LightPhoenix
First Post
I would recommend Tad William's Otherland series, it's pretty good.
[OT] SciFi/Fantasy reading material suggestions?
Thought provoking:
Quintara Marathon
# 3 90 Trillion Fausts (©1991) 416 pp.
Science Fiction
# 2 The Run to Chaos Keep (©1991) 336 pp.
Science Fiction
# 1 The Demons at Rainbow Bridge (©1989) 384 pp.
Science Fiction
It was a very interesting series.
Roger Zelazeny books, Pick one, they are great entertainment. Start with "Lords of Light" If you can find a copy.
Something I wouldn't read, and I refuse to buy in hardcover anymore. THE Wheel of time series. Its a bloated series. If the last 3 or 4 books didnt' exist, it wouldn't effect the plot 1 bit. I wont be buying any more in the series. Its evolved into complete crap.
Series I'd recommend:
Foundation's
Magician's Apprentice
(Douglas Adams zaphod's books, not really a series I think.)
Piers Anthony - Immortal series, and other ones but dont go past book 5 or 6 since they dont go anywhere either like the Wheel of time.
Anypart of Micheal Moorcocks Immortal hero books are good, he has several. Most people know the elric ones.
Belgariad series(missspelled I think)
All the Conan books and John carter of mars books. (Poor writting style, but amazing entertainment value.) I believe they can be found online for free(Guttenberg?).
Thieves World series.
There are lots of good books out there, I tend to not like books written by women that write how they "believe" a man thinks, some of them actually cause physical pain between my eyes.
I tend to like books written by veterans more then just people that write about combat but haven't been there.
One of my favorites, I'm rereading now is the ENDER WIGGENS series of books.
I'm rambling, GL on the search.
Galen
Quintara Marathon
# 3 90 Trillion Fausts (©1991) 416 pp.
Science Fiction
# 2 The Run to Chaos Keep (©1991) 336 pp.
Science Fiction
# 1 The Demons at Rainbow Bridge (©1989) 384 pp.
Science Fiction
It was a very interesting series.
Roger Zelazeny books, Pick one, they are great entertainment. Start with "Lords of Light" If you can find a copy.
Something I wouldn't read, and I refuse to buy in hardcover anymore. THE Wheel of time series. Its a bloated series. If the last 3 or 4 books didnt' exist, it wouldn't effect the plot 1 bit. I wont be buying any more in the series. Its evolved into complete crap.
Series I'd recommend:
Foundation's
Magician's Apprentice
(Douglas Adams zaphod's books, not really a series I think.)
Piers Anthony - Immortal series, and other ones but dont go past book 5 or 6 since they dont go anywhere either like the Wheel of time.
Anypart of Micheal Moorcocks Immortal hero books are good, he has several. Most people know the elric ones.
Belgariad series(missspelled I think)
All the Conan books and John carter of mars books. (Poor writting style, but amazing entertainment value.) I believe they can be found online for free(Guttenberg?).
Thieves World series.
There are lots of good books out there, I tend to not like books written by women that write how they "believe" a man thinks, some of them actually cause physical pain between my eyes.
I tend to like books written by veterans more then just people that write about combat but haven't been there.
One of my favorites, I'm rereading now is the ENDER WIGGENS series of books.
I'm rambling, GL on the search.
Galen
My own recommendations:
Roger Zelazny's Amber series
E. E. "Doc" Smith's Chronicles of the Lensmen
Peter F. Hamilton's Fallen Dragon and Night's Dawn Trilogy (my favorite living author)
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game
Anything by Terry Pratchett
Ringworld, by Larry Niven, as well as his Known Space short stories
The Pern series and The Ship who Sang by Anne MacCaffrey
The WorldWar series by Harry Turtledove, although technically that's alternate history, not SF or fantasy
This is a great thread. I'm definetly gonna check some of these out.
Roger Zelazny's Amber series
E. E. "Doc" Smith's Chronicles of the Lensmen
Peter F. Hamilton's Fallen Dragon and Night's Dawn Trilogy (my favorite living author)
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game
Anything by Terry Pratchett
Ringworld, by Larry Niven, as well as his Known Space short stories
The Pern series and The Ship who Sang by Anne MacCaffrey
The WorldWar series by Harry Turtledove, although technically that's alternate history, not SF or fantasy
This is a great thread. I'm definetly gonna check some of these out
.I'd like to recommend a couple of my favorite books of the last few years.
