Any scifi fans? I'm looking for reading suggestions. [Archive]

Juke_spin

03-30-2007, 01:07 PM

garvey, man you have just got to check out the short stories of Gene Wolfe's "The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories" (http://www.amazon.com/Island-Dr-Death-Other-Stories/dp/067149516X/ref=sr_1_3/104-0589474-2598357?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175274197&sr=1-3)
It contains some twenty stories from a few pages to near novella length, amongst which are the title story, "The Death of Dr Island", "The Dr of Death Island", "Seven American Nights", "Alien Stones" (perhaps my favorite)) and more.

JustinB

03-30-2007, 01:31 PM

Any particular genre?
Classics are Heinlein, Herbert, Wells, Wolfe, Niven, Clarke, etc.

SciFi Fantasy are some by Piers Anthony, Zelazny (Zelazny way WAY better)
Cyberpunk - Gibson, Bruce Sterling (Don't ever read difference engine by the two of them), Stephenson
War sci-fi : Pournelle
Hard sci-fi is based on tech today or next year, not millions of years away
Juvenile Sci-fi can be fun too. Robert Forward, some of Heinlein (have space suit, will travel)
Category of his own is Phillip K Dick. Several movies over the years have been based on his works, including Blade Runner, paycheck, minority report, total recall, and more. But, to get a feel for what his books are REALLY like, see A scanner darkly, though you are much more likely to understand it if you have read the book first.

Just as a warning, if you are interested in Herbert or Heinlein, there are certainly books that are much better than others.

This is a good list. http://www.worldcon.org/hy.html

-- JB

Hellonwheels

03-30-2007, 01:34 PM

I used to read lots of Sci-fi, but any more I need reading glasses, which I can't take on & off by myself. I can recommend some "classic" stuff, though. My favorite is the "Dune" series by Frank Herbert (nothing like that crappy movie, trust me). Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy is also great. I enjoyed the "Dragonriders of Pern" series by Anne McCaffrey; sounds like fantasy, but it's not (no spells, etc.).

rfbdorf

03-31-2007, 01:59 AM

I like Larry Niven, also Pournelle. My all-time favorite is "The Flying Sorcerers," by Niven and Gerrold - it's real SF, any "magic" and spells are based on biology. Lots of humor and references to other SF authors, too.
- Richard

cass

03-31-2007, 03:04 AM

The Time Traveler's Wife

The Barnes & Noble Review from Discover Great New Writers
Often lighthearted, thoroughly original, and ultimately profoundly moving, Audrey Niffenegger's first novel tells the story of two people destined to be together: Clare, a perfectly normal woman, and Henry, a time-traveler.

According to the unique rules that Niffenegger creates, Henry travels unexpectedly and mostly to his own past, often when he is "all stressed out and [has] lost his grip on now." As Henry explains when he first meets Clare: "…the person you know doesn't exist yet. Stick with me, and sooner or later he's bound to appear. That's the best I can do." And while it's true that Henry travels to different moments in time, he also travels from them as well. He frequently gets lost in time and doesn't know "when" he is.
But the real story of the book is the lifelong love Clare and Henry share as they try to make the most of the times they have together -- the times when Henry is not traveling. Subtle but powerful, The Time Traveler's Wife is a book whose importance becomes more evident with each turn of the page, provoking readers to ask themselves if they've made the most of the moments of their lives --moments so fleeting, they could be time travelers themselves. (Fall 2003 Selection)

The New Yorker
Young lovers often believe themselves crossed by fate or by time, but those in Niffenegger’s spirited first novel have more reason than most. Henry suffers from Chrono-Impairment—a quasi-medical condition that catapults him, unwillingly, from one random point in time to another. Clare first meets him in 1977, when she is six and he materializes near her parents’ garden as a thirty-six-year-old from 2000; he returns regularly throughout her childhood from different times in their shared future. At last, when Clare is twenty and Henry twenty-eight, they meet in his present, and the relationship begins in earnest. But romance proves even trickier than usual when one person keeps vanishing to distant, and occasionally dangerous, times. Niffenegger plays ingeniously in her temporal hall of mirrors, but fails to make the connection between the lovers as compelling as their odd predicament.

