21-07-2004 20:56									#61
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who wrote "the years of the city?" was it anderson? or pournelle? i can't remember. god that book was terrible.

	21-07-2004 20:57									#62
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I have to go with what I own since I dont read much Sci-fi anymore.

Asimov- Foundation
Herbert- Dune

I dont own any of his but he was the first Sci-fi I read

Van Vogt

	21-07-2004 22:16									#63
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Roger Zelazny, Kurt Vonnegut, William S. Burroughs

	21-07-2004 22:18									#64
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I'm currently reading a sci-fi novel by Edwina Currie out of sheer morbid curiosity. It doesn't dissapoint!

	21-07-2004 22:23									#65
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The Good: Issac Asimov, Peter F. Hamilton (don't like the Greg Mandel stuff, though), Alastair Reynolds (no-one's mentioned him yet???), Iain M Banks, Greg Egan (really mind-blowing), Ken Macleod (Scottish commie libertarian sci-fi) and some others I've forgotten.

The Meh: Clarke, Bova, Turtledove and some others I can't even remember.

	21-07-2004 23:10									#66
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Good timing. I just finished the Greg Mandel stuff, (not his best but he was younger then, and it wasn't that bad ) I'm reading Reynolds new book now.

I can't say which are the three best. My tastes have changed over the many decades, and even over a few weeks. Sometimes looking for heavy Science and other times, light space opera. So my favorite three may be different tomorrow.

Asimov is up there.
As also mentioned, the Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle partnership is right up there, (they're not that bad by themselves)
Drake is good when I'm looking for pure entertainment.
And other authors when more concerned with the actual science behind them.

	21-07-2004 23:27									#67
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Asimov, Niven, Haldeman

	21-07-2004 23:35									#68
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Niven, Brin, and Clarke, though I have to mention Lem, Asimov,and Card. Adams as a humorist.

	21-07-2004 23:42									#69
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I think this category needs to be broadened to the 5 best. But in any event, for my own account, I vote for...

Dick
Herbert
Asimov

	22-07-2004 00:58									#70
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quote: Originally posted by Sandman The Good: Issac Asimov, Peter F. Hamilton (don't like the Greg Mandel stuff, though), Alastair Reynolds (no-one's mentioned him yet???), Iain M Banks, Greg Egan (really mind-blowing), Ken Macleod (Scottish commie libertarian sci-fi) and some others I've forgotten. The Meh: Clarke, Bova, Turtledove and some others I can't even remember.

Clarke's novels are mostly abd

where he is good is his short stories (even through he is still notmy favorite)

JM

	22-07-2004 02:31									#71
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I changed my mind, scratch Burroughs and add Douglas Adams

	22-07-2004 05:27									#72
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Of those no longer writing: Herbert, Dick, James Blish. And Hal Clement, who's Half Life is one of the finest novels in the past 15 years.

Of those who are coasting on past glories: Niven, Ellison (my opinion of Loinburger just shot through the roof for that choice), and Clarke.

Of those who specialize in my favorite sub-genre, space opera: Vinge, Hamilton, and Banks. In changing order, depending upon my mood.

Of those who just write damn fine novels: Tepper, Simmons (he woulda made the space opera list if his last SO wasn't nothing but a rehashing of his first SO, Hyperion), A. Reynolds.

Crap that I just can't stop reading due to genetic deficiencies or something: Turtledove.

Last edited by JohnT on 22-07-2004 at 05:36

	22-07-2004 05:34									#73
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Oh, and I forgot Kim Stanley Robinson. He fits in there somewhere.

Overrated bumblers: David Brin, Douglas Adams (he really isn't that funny), Jack Chalker.

And, in a way, Asimov. Influential? Yes. Good writer? Ehhhhh.... no. Especially his early stuff.

	22-07-2004 06:31									#74
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Asimov, Heinlein, Niven.

A good new author: Ian Douglas

Authors I once liked but can't stand anymore:

1) Turtledove - He drops in an alternate history theme over some sappy human experience dialogue. He has way to many characters in his books and the alternate events in his book are just a culmination of overdone anecdotes that entice people to buy his boring books. Civil War? World War? Just a bunch of what-ifs with no guts.

2) Ben Bova - His early works with Dan Randolph were good. Randolph was a good hero, the science was realistic, and the motivation behind the characters was actually something everyone could connect with.

Unfortunately, in his later attempts to continue the "Tour" world he has diluted his characters to the point where they are just shells. His finale for the series "Rock Rats" was the horrid "The Silent War". Long story short: Opportunities for an emotional roller coaster ride of novel, complete with plenty of heavy duty plot lines - but Bova falls flat and lets the series die with the major players basically saying "Ah well, that was fun, let's all go home". I was pissed when I finally finished it. A real waste of money.

EDIT: Spelling

Last edited by Harry Tuttle on 22-07-2004 at 07:38

	22-07-2004 06:34									#75
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Asimov, Pournelle/Niven, Bradbury

	22-07-2004 06:35									#76
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Although Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison are two of my favorite writers, I hesitate to classify them as sf authors because there is precious little science to their sf works. It's there as setting, for flavor, but application of scientific principles is pretty weak. They are, nevertheless, the shiznit (and if you ever get the opportunity to see/hear Harlan in person, it's marvelously entertaining.)

My top 3 sf authors (and my favorite work by each): Niven (The Mote in God's Eye)
Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress)
Asimov (The Foundation series (though his writing is not the best, he definitely deserves a spot among the top 3.))

