Hit me with your SciFi suggestions

[applepie]

Alright everyone, I'm looking for some new reads, but I've been drawing a bit of a blank. I'm in a SciFi sort of mode at the moment, so please give me some suggestions. I'm trying to create a new reading list of maybe 5 or 10 books to keep me busy for the next couple of months. Thanks a bunch:)

Meg

[aeroport]

Hello, mkhockenberry. I think this may be of use to you:
My sci-fi thread (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24991)

[Lily Adams]

SCI-FI!!!!!!

I LOVE science fiction!! *claps*

Well, if ya wanna do that whole Wells vs. Verne thing, go with Wells if you want to be cynical if you want to be happy happy, go with Verne. In my opinion, Wells>Verne. So yeah. I love his works. Especially War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. Have fun finding and reading more sci-fi!

Oh, and any Douglas Adams will do. :D

[applepie]

I've pretty much covered Wells. My favorite has to be The Island of Doctor Moreau followed closely by the time machine. Actually I may have to read that one again, Doctor Moreau that is. Any specifics on Verne Lily?


Hello, mkhockenberry. I think this may be of use to you:
My sci-fi thread (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24991)

Thanks for the link, I seem to remember this and just somehow missed it.

[SleepyWitch]

try Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke. it's the first installment in the Rama tetralogy. don't read 2-4 though, they are lengthy and comparatively schmaltzy

The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke

The Foundation and Empire Series by Isaac Asimov

[Zippy]

I highly recommend The Forever War (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Forever-War-Millennium-SF-Masterworks/dp/1857988086/ref=dp_return_2/202-9882414-6094250?ie=UTF8&n=266239&s=books&qid=1186735754&sr=8-1) by Joe Haldeman

and I am Legend (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Am-Legend-Millennium-SF-Masterworks/dp/1857988094/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b/202-9882414-6094250?ie=UTF8&qid=1186735754&sr=8-1)by Richard Matheson two all time greats.

[PeterL]

The Aluminum Man by G. C. Edmundson

[JBI]

Mecromegas by Voltaire

[Hyacinth42]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

It counts as sci-fi, and is one of the funniest books ever ;)

[NikolaiI]

Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, six books in two parts, and Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber, just two.

[BlueSkyGB]

Of course my first suggestion is Heinlein, but most people have read him...
A less well known, is Allen Steele...
and the Pern series by Anne McCaffery.

[Admin]

Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant,

GAG. That was one of the worst series I've ever read. It is rare to find an author who manages to be the apex of both pretentiousness and predictability.

[Bakiryu]

Ender's Game, Anything by Anne Rice, Eragon and Eldest, and the Bartimaeus Trilogy by J. Stroud.

[Lily Adams]

I've pretty much covered Wells. My favorite has to be The Island of Doctor Moreau followed closely by the time machine. Actually I may have to read that one again, Doctor Moreau that is. Any specifics on Verne Lily?


Oh, okay. :D I agree, The Island of Doctor Moreau is great. But I might be prejudiced because it has certain ties with DEVO. :D

Verne...20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was really good. :) Try that one.

[mtpspur]

Andre Nrton is good for character and entertainment. Fred Saberhagen for his Berserker series, Keith Laumer for just about anything but the favorite is his early Retief series.

[Dark Star]

Pick up Frank Herbert's Dune series, Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Stranger In A Strange Land, and Time Enough For Love and any sci-fi George Martin has written. Also look into Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle series and Chronicles of Thomas Covenant along with David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus (extremely weird 1920s sci-fi). That's pretty much the best sci-fi has to offer, right there.

[Demian]

How is it that no one here has mentioned Phillip K. Dick? He is essential for anyone with a backgound in 'serious' fiction who wants a link to the zeitgeist of our time--solipism. He also has a clearly dystopian bent but with an avaricious sense of humor--unlike Heinlein and Asimov. Try Valis, The Man in the High Castle, Time Out of Joint, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik or The Eye in the Sky as a primer. Think of Orwell minus the self reverence or Calvino or Vonnegut (who's very close in tone) and you get the idea.:thumbs_up

[Noisms]

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is a classic that anyone interested in science fiction should read. It's one of those sci-fi books that had pulp origins (it was published as a 4-part serial in the magazine Galaxy) but at the same time manage to stand as great works of literature.

[ballb]

The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. Not only great SF but great literature too in my opinion.

[EAP]

I'll list ten authors.

Iain Banks
Hal Clement
Maureen McHugh
Ken MacLeod
Joan D. Vinge
Vernor Vinge
Karin Traviss
Connie Willis
Ursula Le Guin
Tony Daniels


Check 'em out.

[Niamh]

I'll list ten authors.

Iain Banks
Hal Clement
Maureen McHugh
Ken MacLeod
Joan D. Vinge
Vernor Vinge
Karin Traviss
Connie Willis
Ursula Le Guin
Tony Daniels


Check 'em out.
Suprised that you didnt mention Asimov.

