Top 10 Science Fiction Series

I typically prefer realistic or hard core science fiction books series but a few others pseudo scifi such as fantasy and apocalyptic have fallen into my selection of my top 10 Science Fiction Series.

10) Philip Jose Farmer - Riverworld

This series of 5 epic post death adventures include To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971), The Fabulous Riverboat (1971), The Dark Design (1977), The Magic Labyrinth (1980) and Gods of Riverworld (1983)

9) Harry Harrison - Stainless Steel Rat

This series included The Stainless Steel Rat (1961), The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge (1970), The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World (1972), The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You (1978), The Stainless Steel Rat for President (1982), A Stainless Steel Rat Is Born (1985), The Stainless Steel Rat Gets Drafted (1987), The Golden Years of the Stainless Steel Rat (1993), The Stainless Steel Rat Sings the Blues (1994), The Stainless Steel Rat Goes to Hell (1996), The Stainless Steel Rat Joins the Circus (1999), The Stainless Steel Rat Returns (2010)

8) Frank Herbert - Dune

This series continues to grow and expand with multiple authors including (in story chronological order) Dune: Hunting Harkonnens, Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, Dune: Whipping Mek, Dune: The Machine Crusade, Dune: The Faces of a Martyr, Dune: The Battle of Corrin, Dune: House Atreides, Dune: House Harkonnen, Dune: House Corrino, Paul of Dune, The Winds of Dune, Dune: A Whisper of Caladan Seas, Dune, The Winds of Dune, The Road to Dune, Dune Messiah, The Throne of Dune, Children of Dune, Leto of Dune, God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Dune: Sea Child, Chapterhouse: Dune, Hunters of Dune, Dune: Treasure in the Sand, Sandworms of Dune

7) Dan Simmons - Hyperion

This series included Hyperion (1989), The Fall of Hyperion (1990), Endymion (1996), The Rise of Endymion (1997)

6) Arthur C. Clarke - 2001

Many of Arthur Clarke's early works are great and I enjoyed the Rama series but his most famous 2001: A Space Odyssey series was actually a short story before it became a feature length film. Then Clarke create this series including 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), 2010: Odyssey Two (1982), 2061: Odyssey Three (1987), 3001: The Final Odyssey (1997)

5) JRR Tolkien - Lord of the Rings

I thought it was cool that one of JRR Tolkien's closest friend was C.S. Lewis of The Chronicles of Narnia series. JRR Tolkien Ring Series has been expanded upon by several authors and include The Silmarillion, The Children of Húrin, The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King

4) Isaac Asimov - Foundation

I love the Robot series and was intreged when Isaac Asimov merged the series into the Foundation series which includes Prelude to Foundation (1988), Forward the Foundation (1993), Foundation (1951), Foundation and Empire (1952), Second Foundation (1953), Foundation's Edge (1982), Foundation and Earth (1986) and Foundation's Friends (1989)

3) Walter Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz

Only 2 publications were released by Walter Miller but the story itself is epic and could be broken into multiple stories as the books have several periods of different stories. The series includes A Canticle for Leibowitz (1959) and Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman (1997)

2) Fred Saberhagen - Berserker

The Berserker series is a cool array of short and novel stories that include Berserker (1967), Brother Assassin (1969),Berserker Wars (1981), Berserker Throne (1985), Berserker Blue Death (1985), Berserker Base (1985), Ultimate Enemy (1987), Berserker Attack (1987), Berserker's Planet (1991), Berserker Lies (1991), Berserker Man (1992), Berserker Kill (1993), Berserker Fury (1997), Shiva in Steel (1998), Berserker Star (2003), Berserker Prime (2003), Rogue Berserker (2005)

1) Larry Niven - Tales of Known Space

These series of books and stories include some repeating characters and locations and include The Coldest Place (1964), The World of Ptavvs (1965), Becalmed in Hell (1965), Eye of an Octopus (1966), The Warriors (1966), Neutron Star (1966), How the Heroes Die (1966), At the Core (1966), A Relic of the Empire (1966), At the Bottom of a Hole (1966), The Soft Weapon (1967), Flatlander (1967), The Ethics of Madness (1967), Safe at any Speed (1967), The Adults (1967), The Handicapped (1967), The Jigsaw Man (1967), Slowboat Cargo (1968), The Deceivers] (1968), Grendel (1968), There is a Tide (1968), World of Ptavvs (1968), A Gift From Earth (1968), Wait It Out (1968), The Organleggers (1968), Ringworld (1970), Cloak of Anarchy (1972), Protector (1973), The Defenseless Dead (1973), The Borderland of Sol (1975), ARM (1975), The Ringworld Engineers (1980), The Patchwork Girl (1980), Madness Has Its Place (1990), Procrustes (1994), Ghost (1994), The Woman in Del Rey Crater (1995), The Ringworld Throne (1996), Choosing Names (1998), Fly-By-Night (2002), Ringworld's Children (2004), The Hunting Park (2005), Fleet of Worlds (2007), Juggler of Worlds (2008), Destroyer of Worlds (2009)

Bad Star Trek Fan Film

As hard as it is for me to admit and confess, there are some bad Star Trek Fan Films out there. Take "A Tale of Two Galaxies" for example. These fans are trying but the costumes do not fit, the graphics are poor, acting unbelievable and the story of Darth Vader battling Star Trek characters is just silly.