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Sci-Fi tale about the next stage in human evolution. Original story with good science; something often lacking in modern science fiction.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Historical Fantasy set in turn of the century New York, it follows a pioneering alienist (as psychologists were called back then) cum detective and his band of misfits, as he stalks a serial killer who mutilates little boys.
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear
Sci-Fi tale about the next stage in human evolution. Original story with good science; something often lacking in modern science fiction.
The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Historical Fantasy set in turn of the century New York, it follows a pioneering alienist (as psychologists were called back then) cum detective and his band of misfits, as he stalks a serial killer who mutilates little boys.
Spider_Jerusalem
Explorer
It's been mentioned before, but I feel that a single mention in all these posts just doesn't do justice to George R. R. Martin's A Game Of Thrones and other books in the series of A Song of Ice and Fire. Its a superb rendition of epic-scale (and i truly mean epic scale) D&D.
If you haven't read it then turn off the computer right now and go and buy the first book. I know its heresy but for me, its better than Lord of the Rings... actually, scrap that, its the best fantasy novel I've ever read.
Anyway. Thats my two pence (good old England).
If you haven't read it then turn off the computer right now and go and buy the first book. I know its heresy but for me, its better than Lord of the Rings... actually, scrap that, its the best fantasy novel I've ever read.
Anyway. Thats my two pence (good old England).
hmmn... I like many things... but I don't expect people to like the same stuff as I do... I have strange tastes..
I normally cruise the used bookstores, but one of the authors I will buy new is James Alan Gardner (eg. Expendable, Vigilant, Hunted) -- sci fi
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
I am almost finished with Irene Radford's The Hidden Dragon, so far pretty good. Mostly sci-fi with some mysticism...
Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, Bruce Bethke's Headcrash and Gibson's Idoru... near future sci-fi
I also like the post DS9 series of DS9 books...
For fantasy I normally just read the D&D stuff and Legends of the Five Rings...
I normally cruise the used bookstores, but one of the authors I will buy new is James Alan Gardner (eg. Expendable, Vigilant, Hunted) -- sci fi
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
I am almost finished with Irene Radford's The Hidden Dragon, so far pretty good. Mostly sci-fi with some mysticism...
Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, Bruce Bethke's Headcrash and Gibson's Idoru... near future sci-fi
I also like the post DS9 series of DS9 books...
For fantasy I normally just read the D&D stuff and Legends of the Five Rings...
VeiledMage
Explorer
It is difficult to pick a handful of favorites, but the first that come to mind that haven't been mentioned already:
C.S. Friedman - Coldfire Trilogy [Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown of Shadows]
Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana
Dan Simmons - Hyperion
Christopher Hinz - The Paratwa Saga [Liege-Killer, Ash Ock, Paratwa]
Over the years, these are a few of the books I go back to time and again when I'm in the mood for a good read.
C.S. Friedman - Coldfire Trilogy [Black Sun Rising, When True Night Falls, Crown of Shadows]
Guy Gavriel Kay - Tigana
Dan Simmons - Hyperion
Christopher Hinz - The Paratwa Saga [Liege-Killer, Ash Ock, Paratwa]
Over the years, these are a few of the books I go back to time and again when I'm in the mood for a good read.
CullAfulMoshuN
First Post
I really only read Fantasy, so can't recommend much in the way of Sci-fi, but one of the best series I read are Katherine Kerr's.
Daggerspell, Darkspell, Dawnspell, Time of Omens, Time of War, Red Wyvern, Black Raven, etc.
They are such gritty low fantasy where the least expected can happen. They are written in the style of Celtic mythology, based upon reincarnation, so the jump around alot between the various lives of a particular group of souls. This means the main characters, can and do often die. I highly recommend picking up a copy of Daggerspell and giving it a read.
Also the Raymond Fiest series are pretty good (Magician, Darkness at Sethanon, etc). I find he tends to like using world shattering events as the subject of each series though, where I prefer a more personal or localised goal for books than the constant threat of the fate of the entire universe resting the heroes hands every book.
Oh and you can't go past Terry Pratchett for some very entertaining fantasy fiction. His are the only books that have had be laughing out loud while reading at an airport terminal.
CullAfulMoshuN...
Daggerspell, Darkspell, Dawnspell, Time of Omens, Time of War, Red Wyvern, Black Raven, etc.
They are such gritty low fantasy where the least expected can happen. They are written in the style of Celtic mythology, based upon reincarnation, so the jump around alot between the various lives of a particular group of souls. This means the main characters, can and do often die.