	22-07-2004 06:52									#77
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Harlan Ellison is the featured guest at Dragon*Con in Atlanta this September.

	22-07-2004 06:55									#78
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quote: Originally posted by ajbera Although Ray Bradbury and Harlan Ellison are two of my favorite writers, I hesitate to classify them as sf authors because there is precious little science

That would probably disqualify 99% of sci-fi authors.


The emphasis is always on the fiction, otherwise it would be a text book.

	22-07-2004 07:04									#79
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quote: Originally posted by shawnmmcc Vernor Vinge (A Fire in the Deep).

An absolutely fantastic work along with the prequel A Deepness in the Sky

Some of the better writing of recent memory.

	22-07-2004 07:10									#80
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Yep. And Deepness is the rare sequel that's even better than the first book.

	22-07-2004 07:11									#81
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quote: Originally posted by Urban Ranger Crichton? You must be kidding. Asimov is a definitely one of the greats. Crichton is only qualified to wash his toilets. Then there's also Arthur C. Clarke.

UR is dumb. Throw rocks at him.

Michael Crichton is an excellent writer, one of the best authors of today.

	22-07-2004 07:26									#82
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quote: Originally posted by JohnT Harlan Ellison is the featured guest at Dragon*Con in Atlanta this September.

Gonna go see him? He's often a guest here on Long Island at I-Con, and he's always a hoot.

	22-07-2004 07:30									#83
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quote: Originally posted by General Ludd That would probably disqualify 99% of sci-fi authors. The emphasis is always on the fiction, otherwise it would be a text book.

You could set Romeo & Juliet in space, but that doesn't make it a science-fiction story. If the scientific aspects are mere trappings, it ain't sf.

Just my opinion, but there are a number of authors and fans who agree with me.

	22-07-2004 07:38									#84
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quote: Originally posted by JohnT A. Reynolds.

I've been a fan of his ever since I got Revelation Space in preparation for a Sci-Fi Book Club thread that never materialized (when he was inadvertently outvoted ).

As for all of this "is it Sci-Fi or isn't it Sci-Fi" (crap) discussion, I just use Ellison's "speculative fiction" label and consider it all a done deal. Any additional sub-categorization is unnecessary IMO, since I like fantasy and science fiction and historical fiction etc., so long as said stories/books are "good."

	22-07-2004 07:40									#85
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quote: Originally posted by Agathon Other than H.G Wells, every science fiction author is a terrible writer.

You double up as a reviewer of science fiction in your spare time- you must do to have read every other science fiction author, including but not limited to, Edgar Allan Poe and Cyrano de Bergerac, L.P. Hartley, H.E. Bates, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Rex Warner, et cetera et cetera.



Eschew hyperbole and always err on the side of litotes when it comes to making sweeping judgments about genre fiction.

I suggest you read Keith Roberts's 'Pavane' which although an alternate history novel on the face of it is alos science fiction too, as are Ursula K Le Guin's works, althoigh they deal less with the hard science favoured by so many fanboys and gals and more with the social sciences, or the implications of the application of hard science.

I'd rather read an honest science fiction writer's work (or any other 'genre' novelist's for that matter) than yet one more f*cking tedious Anglo-French anti-novel or magic realist bowl of tripe, or 'Great American Novel' focussing on infidelity in commuter societies in Pennsylvania.

	22-07-2004 07:41									#86
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quote: You could set Romeo & Juliet in space, but that doesn't make it a science-fiction story. If the scientific aspects are mere trappings, it ain't sf. Just my opinion, but there are a number of authors and fans who agree with me.

So Foundation isn't sci-fi (and no, psychohistory, like economics, is not science)?

	22-07-2004 07:53									#87
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Turtledove ranks up there along with L. Ron Hubbard and "Doc" Smith.
Oh, and Turtledove's a psycho too.

	22-07-2004 07:59									#88
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quote: Originally posted by Ramo quote: You could set Romeo & Juliet in space, but that doesn't make it a science-fiction story. If the scientific aspects are mere trappings, it ain't sf. Just my opinion, but there are a number of authors and fans who agree with me. So Foundation isn't sci-fi (and no, psychohistory, like economics, is not science)?

But the principles are relatively sound. Psychohistory is supposed to predict patterns of future events based on examination of past events, probability, etc. The future wasn't divined by magic or anything, but by the application of rules and measurements; there is nothing implausible or fantastic about psychohistory.

And although economics & psychology (not to mention meteorology, in many ways) are not hard 'sciences', I certainly believe the possibility exists for them to become so in the future once we have a greater understanding of the various forces that affect them. Even if we never gain the predicitive abilities in those fields as we do in physics & chemistry (and there's still much to learn here as well), I'm (reasonably) sure we'll eventually fine-tune their predictive and explanatory models to the point where they are much, much less fuzzy than they are today.

	22-07-2004 08:14									#89
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Yes, it's fantastic. Hell, most of economics is fantastic. The idea that one can accurately model a massively nonlinear system as the behavior of a society is bollocks. Of course, that's not really the point. Believable or not, it's an interesting premise and we're supposed to suspend disbelief.

The real point is that they're not sciences (hard or soft). You can't make controlled, repeatable tests, meaning it ain't a science.

	22-07-2004 09:08									#90
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I believe there's enough value to the current explanatory and predicitive abilities of these arts & disciplines (for want of a better term), and enough potential for them to possibly evolve into actual sciences, that one can say that a story in which a fictional aspect is that an art/discipline like economics or psychology becomes a science qualifies as science fiction.