pol
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Post by pol on Nov 25, 2021 8:07:02 GMT
This thread is so forum users can recommend science fiction books to each other. Prefer novels and an authors compilation of short stories but not essential...
I would like to open up with my all time favourite - Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan
In 2nd place I would recommend the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson, start with Red Mars.
3rd is more tricky as there's loads of good stuff out there, but decided to go with my favourite Author, Peter Hamilton. His "lighter" work is the Greg Mandel series, the first is Mindstar Rising.
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Post by admin on Nov 25, 2021 9:55:56 GMT
This thread is so forum users can recommend science fiction books to each other. Helloooo, I LOVE SF and I've read all the books in your list. In fact I've read most Peter F. Hamilton's books, twice, he's the god of space opera! My favourite book of his is Fallen Dragon. Currently I'm reading the Salvation trilogy, which is OK, not his finest work, but a good read. Here are some of my recent reads:- Anne Leckie's Ancillary trilogy, starting with "Ancillary Justice", a really fresh new perspective on galactic empires, artificial intelligence, justice and also gender. It's written in a way that you're never quite sure whether a person is male or female and after a while it doesn't even matter anymore. - Adrian Tchaikovsky, "Children of Time". Describes the fantastic evolution of an alien lifeform on a planet where a human terraforming experiment went wrong. - Kim Stanley Robinson's "Aurora", a great story from within a generation starship. - John Scalzi's Interdependency series starting with "The Collapsing Empire". War and intrigue plague a galactic empire which is heading for collapse. - James S A Corey, The Expanse series! I am not a fan of the TV series, but the books are the best of the best! Classics:- Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation series are a must read and my all time favourite. I've been watching the new Foundation TV series and while it only loosely follows the original story, I am quite enjoying it. - Greg Egan is an Australian author who writes short but incredibly intricate and thought provoking books, my favourites are "Distress", "Permutation City" and "Quarantine" - Vernor Vinge, especially "A Fire Upon the Deep" and its prequel "A Deepness in the Sky" - Ian Banks' Culture novels are also a must read in my opinion! - Frank Herbert's Dune series ... I read all 6 original novels many times, but I never liked the sequels written by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. - Neal Stephenson - "Diamond Age" and "Snowcrash" are my favourites, but I also liked "Anathem" and "Seveneves". All his other books are in dire need of a better editor to cut at least 400 pages off each .. otherwise not too bad. I better stop here ... I'm getting too excited! Please recommend books that I haven't read yet! I'm hungry for more ;-) |
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Post by pt3r on Nov 25, 2021 10:30:09 GMT
Everything by William Gibson, but the sprawl and the bridge trilogies are my favourites.
Iain M. Banks : Consider Phlebas.
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Seveneves, Reamde
Cory Doctorow: walkaway, little brother
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Post by pt3r on Nov 25, 2021 10:43:03 GMT
This thread is so forum users can recommend science fiction books to each other. Helloooo, I LOVE SF and I've read all the books in your list. In fact I've read most Peter F. Hamilton's books, twice, he's the god of space opera! My favourite book of his is Fallen Dragon. Currently I'm reading the Salvation trilogy, which is OK, not his finest work, but a good read. Here are some of my recent reads:- Anne Leckie's Ancillary trilogy, starting with "Ancillary Justice", a really fresh new perspective on galactic empires, artificial intelligence, justice and also gender. It's written in a way that you're never quite sure whether a person is male or female and after a while it doesn't even matter anymore. - Adrian Tchaikovsky, "Children of Time". Describes the fantastic evolution of an alien lifeform on a planet where a human terraforming experiment went wrong. - Kim Stanley Robinson's "Aurora", a great story from within a generation starship. - John Scalzi's Interdependency series starting with "The Collapsing Empire". War and intrigue plague a galactic empire which is heading for collapse. - James S A Corey, The Expanse series! I am not a fan of the TV series, but the books are the best of the best! Classics:- Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation series are a must read and my all time favourite. I've been watching the new Foundation TV series and while it only loosely follows the original story, I am quite enjoying it. - Greg Egan is an Australian author who writes short but incredibly intricate and thought provoking books, my favourites are "Distress", "Permutation City" and "Quarantine" - Vernor Vinge, especially "A Fire Upon the Deep" and its prequel "A Deepness in the Sky" - Ian Banks' Culture novels are also a must read in my opinion! - Frank Herbert's Dune series ... I read all 6 original novels many times, but I never liked the sequels written by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. - Neal Stephenson - "Diamond Age" and "Snowcrash" are my favourites, but I also liked "Anathem" and "Seveneves". All his other books are in dire need of a better editor to cut at least 400 pages off each .. otherwise not too bad. I better stop here ... I'm getting too excited! Please recommend books that I haven't read yet! I'm hungry for more ;-) I fully agree on Stephenson needing a better editor, Fall or Dodge in hell is still in my bookshelf, unfinished, too much filler that does nothing for the story. Which is a crying shame if you consider masterpieces like Diamond Age and Zodiac. |
