Saw the post about water on Mars. Rather than threadjack, thought I'd start a new one. What's your favorite sci-fi book?
I just re-read "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card, which is one of my favorites. Also like "Childhood's End" by Clarke, as well as most stuff by Heinlein and Asimov. Can anyone recommend anything recently published? Got some time this summer and would like to read some high-quality, intelligent sci-fi.
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451(published in 1953 :)), and his shorts, like "A sound of Thunder"
451 is a great book. I've read most of the classic sci-fi novels. Any newer recommendations?
If you like Ender's Game(and I do!) try Enders Shadow.
Also:
Young Miles by Lois McMaster Bujold. . . . . Start there, then read the rest of the Miles books.
Legacies by L.E.Modesitt Jr. . . .The Corean chronicles
1632 by Eric Flint
Callahans Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson
Military SF:
David Drake, John Ringo (Especially the posleen series), David Weber, Eric Flint, Elizabeth Moon - The vatta Wars saga.
Not Science Fiction per se, but still a damn good read: The Two Bear Mambo by Joe R. Lansdale.
Hope this helps.
Jeff
if you've not read all of the 2001/2010/2061/3001 quadrilogy, then do it!
the otherland series by tad williams is good stuff.
and, uh... i don't read as much as i should. :P
Recent? wow... now that you mention it I think it's hard to find good stuff written in this decade. The most recently published sci-fi novel I've bought would be "Manifold Time" by Stephen Baxter (2000)
I think I prefer the heady idealism of sci-fi from the last generation or two and when I'm in Half-Price Books that's what I usually walk out with. Even if you've read all the classics you might have missed these gems -
"The Black Cloud" (1957)
"October the 1st is too late" (1966) both by Fred Hoyle, the guy who thought the Big Bang theory is pish-posh, but he could write a good book [thumbsup]
Somewhat more recent and of a fantastical style are
"Radix" (1981) by A.A. Attanasio
"Mindflight" (1978) by Stephen Goldin
+1, modern Sci-fi is rather lack luster on the whole. I can't come up with a single book I wouldn't be embarrassed to admit I read..... :-[ but good thread, it may well turn over some good nuggets..... [thumbsup]
I've been pushing the Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars trilogy in another thread - those books have won EVERY major sci fi prize their is.
Alastair Reynolds write gothic sci fi - startlingly good. Chasm City stands out most in the series. [thumbsup]
Oh, and THIS series will sit you back on you ass - Ilyium (book 1) and Olympus (bk 2): simply mind blowing.
I have to admit it has been decades since I read sci-fi. This will date me: I had a subscription to Omni Magazine for years. still have a bunch of them.
I'd have to go with the classics:
Bradbury, Clarke, Henlein, Asimov, Philip K. Dick. I remember trying to read William Gibson's Neuromancer in college, but I guess I was too distracted to ever finish it. At the time I thought it was extremely dense, but in retrospect, I will have to go back and pick it up again as I recall it is just freakily prescient about many things (e.g., the Internet, etc.).
I'm embarrassed to say I can't recall any recent sci-fi that I've read, probably because I've displaced it with other contemporary literature and history.
Maybe I'll look at some of the suggested titles offered up here. Thanks, dudes!
The Year Star Dust Fell...Raymond F. Jones......Chariot of the Gods ...Erich Von Daniken
Quote from: JohnnyDucati on June 22, 2008, 10:06:42 PM
I have to admit it has been decades since I read sci-fi. This will date me: I had a subscription to Omni Magazine for years. still have a bunch of them.
That magazine was great! it had a lot of good short stories too. Perfect companion piece to Penthouse [thumbsup]
Quote from: factorPlayer on June 22, 2008, 10:31:24 PM
That magazine was great! it had a lot of good short stories too. Perfect companion piece to Penthouse [thumbsup]
I bet I can guess which one you would read 1st .
The water on Mars thing made one thing pop in my head:
Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
the crazy thing is how much of the farenheiht 451 has actually come true over the years, ie, people getting bored with books wanting only snippets of stories, usuaing televisions as their "family time" for their "reality tv" that is crazy.
