• Quick note - the problem with Youtube videos not embedding on the forum appears to have been fixed, thanks to ZiprHead. If you do still see problems let me know.

sci-fi recommendation?

The only other Gibson book I've read was The Difference Engine, and it was nearly as bad. Maybe worse. I don't know, one is a pile of vomit and the other is a pile of feces, either way, I want the hours of my life spent reading that tripe back. :mad:
 
Dune series, the original 6. Good stuff. Hardcore, dense, dry at times. But most excellent. When I finished the last one, I thought, "Well, that's it for sci-fi. Guess I'll try LotR and get fantasy out of the way."

Well, not really. But Dune is sort of like that. A towering monument of human imagination.
 
Worm said:
Asimov (Foundation, Robots etc.)
Iain M. Banks (Player of Games et. al.)
Frank Herbert (Dune)
Robert Heinlein

Asmiov is my great first love, but I quickly got turned on to many others.
Click to expand...

Player of Games bugged me, because I didn't feel Mr. Banks has much of a grasp on game design. I liked the narrative structure and plot, but I really wasn't impressed with his descriptions of the game Azad.
 
Read Labyriths by Jorge Luis Borges.
Yeah, I know it's not science fiction. Read it anyway.
 
Morwen said:
Recently I've discovered Robert J. Sawyer (I've just translated one of his books) and he's not half bad. Daring and "hard" SF. There's lots of stuff out there.
Click to expand...

I second Sawyer. I've only read The Terminal Experiment all the way through, but I've read bits and pieces of other things he's written. Definitely one of the more thought-provoking sci-fi authors I've read.
 
Heinlein needs a special footnote. His heavyweight fans amongst sci-fi authors cringe at Stranger in a Strange Land. Mucho woo! If you can suspend your personal beliefs (assuming you're anti-woo), it's a fun book, but like Doc A's reaction to Baxter, I threw it across the room and knocked over a half-cup of coffee! I had the same reaction to Sturgeon's More Than Human.

Both are authors I enjoy, but it took me years to pick up another of their works. (Sturgeon redeemed himself IMHO by being the writer for The Trouble With Tribbles episode of the original Star Trek series.)

A similar talented writer who crossed the line and p*** you off?
Connie Willis - To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book are just plain damned good. I can't recommend them highly enough. But then she starts going completely woo in Lincoln's Dreams and then finally Passages, which seems ghost-written by Sylvia Browne! At that point I signed-off forever.

For anthologies - find reprint or originals of Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions. Might be the best primer of the Sci-Fi renaissance in the 60's. Ellisons own works, especially A Boy and His Dog, are also excellent.
 
Kullervo said:
Read Labyriths by Jorge Luis Borges.
Yeah, I know it's not science fiction. Read it anyway.
Click to expand...

Borges is one of my favorites. I don't know anyone who so inventively manages to pack infinity into a handful of pages.
 
I'm by no means an expert on sci-fi, and I share the OP's general sentiment.

I really loved Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan", and make a habit of recommending it to everyone. I also liked Azimov's "I, Robot", but that may have more to do with my arguably pathological fascination with humanoid robots than with the literary merits of the stories.
 
negativ said:
I'm by no means an expert on sci-fi, and I share the OP's general sentiment.

I really loved Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan", and make a habit of recommending it to everyone. I also liked Azimov's "I, Robot", but that may have more to do with my arguably pathological fascination with humanoid robots than with the literary merits of the stories.
Click to expand...

[nitpick]
Obviously you didn't like "I, Robot" enough to get the author's name right.

It's "Asimov".

[/nitpick]

We now return you to your regularly scheduled discussion, already in progress.

:)
 
Foolmewunz said:
Heinlein needs a special footnote. His heavyweight fans amongst sci-fi authors cringe at Stranger in a Strange Land. Mucho woo! If you can suspend your personal beliefs (assuming you're anti-woo), it's a fun book, but like Doc A's reaction to Baxter, I threw it across the room and knocked over a half-cup of coffee! I had the same reaction to Sturgeon's More Than Human.

Both are authors I enjoy, but it took me years to pick up another of their works. (Sturgeon redeemed himself IMHO by being the writer for The Trouble With Tribbles episode of the original Star Trek series.)

A similar talented writer who crossed the line and p*** you off?
Connie Willis - To Say Nothing of the Dog and Doomsday Book are just plain damned good. I can't recommend them highly enough. But then she starts going completely woo in Lincoln's Dreams and then finally Passages, which seems ghost-written by Sylvia Browne! At that point I signed-off forever.

For anthologies - find reprint or originals of Harlan Ellison's Dangerous Visions. Might be the best primer of the Sci-Fi renaissance in the 60's. Ellisons own works, especially A Boy and His Dog, are also excellent.
Click to expand...