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pol
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Post by pol on Nov 25, 2021 21:10:39 GMT
- Anne Leckie's Ancillary trilogy, starting with "Ancillary Justice", a really fresh new perspective on galactic empires, artificial intelligence, justice and also gender. It's written in a way that you're never quite sure whether a person is male or female and after a while it doesn't even matter anymore. Agree, excellent Series- Adrian Tchaikovsky, "Children of Time". Describes the fantastic evolution of an alien lifeform on a planet where a human terraforming experiment went wrong. Yes, Sequel is good too.- Kim Stanley Robinson's "Aurora", a great story from within a generation starship. One of the few of his I haven't read, will add it to the want list!- John Scalzi's Interdependency series starting with "The Collapsing Empire". War and intrigue plague a galactic empire which is heading for collapse. yes, like all his- James S A Corey, The Expanse series! I am not a fan of the TV series, but the books are the best of the best! Totally agree!Classics:- Isaac Asimov's Robot and Foundation series are a must read and my all time favourite. I've been watching the new Foundation TV series and while it only loosely follows the original story, I am quite enjoying it. Ooh, might try it then, I couldn't see TV doing the books Justice.- Greg Egan is an Australian author who writes short but incredibly intricate and thought provoking books, my favourites are "Distress", "Permutation City" and "Quarantine" Read Some, not sure what...- Vernor Vinge, especially "A Fire Upon the Deep" and its prequel "A Deepness in the Sky" ditto..- Ian Banks' Culture novels are also a must read in my opinion! Definitely.- Frank Herbert's Dune series ... I read all 6 original novels many times, but I never liked the sequels written by his son Brian and Kevin J. Anderson. Agreed.- Neal Stephenson - "Diamond Age" and "Snowcrash" are my favourites, Agree with this too!Well, Books you may not have read, you seem to have a broad a taste in SF as me! Hope you have read all 5 books of the Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy (Douglas Adams)..... Kevin J Anderson Saga of Shadows is superb, "Dark Between the Stars" is the first one. S Spencer Baker, Slabscape Reset is very good. Think there's a sequel coming/out. Barrington J Bayley is an old Author a lot of people don't know. I like all I've read of his. Rob Boffard, Tracer & Zero G are both excellent books. Ricard Cowper has written quite a few books I really like, my favourite is the White bird of Kinship Trilogy, the first book is "The road to Corlay" - related short stories. The Philp K Dick collect short works series is a must for any SF fan... The first book is "Beyond Lies the Wub". 5 large books! Any Cory Doctorow I've enjoyed. My favourite Fantasy is the Illearth War by Stephen Donaldoson, the first book is "Lord Foul's Bane". Bit wordy but sucked me in.... Riverworld Series by Philip Jose Farmer is a bit a special, even if odd at times, "To Your Scattered Bodies Go" is the first book As hard SF as you can get, and one of my all time favourites, Dragon's Egg by Robert L Forward. Highly, highly recommended... There is a sequel too which loses a bit of the "magic" but still very good. Tom Holt, "Expecting Someone Taller" if you want a lighter read sometime.... Hugh Howey series, "Wool" is the first, superb. I enjoy any of the Bolo stories by Keith Laumer (the inventor) and others; "Bolo" is a short story collection and a good place to start. If you like that you'll like more. It reminds me a little of the Asimov Robot stories as the "rules" set the parameters of the stories (most of the time). George RR Martin & Lisa Tuttle - Windhaven. Most of the Anne McCaffery Dragon books.... Raez Naam, Nexus Trilogy, "Nexus" is the first. Sylvian Neuvel, Sleeping Giants; there is a sequel now too. H Beam Piper - "Fuzzy Sapiens". A classic, now a series of books not just by him, I haven't read all of them though. Stupid to mention Terry Pratchett? Jeanne & Spider Robinson - "Stardance" - sequel Starseed is very good too. "Mirrorshades", edited by Bruce Sterling is a superb collection of cyberpunk short stories. Another collection , James Tiptree Jr "10,00 light years from home". Not everyone's cup of tea but I really liked it; Alt History, Aliens arrived during WW2, "In the Balance" is the first of 8 books by Harry Turtledove. You can tell he's an historian by trade. S. L. Viehl "Stardoc" you will probably like as you like Ann Leckie. Several books set in same future. Ian Watson, "Book of the River" is the first of a trilogy, all excellent. If you like more horror/possibly even supernatural in your SF; F Paul Wilson, "Tomb" is the start of a 15 book series. I got gripped and read the lot in 3 months! David Wingrove, "Chung Kuo" is the first of 6 books, I've loved the first 3, 4th is on my to read pile... I hope you find the alphabetical order helpful! |
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pol
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Post by pol on Nov 25, 2021 21:13:19 GMT
Everything by William Gibson, but the sprawl and the bridge trilogies are my favourites. Iain M. Banks : Consider Phlebas. Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash, Diamond Age, Cryptonomicon, Seveneves, Reamde Cory Doctorow: walkaway, little brother Yes, everyone is a great book. "Mona Lisa Overdrive" is still my all time favourite book title,  |
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pol
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Post by pol on Nov 25, 2021 21:29:55 GMT
- Vernor Vinge, especially "A Fire Upon the Deep" and its prequel "A Deepness in the Sky" Just discovered these are in my "to read" pile in an Omnibus edition; Moved it to the top! |
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Post by pt3r on Nov 26, 2021 9:20:45 GMT
I agree, the Hitchhikers' guide must be in this list. Wonderful book. Douglas Adams' genius is very missed.
