Sci-Fi

[Levenbreech Vor]

I'm a huge Science Fiction book fan. I love Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov, and Herbert books. I want to know what other people like in the regards of sci-fi books.

[PeterL]

The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson

[subterranean]

No Martian Chronichles?

[Kiwi Shelf]

I like Sci-fi not included in your list, so I just went with Hitchhiker's, those books are great. I am more for fantasy anyways

[Levenbreech Vor]

I like Sci-fi not included in your list

Sorry I just picked my top ten sci-fi books and put those on the poll. But don't be restricted to dicussing those, talk about anything sci-fi.

[Zippy]

My two favourites are I am Legend by Richard Matherson and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

[Stanislaw]

I quite enjoy the futurological Congress and Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem, H.G. Wells is always enjoyable (time machine is one of my favourites). Asimov is pretty good. For Arther C. Clark though, I prefer the short stories (9 billion names of God is probably the best).

When I was younger (about ten) I thought Kevin J. Anderson was pretty good, but upon reading a collaboration between Anderson and Hubbard (the scientologist guy) I found the writing shody, schlocky, and, well, dumb.

If you are into StarTrek (original series) check out the collection of short stories : the new voyages 1 and 2. They're pretty good.

For Asimov: I liked the history of Ibotics (though it was a little depressing), and generally most of his short stories. The best part about the ST compolations is that he ages the human characters, and even allows some to die from old age. It involves the reader in the characters development, and I think makes them feel more Human.

[Wendigo_49]

I liked 2001: A Space Odyssey, the novella Flowers for Algernon, Stranger in a Strangeland, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series, Valis, but my favorite is Time Enough for Love.

[Levenbreech Vor]

What!? No Dune on your favorite books!

I liked 2001: A Space Odyssey but I thought Arthur C. Clarke's best book was Rama.

[Kiwi Shelf]

I went away from sci-fi, I am reading more fantasy now... Like Marion Zimmer Bradley. I find it interesting someone mentioned "Flowers for Algernon," I had never thought of it as a sci-fi before. I read that book so long ago and then spent forever looking for a copy to buy and when I finally find it in a bargain bin, it comes back out mainstream. The movie is really good, too, that's another thing I want to buy. Oh, sci-fi, right. I like Margaret Weis... maybes she's fantasy, or both... Urusla Le Guin, Douglas Adams... I liked others at one point in time, but I go through these spells and I haven't been reading much sci-fi lately.

[MiSaNtHrOpE]

I like a lot of things not on your list in addition to F451. Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, & HG Wells. My mother has the Rama series but I never read it.

[Wendigo_49]

What!? No Dune on your favorite books!

I liked 2001: A Space Odyssey but I thought Arthur C. Clarke's best book was Rama.
Nope, I haven't read either.


I find it interesting someone mentioned "Flowers for Algernon," I had never thought of it as a sci-fi before.
I always considered it sci-fi and it did win a nebula and hugo award.

Before seeing your post misanthrope, I never considered Orwell sci-fi but I guess 1984 was sci-fi and would be in my favorites.

[IrishCanadian]

1984 that is all i have to say: 1984

[underground]

question: what is "sci-fi" anyway? i keep being told that "fantasy" is also "sci-fi," but i refuse to believe it. i love fantasy books that include dragons and dungeons and swords, but stories about martians, two-headed aliens in some other planet, and random promise of what-could-have-been-in-the-future... i just can't get myself to like them.

[Mark F.]

Sci-fi and fantasy are different though some people do confuse them. I just tend to think about it as futuristic/past although it's more complex than that.

I don't like Asimov, he's too clinical for me. I'd vote for Dune, I love the complexity of the plot. Hitchhikers trilogy (like Pratchett) is more akin to comedy than anything else although it happens in a sci-fi setting.

My favorite sci-fi author is Philip K. Dick. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is one of the greatest novels ever written IMO. (Blade Runner)

Orwell's 1984 is an other favorite of mine; "The ministry of peace, that concerned itself with war".

[lhaeber]

I liked the Chrysalids

[Jay T]

There is a lot of great Science Fiction - out of the ones you lits I'd go with Dune.

PKD is probably my all time favorite. Do Androids Dream Electric Sheep?, and The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch are terrific (as is msot his work). Definitely loved Bradbury's Martian Chronicles as well, wonderful mosaic novel. I have to mention Samuel Delaney's Dhalgren which iis a truly unique application of SF as well.

