A Good Sci Fi Read?

[Doitpow]

if you're up for some less generic sci-fi Try Ian m. Bank's books, i'd recomend Use of Weapons, or The Player of Games. He brings a rarely seen class and skill to the genre.
Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan is a wierd and wonderfull book also.

 

[ohwell]

I'm looking for a good book to read, and wondered if you guys (and gals) could offer some recommendations? I'm looking for something science fiction-y; from 'techno thriller' to 'space opera', anything related to science fiction.

A few books I have already picked out: 1984, Brave New World (first two aren't very science, more fiction), Foundation (and the prequel), and Starship Troopers.

I've already read: Ender's Game (amazing read!), Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide, and War of the Worlds.

(I quickly scanned a search of this, didn't see anything).

anything by philip k dick, especially the VALIS trilogy

almost done with VALIS and already read "the transmigration of timothy archer" and man, that stuff will turn your head around!

 

[robbail]

Stranger In A Strange Land by Heinlein of course. I've only read this and Starship Troopers by him so far but I loved them both.

 

[Wicky_42]

A must read for any Sci-Fi fan, is Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. They are some of the most amazing books I have ever read. I think that these books are what gave Christopher Paolini some of his ideas for Eragon and the rest of theInheritance series.

Lets be honest here, they're mostly more fantasy than sci-fi - though yeah, they were a good read

No, Anne McCaffrey's Pern is FIRMLY rooted in SciFi. Genetics, my friend, genetics.[/quote]

Ah, well that's a bit of a moot point when the majority of the books could be set in any one of an infinite number of fantasy dragon-filled universes. True, the first book features spaceships and genetic engineering, as does the last one, but the whole point of the colony was to get away from technology, and in that they succeeded perfectly. IMO the series as a whole is much more fantasy than sci-fi - everything about it is fantasy apart from the two aforementioned books, as far as I can see. Then again, you're entitled to your own opinion

 

[Jarc42]

IMO the series as a whole is much more fantasy than sci-fi - everything about it is fantasy apart from the two aforementioned books, as far as I can see. Then again, you're entitled to your own opinion

How about Science Fantasy? Now everyone is happy!

Stranger In A Strange Land by Heinlein of course.

That's a no-brainer; glad you brought it up.

 

[dee_dubs]

If you can find a copy, L.E. Modessit Jr's 'Timegods World' is a very interesting read. It follows a human like civilisation who suffer a major catastrophe and the only way to survive is to rely on people who were usually hunted down and killed for having strange powers. It takes a bit of thought to get everything that's happening, but it's become one of the few books I will go back to time and time again.

 

[ThaBenMan]

Like someone else said, the Culture books by Iain M. Banks are good, try Consider Phlebas - a shapeshifting human is hired by one side of a huge interstellar war to capture an errant, sentient supercomputer made by the other side that has fled to a remote planet.

Kiln People by David Brin was quite good - in the future, people can make cheap, temporary clones of themselves to go to work and do other menial tasks for them. The main character stumbles on a conspiracy involving the inventor of the clone technology.

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke is a classic. A gigantic, cylindrical alien craft, dubbed Rama, enters the solar system, and a mission is launched to investigate. The sequel was pretty good, too.

Altered Carbon was quite excellent. Here's a review [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.81194#1076224] I wrote for it

EDIT: crap, sorry - I didn't see that you've already read Consider Phlebas

 

[Yog Sothoth]

Anything by William Gibson: Nueromancer, Idoru and Burning Chrome are all great....

More recently, the Otherland series by Tad Williams is, in my humble opinion, absolutely sublime. The first book is City of Golden Shadow and there are three more in the series. They're the equivalent to a cyber-punk Lord of the Rings in scope, but written much better....

EDIT: Saw someone else mentioned Stranger in a Strange Land.... It's regarded by many as Heinlein's seminal work and magnum opus.

 

[ThaBenMan]

Speaking of Yog Sothoth ;D Has the OP read any Lovecraft? It's technically sci-fi, I guess. Can't go wrong with pretty much any of it.

 

[Scobie]

DELETED

 

[Aflamesdesire]

For an all encompassing space opera try the Pandora's Star series by Peter F. Hamilton it does a wonderful job showing all aspects of humanity once we left earth.

My personal favorite sci-fi book would be The God's Themselves by Asimov

 

[jockslap]

how about Adamante bt L.E.Modesitt Jr. Its about the old planet earth after a nuclear war nearly destroyed the planet, across the universe earth became known as the planet of death, and a colony of scientifically modified humans that fled the planet have come back to retake it. The head Coordinator (esentially president of earth) has access to a defence system that will undoubtedly destroy the invaders but will kill about half of the population of earth. He is forced to make a decision between holding out as long as possible and letting the Invaders take over much of the earth, and destroying them at the cost of millions of lives. pretty sick read, some of that synopsis might be innnacurate, havent read it in ages.

 

[Arkfeller]

Ubik.

 

[ThaBenMan]

Another good one is Dying of the Light by George R.R. Martin (the author of the fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire) - the main character receives a call for help from his old girlfriend. She's on the planet Worlorn, which was a festival planet celebrating the passing of a comet, but is now all but deserted. He has to protect her from a hunting party of people from a very militaristic, warmongering culture. The story itself is alright, but the really interesting parts, in my opinion, are the background bits about the planet and the different cultures that built settlements on it.

 

[AkujiDelano]

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. Science fiction thriller.
After that I believe it is Broken Angels and then Woken Furies.

 

[rekabdarb]

book that isn't exactly sci-fi, but it's interesting... and good

Nightwatch
Daywatch
Twilightwatch
and Finalwatch

it's like Russia's harry potter.... execpt you know good

 

[Uilleand]

Stranger In A Strange Land by Heinlein of course.

Ahh..I was waiting for this one to be recommended.
I heartily second this!

 

[Noone From Nowhere]

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon or Planet of the Blind are both fine science-fiction books without ray guns, space battles and warp engines (I recall the space travel done in the latter to be enabled by 'simple' suspended animation).

 

[Thrashalla]

Alright, I'll play. I'm going to stick to newer authors though as you blokes seem to have the classics covered. And for those that re heavy on the classics - don't be afraid to let go of those and explore some new guys every so often, you might be surprised at the newest crop of talent out there.

I third (or are we up to fourths?) the Richard K Morgan recc's. You get the sci-fi with him and you also get a nice shovel full of noir'ish murder mystery and bleak outlook...and bloody violence, mmmm bloody violence.

Also:
The Bright of the Sky by Kay Kenyon (Book 1 of the Entire and the Rose Quartet, 3 of which are currently published) It's character driven space opera that has a considerable amount of fantasy included with it. Probably my personal favorite of the bunch I'm bringing up.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Starship Troopers if it were made by Tarantino.

Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Buckell. More space opera that is high on the adventure and character development.

Infoquake by David Louis Edelman. Not space opera. Heavier on tech and politics within future corporations.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Just get it. Right now.

 

[Ghadente]

i was going to scream "DUNE" but you already read it...
The Myst series is clever and unique
and Kushiel's Legacy is tramendously wonderful, but its not Sci-fi, its fantasy-fi (patent pending, j/k)

sorry thats all i got, i'm not a sci-fi reader, rather play or watch.