#jerry pournelle

[victusinveritas]

#sci fi #authors #writing #larry niven #jerry pournelle #steven barnes

[simon-roy]

The idea of logging on a colonized alien planet brings my mind back to the planet Lalonde from Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn books - a world that had very hard wood as its only meaningful export, and was also stuck developing its economy from agriculturalism (due to investment shortages, though).

All this is to say - Hey! What are some foundational inspirations for your sci fi verse? You gotta have some like recommendations of classic or older sci-fi for us, right? What are some of your suggestions of books and authors to read?

OK SO - My sci-fi tastes have sort of ended up in some very specific niches. Growing up, I was a Larry Niven +Jerry Pournelle man, in part because my dad amassed a huge collection of their books - then gave 90% of them away before i was old enough to read them. So one of my teenage missions was rebuilding that library, trash and all!

Stuff like Footfall, Ringworld, Gil "The Arm" Hamilton, Protector (yes i attempted to name a comic series similarly, and paid for it) "The Mote in God's Eye"... you name it, I read fuckloads of these books. And while they tend to land on a sort of human chauvinist "mankind will win based on his inherent adaptive human-ness, and the aliens will fail because of their rigid alien-ness", this shit was very foundational to me.

Their more collaborative series, The Man-Kzin Wars and War World, also loom large in my teenage mind. The Man-Kzin wars are super fun - humans meet a race of tiger-men, and go from being NWO peaceniks to roughneck cat-skinners in a generation! PEACE AND LOVE WONT DEFEAT TIGER MEN!

Similarly, war world (like lots of that 70s/80s military sci fi) was a sort of catch-all for western military nerds to play with their favorite factions - it was a planet where all the un-ruleable ethnic groups and nationalities had been deported by the authoritarian earth government, and left to rot... until a race of genetically engineered fascist super men land on the world, and start trying to rule the place. Pretty fun shit.

As I got older, I turned hard into William Gibson, and read the absolute shit out of both the Neuromancer trilogy and the Bridge trilogy, as well as his short stories. Bruce Sterling was part of that wave for me, too, and I religiously sought his old paperbacks out too. In terms of novels, "Distraction" is my favorite coherent Sterling Novel - though the short stories in the "Schismatrix" novel/collection of his remain my absolute favorite space opera pieces.

At this age, too, I found my top-top fave Sterling Stories - "Taklaman" and "Bicycle Repairman", both gritty pseudo-cyberpunk stories of the highest degree, in this collection:

This thousand-plus page collection of short stories and novellas was basically my bible for a few years - i put sticky notes on each story i loved and meant to return to, until the book was so festooned with sticky note bookmarks i abandoned the practice altogether. If you have the chance, just buy this book and chew on it for a few years.

As i got into my 20s, Charles Stross became my lode star - his books like Accelerando and Glasshouse were total game changers for me. They come with their own peculiarities, but I loved his transhuman/posthuman musings (or at least i was obsessed with his stuff for a good few years - the venn diagram of his obvious interests and my own overlapped enough that his books were great fodder for a growing sci-fi loving brain).

But since then, my main literary squeeze has been the great man, JACK VANCE. Working on Prophet, my friend @cmkosemen made a remark about how much the early issues of the series reminded him of a book series called "Planet of Adventure" or "the Tschai Cycle", by Jack Vance. The book has a beautifully simple setup - a man from an entirely undescribed spacefaring human civilization crash-lands onto a weird planet. But on that planet, he finds four separate civilizations, each who possess a population of enslaved humans, culturally and physically molded to the needs of their masters. And each book of this series covers our generic hero's interactions with each bizarre expoitative culture. I was extremely intrigued.

Soon thereafter, I found my current absolute favorite book - "THE DRAGON MASTERS". A book about an isolated medieval world... which gets visited, once every few generations, by a black pyramid starship, flown by a reptilian race known as the Greph. The greph capture humans to (surprise surprise) breed them into hyper specific slaves... who in turn become Greph-like in their thinking and demeanours. But the last time the BLACK PYRAMID landed, a bunch of angry medieval dudes stormed the thing, blew it up, and captured a bunch of greph... who became the breeding stock for a whole new human world of slave labour. By the time we meet this planet, the two rival lords of the human-populated regions have been breeding greph slave warriors, or "dragons", for generations, for combat against one another. But soon, the black pyramid will return...

I love this book I even spent a good few months during covid talking with the Vance Estate and several publishers about developing it into a graphic novel, but nobody could quite agree on how it could get made with old Simon getting a paycheque... so sadly it fell apart. There are concept drawings floating around my patreon and other corners of the internet. But one day I'll use 'em...

My other favorite books of his, to name a couple of the MANY books of his I love:

THE BLUE WORLD: A caste system of humans, descended from a crashed prison ship, live on floating settlements on an ocean planet, paying protection to a giant long-lived intelligent crustacean. But one man is tired of giving up all his crops to this tyrannical megafauna...

THE MIRACLE WORKERS: Rival lords on a planet descended to medieval tech (surprise surprise) fight using armies... and rival SORCERORS who employ the powers of suggestion to voodoo each others' warriors... but when facing non-human intelligences, these sorceror's skills fall short.