I think the New Yorker missed by a mile, though, on that last remark. Or maybe 10 miles. PUN FULLY INTENDED :applaud:

Juke_spin

03-31-2007, 03:07 AM

The Time Traveler's Wife

Come on cass, you don't have to sugar-coat it like that.:p

cass

03-31-2007, 03:24 AM

:amen: say AMEN. Baloney again.

Mark Knopfler

heh heh

We Don't Eat In No White Restaurant
We're Eatin' In The Car
Baloney Again, Baloney Again
We Don't Sleep In No White Hotel Bed
We're Sleepin' In The Car, Baloney Again
You Don't Strut Around In These Country Towns
You Best Stay In The Car
Look On Ahead Don't Stare Around
You Best Stay Where You Are
You're A Long Way From Home, Boy
Don't Push Your Luck Too Far
Baloney Again

Twenty-Two Years We've Sung The Word
Since Nineteen Thirty-One
Amen, I Say Amen
Now The Young Folk Want To Praise The Lord
With Guitar, Bass And Drums, Amen
We'll Never Get Tired Of Jesus
But It's Been A Heavy Load
Carrying His Precious Love
Down A Long Dirt Road
We're A Long Way From Home
Just Let's Pay The Man And Go
Baloney Again

The Lord Is My Shepherd
He Leadeth Me In Pastures Green
He Gave Us This Day
Our Daily Bread And Gasoline
Go Under The Willow
Park Her Up Beside The Stream
Shoulders For Pillows
Lay Down Your Head And Dream

which has nothin to do w/topic....just sharin w/juke. i like this song.

cass

03-31-2007, 03:37 AM

then there's The Alchemist. depends on how strictly you define sci fi.

vonnegut often gets put there as does doris lessing.

cass

03-31-2007, 03:49 AM

My favorite is the "Dune" series by Frank Herbert (nothing like that crappy movie, trust me).

which "crappy movie?" william hurt or patrick stewart? i liked them both.

Tiger Racing

03-31-2007, 03:53 AM

I have access to a pretty good public library and there's a Barnes and Nobles just up the road. Please list any favorite authors and/or titles if you're a scifi fan.
I read more fantasy now than hardcore sci-fi, but I would recommend all the classics. Asimov was one of my favorite authors growing up and everyone needs to read Heinlein. Two of my all time favorite authors are Anne McCaffrey and Piers Anthony. If I could live in any world I've ever read about, it would be McCaffrey's Pern and if you haven't read Anthony's books, you could be busy for the next year. The Incarnations of Immortality are stunning, as are the Adept and Cluster series and Of Man and Manta. The first three books in the Xanth Trilogoy are classic literature and the next 20 or so books are just plain fun. Katherine Kurtz has just had another book about the Deryni published and I've been thinking of re-reading Jacqueline Lichtenberg's books on the Sime/Gen. Eddings' Belgariad and Mallorean Series are pure fantasy novels, but if you have any interest in that genre, those are some of the best.

One book I would heartily suggest that you avoid is called "Arachne". It's a cyber-punk novel that absolutely sucked. I had to force myself to finish reading it. Just bad, bad, bad writing.

C.

Juke_spin

03-31-2007, 04:38 AM

One book I would heartily suggest that you avoid is called "Arachne". It's a cyber-punk novel that absolutely sucked. I had to force myself to finish reading it. Just bad, bad, bad writing.

C.

Twenty-three Amazon reviewers mostly loved it:
http://www.amazon.com/Arachne-Lisa-Mason/dp/0380729717/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-0589474-2598357?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175330050&sr=1-2

This is such an astounding book that I don't know where to begin praising it. I first discovered ARACHNE back in the mid-90s only because I happened to stumble on the long out-of-print first edition in a used bookstore. I remember reading it with a growing mix of admiration and frustration. My final verdict back then: ARACHNE so completely transcended the normal hardboiled/cyberpunk categories that it was going to have to wait another quarter of a century to be recognized as the groundbreaking book it was. In fact it reminded me of Howard Aiken's great aphorism about originality: "Don't worry about people stealing an idea; if it's original you'll have to shove it down their throats." How wonderful then to see ARACHNE back in print! Go forth, gentle reader, and buy a copy of your very own. I can't promise you'll like it ... but I think the odds are good. Meanwhile I've got my fingers crossed that the rest of the SF world is finally catching up to Lisa Mason.:D

Juke_spin

03-31-2007, 04:39 AM

Nice comeback, cass.