Recently I have enjoyed Iain M. Bank's Culture sequence, as well as M. John Harrison's Virconium sequence. Regarding shortwork, Cordwainer Smith's Rediscovery of Man is an essential collection. We can also look to two of the forefathers of the New Wave Movement, Moorcock and Ballard. Moorcock's novella Behold the Man (original ending) is terrific and Ballard (one of the most underated writers of any genre in the 20th century IMHO) Drowned World is a seminal work in the genre. We can also look at Ursula Leguin who is best known for her Earthsea work, but her best work, and the work that made her perhaps the most important female writer in SFF history were her The Left Hand of Darkness, and The Dispossessed.

Tons, tons more but this is a broad question:)

[el01ks]

I don't read that much sci-fi, prefer fantasy generally, but I do like Orson Scott Card. Ender's Game is good, as is Speaker for the Dead.
I also like Douglas Adams, but prefer Long Dark Tea Time of the Soul to Hitchhiker.
Some Anne McCaffrey is good to - I like The Crystal Singer trilogy and the Tower and the Hive series.

[Levenbreech Vor]

question: what is "sci-fi" anyway? i keep being told that "fantasy" is also "sci-fi," but i refuse to believe it. i love fantasy books that include dragons and dungeons and swords, but stories about martians, two-headed aliens in some other planet, and random promise of what-could-have-been-in-the-future... i just can't get myself to like them.

I love sci-fi, yet I despise stories of "two-headed aliens in some other planet".

You ask "How can this be?"

I respond "Because sci-fi is more then that."

It's true. The science fiction category does include stories of two-headed aliens in some other planet, but the truly well done sci-fi books are different. I like to use Dune and Foundation as examples of well done sci-fi. They create a complex world in which there is tons of back-story. These stories create a rich, thought out universe that spans centuries and millennia. There is a bit of everything in these types of sci-fi novels: political intrigue, war strategy, historical mysteries, and romantic conflict. How can anybody not love a topic so in-depth?

So underground you say you like fantasy, and if you like fantasy you must love Lord of the Rings, right?

"Unique among SF novels...I know nothing comparable to it except The Lord of the Rings." (Arthur C. Clarke being questioned about Dune)



Secondly, I noticed that when speaking about favorite authors many mentioned:Philip K. Dick, Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Anthony Burgess, & HG Wells. All of these authors I love and respect along with several of the books you mentioned (Flowers for Algernon, 1984, and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?).

However, I am shocked that none of you have mentioned Arthur C. Clarke and that:


My mother has the Rama series but I never read it.

The Rama series is one of my favorite books let alone favorites in the sci-fi genre!

[Levenbreech Vor]

Asimov is pretty good.

I don't like Asimov, he's too clinical for me.

Pretty good? Too cynical? What are you talking about!

His book Foundation is:
3rd on http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html
16th on http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/listmania/list-browse/-/QN7K1XR8TQ9E/002-7088597-1012824

and that is just one of his hundreds of novels!


Leading newspaper The Guardian recently polled 60 of the world's top scientists and asked them to nominate their all-time top science fiction authors.

They rated Asimov #1

http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/features_authors.html rated Asimov #2

[EAP]

'Mission of Gravity' - Hal Clement

[EAP]

Levenbreech Vor,

'Clinical' and 'Cynical' are two entirely different words. I would suggest checking the dictionary If you want to understand what Mark F. is talking about.


Which happens to be entirely true. Asimov wouldn't know a good female character if it struck him on the head with a 10 tonne sledgehammer.

[Levenbreech Vor]

Levenbreech Vor,

'Clinical' and 'Cynical' are two entirely different words. I would suggest checking the dictionary If you want to understand what Mark F. is talking about.


I'm so sorry, you are completely correct. I just assumed that 'Clinical' was a misspelling of 'Cynical'. You know what they say: Assuming makes an a__ out of you and me. Please don't view me as ignorant because it was just a stupid mistake.

Once again, I'm very sorry.

[Mark F.]

My bad; was clinical*. So what if some guy rated Asimov number 1? Return of the King got 12 Oscars and was a horrible and boring movie. Citizen Kane is ranked best movie ever, although it's a great piece of narrative and visual ingeniousness that doesn't make it my favorite film.

[Levenbreech Vor]

Return of the King got 12 Oscars and was a horrible and boring movie.

I entirly disagree with you there. I loved Return of the King and thought it was neither horrible or boring. Please realize how difficult it must be to make a movie out of such a fabulous book.

I am wondering what you thought was "horrible and boring" about Return of the King.

[Mark F.]

