Home The Holodeck

Books and Shows

So i have insomnia and a really bad case of ADHD, and a bit of a speed reader

was wondering if you guys could help me find some new books or shows to watch while i am up late at night

read and watch mostly scfi, space opera, military scfi, and a ton of the different flavors of fantasy

read about 60k or so books( usally one or two a day ) and burned thru a lot of different shows, so getting harder and harder to find good stuff

any thoughts on some good stuff?

Comments

  • Do you know Dark Skies (90ies show, not the very bad movie with the same name) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Skies

    It was canceled after 1 Season but imho it was a great X-Files style show, explaining all huge events in the 60ies with an alien conspiracy. It is rarely known, so maybe you don't know it yet.
  • ya allready watched that one, thanks tho
  • RoxtonRoxton ✭✭✭
    British sci fi tv

    The tripods
    Space 1999
    Blake's 7
    UFO


    America sci fi

    ????
    Films
    silent running (Bruce Dern)

    Books Fantasy & Sci Fi

    A warlock in spite of himself
    The lens men series
    Dragon riders of pern
    Stainless steel rat

    Should keep you busy for a week

    Star Truckerz
    It's only my opinion but....

  • Read or watched all those, expect 2of the brit ones ill check them

    Read pern alot when younger, stainless is still funny
  • MagisseMagisse ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2018
    Well they're all non-canon now, but a lot of the Star Wars books are quite fun. The Heir to the Empire trilogy is a great starting point. And a personal favorite of mine is K. Travis's Mandalorian series, starting with the Republic Commando books. (Sadly this series was unfinished, but it's still awesome!)

    And since we're on a Trek forum, I have to shout out to The Eugenics Wars (two-book series), featuring Khan's backstory.

    Oh, and on the fantasy side I'd highly recommend Robin Hobb's Farseer series, starting with Assassin's Apprentice. (Starts with a trilogy, and then goes long.)
  • Loved the farseer books lol, read about ever starwars and star trek book out there, really liked the x-wing siers
  • MagisseMagisse ✭✭✭✭✭
    Mbannar wrote: »
    Loved the farseer books lol, read about ever starwars and star trek book out there, really liked the x-wing siers
    Thanks for reminding me, I forgot about those and yes they were great. Especially if you grew up playing X-Wing, because the battle scenes are crafted perfectly on what you do in the games.

    Let's see...have you read the Sword of Truth series? Those are quite excellent too.

    And in sci-fi...Ringworld?
  • MbannarMbannar ✭✭✭
    Ya read all those but thanks
  • Discworld series would be my suggestion. 41 novels and most are gold. A lot like Douglas Adams.
  • Farscape is really good, also movie to finish it.

    FireFly TV series and associated movie Serenity.

    Book wise you can dive into the Warhammer 40k, lot of cool stuff, bit dark though. I am a fan of Ciaphis Cain branch of books. Darkly humorous.

    Movie trilogy I'd recommend are the Starship troopers movies, #2 was garbage but one and 3 we're great and the animated one was good too. Rated R though due to some boobs 😉.

    I dunno if Final Fantasy the spirits within is too much fantasy and not enough Syfy but it's good too especially if your a fan if Final Fantasy.

    Books: Forever war is good, forever free the following up is okay but I'd recommend reading it to close out the series.

    Glen Cook : Black Company is good, a bit of a dark medivalish series about a mercenary company.

    Maxine McArthur has a couple good ones one is Times Past, I can't remember the one before it though.

    I highly recommend Wesley Chu's Time trilogy unfortunately it is only on book 2. I don't like starting a series before it is done but the book store guy tricked me but still good books.

    If I think of other books/movies I'll post them if you think it will help. Unfortunately I have read a bunch and just forget the names of the books.
  • DavideBooksDavideBooks ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm a fan of reading. For science fiction, if you like Star Wars, go with the Heir to the Empire series by Timothy Zahn, the X-Wing books, and then all the other Timothy Zahn books. I've read an insane number of Star Wars books, but those are the best starters of you are not insane like me. I also highly recommend the Conquerors Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (it is not Star Wars). I really like Aaron Allston as a writer, as well.

