What are some of your favorite science-fiction novels?

[SHISHKABOB]

I just read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman and wow it was pretty great.

 

[Borek]

"Monday Begins on Saturday" by Strugatski brothers. Apparently hard to find - and expensive (used at Amazon starts at $78).

They wrote more great SF books - "Hard to be a God", "Roadside picnic".

 

[karan4496]

I read "Oryx and Crake" by Margaret Atwood this summer and really enjoyed it. It presents one of the most believable dystopian worlds I've read about. I'm intently waiting to read it's sequels.

 

[feathermoon]

I read the foundation trilogy recently.. strong story, soft sci-fi. Definitely worth the time.

Now I'm starting Hex by Allen Steele, its in the Coyote Universe of books, good so far but fairly soft sci-fi.

 

[tygerdawg]

(Gawd I feel old.)

I read SF in order to do a brain-dump from the day's stresses. Having said that...

ditto for Herbert's Dune, but only the original. Deep, textured, well done, thoughtful. Most of the sequels were weak and "me, too."

Rissa Kerguelen by Busby (aka The Long View). Read that many, many years ago and still think about the concepts of how societies deal with space travel at non-relativistic speeds.

Chindi by McDevitt, a really fun space adventure read with a cleverly written situation towards the end that only someone with physics / mechanics knowledge would understand.

Then again, most (not all) of McDevitt's books are just mindlessly fun reading.

Most of William Gibson's "cyberpunk" genre novels like Burning Chrome were very unique and refreshingly different at the time and fun. But again, not all of them.

I remember I enjoyed Timothy Zahn's Conquerer's Pride (and maybe the other two in that series) for military sci-fi action shoot'em ups with alien bad guys. Tried to read a few other of his novels and was generally disappointed.

 

[ImaLooser]

I just read The Forever War by Joe Haldeman and wow it was pretty great.

That was possibly the most imaginative SF I ever read.

My gripe with SF is that so much of it is thinly disguised metaphors of historical eras (the Roman Empire is the overwhelming favorite) combined with extrapolation of current trends. There is very little originality. I read history instead because real life shows more imagination, if you can guess what I mean.

The Forever War was Different. I like the Hitchhiker's Guide too, and Kurt Vonnegut.

When I was a kid I liked Asimov. He is very good with plot.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

My gripe with SF is that so much of it is thinly disguised metaphors of historical eras (the Roman Empire is the overwhelming favorite) combined with extrapolation of current trends. There is very little originality. I read history instead because real life shows more imagination, if you can guess what I mean.

With regards to history repeats it is common to see SF that is pretty much Napoleonic wars in spaaaace (complete with royalty, empires, navys and historical figures *cough* honorverse *cough*) or idealised American navy...in spaaaace.

IMO there's nothing necessarily wrong with translating a historical circumstance into your setting, indeed it can be a great way to explore the issues, but when it's done badly or inappropriately it can really feel cheap.

 

[Travis_King]

All of the Priscilla Hutchins books by McDevitt are great.

I'm also a huge fan of McDevitt's Alex Benedict series.

 

[SHISHKABOB]

That was possibly the most imaginative SF I ever read.

My gripe with SF is that so much of it is thinly disguised metaphors of historical eras (the Roman Empire is the overwhelming favorite) combined with extrapolation of current trends. There is very little originality. I read history instead because real life shows more imagination, if you can guess what I mean.

The Forever War was Different. I like the Hitchhiker's Guide too, and Kurt Vonnegut.

When I was a kid I liked Asimov. He is very good with plot.

I'm kind of confused with your post, because I found that The Forever War was very much based on the Vietnam War. I mean, I think that the author even states this explicitly.

 

[ImaLooser]

I'm kind of confused with your post, because I found that The Forever War was very much based on the Vietnam War. I mean, I think that the author even states this explicitly.

So the USA was a society based on incestuous clone sodomy? You learn something new every day.

 

[SHISHKABOB]

So the USA was a society based on incestuous clone sodomy? You learn something new every day.

the changes in the society on Earth were supposed to represent the changes in the USA during the Vietnam war. Not *specifically* but just the fact that Mandella came back to a home that was very different from how he left it. He was also unappreciated by people when he got back and almost alienated because of how he was basically in 20 years or so of culture shock the first time, then hundreds of years difference later.

It's not a direct representation, obviously, but rather a... well this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War#Significance_and_critical_reception

 

[squire]

My favourites have changed down the years. i suppose some of my all time favs would be:

childhoods end - arthur c clarke
commonwealth saga (in particular judas unchained) - peter f hamilton
tau zero - poul anderson
eon - greg bear
hitchikers guide to the galaxy - douglas adams





My father was a watch maker. He abandoned it when Einstein discovered time is relative.

