Science Fiction Recommendations

[SturmDolch]

I'm wondering what Escapist users would recommend for some good sci-fi. And by that I mean books, films, video games, graphic novels comics, hell even electronic-based music if you want.

A combination of Tron, Audiosurf, and being in Computer Sciences has recently made me want to see what is out there in terms of science fiction. I want to see if I will like it better than Fantasy.

I'm mostly looking for human related science fiction, at most with robots. I usually prefer no aliens, although if it's good enough, I'll still like it. And definitely do still recommend it here, because someone else might love aliens!

My recommendations:

Tron (1983): You have to see this with an open mind. The CGI is pretty bad when you look at it now, but the story is still very interesting and I like the whole premise. Plus, it's fun to watch what people thought computers would be like. There's even a minor character called "bit" that can only say yes and no, which I found hilarious.

Perfect Dark 64: It starts out normal enough, in the near future. But soon enough, you're unearthing a corporate conspiracy against the president. And aliens. I still think this is the best game on the N64.

The Matrix Trilogy
Star Wars (duh)
The Island

Portal/Half-Life series

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The new Deus Ex is looking good. I haven't played the first ones but I think I will pick them up when they inevitably go on sale on Steam this holiday. And I want to see Blade Runner and THX-1138. I have Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey ready for viewing, too, and Mass Effect ready for playing.

So, what do you like/recommend in terms of sci-fi?

 

[Hashime]

Dark star, cube, primer (watch this!), Stalker [1979], eXistenZ [1991], and Mass Effect

 

[voetballeeuw]

D'aw. No aliens. I was going to recommend reading some H.P Lovecraft. It's more cosmic horror, but it's still a good read.

 

[SturmDolch]

D'aw. No aliens. I was going to recommend reading some H.P Lovecraft. It's more cosmic horror, but it's still a good read.

Oh go ahead and recommend aliens. I didn't mean don't recommend it. I edited it in the OP now.

I've always been interested in Lovecraft. You see him being mentioned so much as an inspiration.

 

[voetballeeuw]

D'aw. No aliens. I was going to recommend reading some H.P Lovecraft. It's more cosmic horror, but it's still a good read.

Oh go ahead and recommend aliens. I didn't mean don't recommend it. I edited it in the OP now.

I've always been interested in Lovecraft. You see him being mentioned so much as an inspiration.

Alright then check out The Call of Cthulhu, if you like that check out his other stories, like The Colour out of Space.

 

[A Weary Exile]

D'aw. No aliens. I was going to recommend reading some H.P Lovecraft. It's more cosmic horror, but it's still a good read.

Yeah, I read some Lovecraft online, wasn't really impressed. It was okay but not as astoundingly brilliant as I was led to believe it would be. :/

Also, the very obvious racism got old fast.

 

[WolfThomas]

As for books I'd recommend both Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlen and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, yes both have aliens, but they're really secondary to the story, it's more about the human spirit.

Starship Troopers deals with basically men training to be the galaxy's most perfect soldiers, it's vastly different to the movie (which albeit is quite fun). The Forever War deals with an endless war against an unknown threat and is one of the few sci fi books to deal with relativity properly, time passes slower for the combatants because they spend most of their time on ships close to the speed of light. So they age a year or so while possibly hundreds pass, it depicts how humanity changes over that time.

 

[Jazzyjazz2323]

Anything and everything written by Dan Abnett especially the Gaunt's Ghost novels but be warned if you do read the ghost omnibuses be prepared to yell at Dan after the first one for every other novel,he doesn't like to play nice with his characters.

 

[Fire Daemon]

I just read the first book in the GAP series. I liked it and would recommend it, but right now I don't know how the rest of the series pans out.

Brave New World is an excellent book. If you're lazy you can wait for the movie next year, but I really would read the book first.

Lovecraft is alright. The Colour out of Space is my favourite, but I find Cthulhu and most of the other 'indescribable monster' stories to be a bit bland and repetitive to be honest.

I find that short Sci-fi stories tend to be better than the longer novels. Try to at least find a collection of short stories written by Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Richard Matheson (wrote I am Legend, much better than the movies) who are my 3 favourite.

