Favorite Sci-Fi Books

[Sneaky_Guy2]

Im sure this has been in other threads already... but I thought I would start another. With so many intelligent people in this forum Im sure we will have some really good Science Fiction reading experiences to share..... which after all inspires many of us to play a game like MOO3.

My favs in no particular order

1. Dune - I still need to read the last 2 in the series... yet I have read DUNE#1 like 3 times.
2. Uplift War trilogy - lots of fun with a comical twist. Startide Rising was amazing. Rest were almost as good but not quite.
3. Galactic Center Series ( Benford ) - You'll never look at the stars the same after reading this series.... very deep, Hard Science Fiction.
4. Enders Game

Im always interested in other great Science Fiction ... what do you guys/gals like? ( So I can add to my heap of books in line to read hehee ).

[DaXX666]

red mars. blue mars. green mars.

[Adacore]

It's been done (and is definitely OT), but i'll list mine anyway (grouping by author):

1) Neal Stephenson (Diamond Age, Snow Crash & Zodiac)
2) Orson Scott Card (Ender Series, Ender's Shadow Series)
3) Stephen Donaldson (Gap Series)
4) Isaac Asimov (Foundation Series, I Robot)
5) Elizabeth Moon (Serrano Legacy - a bit feminist though, otherwise it is brilliant 'easy reading' sci-fi)

That's my top 5.... now we wait until this is moved to OT.

[Sneaky_Guy2]

Ack, busted by the OT police!

But your right should be OT. my bad. :(

[Washu_Masaki]

E.E. Doc - Lensman (series)
Dan Simmons - Hyperion (series)
Jean Cavellos (B5 Techno mage series)
Dune (all of it, including the son's stuff)

[chris77]

-Dune (the whole package)
-Star Wars (not the padawancrap)

but I prefer Fantasy ( have lots of them)

[mpastreich]

Well... you're right, we have been through this at least once that I can remember :)

http://www.ina-community.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=239945

Lots of good book recomendations and discussions in there too, untill it died down, perhaps revive the thread?

[Quarthinos]

Anne McCaffrey (Dragonriders)
David Weber (Honor Harrington)
Heinein, Niven, Neal Stephenson, and I've always been fond of John Varley's Titan, Wizard, Demon.

[stagger lee]

Ender's Game is a great book. The sequels are however, imho, are completely unreadable. I read about 30 pages of Speaker for the Dead and I just couldn't go any further.

The Mar's Trilogy is a really good read as well.

[Elenius]

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series!!!!

[Mort_Q]

Originally posted by Elenius
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time Series!!!!

... is not Science Fiction. Nor is it very good anymore. Sad though, it started out to be a lot of fun. Now it's just going in circles. I stopped reading the series.

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by DaXX666
red mars. blue mars. green mars.

Yep, very nice series, and a fourth came out the last 4-6 months - can't remember the name (Children of Mars?).

One I absolutely love is "Moving Mars" - fantastic!

[Elenius]

Originally posted by Mort_Q
... is not Science Fiction. Nor is it very good anymore. Sad though, it started out to be a lot of fun. Now it's just going in circles. I stopped reading the series.


I know, I just finished the newest book, CoT. I would say why it is not very good but some people may want to read it and would not appreciate it.

[Krazikarl2]

Man, you guys read some stuff that is really weak in my opinion. The Mars Trilogy started out so well, but its really terrible towards the end. Its just goes on and on.

Dune is decent, but Herbert wrote better IMO ("The Jesus Incident"). That series also dies very quickly after the first book.

Anyway, I like "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein (among a lot of other Heinlein works), pretty much all of Stephen Baxter, Larry Niven (especially "The Mote in God's Eye"), and Poul Anderson. Asimov is pretty good too.

Ender's Game is certainly good, but I think people overrate it.

[Crowley1579]

Eesh, no one mentions Battlefield Earth on post like this.
Why the hell not?

[Scramasax66]

LE Modesitt Jr: Parafaith War, Adiamante, Ecolitan series
His fantasy books are largely fluff.

Dem cool. Social commentary in Sci-Fi setting. Likes to experiment with govt types and examines societal powers. Can't stop hawking his books. My fave sci-fi author.

David Weber's earlier works: Mutineer's Moon series, early Harrington, Fantasy books.

Starfire books lose touch with individual ship battles. His attempts using non-English names are pathetic though.

Frank Herbert: Up to Children of Dune.

Sadly, I watched the 80's movie version before reading the book. I was rather disappointed that the movie was almost as inventive as waay cooler.

[Pragmatic]

Much of David Drake's books (Hammer's Slammers, mostly).

A book named "Armor," which has better combat scenes than Starship Troopers (and its central character, Felix, was more engrossing than Johnnie Rico).

[Hrdina]

* Asimov
* Niven
* Heinlein (I like his short stories more than most of his novels)
* Card - Ender's Game & the more recent sequels
* Poul Anderson
* Michael Flynn

I've recently started reading a collection of Arthur C Clarke's short stories.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something obvious...

Hrdina

[billgig]

#1 - Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov

#2 - Dragonrider's Series By Anne Mcafferey (It may have dragons but it's stil SciFi.)

#2 - Ender's Series by Orson Scott Card

#3 - Ringworld series- Larry Niven

#4 - Riverworld series- Philip Jose Farmer

#5 - Mission Earth Series - L Ron Hubbard (Not into his religion though. Loved his books.)

#6 - Bio of a Space Tyrant series - Piers Anthony

#7 - Alpha Centauri Manual - Don't know who wrote it but it was pretty good.

#8 - Stranger in a Strange Land - Hienlien

#9 - Dayworld series - Philip Jose Farmer

[billgig]

Oops, I guess that was a top 10 list after all...

[Washu_Masaki]

Armor was written by John Steakley


I forgot one in my list, Alen Cole and Chris Bunch "Sten series"... was fun to read....



as for the comment about the lists being "light reading".... go read EE DOC's lensman if you can find.... its worth it

[S_Connery]

Charles Sheffield is a good one for "realistic" science fiction. Try:
-Brother to Dragons
-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
-Aftermath
-Starfire (sequel to Aftermath)

Give them a try. Unless you are only interested in aliens and space wars and stuff, they are very entertaining.

Also, try James Alan Gardner's
-Expendable
-Vigilant
-Commitment Hour

Also very good, and they have aliens and stuff in them too.

Peace, out.

[Kalev]

David Weber's space battles put me in the MOOd.

[Gixer1K]

Way to go Washu_Masaki, I didn't think anyone still alive remembered the Lensman series. It's still my favorite.

#1 Lensman series

#2 Rama series

#3 Dune

[Pragmatic]

Originally posted by Journier
OMFG i thought i was like the only person who ever read

ARMOR!!!

I love that book. The combat scenes are incredible if you ask me!

The characters are great and the history they give is very good also.

I loved the ending it just shot out at you, The ending of ARMOR i felt completely kicked Enders games ass.


Anyone else read armor? god heh im just surprised anyone has read that book before :)

The first time I read the book, it was an edition that ended early. I found another edition that included the whole story.

And, no, I'm NOT going to ruin the surprise. :)

I loved Felix, the Olympian athlete, and the pirate. Great characters!

[Rakshim]

I've always been a fan of the Gap Cycle by Stephen R. Donaldson. I was a huge fan of his Thomas Covenant Series (one of my favoritest series ever!) and this was a pretty good set.

The books are:

The Real Story
Forbidden Knowledge
A Dark and Hungry God Arises
Chaos and Order
This Day All Gods Die

It's kinda like a cross between MOO and Starcraft... sooooo neat! :D

[PTMANG]

Ender series weakened after first book...
Dune series choked after the first three. Reading his son's leftovers is blasphemy. Whoever mentioned any other Herbert books knew of what he spoke...try Whipping Star for example.
Galactic Center Series are really good books and underread as well as underrated...this is man vs mech stuff before it was cool.
But..To each their own I say

Myself...

all Brin
all Benford
all Baxter
any well written scifi that isn't hooked on a bogus franchise...

and to show I can read Author's with names past the letter B
and to point out someone you're all forgetting: The very MOOish "Realms of Thought" series by Vernor Vinge. These books (and there are only two) are KICKA@@!
:D

[hepoluoto]

Yes, let's see.


Isaac Asimov.

Alfred Bester.

Philip K. Dick.

Stanislaw Lem.

Greg Bear.


Now there's a nice top-5. :-)

-hl-

[Txiasaeia]

You want weird sci-fi? Try Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. A sci-fi book -- with the fictionary author as Adolph Hitler. Ever wonder what might have happened if Hitler had become a SF-writer and not a dictator?

It's creepy, strange, allegorical, and very, very well written.

[hepoluoto]

Originally posted by Txiasaeia
You want weird sci-fi? Try Iron Dream by Norman Spinrad. A sci-fi book -- with the fictionary author as Adolph Hitler. Ever wonder what might have happened if Hitler had become a SF-writer and not a dictator?

It's creepy, strange, allegorical, and very, very well written.
Oh, I totally forgot Spinrad! Thanks for reminding me. That makes it top 6 then, I believe :-)

-hl-

[Eoladi diplomat]

the culture books by Iain M Banks

[Aeolus2]

Well to put me in MOO...ah MOOd I would say
1st The Culture Novels by Iaan Banks. .....Yaaaa Affront
2nd. The two Uplift war trilogys (the Uplift War and The Sooners)
3rdThe Starfire novels and Harrington Novels by Weber

[Aeolus2]

I would also like to say Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion and the Endemion books by Simmons were quite cool.

[HeWhoRoams]

ACK!

I saw one listing for "Stranger in A Strange Land"!

I read a lot
and that is a great book through and through

almost as classic as "have spacesuit will travel"!

[Iax]

David Drake!
One of the best military sci-fi authors.
Don’t be put off by the title of the books, Hammer's Slammers Series, they are some of the grittiest stories out there. The best ones of his are the infantry/tank stuff, but that’s probably because he is a Vietnam vet.

[ASTOW]

Arthur C CLarke's Guns of the South and his "Balance" series are both good, although i've only read the first book, In the Balance ...
Battlefield Earth was great... the movie stank.
Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers was also excellent but nothing like the movie

This isn't sci fi but one of my favorite authors of all time is W. E. B. Griffin. you should definitely read one of his many series'

[Vagr]

SPeculative SF: C Clark, Brin etc etc... Mostly the short stories.

'Social' & psychological SF: Heinlen (Stranger in a strange land, but many others like citizen of the galaxy), Card (Short stories and ender series)

'Fantasy' SF: Simmons Hyperion & co, And the Dune books of course.

Absurd SF: Douglas Adams, the guide !!!!

[ASTOW]

oh yeah also Out of the Silent Planet ,Perelandra , and... what was the third one of that series? that was one of my all time favs...

[Master James]

I like reading just about any science fiction.

Time Machine
Star Trek

[Vagr]

Add the Well of Souls series to Fantasy SF ones.

[hepoluoto]

Originally posted by Master James
I like reading just about any science fiction.
That applies to me as well. Like my friend once said; "even bad sci-fi is good" :-)

-hl-

[Oun]

In the other thread on books a few posters recomended the "Mutineer's Moon" series. (Very good series) If anyone's intrested a new book in the series is listed as coming out in 03/03.

I liked Alastair Reynolds: "Revelation Space" for Hard Scifi.

[HeatonP]

C J Cherrah (sp?) has written some excellent sci fi, most set in the same "universe".

Her Cyteen novel won the Hugo a few yeas ago and is (imho) fantastic.



