Books N Stuff.
Several traditional book publishers had tables at the Comic Con. Many well known authors also made appearances; i.e. Robert Jordan “The Wheel of Time” and Orson Scott Card “Ender’s Game” to name two of the many that attended. (They are two of my favorite writers actually.) There were several panels during the con covering such topics as, “Is that Your Sword or Are You Just Unhappy to See Me?” and “Science and Storytelling: Empirical Data and Creativity.” The panels provide a fascinating insight into the participants writing habits and styles. Orson Scott Card also wrote a book I recommend for any would be published authors out there: “How to write Science Fiction & Fantasy.” It was very helpful when I first started working on my as of yet unnamed Sci-Fi novel.
So, I was tooling around the web comics I like today and noticed several posts mentioning the new Harry Potter book. I haven’t read any of them. Honestly, I had no interest in reading them until recently. I am now considering picking them all up and blasting them out one weekend just to see what the commotion is all about. Anyway, if anyone has any comments feel free to email me and tell me what you think of the series. (We are working on adding a message board to the site in the near future.)
If you are a fan of science fiction, I suggest C.J. Cherryh’s three “Foreigner” trilogies. The latest book in the series“Destroyer” is new in hardcover. The first novel “Foreigner” just recently celebrated its 10 year anniversary. I would write a review, but Amazon already has some good write-ups on the books posted.
If you like hard science and are interested in physics, I also recommend: “The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe” by Roger Penrose. I picked the book up after reading “The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory” by Brian Greene. While I enjoyed “The Elegant Universe”, it lacked the actual math and formulas of the theories. I found reading about the intricacies of the theories frustrating without the actual math around to look at. Roger Penrose does not shy away from the formulas, though at over one thousand pages, it is not a book to pick up lightly. If you are new to String Theory, and want to check it out, the article “Is String Theory about to Snap?” in the August, 2005 edition of Discover Magazine by Michio Kaku (one of the founders of the theory) is fantastic. If you are a true lunatic like me visit: Wikipedia, it has some great definitions and explanations, and as an added bonus you can get lost in the seemingly endless links for hours.