    With the Librivox app or from the computer you can download free (and legal) audio copies of a whole lot of very old early popular science fiction. They can be amusing. There is an old one called, "The Colors of Space" by someone I don't remember.

    For television, watch all the original Stargate shows, then the Stargate Atlantis shows. They are great. Don't watch the Stargate Universe, since the characters never meshed and it was just nothing but heightened emotions, angst, and wasted opportunities.
  • Data1001Data1001 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited May 2018
    Here are some of my recommendations of shows you can stream for free if you've got Amazon Prime...

    Charlie Jade
    Charlie Jade is a science fiction television program filmed mainly in Cape Town, South Africa. It stars Jeffrey Pierce in the title role, as a detective from a parallel universe who finds himself trapped in our universe. It's got a real future-noir feel to it.

    The Dead Zone
    Based on the Stephen King novel, I quite enjoyed this show, though I haven't watched it since it aired (it's on my watchlist, however). Plus, it's got Nicole de Boer (Ezri Dax) in it!

    Andromeda
    A Gene Roddenberry-inspired space opera starring Kevin Sorbo (Hercules) and produced by Majel Barrett. I rewatched this recently, and it's still quite fun — though the final season sort of falls apart, sadly.


    Could you please continue the petty bickering? I find it most intriguing.
    ~ Data, ST:TNG "Haven"
  • Odo MarmarosaOdo Marmarosa ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2018
    All the talk of the Star Wars novels really takes me back, as I read pretty much all of them in the 90s and early 2000s. Too bad none of them are canon anymore.

    The best are anything by Zahn, Allston, Slackpole and Anderson, with X-Wing series, Jedi Academy Triology, Thrawn triology and Darksaber the highlights. I also liked the Medstar dualogy as it was a tribute to MASH, The Truce at Bakura, and the Courtship of Princess Leia, the and to a lesser extent the Bounty Hunters and Corellian trilogies.

    It would also be intersting to go back and read some of the Han Solo and Lando prequels in light of the new movie.

    Worth skipping are the Crystal Star, the Black Fleet Crysis (did not feel like Star Wars at all) and the New Jedi Order (it seemed the authors were competing to kill off established characters and planets...when I finished the last of that epic slog of a series around the same time the last of the prequel movies, I realized I liked Star Trek more than Star Wars at that point)

    Outside of Trek/Wars, more recently I have been enjoying Tanya Huff's Confederation and Peacekeeper series. It's action packed, develops the various alien cultures well, and turns a few sci-fi tropes around.
  • [7TW] UnkieB[7TW] UnkieB ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited June 2018
    Outside of Trek/Wars, more recently I have been enjoying Tanya Huff's Confederation and Peacekeeper series. It's action packed, develops the various alien cultures well, and turns a few sci-fi tropes around.

    Like the Huff books a lot. It’s too bad the final Peacekeeper book comes out this month with nothing more from that world on the radar.


    Not to everyone’s taste, but the Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is good.
  • MbannarMbannar ✭✭✭
    Read both of those aurthors, loved huff books, Miller was good,
  • Odo MarmarosaOdo Marmarosa ✭✭✭✭✭
    Outside of Trek/Wars, more recently I have been enjoying Tanya Huff's Confederation and Peacekeeper series. It's action packed, develops the various alien cultures well, and turns a few sci-fi tropes around.

    Like the Huff books a lot. It’s too bad the final Peacekeeper book comes out this month with nothing more from that world on the radar.


    Not to everyone’s taste, but the Liaden series by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller is good.