I appreciate Star Trek (and even an occasional Star Wars) fan film efforts when there is something interesting and fun to show with quality and believability. This is not one of them.

Another bad film I am sorry to say is the latest release of the Star Trek New Voyages (now called Phase II for some reason). This episode "Blood and Fire" pushes a gay relationship right in our face. I am not anti gay but I also do not enjoy it being overly displayed. Even Kirk did not receive as much action as Kirk's nephew does in this fan film.

The Fan Film forum also seem intent in removing all discussions that reflect disappointment against the overly flaunted kissing and gay scenes. I can only hope that subsequent episodes are better presented.

Managers and Employees as Leaders

As a Manager by Occupation, I have found these concepts to be very helpful. I have experienced both as well as mixture of styles and expectations in various work environments.

Industrial Age Mangers	Information Age Mangers/Leaders
Manipulates or orders people around and waits to be told what to do	A leader takes risks and owns the outcome, runs interference for his/her leaders and subordinates
Doesn't rock the boat	Challenges the status quo and creates what is needed rather than complaining
Leads by law and not by example -- rules are for them, not me	(1) documents, (2) standardizes, (3) simplifies, (4) gets player buy in
I'm the boss -- they work for me	Supervisor works for the employees and clears stumbling blocks
Independent achiever -- was promoted because he/she was a star	Coaches team and cultivates supportive relationships to enhance group results
Daydreams about retirement package. Sometimes enjoys on-job retirement -- often their mind retires before their body leaves	Knows that the company and he/she has no guarantees
Commitment is good attendance or working longer hours	Requests commitment upstream and downline and role models it. Employees' well-being is emphasized not just the bottom line
Either wants to be liked or left alone	Is response-able (= able to respond) and willing to confront when appropriate

Recipe Heaven

I have recently found a great site that encourages participation in sharing, tagging, rating and finding great recipes. BigOven is more than a recipe site but includes social components that make it fun. It has a huge resource and well organized layout of recipes that is easily searchable by title, content, category, keywords and/or ingredients.

I added my Chicken Enchilada Recipe and have tried others. I have tagged many of my favorite that I have found simply by adding the ingredients I had on hand. I have commented and rated those I have tried and continue to enjoy the vast number of tasty and informative recipes available. I recommend trying it out and connecting to BigOven.com

The System

SOCIALISM - You have two cows and give one to your lazy neighbor.
COMMUNISM - You have two cows; the Goverment takes both and gives you 1/4 of the milk.
FASCISM - You have two cows; the Goverment takes both and sells you the milk.
NAZISM - You have two cows; the Goverment takes both and shoots you.
BUREAUISM - You have two cows; the Goverment takes both, shoots one, milks the other and throws the milk away.
CAPITALISM - You have two cows; you sell one and buy a bull.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Star Trek Meets Star Trek

Move aside Star Trek because here comes Star Trek. After the Roddenberry and Berman Star Trek Series and Movies, a new hand has stepped up to take the helm. J. J. Abrams is now the visionary and man in charge of the franchise. Yet Jeffrey Jacob or J.J. wasn't even born yet when the original television series aired in 1965.

The 11th Star Trek movie is scheduled for release in May 2009 and has an almost completely new cast and crew. Except for Leonard Nimoy, who makes a flash forward brief appearance, the old cast are either dead or were not a fit for this vision which seemingly contains a lot of action and effects. But all of the semi regular characters are united.

Story timelines are changed to fit this plot which unites characters that were not originally together at this earlier point of trek lore. But reports of previewing to an unexpected audience in Texas who went to see a movie screening of the 2nd Star Trek Movie "The Wrath of Khan" was very favorable. This was, for me, a good test to the die hard Star Trek Universe Trekkers.

I look forward to seeing this as I was when the 'Lost in Space' movie was made (but that disappointed me in the end). Hoping we are all enthused and enthralled enough for many more Star Trek Movies to come.

Star Wars Fan Film

I realize that this blog is Star Trek oriented but I was very intrigued with a group of fans creating a new live action original Star Wars film. "Star Wars Secret of the Rebellion" is an story taking place within the general time frame of the first Lucas film (now called "Star Wars IV: A New Hope"). Filming has been completed in front of green screens, and is now going through the critical and laborious long special effects and computer generated image process, is currently planned to be released at the end of 2008.



With a very large cast and crew, most of the original characters return with the exception of Luke, C-3PO and Obi Wan plus some new additions. All cast members are unknowns and fresh but still keeping the look, flavor and feel as close as possible to the original. These fan based films are very cool and there are multiple examples throughout the internet. Some are pretty lame but there are a couple of surprisingly good works to be found.