Tiger Racing

03-31-2007, 07:40 AM

Twenty-three Amazon reviewers mostly loved it
23? I saw only three reviews.

I'm actually astonished that anyone could rave over that book. It was SO bad, it was painful. The concept was really interesting (although I only bought it because of the name), but the writing was entirely overwrought. I haven't read much cyberpunk, so I don't know how it compares to others of the genre, but one of the other things that annoyed me about the book is that Lisa Mason appears to be one of those writers that thinks graphic language makes a story "gritty" or something. Bleah. I cuss like a truck driver IRL, but if you're going to put it in print, it needs to mean something or you just sound like a 14 yr old showing off in front of your friends.

C.

Juke_spin

03-31-2007, 08:22 AM

23? I saw only three reviews.

I'm actually astonished that anyone could rave over that book. It was SO bad, it was painful. The concept was really interesting (although I only bought it because of the name), but the writing was entirely overwrought. I haven't read much cyberpunk, so I don't know how it compares to others of the genre, but one of the other things that annoyed me about the book is that Lisa Mason appears to be one of those writers that thinks graphic language makes a story "gritty" or something. Bleah. I cuss like a truck driver IRL, but if you're going to put it in print, it needs to mean something or you just sound like a 14 yr old showing off in front of your friends.

C.
Yeah, I misread the number and only posted for the fun of goading you. This from Publisher's Weekly alerted me that the author might be addicted to overblown language or be otherwise deficient:

The prose in Mason's first book is uneven, but her inventive portmanteau vocabulary clearly depicts the wonders of a San Francisco 43 years after a second major 21st-century quake. http://www.amazon.com/Arachne-Lisa-Mason/dp/0380729717/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/104-0589474-2598357?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175330050&sr=1-2

Even good, well established authors can write a bad book from time to time. I like, usually a lot, the SF of Robert Heinlein but his THE DOOR INTO SUMMER (http://www.amazon.com/DOOR-INTO-SUMMER-Robert-Heinlein/dp/B000AP40SS/ref=sr_1_1/104-0589474-2598357?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175343449&sr=1-1) was such a miserable effort that I wound up throwing the book across the room after finishing about seventy pages. Now I see that of some eighty-five reviewers on Amazon,most thought very highly of it. Go figure!:agog::zombie::nono::mega:

garvey

03-31-2007, 08:48 AM

Thanks all - you have inspired me to revisit some authors that I still have not read or who have books I have'nt gotten to - especially Heinlein.
I think I've read everything Frank Herbert wrote - and I prefer the "William Hurt" version of Dune and Children of Dune - I wish whoever did those series would cointinue with the rest of the Dune series - love all of those books and will re-read them all someday - I like the pre-quels as well that Herbert's son colloborated on.

And I liked "The Difference Engine" - I guess I'm just that much of a geek!
I love Gibson, Stirlling, Niven (I'm returning a Niven/Barnes book to the library today) and I can't wait for Stephenson's next work - I think his Baroque trilogy may have been some of the best books I ever encountered!

I look forward to sitting in some nice spring weather with a few good books - thanks.

djas57

03-31-2007, 12:18 PM

I love Isaac Asimov. Just read "Ignition Point"
read it in my pre SCI life.
available in paperbacks.

antiquity

03-31-2007, 01:21 PM

Hubby loves R.A. Salvatore but I can't get into his stuff.

McCaffrey's Dragonriders and Crystal Singer, Anthonys Xanth series, Alan Dean Fosters Pip & Flinx and Spellsingers series and Elizabeth Scarborough's Christening Quest/Bronwyns Bane etc., provided much needed escapism when I was a teen.