The end, the acting, the parts of the novel P.J. omitted, Sauron being an ugly eye, the army of ghosts was laughable. As you said it's hard to make a movie out of SUCH A GREAT BOOK. Don't bother, the film brings nothing new to Tolkien's novel, when reading it you imagine more beautiful landscapes than when watching the flicks (that was the best part of the film IMO).

Pointless adaptation, it couldn't have been done better and probably shouldn't have been done at all. Check out the Book to Film thread for my thoughts on the subject of adaptations.

[Kiwi Shelf]

I think this should be sci-fi/fantasy conversation, then.

[Levenbreech Vor]

I think this should be sci-fi/fantasy conversation, then.
Sounds good.

To Mark F.:

I see your point, there were many poorly done parts but in general I thought it was a good movie.

[el01ks]

It's hard to adapt any book - films are just too short. The extended versions of LOTR are better, and there are some bits I wasn't sorry to see missed out (Tom Bombadil for one), but in general you just can't get the wealth of information you get in a 350 page book into a 2 hr film.

[Kiwi Shelf]

I can't believe I forgot Tolkien in my list o_o

[strategos]

I've read Rendezvous with Rama, Ender's Game, Otherland, Neuromancer, Hyperion, and Fahrenheit 451. Of that, I enjoyed Otherland the most followed closely by Hyperion.

[Levenbreech Vor]

I like your tastes

[imaditzyreader]

Hey! What about Terminal Man?? That is another one of those books, like Flowers for Algernon that is not really considered Sci-fi. I'm not really very sure what does, but I did read the Foundation trilogy which i found amazing, although a bit choppy, for Isaac Asimov wrote it as instaments in a magazine the first time it was published. I also really like Anne McCaffery and Ursula Legiun.

[Levenbreech Vor]

I liked Terminal Man

[Levenbreech Vor]

Hello Arthur C. Clarke/Rendezvous with Rama fans!

I just wrote a fan fiction on a series of books by Arthur C. Clarke called "Rendezvous with Rama". Follow the link, read it, and submit a review (on the fan fiction web page). If you have anything that you want to say that you didn't add to the review at fanfiction.net then post it here, but PLEASE REVIEW! (:thumbs_up)

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2639840/1/

Levenbreech Vor

[starrwriter]

My favorite scifi novels (short list because it's NOT my favorite genre):

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
"The Incredible Shrinking Man" by Richard Matheson
"The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells

[Kiwi Shelf]

You know, I find it interesting that many of the books listed in this section, at my bookstore in my town, they are not anywhere's near the sci-fi/fantasy section. I knew my bookstore sucked, but now it seems even worse to me.

[Pendragon]

I chose Dune from your list, although I liked these others also:
Foundation
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Fahrenheit 451

I also like Wells, Verne, Lovecraft and as strictly genre Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and The Retief Series by Keith Laumer. http://www.websmileys.com/sm/aliens/ufo.gif http://www.websmileys.com/sm/aliens/q3aHappyOrbb.gif

[ClaesGefvenberg]

I have read the ones on your list, and if I have to pick one of them it will be Rendezvous with Rama. Otherwise, my favourite is Ringworld, by Larry Niven.

/Claes

[BeingaBunny]

My favorite SF book is Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin. George is very melancholy and at his most imaginitive in this one, his first novel. Also, his short fiction "The Second Kind of Loneliness" is great too.

I wonder what George would've written in the '80s if he hadn't worked in Hollywood. :thumbs_up

[steve12553]

My favorite scifi novels (short list because it's NOT my favorite genre):

"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" by Philip K. Dick
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
"The Incredible Shrinking Man" by Richard Matheson
"The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells
All worthy books (ps "incredible" was in the movie title not the book)
I've been primarily a Science Fiction reader for most of my life (and I'm no spring chicken) Out of the group listed in the poll, I've read and enjoyed six of them. I couldn't pick a favorite to save my soul. and remember Levenbreech Vor Science Fiction is any work of fiction extrapolating or interpolating science fact. In other words "What if?" Fantasy is a work of fiction we know cannot be true but We Don't Care. Bold require imagination.

[Doctor Boogaloo]

I'd like to mention Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination and Christopher Priest's Inverted World. Yeah, and the Riverworld series by Farmer.

[sjobson2000]

The Foundation series (especially the later novels) has got to be number 1 for me. I also enjoy Iain M. Banks and Ray Bradbury. I'm currently reading Dan Simmons' 'Ilium', which has yet to really pique my interest! Anyone read this one yet?

[Alex E Art]

I like the "War is Tomorrow" trilogy by Alexander Zorich