Science Fiction literature thread

nachumlist.com ^ | 10/21/09 | Nachum

[Nachum]

I thought I would start a thread for all of you Science Fiction and Fantasy readers. I know it has been done in the past, but it seemed like a good time to run it again. If you have any favorite books or stories to recommend post it for others to share.

I have received some excellent advice on some good reads. Maybe you have a good title or author to recommend.

[Nachum]

Just finished the Dresden series....

[DBrow]

John Twelve Hawk’s Traveler series is interesting, not your usual science fiction/fantasy.

[djf]

Philip K. Dick

[NMEwithin]

"Necroscope" series by Brian Lumley

"Book of The Gods" series by Fred Saberhagen

[nickcarraway]

Anyone read, The Audacity of Hope?

[RepRivFarm]

Stephen R. Donaldson. After Tolkein, best Fantasy writer ever.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Finished Silverberg's Tower of Glass not long ago. A very underrated novel.

[Fishtalk]

http://fishfiction.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Syndrome

http://fishfiction.blogspot.com/search/label/To%20Hell%20and%20Back

Both my own short stories.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Orson Scott Card - Especially “Ender’s Game”
Terry Pratchett - Really been reading him a lot recently
J.R.R. Tolkien - duh
Asimov - duh
Heinlein - duh
Bradbury - duh
Eddings - Belgariad/Mallorean series
Salvatore - pure pulp, but Drizzt is a great character, also check out “The Cleric Quintet”
Lawhead - Pendragon Cycle, Byzantium, and the new Robin Hood stuff
Goodkind - Sword of Truth series is spotty, but “Faith of the Fallen” (book 6) is amazing
The late Robert Jordan - Even though it is way too long and way too complex, the Wheel of Time is a really fun read for pure escapism

[KarlInOhio]

Dune, now with greater understanding of why you never want to let desert barbarians access to either 1. a rare, but absolutely necessary resource, 2. the family atomics, or 3. knives. With my last reading I was rooting against the Fremen.

[Paradox]

Dan Simmons can spin a good yarn. The Hyperion/Endymion series in particular.

[PzLdr]

Robert E. Howard’s “Conan” tales.

[sr4402]

Honor series by David Weber. You’ll read them over and over again.

[Kartographer]

I too recently finished Jim Butcher The Dresen Files Series all have been excellent reads. My personal favorite for sword and sorcery fantasy is Dennis McKeirnan. For those fellow Freepers who like this gendre you may like to take a look at my homepage:

http://theoldecartographersshoppe.net/

[wolf24]

The Reality Dysfunction series by Peter F. Hamilton

and

the Necroscope series by Brian Lumley are absolutely outstanding books.

They are some of the best I've read across any genre.

[JMS]

Agreed, also Jim Butcher’s Furies series, David Weber’s Honor Harrington and just about anything else he writes, Simon R. Green’s Nightside and Drood series as well. Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire series, Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series, Elizabeth Moon’s Vatta’s War series are some of the ones that come to mind immediately.

[The Louiswu]

Jack McDevitt's Alex Benedict series
A Talent for War (1989)
Polaris (2004), ISBN 0-441-01202-7
Seeker (2005) - winner of Nebula Award for Best Novel, ISBN 0-441-01329-5
The Devil's Eye (2008), ISBN 0-441-01635-9

[KarlInOhio]

I would add Roger Zelazny. I would have had a good time reading that man's grocery list.

[Nachum]

Stephen R. Donaldson. After Tolkein, best Fantasy writer ever.

I read the whole Gap series recently. I did not like the terrible world he created at all- but I could not put the books down.

[Young Werther]

Isaac Asimov published 453 Books.

The Foundation Series.

The Robot Series!

Arthur C. Clarke.

Take your pick.

To Infinity and Beyond!

[Sam Cree]

*

[Mmogamer]

Is this a new ping list?

[The Louiswu]

Robert Buetner's Jason Wander series
1. ORPHANAGE (1 April 2008 - Reissued), the first volume in the "Jason Wander" series. Mankind’s first alien contact tears into Earth: projectiles launched from Jupiter’s moon, Ganymede, vaporize whole cities. Under siege, humanity gambles on one desperate counterstrike. In a spacecraft scavenged from scraps and armed with Vietnam-era weapons, foot soldiers like eighteen-year-old Jason Wander-orphans that no one will miss-must dare man’s first interplanetary voyage and invade Ganymede.