 

[Amok]

Blindsight is a sci-fi novel by Canadian writer Peter Watts. I haven't finished reading it yet (although I've read about 90% of it), and I alredy know it's one of the best novels I've read in a while. It's about a near future (21st century still) in which humans make contact with alien lifeforms. Extremely engrossing, with its main theme being conciousness.

Watts is a biologist by training, which makes his descriptions of the alien lifeforms (and of humans too) very interesting and very original. None of that cliché little men with big heads stuff. It's not an easy read though, and it's outlook on humanity is pretty depressing.

Highly recommended, felt like I had to share this. Anyone read it/heard of it?

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I've read Blindsight and found it unparalleled in its exploration of non normative mental states. Very few authors are bold enough to give their non-human characters anything more than a caricature of human/animal psychology let alone suggest that we're the freakish ones for having conscious experience.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I started the Culture series recently, with the first book being Consider Phlebas, by Iain Banks.

I'm only about 1/3 of the way done with the book, but thus far I've enjoyed the novel. It follows Bora Horza (forgot his crazy last name), who is a humanoid mercenary with the capability of changing his body (if necessary, to the very DNA) to match someone else, which is obviously a useful trait.

There is currently a galactic-scale war between the Culture (an advanced civilization, who presumably will be the point of focus for the future novels in the series) and the Idirans, who are an enormous (when compared to humans) species with three-legs.

It basically boils down to the fact that a Mind (an extremely advanced, sentient computer) crash landed on something called a Planet of the Dead, which is strictly off limits to both the Idirans and the Culture. Horza is one of the only people who is capable of gaining access to the planet, and consequently, the Mind, so both sides are fighting for his help.

I'm looking forward to the other novels.

 

[Borek]

Finished Snow Crash few days ago. Definitely good read, although some parts are are much better than the others.

I have a feeling Stephenson is a victim of his ow imagination - it gives him thousands of pictures/ideas and he has a problem of selecting only those that are important for the story.

 

[ImaLooser]

I'm kind of confused with your post, because I found that The Forever War was very much based on the Vietnam War. I mean, I think that the author even states this explicitly.

Well, the correspondence was abstract enough that I didn't get it. Deep metaphorical things like that, good! If they had soldiers hopping around a jungle in 15-man antigrav ships on a satellite of Betelgeuse oppressing innocent natives who just want to grow greps, which is suspiciously like rice, then that would be bad.

 

[Arvin]

The Three Body trilogy by Xinci Liu.
A three-Body world suffered a lot because of the unstability of their stars. One day they received the massege from Earth and then formed the army to come to the earth. They used the advanced technology to preclude the development of foundational Science. How the human prevented the destory from three bodies... I am not sure whether there is English version now.

 

[Evo]

The Star Beast by Heinlein.

 

[Aaronvan]

Timescape by Gregory Benford.
Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

I started the Culture series recently, with the first book being Consider Phlebas, by Iain Banks.

You've got a lot of enjoyable reading ahead of you the next Culture book, The Player of Games remains one of my favourite novels. Similarly to Consider Phlebas it takes place mostly outside the Culture albeit with characters from it. This was a good method by Banks IMO as by setting the first few stories mostly at a remove from the Culture he stoked up interest that would last a lot longer than if readers were plunged into the nigh-omnipotent utopian Culture straight away.

Sadly the latter half of the Culture books have steadily marched down the road to staleness in my opinion (though I've spoken to others who echo it) as the Culture has been set up as too powerful for there really to be much engagement with whatever struggle is the centrepiece of the plot. That and some story elements have become quite repetitive. I'm hoping that for the next book Banks takes it back to how it began and starts telling stories at a smaller scale, removed from the Culture itself rather than repeating the "epic catastrophe that sucks in a few small characters but is ultimately solved by omniscient Minds piloting omnipotent warships" style of plot that seems to becoming endemic to his novels.

 

[phion]

Eon, by Greg Bear.
Foundation's Fear, by Gregory Benford.
Foundation and Chaos, by Greg Bear.
Foundation's Triumph, by David Brin.

 

[MalcolmB]

Revelation Space and Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds.

 

[Aero51]

Eon, by Greg Bear.
Foundation's Fear, by Gregory Benford.
Foundation and Chaos, by Greg Bear.
Foundation's Triumph, by David Brin.

If you like Greg Bear you would love Blood Music. Its another novel he wrote originally as a short story.

