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My 3 top sci-fi books ATM:
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
Nostrilia by Cordwainer Smith
The Gods themselves by Asimov
And one short story: We can remember it for you wholesale by PKD. PKD's short stories are amazing, but I think I have read all of his novels, and I think they are not among the greats.
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The Saga of the Seven suns by Kevin J Anderson 7 books and a prequeal by far the best series ive read an that includes every book in Dune series,
The Dread Empire Falls by Walter Jon Williams 3 books with a great cast and exciting plot
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It may not be true science-fiction, but my favorite book, Stel Pavlou's "Decipher", is simply excellent. The character development is great, the plot keeps you hooked, and + Show Spoiler + is used as a main plot device, WITHOUT being completely corny and fantasy-like. I'd say it's a must-read.
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Maybe not the kind of science fiction you were thinking about but these books are great:
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I recommend: Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series, Douglas Adams. Dune, Frank Herbert. Anything written by PK Dick. Neverness, David Zindell (A Requiem for Homo Sapiens trilogy if you want more of the same.)
Not too impressed by William Gibson, Ursula LeGuin, Kurt Vonnegut or Heinlein, but they aren't terrible.
Avoid: Anything written by Arthur C Clarke Anything beyond the first Foundation novel Anything beyond the first Dune novel
This is my opinion based on how much I enjoyed reading the books, not an objective ranking of literary quality.
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Brave new world and Einsteins Dreams.
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I've read Dune and every book in the series by him, and I've read 2 of the prequels by his son. All of Frank's books are good and his son's take a bit to get used to but they are really nice if you enjoy the world and setting of Dune and want more about the background and how it ends as well.
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Dune, Ender's Game, The Hyperion Cantos for more serious sci-fi; anything by Jim Butcher for sci-fi/fantasy.
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i didn't like slaughterhouse 5, personally... i thought it was boring
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On August 10 2010 09:22 heishe wrote:Show nested quote +On August 09 2010 23:19 Biochemist wrote:On August 09 2010 22:42 snotboogie wrote:On August 09 2010 21:38 NEWater wrote:On August 09 2010 21:36 snotboogie wrote:On August 09 2010 21:35 NEWater wrote:On August 09 2010 13:42 heishe wrote: what can you suggest to someone like me who loves the Mass Effect universe? I just like the setting, with humanity relatively fresh in space travel and not on their own (found alien artifacts and reverse engineered them), plus I like very "semi-realistic" settings - I mean with stuff that is completely made up but sounds very reasonable - Mass Effect is mostly realistic, at least what their faster-than-light travel is based on sounds reasonable (basically an element with zero mass, that can bend spacetime if it's exposed to electric current, its supposed to be dark energy), they also explain why the different alien races look the way they do etc. (for example the krogan with their thick skin because of the high radiation exposure on their planet) ? It should not make an astronomy-buff sigh every second line because something is totally inaccurate.
Erm... with the exception of the ME books of course. You might be interested in books written by Peter F. Hamilton. His books tend to go into 1000++ pages but his crafted worlds are very detailed and enjoyable to digest. I was just about to post the exact same thing! Hamilton rocks, but don't touch the Void Trilogy unless you want to get caught up in bad, cheesy quasi-fantasy. Yeah, I never thought about confronting the question of eternal life until Hamilton raised it in his books, and it gets you thinking on whether the concept of eternal life is that great an idea after all. I've always felt eternal life, in this universe at least, would be the greatest torture one can endure (though obviously Hamilton's characters can still choose to off themselves when they wish). But the bad fantasy I was referring to was the whole Edeard thing, the bits that are inside the Void... they fill up more than 1/2 of the books and they're utter tripe. Just complete boy-becomes-chosen-one crap that was old 10 years ago. I knew where it was going after reading its first damn chapter. Fantasy has moved on since then (thankfully), but Hamilton, being a mainly sci-fi author who wanted to experiment with fantasy in this series, didn't realize that the genre has evolved. I mean sure, go ahead and write fantasy, but do it in a separate book/series so I don't have to read it... why write a whole trilogy that's half awesome sci-fi and half crap? (And, in so doing, ruin the awesome Commonwealth universe) I totally agree. I'm still going to read TEV though, since it looks like Edeard's story is probably done now. Just have to thank you guys. I ordered the first book of the Night's Dawn Trilogy a few minutes ago - seemed like a logical starting point (from what I read the Greg Mandel trilogy isn't for me).
Good call. They're long, but it's a fun series.
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I enjoyed the Dune series =).
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starwar! may the force be with you
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The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. It is very good.
I also liked Double Star by Robert Heinlein quite a lot. It's really just a story about an actor doubling for a politician, and the sci/fi setting is entirely superfluous, but it was cool.
