[OT] SciFi/Fantasy reading material suggestions?

[Tsyr]

The Vows and Honor series (Outhbound, Oathbreakers, Oathblood), by Mercedes Lackey: This is a fairly... light series... actualy somewhat comical at times, in a suble sorta way... they are sorta like a well-wrote Forgotten Realms novel... Very enjoyable, if you don't try to think about 'em too hard.

The Last Herald Mage series (Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, Magic's Price), also by Lackey: This series is far more mature, IMO... Very dark at times, dealing with very mature themes at times too... not for kiddies, probably. The main character is one of the most... developed, I guess is the word I want... characters I have encountered in a long time. IMO, of course. *

Bedlam's Bard, once again by Lackey: This isn't exactly part of a series (Although there are more in the series, each one is stand-alone, similar to how some of the old dragonlance books would be grouped in a series despite having nothing to do with each other except being set in dragonlance), but it's probably the single most enjoyable book I've read in the last couple of years. It's a great book to read if you plan to run D20 modern too, as in many ways this is a great example of "modern fantasy"... Set in the real world, but a real world that has lost/forgotten magic. Not completely dissimilar to the idea behind World of Darkness, but this is a happy-ish world. Also has one of the coolest fantasy renditions of elves, IMO, and shows what a real bard can be.

And for a little bit of sci-fi...

Footfall, by Larry Niven (I think there was another co-author, but I don't recall the name): This is rather interesting... it shows its age in places, it's not quite as snappy and wizz-bang as some really modern sci-fi, but it's good none the less... technology is at a much more subdued level... heck, humans are still at like 1980-s ish technology... And the "alien invaders" aren't a whole lot better, frankly... which is actualy a refreshing change. The culture of the aliens is quite... well, alien. A very good read. The same pair of authors also did a book called Lucifer's Hammer, which while neither sci-fi, nor fantasy, would be a good read if you wind up enjoying Footfall.

Well, theres a few fer ya!

BTW, personaly, while I loved Ender's Game, I would actualy suggest staying clear of the sequals... but that's just me.

Regardless, that should keep someone busy for at least the better part of two weeks, even if they are a fairly swift reader...

~Dave Weaver, self-proclaimed biblophile.

(*) Please be aware ahead of time that the main character in the Last Herald Mage series is gay, so if that bothers you, you might want to give the book a pass... I recomended those books to a girlfriend of mine, only to find out that she was rather... disturbed by reading about such things. Ooops.

 

[Knight Otu]

Hi, all!

A very good (IMHO, of course) Sci-Fi series would be Perry Rhodan. Of course, few in America know about it, and even fewer people would be able to find the novels.
I have posted infos about the series some time ago, including (*digs in the depths of the Sci-Fi board*) this thread: http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=13527 .
And of course my house rules thread, where I have posted various bits and pieces of the series converted to D&D rules: http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3718

I'm a great fan of other Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels, including the Shannara series, Lord of the Rings and too many others to list.

 

[Mayhawk]

I strongly recommend the Arthor series by A.A. Attanasio. I had been running an AD&D campaign based on King Arthur's Britain for years before I picked up this series, and I I had read just about every major writer's take on the Arthur myth -- so many books that they all started to blend together. Then, I picked up <i>The Dragon and the Unicorn</i>. Wow. Everything in the Arthur story came out fresh in this book. I am currently reading The Wolf and the Crown. No ladies of court providing their observations of political intrigue in Camelot here. Arthor weilding magical swords against Saxon enemies and supernatural serpents alike. Merlin using magic like it was right out of a D&D game. Gods trading souls like baseball cards. It has been a fun read.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

In addition to stuff already mentioned:


Fritz Leiber, especially the ealier books on Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser

Roger Zelazny, both the Amber books and "Lord of Light" (some of his other books are also fun... Shadowjack, err... and stuff)

Steven Brust, the Taltos books

 

[ajanders]

Other Series Suggestons

Although very difficult to find nowadays, I recommend Jack Chalker's Dancing Gods series and James Blaylock's The Elven Ship, The Disappearing Dwarf, and the Stone Giant.
For science fiction with an almost fantasy touch, try Varley's Titan series and some more Jack Chalker: the Warden Diamon books and the Wellworld series.