 

[phion]

If you like Greg Bear you would love Blood Music. Its another novel he wrote originally as a short story.

He's so good. Being the huge Halo nerd that I am, next on my queue are his three Halo books; Cryptum, Primordium, and Silentium. I'm so psyched about reading them I don't even know what to do with myself. Silentium will be available for purchase on the 19th on March I believe.

I'll be sure to check out Blood Music too.

 

[Aero51]

To be honest I had no idea Greg Bear was so popular. Never been a Halo fan - I keep thinking of 12 year olds on XBox live screaming obscenities haha. A few of my friends are really into it though.

Have you read any of Michael Crichton? I liked Prey, I think I read timeline too years ago when I was in my early teens.

 

[phion]

Never been a Halo fan - I keep thinking of 12 year olds on XBox live screaming obscenities haha. A few of my friends are really into it though.

Yea I agree, which is why I always have voice turned off and don't use a mic. I just like to shoot stuff in the face, haha.

Have you read any of Michael Crichton? I liked Prey, I think I read timeline too years ago when I was in my early teens.

I did read the first Jurassic Park, I liked all his films I saw; Twister, Jurassic Park. I'm pretty picky about what I read outside of non-fiction though, and honestly couldn't tell you in the last several years what I've read that wasn't science fiction.

 

[quantumfoam]

I think Timeline by Michael Crichton was a pretty good SF. The whole thing of time traveling into the middle ages is really awesome! And Michael always puts the science in how the characters achieve their technology!(:

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

You've got a lot of enjoyable reading ahead of you

I can't believe I didn't notice this until now!

That's good to know that The Player of Games is an excellent book, considering I've been finished with Consider Phlebas for a while and would like to continue on with the series.

One interesting aspect of Iain Banks' writing was that I felt as if I were watching a movie, and not reading a book. He is very visually descriptive, to where I had no difficulty at all imagining something in my mind, whereas other books aren't so kind.

I would wholeheartedly agree that he does a great job of creating intrigue about the Culture; I was almost disappointed with how little of a role it played in the book (despite Consider Phlebas revolving around a war involving the Culture), but there was enough in there to satiate my curiosity, and to allow my imagination to work with what it was given.

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

In my British Literature class, we have been supplied with a textbook containing poems, short stories, and a few brief novella. I obviously skipped over the fecal matter inside and immediately started reading the included works of George Orwell and H.G. Wells.

I found The Star by H.G. Wells, and fell in love with it instantly. I originally had a brief summary typed up here, but realized that short stories rely upon surprises and quick emotional surges for their potency, so I wouldn't dare risk ruining it for you by giving away too much information.

It can be read http://www.classicreader.com/book/176/1/ for free, and it would probably take up less than 10 pages of a printed book, so you really have no excuse not to read it.

 

[Ibix]

I was trying to work out how that could have a twist ending given its mechanistic style. Awsome when it came, though.

 

[Borek]

So I have just finished The Lord of the Icy Garden by Jarosław Grzędowicz. Sci-Fi that mixes with fantasy in an unexpected way. Only in Polish at the moment, but if it will be ever translated, do read - all four books, to the very end. Somehow in the end he makes all ends meet, even if by the time I started to read the third book I lost my faith the story will ever end still making sense.

 

[R_beta.v3]

I haven't read many science-fiction books, but recently I began reading Asimov books.
-The End of Eternity
-Prelude to Foundation
-Forward the Foundation

I liked them a lot. Especially "The End of Eternity".

 

[brenan]

I haven't read many science-fiction books, but recently I began reading Asimov books.
-The End of Eternity
-Prelude to Foundation
-Forward the Foundation

I liked them a lot. Especially "The End of Eternity".

I became an Asimov reader at a very early age. I was one of those
people that read everything he wrote on any subject.
His short stories (and Clarkes) were particular favourites on train journeys.
I loved all his science articles and even his intro's into his stories.

I can recommend any of his collections as being well worth the time.
There seems to be very little he wrote that wasn't hugely enjoyable.
Not bad for someone who just sat down and typed with hardly any revision.
However I DON'T recommend his autobiography. I have 2 volumes and find it impossible to read.
That was quite a shock at the time.

If you enjoy the longer stuff like the Foundation trilogy ( I refuse to accept a 4th -
its a trilogy damn it!) you might also like some of E.E. Doc Smiths stuff -
Oh and of course Harry Harrisons Stainless Steel Rat series.

 

[Riemann Metric]

Ender's Game series was definitely nice, and I must say the physics of Halo along with its novels make for another source of entertainment, apart from the action and plot of the actual storyline. It's nice to think about what humans could eventually achieve.

