[Keyoke]

My knowledge of Fantasy books exceeds that of Scifi, meaning, I am at quite the loss to figuring what to read in scifi sections..

Anyone recommend anything? Some of the series in the past I've liked would be The Hyperion Cantos, Otherland, etc.. I would love a book with aliens, exploration, a real sense of wonder. Stuff like Babylon 5, Final Fantasy Spirit Within, most scifi movies, etc..

So, with that in mind, what might ya all think I would like??

Keyoke

[Erebus]

Peter F Hamilton's books are well worth the read,IMO. In particular, the Night's Dawn trilogy, which starts with The Reality Dysfunction. Other favorites are any of the books by Greg Bear - Eon is a masterpiece.

If you can, get your hands on some of the older Robert A. Heinlein books. They're good reads, all of them!

[This message has been edited by erebus (edited September 06, 2001).]

[Shehzad]

Asimov! Asimov! Asimov!
You can't got too far wrong with an Isaac Asimov books. The best are probably the Foundation series, the Robots series, and the stellar The Gods Themselves. Most of his short stories are a good read.

For good, gripping space opera try Timothy Zahn's Conquerors trilogy.

Greg Bear's also pretty good. Haven't read much Orson Scott Card, but heard some pretty good things about him.

[FitzChivalry]

Asimov's Foundation series is indeed excellent, but it has almost zero action (battles and stuff) so if that bothers you, take it into account.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is one of the best sci fi reads i had, and is considered one of the best sci fi novels ever written.

Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon The Deep is another excellent space opera.

[This message has been edited by FitzChivlary (edited September 06, 2001).]

[Barbarossa]

I can second the Ender's game recc, my personal favorite is the "gap" series by Stephen Donaldson though.

Even if you don't like his fantasy stuff give it a try, it's extremely dark, gritty violent amd action packed.

[Rob B]

I can second Greg Bear.

Jack McDevitt is pretty dependable, you'll usually get a good story out of him.

Robert J. Sawyer is not too bad either even if he is Canadian. j/k http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/wink.gif

[blahginger]

"aliens, exploration, a real sense of wonder"

This comment perfectly describes Vernor Vinge's "A Deepness in the Sky" and "Fire Upon the Deep". (Both are excellent). Quite different in style but dead on in meeting your criteria I would recommend Larry Niven's "Ringworld" (a much easier read as well).


[This message has been edited by blahginger (edited September 08, 2001).]

[Lady Fox]

I too have throw in my kudos for Ender's Game. It is a wonderful scifi book. The sequels to it aren't as good, but the "companion series" - as OSC labels it - is just as good as Ender's Game. So far I have read Ender's Shadow and Shadow of the Hegemon and have greatly enjoyed both of these books.
You can't go wrong with classic Robert Heinlein. Some of my favs written by him are Citizen of the Galaxy, I Will Fear No Evil, Time Enough for Love, and Stranger in a Strange Land.
Dune is an awesome scifi book. I also enjoyed the sequels to Dune, but the prequel series (House Atreides and House Harkonnen)is fantastic.I highly recommend these books.
I'm also a big fan of the Liaden Universe novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. This series was out of print until just recently. The original series was republished as an omnibus edition titled Partners in Necessity. Other books in the series are Pilot's Choice and Plan B.
If you are interested in space opera type stuff, the Honor Harrington series by David Weber is good, light scifi reading. The Sholan series by Liselle Norman is also a good example of this type of light scifi.

[Cadfael]

Ballards!!!

JG Ballard

The Terminal Beach
The Wind From Nowhere
The Drowned World

Yeh... they are oldies, but goodies... just like me http://www.sffworld.com/ubb/smile.gif

[lior]

Asimov is good, but I don't think his writing style matches your requirments.
For golden age writers, try Henlein and the awsome Robert silbereberg. I would also recommend anything by Jack Chalker, especially his "wellworld" novels, he is a very imaginitive writer.
Definitely read "Ender's game", I personally found its two sequels very inferior.
There's a series of books hardly discussed in this forum which I think you'll like very much, it is by the great Philip jose Farmer, and it is called "The world of tiers", it combines fantasy and sf in a most satisfying way. I believe the first book is entitled "maker of universes".



[This message has been edited by lior (edited September 08, 2001).]