The last fantasy books I read as an adult were the Cheysuli series by Jennifer Roberson.

All good stuff.

Steven Edwards

03-31-2007, 01:30 PM

If you can find the old Shadowrun novels (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Shadowrun_books#Novels), they're (mostly) gold. Preying for Keeps was the last one I read pre-SCI.

Hellonwheels

03-31-2007, 02:41 PM

I didn't think I'd have to distinguish the two Dune film versions to anyone who had read the book.
The "William Hurt version" was a miniseries done for the Sci-Fi channel and was actually pretty good. They also did one incorporating Dune Messiah & Children of Dune, again pretty faithful for TV.
The theatrical version starring Kyle MacLachlan was completely rediculous and almost unrecognizable.

Hellonwheels

03-31-2007, 02:45 PM

There's another series I really enjoyed but can't remember the name of. Can anybody recall the guy called "Halfhand" or something like that who had leprosy?

Tiger Racing

03-31-2007, 04:04 PM

There's another series I really enjoyed but can't remember the name of. Can anybody recall the guy called "Halfhand" or something like that who had leprosy?
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. Some of the most brilliant, most depressing books I've ever read. New books are due out for this series in the next couple of years, too.

C.

Tiger Racing

03-31-2007, 04:10 PM

I misread the number and only posted for the fun of goading you.
Yeah, I figured.

Even good, well established authors can write a bad book from time to time.
True.

C.

Hellonwheels

03-31-2007, 07:26 PM

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever. Some of the most brilliant, most depressing books I've ever read. New books are due out for this series in the next couple of years, too.

C.

Thanks. The way it ended, I didn't figure there would be any more.

Tiger Racing

03-31-2007, 08:55 PM

Thanks. The way it ended, I didn't figure there would be any more.
Have you read The Runes of the Earth? Published a couple of years ago, it is the first book of four planned for the Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I haven't actually read it myself, but my mother has and says she enjoyed it. The second book, coming out later this year, will be called Fatal Revenant.

C.

cass

03-31-2007, 09:55 PM

I didn't think I'd have to distinguish the two Dune film versions to anyone who had read the book.

The theatrical version starring Kyle MacLachlan was completely rediculous and almost unrecognizable.

why? what would you have done differently, given the year/technology and the running time?

Gimpy77

03-31-2007, 10:54 PM

Finish all of Hienline and AC Clarks books, do Ring World, then P. Anthony, Orson Scott Cards seiries ie good, and now Donaldson is finishing off the Unbelievers books. ( Damn open quotes are driveing me nuts. Tell me t's a bad proff reader.)

-Terry

Gimpy77

03-31-2007, 10:57 PM

Or if your just in it for a fast feel, get M. Mprecocks "Gor" seairis for the male version of romance novles. LOL

dan_nc

03-31-2007, 11:38 PM

dan_nc

03-31-2007, 11:39 PM

why? what would you have done differently, given the year/technology and the running time?

Wasn't that the Lynch movie?

cass

04-01-2007, 12:01 AM

dan_nc

04-01-2007, 12:12 AM

I remember seeing a really long version of the Lynch film and really enjoying it. Later, I rented a copy to watch with a buddy, who couldn't follow the story line. I kept saying, "don't you remember ....." and then realized it had been cut out of the version we were watching.

orangejello

04-01-2007, 06:40 PM

I was not a fan of the genre until I went to a conference about three years ago on science fiction and social change. I went to it initially only because my (very nervous) partner was presenting a paper and I wanted to give him moral support. The conference blew my mind and I was immediately hooked on science fiction after that. It felt like a whole new world had opened up for me :)

Some of my favorites:
Jose Philip Farmer's "Riverworld" series
The First and Last Man by Olaf Stapleton
Voyage to Arcturus by David Lindsay
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke
The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing (and to a lesser extent its sequel "Ben in the World")
"The Handmaids Tale" and "Oryx and Krake" both by Margaret Atwood

Some science fiction purists would argue about whether these two series are true "science fiction" but I absolutely LOVE Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ("A trilogy in five parts" :D) and Grant Naylor's Red Dwarf books

alpentalic

04-01-2007, 06:48 PM

"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card and the ensuing few series books are great! I hear there is a movie in the works?

titanium4motion

04-01-2007, 07:06 PM

One of my favorite science fiction read is Alas Babylon by Pat Frank about a nuclear holocaust; 1960. I mostly read espionage and intrigue fiction or legal thrillers. I recently read The Traveler by JohnTwelve Hawks.