Patrick

[Xerihae]

My faves, in no particular order:

Dune - Frank Herbert
Starship Troopers - Robert A Heinlein
King Davids Spaceship - Jerry Pournelle
Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, The Ringworld Throne - Larry Niven
Janissaries (Trilogy) - Jerry Pournelle
Lucifers Hammer - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Footfall - Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
Dream Park - Larry Niven
Future History - Jerry Pournelle
Go Tell the Spartans - Jerry Pournelle & S.M Sterling
Man-Kzin Wars (Series) - Various, including Niven and Pournelle

I've probably left some out, and I'm not sure if you'd classify Lucifers Hammer as "Sci-fi" since it only deals with a comet hitting the earth. Still, all are very good books in my opinion.

If you include aliens coming to earth and fighting a war as Sci-Fi, then add:

Worldwar (series) - Harry Turtledove
Colonization (series, continuation of Worldwar) - Harry Turtledove

[noelte]

Perry Rhodan :up:

[Adacore]

Here's some more for ya:

John Wyndham (sp?) - Day of the Triffids, Midwich Cuckoos, the Crysalids (I really liked that one - haven't read any wyndham for years though)
Peter F Hamilton - Mandel Series (I preferred Mindstar Rising to The Nano Flower and A Quantum Murder - they just seemed a bit silly IMO.
I also read 'The Web 2028', a compilation of short stories by British sci-fi authors, recently - i haven't read the first one ('The Web 2027') though, so i think i missed some of the references.

[Steely Glint]

1. Use of Weapons, Iain Banks
2. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

<controversial>Asimov and Niven couldn't write for ****</controversial>

[Dhakhan]

Originally posted by Mort_Q
... is not Science Fiction. Nor is it very good anymore. Sad though, it started out to be a lot of fun. Now it's just going in circles. I stopped reading the series.

I kind of know what you mean... I feel like he's stretching it out. Anyone know if he's aiming for a particular number of books? Heh. I'm thuroughly addicted though. MUST FINISH!

[Adacore]

Originally posted by Steely Glint
2. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson

<controversial>Asimov and Niven couldn't write for ****</controversial>

Stephenson is good...

Asimov's style is a bit outdated, granted, but that's to be expected, seeing as he wrote some of the stuff in the 40s and 50s. Probably too conservative for you eh? Still great stuff IMHO.

[M.I.R.V.]

I like Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars By Kim Stanley Ronbinsson but they are little hard to read for a non native english speaker. I also liked Battelfield Earth by Ron L. Hubart (wich has nothing to do with the crummy flick of 1998).
Presently I'm hooked on Tom Clancy's Ryanverse series. Pretty good, I think many modern terrorists may have been inspired by him.

[clichekiller]

My favorite books,

Isaac Asimov - Robot Series, Foundation
Arthur C. Clarke - All of his works
Robert A. Heinlein - Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land
Glen Cook - The Black Company
Roger Zelazney - Amber Series
J.R.R. Tolkien - What else
Orson Scott Card - Ender's series
Neil Stephenson - Cryptonomicon, Snowcrash, The Diamond Age
Douglas Adams - Hitchiker series, Dirk Gently
R.A.Salvatore - Drizt Do'Urden, Elminster
Fredrick Pohl - Gateway Series
Spider Robinson - Calahan Chronicles
Larry Niven - Ringworld, Integral Tree, etc.
Joe Haldeman - The Forever War, Forever Peace
James L. Halperin - The First Immortal
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
H.G. Wells - Time Machine, War of the Worlds, etc.

[Praetor1116]

I really like the Night's Dawn Trilogy by Peter Hamilton. It's a little odd, what with the dead coming back to life and all, but it's good.

[Technopaladin]

Lets see...

Those who like John Steakley's Armor GO FIND Vampire$(withthe DOLLAR SIGN NOT THE MOVIE BOOK) Good Stuff.


Love Sci fi.

THe Nicholas Seafort Series, Feintuch
The Dueling Machine, Orion - Ben Bova(he wrote ALOT more thats great too)

Sten series, Allan Cole and Chris Bunch

War of Cthorr, David Gerrold(one of my Fav's the book is about an alien race that Chtorrforms earth.)

Little Fuzzy, H. Beam Piper

Tuf Voyaging, George RR Martin

Anything David weber writes

Weapon Shops of Isher by A. E. Van Vogt

The Zero Stone series, BeastMaster by Andre Norton

Props to 1066 pages of Hubbard's Battlefield Earth...and Darts to Travolta.

Gordon R Dickson...FOr Necromancer and the Dorsai

Asimov, I robot

Gibson, Ellison and Clarke for showing us interesting futures

Stackpole for so damned much, Was a writer on Wasteland(80's video game) and BattleTech

Zahn...not for Star Wars...but for His Cobra stuff

Fredrick Pohl, Man Plus

Martin Caidin, lots of sick and cool stuff...like The Messiah stone

Armageddon 2419 A.D(AKA Buck Rogers)

lets see and some real fast....
Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy, 1984, Alas Babylon, Day of the Triffids, CS friedmans stuff, and on and on...

So many Great Sci fi books...Dont forget your Used Bookstores...they are so very good to you.

[SnowHeart]

Originally posted by Technopaladin
Props to 1066 pages of Hubbard's Battlefield Earth...and Darts to Travolta. Ugh... I thought they were both trash... I was 8/10ths of the way through the book when I saw the movie... realized that, sadly, the movie was actually rather faithful to the book... threw the book away as soon as I got home... ONLY book I've ever thrown away.

[MethodKilla]

Stephen Baxter
"Manifold" trilogy (Time, Space and Origin)


Ben Bova
(Mars, Return to Mars, Venus and Jupiter)


Alan Dean Foster
"The Damned" trilogy (A Call to Arms, The False Mirror and The Spoils of War) :up:


Robert Reed
Marrow


Paul Barnett
"The Strider Chronicles" (Strider's Galaxy and Strider's Universe)

[[SDO]Guardian]

"Replay" Ken Grimmwood - cannot recommend it highly enough.

"Ender's Game" Orson Scott Card - the one book I would give to my 8yr old self if I could go back in time
"Ender's Shadow" Orson Scott Card - read it after Ender's Game, the two are brilliantly written in parallel.

"Snow Crash" Neil Stephenson - brilliant is much to weak of a term to describe it with

The War against the Chtorr Series by David Gerrold - epic, sweeping, deeply thoughtful, well constructed

"Society of the Mind" Eric L Harry - extremely thought provoking

"The Truth Machine" by James L Halperin - equally as extremely thought provoking

"Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein - classic coming of age

"Armor" John Steakly - classic, period.

The Honor Harrington Series by David Weber - epic is as weak a description as brilliant is for Snow Crash

The Michael O'Neal Series by John Ringo - best new military SF in a decade excluding Weber

The Hammer's Slammers Series by David Drake - "old school" military SF that focuses on the horror of war

Sure I've forgotten to mark some stuff down, but go with that.

[Thrad Redav]

This is only the top 10 that comes to mind; others' faverites before me remind me of a few that almost made my list, there is simply so much Good sci-fic out there ... then and now.

In no particular order...

A) Michael Stackpole - The Warrior saga (First and best Battletech series)

B) Arthur C. Clark - A Fall of Moondust and Childhood's End

C) Larry Niven - PROTECTOR (son is named after main human character) and rest of the Known Space series including Ringworld

D) Harry Harrison - Deathworld Series and for fun The Stainless Steel Rat series

E) Gordon R. Dickson - Dorsai Series (especially Tactics of Mistake) and most of his other stuff, like Wolflings

F) James Blish - The Seedling Stars and A Case of Conscience

G) Heinlein - First Sci-Fic book I ever read was Podykane of Mars but my favorite still is ... The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

H) Harlan Ellison - So Many great Short Story Collections and his Screenplay for "City on the Edge of Forever" for Star Trek was so tight it made me forget Shatners overacting and my dislike for Joan Collins

I) Kieth Laumer - Bolo (His fictional Uber-tank taught me what HONOR really was.

J) A.E. Van Vogt - Slan and The Silkie

10 gone so fast and Barely touched the surface of the Great stuff I've had the pleasure to read.

[AlphaTeam]

1. Dune (The rest of the series was BORING)
2. Foundation series by Asimov
3. Space Odessy Series by Clarke (and just about anything he wrote without anyone else)
4. Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein (well most everything of his too)
5. Neromancer by Gibson

[not_hanz]

John Ringo, and his Legacy of the Aldenata series. Dont believe me? Go read the first book for yourselves... its free!

http://www.baen.com/library/0671318411/0671318411.htm

A Hymn Before Battle.

[Steely Glint]

Originally posted by Adacore
Stephenson is good...

Asimov's style is a bit outdated, granted, but that's to be expected, seeing as he wrote some of the stuff in the 40s and 50s. Probably too conservative for you eh? Still great stuff IMHO.

Nah, they had good writing in the 40s and 50s as well. Foundation is a good book, but it's interesting how the quality of the series descend rapidly as he moves away from politics and science and starts writing about /people/....

Actually, a lot of the characters in early SF tend to be pretty dry and uninteresting, like they're just as an adjunct to the science and technology. Back then, it really was *science* fiction.

[Troll Hunter]

Hello I am new here, but to throw in my two cents.

John Ringo's "Legacy of the Alldenata" series is very good military sci-fi, I would add that it is "very brutal" military ficiton. His prose on the alien assault on Fredericksburg, Virginia was very moving (Gust Front), the whole book was filled with highs and lows.

A Hymn Before Battle
Gust Front
When the Devil Dances
Hell's Faire (coming in May 2003)

He is also co-author (with David Weber) in another series called March to the Stars, it is pretty good, though it lacks the passion of the Legacy of the Alldendata series.

For alternate history, try Eric Flint's 1632, IMO it is very very good. Also IMO better than Harry Turtledove's Alt-History books, perhaps because it is very focused on one town and their local effects. The fist sequal 1633 is weaker but still good.

[shakespeare_101]

ARMOR was great by John Steakley - If you liked Starship Troopers by Heinlein, you'll love ARMOR..

David Weber - Honor Harrington..et. all
Eric Flint - 1632, 1633 - Time travel sci-fi for a little town in Virgina
John Ringo - Hymn before Battle, Gust Front, When the Devil Dances - Great earth invasion SCI FI

S. M. Sterling - Islands in the Sea of Time series..and the Peshawar Lancers...Very cool alternate universe..Peshawar Lancers...presupposes an alternate world where the British Empire never fell...but Earth was struck by a meteor or comet in the northern hemisphere changing quite a bit...reminds me a little of Michael Moorecock's Count Brass series

[shakespeare_101]

Troll Hunter...you beat me by a click :D

John Ringo is awesome!
Since you like his series..you would also probably like ARMOR by John Steakley

[NameisToad]

I've seen a lot titles in this thread that I really liked:

Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Piers Anthony, Bio of a Space Tyrant
Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game
Arthur C. Clark, Rendezvous with Rama
Gordon Dickson, Necromancer (although I liked Young Bleys better, the whole series is very cool)
Alan Dean Foster, A Call to Arms
Harry Harrison. The Stainless Steel Rat
Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers
Neil Stephenson, Snow Crash
David Weber, On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington)
Timothy Zahn, Conquerer's Pride


But no one has mentioned:

Christopher Anvil, Pandora's Planet
Robert Asprin, Phule's Company
John Barnes, Orbital Resonance


Oh well

[JamesL]

Olaf Stapledons Last and first Men and Star Maker books, both written in the 1930's

L&FM has aged appalingly and is more intersting as false history read.