I highly recommend picking up a copy of Daggerspell and giving it a read.Also the Raymond Fiest series are pretty good (Magician, Darkness at Sethanon, etc). I find he tends to like using world shattering events as the subject of each series though, where I prefer a more personal or localised goal for books than the constant threat of the fate of the entire universe resting the heroes hands every book.
Oh and you can't go past Terry Pratchett for some very entertaining fantasy fiction. His are the only books that have had be laughing out loud while reading at an airport terminal.
CullAfulMoshuN...
From a post a long time ago, to a newsgroup far, far away.
Jane Austen: /Pride and Prejudice/
One of the classic works of the genre. Austen is a master of the time-travel novel. Her particular strong point is background research: her settings are filled with innumerable titbits and little touches of detail that really contribute to the feeling that we are really there in the England of the 18th century. As with her previous works /Emma/ and /Sense and Sensibility/ the plot is nothing to write home about, the characters stereotyped and the dialogue rather long-winded; but the sense of _being there_ is what puts this story into the forefront of modern SF. A test: can you spot anything that appears even the slightest bit incongruous; or is not authentically 18th century? No, you can't, can you? QED. Watch for the film adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Thompson and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Darcy.
Clifford Stoll: /The Cuckoo's Egg/
This story purports to be a near-future cyberpunk thriller about a global ring of crackers. Unfortunately, the book demonstrates only that Stoll clearly has no idea about the genre. The strongest drug he mentions in the book, for instance, is _caffeine_: the anonymous protagonist and narrator has a liking for tea. Every aspiring cyberpunk writer knows that one of the mainstays of the genre, along with mirrorshades and cybernetic augmentation, is oodles and oodles of narcotics. And the descriptions of netrunning are tedious in the extreme, so much so that you have to wonder why anyone would bother. Stoll should do more research on computers and cyber-culture in general; until then, his work will remain resolutely B-grade.
Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie: /The C Programming Language/
An ambitious attempt to combine cyberpunk SF with the cutting edge of postmodern literature, it's the story of a laboratory experiment that conquers the world. You'll see lots of trendy jargon, bizarre bizarre grammatical constructs, strange spelling conventions, and comical names like 'foo' and 'bar'. But in the end it's just too much work to try to understand sentences like
Certainly not in the same class as Wirth's elegant "Pascal" series, and the Wintermute AI in /Neuromancer/ is far more believable.
Leo Tolstoy: /War and Peace/
This is a large scale work about dynastic struggles against a backdrop of war and civil strife. I found it rather long for one volume though -- this is definitely a book that should have been split out into a trilogy. This would also give him the chance to explore and develop many more potentially intriguing sub-plots than he does. As it is, you'll leave this book with a sense of wasted opportunities; there's just so much more he could have done. If you want a rollicking yarn that will take you months to finish, Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series is still better value for money.
Richard Wagner: /The Ring Cycle/
A work in four parts, this is a love story involving a young Germanic warrior and a mutant pegasus-riding Amazon. In a story clearly influenced by post-feminist thinking, Brunnhilde is smart, sassy and nobody's fool -- until she falls for the quiet, sensitive new-age guy Siegfried. However, this series really is far too long. Wagner should ditch the tedious bits at the start involving dwarfs, nymphs, giants and other cliched elements of the fantasy genre. Similarly, the apocalyptic conclusion involving the death of the gods is telegraphed miles down the track. Simply put, this plotline has been done many, many times, by far better authors -- take the "Dragonlance" series, for example. Slimmed down to novella form, this could form a nice, satisfying read when you're in the mood for something romantic, but as it is, it's just bloated and self-indulgent.
Stephen Hawking: /A Brief History of Time/
This is a rather brief, chatty tale about a Cambridge professor's journey of self-discovery. The human drama is powerfully developed, with the protagonist finding out he has Lou Gehrig's disease, which drives him to complete his work before succumbing. The science is rather slipshod and far-fetched, unfortunately, with bizarre tales about evaporating black holes, arrows of time reversing, and phase transitions in the early universe. Newton and Galileo make cameo appearances toward the end of the book, although their integration into the story is clumsy. Overall, a creditable first effort, but one hopes that for his next feature, Hawking will take the trouble to read a physics textbook.
Maurice Kendall: /The Advanced Theory of Statistics/
It appears that this book is a translation from the Greek original, although this is not mentioned anywhere in the introduction. For some reason -- lack of money? -- the translation seems to be incomplete: large slabs of text remain encrusted with incomprehensible Greek symbols. From what little I could make out, the story is about the struggle between conformity and individualism; hence the references to "normal distributions", "standard deviations", "outliers" and so forth. Recommended as long as you have a dictionary or a classical scholar handy.
