[OT] SciFi/Fantasy reading material suggestions?

[Undead Pete]

Glad to see I started something....

Coupla comments.

I somewhat agree with the fact that Robert J. Sawyer's earlier books were very flat, but he is getting better, and I never fail to finish his books with the sensation that I have learned something unique.

Jack Chalker - one of my guilty pleasures....though the man has issues. So many of his novels involve switched gender roles, but he is the leader in extrapolating alien cultures....defining function from form.

Haven't yet gotten The Scar by China Mieville. Looking forward to it.

I just got myself to read the Mars series by E.R. Burroughs. Amazing that it was written 80 years ago....every scifi fan should read it. FYI....the rights to John Carter of Mars were finally bought by some big ass movie studio. They plan on making it a series in $100M range...a la LOTR.

More suggested reading from my library:

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers
A Hymn Before Battle by John Ringo
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Burton
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

More suggestions to come....

 

[Gizzard]

Continuing my trend of seconding recommendations instead of making new ones: ;-)

> The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

I've read Last Call, Expiration Date, and Declare by the same author. I really liked the first two; Powers puts together a world that runs by different rules than a lot of common fantasy; you wont get the feeling that you've read these stories before. In some ways, it reminds me of Peter Beagle's writing in terms of tone and scope.

Which reminds me, The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle is another classic fantasy book. I think there is a thread somewhere else in this forum with people talking about how excited they are that it might be made into a movie.

> Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Mmmm, yes. Connie Willis is very funny. I've read To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether and Passage (which is nominated for the Hugo this year also). Doomsday Book is on my never-ending list of things to read "next". ;-) Her plots are often a bit light; but complaining about that is like saying "the plot in Gullivers Travels is a bit stretched". I consider her 1/3 humorist, 1/3 social satirist and 1/3 SF writer.

> Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie: /The C
> Programming Language/
>
> ... But in the end it's just too much work to try to understand
> sentences like main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]="Hello, world!
> \n)";(!!c)[*c]&&

Less work than reading James Joyce! ;-)

> Dan Simmons - Hyperion

I think this recommendation has already been seconded, so I will "third" it. Strangely, my expectations may have been unrealistic for this book; the (many) people who recommended it were pretty fervent, so when I actually read it I was a bit disappointed because it wasnt the "best book ever!". (I had a similar experience with Dune; yes, its a really good book, but is it the "best book ever!"?) Still, its definitely worth a read and if you enjoy the world the author has reworked some of his ideas in Endymion and Fall of Hyperion.

> Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, Bruce Bethke's Headcrash
> and Gibson's Idoru

Yes, when I read Snowcrash back when it came out it gave me the same thrill that reading Gibsons Neuromancer or Burning Chrome gave me - the feeling that cyberpunk was totally new and on the cutting edge - watching a new style being born. Of course, now, 15 years later, cyberpunk has mostly flamed-out, leaving only its influence behind on a new generation of authors. Idoru doesnt feel fresh and new anymore; though I think its better than the other later Gibson books like Virtual Light.

Actually, I'll take part of that back. This year a new (?) author named Charles Stross put out three novellas that reminded me of the density and energy of a young William Gibson. They are a lot more "cyber" than "punk", but I enjoyed the heck out of them. One of them, Lobsters, is available free on www.asimovs.com. (edit: the story contains some disturbing elements of both sex and violence; viewer discretion is advised.)

 

[Holy Bovine]

Although his works are getting more and more difficult to find I would still recommend H. Beam Piper. His most famous books were the Fuzzy novels focusing on a 'new human' race and its probelms dealing with the 'old human' race.

Piper wrote Little Fuzzy, Fuzzy Sapiens and Fuzzies and Other People (although the last one was published years after his death when the original manuscript was rediscovered). A few other wrote stories based on Piper's writings but never really caputured Piper's sense storytelling.

Piper also wrote Space Viking a 'space opera' novel that is my personal favourite for its portrayal of revenge and what makes civilization work (and fall apart).