Time has been slightly better to Starmaker in which he tackels subjects that are still found in SF today like the Universal Heat death and the fate of mind.

[Macbth]

Originally posted by Krazikarl2
Man, you guys read some stuff that is really weak in my opinion. The Mars Trilogy started out so well, but its really terrible towards the end. Its just goes on and on.

Dune is decent, but Herbert wrote better IMO ("The Jesus Incident"). That series also dies very quickly after the first book.

Anyway, I like "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" by Heinlein (among a lot of other Heinlein works), pretty much all of Stephen Baxter, Larry Niven (especially "The Mote in God's Eye"), and Poul Anderson. Asimov is pretty good too.

Ender's Game is certainly good, but I think people overrate it.

THANK YOU Heinlein fan. Read and loved a lot of his stuff, Moon, Space Cadet, Starship Troopers, and so forth. Friday started out good but tapered out about 1/3 of the way through. I also read and enjoyed Ender's Game. The sequels are inferior, in my opinion. As for wheel of time, Winter's Heart was really good, but This latest book was easily the worst in the series. I guess that's what happens when NOTHING important happens for an entire book. I'm also a big Farenheit 451 fan, and also enjoyed some of Bradbury's short stories, and most of Asimov's short stories.

[Hans Shao Ping]

Only one person named Greg Bear :( Considering he wrote my favorite book of all time, it's surprising. Try...

EON! Not a lot of battle scenes but outstanding Sci Fi

[Psychomech]

Barry B. Longyear

'Sea of Glass'

---

Greg Bear

series: Eon, Eternity, Legacy

series: Forge of God, Anvil of Stars

many others

---

Stephen Baxter

series: Manifest Time/Space/Origin

series: includes 'Ring' and many others

The Time Ships (sequal to H. G. Well's 'The Time Machine')

---

David Gerrold

series: War against the Chtorr

---

Alan Dean Foster


hyperseries?: humanx commonwealth books

series: The Damned

[hepoluoto]

Oh but really, Stanislaw Lem, anyone??

-hl-

[Technopaladin]

Lol its kinda crazy to see people have read some of the more esoteric stuff that i have...

To the person who loved tactics of Mistake...mad props that is one of those books that i think predicts the evolution of man better than any other...though thats what dickson was about.

To the person who said Battlefield earth the movie was faithful to the book...umm i would say it was close to the first HAlf...but it missed the ENTIRE point. Besides which a book THAT large simply cannot be crafted into a movie that would do its ideas justice.

I am so glad to see people reading Ben Bova, Van Vogt, and the others...



Oh since they were utterly unmentioned...
Bradbury
Mary Shelly
C S Lewis
H G Wells
Robert E Howard
Kurt Vonnegut

[bbingham]

Jack Vance!

[Spatzimaus]

Most of Heinlein's stuff. His later novels just seemed to retread, but so much of his stuff was great... Stranger in a Strange Land. Starship Troopers. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Heck, most of his short stories were good too.

Dune, Ender's Game ... in both cases I liked the first book in the series but not the rest. (Not hate the rest, just "meh")

Startide Rising, by David Brin. Some of his other stuff is really good (The Uplift War), but it's not quite the same.

Just read 1632 and the first few Honor Harrington books. Baen books offers them free on their website. Good stuff.

Lucifer's Hammer, by Niven and Pournelle.

The Mote in God's Eye. This should be required reading for everyone. Not being a beta tester, I keep thinking of the Moties every time someone mentions Harvesters. Don't know why, I just do.

And, of course, the Hitchhiker's trilogy, all five and a half books of it.

[Craig P.]

How have we gotten all the way to a third page without anyone mentioning Vernor Vinge? :confused:

Anyway... See A Fire Upon The Deep and A Deepness In The Sky. I think they're best read in that order. Both take place within the same universe, but the setting is so different that it only provides a modest sense of familiarity. The first is chronologically after the second, but they're sufficiently removed that it's not a big issue.

Both books are Hugo winners.

Oops, I see now that Journier mentioned Vinge... I've read both books, and didn't have any difficulty following A Deepness In The Sky (in fact, I preferred it to the other one). What did you have trouble with?

[Major Disaster]

My favorite authors, in no particular order:
- Jack Vance
- Poul Anderson
- David Niven
- Isaac Asimov (the "classic" stories only)
- William Gibson
- Peter F. Hamilton
- Frank Herbert: Dune (the first three books only)
- David Brin: (the Uplift trilogies only).
- Philip Jose Farmer

Other authors that I like but didn't read extensively (yet)
- Iain M. Banks
- Alan Dean Foster
- Harry Harrison
- Jerry Pournelle
- Harry Turtledove

Oldish, and/or not strictly SF:
H.G. Wells, G.Orwell, H.P.Lovecraft.

Authors that I respect but don't like that much (sue me):
Clarke, Dick, Heinlein.

[Tiki]

Well, there are some really nice ones mentioned here (as well as some real stinkers!....but we won't go into that). Instead of repeating everyone else I'll mention two of my fave sci-fi writers. These have little to do with space or aliens, etc., but still very damn good IMHO:

_Caverns of Socrates_ by Dennis L. McKiernan
(kinda a sci-fi/fantasy cross)


Burning Chrome
Neuromancer
Count Zero
Mona Lisa Overdrive ---- All by William Gibson
Virtual Light (The Father of Cyberpunk)
Idoru

[EE_Worzelle]

I grew up on the Skylark and Lensman (up to 6) series by EE Doc Smith. A little rough by today's writing standards but still the best, IMO.

Every time I read the entire Dune series (about seven times) I catch a little more about what is going on. First the first book was my favorate, then the second, third, etc. I'm up to the fifth or sixth book in the series as a favorite now. Too bad the movie was butchered so horribly. The whole point about that series is that true power comes from inside, not outward mechanism. What made the Bene Gesserat and the Wierding Way powerful was only their viewpoint and awareness, which was stimulating and inspiring. The movie is pointless.

The Stephen Donaldson Gap series is good, but I his earlier Unbeliever and Mirror series also.

While not SF, Zelazny's Amber series and Robert E. Howards Conan books are top notch.

There were a ton of single books from the pulp science fiction era that were good (and many bad as well).

Asimov's Foundation series

Heinlein's stuff is great.

Those come to mind first.

[Razgon]

Originally posted by Washu_Masaki
Armor was written by John Steakley


I forgot one in my list, Alen Cole and Chris Bunch "Sten series"... was fun to read....


Pretty awesome selection there Washu_Masaki. Didnt know that anyone else knew BOTH books as I do :)
Armor was probably one of the most enjoyable reads I ever had, and Sten is pretty much what his name means in Danish, A rock, hehe.

Other than those

Asimov - Foundation and Robot Series (inventor of positronic brain)
DOnaldson - GAP Series
Well of Souls - can't remember at all who wrote it, JAck something I think

[Mort_Q]

I didn't read the whole thread so I don't know if this has been mentioned, but Iain M. Banks' Culture Novels (http://www.iainbanks.net/sf.htm) are excellent as well.

[HeatonP]

I've read a good 70+% of the books mentioned so far, but I am very interested in the 30% that I haven't read.

Occasionally we have seen very useful and informative posts from people who summarise huge sprawling threads. I'm just kind of hoping that somebody will do the same here :-).


Patrick

[tinmaddog]

Originally posted by Pragmatic
Much of David Drake's books (Hammer's Slammers, mostly).

A book named "Armor," which has better combat scenes than Starship Troopers (and its central character, Felix, was more engrossing than Johnnie Rico).

Armor is by John Steakley (sp?) - great book.

But the best are...

In no particular order...

The two Foreigner trilogies cy C.J. Cherryh.

The Jurisdiction series by Susan Matthews.

The Dune series, by Frank Herbert, as well as the Dosadi experiment.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers, by Heinlein.

The Ender's series, by Card.

Kiln People, by David Brin.

and yes I'm a ho too - the Honor Harrington series by Weber.

and kind of... Feintuch's Hope series. Lots of fun to read, anyways.

For the more fantasy oriented,

The Jhereg (vlad taltos) series as well as the Khaavren romances!!!

Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, as well as her new ones. Sex + Magic = Good.

tmd

[Zartan]

My favs from my 103 book collection

1. Way of the Clans - Robert Thurston, it was the 1st
2. Redliners - David Drake (yes hammers slammers is good to but Redliners takes the cake!)
3. Bolo Books - William H Keith (sentient tanks rock!)
4. SteelHeart - William Dietz (android kicking butt and Dietz is a genius)
5. DMC Series - Rick Shelley
6. Starfist series - David Sherman
7. Custers Command and The War Machine - Drake and Dietz combine for easy reading
8. Of Course Battletech - Stackpole and Robert Thurston wrote nearly half of the series

53 - Battletech/Mechwarrior Books make up half of my collection.

[Krazikarl2]

I'm actually surprised at all the people listing Larry Niven books, but they aren't mentioning "The Mote in God's Eye." I think its his best ("Lucifer's Hammer" and "Ringworld" were good too).

[The Alchemist]

Seems that nobody has mentioned Peter F. Hamilton. Honestly, his Nights Dawn trilogy is better than anything else out there. If they made it into a decent film, Star Wars would look embarassing by comparison.

:D

Not forgetting Arthur C. Clarke, Olaf Stapledon (already mentioned), Ken Macleod.

Plus I have to recommend the MOO2 manual...

[Adacore]

@The Alchemist: Never read night's dawn - i thought i'd mentioned the Mandel series though - maybe it was a different thread? Is nights dawn worth reading? I didn't like the Mandel series once it got onto all that stuff about the alien

Note - the bit in spoiler tags is a spoiler for the Mandel series.

[fhqwhgads]

Some unmentioned names:

Cordwainer Smith
Theodore Sturgeon
Alfred Bester

Smith was a rare multifaceted genius whose likes are seen but a few times a century. I can't imagine writing anything that insightful before bed every evening.

Sturgeon had unequivocal compassion and a knack for the catchiest stories. His stories beg to be read out loud, and there is an out-of-print LP featuring the author reading the story "Baby is Three".

Bester knew how to take the bait and switch concept of the pulps and manipulate it one degree further. He, too, wrote science fiction on a whim and was first a magazine editor.


These guys changed my life in different and equally profound ways. I can't imagine my library without each's complete works. I heartily recommend them all.

[badzen]

first, i must say i'm happy to see others who have even heard of Armor. dope ass shtuff there.

rant --

but christ, WHEEL OF TIME? my god. pablum is the best I can say about it. a college roommate forced me to read the first one, and my opinion of him dropped quickly. Almost as bad as the Drake war porn stuff, but not quite. Pournelle? Please. Niven? Dry exposition alone -- what I'd expect from a Beverly Hills High boy. Or space ninjas. fuggit. watch this instead :


bester -- the stars my destination & demolished man are two of the finest science fiction books ever written, though both are surpassed by his short story "The Pi Man" -- an incredible read.

delaney -- The Fall of the Towers, Jewels of Aptor, Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand, Nova... amazing. Plus, he's a wookie

http://www.rdrop.com/~half/Personal/Stories/SamuelRDelany.jpg

does anyone actually understand Dhalgren?

zelazny -- early short stories, Auto Da Fe, The Great Slow Kings, A Rose for Ecclesiastes, Divine Madness, not to mention books like Creatures of Light and Darkness -- just avoid the Amber crap. RIP.

herbert -- Dune, Whipping Star, Dosadi Experiment, even less well known things (Hellstrom's Hive) -- amazing. His son will be the first up against the wall when the revolution happens.

banks -- Wasp Factory, Use of Weapons, Against a Dark Background -- anyone who names a sentient ship "What's the Civilian Application?" rocks. State of the Art blows, though.

sturgeon -- Microcosmic God. 'nuff said.

