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

[garvey]

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.
Thanks

[Juke_spin]

garvey, man you have just got to check out the short stories of Gene Wolfe's "The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories"
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]

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]

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]

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]

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

[Juke_spin]

Originally Posted by cass

The Time Traveler's Wife

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

[cass]

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]

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

vonnegut often gets put there as does doris lessing.

[cass]

Originally Posted by Hellonwheels

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.