If you want a Space Opera, look to Dune. Movie is alright, weird, but alright. Gattaca is an awesome movie, I'd watch that if I were you... much better than The Island, eugh.

 

[Darknacht]

Primer, Primer, and then Primer.

 

[solidstatemind]

The Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson (Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive). Burning Chrome by him as well-- in fact, pretty much any of his books are gold, but his later stuff isn't terribly Sci-Fi.

Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. His Baroque cycle books are good, but closer to steampunk than Sci-Fi.

Anything by Robert Heinlein. 'Dune' by Frank Herbert is good, but starts to get really strange after the first couple, and the stuff written by his son is complete ass.

If you like military sci-fi, I would highly recommend 'Armor' by John Steakley.

Philip K. Dick writes a lot of good short stories, but not all of them can be classified as 'Sci-Fi'. They deal more with the nature of reality and how we perceive it, usually.

the 'Old Man's War' series by John Scalzi are good. Hell, most of what Scalzi writes is good.

many, many more I could recommend (as you can see, I read A LOT), but that should keep you busy for a while.

 

[Naheal]

I'll categorize what I've got.

Live action TV series:

Star Trek: Next Gen
Star Trek: Deep Space 9
Farscape
Stargate: SG 1
Battlestar Galactica (both the old and new series)
Firefly

Movies:

You already have the Matrix trilogy there.
Alien trilogy
Star Wars
Fifth Element
Blade Runner
Serenity
Starship Troopers
Terminator series

Novels:

Anything by Jules Verne
Anything by Arthur C. Clarke.
Snow Crash

Animated, Movies:

Ghost in the Shell
Titan AE

Anime, Series:

Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Mai-Otome
Code Geass
Cowboy Bebop
Trigun
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (The sci-fi portion ramps up come 2nd and 3rd season)
Macross
Outlaw Star
Bubblegum Crisis: Tokyo 2040
Martian Successor Nadesco

Games:

Mass Effect
Deus Ex
Star Ocean (any of the series would do)
Final Fantasy 7 and 13
Anything from the "Mechwarrior" or "Battletech" series.
Anything from the "Armored Core" series

 

[s0m3th1ng]

The Culture novels by Ian M. Banks (Iain...whichever) "Matter" being my favorite.
Very High Sci-Fi. Talking solar-system-sized habitats.

Jack Mcdevitt novels. Archaeological Sci-Fi. He touches on a lot of story arcs though..from post-apocalyptic (Eternity Road) to modern day (Ancient Shores) and future (Academy series). His books read a lot like a Mystery... still packed with sci-fi though.

Anime that haven't been mentioned are:
Last Exile (More steam punk though)
Now and then, here and now (Depressing but oh so good)
Kiddy Grade (Beware fan service)
Vexille (Movie)

Games that haven't been mentioned are mainly 4A titles.
Acendancy (Free)
Master or Orion 1-2
Alpha Centauri

 

[Nouw]

Novels:
Starship Troopers
Ender's Game
Anything Warhammer 40,000

Movies:
Predator
Alien/s
Starship Troopers

And finally a treat for music!
Watch it. Watch it!

 

[Polyintrinsic]

Im really surprised you guys havn't said Dune by Frank Herbert, arguably the best work of science fiction ever written.

 

[MrPatience]

"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison is one of the most moving things I've read.
And G.R.R Martin has quite a lot of fantastic science fiction novellas, all set in a persistent universe. The 'Tuf Voyaging' series is very good. His 'Dreamsongs' collection contains many of his more popular works, and if you can find it, it's definately worth reading.

 

[Orthon]

As for movies, "Moon" is awesome, but all the other movies I can think of have been said(blade runner, aliens, etc). I haven't seen "Dark City", but it's been recommended on several occasions.

As for books, "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K Dick is a good read (and out of the three novels I've read by him, it's the best). Reading "Neuromancer" by William Gibson right now, and so far I like it.

 

[Mikkel421427]

Personally, for military Sci-Fi action, I would recommend War Machine by Andy Remic.
I have, so far, never read so awesome a book in a long time and when I get the money, I'm going to get Bio-hell, the second book in the series.

 

[the clockmaker]

I'm gonna go with the film 'moon' anthing by Ian M Banks, anything by Alistair Reynolds and Hammer's Slammers by... I think David Drake.