Fire on the Deep was cool -- but certain things in it (a space god using all the capacity of a high-tech transmission facility for a 10kb data stream) make me laugh due to the dated quality.

might as well read An Emperor for the Legion (turtledove) or Raymond E. Feist (whole stole the whole Kelewan world idea from M.A.R. Barker, btw). craaaaaaaaaaaap.

blah. then again, temper my rantings with the realization that if it's escapist **** you're after, I have no sympathy...

[memorax]

I would just like the asimov readers to know that the foundation and robot series both have two novels that for some odd reason are no longer printed. Foundation and Earth and Robots and Empire. I did see them listed at amazon.com but are very pricey.

[mpastreich]

Originally posted by Oun
In the other thread on books a few posters recomended the "Mutineer's Moon" series. (Very good series) If anyone's intrested a new book in the series is listed as coming out in 03/03.

I liked Alastair Reynolds: "Revelation Space" for Hard Scifi.

Good news or bad Oun.

The new book that is coming out is just a compilation of the three that are already out in the series (Mutineer's Moon, Armagedon Inhertance, Heirs of Empire).

It is NOT a new book :(

[Fvet]

Originally posted by badzen
[ Raymond E. Feist (whole stole the whole Kelewan world idea from M.A.R. Barker, btw). craaaaaaaaaaaap.

[/B]

Who cares who he stole it from, Magician, Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon are some of the best books I've ever read (although admittedly his last 2 or 3 books haven't been so hot).

Also - do you really need to be so rude about all those authors?
You might not like the stuff, but that doesn't make it bad. There's plenty I could say about some of your choices (but I wont).

Anyway, back to the point...

Nobody has mentioned the Deathstalker books by Simon R. Green.
Fantastic, and a breath of fresh air for people that are bored of reading the same book over and over again.
See past the rubbish title, and poor cover art.
BUY IT

- his fantasy series is also excellent.

[hepoluoto]

Originally posted by fhqwhgads
Some unmentioned names:

Alfred Bester

Nope, I did that already :-)

-hl-

[badzen]

that's why there was that *rant* bit up there. I get a bit feisty after a few beers

I would have used a rant tag, but I had a feeling that the bb would interpret that as illegal xml markup, and so restrained meself

I could go on -- at least I didn't reference Bio of a Space Tyrant *shudder*

Then again, some cheese is good cheese. Star Wars for example. I just get all angrified at the works that make people dismiss science fiction as pure dross escapism. When taken to it's heights (The Stars My Destination by Bester, Creatures of Light and Darkness by Zelazny, Dosadi Experiment by Herbert) it's as valid as any other type of "serious" literature, and a hell of a lot more timely than Proust or Dickens.

But regardless of my personal feelings, works such as Niven's , Ringworld , the Heroes In Hell series, or the collected works of Timothy Zahn, don't stand up to any sort of scrutiny, no matter how many people read them or appreciate the ideas, or lack thereof.

Tell me that there is a point to Jack Chalker's A Plague of Demons -- or a single character in the book that is more than a shallow cutout. Tell me there is a depth of character, of feeling, to the portrayal of Thomas / Ashen-Shugar in the Feist books -- or for that matter anywhere in the Kelewan books that came after. The struggle between the two egos, which in and of itself could have been made the subject of the book, is subsumed in the account of this preternatural deathgod, who poses no more interest to the reader than the same fascination heaped upon F-14s at airshows by 10 year old boys. Can't a (hopefully) intelligent readership ask or demand more from these authors? And yet books like Silverthorn make the best-seller list. Then again, Scary Movie grossed 200 million dollars.

Where is the humanity in Anderson's No Truce For Kings -- books like this are either a thinly vieled statement of the author's political viewpoint, or a retelling (for selfishly private reasons) of events in the author's life (Drake's Hammer's Slammers ?)

Granted, not everything must, or can, be an earthshaking work of huge literary import, but even works with absolutely no pretensions to depth (Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, the Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser books by Lieber, etc.) are more than these, and bear repeated readings with much more grace.

There's only one reason why I'm beating the drum : there exists a whole segment of people in this country, and the world at large, who truly believe that Salvatore's Icewind Dale is a great work of art. And that's frightening.

**postscript**

none of this is intended as a flame -- keep in mind that I'm critiquing authors and works within a genre, not the readers of these works (except possibly in the last paragraph :) ). while I may be harsh in my opinions, I've yet to be rude to anyone except possibly a book or two -- the good thing about inanimate objects is that they never get their feelings hurt.

[Adamant]

Let's see here:
Foundation-Asimov
Dune-Herbert
Lensman Series-E.E. "Doc" Smith
Lucifer's Hammer-Niven
Rama-Clark

[NameisToad]

Originally posted by badzen
But regardless of my personal feelings, works such as Niven's , Ringworld , the Heroes In Hell series, or the collected works of Timothy Zahn, don't stand up to any sort of scrutiny, no matter how many people read them or appreciate the ideas, or lack thereof. Why am I reminded of the Comic Book guy from the Simpsons? :D

[MuaDib]

Because there is a little bit of that fat guy in any comic book fan ...

[warden]

This thread confirms my impression that there isn't much good SF being written any more - stuff with the same stirring sense of wonder created by Heinlein, Asimov and the other golden age authors.

Their classics are well known. I would highlight Jack Vance and recommend Star King or the Big Planet series as good places to start. Gamers should note that Jack Vance's Dying Earth series was the basis for D&D's magic system. For good escapist stuff, Eric Frank Russell and Phillip E High always worked for me.

Of the newer authors, Vernor Vinge and Neil Stephenson have already been mentioned and they are excellent. One author that hasn't is Greg Egan. His work is mind-blowing. It actually portrays a future that is different from today and is not just a rewrite of history (the Foundation series starts as a retelling of the fall of the Roman Empire and the subsequent dark ages). Let's face it, the future will not be like Star Trek - not unless that universe is created as a virtual reality in the style of the Matrix. Egan gives you a taste of the real future - try Diaspora, for example.

Andrew

[Technopaladin]

Badzen...Man you are harsh in your criticism.


Those authors were not out to change the world...they were out to TELL A STORY.

Most of them do. I would say for a book that involves the invasion of the world by an alien culture, The lives of 10-20 Major characters, a time period over 10 years(for first 2 books) Feist does a pretty spectacular job of making a cohesive interesting Story. Is it erudite? no i think not...but it is a good story.

Truth is there is alot of amazing fiction out there...would i Class Ringworld next to a Modest Proposal? No. However it does not lesson my enjoyment of the skill in storytelling or the ideas the author wishes to show us.

From the tone of your argument you seem to dinegrate those who consider pulp fiction art...to my eyes the fact they read gives that chance they will pick up those works that DO have deeper meaning and worth(at least to me)
I love when i see someone has read...any book. Even when i know it was total crap because i think they make pick up something that isnt...and learn and grow...

So ultimately i think the best books..are the ones you find meaning in...if its just a simple story not even entirely well written I think it makes you a better person to have left YOUR Life and beliefs behind and open yourself for someone else's perspective.

[chantz]

John Brunner. Stand on Zanzibar.

Oh wait, never heard of him eh?

JUST READ IT. ONE OF THE GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.

THE BIRTH of the Cyberpunk Genre. And this is back in 1967. Also try The Shocvkwave Rider. Those of you who know Brunner know what i am talking about.

Loud enough for ya?

JUST GO BUY IT AND READ IT.

Best,
Constantine

[dvzr]

ARMOR -by John Steakley.

It is one of the best Sci-Fi books ever. Period. The characters are classic.

I have read most of the other stuff listed here, and with the sole exception of a couple of Heinlien books, Armor is the best. Heinlen is the only one that can come close to having characters as detailed and endearing as Felix and Jack Crow and the Olympian.

If you havent read it, go to your bookstore and order it. Now.

I have read it three times. Each time I read it in 2 or 3 days. You really cant put it down.

Hmm..enough of a rant. I am going to go find John Steakley's agent and send him a link to this thread so he will write another one.

[Tricon]

Originally posted by hepoluoto
Oh but really, Stanislaw Lem, anyone??

-hl-



Stanislav Lem is awesome, but rather hard to get in the US. In some used bookstores maybe .... but i haven't checked really. Still got like 20 of his novels in german.

-David Brin and not just his uplift books. I really enjoyed hearts comet. Has anyone read his latest ?
-Zahn, for Space operas
-Perry Rhodan series. Pulp fiction, sure, but great!
-most others have been mentioned to death.

[chantz]

John Brunner. Stand on Zanzibar.

Oh wait, never heard of him eh?

JUST READ IT. ONE OF THE GREATEST SCIENCE FICTION BOOKS EVER WRITTEN.

THE BIRTH of the Cyberpunk Genre. And this is back in 1967. Also try The Shocvkwave Rider. Those of you who know Brunner know what i am talking about.

Loud enough for ya?

JUST GO BUY IT AND READ IT.

Best,
Constantine

[Tricon]

Same post 50 minutes apart?

[AUB]

Hmm, nobody with a Russian background here? What about Strugatsky brothers? I admit, they are hard to get in the US, but in Russia they enjoy a cult following. Here's a couple of links to English translations (of the quality of translations... you be the judges):

Roadside Picnic (http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/engl_picnic.txt)
Hard to be a god (http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/engl_god.txt)
Prisoners of Power (http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/engl_ostrow.txt)
Monday begins on Saturday (http://lib.ru/STRUGACKIE/engl_monday.txt)

[emphy]

Emphyrio, Dragon masters by Jack Vance
Try some of the short story collections from Asimov
A great resource for books is the Baen free library, the books from Rick Cook there are quite a fun read (though certainly not science fiction)

www.baen.com

[hepoluoto]

Originally posted by Tricon
Stanislav Lem is awesome, but rather hard to get in the US. In some used bookstores maybe .... but i haven't checked really. Still got like 20 of his novels in german.
I think it's rather hard to find anywhere. But I've managed to get my hands on a few copies (in Finnish). Did you say yours were in German? I thought people in the US didn't know other languages apart from English (or Spanish)? :-)

It might be fun to read the books in Polish. Even better, if one knew any of that language... :-)

-hl-

[Kharkon]

Originally posted by Pragmatic
A book named "Armor," which has better combat scenes than Starship Troopers (and its central character, Felix, was more engrossing than Johnnie Rico).
i love that book mines a bit torn up :( maybe ill get the new one that has new art. and i like the ST books that William Shatner wrote they shoulda been movies. no one likes Piers Anthony? i like his books

[Tricon]

Originally posted by hepoluoto
I think it's rather hard to find anywhere. But I've managed to get my hands on a few copies (in Finnish). Did you say yours were in German? I thought people in the US didn't know other languages apart from English (or Spanish)? :-)

-hl-

Oh, you'ld be surprised ...
True, a second language is not mandatory in the US school system. But that does not mean we don't learn any. In the southwest about 85 percent are bilingual (spanish). Other than that the most spoken (learned is probably a better term)languages here are french, german, philipino, and portugese.

But still ... sadly we (US citizens) lack an interest in other languages (IMO). Of course ... it is arguable if we need to ... .


