Posted on 08/19/2006 7:09:57 PM PDT by Hacksaw
There have been several science fiction threads floating around in the near past - and I thought it would be good to hash out the books.
Here are my thoughts:
Almost anything by Larry Niven is worth it - especially stuff from the Known Space series. Jerry Pournelle is also good, but under-rated. His Janissaries books were a good read, along with Starswarm.
RAH - most of his books are very enjoyable. His later stuff (which some consider his classics) I didn't like at all, especially that one about a guy getting his brain transplanted in a womans body. I didn't make it 1/3 of the way through before I gave up.
Ben Bova - readable. Not great, but still a page turner.
Star Trek books - unfortuneately, many of these are BORING. Notable exceptions are those written by by Diane Duane or Michael Jan Friedman. JM Dillard also seems good.
Asimov - almost always worth it.
Orson Scott Card - most of the time worth it. The Enders Game series was very good.
Saberhagen - good read. His berserker concept has also been picked up by other authors.
Kim Stanley Robinson - bleech. I kept wishing the characters in his books would get killed. Unfortuneately they were the heroes. Picture a bunch of disciples of Hugo Chavez colonizing Mars and you get the picture.
AC Clarke - very entertaining. Safe bets.
Other thoughts?
I agree about Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series! It is a classic! I read it some 40 years ago and still remember it!
L
"Mort" is actually one of the weaker books; it's more of a prequel for "Soul Music," which is one of the best.
The Discworld series fall into four categores: The Wizards ("The Colour of Magic", etc.), The Night Watch ("Guards, Guards!" "Thud!" "The Thief of Time"), The Witches ("Wyrd Sisters," "Masquerade," "Lords and Ladies," "Witches Abroad") and Death ("Soul Music," "Hogfather," "Reaper Man"). There are enough novels to keep a new reader buried for months.
Don't take them too seriously and you'll be laughing your head off. "Hogfather," a parody of Christmas, is a MUST read. "Reaper Man" has one of the best stories and characters in the series.
"The Thief of Time" is in the Death series.
Probably a purist wouldn't call this SciFi, per sé, for me it was a good read (movie was OK too though differing from book):
Timeline
Michael Crichton
Conquistador: A Novel of Alternate History
S.M. Stirling
was fun, but it dragged in some parts.
The Posleen war trilogy by John Ringo.
Rendevous with Rama trilogy by Arthur C.Clarke
The Heritage trilogy by Ian Douglas. US marines battle the UN for control of alien artifacts.
Godspeed by Charles Sheffield - a retelling of Treasure Island set in space.
Many of the Battletech series.
Encounter with Tiber, written mostly by John Barnes, but with help from Buzz Aldrin.
I favor military sci-fi.
Colossus:The Forbin Project by DF Jones
Jurassic Park: By Michael Crichton
A Brave New World: By Aldous Huxley
Warday and Communion: Whitley Strieber
A lot of books in the "Robotech" series are very good.
Not too shabby.
He has gotten a bit VHEM in his last few books. Of course that is the nature of Apocalyptic fiction
Careful of that gripping hand.
Larry Niven and Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle. Always excellent reading.
The jokes in that one mostly fell flat but everyone can have a off book.
A funny, if bit dated series is "The Garrett Files" by Glen Cook.
Swwet. I hadn't found an image online before.
Never say never
Remmeber when I was in full rant to the owner of my SF bookshop about how SF was being driven off the shelves by the wave of fantasy. (She was a friend so it wasn't a "crazy guy off the street" thing).
Then I noticed. "wait is that Dragon on the Border", I have to have that". (one in Gordon Dickson's "Dragonknight" series which starts with The Dragon and the George)
So I'd amend that to magic/sorcery/fantasy is OK when written by hard SF authors.
In addition to Dickson, fantasy from Poul Anderson, Niven's Warlock stories, Elizabeth Moon's Sheepherder's Daughter series
I also second that motion. Hollywood has never had made a movie out a Larry Niven book. Which is good a good thing.
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