 

[Wicht]

Footfall, by Larry Niven (I think there was another co-author, but I don't recall the name):

That would be Jerry Pournelle who also co-authored at least three other books with Niven, including The Mote in God's Eye, The Gripping Hand, and Lucifer's Hammer.

Niven's essays are also good reading. The one about Superman is hilarious.

 

[mtbdm]

I could recommend much more but my highest recommendation is for the works of Clark Ashton Smith. These books are 1930s pulp fantasy (same era as Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft) and really give you a sense of where the genre came from. Smith's language is delicious and his ideas intriguing. He reminds me of Lovecraft, except Smith is quicker to read and more interesting. In any case, many of his writings can be found online for free at:

http://www.eldritchdark.com/

I recommend starting with the short stories. They are wonderful. Anything from the Hyborian cycle, Atlantis cycle or Averoigne cycle should do.

MtbDM

 

[Kanegrundar]

I have many mainstream favorites like The Lord of the Rings series, many of the Drizzt books, as well as Dragonlance and Shannara. However, my absolute favorite series is by Chris Claremont and George Lucas: The Shadow War series. The series continues the story of the movie Willow. The books are Shadow Moon, Shadow Dawn, and Shadow Star. They are excellent in every regard (though the way Claremont describes casting spells does take a little getting used to), and I don't feel they get enough regard.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

Actually, I read the first book in the Confluence series by Paul J. McAuley recently and thought that was quite good sci-fi fantasy.

For horror, Richard Matheson ("I am Legend" and "Hell House"-- Hell House is a the ultimate haunted house, and originated many of those ideas we see in haunted house movies--though the end is also a slight let-down as are all haunted house stories)

"Wine of Dreams" by Brian Craig is set in the Warhammer world, but would appeal to anyone who likes thoughtful horror in their fantasy (he also avoids the hack-n-slash of William King, while still having swordplay)-- I reviewed it here:

http://www.rpg.net/news+reviews/reviews/rev_4085.html

"Hammers of Ulric", another Warhammer novel by a trio of authors, is also quite good, though suffers from some inconsistencies in the characters.

Anyone looking for pulp should definitely pick up one of the John Carter, Warlord of Mars books by Edgar Rice Burroughs (who also created Tarzan)--essentially it is fantasy set on Mars with a main character familiar with 1920s earth!

For those who like epic fantasy with low magic, I recommend Guy Gavriel Kay -- a good first book by him would be "The Lions of Al-Rassan" which is set in a fictional, medieval Spain. It is a stand-alone novel and would appeal to someone willing to try him without getting involved in a series of books (as a side note, he was the author hired by the Tolkien estate to complete the Silmarillion)

also, I have only read one book, but I really enjoyed David Gemmell's "Legend".

For military sci-fi: John Dalmas "The Regiment", Jerry Pournelle "Falkenberg's Legion" AND "Prince of Sparta" series, Frank Frazetta "A Small Colonial War", David Weber and Steve (?) White "Insurrection" and "Crusade", Heinlein "Starship Troopers", Christopher Rowley "The War for Eternity"...

For non- or less-military and perhaps more thoughtful sci-fi: David Brin "Sundiver", Mary Doria Russell "Sparrow", anything by Asimov, some of Heinlein's stuff, Ray Bradbury (esp. "Martian Chronicles"), Jack McDevitt "The Engines of God", Frank Herbert the original "Dune", Philip Jose Farmer "To Your Scattered Bodies Go"...

Other than that, I really want to second recs for Glen Cook's Black Company series (the Silver Spike is a good stand-alone in the series, but does include many spoilers from the first three books, so I recommend starting with "The Black Company")... also, I long ago read "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula Leguin and thought the magic was well done... and repeat: if you have not read Fritz Leiber -- DO IT!

And, yes, I have read a lot of books and kept a list of my favorites.

 

[Kieran]

What about David Weber?

His Honor Harrington series is one of my all time favorites.