Other books to look for are

Federation (a collection of stories taking place during the rise of the Terran Federation, these also help form the Terro-Human Future History that all of the above takes place in)

Empire (set many years after Federation in which the Fed. has collapsed and been replaced by the Galactic Empire - not as bad as it sounds. this also has some of Piper most enigmatic stories - The Keeper and A Slave is a Slave for example).

Cosmic Computer (a.k.a. Junkyard Planet) Set in the years between the fall of the Federation and the rise of the Empire this has some wonderful background on the THFH and the overall themes behind it.

Outside of the THFH there are also the Paratime novels. These revolve around a society that has mastered a form of interdimensional time travel yet not FTL drive. The the time travellers use the alternate Earths (sort of like the idea behind the TV show Sliders) as deposits of natural resources with the highest priority given to protecting the Paratime Secret from any other society. There are two main books for this series;

Paratime! A collection of short stories involving Verkan Vall, and agent for the Paratime Police - charged wioth keeping the Paratime secret at all costs.

Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen Possibly Piper's best work. It involves a man from 20th century earth landing in a world where gunpowder is a religious commodity and controlled by a sect of priests. 'Lord Kalvan' uses his knowledge to break the monopoly of House Styphon but attracts the attention of the Paratime Police as well.

So there is my recommendation. I could, of course, add dozens more authors to the list but most of my favourites have already been mentioned - I just like to direct people to HBP whenever I can

 

[Undead Pete]

I enjoyed Peter Watts' Starfish.. I don't buy hardbacks, but I am awaiting his Maelstrom in softcover.. sci fi

I also liked Marjorie B. Kellogg's Dragon Quartet series (what has come out so far)... mix of sci fi & fantasy

Starfish was excellent. Add that to my list.

Another great read is Warchild by Karin Lowachee.

I also tend to read most of the World of Darkness series (except for Clan Novel: Malkavian...boy, was that an incomprehensible mess)

I've read all of the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton, but lately they've morphed into some sort of weird lycathropic porn.

More suggestions to come soon.

 

[mmadsen]

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!

If you enjoyed Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars story, I recommend Almuric, a book I read described as Robert E. Howard's take on Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom. Many of the same basic ideas, same pulpy action, but darker, not so lighthearted.

Of course, you'll have to order up a used copy.

 

[Tanager]

A long standing favorite series of mine is Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy :

The Crystal Cave
The Hollow Hills
and
The Last Enchantment

IMHO these are simply the best adaptations of the arthurian cycle. It's a very low fantasy, believable human story as told from Merlin's perspective. Her follow up, The Wicked Day of Destiny rounds out the series with Mordred's story brilliantly.

In the not-fantasy-but-still-of-interest-to-gamers category:

I highly recomend Dorothy Dunnet's King Hereafter, a work of historical fiction about Macbeth with a strong focus on the political machinations of 9th century northern europe. For a more Rennaissance feel (although still mostly set in northern europe) Niccolo Rising (sp?) by the same author provides a vivid portrait of life in 16th-17th century europe, although Dunnet's characters tend to get stale so I only reccomend the first book of her Niccolo series.

On the sci-fi front:

C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner, Invader and Inheritor ( ?? I can't recall the third book's title for certain) very low tech for science fiction, a strong focus on culture clash. Great reads all three, if a bit repetitive at times, that do well at getting away from standard sci-fi cliches. A personal opinion, but these are Cherryh's best, most well thought out books to date.

There are two more books in the series now, but I haven't had a chance to read them yet, so no comments there.

and just for good pulpy sci-fi fun:

David Brin's uplift trilogy, particularly Startide Rising, I mean c'mon it's got dolphins...that fly starships..what could be better?

 

[hong]

David Brin's uplift trilogy, particularly Startide Rising, I mean c'mon it's got dolphins...that fly starships..what could be better?

What I remember of that book is a dolphin trying to get it on with a woman.


Hong "why are you all looking at me?" Ooi