Asimov's Foundation Trilogy is one of my all time favs. Recently I've been into some cyberpunk. William Gibson's Nueromancer,
Neal stephenson's Snow Crash is a great example
Enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies. Kinda noir detective/cyberpunk set in the far future
with Martian influence
link to the supposed top 100 sci fi books :P
http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html
+1 on the Foundation series of books from Asimov [thumbsup]
Quote from: roy-nexus-6 on June 23, 2008, 02:35:45 AM
link to the supposed top 100 sci fi books :P
http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html
that's a cool site... I like how it has pics of the old-school book covers too. [thumbsup]
Quote from: factorPlayer on June 23, 2008, 05:54:59 AM
that's a cool site... I like how it has pics of the old-school book covers too. [thumbsup]
I actually have a small collection of vintage sci fi books :)
Frank Herbert's "Dune"
Brain Herbert did a great job following up on his fathers work.
Everything from Gibson is really good (Neuromance, Idoru, Burning Chrome, Mona Lisa Overdrive, etc), but they are best if you read them in the order they were written in. They aren't a series per se, but there are some characters and references that return in later writings and reading them in order really helps to flesh out the character development.
That list of 100 top SF isn't bad, but it has a decidedly "hard SF" bias (i.e. the list likes the geeky stuff)
Now if you're looking for real literature... Gene Wolfe. Especially his "Book of the New Sun" series.
Rather tan gush on about how much I like the guy, I'll quote his peers :)
Award-winning science fiction author Michael Swanwick has said: "Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today. Let me repeat that: Gene Wolfe is the greatest writer in the English language alive today! I mean it. Shakespeare was a better stylist, Melville was more important to American letters, and Charles Dickens had a defter hand at creating characters. But among living writers, there is nobody who can even approach Gene Wolfe for brilliance of prose, clarity of thought, and depth in meaning."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Wolfe
M.John Harrison -Light
Its not new, but 2003 and quite good, i think
+1 on Gene Wolfe, Dan Simmons and Alastair Reynolds.
While I can appreciate the old stuff, i'd say the new stuff is plenty good, also.
Quote from: Rev. Millertime on June 22, 2008, 10:45:56 PM
Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
ooh, good one - also, Sirens of Titan.
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers.
Sci-fi/fantasy. Time travel, magic, romantic poets, a sadistic surgically-altered clown, and a body-swapping werewolf.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anubis_Gates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anubis_Gates)
Foundation trilogy, but also anything by Asimov. I read a book of short stories about robots, can't remember what it was called, but one of them was Bicentennial Man (which became a truly craptastic Robin Williams movie).
Dune, but don't bother with anything beyond the first one. Read another half dozen books to find out that no, Herbert didn't have anywhere he was going.
Snow Crash, and less popular but equally as good The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.
Recently enjoyed The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin.
Otherworld series by Tad Williams, who also wrote an awesome book called Tailchaser's Song about the secret lives of cats.
The Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert - Pretty rare, and rarer still to find someone who has read it, but it's a great book. Copies can be found on Amazon occasionally.
Quote from: scienceiscool on June 23, 2008, 06:11:09 PM
Recently enjoyed The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula LeGuin.
Just saw the movie made from that. Odd.
Peter F. Hamilton: The Reality Disfunction 1 & 2, The Neutronium Alchemist 1 & 2, The Naked God 1 & 2.
C.J. Cherryh, the Foreigner series.
David Drake is one of my favorite authors, the Hammer's Slammers series is a stand out in military sci-fi, and for a space opera take on Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels try Drake's Lt. Leary series.
Battlefield Earth -L. Ron Hubbard. The best of the best.
Lots of classics already mentioned. [thumbsup]
A newer one I quite liked was Hellspark (http://www.amazon.com/Hellspark-Janet-Kagan/dp/0965834522/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1214337660&sr=1-1) by Janet Kagan.
Quote from: krolik on June 23, 2008, 07:52:52 PM
C.J. Cherryh, the Foreigner series.
+1
Also cherryh: the Chanur series
Might have to get some of these, I haven't read any "new" sci-fi in over a decade.
Huge Bradbury fan. [thumbsup]
Quote from: hbliam on June 23, 2008, 08:18:26 PM
Battlefield Earth -L. Ron Hubbard. The best of the best.
ga-whaaaaaa? Think you forgot the deadpan smiley there or sumthin'
Though it certainly might be an interesting read, L-Ron was always an imaginitive guy. But if I want 1000+pages of pathos I'll go back to the unabridged version of The Stand
Damn near anything from Asimov is great, I particularly liked the Ringworld stuff (really cool technical concept there).