Ready player one and Two are not on the list but I quite enjoyed these, especially the first one, preferred the book over the movie.
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pol
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Post by pol on Nov 26, 2021 10:52:13 GMT
Ready player one and Two are not on the list but I quite enjoyed these, especially the first one, preferred the book over the movie. Missed there was a sequel. Read the book because of the movie; as you'd expect the book is more nuanced but thought they did a good job with the 80s references etc. Is a good book too. |
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Post by pt3r on Nov 26, 2021 11:08:48 GMT
Thrue the eighties references warmed my cold black heart  the sequel was IMHO not as innovative as the first one but still a fun and entertaining read. |
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pol
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Post by pol on Dec 4, 2021 9:06:53 GMT
I agree, the Hitchhikers' guide must be in this list. Wonderful book. Douglas Adams' genius is very missed. Ready player one and Two are not on the list but I quite enjoyed these, especially the first one, preferred the book over the movie. Just finished Ready Player 2, very good, not the same wow factor as the first but that is to be expected,  Vernor Vinge is next admin ! |
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Post by solipsistnation on Dec 5, 2021 23:23:46 GMT
- Anne Leckie's Ancillary trilogy, starting with "Ancillary Justice", a really fresh new perspective on galactic empires, artificial intelligence, justice and also gender. It's written in a way that you're never quite sure whether a person is male or female and after a while it doesn't even matter anymore. - Adrian Tchaikovsky, "Children of Time". Describes the fantastic evolution of an alien lifeform on a planet where a human terraforming experiment went wrong. - Kim Stanley Robinson's "Aurora", a great story from within a generation starship. - John Scalzi's Interdependency series starting with "The Collapsing Empire". War and intrigue plague a galactic empire which is heading for collapse. - James S A Corey, The Expanse series! I am not a fan of the TV series, but the books are the best of the best! Classics:[...] - Ian Banks' Culture novels are also a must read in my opinion! Yikes, Banks is "classic" now? Man. I remember heading to the bookstore in Boston that carried UK SF whenever I heard a new IMB book had been released to see if they had it... Now he's classic? Ouch. That's like when I'm at the grocery store and they're playing stuff I heard on the radio when I was a kid. Guess I'm old now. Oh well. Anne Leckie-- especially for the Ancillary books-- is the most obvious and delightful heir apparent to Banks, I think. The sheer audacity of some of her ideas feels a lot like Banks at his best. I've also been reading other Adrian Tchaikovsky recently-- I don't think I've read anything of his that didn't seem pretty great. The Children of Time books were also delightful, for different reasons. ("We've made contact with the race down there on the planet and uh.......") The Expanse is wrapping up! I have the last book on my ipad waiting to be read. Scalzi is always fun. |
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Post by solipsistnation on Dec 5, 2021 23:31:22 GMT
A couple of years ago I was in another city for a conference and desperately needed a book to read on the flight home. I found a nice bookstore (the kind that's in what was originally a house so it was full of little nooks and stairwells and unexpected corners lined with books) and found a copy of _Gideon The Ninth_ by Tamsyn Muir. The cover blurb from Charlie Stross sold it immediately. "Lesbian necromancers explore a haunted gothic palace in space!"
Dang, man, that turned out to be my favorite book of the past few years. Swords! Snarkyness! LOTS OF SKELETONS I SURE HOPE YOU LIKE SKELETONS BECAUSE HEY THERE ARE SOME SKELETONS IN HERE. An amazing rollicking adventure. The sequel took it in a weirder direction and got a little meta, and I think was as good as the first. The next 2 books are instant reads-- like, it takes a lot to make me drop whatever I'm reading and read something new, but when the next Tamsyn Muir book shows up, I am 100% there for that.
