Greetings Hypographs!

[Amidala]

Hello to everyone already on board! My name is Rodica but I prefer Amidala, since I am such a HUGE science-fiction fan. (to the less knowledgeable, Amidala is quite a character in Star Wars, and the main cause for episodes 4, 5 and 6, since she is the mother of the main characters in the above-mentioned episodes, Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa) I must also add that being a Sf fan does not make me a SF expert. I am trying to read everything of importance in this field and am greatly amused by the movies of the genre - Star Wars included.

In real life I am a teacher of English in Constanta, Romania. Constanta is Romania's largest port to the Black Sea. And yes, the sea gets to be almost black in winter. I am married but I have no children, and this is my greatest grief. I like being a teacher and helping my students out - not just with English, but with coping with growing up in a not very helpful society - , but at the end of the day, they are not mine children to give me joy when they are successful. I guess sometimes I feel excluded from the secret society of parenthood. :cup:

I also have three god-sons whom I love terribly. Me and my husband are both crazy about them.

My husband is an engineer specialised in hidrotechnical constructions - building ports, dams ... - and I am quite familiar with the terminology since I come from a family with long traditions in this field of engineering. Both my dad and my elder sister are engineers, so is my uncle, and the list may go on. My mum is an archaoelogist and I would have been one, too, had it not been for the load of data I ought to have learnt to become one. (plus the hardships she had to go through when asking for research funds)

I love Pink Floyd, Marrilion, Supertramp, I enjoy reading a lot (not just sci-fi), I am a true master at wasting time (but as my favourite poet T.S.Eliot put it: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time."), I have absolutely no head for figures (that's my husband's domain) and I forget easily especially bad things.

I guess I will browse about some more before I discover where is it that my lack of expertise in anything scientifical is needed. I came upon Hypography while looking for a place which would offer credible/plausible scientific theories to my science-fiction booksie. I was planning to set the action on Ganymede and wanted to check out with the specialists if my plot would hold water against superficial scrutiny.

That's about it.

Take care!

[Stargazer]

(but as my favourite poet T.S.Eliot put it: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.")

How true that is, especially if it includes slacking as well :-)

[sanctus]

(but as my favourite poet T.S.Eliot put it: "The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.")

 

Thanks for this phrase, it motivates to stay on the forum instead of studying for my exam on monday. You've got a SF-fan as well here, but I'm no expert neither. Welcome to the forum,

sandro

[Tormod]

That was a wonderful introduction! You are of course very welcome here, Amidala.

 

I am a sci-fi buff myself, although only hard-core...I can enjoy Star Wars but I am more into stuff like Greg Bear, Stephen Baxter, Arthur C Clarke, Stanislaw Lem etc. I also like space opera as long as it's lodade with high-tech stuff, like Peter Hamilton's books. And of course movies like Alien, 2001: A Space Odyssey etc.

 

I hope you find some inspiration for your book here at Hypo!

[sanctus]

Tormod, are you a Greg Bear fan?

Eventually I found somebody who knows him. Eon and Eternity are my favorites (Legacy as well), then comes Anvil of Stars and the wind from a burning woman (short-stories). Ididn't like to much Slant and Vitals. Did you read others of him? Wich do you suggest?

[Tormod]

I have read everything except the very first books.

 

Slant was VERY good but I had to read it very carefully at first. He experimented a lot with language in it, so it took me a while to get into it. It is however the sequel to Queen of Angels so it could maybe help to read that first.

 

The later books (Darwin's Radio and Darwin's Children) seem to be made-for-movie kind of books, so I hope he returns to form with more Eon-style books later.

 

You should pick up "The Forge of God" and "Anvil of Stars" - two books which shows his incredible imagination. They are almost thriller-like but hard-core sci-fi.

 

Then there is "Moving Mars" which is a good novel with some amazing physics in it (like how can you move a planet?).

 

Not to mention "Tangents" which is a collection of short stories. And still there are more books...

 

I love Greg Bear... :cup:

[sanctus]

Anvil of stars is the first I read of him and yes it is good (Eon stays my favorite).

 

Slant is the only one of him I didn't read in english but in german, therefore I might have missed what you liked about the language uses. The forge of god I alwys wanted to read (the title was inspiring), but didn't find it yet. I'll tell you when I've got it.

[Amidala]

Thanks for the welcome (that was quick). I also enjoy Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, but I'm sorry to say I haven't heard of the other two. My absolute favourite is Frank Herbert (I mentioned him in the 'what's-everybody-reading-or-what's-it-called' section) and my second favourite is Isaac Asimov. But then there are so many good SF writers and soooooo little time.

 

Speaking of Herbert: wouldn't you (fans of his) agree that he does have some very interesting theories about theology - its evolution?

[sanctus]

Well I only herad of Frank Herbert, so I can't answer you that.

 

I was once in a book-store somewhere in Germany and the seller told me that she agreed that Greg Bear was a great author, but he wasn't known in Europe and she has never really understood why.

I run into it during my stay in Australia, the other books of him I found themm in a specialized SF and horror occasion library.