I *think* I read The Dosadi Experiment, but it's been a loooong time since I've read SF.
Quote from: Rev. Millertime on June 22, 2008, 10:45:56 PM
Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut.
+1
His book Timequake is also good...and fairly recent.
Quote from: Speeddog on June 24, 2008, 03:31:49 PM
Damn near anything from Asimov is great, I particularly liked the Ringworld stuff (really cool technical concept there).
I *think* I read The Dosadi Experiment, but it's been a loooong time since I've read SF.
I agree, Asimov is a wonderful writer.
So is Larry Niven, the guy who wrote Ringworld.
Anything by Kilgore Trout.
Quote from: Bun-bun on June 24, 2008, 04:49:11 PM
I agree, Asimov is a wonderful writer.
So is Larry Niven, the guy who wrote Ringworld.
My memory is officially shot. [roll]
Greg Bear is a contemporary SF writer who comes to mind for me. His "Darwin's Radio" is about six years old and is an intelligent take on "quantum leaps" in evolution. I enjoyed it and it's follow-up, "Darwin's Children."
Quote from: factorPlayer on June 24, 2008, 03:24:46 PM
ga-whaaaaaa? Think you forgot the deadpan smiley there or sumthin'
Though it certainly might be an interesting read, L-Ron was always an imaginitive guy. But if I want 1000+pages of pathos I'll go back to the unabridged version of The Stand
Have you read it?
Speaking of Bradbury
http://www.lbreport.com/news/jun08/bradacre.htm
Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein.
Quote from: Spike on June 26, 2008, 06:03:14 PM
Starship Troopers, Robert Heinlein.
I just reread it for the umpteenth time a couple of months ago. [thumbsup]
Bugs Mr Rico! Zillions of 'em! I'm a-burnin' down!
Quote from: sleestak on June 24, 2008, 06:29:59 PM
Greg Bear is a contemporary SF writer who comes to mind for me. His "Darwin's Radio" is about six years old and is an intelligent take on "quantum leaps" in evolution. I enjoyed it and it's follow-up, "Darwin's Children."
Agreed, Bear is excellent (most of the time, although I thought Darwin's Radio & Children were a kind of stale myself). The Forge of God series is good tho.
Dan Simmons (Hyperion series is excellent) is another excellent contemporary sci fi writer who likes to work with the relationships between religion and technology.
My favorite sci fi author of all time is Gene Wolf. He has an amazing range, especially in his short stories, but his main theme is exploring what it means to be human. Sounds campy I know, but he does this in a way totally different from other writers. If you haven't read this guy, check him out. The Fifth Head of Cerberus is a good place to start (a triad of connected stories, one of his early works), or The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories which is a great set of short stories that exposes his range. He is also one of the few fantasy writers I can stomach. His stuff really isn't sci fi or fantasy, but more "speculative fiction" in the mode of Vonnegut without the political commentary. Check out The Book of the New Sun series if you like the fantasy angle. I can't recommend this guy enough, if you like sci fi and haven't read Wolfe you are really missing out.
Quote from: darylbowden on June 24, 2008, 04:59:18 PM
Anything by Kilgore Trout.
+11ty billion. i have a copy of 'venus on the halfshell'. it's one of my prized possessions.
+1 on Ender's Game, This book was apparently on the Marine corps reading list as a certain Corporal Couts suggested it to me. (They like their Marines to read a book now and then)
Also, the Illustrated Man, Bradbury 1951. 18 short stories tied together by the "illustrated man" If you like Tatoos that move, this book is for you.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Or anything by Douglas Adams
Quote from: hbliam on June 24, 2008, 06:36:45 PM
Have you read it?
I actually did come across a copy of Battlefield Earth in the 80's and started it, but gave up after the first 300 pages. Granted I was 12 or so, but already reading most sci-fi books around.
Quote from: factorPlayer on June 27, 2008, 07:23:27 PM
I actually did come across a copy of Battlefield Earth in the 80's and started it, but gave up after the first 300 pages. Granted I was 12 or so, but already reading most sci-fi books around.
I first read it at 11. I've re-read it about 8 or 9 times. Try it again. It does start off a bit slow but the last 700 plus pages are better then the first 300. LOL.