Mmmh. Intresting homepage. Can't read a word of it.
Das Ich, Wumpscut:, Rammstein, Funker Vogt ....my kind of music (though I only know "Gunman" from Funker Vogt, but at Mera Luna 2001 he kicked a**)

[Pragmatic]

(/pretentiousness on)

Bah! You call all of that trash "Literature"? Have you read the Iliad and the Odyssey in their original? Now THERE'S literature. Ain't nothing that's come since that can match reading the ancient classics in the original!

(/pretentiousness off)

What's literature to one person is tripe to another. But what REALLY matters is, is it enjoyable to read? I have tried reading some of the "Classics" of the last couple hundred years. And you know what? It's just not fun for me. Sure, we could all read books written by authors so enamored with their own pretensions that they want to make sure everyone knows just how brilliant they are. But is that fun? For some people, maybe. But not for me.

These arguments about what authors are good or bad are as meaningless to me as watching snobbish pseudo-intellectuals looking at a piece of trash peddled as "modern art," attempting to show their own superiority to everyone around them by making grandiose interpretations of what is, essentially, a bunch of paint thrown willy-nilly on a canvas. (Heck, even an elephant can and has done that, and the critics managed to come up with all sorts of social commentaries that the painting was attempting to display...)

Blah blah blah blah... Et cetera. Sheesh.

It all comes down to, "Do I enjoy reading this stuff?" If you like or dislike an author, tell us what you like or don't like. Don't try to impress us with your literary criticism skills. As I have said, what is literature to one person is tripe to another.

[AUB]

Originally posted by Pragmatic
It all comes down to, "Do I enjoy reading this stuff?" If you like or dislike an author, tell us what you like or don't like. Don't try to impress us with your literary criticism skills. As I have said, what is literature to one person is tripe to another.

My 6-year old kid really enjoys movies where they fart al the time, burp and do this kind of stuff. Also poop jokes go very well. You know what I'm talking about. And no, repetitiveness doesn't bother him, he can watch one movie over and over hundreds of times.

If I tell him how I feel about his likes, will it do any good? Probably not. He just has to grow out of it.

But right now the movies I like is "tripe" to him, and vice versa...

And yet somehow I feel that there is an objective criterion, and at least to a certain degree, and one can tell bad ones from good ones. Or am I wrong?

[dilcos]

i have a star wars coloring book that has been keeping me entertained. it's not what i would call light reading, so set aside ample amounts of time to finish it.

[Iax]

warshed, the author you are thinking of is Greg Bear.


As someone already said, Greg Egan is one of the best new Sci-Fi authors.
He has on ok web site at
http://www.netspace.net.au/~gregegan/

Lots of his short stories are up there.


On a diffrent note I just dont see why people like Armor. Theres no background, why are humans fighting the ants? why go to Banshee? Not really much cultural or world building details in there at all. THe characters also seemed pretty shallow, the background on them is pretty shaky too, Felix is some sort of space emperor who is running away from his position of rulership for some reaon, and Jack Crow is some sort of legendary person that everyone seems to know, yipee. It had some interesting points, but not that great overall.


Nowdays its interesting to see how the authors deal with nanotechnology, if atall, it tells you a lot about them.

[PTMANG]

I text filed this thread specifically to go through and write down some of these recommended readings from posters here. Sometimes we can get a little stale in our tastes and its good to try something different now and then...

In regards to critiqueing other peoples preferences...that's why I usually preface my opinions with a clear understanding that other people will like what they will, regardless...
My wife (who has earned a dual masters degree) likes to read those murder mystery cat detective coroner A is for Autopsy authors. Oh well.

Egan was mentioned and his stories are visionary. One of his books made me paranoid about Gamma Ray bursts before it was cool to be scared of that particular cosmic calamity. That said, he can get extremely dry and about as HARD sci-fi as you'll find.
Cordwainer Smith = genius.
Bester- dated but still relevant...that means he's here to stay.

Some more obscured favs...old and new

Walter Moseley- FutureLand, Blue Light (Dunno, just liked it)
Joan Slonczewski - Door into Ocean, Childrens Star, Brain Plague (cool ideas, scientifically sound)
Sterling: Schismatrix (So slick)
Cramer: Einsteins Bridge (pulptastic)
Nylund: Signal to Noise This reads like a great movie you want to see again (not so much the sequel though)
Garfinkle: Celestial Matters and All of an Instant (!!!!!!!!!!!)

[zenchronus]

1.)Ender's Game & Ender Series
2.)Dune
3.)Stranger in a Strange Land
4.)Fire Upon the Deep (and anything else by Vernor Vinge)
5.)Foundation Series and other Aasimov stuff
6.)I can't keep listing... I read primarily SF but those are my faves.

-zenchronus-

[Nessus]

Originally posted by hepoluoto
I think it's rather hard to find anywhere. But I've managed to get my hands on a few copies (in Finnish). Did you say yours were in German? I thought people in the US didn't know other languages apart from English (or Spanish)? :-)

It might be fun to read the books in Polish. Even better, if one knew any of that language... :-)

-hl-


I want to learn Polish too, just so I could read Lem's books... The english translations are really good compared to most others I've seen, IMHO, Kandel really did a superb job with them. This is, of course, in comparison to some other translations, not the originals, since I don't know Polish....:sour:

Oh, and as to my favs, I'll cast a vote for the Old Skool reps, Asimov, Niven, Heinlein, Wells, Lem and Clarke in no particular order.

[grymor]

I'm shocked that we are allready on page 4 and noone has mentioned Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books.

Also, what about Gene Wolfe? No fans of The Book of the New Sun?

And no mention of Walter Jon Williams' "Hardwired", one of the founders of cyberpunk?!?

I'm not suprised that no one has mentioned F.M. Busby's "Slow Freight", "Arrow from Earth", "The Triad Worlds" and "Islands of Tomorrow"... I often find I'm the only one that likes them...

Hmm... maybe I just missed it, but did no one else love Nancy Kress's "Beggars in Spain"

Now that I'm done with the authors no one has mentioned, lets go to the less well known books of those authors that have been mentioned:

Frank Herbert: The Jesus Incident, The Lazerus Effect, The Ascension Factor, White Plague and The Santaroga Barrier in addition to the many other good books allready mentioned (though I must say, the later Dune books are getting a bad rap).

David Drake: Northworld, Igniting the Reaches.

Issac Asimov: The End of Eternity, The Gods Themselves.

Larry Niven: The Smoke Ring, The Integral Trees and Destiny Road.

David Brin: The Practice Effect

Timothy Zahn: Cascade Point, Time Bomb and almost every one of his other short stories.

Greg Bear: Slant

David Weber: The Apocalypse Troll, 1633

Eric Flint: 1632, 1633

Ok, now for the truely outhere ones:

The Robotech and Gundam novelizations. Much better than the series they are from.

And finally, a fun little monster I just read that I think is technically SciFi, "Pyramid Scheme" by Dave Freer and Eric Flint.

[Crazy_Vasey]

The Seafort Saga by David Feintuch is great.

[Sneaky_Guy2]

A lifetime of Sci Fi recomendations here... where the heck to start?

I think my next read will be the Master of Orion 3 manual :)

[mpastreich]

Hmmm I'm surprised. No one has mentioned the "River World" series.

[Plentyobeer2]

Many good books (primarily sci-fi but also fantasy) have been mentioned. In addition to those I will recommend the fantasy series "A song of ice and fire", by George R. R. Martin. The books are.
1: A game of thrones
2: A clash of kings
3.1: A storm of swords (1: Steel and snow)
3.2: A storm of swords (2: Blood and gold)
4: A feast of crows. (march 2003)

and IIRC
5: A dance of dragons
is planned for some future date.

Not for the squeamish, but very good.

edit: spelling

[Xenoclast]

Originally posted by ASTOW
Arthur C CLarke's Guns of the South and his "Balance" series are both good, although i've only read the first book, In the Balance ...
Umm, surely you mean Harry Turtledove? The master of alternative history. Very inventive basic plots, but he is not a good author.
Short summaries (not spoilers).
Guns of the South: January 1864. Men with strange accents and weirdly patterned green clothes turn up and ask Lee: How would you like it if we supplied you with a 100,000 of these handy rifles? They're called AK-47's... ;)

Worldwar and Colonization series: The aliens invade Earth. In the middle of WW2. And their last probe visited Earth in the 15th century. Boy are they in for a rude surprise...

[Xenoclast]

Originally posted by grymor
<snip>
Now that I'm done with the authors no one has mentioned, lets go to the less well known books of those authors that have been mentioned:
<snip>
David Weber: The Apocalypse Troll
<snip>

Ha! I even own a copy! It's a pretty fun book, in some ways. :)

[Xenoclast]

Originally posted by EE_Worzelle
Every time I read the entire Dune series (about seven times) I catch a little more about what is going on.

Good Lord. I got halfway through the second book, then I just gave up. (It's exceedingly rare for me to abandon a book halfway through...)

[Xenoclast]

My current favourite author is Iain M. Banks. I've read all his SF books at least three times, so I've now started collecting his non-SF books as well. The only drawback to reading his works is that I now see how poor authors most other SF writers are. I don't mean the plot lines, or even the characters, but just the way they use the language. Banks has that special something that just makes it a pleasure to read, no matter what it is you are reading. Add to that some very imaginative plots, and you have books that you just can't stop reading.

A whole series that I haven't seen mentioned yet is Otherland by Tad Williams. (City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass, Sea of Silver Light) It's rather cyberpunk though, so I guess it doesn't quite appeal to the MoO crowd... As with most SF series, the books get bigger and bigger, and worse and worse, sadly, but are a good read all the way through.

*walks over to the book shelf*

Ah yes. Ian Watson. Especially his books based in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. I just love 40k, with it's mixture of space ships, demons, psychic abilities, enormous empire, fantasy seep-through and everything else. Great stuff. I haven't read any of the newer books by other authors that are based in the 40k universe, but Watson's books are good.

Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Two books that I found at a train station book store once, haven't heard of him before or since. Cyberpunkish, I guess. A friend of mine once claimed that the Gap series by Donaldson were really "dark". I gently explained to her that no, compared to books that need to invent the term "kinder-*****" to describe parts of the plot, they're not...

Also any kind of SF short story collection is usually worth reading. Especially if it's SF short short stories, just a few pages each. The interesting thing about SF short stories is that not only do they have to tell their history, they also have to describe the background of the universe they take place in, in just a few pages. Typically, SF short stories have a "twist" at the end, so that something unexpected or profound happens. After reading a book with 100 short short stories, you come to expect that twist though, so you only get really surprised when everything is at it seems... :)

[Adacore]

Originally posted by Xenoclast
A friend of mine once claimed that the Gap series by Donaldson were really "dark". I gently explained to her that no, compared to books that need to invent the term "kinder-*****" to describe parts of the plot, they're not...

I concur - they are a little dark, compared to most sci-fi, but they're nothing compared to some of the stuff out there. I haven't read much of the darker stuff though - not really my taste.

[Bolo Mark 33]

The best SF books I've ever read: Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy. Actually 5 books, broken into 3 parts--"The Reality Dysfunction," "The Neutronium Alchemist," and "The Naked God." Don't worry if the first Reality Dysfunction book seems to drag on a bit... it gets much better!


Also, David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series, as well as "In Death Ground," "Insurrection," and "The Shiva Option."

And, the motive for my name, Keith Laumer's (and William H. Keith's) "Bolo" books. Great military SF.

[bhb83]

Though they are lighter reading, the Star Wars books are pretty good, especially those by Timothy Zahn.

Blade Runner is a little dark, but good nontheless, and it raises some interesting issues about AI and androids.

The Space Trilogy by CS Lewis is a more religios themed series, but I thought it excellent.

