Conquer Club

Name some books/movies with really crazy premises.

Mine would be Black Sun Rising by C. S. Friedman.

Basically it's in the future and we sent a colony ship to a habitable planet far away. We landed and then realized that there is this natural stuff on the planet called "fae" that turns your dreams into reality. So man created monstrous creatures and demons from their imaginations and all hell broke loose. Now fast forward a thousand years or so and the planet is stuck in this weird medieval era. Relics from "earth" are rare and humanity is in shambles.

(The book, however, wasn't that great IMO).


____

So any ideas?

A book called "Sister Alice" is set sometime in the distant future when humans are practically (or impractically, depending on how you look at it) immortal, and can be revived from a nearly dead state. They also gain the ability to live in (or at least move through space) without needing air, gain special powers, and humans have colonized nearly every planet they could. But after that, it gets a little weird and ends up being one of those time-loop type of stories.

muy_thaiguy wrote:A book called "Sister Alice" is set sometime in the distant future when humans are practically (or impractically, depending on how you look at it) immortal, and can be revived from a nearly dead state. They also gain the ability to live in (or at least move through space) without needing air, gain special powers, and humans have colonized nearly every planet they could. But after that, it gets a little weird and ends up being one of those time-loop type of stories.

Does the book explain how humans got this way?

You chaps read G. Orwell, 1984?

Dont want to bore people, suspect most have read it, but it is AWESOME.

suggs wrote:You chaps read G. Orwell, 1984?

Dont want to bore people, suspect most have read it, but it is AWESOME.

Yes. What glorious things he predicted for that year (Ministry of truth).

And I think I saw the film few years back.


EDIT: Big brother is watching you!

suggs wrote:You chaps read G. Orwell, 1984?

Dont want to bore people, suspect most have read it, but it is AWESOME.

I only saw the movie when I was younger... I should get around to reading it. Problem being that I have like 6 thick books in queue.

I just finished reading "The Illuminatus! Trilogy" by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson. It's a way over the top fiction novel about the Illuminati, written in the 70's(so it's full of drugs and sex, heh). It's hard to describe or to limit it to one genre. It's very funny, but thrilling at the same time. There are a lot of good points about society hidden behind the humor and some very raunchy scenes in the book. It's kind of a difficult read because the authors just jump from subject to subject, character to character, time to time within the same paragraph. Hard to grasp at first but they use it well and it makes for a good book cause you don't know what the hell is going to happen next! haha.

Read some reviews on it, I'm sure there are people out there that can better explain it than me because I suck.

kleep wrote:

muy_thaiguy wrote:A book called "Sister Alice" is set sometime in the distant future when humans are practically (or impractically, depending on how you look at it) immortal, and can be revived from a nearly dead state. They also gain the ability to live in (or at least move through space) without needing air, gain special powers, and humans have colonized nearly every planet they could. But after that, it gets a little weird and ends up being one of those time-loop type of stories.

Does the book explain how humans got this way?

Basically through playing God and toying around with Science. It explains how it happens better then I could though.

"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen".

THE BEST EVER OPENING LINE. God he was good.

gimme more interesting book premises!!!

Fight Club.
But everyones seen that.

i liked some of the elements behind 1408.

One of the great, if not THE greatest "whodunnits" ever written was

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

It has a brilliant premise, which i cant tell you, cos it would ruin the book for you.
IF ANYONE DOES POST THE PREMISE HERE< I WILL DEVOTE THE REST OF MY DAYS TO HUNTING YOU DOWN AND SHUTTING YOUR MOUTH FOR EVER

got tonkaed wrote:i liked some of the elements behind 1408.

Only saw the cusack film, but that was cool.
Did the book have a better premise? cos there wasnt really that great a premise in the film, it was just bloody good i thought.

suggs wrote:One of the great, if not THE greatest "whodunnits" ever written was

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie.

It has a brilliant premise, which i cant tell you, cos it would ruin the book for you.
IF ANYONE DOES POST THE PREMISE HERE< I WILL DEVOTE THE REST OF MY DAYS TO HUNTING YOU DOWN AND SHUTTING YOUR MOUTH FOR EVER

yeah that was pretty clever.

suggs wrote:

got tonkaed wrote:i liked some of the elements behind 1408.

