The Head-Case Science Fiction Thread

[thrice]

I'm looking to read more science fiction. I've read the Dune series as well as some Clive Barker (Imajica...etc.) but I'd like to get into more of the classics and also modern writers as well.

Obvious beginnings would be Orson Scott Card, Neal Stephenson, Issac Asimov (no, I haven't read anything by Assimov... I know, I'm a bad geek)... Philip K Dick, ...etc.

So what Science Fiction should I read and what modern authors/series do people recommend?

What are your essential books?

Cheers,

thrice

[Hopstretch]

-- Stephenson's "Snow Crash"

-- William Gibson's Sprawl Trilogy

-- Gene Wolfe, "Book Of The New Sun"

-- Michael Swanwick, "Stations Of The Tide"

-- Iain Banks, "Consider Phlebas"

-- Dan Simmons, The Hyperion Cantos

-- M. John Harrison, "Viriconium"

-- Robert Silverberg, "Lord Valentine's Castle"

-- Tim Powers, "Last Call."

-- Joe Haldeman, "The Forever War"

-- James Morrow, "This Is The Way The World Ends"

-- Ken MacLeod's Fall Revolution series.

I could go on and on but know that others will...

Edited January 31, 2010 by Hopstretch

[nattonrice]

Some of my favs:

Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos

Peter F. Hamilton - The Nights Dawn Trilogy, Pandora"s Star/Judas Unchained/The void (sequel trilogy to the PS/JU books)

Greg Bear - Eon (and its sequels)

[mrarroyo]

An oldie but still very entertaining are the Venus and Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

[HiWire]

I'm reading Richard Morgan's Black Man (titled Thirteen in the US). It's a bit derivative of Blade Runner, William Gibson, and Bruce Sterling, but still entertaining.

I agree with the above and add the following:

Chung Kuo by David Wingrove (avoid the last book)

The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

Kiln People by David Brin

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

...

[thrice]

-- Stephenson's "Snow Crash"

I have the Kindle version of this and started it twice. I like it so far, I just need to finish it.

[grawk]

Don't finish it, just peter off reading it...stephenson just petered off writing it

[aardvark baguette]

.

[Dusty Chalk]

Stephenson's Snow Crash, definitely. One of the few books I've read multiple times. Ditto Diamond Age -- fantastic book.

Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game/Speaker for the Dead/Xenocide/Children of the Mind and the shadow series: Ender's Shadow/Shadow of the Hegemon/Shadow Puppets/Shadow of the Giant. It is my understanding that this series has continued, but those are the only 8 I've read.

Tolkien, obviously. (Did you really read the entire Dune series? It kind of went off into never-never land towards the end.)

If you want some serious angst, Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, and the Second Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. I actually preferred this to Tolkien, but I enjoy angsty. I wept openly during sections of these books.

Surprisingly good was the Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko -- Night Watch; Day Watch; Twilight Watch (sometimes called Dusk Watch); Final Watch (sometimes called Last Watch) -- vampires and wizards and shit.

I actually don't "get" Gibson, so my favorite book by him is Pattern Recognition, but Neuromancer (from the aforementioned Sprawl trilogy) is considered by many to have set the template for "cyberpunk". That said -- Difference Engine (steampunk blueprint) and the short story collection Burning Chrome are probably a good place to start. (I think "Dogfight" is one of his best.) I think steampunk will appeal to you.

If cyberpunk appeals to you at all (Snowcrash), check out the short story collection, "Mirrorshades" -- it ended up turning me on to a lot of authors.

Gaiman -- Neverwhere is outstanding. And if you want a funny, Good Omens, with Terry Pratchett.

Heinlein -- Stranger in a Strange Land & Stormship Troopers are classics.

Niven & Pournelle used to be my favorite sci-fi writing act -- Mote in God's Eye, Inferno, Lucifer's Hammer, Oath of Fealty, Footfall, and Legacy of Heorot were about as far as I got.

Niven alone wrote some pretty interesting work, too: Ringworld is pretty great. Then there's the entire Tales of Known Space continuum.

More wizards and shit: Roger Zelazny -- my first favorite author. Lord of Light, and then if you like that, the first Amber series. Another one that does short stories well.

Asimov -- well, you gotta do I, Robot. That's where a lot of it started.

Edited January 31, 2010 by Dusty Chalk

[thrice]

Tolkien, obviously. (Did you really read the entire Dune series? It kind of went off into never-never land towards the end.)

Most of it... I got through the 5th book I think. I haven't read any of his son's work.

Great suggestions! Thanks folks. I just dug into Snow Crash again. I'll look into these others and report back!

[Dusty Chalk]

Most of it... I got through the 5th book I think.

That's about where to stop.

[guzziguy]

Lots of good suggestions. I haven't read much recently. I really like Robert Heinlein and Philip Jose Farmer. If you like Sword & Sorcery I'd recommend the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series by Fritz Leiber.