2. Orphan's Destiny (1 April 2008 - Reissued), the second volume in the "Jason Wander" series. At twenty-five, General Jason Wander has fought and won man’s only alien conflict. Now, after long years in space, he’s coming home…but to what? Earth’s desperate nations, impoverished by war damage and military spending, are slashing defense budgets. There’s just one problem with this new worldwide policy-the first alien invasion was merely Plan A. Suddenly, the real assault begins: Earth is attacked by a vast armada of city-sized warships. To block their invasion, mankind has only one surviving craft and a single guerrilla strike force…a suicide squad led by Jason Wander."

3. Orphan’s Journey (1 April 2008 - Reissued), the third volume in the "Jason Wander" series. In the years since the last Slug War, Jason’s command style hasn’t made him any friends in the Army. Now, in an effort to keep him out of trouble, the Army has sent Jason to the vast, Earth-orbiting resort called New Moon. At the core of this enormous space station is a starship, a relic from the last war. When a test run of the ship goes wrong, Jason, along with a handful of others, will be torn from orbit and thrust into space. Now, stranded on an alien planet, Jason realizes that not only are his friends looking to him for rescue, but an entire planet sees him as their only hope.

4. Orphan’s Alliance (28 October 2008), the fourth volume in the "Jason Wander" series. Humans have been discovered on the Outworlds. And the Army decides to send emissaries. Emissaries like Jason Wander. As intraplanetary conflicts rage around him, and the personal stakes get ever higher, Jason finds that playing planet-hopping politician can be harder than commanding armies. When united mankind squares off to battle the Slugs for a precious interstellar crossroad, Jason will discover that the most dangerous enemy may be the one he least expects.

5. Orphan’s Triumph (coming 26 May 2009), the fifth volume in the "Jason Wander" series. Jason Wander is ready to lead the final charge into battle. After forty years of fighting the Slugs, mankind's reunited planets control the vital crossroad that secures their uneasy union. The doomsday weapon that can end the war, and the mighty fleet that will carry it to the Slug homeworld, lie within humanity's grasp. Since the Slug Blitz orphaned Jason Wander, he has risen from infantry recruit to commander of Earth's garrisons on the emerging allied planets. But four decades of service have cost Jason not just his friends and family, but his innocence. When an enemy counter stroke threatens to reverse the war and destroy mankind, Jason must finally confront not only his lifelong alien enemy, but the reality of what a lifetime as a soldier has made him.

[Nachum]

Somebody out there has a sci fi ping list already. I forget who. Bet somebody here could tell you. It has just been a while since they ran this kind of thread.

[Mmogamer]

Legend by David Gemmel. Or anything by him that I’ve read so far.

[wolf24]

I didn't see your post until I posted mine. I too thought Lumley's Necroscope series was outstanding.

The way he developed the vampire characters and the characteristics and dialogue between them and the other characters were great.

[Nachum]

Love Asimov, but I have read enough of him and Arthur C. Clark- thanks. Besides, sometimes my taste runs to fantasy reads not only Sci Fi....

[BushCountry]

http://baderbooks.com/Parole/

My book that I am in process of writing. ;^)

While not hard science fiction, it has one heck of a twist involving a scary top secret government program that utilizes technology currently not in existence.

[The Louiswu]

Glen Cook's Passage at Arms (1985)

The Das Boot of sci fi novels. A very tight story, a quick read with lovely action and great storytelling.

[DBrow]

H. Beam Piper’s Fuzzy series, including the two posthumous novels. The Paratime work is also good.

James H. Schmitz, The Witches of Karres, and anything else he wrote. Trigger Argee and Telzey Amberdon are two good characters!

Tom Godwin, “The Survivors” or Ragnarok Calling, and the short “Cold Equations”. Cold Eq was a very controversial story that has led to endless engineering and social analysis.

“A Canticle For Liebowitz” is quirky but good, a post-to-pre apocalyptic tale with lots of little details (the first abbott of the monestary’s name begins with A, and the last, well, you know.)

“Day of the Triffids”! John Wyndham. Forget the movie.

