[MUD-Dev] OT: Books

[Mike Sellers]

I've always liked threads like this. ;)  Here goes my 2c: 

At 12:53 AM 12/12/97 PST8PDT, Adam Wiggins wrote:
> [Tolkien, Dune (no other Herbert), naturally.]
>
>Robert E. Howard - everything.  

I confess I find him just about unreadable, and one story seems much like
the other.  As long as I'm being confessional though, I do happen to like
some of the older Conan comic books (the shame, the shame).  

The Elric books are also seriously cool, if dark and dank and drippy much
of the time (from what I've seen anyway).  Great to read if you want that
kind of atmosphere though.  

>Orson Scott Card's 'Treason'.  A very simple story (the first one he
>ever wrote, I believe), but the races have some extremelly interesting
>'powers', a few of which I ripped off directly for some muds I worked on.

Didn't this get expanded into a novel?  At any rate, I love most of Card's
work.  Personally, one of the things I really miss in MUDs (and am striving
for in my current design) is the heart that you can often seen in Card's
stories like Ender's Game, The Worthing Chronicle, etc.  How to promote
this sort of thing in a mud is not trivial... but may not be so hard either.  

>Dan Simmons' 'Hyperion' and 'the Fall of Hyperion'.  Just great sci-fi.

Agreed.

>Larry Niven's ...um, can't remember the name, but the short stories about
>the tall albino fellow.  

Louis Wu.  Most of the "Known Space" stories, collected in several volumes,
and most notably in the Ringworld books.  Good stuff if you're looking at a
mostly lighthearted world.  OTOH, I *really* like the sense of vast space
and time the Pak Protectors bring to this.  Oh, and DreamPark (just the
first one) is a *great* read from a muddish point of view.  

I'll add here Saberhagen, for both "The Complete Book of Swords" (though
not the generally execrable volumes that followed) and for his Beserker
(SF) books.  His "Empire of the East" (the books, not the short story that
it started as) is *very* good, especially for its explanation of a truly
evil empire.  It also takes place in the same world as the books of swords,
but separated by many thousands of years.  

>Vernor Vinge's 'Fire Upon the Deep'.  Gotta love those dog-men.  Nice
>application to the whole hive-mind thread, as well - much more interesting
>than the Borg.  Plus this guy lives just down the road from me.  He
>obviously frequents the internet (or at least he did back when he wrote
>the book) as his implementation of the Known Net is very close to a
>large-scale version of the Internet.

Vernor Vinge lives near you??? Good heavens.  If you have not done so, run
out and find a copy of "True Names and other Dangers".  "True Names" is a
short story written long before Gibson or Stephenson, and far more
prophetic in its view of the technology, perceptual experience, and
particularly the social consequences of online gaming.  This should
absolutely be REQUIRED reading.  

>Don't remember his name, but the book is 'The Diamond Age (or, A Young
>Lady's Primer)'.  Characters and story are quite forgetable, but some
>really nifty ideas about near-future technology.

That's Neil Stephenson, who first wrote "SnowCrash" that everyone talks so
much about.  I really like the (sometimes laborious but mostly correct)
connection with ancient mythology and neurophysiology, but his view of "the
Street" is deeply flawed both technologically and in terms of the story.  

Others: 

Roger Zelazny, for his Amber books and his less-often mentioned Lord of
Light (maybe my all-time favorite) and Jack of Shadows.  Now *there* are
two worlds that are just perfect for a mud.  I'd seriously love to do
either, but apparently his estate is a royal pain to work with.  Still...

Tim Powers, for "The Anubis Gates," "The Stress of Her Regard," "On
Stranger Tides," and somewhat less so for "Expiration Date."  All involve
the very nice, detailed, well-thought-out dovetailing of mythology, magic,
technology, the occult, and a bunch of other things, all in different
contexts ranging from the Spanish Main ancient Egypt and gaslight London to
modern LA.  Very cool stuff for adding depth to a world.  The stories are
somewhat formulaic, but enjoyably so.  

Kim Stanley Robinson for Red Mars, Green Mars, and sorta kinda for Blue
Mars.  The first two are *excellent* -- also great mud fodder.

Umberto Eco for "Name of the Rose" (the book is a zillion times better than
the movie), Patrick O'Brian for the entire Aubrey/Maturin series, and S.
Morgenstern (via William Goldman ;) ) for "The Princess Bride."  None are
really fantasy or SF, but particularly the first two rival or exceed
Tolkien for depth and realization of the setting (14th century monastic
northern Italy and early 19th century England and British Navy,
respectively).  All are also written exceptionally well as literature,
certainly above the standard found in most SF or muds.  

Marion Zimmer Bradley, the Darkover series.  

LeGuin, especially for the EarthSea books (especially the first three).
Those *really* influenced my early gaming/design days.  

Of course then there's Eddings, for the light but satisfying Belgariad;
Stephen R. Donaldson for the ponderous but usually satisfying Thomas
Covenant books; Bradbury for lots of good SF stories; and even C.S. Lewis
for Narnia, but also for many, many other excellent books that are great
background for muds.  

Oh, and a book called "Bagdad" by Ian Dennis; might be hard to find.  It
captures the flavor of Arabic story-telling perfectly, even better than
most of the translations of The Arabian Nights.  

Well, those are the books I can see from here anyway. ;)

Mike Sellers                     mike at online-alchemy.com
     Online Alchemy             A division of The Big Network

   Combining art & science to create new worlds.