirate Freedom or The Fifth Head of Cerberus, but everything in the "Solar Cycle" has such bizarre complications and connections to everything else that a movie couldn't avoid making many cruel cuts.
- carapace 9y agoYeah, I agree with you. But I dream about making a graphic novel out of New Sun... Wolfe's work is very literary, for lack of a better word. ;-)
- astrange 9y agoNiven's short story characters always seemed to be celibate men with no friends who owned a spaceship for some reason, vs. a high school physics problem. (see Neutron Star) Did have a pretty good run around Ringworld or Integral Trees, which could be good with rewrites, though I think he went on to become such an "I'm so smart" skeptic type he turned into a global warming denialist?