“The Chrysalids”, one of my all time favorite novels, called “Re-Birth in the US. Also Wyndham.

[The Louiswu]

...and classics

Ringworld by Larry Niven A Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle

[The Louiswu]

...and classics

Ringworld by Larry Niven
A Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle

[Professional Engineer]

For authors: Niven and Pournelle.

[Syntyr]

BUMP for later.

[Ingtar]

Brandon Sanderson is the best of the newer authors. I am excited that he was chosen to finish for Robert Jordan. In my opinion, he rates above Jordan - especially the later books.

Raymond Feist
Roger Zelazny
Ursula LeGuin (Earthsea)
Patricia McKillip (Riddle-Master of Hed)
Aasimov’s Foundation
E.E. “Doc” Smith - Lensman series
Saberhagen’s Swords books
Finally, one who does both genres well: Orson Scott Card (Ender and 7th Son)

[NMEwithin]

Yup...Lumley is a great writer. I have read most of his stuff.

Loved the "Necroscope" series. I did think it started to drag a bit towards the "E-Branch" series of books.

If you like Lumley then I suggest you check out his "Titus Crow" series of books. Fantastic!

[thefactor]

Ender’s Game: Best. Book. Ever.

[BushCountry]

Time Enough For Love (best quotes)

[KarlInOhio]

Time Enough For Love (best quotes)

Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors — and miss.

Many, many more here at wikiquotes.

Also read Heinlein's Starship Troopers (the book, not the awful, awful movie that by some random chance had the same name and shared most of the characters' names). Few fiction books will get people thinking about the responsibilities of the citizen to the state and the state to the citizen.

[Nachum]

Ursula LeGuin

The Earth Sea series did not appeal to me, but she has written some excellent things. The "Powers" trilogy was excellent.

[Tao Yin]

Ender’s Game is great. Just finished the Bean quartet. About to read “Ender in Exhile”. Very excited.

[Ingtar]

Earth Sea appealed more for the world she created than her writing. It may be one of those series that grew better in my mind in the many years since I read it. :D

[B-Chan]

Neil Stephenson's Anathem (HarperCollins, 2008) is the best contemporary novel I've read this year. As is usual with Stephenson, it's not a work of science fiction per se, as it does not revolve around speculation about "what would happen if...". It's more a tale of philosophical fiction, a rich dish of of speculation about how Reality works. Its ingedients are a cast of engaging characters, dialog spiced with plenty of high-brow humor, mise-en-scene dense with sense-of-wonder, and enough violence and physical action mixed in to keep the plot (which lacks some of the cohesion found in his earlier works) bubbling along. Friends of Platonism and foes of the more mindless forms of organized religion will find much to savor in every bite.

The prose is carefully crafted, and in places exquisite. Stephenson remains an excellent and deep writer, a sort of Hermann Hesse with a space helmet on, and lovers of well-written prose will find Anathem a good, solid read. And, while the book contains hidden treasures for readers with some knowledge of philosophy and geometry, it's perfectly enjoyable for those who just want a good story as well.

I recommend Anathem as a worthy diversion for thinking science fiction fans.

[Gadsden1st]

I am looking for the name and author of a book I read a long time ago. It was about a world where the technology was made through adaptations of nature. The “guns” were some animal or plant that fired poison darts, etc.

[ShadowAce]

"Necroscope" series by Brian Lumley

I love that series.

[BCR #226]

Pohl, Fred Saberhagen, Larry Niven, Spyder Robinson, Harry Turtledove, Armor by Steakley, etc.

One of my favorites is “Division of Mass”. I can’t find the book nor remember the author’s name but that book scared the sh!!!t out of me.

Mike

[Tanniker Smith]

Legend by David Gemmel. Or anything by him that I’ve read so far.

Loved whatever of Gemmel's I've read, although they'd had their drawbacks (usually with the endings being a little rushed).

I read "King Beyond the Gate" first, told my brother, and he went out and bought the other 3 books (at that time) in the series. I've seen read the four of those in order, and "Knights of Dark Renown". Good stuff.

[BlueLancer]

Glen Cook's "Garrett" series ...
Sweet Silver Blues
Cold Iron Nights
etc, etc.

[BlueLancer]

Glen Cooks “The Black Company” series ...

[Nachum]

Armor by Steakley

Read this one recently. Very good.