01-02-2005 18:17									#1
	Sci-fi novel recommendation thread Support Apolyton

After a long, long period of non-fiction consumption... I found myself walking out of borders with P.K. Dick's "The Simulacra" and Gibson's "Neuromancer", wondering.... "how did these get in my bag? And what happened to that 50 dollar note I had????"

My subconscious was evidently trying to tell me something.... that or Borders were playing subliminal messages beneath the background music in the store.

Well, The Simulacra was weird, but good... and Neuromancer was terrific... and I'm hooked back on good fantasy/sci-fi... it's just, I've forgotten what's good!!

If anyone can recommend some really good stuff, I would be eternally grateful!

	01-02-2005 20:07									#2
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Communist? Science Fiction?

You could do worse than Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars.

	01-02-2005 20:21									#3
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Has anybody read Altered Carbon? I'm curious about it.

Also, I found myself liking Starfish. It's premise:
The future is anarcho-capitalist, and has a severe energy crisis. To wean themselves off the world's foremost economic power, Quebec (They dammed up the Hudson Bay), the rest of North America starts building geothermal colonies undersea in the rifts. They send people to work undersea with lots of modifications, enabling them to breathe, swim, see, and what not underwater without needing suits. It's also found that the people best suited for work there are those who are psychologically damaged: sociopaths, abuse victims, and so on. We watch some of these people at Beebe station: a murderer, a child abuse victim, a molester... and things get worse from there.

	01-02-2005 20:29									#4
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The Mars books seemed to peter out after awhile. I liked the first one but they seemed to get progressively more tedioius as you went on.

Lucifer's Hammer is always a classic. You'll never want to surf again.

A mote in God's eye is another.

I could list a few hundred good ones

	01-02-2005 20:36									#5
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I have recently read all the novels (except the last one) by Alastair Reynolds, stunningly good sf IMO. My favourite is "Chasm City" with it´s mix of sf, cyber punk and mysterious detective story.

Arthur C Clarkes "Collected Stories" is also quite good.

And is it just me or is a well known and loved Sid game a blatant rip off of KS Robinsons Mars trilogy?

	01-02-2005 20:36									#6
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Try Greg Egan's Distress. It's commie, Aussie, and scifi.

	01-02-2005 20:37									#7
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Recently, I discovered Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Gibsonesque, but jazzier. Very, very good.

Two long-time faves I always recommend:

Dragon's Egg by Robert L. Forward.
The Morphodite by M. A. Foster

	01-02-2005 21:14									#8
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Two great books by Neal Stephenson (already recommended by the Rabbit) are Cryptonomicon and The Diamond Age. Crypto is a huge, sprawling, very fun book that is set during WW2 and the present day, so is not SF in the strictest sense (but certainly retains SF sensibilities), while The Diamond Age is more straightforward SF but wonderfully written and a great story.

Possibly the best space opera novel of recent years is A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge - intelligent, gripping, but likable and easy to read.

	01-02-2005 21:18									#9
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quote: Originally posted by Kamrat X And is it just me or is KS Robinsons Mars trilogy a blatant rip off of a well known and loved Sid game?

Technically, the chronological sequence of publication would suggest the opposite.

	01-02-2005 21:19									#10
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My website has my personal Top Ten. Not too dated yet.

1. The Scar 2003 China Miéville Steampunk Fantasy
2. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Five Parts 1979 Douglas Adams Comic SF
3. Diaspora 1997 Greg Egan Hard SF
4. Deadhouse Gates 2000 Steven Erikson High Fantasy
5. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass 1865 Lewis Carroll Fantasy
6. Distress 1995 Greg Egan Hard SF
7. Red Mars 1993 Kim Stanley Robinson Hard SF
8. Foundation 1951 Isaac Asimov Soft SF
9. Grunts 1992 Mary Gentle Comic Fantasy
10. Ringworld 1970 Larry Niven Hard SF

	01-02-2005 21:24									#11
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asimov's foundation series.
saturn's race, by larry niven.

	01-02-2005 21:33									#12
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Am I the only person here who thinks Asimov's Foundation series is absolutely abysmal?

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is superb.

	01-02-2005 21:57									#13
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quote: Originally posted by Zkribbler Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is superb.

Agreed. Ender's Game is on my short list of favorites. Also check out Eragon by Christopher Paulini (which, I realize, is fantasy rather than sci-fi). And, of course, Dune by Frank Herbert.