Also, Flowers for Algernon is a keen short story. I can't comment on the long version. The author wimped out on the full range of possible narrator growth (retarded --> brilliant instead of animal intelligence --> brilliant), but it's still a good story.
And The Mountains of Sunset, The Mountains of Dawn. Another short story.
Actually, I would just read sci/fi short stories. Sci/fi lends itself well to short stories.
On August 09 2010 21:13 RanosD wrote: The forever war by Joe Haldeman Read this instead of Starship Troopers. It's the same thing except not written for fascists and not completely fucking terrible. Haldeman heard you liked reading an actual fucking story, so he put a story in your book so you can read it and not vomit. (He's also very insightful in person, although he has this goddamn fetish for using only the word "said" to indicate the speaker of a sentence. If you prefer not to do this, he snarks.)
On August 09 2010 16:48 Divinek wrote:Show nested quote +On August 09 2010 13:19 happyness wrote: Hi TL community. Since I think people on here generally have good taste, I decided to ask what SF book should I read next. I'm not at all an avid reader, though I would like to be, and really don't know where to begin looking for new authors.
The complete list of every SF I've read is:
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind - Orson Scott Card Nightfall - Isaac Asimov Foundation - Isaac Asimov (just the first one of the series. I found it interesting but not too riveting) Do Androids Dream of electric sheep? - Philip K. Dick A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
Thanks! go straight to hell for the foundation comment and never come back you should read at least the trilogy if not all of the foundation books Foundation was everything that's ever been wrong with science fiction. It's a "Contrived Circumstance --> Easily Found Contrived Solution Delivered With Smugness Aplenty" piece, which keeps skipping decades/centuries into the future so you never bond with any character.
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On August 10 2010 01:18 Captain Peabody wrote: Also, I'm surprised no one has mentioned Gene Wolfe yet...
As am I. In the last few recommendations threads I've seen, I've been the only one to even mention Gene Wolfe, and I shall do so again. To quote Wikipedia:
Although not a best-selling author, Wolfe is highly regarded by critics and fellow writers, and considered by many to be one of the best living science fiction authors. Indeed, he has sometimes been called the best living American writer regardless of genre. 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."
Among others, writers Neil Gaiman and Patrick O'Leary have credited Wolfe for inspiration. O'Leary has said: "Forget 'Speculative Fiction'. Gene Wolfe is the best writer alive. Period. And as Wolfe once said (in reference to Gaiman), 'All novels are fantasies. Some are more honest about it.' No comparison. Nobody – I mean nobody – comes close to what this artist does."
Wolfe is so vastly under-appreciated that someone like Asimov is overrated in comparison. His books are not just good sci-fi, but important literature that requires diligence and multiple readings for full enjoyment.
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On August 10 2010 13:48 Severedevil wrote:
Read [The Forever War] instead of Starship Troopers. It's the same thing except not written for fascists and not completely fucking terrible. Haldeman heard you liked reading an actual fucking story, so he put a story in your book so you can read it and not vomit. (He's also very insightful in person, although he has this goddamn fetish for using only the word "said" to indicate the speaker of a sentence. If you prefer not to do this, he snarks.)
Yeah. I mean, I'm totally on the right side of the political spectrum and even former military, and I hated starship troopers because it was obviously nothing more than a sermon masquerading as a science fiction story. I have no idea why people like it so much. Every other chapter includes a 10 page monologue by the main character's high school teacher where he beats you over the head with fascist propaganda.
I haven't read the forever war, but from the wiki article it kinda sounds like the same thing but from the other side of the road.
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I'd like to re-recommend Robert Heinlein's Time Enough For Love. Unsurprisingly, it seems there are a few Heinlein fans on TL but noone else has recommended this specific book.
TEFL is the only sci fi book I have ever read that had me on the verge of tears. The story is basically about the oldest man in the galaxy (thousands and thousands of years old) telling stories that happened in his life. One such story covers the lifespan of a particular woman he met, form childhood to death, and is absolutely fantastic. By its end I missed her, and was extremely melancholy. It kicked my ass, man.
The book goes crazy at the end simply because it's Heinlein and he had a few screws loose in his mind, but this book is my highest recommendation in sci fi.
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I second this \o/, not much of a sci-fi fan but this was a great read
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Snow Crash don't think, just read it
actually, read it, then think
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I'm reporting live as I'm reading the first few pages of "THE REALITY DYSFUNCTION". I started reading a few minutes ago and I'm only at page 10, but I really really like the style already. When you guys said the author goes into the details you were not lying, the way the battle at the beginning is described is just awesome.
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intelligent, one of my favorite books ever focused on what it means to be human trying to understand the universe. A masterpiece.
Deep as much as it gets.
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