But there are heaps more, and I love most (thought not all) of the ones i've read. They're generally short, concise, and full of all sorts of bizarre bullshit.

THere are more books i've read and enjoyed in my life, of course, but these are the core ones that I think of when I think of my career as a sci-fi reader... let me know what your top recs are!

#sciencefiction #science fiction #book recommendations #jack vance #larry niven #jerry pournelle #simon roy #griz grobus #charles stross #dragon masters #william gibson #bruce sterling

[paulsspaceshippictures]

The Mote In God’s AI

AI background, Major Stress’s Leif Erikson mesh (because I lost the one I made years ago, and some post work in photoshop. So mixed media, I guess.

The authors famously based the novel’s hero ship on the AMT model kit designed by Matt Jeffries , who also designed the original USS Enterprise.  

#INSS MacArthur #Mote in Gods Eye #larry niven #jerry pournelle #starship #spaceship #leif erikson #matt jeffries #fan art

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

#inferno #larry niven #jerry pournelle #fantasy #book poll #have you read this book poll #polls

[spacenoirdetective]

Stephen Hickman, Man Kzin War cover art

#man kzin wars #man kzin war #kzin #jerry pournelle #poul anderson #pulpscifi #tiger man #science fiction novel #science fiction series #scifi series #scifi novel

[that-dinopunk-guy]

I bought more paperbacks.

(Also I got the Peter F. Hamilton books entirely based on enjoying Pandora's Star like twenty years ago and completely managed to not realize there's another book between The Dreaming Void and The Evolutionary Void.)

#the jupiter theft #the genesis quest #second genesis #cities in flight #ringworld #the faded sun trilogy #a fire upon the deep #lucifer's hammer #pandora's star #judas unchained #the dreaming void #the evolutionary void #hyperion #the fall of hyperion #endymion #the rise of endymion #the mote in god's eye #throne of the crescent moon #a talent for war #donald moffitt #james blish #larry niven #c. j. cherryh #vernor vinge #jerry pournelle #dan simmons #saladin ahmed #jack mcdevitt #books #science fiction

[grayrazor]

Non-Star Trek books that are kind of Star Trek-like (quality not guaranteed)

Spaceship finds a weird object/alien civilization:

Rendezvous With Rama

The Mote in God’s Eye

The Invincible

Blindsight

Utopian interplanetary society:

3001: The Final Odyssey

The Culture Series

The Hainish Cycle

Contact

Napoleonic Navy in Space:

Lensman

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Honor Harrington

John Grimes

#star trek #scifi novel #larry niven #arthur c clarke #jerry pournelle #stanislaw lem #peter watts #iain m banks #ursula k. le guin #carl sagan #ee “doc” smith #yoshiki tanaka #david weber #a bertram chandler #space opera #space exploration #utopianism #military science fiction #Rendezvous With Rama #The Mote in God’s Eye #The Invincible #Blindsight #3001: The Final Odyssey #The Culture Series #The Hainish Cycle #Contact #Lensman #Legend of the Galactic Heroes #Honor Harrington #John Grimes

[sptoastaddict]

Close resemblance in armor-style

#skyrim #leather armor #jerry pournelle #larry niven #golden road #the elder scrolls #misc #idk

[honesthypocrite]

A conversation earlier this week reminded me of this novel from 1985! Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I can’t say why without spoiling the novel. But it quite obviously has space elephants and that spoiler is on the talented cover artist, Michael Whelan.

#larry niven #jerry pournelle #michael whelan #footfall

[rhetoricandlogic]

Inferno – Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1975)

Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell

July 2, 2021 by vel veeter Leave a Comment

CBR13Bingo – Mythic

Like Dante’s Inferno, this book is more of a time capsule than a truly interesting reading experience. Unless I completely missed it, and I might have, it’s not as thickly layered with criticism and allusion to much more obscure and more “minor” sinners the way Dante’s is, and instead tries to hit the big bads. Instead of Virgil, his guide is Mussolini, hinting at the more fallen nature of classicism in the 20th century. If Virgil was the cultural historian of Rome/Italy for Dante, and Dante needed this guide for his path, then it makes sense that a hack sci fi writer like Larry Niven’s lead character, would find Mussolini to be an appropriate guide. In addition, the “inferno” we have here is a kind of false construct created by an alien race as an homage or playground from Earth, so it makes sense that like Virgil and like Dante, you take about the most famous Italian of his era. In 1975, there were certainly plenty of Italian writers to guide Carpenter here — Calvino, Levi, Bassani, Levi, Montale, Morante, Moravia — or even going back through the years, Gramsci, Pirandello, but Mussolini is a little more pitch perfect.

The book itself is basically, how would aliens from another planet interpret the 20th century through a similar lens that Dante viewed his world. The ideas are interesting; the book mostly just ok.

“Dead. I had to be dead. But dead men don’t think about death. What do dead men think about? Dead men don’t think. I was thinking – but I was dead. That struck me as funny and set off hysterics. And then I’d get myself under control and go ’round and ’round with it again. Dead. This was like nothing any religion had ever taught. Not that I’d ever ‘caught’ any of the religions going around. But none had warned of this.”