 

[DHF]

My personal favorite is "Lighting" by Dean Koontz. It centers around the life of girl named Laura and a mysterious man that continues to appear at key moments of her life, starting with the night she was born. It came out in 1988 but I still pick it up and re read it occasionally.

 

[Cruikshank]

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel by Robert Heinlein changed my life when I was 16. All his early stuff is great.
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson was amazing, Diamond Age was so-so, about 1/3 of Cryptonomicon was good, and I've given up on the rest.
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card was brilliant, and his first. That author swings for the fence on every pitch--either he belts it out of the park or spins around in circles looking ridiculous. Unfortunately usually the latter.
The Honor Harrington series by David Weber--for the characters more than science.
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge was magnificent, but don't read the sequels unless you like grim, grim, and more grim suffering.
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin is mostly about societies, but the main character is a physicist.

I love the novels of ideas, and the novels of human integrity and accomplishment. Bujold and Benford and Brin are all great in various ways (currently halfway through Existence by David Brin and it is a hard but rewarding read.) I have read a lot of 7-9 on the hardness scale, but I prefer around 4 to 6 because it's a story not a textbook.

 

[turbo]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card was brilliant, and his first.

Got to give a ditto on this one. I have read so many science fiction novels and this one stands out even so many years later.

 

[Skutch]

Books to make one laugh out loud?
Vonnegut's Venus on the Half Shell
Sturgeon's Ether Breather tales, three of them if i recall

Except Venus on the Half Shell is Philip Jose Farmer writing as Kilgore Trout, not Vonnegut. Sorry I'm two years late with this revelation, but I just joined.

 

[Digitalism]

What about some that are light, goofy, convoluted, entertaining, easy to read,funny and don't have creepy creatures, collecting booty, and fighting in 90% of the book. And no glaringly bad science please (A family member has requested some of these) they like Hitchhiler's Guide to the Galaxy and Anne McCaffrey dragon rider but funnier than her stuff.

Thanks

Perhaps Altered Carbon though it is a bit more gritty than humorous not in the realm of hard scifi. Seems to be hard to find hard scifi that is well written, entertaining, and challenging as literature

 

[rshreyas]

the best thing i have ever read is 'the time machine' and 'the first men in the moon'. it's nice .it was written by h g wells , the first science fiction author.

 

[sappho.poiesis]

My above all favorite sci fi book is The Ophiuchi hotline from John Varley. the way it depics the future, the story evolves in a time when humans were "kicked out" of planet Earth and are stranded across the universe. Lilo the main character is a genetist who specializes in human genenetics which is ilegal. The story is very complex, and I loved every single word in it.

 

[Aaronvan]

"The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

 

[AnTiFreeze3]

I just recently read two of Isaac Asimov's short stories; The Last Question and The Last Answer. Despite obviously similar names, they're separate stories with separate characters, but both are very thought provoking, and definitely worth the read.

 

[UltrafastPED]

Lois McMaster Bujold "The Warrior's Apprentice"
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61906.The_Warrior_s_Apprentice

This one is part of an entire family of mostly great books; solid plots and great characters.

 

[Kepler20f]

Neuromancer by William Gibson. Great characters, world-building and plot, even though extrapolating from 80s tech is now badly outdated, i.e. no web or cellphones. Gibson has the best writing style of anyone I've ever read.
Player of Games by Iain M Banks (now sadly deceased), very powerful, very clever and I love the game it depicts.

 

[Odins Acolyte]

Radix is excellent. Also the series called the Urth of the New Sun. It begins with "The Shadow of the Torturer".
Oh! Cyrano De Bergerac was the first science fiction writer. He wrote "To the Moon and Back". My hero. Educated, creative and tragic and one of the very best swordsmen who ever did live.

 

[Nick20]

I like Star Wars!

More spesifically I really like the Bane triology. I have long been really fascinated by the sith and the ways of the dark side. This triology is from the old republic era and covers Darth Bane's journy from a cortosis miner to a dark lord of the sith. He learns that the brotherhood of darkness has left the old ways of the sith and seeks to reinstate the rule of two.

 

[johnathon_king]

enders game.

that is all i can say this book is like star-trek
taken to the next level

 

[Filip Larsen]

I am a bit surprised no one mentioned Peter F. Hamilton, so I'd like to mention his The Reality Dysfunction (first book in the The Night's Dawn Trilogy) and his earlier Mindstar Rising as very entertaining and readable, containing both hard and soft science-fiction.