I have heard from some people that the three problem Trilogy is sometimes over the top with the weirdnesses and that the characters aren't interesting. The Expanse had great story and the characters are very interesting in my opinion. That is what I mean with if Three problem Trilogy has a great story and interesting characters and if I can compare it with the Expanse.
5 chapters into Book V of Ben-Hur. Judah and the Sheik both know that Messala is spying on them, the Sheik having gotten one of Messala's duplicate dispatches to his patron. And no, no chariot race yet. Still training the horses.
Just finished ‘The Last Don’ by Mario Puzo. A bit of a slog at times but it all came together well at the end. Next up is SCE: Wildfire by David Mack
The characters often take second stage to discussing the ideas being processed at the time. It’s definitely a story of ideas. But man let me tell you the ideas sure are worth the focus! They’re really different works, about as different as two epic space operas about first contact with aliens in the relatively near future could be. Sort of a demonstration of how much range there is within even that specific of a genre. Very different set of strengths and weaknesses. But that doesn’t mean if you like the Expanse you won’t like Three Body. They’re too different to really know. Like you might not like sushi but you wouldn’t criticize sushi for not having enough tomato sauce, you know? It just isn’t a pizza, it’s doing something else.
I'm reading A City on Mars, a nonfiction book about (to quote the subtitle), "Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through?" I was moved to post here by a citation of G. Harry Stine, the space scientist better known to Star Trek fans as The Abode of Life author Lee Correy. Stine is cited in the chapter on space sex; Stine claimed sex could happen in microgravity with the assistance of a third person to "push at the right time in the right place," and that this had happened on the space shuttle, but as the authors of the book point out, there are few corroborating source for his "surprisingly detailed ideas about space sex"!
There's a whole book called Sex in Space by Laura Woodmansee -- which I bought for writing reference since my original fiction often has sex scenes and is mostly set in space -- and that book suggested that bondage would be an effective way to anchor people for proper leverage in microgravity. Seems it would be much simpler to find a belt or cord or something than to find a mutually agreeable third partner.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch . . . . Now on page 426, 2/3 of the way through Ben-Hur. Judah has won the chariot race; no word yet about Messala's disposition. Remarkable how, a few years before Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz invented the automobile, Lew Wallace had managed to predict motorsports.
Just finished SCE:Wildfire by David Mack. Wow! What a great well-written story, this would have made an excellent movie. I love these SCE characters. Next up is ‘The Island of Dr Moreau’ by H.G. Wells
"My God, what's Bond doing?" "I think he's attempting reentry." -- final scene of Moonraker And before we start thinking about sex in space between Humans, we should probably research what happens with non-sentients. Has anybody run experiments with plants, from pollination to germination to a fully developed plant? Insects, from fertilization through larva, pupa, and imago? Vertebrates?
Back to Ben-Hur, I'm now into Book VI. It seems that Messala has survived the collision, but will never walk again. He arranges to lure Judah to a secluded rendezvous with a hit man, who turned out to be one of Judah's former coaches, who actually wants nothing more than to retire and open a wine shop. And Gratus, the nemesis of the Hur family, has been replaced. By Pilate (which in some ways is an improvement, but in others amounts to an out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire situation).
Currently Reading: Florida Frenzy by Harry Crews - Harry Crews is a colorful guy. If you've never read any of his novels, you should. This is a collection of essays from him, and it's an Eye-opening look at cultures we deem unsavory, such as cock-fighting. Bad Man by Dathan Auerbach - A bit slow-moving but with an engaging protagonist that kind of falls apart at the end (like so many horror boxes tend to) Illuminations by Alan Moore - I Isaiah like short story collections, and I enjoy Moore's comic books a lot, but perhaps prose is not his strongest suit. I never just stop reading a book, but this one is a bit of a slog for me.
Jesus' life, death, and resurrection intersect with Judah's story a little bit, especially toward the end (I'm assuming the book and movie are similar enough in this regard). I'm reading Dragon and Judge by Timothy Zahn and Minor Mage by T. Kingfisher (Ursula Vernon).
What @Smiley said. Book I of Ben-Hur concerns itself entirely with the Christmas/Epiphany story (from the point of view of three men, Balthasar, Melchior, and Gaspar, names that were already associated with the Magi from The Gospel According to St. Matthew, Chapter 2, Verses 1-12, and we don't actually meet Judah Ben-Hur until Book II. When Judah is being hauled off to become a galley slave, he encounters a Jewish carpenter, whose boy offers him a whole pitcher of cold water (which he accepts), pretty much a direct allusion to Matthew 10:42. Balthasar returns to the story in Book IV. Judah, and most of his friends, hear his story of the new King of the Jews, born some three decades earlier, and are eagerly expecting a new David, and a restoration of the Hebrew Empire; Balthasar alone is expecting an entirely different sort of King.