Only saw the cusack film, but that was cool.
Did the book have a better premise? cos there wasnt really that great a premise in the film, it was just bloody good i thought.

naw i meant the film tbh....

not necessarily the immediate plot line, but everything behind why the room had to act like it did, and the issues of the self with cusacks charcter.

It was quite a bit like The Trial, only exactly the opposite.

Its brilliant isn't it?! I pretty much wet myself when i was younger, it was so clever.
Just couldn't believe it was the butler.

Shit

suggs wrote:Its brilliant isn't it?! I pretty much wet myself when i was younger, it was so clever.
Just couldn't believe it was the butler.

Shit

as good as that one was though, it wasnt really my favorite poirot novel.

Curtain?

suggs wrote:"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen".

THE BEST EVER OPENING LINE. God he was good.

Great book - I like the closing paragraph even more though..

Another great opener;
“Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon after their three o'clock naps. And by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer...” To Kill a Mockingbird - what I wouldn't give to be able to write like that....
Also loved War of the Worlds - the film too, even if it did have Tom Cruise in the lead role

got tonkaed wrote:

suggs wrote:

got tonkaed wrote:i liked some of the elements behind 1408.

Only saw the cusack film, but that was cool.
Did the book have a better premise? cos there wasnt really that great a premise in the film, it was just bloody good i thought.

naw i meant the film tbh....

not necessarily the immediate plot line, but everything behind why the room had to act like it did, and the issues of the self with cusacks charcter.

It was quite a bit like The Trial, only exactly the opposite.

Kafka? Never read tbh
what, cusack racked with guilt and stuff? or did i miss it (could well have done)

suggs wrote:Curtain?

actually i think my two favorites were the A.B.C. murders and cards on the table....with an honorable mention to the Big Four

I read them when i was young so clearly all opinions against me are invalid.

mandyb wrote:

suggs wrote:"It was a bright, cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen".

THE BEST EVER OPENING LINE. God he was good.

Great book - I like the closing paragraph even more though..

Another great opener;
“Maycomb was a tired old town, even in 1932 when I first knew it. Somehow, it was hotter then. Men's stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning. Ladies bathed before noon after their three o'clock naps. And by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frosting from sweating and sweet talcum. The day was twenty-four hours long, but it seemed longer...” To Kill a Mockingbird - what I wouldn't give to be able to write like that....
Also loved War of the Worlds - the film too, even if it did have Tom Cruise in the lead role

The last paragraph made me intensely sad when i first read it! but yep, its brilliant.
Never read To Kill A...Is it god? I guees so
But surely you loved other things about Mr. Cruise, Mands?

suggs wrote:

got tonkaed wrote:

suggs wrote:

got tonkaed wrote:i liked some of the elements behind 1408.

Only saw the cusack film, but that was cool.
Did the book have a better premise? cos there wasnt really that great a premise in the film, it was just bloody good i thought.

naw i meant the film tbh....

not necessarily the immediate plot line, but everything behind why the room had to act like it did, and the issues of the self with cusacks charcter.

It was quite a bit like The Trial, only exactly the opposite.

Kafka? Never read tbh
what, cusack racked with guilt and stuff? or did i miss it (could well have done)

with the trial theres a big wrestle with notions of free will and it has the sad ending....and in this one he basically chooses the exact opposite, at the expense of the self. Its a neat little inversion.

got tonkaed wrote:

suggs wrote:Curtain?

actually i think my two favorites were the A.B.C. murders and cards on the table....with an honorable mention to the Big Four

I read them when i was young so clearly all opinions against me are invalid.

No, brilliant choice.
And in fact, the ABC murders had a pretty darn cool premise.
Cards on the table was one of the only ones i worked out (smug grin!) but its a classic.
I love Poirot, and it always annoys the hell out of me when literary snobs laugh at Christie-she wrote some of the great books, in terms of pure enjoyment.
And shouldn't books be enjoyed, for Gods sake?

*dismounts from hobby horse*