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Stephen Baxter, Lost his way?

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  • 16-06-2005 8:28pm
    #1
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,610 CMod ✭✭✭✭


    Re-reading a lot of his stuff again and have noticed a definite downward trend.
    Raft and The Time Ships were two of the best SF novels of the '90s but in recent years his output has gone from hardcore SF to quasi-fantasy/hippy philosophising rubbish.
    The Time/Space/Origin trilogy and the rest of the last 6 years or so show none of the brilliance of the Xeelee sequence. And the Icebones/Mammoth books are jsut plain embarrassing, really, Clan of the Cave bears with hairy elephants.
    Anyone else agree/disagree?


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    #2
    Johnny Storm
    Registered Users Posts: 3,988 ✭✭✭Johnny Storm


    CiDeRmAn wrote:
    Re-reading a lot of his stuff again and have noticed a definite downward trend.
    Raft and The Time Ships were two of the best SF novels of the '90s but in recent years his output has gone from hardcore SF to quasi-fantasy/hippy philosophising rubbish.
    The Time/Space/Origin trilogy and the rest of the last 6 years or so show none of the brilliance of the Xeelee sequence. And the Icebones/Mammoth books are jsut plain embarrassing, really, Clan of the Cave bears with hairy elephants.
    Anyone else agree/disagree?

    100% agree. He needs to get himself a hobby and only start writing again when he has something to say. It seems to happen to so many of them unfortunately.

    A lot of his mid-period shaort stories were very good too
    I found his fairly recent novel where a small group of people take a one way trip out to Europa (or somewhere like that) in a de-mothballed space-shuttle (!) to be strangely moving - cant remember the name. He is great on the NASA details...

    I stopped reading him after his first stone age POS


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    #3
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,610 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    The book was Titan, very good indeed. I have not read his recent collaboration with Arthur C Clarke but was given a copy of his book Evolution, there's a week I will never get back!
    Really the guy needs to get back to what he does best and leave the whole touchy feely stuff to the chick-lit writers.
    Traces was an excellent series of short stories but people like Michael Marshall Smith have left him sucking their dust. Spares, One of Us and Only Forward are incredible.


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    #4
    irishshogun
    Closed Accounts Posts: 313 ✭✭irishshogun


    have to agree, love Time Ships, one of my fav books, found it purely by chance, was looking for a new copy of the time machine in easons and saw it, was one of voyagers classic books. Being a sucker for time travel stories, I had to buy it. one of my best buys ever. By the way have a look for H.G Well original version of the time machine..the chronic argonauhts, I think!, had a few bevvies:{ .. and you'll see where Stephan got all the names from, especially the futuristic Morloc..off topic I know...ya he's gettin worse..wanna read the new stuff tho :)


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    #5
    irishshogun
    Closed Accounts Posts: 313 ✭✭irishshogun


    here it is if you're interested..its Short!!

    http://arthursclassicnovels.com/arthurs/wells/nauts10.html


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    #6
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,610 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    Well, The Time Ships is the official sequel to HG Wells original novel. You can pick it up usually in classics sections of book shops or download it from Gutenberg.org
    A wonderful book by Baxter, second to Raft as his best ever. Wonder if he will ever get back to it.

    Even his best only trots after Iain M Banks and Ken McLeod, sublime and deep, incredible SF, wiping the floor with all that zap gun stuff the yanks hav e been producing of late.

    Must recommend Years Of Rice and Salt by Kim Stanley Robinson, excellent alternate history, you will learn more about Islam and the Orient and their interrrelationsips from this work of fiction, could do us all well to read it, maybe get a little respect in the process.


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    #7
    Dades
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 25,558 Mod ✭✭✭✭Dades


    Haven't read his stuff, other than Time's Eye with Arthur C - but enjoyed that a lot. I'm a big AC fan though.

    Is Baxters (earlier) worth reading for a Clarke fan?


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    #8
    CiDeRmAn
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 34,610 CMod ✭✭✭✭CiDeRmAn


    All of baxters stuff, excluding the Mammoth books are probably worth a read and certainly his Xeelee sequence titles, Timeships, Voyage and Titan should be considered essential, unfortunately he falls into pretty much the same traps as Clarke, that is to say, great technology, great stories and plots but nothing but one dimensional characters.

    Oh yeah avoid the Manifold sequence of stories too, also avoid Evolution, thats a week of my life I will never get back.


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