Both are easy simple reads.

titanium4motion

Tiger Racing

04-01-2007, 07:27 PM

Some science fiction purists would argue about whether these two series are true "science fiction" but I absolutely LOVE Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Hitchhiker's Guide is as much Sci-fi as the Xanth books are fantasy. It doesn't all have to be deeply meaningful. Books should be fun, too.

That being said, Hitchhiker's Guide actually has more, warped meaning in it than a lot of other books out there.

C.

Gimpy77

04-01-2007, 10:27 PM

Free clue, if you see the words L. Ron Hubbard. Go as fast as you can the opposite direction. He wrote crappy Sci-Fi, how it became a religion ranks up there way above pyramids, naska lines or stone hinge.

Gimpy

JustinB

04-02-2007, 12:31 AM

For fantasy, my new favorite is Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel series. It is hot! I read all the traditional high fantasy/science fiction. I like Orson Scott Card, David Eddings, Greg Egan, CJ Cherryh, Jennifer Roberson, Anne McCaffrey, Clifford Simak, Douglas Adams, Larry Niven, Robert Heinlein, the entire Duneverse (Frank Herbert, Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson), William Gibson, Mercedes Lackey, RA Salvatore, Robert Silverberg, Laurell K. Hamilton, JRR Tolkien, Neil Gaiman ... hmmm those are the ones off the top of my head.
You missed George R R Martin for fantasy. I've read most of the authors you listed (though would classify Lackey as popcorn and Hamilton as vampire/bodice ripper).

Also, try Zodiac by Niel Stephenson. It isn't anything like his other books, but it is REALLY funny.

-- JB

cass

04-02-2007, 12:39 AM

JustinB

04-02-2007, 12:46 AM

With Heinlein, introduce yourself to him with books written before 1961. This isn't to say later works weren't excellent, just less sci-fi and more romance (in my opinion. Please don't flame me).

Dune is a harsh intro to sci-fi. It is great as a series, but I found it slow for the first 100-150 pages or so. I finished reading all he had available many years ago, so I can't make any strong recommendations here. If you try Dune, do your best to read past the first 150 pages.

Oh, and stop reading Dune after book 4 (go ahead, flame away).

I strongly recommend reading short stories by many of these authors. Heinlein, PKD (Phillip K Dick), Ray Bradbury, Asimov all have published amazing short story collections.

Last, I couldn't stand it, but I have friends that swear that Perdido Street Station by China Miéville was one of the best sci-fi novels they've ever read

Hellonwheels

04-02-2007, 02:51 PM

I thought Dune was thoroughly absorbing, but not for the feint of heart. I discovered things I'd missed even on the third reading. I've never seen another author create a universe so deeply and completely. If you're mostly a short story fan, this probably isn't your cup of tea, but if you like getting immersed in alternate worlds (like D&D, etc., though this is completely different) you might really enjoy it. The original Dune is not only my favorite sci-fi book, but favorite book period.
I disagree on Chapterhouse & Heretics of Dune. My only gripe was that the last one left me hanging, but Herbert never got to finish the next one.

Hellonwheels

04-02-2007, 03:08 PM

yes. herbert expressed satisfaction with it, lynch did not. there are at least 3 cuts of it available. it had an amazing array of actors.

i first read dune when not even a teenager. my oldest brother gave it to me. i was prob 9 or 10. i still have his copy.

Just a few gripes with the movie (nerd alert):
McLachlan was completely wrong for Paul, who was supposed to be small.
Movie Jessica is bald? She was supposed to have beautiful blonde hair.
What the heck were those idiotic sonic weapons that they would shout to fire? Was that supposed to be the "weirding way" of fighting?
Overall, it was a standard Hollywood "Ten Commandments" treatment of a good book.