Jane Austen: /Pride and Prejudice/
One of the classic works of the genre. Austen is a master of the time-travel novel. Her particular strong point is background research: her settings are filled with innumerable titbits and little touches of detail that really contribute to the feeling that we are really there in the England of the 18th century. As with her previous works /Emma/ and /Sense and Sensibility/ the plot is nothing to write home about, the characters stereotyped and the dialogue rather long-winded; but the sense of _being there_ is what puts this story into the forefront of modern SF. A test: can you spot anything that appears even the slightest bit incongruous; or is not authentically 18th century? No, you can't, can you? QED. Watch for the film adaptation starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Emma Thompson and Arnold Schwarzenegger as Darcy.
Clifford Stoll: /The Cuckoo's Egg/
This story purports to be a near-future cyberpunk thriller about a global ring of crackers. Unfortunately, the book demonstrates only that Stoll clearly has no idea about the genre. The strongest drug he mentions in the book, for instance, is _caffeine_: the anonymous protagonist and narrator has a liking for tea. Every aspiring cyberpunk writer knows that one of the mainstays of the genre, along with mirrorshades and cybernetic augmentation, is oodles and oodles of narcotics. And the descriptions of netrunning are tedious in the extreme, so much so that you have to wonder why anyone would bother. Stoll should do more research on computers and cyber-culture in general; until then, his work will remain resolutely B-grade.
Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie: /The C Programming Language/
An ambitious attempt to combine cyberpunk SF with the cutting edge of postmodern literature, it's the story of a laboratory experiment that conquers the world. You'll see lots of trendy jargon, bizarre bizarre grammatical constructs, strange spelling conventions, and comical names like 'foo' and 'bar'. But in the end it's just too much work to try to understand sentences like
Code:
[color=red]
main(v,c)char**c;{for(v[c++]="Hello, world!\n)";(!!c)[*c]&&
(v--||--c&&execlp(*c,*c,c[!!c]+!!c,!c));**c=!c)write(!!*c,*c,!!**c);}
[/color]Leo Tolstoy: /War and Peace/
This is a large scale work about dynastic struggles against a backdrop of war and civil strife. I found it rather long for one volume though -- this is definitely a book that should have been split out into a trilogy. This would also give him the chance to explore and develop many more potentially intriguing sub-plots than he does. As it is, you'll leave this book with a sense of wasted opportunities; there's just so much more he could have done. If you want a rollicking yarn that will take you months to finish, Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series is still better value for money.
Richard Wagner: /The Ring Cycle/
A work in four parts, this is a love story involving a young Germanic warrior and a mutant pegasus-riding Amazon. In a story clearly influenced by post-feminist thinking, Brunnhilde is smart, sassy and nobody's fool -- until she falls for the quiet, sensitive new-age guy Siegfried. However, this series really is far too long. Wagner should ditch the tedious bits at the start involving dwarfs, nymphs, giants and other cliched elements of the fantasy genre. Similarly, the apocalyptic conclusion involving the death of the gods is telegraphed miles down the track. Simply put, this plotline has been done many, many times, by far better authors -- take the "Dragonlance" series, for example. Slimmed down to novella form, this could form a nice, satisfying read when you're in the mood for something romantic, but as it is, it's just bloated and self-indulgent.
Stephen Hawking: /A Brief History of Time/
This is a rather brief, chatty tale about a Cambridge professor's journey of self-discovery. The human drama is powerfully developed, with the protagonist finding out he has Lou Gehrig's disease, which drives him to complete his work before succumbing. The science is rather slipshod and far-fetched, unfortunately, with bizarre tales about evaporating black holes, arrows of time reversing, and phase transitions in the early universe. Newton and Galileo make cameo appearances toward the end of the book, although their integration into the story is clumsy. Overall, a creditable first effort, but one hopes that for his next feature, Hawking will take the trouble to read a physics textbook.
Maurice Kendall: /The Advanced Theory of Statistics/
It appears that this book is a translation from the Greek original, although this is not mentioned anywhere in the introduction. For some reason -- lack of money? -- the translation seems to be incomplete: large slabs of text remain encrusted with incomprehensible Greek symbols. From what little I could make out, the story is about the struggle between conformity and individualism; hence the references to "normal distributions", "standard deviations", "outliers" and so forth. Recommended as long as you have a dictionary or a classical scholar handy.
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