Oh yeah, Jack Vance wrote some interesting stories too.

[Duggeh]

Some of my favs:

...Greg Bear - Eon...

That's the only sci-fi novel that I've tried to read and couldn't force myself to read through. To be kind, I thought it was a badly written, bloated, mushy rip of Rendevous With Rama. I'd rate it below the very dregs of the various Dune sequels and prequels that Brian Herbert and KJA have pissed all over Frank Herberts legacy with (I've read all of them except the newest, "Paul of Dune" which is on my shelf).

Noone seems to have mentioned The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy yet. So I'll throw that in. The sequels get progressively worse though. Do not read "Mostly Harmless".

I've read a lot of Arthur C Clarke and rate The City And The Stars, The Songs Of Distant Earth and The Fountains Of Paradise highly. The first Rama is good and so is 2001.

The king is still Frank Herberts Dune.

[postjack]

I have yet to finish Snow Crash, to cyberpunky for me. As I've pontificated on before, I don't like VR in my sci-fi, and for that matter I despise lengthy descriptions of dreams in any literature. Having said that I am a huge Neal Stephenson fan. Diamond Age is superb, as is Cryptonomicon, The Baroque Cycle, and his newest, Anathem. So I guess what I'm saying is don't be afraid to skip Snow Crash if you get bored with it.

Another beloved author/series I dislike is Stephen Donaldson's Covenant stuff. Sorry Dusty, I'm all for an anti-hero but Covenant is a little bitch, and Donaldson's world-building is dull.

Neil Gaiman's American Gods is a classic piece of spec fic, as is Neverwhere. Anansi Boys is great fun for fans of American Gods, but not quite on the same level.

Let me go ahead and recommend my favorite spec fic author, Jeff Vandermeer. City of Saints and Madmen is a weird series of interconnected short stories, histories, and interviews. Required reading before picking up his masterpiece, Shriek. A beautiful and horrific world he has created here. Speaking of beautiful and horrific:

China Mieville. Perdido Street Station and The Scar are required reading for those interested in the subgenre of authors referred to as "New Weird". When you want to check out the roots of these authors, pickup M. John Harrisons Viriconium. Its weird.

[MexicanDragon]

I've downloaded a few things from Audible and have been listening to books lately.

Snow Crash I just finished, and enjoyed, though kinda see Dan's point there at the end.

Neverwhere is next on my list after I finish "Under The Dome" by Stephen King, as it was 34 hours long and I need to kill time.

Ringworld was free on Audible recently through http://www.audible.com/twitfree It was pretty good.

Ender's Game is something I've read multiple times, and one of my favorite books, period.

Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land is classic, and I'm sure grawk would approve.

There's a good list started up above. I know I have a few more to add, just can't remember them... maybe it's time to start re-reading things, no?

I guess I'm just saying "x2" to about a third of the above.

**BRENT**

[Voltron]

Most of it... I got through the 5th book I think. I haven't read any of his son's work.

I slogged through the whole series, which really lost its way at the end as you guys have recognized. For a reprise I read some of the stuff his son did, and it was really just an attempt to go back to the style/content of the first Dune books.

Suggestions:

Mary Doria Russell -- The Sparrow and to a much lesser extent the sequel The Children of God

Philip K. Dick -- You should read The Man in the High Castle, but I also like some more off-beat selections like The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Dr. Bloodmoney.

Kurt Vonnegut -- Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse 5

[postjack]

Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land is classic, and I'm sure grawk would approve.

yet another generally beloved sci-fi classic I didn't care for. a little bit too "lets all have sex and everything will be fine" for me.

[grawk]

yet another generally beloved sci-fi classic I didn't care for. a little bit too "lets all have sex and everything will be fine" for me.

That's why I liked it, of course.

[Hopstretch]

That's why I liked it, of course.

Plus the politics, leetle beet?

[grawk]

Plus the politics, leetle beet?

And the philosophy, too.

[postjack]

That's why I liked it, of course.

hippie!

[grawk]

Oh, and the recipe ideas

[thrice]

I'm not sure it's Sci Fi, but I have read some Haruki Murakami. less Sci-Fi and more lit/thriller/fantasy. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles is my favorite.

[Spiug31]

many good authors already mentioned but I tend to enjoy some of the older ones as well

Frank L Baum has many books online with project gutenberg

Browse By Author: B - Project Gutenberg

Lewis Carroll has quite a few too

Browse By Author: C - Project Gutenberg

C. S. Lewis "The chronicles of narnia" the seven audiobooks I listened through were all good (by Focus on the Family Radio Theatre)

"The Worm Ouroboros" by Eric R

[episiarch]

A lot of good recommendations here, so I don't have a lot to add. But do check out Accelerando by Charles Stross. The whole text's available at that link, in various formats, so you can try before you buy, or never buy at all.