    Just finished the last Peacekeeper book. There's still a couple loose ends; I don't think we're quite done with that universe yet. It would also be interesting to read some prequels & see how Torin became a badass & and how war with the typically Primacy went, now that we know alot more about them.

    In the meantime I guess I'll start over from the beginning...
  • Your mention of "space opera/space military" made me think of the book series Bio of a Space Tyrant, by Piers Anthony. He's got a lot of sci-fi books with interesting ideas, and lots of fantasy too.

    And for classic space military, you've got to read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman at some point.
  • Wow, looks like you have read and seen most everything Scifi. Well the Bible isn't SCIFI but if you read it front to back, study it...should take a couple of years. ;-)
  • For books I'd recommend the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. Among my favorites.
    [TFA] Task Force April, April's Assassins
    Lvl 99, VIP 14, 939 Immortalized, 212 5* FE/FF
  • ~peregrine~~peregrine~ ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2018
    I was a bookseller for 20 years, so this thread is like catnip to me.

    For starters, I recommend Peter F. Hamilton. His first trilogy was OK, but his second one is where he really hit his universe-building stride: Night’s Dawn.
    🖖🏻
    "In the short run, the game defines the players. But in the long run, it's us players who define the game." — Nicky Case, The Evolution of Trust
  • IronagedaveIronagedave ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm a fan of reading. For science fiction, if you like Star Wars, go with the Heir to the Empire series by Timothy Zahn, the X-Wing books, and then all the other Timothy Zahn books. I've read an insane number of Star Wars books, but those are the best starters of you are not insane like me. I also highly recommend the Conquerors Trilogy by Timothy Zahn (it is not Star Wars). I really like Aaron Allston as a writer, as well.

    Agree Zahn's trilogy was awesome, other good ones I found to be were "Shadows of the Empire" and "I, Jedi"
    [was on Sabbatical/Hiatus] Currently a trialist at Galaxy SquadronSTAY SAFE and KBO
  • Sci fi - David Weber's Honor Harrington series, with all of the Honorverse books will be good. David Drake - Hammer's Slammers is good, but his Leary/Mundy series is his best. Also, David Drake/Eric Flint/Tony Daniel General series - it is the best military sci-fi that I've ever read. I'd also add David Weber's Safehold series. John Ringo is a good write, he has a lot of good series, and his subjects are slightly off-kilter, with a different point of view that a lot of mainstream sci-fi heroes (sometimes I like, sometimes it makes me squirm - but always entertains).

    Also, if you haven't spoken to a medical professional about insomnia/ADHD, I would suggest that. If you have, but not recently, I'd suggest trying again. Treatment has gotten more effective in the last decade or so.

    Good luck, either way!
  • Veterinary PhloxVeterinary Phlox ✭✭✭✭✭
    One of my favorite sci-fi authors is James Alan Gardner. His League of Peoples series is excellent (although book two is a bit weak). The setting is based around a single cosmic law enforced by incomprehensibly advanced species - if you are willing to murder an sentient being, you are not allowed to travel between systems. Weapons are effectively outlawed, but there are plenty of problems faced along the way, including some inventive ways to try and get around this (or do considerably harm without killing anyone).

    More recently he started a humorous superhero series with All Those Explosions Were Someone Else's Fault. Superheros are generally my thing, but I certainly enjoyed the first book.
    Six degrees in Inter-species Veterinary Medicine. Treating all manner of critters, from Tribbles to Humans.

    Starport
  • If you want a book that takes a while, read the Divine Comedy
  • I would recommend the Dome Trilogy by Jason Lapier. They are crazy, brain teasing space mysteries.
  • Books:
    Pip & Flinx - Alan Dean Foster
    Magic 2.0 - Scott Meyer
    NPC - Drew Hayes
    and my all time favorite - Ready Player One
    Shows:
    Sports Night
    Jake 2.0
    John Doe
  • I read many read manga shows and I read solo leveling manga via mangazuki. This is my favorite manga.
Sign In or Register to comment.