These are the posts which were in the Grandpa song thread:

Subject: RE: DTStudy: I'm My Own Grandpa (D Latham/M Jaffe)
From: Helen - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 04:11 AM

I'll go back and read this whole thread but I just watched an Australian Sci-fi movie called Predestination. A couple of times in the movie someone was playing I'm My Own Grandpa on a juke box and it turns out that it is a core theme of the movie.

I'll have to watch it again to fully understand it all - like I had to watch Inception a couple more times. It was an interesting concept and I think it was worth watching.

Based on a story by Robert Heinlein called All You Zombies, and I'll now try to find it and read it.

From: Piers Plowman - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 12:13 PM

If you like this kind of science fiction, i.e., with paradoxes, I recommend Philip K. Dick's stories.

From: Helen - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 12:50 PM

Yes! Philip K. Dick!

One of my all-time favourite movies is Blade Runner, inspired by PKD's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

From: Piers Plowman - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 02:11 PM

I saw another movie based on his ideas and I have to say I think his stories were much better than the movie. A nearby library has a three volume collection of his short stories which I read a while ago and they were really good.

I used to read science fiction when I was young and then eventually stopped, mostly because I stopped liking what was coming out. Dick was a real discovery for me.

From: Helen - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 02:46 PM

I was a big Sci-Fi and fantasy fiction fan when I was young too and I still have a big collection of books but I never got back into it for some reason. I have a big book of PKD's stories which I bought about 10 years ago but for some reason I never got very far with reading them. I tried to read one of the longer stories but the subject matter didn't appeal to me and I didn't go back to the book.

I had read the Do Androids Dream story many years before I saw Blade Runner so it was interesting seeing the movie compared with the story.

From: Piers Plowman - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 03:57 PM

When I was young, I knew the name Philip K. Dick and I may have read something in some anthology or other but to me he was just another author. Much later I found out how he was now recognized as being a special writer, even by critics who don't generally care for science fiction. It may have had something to do with people getting rich off of his ideas by making successful movies. Unfortunately, he himself never reaped much in the way of rewards for his work when he was alive.

Some of the stories I read have really stuck with me. It might be worth giving him another try.

Back in the day my favorite SF author was John Brunner, who wrote three long, ambitious novels along with lots of ordinary ones, with some stand-outs, however. Later I came across John Wyndham, whom I still like very much.

From: Helen - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 04:29 PM

We probably shouldn't be hijacking this thread but some of my other fave authors in Sci-Fi and/or fantasy are Richard Matheson, Terry Pratchett, Ursula K. Le Guin, Marion Bradley, C. J. Cherryh. I originally started with anthologies in late high school and then progressed to the novels and short stories of my preferred authors. I wasn't overly fond of Heinlein's works, but I liked Isaac Asimov and Brian Aldis. One discovery was John Crowley's book Engine Summer.

From: Piers Plowman - PM
Date: 25 Apr 22 - 04:53 PM

Well, since before you first posted, the last two postings were from 2017 and 2010 I doubt that anyone would care, though you never know.

From the authors you mentioned I'm guessing you're a little younger than I am. I started with SF and Fantasy in junior high school, I suppose. There are some things that are good or even very good but a lot of it is meant to be light reading without trying to be anything more than that.

Another author I liked and would recommend would be J.G. Ballard.