# Sci Fi author Greg Bear **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586 "2014-04-07T22:23:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/21 "2017-06-28T08:41:09Z")
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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/22 "2017-06-28T14:04:53Z")
_The Forge of God_ is the only Bear I’ve read. While I think he was spot-on about how an alien attack would actually work, he was perhaps a little too spot-on, to the detriment of the story. It’s kind of boring when the protagonists just plain don’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2017, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/23 "2017-06-28T21:11:35Z")
I like Greg Bear a lot, but he really changes styles a lot from book to book. Songs of Earth and Power is great, but seems like it’s from an entirely different author than the Queen of Angels - Slant - Heads - Moving Mars series. > [@Quartz](#): > > Don’t all his book end with the destruction of the Earth? No, and since a number of his books are sequels to each other it would be kind of difficult to manage 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/24 "2017-06-29T01:52:05Z")
I just came across his series in which we battle aliens on Mars and the moon Titan, but by the third and final book I found it so haphazardly written that I skimmed most of that last book. That’s my only experience with him. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2017, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/25 "2017-06-29T23:58:30Z")
I’ve always felt a little sorry for him. His first book, Psychlone, came out with [one of the ugliest covers in SF history](http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1230513784l/921427.jpg), and it may have set his career back by years. I thought Moving Mars was brilliant, maybe his best (but I haven’t read _everything_ he’s written. I skipped Blood Music because the idea squicked me too much.) ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Call_Me.Tim)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/26 "2017-06-30T04:06:44Z")
I liked _Blood Music_, though I could see how it could inspire squickiness. What could have been played for body horror was more about the plot and science fiction elements… or at least that was my experience. I also liked his fantasy sequence _The Infinity Concerto_ and _The Serpent Mage_. An unusual system of magic. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/27 "2017-06-30T07:01:53Z")
\*The Forge of God \*is amazing, and really needs to be a mini-series on HBO or Netflix. I couldn’t get into _Eon_, though it seems to be his most well regarded book. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/28 "2017-06-30T08:53:23Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I’ve always felt a little sorry for him. His first book, Psychlone, came out with [one of the ugliest covers in SF history](http://images.gr-assets.com/books/1230513784l/921427.jpg), and it may have set his career back by years. Naah, if some of the examples [here](http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/) didn’t kill careers (check out [this one](http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Stone_God_Awakens.jpg), I love it]), that wouldn’t. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/29 "2017-06-30T13:10:22Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Naah, if some of the examples [here](http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/) didn’t kill careers (check out [this one](http://www.goodshowsir.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Stone_God_Awakens.jpg), I love it]), that wouldn’t. Ah, yes. I recall that cover for _The Stone God Awakens_ with fondness. When I finally went to get my copy, they had sold out of that one and I had to settle for the tame new one: [![](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/2/22/THSTNGDWKN0000.jpg) ](https://isfdb.org/wiki/images/2/22/THSTNGDWKN0000.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Pantastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3bc359/32.png) [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/30 "2017-06-30T13:24:38Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > \*The Forge of God \*is amazing, and really needs to be a mini-series on HBO or Netflix. I couldn’t get into _Eon_, though it seems to be his most well regarded book. I agree, the book seems like it was made to be a mini series with the way it’s structured. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2017, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586/31 "2017-07-01T01:42:50Z")
> [@Some\_Call\_Me.Tim](#): > > I liked _Blood Music_, though I could see how it could inspire squickiness. What could have been played for body horror was more about the plot and science fiction elements… or at least that was my experience. > > I also liked his fantasy sequence _The Infinity Concerto_ and _The Serpent Mage_. An unusual system of magic. I loved those, and I’m not usually into fantasy (except pTerry.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-author-greg-bear/685586.md?page=1)