I recommend the Sci-fi series if it's on DVD.

orangejello

04-02-2007, 03:27 PM

The Handmaid's Tale is a classic. but anything by atwood is. however, like lessing, most of her books are not sci fi. lessing had her wonderful africa period, having grown up in so. rhodesia, her feminist writings, then sci fi and now...who knows? vonnegut too. excellent writers. esp. crossing genres.

Atwood is perhaps my favorite female author. I have not read Lessing as extensively as I have Atwood, but I am hoping to read more of her in the future. I think the reason I liked Atwood's two forays into science fiction is that they were such a break with her other writing, yet still kept that Atwoodian essence. I imagine it is the same with Lessing given she is not a "science fiction writer" either. I am a long time Vonnegut fan as well.

This is going off topic, but have you read Atwood's latest short story collection Moral Disorder? If so what did you think? I have it but have not gotten around to reading it yet.

cass

04-02-2007, 11:33 PM

cass

04-02-2007, 11:55 PM

Just a few gripes with the movie (nerd alert):
McLachlan was completely wrong for Paul, who was supposed to be small.
Movie Jessica is bald? She was supposed to have beautiful blonde hair.
What the heck were those idiotic sonic weapons that they would shout to fire? Was that supposed to be the "weirding way" of fighting?
Overall, it was a standard Hollywood "Ten Commandments" treatment of a good book.

I recommend the Sci-fi series if it's on DVD.

valid points, however, i didn't see them as completely stealing the story line. they were afraid paul's way of fighting would be seen as a "kung fu movie," or so i've read.

i liked mclachlan in the role as i did many of the array of vast acting talent in that film. paul was also supposed to be 15, which the actor clearly was not in either film.

in 1984, nobody was doing LOTR type productions. yes, the hurt version is on dvd. that's how i've seen it as i don't watch t.v. (really, i don't, hate it).

rfbdorf

04-03-2007, 01:19 AM

......my house is looking like books multiply like tribbles (star trek thing :D ) David Gerrold (author I mentioned earlier) wrote the Trouble with Tribbles story for Star Trek.
- Richard

Jeff B

04-03-2007, 03:53 PM

The Takeshi Kovacs novels (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) great Sci Fi but very adult violence and sex, definately not for kids. I am not really into Sci Fi as much as fantasy but these are well written.

My dog enjoyed eating the entire Dune series!

cass

04-04-2007, 12:17 AM

Thinking of all this made me think of The Metamorphosis by Kafka. Now that is one weird story, but in a way, an analogy can be drawn with waking up to find you're paralyzed.

rfbdorf

04-04-2007, 12:57 AM

What an interesting thought! Y'know, I'm not sure which is weirder.
- Richard

orangejello

04-04-2007, 10:29 AM

no, oj, i haven't! thank you. can't believe i missed an atwood book. though, not usually a fan of short stories, on my forays to b&n i check the new section for author names. i hate to say it, but i may actually have purchased it and it's sitting on my shelf waiting to be read.

i'm trying to remember my favorite lessing novel...title escapes me. i'll look it up. favorite Vonnegut is Mother Night.

ah, there it is, The Summer Before the Dark. Doris Lessing.

I am not a big short story fan either. I was a little disappointed when I found out Moral Disorder was a collection of short stories and not a novel. But anything new by Atwood is a treat. I was reading that she will be releasing a book of "fictional essays" (whatever that means) in May and a book of poetry in September. But no new novel on the horizon yet. I was trying to think of which novel of her's is my favorite. It is so hard to pick. Maybe Cat's Eye.

I have only read a few books by Lessing but I think my favorite so far is The Grass is Singing. A totally devastating novel but one that really made think about things I had never thought of before. Mother Night is my favorite Vonnegut novel too. There was a movie of it released about ten years ago with Nick Nolte. It was truly horrible.

I really need to go through my massive book collection and start thinning out and donating too. I have planned to do it for a long time. I just find it so hard parting with books.