It's late night (even with daylight savings time) and I'm up. I can't sleep because of a headache (again) so I'm sitting here, surfing the net and watching the idiot box.
Even with cable, there's not a lot to choose from this time of night, but I've lucked out. Galaxy Quest is on. In a time where most comedies seem to depend on unlikeable immature characters doing stupid things that stretch credulity, I find this movie to be funny and ultimately good-natured at its core. And this comes from a long time Star Trek fan.
My first foray into SF was when I picked up Robert A. Heinlein's The Rolling Stones, thinking it was about the band. Although I eventually parted company philosophically with RAH, I still remember the mind widening experience that reading his juvenile fiction provided. I went on to the "masters" - Clarke, Asimov, and so forth. I don't read a lot of current SF anymore.
It's not because it's poorly written. But it's not well written, either. It's bland, mediocre. And it seems to me that plots that are sufficient for one book are stretched out to three -- or ten.
I have not read any graphic novels, so I can't comment on their quality or lack thereof.
The one exception to the above is Terry Pratchett. His books are not considered SF; they are filed under fantasy.
Mr. Pratchett is, in my opinion (and that of a lot of reviewers), this era's Jonathan Swift. His satire is based on razor-sharp observations of the facts and foibles of our own society; he simply (I should say, he makes it look simple) stretches these to the absurd.
My favourite sub-set of the Discworld series are the Watch novels, followed closely by the 2 Moist von Lipwig novels.
Unfortunately, Mr. Pratchett has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. So it is not clear if we will see any more of his novels forthcoming, after the latest, Snuff.
If you haven't read this wonderful series, do yourself a favour. Spend some time with the inhabitants of Discworld, as it rides through space, supported by 4 giant elephants who in turn stand on the back of a massive turtle.
It turns out that in some parts of the universe, the world is flat after all.
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