FUTURE DREAMS
Marc Andreessen just got me to spend over $150 on Amazon this morning, and it's not even 5:30 am.
In one of the best round-ups I've seen of late of the current crop of "must-read" science fiction, Marc (aka pmarca online), gives a detailed, but brief run-down of who's who and what's what in the world of science fiction in the '00s.
Like most mere mortals, I was a voracious reader of science fiction growing up, but stopped paying attention to the genre in my later years. Keeping up with the genre took a much greater amount of "active passion' than I could muster in recent years.
And like most mere mortals, I became a much more passive consumer of science fiction, mostly through movies and television (as a recent post attests). Science fiction books went by the way-side, I'm sorry to say.
So I'm much more able to discuss the nuances of the worlds of Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, than I am the recent works of a Charles Stross or a Richard Morgan. Those are the first two sci-fi authors Marc starts off with, and damn, if he doesn't get you to hit that 1-click order button on Amazon in 60 seconds flat!
The biggest takeaway beyond specific titles to order from Marc's post, is how inventive the world of science fiction continues to be, judging from Marc's vivid synopses of various books.
It makes one wonder where Hollywood's head is of late when it comes to adapting science fiction into movies and TV shows.
If one looks at Hollywood science fiction fare over the last decade, anecdotally, the only science fiction author they seem to be focused on is Philip K. Dick.
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of PKD, who gave us a brilliant collection of novels and short stories, and then passed away at a way too early age in 1982. Sadly, it was long before he was able to see how right he was in many of his prognostications.
His Hollywood "career" as it were started with the now iconic "Blade Runner", followed by the Stephen Spielberg helmed "Minority Report", and the most recent snoozer "Next", starring Nicolas cage (wait for that one on cable).
As this Wikipedia entry notes, at least eight of Dick's novels and short stories have been adapted for film and television. There's almost a Hollywood myopia around his work, with a biopic planned next, by Paul Giamatti.
Not that it's not well-deserved, but there just seems to be so much good new stuff to adapt to the big and small screens, judging from Marc's post.
So as I wait for my batch of science fiction books to arrive via Amazon, I have a question for Marc, who has as much an "active passion" for movies as he does for science fiction.
If you were advising Hollywood, which of the books you highlight in your terrific post, would you also love to see on the big or the small screen?
I can't wait to put together my own list after reading through the recommended titles.
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