I also enjoyed Ender's Game and much of Issac Asimov's works

[Wainamoinen]

Right, pay attention you lot.

Back in 1999, the publishing house Gollancz started reissuing many of the hard-to-get-hold-of classics of Sci Fi, under the "SF Masterworks" label.

Now, some kind individual has linked to them all. Great work fellow.
The paperbacks are all good, hardbacks are required reading.

Right. Here is the link: Read these NOW (http://www.myk.mcmail.com/books/science_fiction/index.htm)

If you see a description you like, and haven't read it, do yourself a favour and read it.

As an aside...
Originally posted by Xenoclast
Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Two books that I found at a train station book store once, haven't heard of him before or since. Cyberpunkish, I guess. A friend of mine once claimed that the Gap series by Donaldson were really "dark". I gently explained to her that no, compared to books that need to invent the term "kinder-*****" to describe parts of the plot, they're not...

Hurrah! Someone else likes Jon Courtenay Grimwood. Go read Michael Marshall Smith - different, but you'll like him too. Ever hear of a book called "Frenzetta"? Even more like JCG, if trashier.

[Thrad Redav]

Just letting Badzen know that Although I love to read Larry Niven, that I think he's at his best with his short stories and Novellas. As Mentioned B4 .. Protector ... is in need of being made into a movie, I read it every year. and his short story collections really put the Science in Sci-fic. Give em a try and you'll respect his writting at least a little more.

other notes: Thanks to Warden for bringing up Eric Frank Russel, His Men, Martians, and Machines is what Sci-fi was about to me when I read then in my formative years, his other works were good too. And thanks to Chantz, John Brunner's stuff was top notch, he might even kick out one of my previous top 10 although making a top 20 or 50 would be easier.

Gonna read Armor: with a core of fans that strong, I can see it made an impact to many people.

:D Just glad to see so many readers in this gaming area, In this age of console games and some great computer games, My goal is to get my children to read for fun as well, our imaginations are 10 times more potent when we read than when we play games ... at thats a gift I'll be proud to develop.

[lrtaiko]

Dan Simmons? His Hyperion series was awesome! The first book was the best.
What about Varley?

Some books by new authors that I am reading -
_Archangel Protocol_ by Lyda Morehouse. There is a sequal too. Being an atheist I was sceptical of a religous SCi-Fi story but the book is really engrossing. Cyberpunk-ish. i hope this author continues to write. ALOT.

Books from Sarah Zettel. I actually met her in college.

Tanya Huff wrote a Book, _The Better part of Valor_ that I liked although the rest of her books dont excite me as much.

I would have to say that _Stranger in a Strange Land_ affected me more than any book outside the Hobbit. Heinlein sounds dated now but still has a masterful way with words. I read it when I was 12 and it left me in a daze. Course this was back in the 70's when the book was still sorta fresh (only 15 years old then?)

Looking at my collection, non-sci fi books that I like : _Tomoe Gozen_ by Jessica Amanda Salmonson. Wonderful story set in an oriental land. One or two sequals also.

Sci Fi - _Ventus_ by Karl Shroeder.

Post Apocalupse - _Emergence_ by David Palmer. He has another book but wrote himself into a corner with it. Nothing since that I know.

Has anyone mentioned Joan D. Vinge _Snow Queen_ ? Very good.

_Crystal Singer_ by, uh, Mcaffrey?? grrr.. wish I could remember. Subsequent books read sorta like romances to me. The first one was a good look into addiction.

Again if you like Cyberpunk _Archangel Protocol_.

Does _Dark Tower_ count? If so you can Include _The Stand_ also by Stephen King. In fact, The Stand is my favorite book of all time, mostly because I read it when I was very young, when I think SK was at his peak.

[Adacore]

Originally posted by Bolo Mark 33
The best SF books I've ever read: Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" trilogy. Actually 5 books, broken into 3 parts--"The Reality Dysfunction," "The Neutronium Alchemist," and "The Naked God." Don't worry if the first Reality Dysfunction book seems to drag on a bit... it gets much better!

Also, David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series, as well as "In Death Ground," "Insurrection," and "The Shiva Option."

Hmm - i've heard both those series reccomended quite a bit (and i liked Peter F Hamiltons 'Greg Mandel' series. Plus he's a Brit. I've never read any Weber - maybe i should...

[dvzr]

Originally posted by Adacore
Hmm - i've heard both those series reccomended quite a bit (and i liked Peter F Hamiltons 'Greg Mandel' series. Plus he's a Brit. I've never read any Weber - maybe i should...

Weber (with Steve White in the 'In Death Ground' series)is ....... different. Think lots of MOO3 space battles. (MANY MANY Ships) blowing the heck out of each other and an endless recitation of statistics. I loved the first 2, but it got kinda old by the time I finished the Shiva Option. Still a nice read.

The Honor Harrington series is different, better written, but less battles. I could never really get into this series, though I have read about 5 of the books. Good, not great, IMHO.

[aves]

I highly recomend the Hyperion Series, it gets a little tiresome halfway through book 3, but if you can mull through that, very good.

Though I tend to like fantasy lit more, like Salvatore and Robert Jordan (though I tend to read every tenth word in the Wheel of Time series, details, details, details, yeesh!).

Anything by Steven Pressfield is great! If you haven't read "Gates of Fire" you owe it to yourself to read that.

[screwed-up]

All in no particular order.....

Books from ....
Anne McCaffrey
Arthur C Clarke
Greg Bear
Isaac Asimov
Douglas Adams
L Ron Hubbard (Just his mission earth series - nothing else from him)

Following titles (Cos can't recall the arthur's name) ....
Neromancer
Dune Series

and alot of others..... :D

[Plentyobeer2]

Dune series is by Frank Herbert
Neuromancer is by William Gibson
Other great books by WG are:

Count zero
Mona Lisa overdrive
Burning Chrome

And a couple of others I cant remember

[warden]

There's a lot of market pressure now for authors to produce bloated trilogies or endless shaggy dog stories (e.g. Piers Anthony and Terry Pratchett's pot boilers). But to me, SF's finest form is the short story and I love reading anthologies of the best. Here's a list of Hugo winners in this category. You can buy collections of these prize winning stories and it's a good way of discovering excellent authors. I've asterisked the ones that really stick in my mind:

Short Fiction:
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes, 1960 *
"No Truce with Kings" by Poul Anderson, 1964
" 'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman" by Harlan Ellison, 1966 *
"The Dragon Masters" by Jack Vance, 1963 *
the "Hothouse" series by Brian W. Aldiss, 1962 *
"The Longest Voyage" by Poul Anderson, 1961
[category][year]
Short Story:
"A Walk in the Sun" by Geoffrey A. Landis, 1992
"Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell, 1955 *
"Bears Discover Fire" by Terry Bisson, 1991
"Boobs" by Suzy McKee Charnas, 1990
"Cassandra" by C. J. Cherryh, 1979
"Catch That Zeppelin!" by Fritz Leiber, 1976
"Death on the Nile" by Connie Willis, 1994
"Different Kinds of Darkness" by David Langford, 2001
"Eurema's Dam" by R. A Lafferty, 1973 (tie)
"Even the Queen" by Connie Willis, 1993
"Fermi and Frost" by Frederik Pohl, 1986
"Grotto of the Dancing Deer" by Clifford D. Simak, 1981
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison, 1968 *
"Inconstant Moon" by Larry Niven, 1972 *
"Jeffty Is Five" by Harlan Ellison, 1978
"Kirinyaga" by Mike Resnick, 1989 *
"Melancholy Elephants" by Spider Robinson, 1983
"Neutron Star" by Larry Niven, 1967
"None So Blind" by Joe Haldeman, 1995
"Or All the Seas With Oysters" by Avram Davidson, 1958 *
"Scherzo with Tyrannosaur" by Michael Swanwick, 2000
"Slow Sculpture" by Theodore Sturgeon, 1971 *
"Soldier, Ask Not" by Gordon R. Dickson, 1965
"Speech Sounds" by Octavia Butler, 1984
"Tangents" by Greg Bear, 1987
"That Hell-Bound Train" by Robert Bloch, 1959
"The 43 Antarean Dynasties" by Mike Resnick, 1998 *
"The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World" by Harlan Ellison, 1969
"The Crystal Spheres" by David Brin, 1985
"The Dog Said Bow-Wow" by Michael Swanwick, 2002
"The Hole Man" by Larry Niven, 1975 *
"The Lincoln Train" by Maureen F. McHugh, 1996
"The Meeting" by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth, 1973 (tie)
"The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas" by Ursula K. Le Guin, 1974
"The Pusher" by John Varley, 1982
"The Soul Selects Her Own Society ..." by Connie Willis, 1997
"The Star" by Arthur C. Clarke, 1956
"The Very Pulse of the Machine" by Michael Swanwick, 1999
"The Way of Cross and Dragon" by George R. R. Martin, 1980
"Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones" by Samuel R. Delany, 1970 *
"To Serve Man" by Damon Knight, 1951
"Tricentennial" by Joe Haldeman, 1977
"Uncommon Sense" by Hal Clement, 1946
"Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers" by Lawrence Watt-Evans, 1988

Andrew

[KurtGodel7]

The third in the series was That Hideous Strength.





Originally posted by ASTOW
oh yeah also Out of the Silent Planet ,Perelandra , and... what was the third one of that series? that was one of my all time favs...

[KurtGodel7]

One of my favorite authors is A.E. Van Vogt, the king of science fiction's golden age. He has a lot of good stuff, and Slan is probably the best of the best.

The first three books of the Foundation series are good; the fourth and (in particular) the fifth are less good, primarily because Asimov was given too high a word limit. Also good is the Prelandra trilogy by C.S. Lewis, and The Man Who Sold the Moon by Heinlein.

[grymor]

Originally posted by dvzr
Weber (with Steve White in the 'In Death Ground' series)is ....... different. Think lots of MOO3 space battles. (MANY MANY Ships) blowing the heck out of each other and an endless recitation of statistics. I loved the first 2, but it got kinda old by the time I finished the Shiva Option. Still a nice read.

This is known as the Starfire series and is based on the setting developed (in part by David Weber who was line developer at the time) for the Starfire game.


The Honor Harrington series is different, better written, but less battles. I could never really get into this series, though I have read about 5 of the books. Good, not great, IMHO.

Once I got through the third book I couldn't stop, at all... I'd still be reading but I ran out of books 8(

[memorax]

Another series that I reccommend for Asimov fans was a continuation of the foundation series which was autorized by the asimov foundation. The authors are david brin, greg bear, gregory benford if I am not misktaken. Althoughnot written by Asimov they are a good read for fans of the foundation series. As a side note the fourth george r. martin a feast of crows has been delayed to september 2003. it's the paperback version of a storm of swords which is coming out.

[Plentyobeer2]

As a side note the fourth george r. martin a feast of crows has been delayed to september 2003. it's the paperback version of a storm of swords which is coming out.
Just checked...damn it you´re right. Are you sure its the paperback version of storm of swords thats coming out? I have it in paperback already (although its split in two books).