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Post by solipsistnation on Dec 5, 2021 23:35:13 GMT
Thrue the eighties references warmed my cold black heart the sequel was IMHO not as innovative as the first one but still a fun and entertaining read. I had kind of a problem with Ready Player One-- on the one hand, sure! It was clearly aimed straight at me! Lots of nerd jokes I was WAY INTO (Tomb of Horrors? I still have my original module from back when I'd spend evenings killing off my friends), but oof. It sure made me feel like a demographic, to the point where I felt a little manipulated. I was at the Whole Foods and they were playing Siouxsie and the Banshees on the in-store muzak system and oof, I sure felt like a demographic there. Same deal-- "Look, a thing from when you were young! Laugh now! Feel heartwarmed!" I enjoyed it despite that, but felt a little dirty when I was done. I didn't read the second and I don't think I will. |
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Post by pt3r on Dec 6, 2021 6:45:00 GMT
I hear you. For what it's worth the second one has less of that demographic thing going for it, it's more bleak, dystopian. But on the other hand the whole demographic profiling is what a massive chunk of the economy is based on.
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pol
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Post by pol on Dec 6, 2021 19:39:56 GMT
On of the things I find really funny these days is how some punk/controversial bands (like Siouxsie & the Banshees) have become normal now, and the whole punk style most people don't bat an eyelid at anymore. I was around when it all erupted, but like most change it becomes normal after a while... I hate just having Muzak in stores, I'd love them to play S&tBs!... |
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Post by NightMachines on Dec 7, 2021 18:25:11 GMT
I’m not a big fiction reader, but last year I actually read a book and it was sci-fi too. “The old Axolotl” by Jacek Dukaj. It’s short and slow and I found it nicely philosophical on a lighter level. There’s a Netflix series loosely (veeery loosely, like not really at all) inspired by it, called “Into the Night”. What I also want to hunt down is the first book of the French “La Compagnie des Glaces”. It’s paper-only and there’s no English translation as far as I know, but I could hopefully use it to brush up on my French. It’s supposed to be a classic like Asimov’s “Foundation” (which I need to read at some point as well, I suppose). |
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Post by pt3r on Dec 8, 2021 6:12:49 GMT
On of the things I find really funny these days is how some punk/controversial bands (like Siouxsie & the Banshees) have become normal now, and the whole punk style most people don't bat an eyelid at anymore. I was around when it all erupted, but like most change it becomes normal after a while... I hate just having Muzak in stores, I'd love them to play S&tBs!... You're getting old.  Those pesky kids with all their new toys will always up the ante. Back in the days Slayer were dangerous, and Steve Vai was the ultimate guitar shredder, ... boy those youtube guitarists nowadays... Evolution goes exponentially faster thanks to monkey see monkey do. Remember the Wright brothers flew their upgraded bicycle frame for a couple of yards and approximatively 60 years later men land on the moon strapped to an kitchen chair guided by an inflight computer with a calculating power only a fraction of every cellphone that spotty schoolkids carry around in their pockets. And now there is a bunch of nerds going wild over a modular synths that years ago would have cost a fortune and were only in the financial reach of universities and other millionaires. |
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Post by maydonpoliris on Dec 8, 2021 8:09:49 GMT
This thread is hilarious and has given me plenty of titles to try.
I have been trying to get into reading, always been bad at it as I have an attention span of a gnat, but trying audiobooks out which is working!
Listened to William Gibson's Neuromancer with Deofol's album P3RMVT4T!0N5 playing in the background. pretty cool to do that actually.
That got me into these which I recommend
Dean Koontz The Watchers
Michael Crighton's Jurassic Park, Prey and Micro
Greig Becks To the Centre of the Earth, Primordia 1-3.
Timothy Zahn Thrawn
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pol
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Post by pol on Dec 15, 2021 21:19:24 GMT
- Vernor Vinge, especially "A Fire Upon the Deep" and its prequel "A Deepness in the Sky" I'm reading but it's a big book! (both novels in an Omnibus edition), really like the setup/"aliens" - glad you mentioned it. Got some time off at Xmas so hopefully will get through it a bit faster.... |
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the sequel was IMHO not as innovative as the first one but still a fun and entertaining read.
Vernor Vinge is next 
Those pesky kids with all their new toys will always up the ante. Back in the days Slayer were dangerous, and Steve Vai was the ultimate guitar shredder, ... boy those youtube guitarists nowadays... Evolution goes exponentially faster thanks to monkey see monkey do. 