FortKnox's Journal: Next Book

After "Forever War" (if you haven't read that one, stop reading and order it! Its fantastic!), and "Starship Troopers", I'm in need of another book. I'm thinking of maybe picking up something about Japanese or Chinese Legend. Maybe something about Samuri's or something like that. Any suggestions out there?
I dig action and strategy, and like a fast pace. Any good books anyone has read along those lines?
I've even thought about writing a Sci-Fi, not necessarily to be read, but sort of a hobby of writing my ideas down. Is there any good books about writing science fiction?

Welll...

[The Great Wakka]

If you haven't read them already, read the Ender's Game [hatrack.com] books. They are excellent. Don't try any of Mr. Card's other books though, they are very dumb.

Re:Welll...

[FortKnox]

Yeah, I read Ender's Game books already. A fun read, too.

Card

[hodeleri]

I liked the Homecoming series, but if you're a mormon (I'm not) you may get bored as it follows parts of the book of mormon (so I'm told).

Re:Welll...

[damiam]

I've read all three of his series (Ender's Game, Homecoming, and Alvin Maker) and I thought they were all excellent.

asimov

[greenlante3rn]

You might want to give asimov foundations novels a go. There preety faced pace and good reads. Although I will admit their not like the huge action novel; the're more like an adventure. Get them from the library to decide if you don't want to risk the money.

Piers Anthony

[TechnoLust]

I read the Adept series and the Xanth series by Piers Anthony [hipiers.com] when I was in High School. I couldn't put them down. (First Xanth came out in 77, I think there are 26 of them, so if you get hooked, you'll have plenty to occupy any spare time.) Xanth is more in the fantasy genre, but Adept combined a world ran by science and a world ruled by magic into the life of the main character. Adept has elements of both Sci-Fi and good Fantasy.

Piers also wrote an excellent book called Killobyte, which takes place mostly in a VR world and there is a hacker that is breaking into people private games. I really enjoyed that one.

I would be shocked if you haven't read Neuromancer [amazon.com], by William Gibson, but if not, I would suggest you give it a read.

Sword of the Samurai

[fm6]

This is totally off wall, but I can't resist. One of Microprose's earliest, and best efforts was a computer RPG called Sword of the Samurai [mobygames.com] . This is set in the feudalistic period that culminated in the reunification of Japan in 1603. Naturally the object of the game is to be the Daimyo (Samurai Lord) who ends up as Shogun after the reunification.

"Eww!" I hear you saying. "EGA graphics!" [mobygames.com]. But that's part of the beauty of the game. Instead of the usual lame attempt to represent the "real" world, this RPG represents the world as a series of animated Japanese scrolls. Plus the action is accompanied by Japanese-inspired MIDI music that blends seamlessly with the action. The result is an unusual game that combines playability with a special sense of esthetics.

But you wanted to something to read. Well, the game comes with a fascinating book that describes the historical backstory, and discusses the decisions and comprimises necessary to recreating 16th century Japan in a computer game.

Yeah, I know, you'll probably never find a copy. Oh well, try reading Shogun [powells.com], which is set in the same period. It's Clavell's fictionalized account of the adventures of William Adams [bartleby.com], one of the few non-Japanese to become a Samurai.