[Zaekyr]

I am a bit surprised by the lack of posts mentioning "Stranger In A Strange Land "by Robert Heinlein which is by far the best selling Sci Fi novel of all time!
I myself tend to prefer the classic masters of Sci Fi (their characters had more depth even if the "science" at times was dated,what do you expect from the 40's-70's era).
Another novel worth mentioning by Heinlein is "The Puppet Masters"(the movie did it no justice) since he wrote it in 51' and predicted satelite thermal imaging and "tasers".
I don't believe I saw any mention of Clifford Simak("Cosmic Engineers","Destiny Doll","Ring Around The Sun")or Spider Robinson("Deathkiller" was an awesome two story novel).
And if you want to talk about great potential for a movie,then "The Mote In God's Eye"by Niven/Pournelle would make an epic to rival LOTR.
Some of my other favorites include:
The"Gateway"series by Frederick Pohl(?little mention in previous posts?)
Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
Ringworld series by Larry Niven(anything by Niven/Pournelle is also good)
I have tried reading some works by recent authors but have found their stories lacked either in character or plot but after reading some of these posts I think I will give some of these other works a shot. I have tried at times getting suggestions from others but have been steered wrong so often that I get tired of shelling out money for garbage.I have also tried to go by "bestselling lists" but with overwhelmingly shallow(WWF mentalities and the like)modern day society..........
ahh.......so much to read so little time

[memorax]

Sorry for the confusion. It's the 11.99$ paperback. The company that publishes his work has three formats for his books: Hardcover for about 35-40$, Trade paperback which is bigger than a standard paperback for about 22.95$ and then Mass market which is about 11.99$. The above prices are in Canadian dollars. Another series to try if you like his fantasy work is a series he once edited and worked on called Wild Cards. I know at least volumes 1 to 5 are out with more to come. I'm just curious Plentyobeer2, is your version a specialty version? I know the ones at my workplace are single copy editions not double.

[Plentyobeer2]

No it doesnt say anything about special edition. They are published in 2001 (first published in 2000) with ISBN 0 00 647990 1 and 0 00 71955 0 respectively.
The difference from yours migth be that these are published by an english firm (cause the price is in £), wheras I take it yours are published for the american market.

[Thrad Redav]

Yes add to my favorites 2 from T.J. Bass.

K) The Godwhale, and its' predecessor, Hemi Demi Semi Human. Its got Humans as a Hive community, Its got Cybernetic Whales, Its got a Half-man thawed from 20th century as its Hero, its a lot of fun to read. And unlike a lot of the stuff written at the time, its social commentary on the human condition and where its heading, doesn't hit you like a 'Herring hitting a tree in the Forest'.

[Faelic]

Damn. I wasn't the first one to mention Greg Egan. But yeah. Greg Egan.

[MirageAg99]

Peter F. Hamilton is my favorite current SF writer. I haven't read the 'Greg Mandel' series but I have read the 'Night's Dawn' so many times, I wore out the hardback of the The Neutronium Alchemist ( I got it from the Sci FI book club) and had to import a new one from the UK. Fallen Dragon was very good too. Brin's Uplift books are also very good.
Niven, Asimov, Clark, and Heinlein all have a special place in my heart.

[olaf]

Not my favorite genre, so I am not too widely read in it. Ender's Game is the best of what I have read though.

olaf

[Grotius]

My list, in no particular order:

"1984" by George Orwell. I don't know if, strictly speaking, it qualifies as sci-fi, but it has sci-fi elements, and it's one of the best books of any genre of all time.

"The Andromeda Strain" by Michael Chrichton. Yes, the same Chrichton whose science is a bit, er, iffy in books like "Prey." His first blockbuster is still a great read.

"Great Sky River" by Gregory Benford.

"Book of the Long Sun" by Gene Wolfe. Difficult, but worth the effort.

"Something Wicked This Way Comes" by Ray Bradbury. OK, more fantasy than sci-fi. Also "Fahrenheit 451."

"Red Mars" by Kim Stanely Robinson.

"Hyperion" by Dan Simmons.

"Dune" by Frank Herbert.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert Heinlein.

"Foundation" by Isaac Asmiov.

"Forever War" by Joe Haldemann.

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card.

"Neuromancer" by William Gibson.

"The Difference Engine," by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

"On the Beach" by Nevil Shute. Imperfect science, but a stunning portrayal of a post-nuclear earth.

[Jamesdawg]

Battlefield Earth was my favorite sci fi book of all time. Some of Asimov's work is great as well, but I don't remember the name of the book now. I think it was Foundation.

[Golem169]

all of Isimovs Empire series (foundation, secound foundation, robot books(names?) and the ones taking place during the Empire). I also enjoy Michael Stackpole and Timothy Zahn. If you haven't read Heir to the Empire by Zahn, go buy it.

[Jernau]

My favourites- Banks' writings are in my opinion the best SF out there. Wright follows closely. They both write well and play around with really big ideas while not forgetting their characters. I've enjoyed other writers as well but they don't hold up well to Banks and Wright. It may be that after reading Banks the ideas of armies slugging it out for control of a planet or starships fighting one another like 18th century sailing ships just don't make any sense. Then there's Cards super kids who take over the world. Vinge's idea of physics changing with respect to location in the galaxy is really cool but his blind, talking dogs left me cold. I found myself skimming those sections to read more about the goings on in the Beyond.

1. Iain M. Banks - Culture novels

2. John C. Wright - The Golden Age

Larry Niven - Ringworld
Frank Herbert - Dune
Haldemann - The Forever War

[Iax]

Originally posted by Jernau
Vinge's idea of physics changing with respect to location in the galaxy is really cool but his blind, talking dogs left me cold. I found myself skimming those sections to read more about the goings on in the Beyond.
You might not have wanted to skip it that much then... For one thing, the aliens wern't blind....
It was actually one of the few times that I have read about alien species with a hive type mind that wasnt based on some sort magical telepathy.

[Sultanofsham]

Originally posted by warden


Short Fiction:
"Allamagoosa" by Eric Frank Russell, 1955 *


"V1098. Offog, One" :D

Allamagoosa should be read by anyone in the military or has ever been. One of those stories that will still have meaning hundreds of years from now. Timeless.

Some other good shorts are:

"Superiority" Arthur C. Clark, 1951
"Hide and Seak" Arthur C. Clark, 1949
"The Highest Treason" Randall Garrett, 1961

[tinmaddog]

Originally posted by Journier
just finished the first 2 books of

DAVID WEBERS honor harrington series.


The first book was the better of the 2...

the 2nd was sorta confusing, jumping from politics, to warfare, to hand combat, to lol a planet,
it wasnt a bad book but far from the best ive read...


Now my question is are the next like 6 books the same as the 2nd or the first?

I started reading the 3rd one today and it was being all people talking lol.

David weber did a good job on the first book then the next ones were slacking until i read on into the 3rd -6th books

The most recent book, War of Honor, only has about 3% war in it (actual battles). The rest is just prologue. Very disappointing.

I still really like the series though.

tmd

[Father Ribs]

Journier...not yet.

Anyone mention the "War against the Cthorr" series by David Gerrold? You know what Terraforming is...imagine if the Earth found itself in the middle of a Cthorrforming. Good series of post-apocalypse/military scifi. Of course the series ended with an intense cliffhanger and the author hasn't written a new book for that series in nearly a decade. :(

Armour is one of my favorite books...though I read it so long ago I need to see how it stands the test of time. I remember vividly scenes that were not related to combat, like the drowning puppy.

[badzen]

ever read The Man Who Folded Himself ?

classic time travel book... great stuff

[KurtGodel7]

Originally posted by Sultanofsham
"V1098. Offog, One" :D

Allamagoosa should be read by anyone in the military or has ever been. One of those stories that will still have meaning hundreds of years from now. Timeless.



I read another short story by Erik Frank Russell "A ticket to Tranai" or some title like that. It was excellent, easily one of the two or three gems in that short story anthology. (The anthology had stories from a number of different writers.) Does anyone know whether his books are equally good?

(Edit): I messed up. Robert Sheckley wrote "A Ticket to Tranai." I have read a lot of short sf stories, and "A Ticket to Tranai" is one of the three funniest, and one of the ten best overall. If Sheckley's books are anywhere near as good, then he is truly one of sf's all-time greats.

[MahoTsukai]

Its an old magazine; Weird Tales. I got the complete collection. Simply awesome and its the magazine that published Flowers for Algernon (its the title in french anyway).

[Chyndonax]

Jack L. Chalker should be mentioned. Some pacing problems and the SF isn't hard but it's not really meant to be. If you have even a small interest in space opera try him.

Steve Perry. What can I say? Hard science, interesting characters, good (if somewhat predictable) plots. A good read.

On the fantasy side try Steven Brust and his Taltos series (don't read the ones without Vlad Taltos in them).

And for anyone who hasn't already discovered Raymond E. Fiest is as good as if not better than Wheel of Time (letdown time).

For an unknown read the Ancient Games trilogy by scott Ciencien. He mostly does short stories and the books are rather small (200 pages or so) but they are fast moving, interesting, and pack more into 200 pages than some do into 400+ (WoT anyone).

[ChRoNiC MaN]

Originally posted by PTMANG
Ender series weakened after first book...
Dune series choked after the first three. Reading his son's leftovers is blasphemy. Whoever mentioned any other Herbert books knew of what he spoke...try Whipping Star for example.
Galactic Center Series are really good books and underread as well as underrated...this is man vs mech stuff before it was cool.
But..To each their own I say

Myself...

all Brin
all Benford
all Baxter
any well written scifi that isn't hooked on a bogus franchise...

and to show I can read Author's with names past the letter B
and to point out someone you're all forgetting: The very MOOish "Realms of Thought" series by Vernor Vinge. These books (and there are only two) are KICKA@@!
:D

The Enders series just got better and more philosophical after the first book, I cant believe anyone can say bad stuff about them. The greatest series of scifi books ever made. IMHO. There is always an arguement though.

[James1701]

I really enjoyed Orson Scott Card's Homecoming series. I've also read Ender's Game of course, and Speaker for the Dead.

I think my favorite Sci Fi writer has to be David Weber, hands down.

[gobelen]

Dark Piper by Andre Norton and also Victory on Janus by the same author are excellent

[teecee]

There are too many to list by title. I'll list my favorite author's instead.

Isaac Asimov
Larry Niven
Harry Turtledove
Ray Bradbury


Ok, ok. Favorite sci-fi book? Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven.

tc:D

[Krampf]

I think it is out of print, but Eric Frank Russell's "Wasp" is wonderful. I wish my MOO3 spies would read that one! Maybe they would be more effective. His "Space *******" is lots of fun too.

[pterrok]

Well, all these authors have Science Fiction titles to their names. Some are 'hard' and others aren't...

The Best:
------------
David Zindell
Vernor Vinge
Nancy Kress
Charles Sheffield

Nancy Kress dropped out of sight for awhile, but now is back with her Probability series. She got married to Charles Sheffield! Sadly, he won't be writing anymore as he's passsed away...

Great new, odd series:
-----------------
Wen Spencer

Oldies but goodies by:
-----------------
Linda Nagata
Julian May


And the rest in no particular order:
---------------
John Barnes
Eric Nylund --works for Microsoft!
Syne Mitchell --Eric's girl, decent writer.

Glen Cook --the Starfisher series. Book 1 is phenomonal! (His Black Company and 'Metal' detective series are good, too.)

Howard Hendrix
Iain M Banks --Inversions is excellent, excellent, excellent!
James Alan Gardner --get them all and read them in order!
Kage Baker
L.E Modesitt, Jr. (His Recluse series is running out of steam, but his sci-fi is still good.)
Toni Anzetti --she's using her real name now which I can't recall at the moment...
Tom Cool
Sean McMullen
Roger MacBride Allen
Kevin J. Anderson
Allen Steele

(I've read Peter F Hamilton and for me it was nothing special... Stephen Baxter has good hard science, but his characters are nothing to write home about.)