#Larry Niven #Jerry Pournelle #Inferno #mahreviews #long post

[deepdarkspaceblog]

'Exiles To Glory' Offers High Adventure In Low Gee

Exiles To Glory (1977) by Jerry Pournelle wastes no time getting into the action. Pournelle moves the plot along quickly. He wastes no time with needless exposition or hyperbole instead choosing to let the character’s actions speak for themselves. Exiles To Glory is not a complicated novel but it is quite a bit of fun. Kevin Senecal’s life spins rapidly out of control when a street gang attacks…

View On WordPress

#Book Review #Exiles To Glory #Jerry Pournelle

[myhikari21things]

Read of Escape from the Planet of the Apes by Jerry Pournelle (1973) (156pgs)

#escape from the planet of the apes #jerry pournelle #fiction #paperback #1970s #reread

[dreamy-conceit]

Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy In any bureaucracy: - The people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control, and - Those dedicated to the goals that the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.

— Jerry Pournelle, American scientist and futurist. Read the expanded Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy here.

#jerry pournelle #bureaucracy #organizational development #how organizations grow #community organizations #government bureaucracy #quotes

[paulsspaceshippictures]

The Mote in God’s Eye - re-rendered using Master Bit’s Pluto texture maps as a stand in for Cue Ball, which works better I think.

#The Mote in God's Eye #larry niven #jerry pournelle #Fanart

[spacenutspod]

**Hosts:** Steve Dunkley and AI Assistant Hallie --- **Episode Summary:** In the heat of an Australian summer, hosts Steve Dunkley and AI Assistant Hallie bring you a sizzling new episode of Astronomy Daily. Today, they explore the cutting-edge concept of light sail technology for interstellar travel, the latest in commercial space expansion with Blackstar Orbital's new facility, and the achievements and challenges of Japan's Slim moon lander. Despite the sweltering temperatures, the duo keeps their cool as they delve into these astronomical advancements and the fine line between science fiction and space reality. --- **Featured Topics:** 1. **Light Sail Technology:** Steve and Hallie discuss the theoretical light sail technology that could propel tiny starships to a fraction of light speed, exploring the balance challenges and the potential use of the Poynting-Robertson effect to keep craft on course. 2. **Blackstar Orbital's New Facility:** An overview of Blackstar Orbital Technologies Corporation's announcement to establish an advanced engineering and manufacturing facility in Sierra Vista, Arizona, aiming to revolutionize space exploration with their hybrid spacecraft. 3. **Japan's Slim Moon Lander:** A look at Japan's recent lunar landing achievement with the Slim lander, the technical innovations it carries, and the geopolitical implications of successful moon missions among leading spacefaring nations. --- **Notable Quotes:** - "A light sail still seems like a possible way to reach the stars. We just have to be careful not to make light of the engineering challenges." - Hallie - "Japan's success in landing on the moon, even with solar panel issues shortening the timeline for the mission, demonstrates that JAXA is a major player in this global endeavour." - Steve Dunkley --- **Additional Information:** Listeners can immerse themselves in the universe of space news by subscribing to the Astronomy Daily newsletter at bitesz.com and spacenuts.io. Plus, explore the full library of Astronomy Daily episodes and catch up with the parent podcast, Space Nuts, for even more cosmic content. --- **Next Episode Preview:** Tune in to the next episode where Steve and Hallie will serve up more cosmic news and insights. Expect to hear Hallie's classic quips and Steve's musings on the latest in space technology and exploration. --- **Closing Remarks:** Thanks for joining us for another episode of Astronomy Daily. Despite the heat, we've managed to keep our focus on the stars. Remember to stay hydrated and keep your curiosity for the cosmos burning bright. Until next time, this is Steve Dunkley and AI Assistant Hallie, signing off. --- **Host Sign-off:** Steve Dunkley: "Catch you on the dark side of the moon!" Hallie: "Goodbye, dear listeners. Keep navigating the stellar seas. Show notes created by https://headliner.app --- 📋 Episode Chapters (00:00) Welcome to the 5 February 2024 astronomy daily podcast with Steve Dunkley (01:00) We have a story about theoretical light sail technology that you might find fascinating (02:02) A light sail could travel light, literally, to distant stars (05:40) Blackstar Orbital Technologies Corporation plans manufacturing facility in Sierra Vista, Arizona (08:58) A potentially hazardous asteroid passed by Earth on Friday at nearly 41,000 mph (13:23) Japan lands its smart lander for investigating the moon on January 20 (16:07) Japan's successful moon landing demonstrates global leadership in space and lunar exploration (18:21) That's a wrap for astronomy daily today. Thanks for dropping in

#astronomy #blackstar #commercial #daily #development #dunkley #eye #god's #in #jerry #larry #light #moat #niven #pournelle #sail #space #steve #technology #the

[phantastische-illustrationen]

Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle - Inferno (1977) (Peter Andrew Jones)

#Peter Andrew Jones #fantasy