weird scifi

anyone know some bizar or weird sicfi, the only example i got right now is kafka

 

I don't know exactly what wierd is, but William Gibson writes scifi in a style all his own, it's almost poetry.

If you've never read Neuromancer, do so... it started the Cyberpunk style and, if I'm not mistaken, is the book that coined the term cyberspace. I also think that The Matrix movies got the idea from this book...

 

Endymion by Dan Simmons

 

Isn't Endymion the third book in the serise?
Dan Simmon's stuff is all pretty good and I'd have to say that Hyperion is an exceptional book that really proves that sci-fi can be "respected literature".

The Gibson stuff is great. I don't think it would be considered 'wierd' but it's now classic. I'd suggest Burning Chrome before Neuromancer. I find the short stories really give you a broad feel for the enviroment before you hit the novel. However, I do not recomend his later works because somewhere along the line he decided that poor grammar was a cool stylistic tool.

I saw a thread about Philip K. Dick so I'd check that out. Same goes for the Dune thread. Great sci-fi.

If you're looking for 'weird' though I think I would recommend checking out various magazines that showcase sci-fi short stories. There's something in the nature of the short story that caters to oddity

 

well like kafka for example thats bizar to one day wake up a cockroach

 

i heard that the guy who came up with scientology came up with some weird cool ideas (before he started writing religion), but i can't tell from experience.

with sci fi its hard to tell whats weird, cause it seems to be, by definition, weird.

 

Here's a list of good sci-fi that can leave the brain with a wierd feeling...

(in order of easiest to read first)

Hothouse by Brian Aldiss - A classic.
Perdido Street Station by China Miéville (an overly fat & rather dense book)
Last Castle by Jack Vance (short novella)
Amnesia Moon by Jonathan Lethem - A REAL brain exercise!
Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe (five parts - 'Shadow of the Torturer' is the first) - Needs to be read twice, with a years rest inbetween - I reckon.

have fun

 

Anything by HP Lovecraft.

 

i really love neal stephenson's works. action and brain bendin nifty ideas all in one nice package.

 

I liked this book "All of a Moment" I can't remember the author. Then there'a a classic by Kim something called "Summer of Love." And a great book by another name I forget called "Memories." If they're sci-fi at Amazon you'll know the books I mean.

 

Some of Kurt Vonnegut's books are sf and wierd but he writes a lot of different type stuff.

 

Another good Kafka book is The Trial.

It's about a man who wakes up and finds that he's being charged with something. But no one will tell him anything. It's his story as he struggles to discover what is going on.

A very good read. And a good movie too.

 

Growing up in Tier 3000, by Robert Gotschalk

Absolutely brillantly bizarre!

And I'm sure some of his invented words and phrases have made it into our language.

 

Bruce Sterling, see related thread.

The man is genius. All about neuroscience, political theory, 'hard' science, sociology, etc etc. art.
Very good.

 

I would definately go with Joshi's annotated collection of HP Lovecraft. Both volumes. The annotation is a little trite and contrived, but the collection itself is outstanding. Really, Lovecraft is authoritative wierd fiction.
Try Machen as well, as of course also all the original gothic novels, Shelley, Wilde, etc.

 

Philip K.Dick -esp 'Valis' and 'through a scanner darkly'.

Also Michael Moorcock's 'Dancers at the end if time' trilogy.

 

"Breakfast of Champions" by Vonnegut is superb. It's a mind-bender, though.

 

Lovecraft is the best sci-fi/horror writer I've ever read...he is the father of all modern sci-fi/horror. Everyone else I've read has been influenced by his style. Waking Up Screaming is a good anthology to introduce yourself to his work, and there is a 'Best Of' collection as well...Chthulu calls!

 

i recommend Kate Wilhelm, "where the sweet late birds sang", all that post-apocaliptical imagery will surely creep you a bit. so will the view on women's condition. actually a bit naive at parts, but it compensates, you'll see in what.

actually i was never that much into scifi. i think i may have dismissed them as recreationnal. but now i've promised myself to look into this certain author who was mentioned in this thread a couple of times.