Can't be certain, but maybe they were going for the money!! And, in Heinleins' case, he was trying to push a philosophy - well a version of a philosophy anyway especially in his later books. And I have good reason to believe (MidAmericon) that he enjoyed tweaking certain fans!!
 
Brin, Brin and more Brin. (David Brin I mean)

Great aliens? Read his Uplift series book (Especially Startide Rising, one of the most award-winning books in sci-fi). Historical extrapolation? Try Earth, the best near-future novel since Brave New World. Philosophical? Kiln People has a good look at the question of self, embedded in a private detective tale. (People can make thinking but temporary copies of themselves in order to do their dirty work for them.) Funny? The Practice Effect takes an outrageous premise and runs with it. And if you only saw the movie of "The Mailman", just try to put that talentless jerk Kevin Costner out of your mind. The book is better by orders of magnitude. His short stories are also great. I've linked Those Eyes several times when some UFO nut gets on the site here.

Of course, you can't go wrong with Asimov either.
 
Almo said:
Dune series, the original 6. Good stuff. Hardcore, dense, dry at times. But most excellent. When I finished the last one, I thought, "Well, that's it for sci-fi. Guess I'll try LotR and get fantasy out of the way."

Well, not really. But Dune is sort of like that. A towering monument of human imagination.
Click to expand...
Completely agreed. Everyone needs to read Dune, the whole series. God-Emperor is the dullest one, but it's worth going through it for the last two which are excellent and quite underrated.

Foolmewunz said:
Heinlein needs a special footnote. His heavyweight fans amongst sci-fi authors cringe at Stranger in a Strange Land. Mucho woo! If you can suspend your personal beliefs (assuming you're anti-woo), it's a fun book, but like Doc A's reaction to Baxter, I threw it across the room and knocked over a half-cup of coffee!
Click to expand...
Huh? Granted I'm about half-way through the book only, but I don't detect any "woo".... the closest thing I saw about that was Jubal's ambivalence towards hard atheism, and I'd hardly consider that being "woo".

Please no spoilers though. I'm not finished with the book.
 
Morrigan said:
Completely agreed. Everyone needs to read Dune, the whole series. God-Emperor is the dullest one, but it's worth going through it for the last two which are excellent and quite underrated.


Huh? Granted I'm about half-way through the book only, but I don't detect any "woo".... the closest thing I saw about that was Jubal's ambivalence towards hard atheism, and I'd hardly consider that being "woo".

Please no spoilers though. I'm not finished with the book.
Click to expand...

Totally agree on the original Dune. I lost interest in the sequels, maybe just because they don't hold a candle to the original. But I have to say I really like the prequels. They were bound to disappoint in some fashion, but I think they had more the flavor of Dune than not.

Stranger in a Strange Land.... Let's wait 'til you finish.
 
I disagree, Heretics of Dune and Chapterhouse: Dune are the best of the series after the first novel. Great stuff. I avoid the prequels, though. It's not only not canon and contradicts the Dune mythos, but also, a reliable source told me to stay away. :)

About Stranger in a Strange Land: ok, I'll get back to you on that.
 
Someone mentioned C.J. Cherryh, and I'd go along with that - with restrictions. Ignore the fantasy. She's written a lot of that too. Cyteen isn't bad, and the Pride of Chanur is pretty good. I liked the two stories related to the Hellburner development - that would be Heavy Time and Hellburner. There's some stories from that series that I've yet to get. Living in Germany kind of makes english language novels expensive.

If you can find an anthology with "A Boy and his Dog" in it, I'd suggest you read it. Just be prepared for one hell of a twist. I don't know how well the film with Don Johnson actually captured the story - I've never seen it.

David Brin's The Practice Effect is a pretty fun story. Remember that, it is just fun and not to be taken seriously.

If you can, find Orson Scott Card's "Eye for Eye." It isn't what you'd call hard SF, but I liked it.

Asimov, yes. I'm hard pressed to think of anything I didn't like that he wrote. If you can find it, get a copy of the "I, Robot" collection. All robot stories (obvously.) My favorite from that collection is Al-76 goes Astray.

I liked Heinlein's juveniles when I was a kid. Red Planet, Have Spacesuit will Travel, Between Planets. Good stuff. I also like the Lazarus Long stories.

Jerry Pournelle has some good stuff. King David's Spaceship, The Mote in God's Eye, The Moat around God's Eye. Also the John Christian Falkenberg stories.

David Drake's "Hammer's Slammers" books. Good stuff if you are into the military and what men (and women) do when faced with death and combat. Starliner is good, and Redliners. Also check out his Lt. Leary stories.

Pohl's Gateway stories are good. There's like three or four novels that go together.

M.K. Wren wrote a really good series. The Sword of the Lamb, The Shadow of the Swan, and The House of the Wolf. Very good stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom