[Lord Soth]

Fraid I can't help you there Dennizm, U sure it wasn't a dream http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

I would suggest a recent book by Alistar Reynolds, Chasm City. Very similiar content to Ian Banks but a different style of writting and well worth checking out.

[Hobbit]

Dennizim - Leibowitz was by Walter M Miller Jr - good one. Also thoroughly recommend City and the Stars, which has just been republished in the UK (the original short story is in the Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke, which is a HUGE book but contains all of ACC's stories...fantastic, but not to be taken lightly!) Foundation has dated but is still a 'classic' (overused word, but here it's OK).

Lemming - I liked Kim Stanley Robinson a lot too (once I could get my head around the BIG ideas) - have you read Antarctica?

Lord Soth - I've a signed copy of Chasm City in the pile to read - heard it's good. Quite liked Revelation Space but this is supposedly better. (*moves it up towards the top of the pile*)

BUT I've still got Perdido St Station to read and the Elric and the Black Company novels and I've got quite into the Kate Elliott's.......(sigh)

Hobbit

PS These are all quite well known authors aren't they? Are there any up and coming or oldies that have slipped by? For example, I was very surprised at Dune Dudes comments elsewhere in the forum that Clifford Simak was no longer easy to get hold of. It's a crime.....

[Cadfael]

Soth... no it was not a dream, I have set the mad monk on the case, I just have to sober him up first... http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hobbit... thank for the Leibowitz author, I have this book as part of a uniform set that was published ages ago... Corgi Science Fiction Classics, The City and the Stars is part of the set as well. At the moment most of my books are packed away whilst the house is renovated and I can't refer back to them, and my memory is terrible http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[Cadfael]

I have found the name of the book... thank GOD for Google...

The Warlock in Spite of Himself by Christopher Stasheff

The Warlock in Spite of Himself is the first in a series of books about the planet of Gramayre, a planet colonized by devotees of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Rod Gallowglass and his faithful robot horse, Fess, land on the planet several hundred years after its colonization for the purpose of secretly preparing the inhabitants for democratic rule so that they can be brought into the Galactic government. All well and good, but... there is a high percentage of telepaths, teleports, and what-have-you in the population, who are refered to as witches and warlocks, and here, magic really works!

This is a delightful romp into psionics, espionage, and a feudal culture which is happy to stay that way. While not recommended for the beginning reader, this is highly recommended for the more experienced sci-fi reader. Well worth the money.

Thanks Cad

I hope I can buy the books somewhere, this was a brilliant series in the style of Spellsinger by Alen Dean Foster... but anyway... I also recommend these books

[Hobbit]

dennizm - I've got some of these! From the 1970's? Bright purple covers....I've got Earth Abides (that's a good one to recommend, by the way) and a load of the Arthur C Clarke - Tales of Ten Worlds, Other Side of the Sky....

*nostalgia* http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Hobbit

[Buddha]

Theodore Sturgeon, a master of classic Scifi. Almost anything I have read of his I have enjoyed. In fact there are alot of old sci-fi, most of which I can't remember, that I really enjoyed.

[lemming]

Hobbit, no I haven't read Antarctica, but maybe I will next. http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

Dune Dude, I'm reading Way Station by Simak right now and finding it delightful. A lot of really old SF has a really neat feel of innocence, and this is one of those books. Don't know if I'll read more of him, but I might... the good old Boston Public Library has plenty ofhim.

[Hobbit]

If you can get hold of Clifford Simak's City, I really enjoyed that one (especially if you like dogs!). It's kinda sad too. Simak is old fashioned but his SF was one of a kind - slower, often more 'rural' rather than urban and a lot less technocentric than most of the Sf of the time.

Then again there's not many of his I haven't liked. He's good at the short stories too.

Boston Library - sounds great. Isn't it a big sort-of brownstone building? *Gets mental image of big gothic building*, but never been, so...must be a random thought.

Hobbit

[Alan Delthaine]

Anyone interested in Alternate Evolution? You know, the subgenre that Dougal Dixon created with his trio of books (After Man, The New Dinosaurs, and Man After Man). If so, there's an sf book that finally fictionalizes the process. "Ivory Extraordinaire", by Gregory W. Detwiler, is a collection of big-game hunting short stories of the future, all taking place on the alternate Earth of Proboscidia, where the elephants have driven all other large and medium-sized herbivores into extinction, evolving into a wide array of new forms and species to fill up their niches. The author really is a true student of Dixon, creating a wide array of new and yet realistic animals to populate his unique world. Put out by Xlibris.com, "Ivory Extraordinaire" is available for sale not only at their website, but also at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.com. If you like a combination of hard science (in this case, paleontology and zoology) and adventure, this is a good book to check out.

[aldiboronti]

Fredric Brown, an American scifi and mystery author of the mid-20th century, master of the short-short story.

He wrote the famous story Knock, which consists of one sentence ;
The last person on Earth sat in his cabin: there was a knock at the door.


Also take a look at Stanley Weinbaum`s A Martian Odyssey and Joe Haldeman`s Forever War.