	01-02-2005 23:25									#14
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I am a long-time disser of the Foundation trilogy, Zkribb. Never could figure out what ppl see in it.

	01-02-2005 23:26									#15
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quote: Originally posted by St Leo quote: Originally posted by Kamrat X And is it just me or is KS Robinsons Mars trilogy a blatant rip off of a well known and loved Sid game? Technically, the chronological sequence of publication would suggest the opposite.

As you might have noticed I changed the question around after checking the publication date.

	01-02-2005 23:28									#16
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quote: Originally posted by Zkribbler Am I the only person here who thinks Asimov's Foundation series is absolutely abysmal? Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is superb.

Enders Game is really good. The sequels are quite uninteresting though.

	01-02-2005 23:30									#17
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As far as the Dune series. For the love of God Emperor, don't read past Children of Dune. Heck, I don't know if I'd recommend it past Dune itself.

Avoid like the plague anything with "Brian Herbert" on the cover, too.

	01-02-2005 23:35									#18
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Dune

Brian Herbert

	02-02-2005 00:08									#19
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quote: Originally posted by Kamrat X Dune Brian Herbert

Brian Herbert -> Dune Lite

	02-02-2005 00:10									#20
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offensive language, but true nonetheless.

	02-02-2005 00:12									#21
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Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Everything past Xenocide

	02-02-2005 00:31									#22
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I've done this in pretty much every sci-fi novel recommendation thread I've posted in this far, so I'll do it here, too..

Startide Rising by David Brin.

I'll give a to Dragon's Egg, too, despite the fact that the beginning is absolutely horrible, mostly because all of the human characters are absolutely horrible...

	02-02-2005 00:41									#23
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quote: Originally posted by -Jrabbit Recently, I discovered Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Gibsonesque, but jazzier. Very, very good.

Snow Crash, to me, is his best I've read. Stephenson seems to have a problem ending his stories, though.

I recommend Gibson's Burning Chrome, a collection of his short stories. I find it better than his later work, though Nueromancer is wonderful.

Ursla Le Guinn's The Dispossessed is quite good.

I recommend Kevin McLeod's Stone Canal series, though others don't liie him so much. He's a commie, though, and I think his work's pretty good.

	02-02-2005 01:00									#24
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Hyperion & Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

Best scifi book ever!

Then I can also recommend pretty much any Asimov, though the Foundation Series is probably the best.
Haldeman's "The Forever War" is another good one.

	02-02-2005 02:35									#25
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Look, I can't remember the author and I don't have the book, but I really like the "Reality Disfunction" series...they're all great!
I might as well add that I also like most of Asimov (and that includes the Foundation and sequels/presequels), as well as Arthur C. Clarke, specially his 2001(and etc) series.
BTW, does anybody know if the books of "Isaac's Universe" had a continuation? I only have book 1, and its sooo good...in a few words, Asimov invented a human and alien universe, and gave it to some authors to do whatever they wanted...the outcome, I think, is pretty good.

	02-02-2005 02:49									#26
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quote: Look, I can't remember the author and I don't have the book, but I really like the "Reality Disfunction" series...they're all great!

Peter F. Hamilton. Possibly the best space-opera writer today (except for maybe Alastair Reynolds).

	02-02-2005 02:51									#27
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quote: Originally posted by Lord_Icewind Look, I can't remember the author and I don't have the book, but I really like the "Reality Disfunction" series...they're all great!

Peter F. Hamilton
(The Reality Dysfunction. 1996)
(The Neutronium Alchemist. 1997)
(The Naked God. 1999)

A great trilogy! One of the best SF authors out there right now.

	02-02-2005 02:57									#28
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Yes, after reading this series, I checked out some of his earlier stuff.

	02-02-2005 03:07									#29
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Yeah, but he's a sorry ****er. Dumb SOB is releasing the sequel to his current series... in January 2006. I read the first novel the week it was released in hardback: March 2004.

Name of the first book is Pandora's Star, and it is some of the most fun space opera I've ever read. I'm just fuggin salivating over the next one, and I literally shouted "oh no!" when I found out that the book was not coming out for another year.

I recommend it highly.

	02-02-2005 03:21									#30
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I'm sure you've read "Foundation" trilogy, but if you haven't, you owe it to yourself to do so (BEST. TRILOGY. EVAR.)

"Rendevous with Rama" is perhaps my favorite sci-fi book, but I've heard the rest of the series sucks.