[Lord Aramus]

Anything written by Isaac Asimov and Timothy Zahn, and Arthur C. Clarke, and Star Trek Origional Series Novels. I just cant get enough of Kirk and crew!

<edit> How could I have forgotten "hammers slammers", hovertanks are nifty.

[kennethc]

Three from the Legion by Jack Williamson - May be a little hard to find. It is from the "Golden Age" of Sci-Fi. Very good, pure unadulterated over the top hero smacks down the aliens to save the girl stuff :)

John Carter of Mars series - Edgar Rice Burrouhgs (sp) see above.

Grunts by Mary Gentely (sp) Not Sci-Fi but still worth reading if you ever wanted to know what an orc would do with an m-16 and a tank.

Some of my favorite books have been listed on the last few pages. You guys have good taste ;)

P.S. I thought Gibson wrote Snow Crash, that would explain why I have not been able to find it. I always look under his books when looking for a copy.

Oh and in case it was not mentioned before. The Stainless Steel Rat.

[Darlock Warrior]

Some of my personal favorites, in no particular order

1. Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, Etc....

2. Martian Chronicles

3. The Jesus Incident

4. Enders Game(Though I didn't like the sequels)

5. Childhood's End

6. Stranger in a Strange Land.

[lohcy]

I like these

Hyperion/Endymion series by Dan Simmons
Robot/Foundation series by Isaac Asimov
Ender's Game by Clarke
The Gap series by Donaldson
Cryptomicon by Neal Stephenson (not strictly sci fi)
Uplift War series and Foundation's Triumph by David Brin

But on another note, is anyone reading this simply awesome fantasy series by Steven Erikson called the Malazan Book of the Fallen. I must say it is the most breathtaking I've ever read in fantasy and sci fi and I dare say I prefer it to George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan.

[RobHunt]

Well, I collect Star Trek books, so it's obvious I like those.

In addition, I like: (in no particular order)

Ender's game (whole series)
Nimisha's Ship
To Ride Pegasus / Pegasus in Flight / Pegasus in Space
Various Star Wars (but not all).
Various B5

There is one that is 'barely' sci-fi... 'Quicksilver' by Judy & Gar Reeves-Stephens... but it's really good. It's set in the very near future with very realistic (or at least believable) details about the US Military, but the technology at the core of the story is fictional (I think! :D).

[OnyxBlade]

Right, considering pure sci-fi books, and not fantasy (of which I have tons), I guess my favourites would have to be (in order of me remembering them :p):

Asimov's Foundation and Robot series (Foundation started me on sci-fi - I owe a lot to Asimov)
Niven's Ringworld series
Herbert's Dune series (I think I've read the original Dune something like 10 times)
Herbert's Dosadi Experiment (Not as good as Dune, but with many similar themes - a good read if you can find it)
Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land
Heinlein's Starship Troopers (though the movie's nothing like the book - the book actually HAS a plot that involves more than just killing bugs)
Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series (great zany sci-fi comedy - no list can be complete without it)
Hubbard's Battlefield Earth (once again, the movie is very little like the book, the book is quite brilliant, whereas the movie just blows)

That's what I can remember off the top of my head. Also worth mentioning are Arthur C Clark, Iain M Banks and Orson Scott Card. They've written some very fine books that I've really enjoyed, but for the life of me can't remember the titles of.

Edit: I forgot about Philip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and his other short stories - not the most well-written books, but the man had incredible ideas and amazing vision.

[le_sac72]

Not one mention of Fred Saberhagen?

I found both the Book of Swords (fantasy) and the Berserker series (sf) to be pleasantly distracting.

[CKayote]

Originally posted by S_Connery
Charles Sheffield is a good one for "realistic" science fiction. Try:
-Brother to Dragons
-Tomorrow and Tomorrow
-Aftermath
-Starfire (sequel to Aftermath)


Tomorrow And Tomorrow rocked! I did a book report on it for 11th grade English. Everybody looked at me like I was even wierder than they already thought I was.

[CKayote]

Hamiltion(Night's Dawn Trilogy)
Stephenson(Diamond Age)
Harry Turtledove(Alternate History Stuff)
Charles Sheffield
Robert J Sawyer
Joe Haldeman

[BluOystrCultist]

Hmmm, how about "Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers", by Harry Harrison, the Riverworld novels by Philip Jose Farmer, or for short stories, van Vogt's "Black Destroyer", or anything by Harlan Ellison.

Though they're not strictly sci-fi, Harry Turtledove and Bill Forstchen always turn out a rousingly good read, and shouldn't be missed, particularly Forstchen's Lost Regiment series.

Nothing you need a technical manual or engineering degree to understand, just damned good reading.:cool:

Hey, anybody ever read any Cordwainer Byrd?;)

[KurtGodel7]

I messed up: Eric Frank Russell did not write "A Ticket to Tranai." That story was written by Robert Sheckley. Eric Frank Russell's contribution to the series was "Into Your Tent I'll Creep." A decent story, but not on the same level as his story "Allamagoosa" or Sheckley's "A Ticket to Tranai."

I'd be curious to learn more about the other things that Robert Scheckley has written. I've read a lot of short sf stories, and "A Ticket to Tranai" is one of the three funniest, and one of the ten best overall.

[DarkWraith]

I'm making my way through Greg Bear's books right now. He's a really talented author. I've gotten through Blood Music, Forge of God/Anvil of Stars, and Eon/Eternity, all good books.

Originally posted by pterrok
The Best:
------------
David Zindell
Vernor Vinge
Nancy Kress
Charles Sheffield

Haven't read Zindell and Kress, but Vinge and Sheffield are both very good authors. I'm always surprised by the low number of people who've heard of Vinge. The 'Zones of Thoughts' stories are some of my favorites. Wish he'd hurry up on the third one though, it seems like he's been working on it forever.

Nancy Kress dropped out of sight for awhile, but now is back with her Probability series. She got married to Charles Sheffield! Sadly, he won't be writing anymore as he's passsed away...

Sheffield passed away? Seriously? Mother f....I guess I should stop waiting for the sequel to 'Spheres of Heaven.' I was really looking forward to that too.

Oh, and may he rest in peace and all that.

Originally posted by lohcy
Ender's Game by Clarke

It's by Orson Scott Card.:)

[KurtGodel7]

Originally posted by DarkWraith

Oh, and may he rest in peace and all that.


If you haven't done so already, I would suggest you take up a career as a mortician. :)

BTW, the quotes for your sig are cool.

[Babylon4]

Just finished Hyperion books by Dan Simmons. Really enjoyed them.

I'm not a big fan of the Ender series. The first one was ok the second one weaker and I did not finish the 3rd one. I know I'm in the minority here.......

Neal Stephenson is probably the best American author writing today. Cryptonimicon (though not strictly sci-fi as noted by another poster) and The Diamond Age are both outstanding.

The Masters: Asimov, Cark, Herbert are uniformly excellent.

I enjoyed both phases of Heinlein's writing: the boyish adventure novels (Farmer in the sky, Starship Troopers) as well as his weirder more adult books (Glory Road, Stranger in a Strange Land) that slowly drift into 'dirt old man' territory at the end of career.

On Greg Bear: Excellent writing, though somewhat cold. I was often left unsatisfied at the end of his books. I guess I just need simpler feel good endings. My fault not his. I guess Moving Mars is probably my favorite.

Of the older writers I really enjory Alfred Bester (The Demolished Man) and Philip K Dick( The Man in the High Castle).

I'll wrap this up as I have an overwhelming urge to go to my bookshelves to see what I have missed. (Must fight it..........)

[sociopathos]

Hi all

try

Richard Morgans books

Broken angels and Altered carbon

also Neal ashers books

Skinner and Gridlinked

Also Alastair reynolds Revelation space, Chasm City, Redemption ark

All a seriously good read


Peace through superior firepower

[JT4FUN]

How to serve man.( it turned out to be a cook book)

[EE_Worzelle]

Wow, this thread is still going! We did this while we were waiting for the game to come out. Good topic tho, and a lot could be done with story in SF computer games, too.

One poster mentioned the story in and with Alpha-Centauri. I hate that game (because I finished it almost and it wouldn't let me do the last research or building - don't remember exactly what, and so I was stuck. Then, shame on me, I forgot that frustration, remembered enjoying the game, wondered why I never finished then did the same thing again - aaaaaaarg!). The story in and behind the game, however, was quite good. It was much more than window dressing added after the fact and was even "pretty good" as a story in itself. Sometimes I think story is added after the fact to an already existing game design, sort of like illustrations used to be done for an already written book. That practice, for a computer game story makes for a bad story.

The only really excellent SF story in CG, IMHO, was Starsaga. The story in Starsaga One, Beyond the Boundary, was really fascinating, and the one in Starsaga Two, the Clathran Menace was much better yet. It was an "alive" story, going where your characters did and unfolding as their wisdom and skills improved.

At the end of the second, even while flush with victory at the conclusion of that excellent chapter, they were left with quite a dilemma, but there will never be a Starsaga Three. :(

I haven't gotten far enough in MOO3 yet to experience all of the story elements. I hope it's much better than MOO2, even when you never fired a shot at another player ("You have crushed all opposition beneath your feet." - something like that... sigh).

[compiguru]

I like military SF, space opera SF and SF that gives you that ‘sense of wonder. So if somebody likes the same kind of SF don’t miss these:
Piers Anthony
- Adept series
- Bio of a Space Tyrant series
- Incarnations of Immortality series (it’s Fantasy but a LOT of fun)
- (most of his stuff is good)

Alan Dean Foster
- The Damned series
- The Spellsinger series
- The man who used the universe
- (most of his stuff is good)

Christopher Hinz
- Paratwa series

Peter F. Hamilton
- Armageddon series (a little weird but good)

Sean Williams
- Evergence series

Orson Scott Card
- Ender series

John Steakley
- Armor

Ron L. Hubbard
- Battlefield Earth (the movie and his relegion suck but the book is great)

Did I mention that I like series? :D

[compiguru]

Well, if write about my favourite SF I also must mention my greatest disappointment: The conquerors series by Timothy Zahn! :mad: I read the description (humans meet really dangerous aliens, etc.) and thought “Wow, this sounds like fun” and bought all three books. Started reading the first one and realized that the hole plot hinges on one small item and that anybody with an IQ above room temperature would now know what it was (half way through the first book). But do the humans find out about it! Nooooo, of course not. Do the aliens realize what is going on (they really should have)? Nooo. It takes 2.5 more books before it finally comes out into the open. This simple plot ruined the hole series for me!!

Oh, the funniest line in a SF book (for me at least)? “I’ll be damned! A canary!” in book 3 (?) of “The Damned” by Alan Dean Foster.

And a question. Does anybody remember a book where races were held in different solar systems, were the race vehicles were space ships and the race course was several million miles long? By Roger Zelansky ??

[DeckPrism]

Originally posted by le_sac72
Not one mention of Fred Saberhagen?

I found both the Book of Swords (fantasy) and the Berserker series (sf) to be pleasantly distracting.

Ahh, The Empire of the East by Saberhagen was an excelent book!

[MongoTheGeek]

I was cleaning out my basement and found...

The Myth Series by Robert Asprin are nice fun light reading.

The Man Kzin War series. Its a series of anthologies the take place before Ring World.

A bunch of the Heinlein juveniles, actually some other books that were serialized in Boys Life as well.

Isaac Asimov Gold (a bunch of short stories including one called Gold, about well... Gold.)

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.

Science and Sanity by Alfred Korzybski. This is a great book and one of the greatest influences on Heinlein. Its non-fiction and 70 years old.

[ort111]

* Bump * :-)