Go with the Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy series. You'll laugh yourself to tears.:lol: =:bawling:

[EAP]

niamh,

I didn't mention Asimov because I wanted to focus on less famous (and better) authors.

[NikolaiI]

GAG. That was one of the worst series I've ever read. It is rare to find an author who manages to be the apex of both pretentiousness and predictability.

Ah! You didn't like it? I really love it.

George R.R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire is pretty awesome in my mind. R.R. Salvatore, The Dark Elf Trilogy. I also love most of Orson Scott Card, notably the Ender series. Treason was a good one. I liked the Alvin Maker series, too. My grandmother's actually met Card at a sci-fi convention, and he's written intros for her books. I like Roger Zelazny as an author.

Oh, a couple of those were fantasy instead of sci-fi. Thomas Covenant is fantasy; the Gap Cycle is sci-fi. Salvatore is fantasy (obviously), and so is A Song of Ice and Fire. Zelazny=also fantasy. Ender series is sci-fi, though, and very good, all of the books. There is the original novel, and then three after that, and also a parallel novel, I think that's all.

[PeterL]

Pick up Frank Herbert's Dune series, Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Stranger In A Strange Land, and Time Enough For Love and any sci-fi George Martin has written. Also look into Stephen Donaldson's Gap Cycle series and Chronicles of Thomas Covenant along with David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus (extremely weird 1920s sci-fi). That's pretty much the best sci-fi has to offer, right there.

I disagree with you about Martin and Donaldson, but Voyage to Arcturus is excellent, weird, and unlike most SF. It almost belongs in a category of its own.

[Bakiryu]

Anything by Ray Bradbury is pretty good!

[NikolaiI]

How is it that no one here has mentioned Phillip K. Dick? He is essential for anyone with a backgound in 'serious' fiction who wants a link to the zeitgeist of our time--solipism. He also has a clearly dystopian bent but with an avaricious sense of humor--unlike Heinlein and Asimov. Try Valis, The Man in the High Castle, Time Out of Joint, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik or The Eye in the Sky as a primer. Think of Orwell minus the self reverence or Calvino or Vonnegut (who's very close in tone) and you get the idea.:thumbs_up

I read a book, the early stories of P.K. Dick. It had Minority Report and the Unreconstructed M, I think. I liked them, and I liked all of them. A lot of them were warnings about the future, especially when we have destroyed the world with weapon-technology, or the take-overs by the machines.

[Dark Star]

I disagree with you about Martin and Donaldson, but Voyage to Arcturus is excellent, weird, and unlike most SF. It almost belongs in a category of its own.

Martin's fantasy is certainly stronger than the sci-fi, but all the sci-fi I've read (mostly short stories) has been worth picking up.

[Literary_Cat]

Douglas Adams.
Isaac Asimov.
Ray Bradbury.
Orson Scott Card.
Frank Herbert.
Ursula K. Le Guin.

These are some of the perhaps twenty all-time greats. It is not possible for any follower of science fiction not to have read something by one of these spectacular authors. (The most recent science fiction I've read is Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness--and it is, of course, spectacular.)

[EAP]

Card is overrated.

Edit: Martin's sci-fi is almost as good as Ursula Le Guin.

[PeterL]

Martin's fantasy is certainly stronger than the sci-fi, but all the sci-fi I've read (mostly short stories) has been worth picking up.

I have never read any of his short stories, so they may be good.

[Taliesin]

Harlan Ellison.
Have been reading his short stories lately, and man, some are really good. And quite sadistic as an author - especially "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream" and "Strange Wine" to name two nightmarish works that we liked a lot.
Also we'd suggest ""Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman", "Lonelyache" and "A Boy and His Dog".

[Dark Star]

I have never read any of his short stories, so they may be good.

What have you read of his work?

[SleepyWitch]

niamh,

I didn't mention Asimov because I wanted to focus on less famous (and better) authors.

better than Asimov :eek:?
now I'll need recommendations, as well.
I've never read any of those authors.. in which way are they better than Asimov? better stories? better characters? better writing? *curious*

[PeterL]

What have you read of his work?

Nothing worth remembering. I think I read A Game of Thrones and maybe something else.

[Robert Jordan]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is great no matter what age you are.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick is definetly a mind trip as well.
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke is great, and, if you were confused by the movie, it will all make sense once you have read the book.

[NikolaiI]

I read 2010, but have only seen 2001 (the movie). I thought I understood it well.

Ender's Game is great, I actually love everything I've read by Card, and all of the Ender series especially. I have a book of the "early" stories of Philip K. Dick, and have read those, but this is the second time that story's been recommended, so I guess I should get to it. :)

[Mark F.]

P K Dick's "A Scanner Darkly", "Ubik" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?".

[Literary_Cat]

Card is overrated.

Oh dear. You really think so? I've read his Ender Quartet, and I confess that after Ender's Game it might better be called "Quartet with Ender in There, Sometimes," but I enjoyed it very much. I found the character of Jane to be marvelously original.