Help

[Duke_Sandre]

Hi,
I've liked fantasy for years, but I've never really been into Science Fiction, I want to remedy that. Can anyone suggest some good science fiction books for someone new to the genre.

[FitzChivalry]

Try Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card or Dune by Frank Herbert.

[Zsinj16]

The Star Wars series of novels and graphic novels are awesome, in my opinion! I would recommend all of them!

[Demandred]

Yeah good choice fitz, Dune, Enders Game and try Reality Disfunction by Peter F Hamilton.

[DarthV]

Here's a few things to check out as well:

Roger Zelazny's The Great Book of Amber : The Complete Amber Chronicles. This is all 10 of the Amber books into 1 trade paperback.

Star Wars novels, the ones written by Timothy Zahn in particular. I've read most of The New Jedi Order series and it's pretty decent (and dark).

[This message has been edited by DarthV (edited April 20, 2001).]

[FitzChivalry]

DarthV,I would say Amber Chronicles is fantasy and not science fiction so it's not a good indication of the sci fi genre.

[Shehzad]

IMHO there is always room for the masters of the genre... try something by Asimov, like "The Gods Themselves", "The Caves of Steel" or "I, Robot."

[cassandra]

Yeah? Prove it!
And I would steer clear of Dune for your first couple of sci/fi books....it's REAL dense. Orson Scott Card's Ender series, however, is an excellent suggestion. Also, how about Orwell's 1984?
Neil Stephanson's Snow Crash is excellent. On the cyberpunk side, but not too heavily so. If you are a computer junkie (like me) and know networking and UNIX, you HAVE to read Bruce Bethke's Headcrash.

[Lady Fox]

Dune and Ender's Game are really good suggestions for great scifi books, IMO. For classic scifi you might try something by Robert Heinlein or E.E. "Doc" Smith. I really enjoyed the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. S.L. Viehl's Stardoc series is also pretty good.

[Cadfael]

I agree mb that Dune is not perhaps a good choice for a sci/fi beginner (no offence), but Orwell's 1984 is also not a good choice IMHO, Julian May's Saga of the Many Coloured would be a good choice though.

[yurisverdlov]

Hi.

It seems to me that the best way to recommend SF books is to begin with what YOU like. When I look at your profile, I see an interest in fantasy, history and the internet.

One of my favorite books, which combines fantasy and history, is Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughter House Five." It's not a traditional hard-core sci-fi novel, but it certainly combines two of your three interest areas. On one level, it's about the Allied firebombing of Dresden during WWII; on another level, there is the fantasy escape to another planet--a place where the main character's mind wanders to avoid harsh reality. The book is hilarious, ironic and sad.

And of course, there's at least one new book that combines all three of your interests. It's called "The Ganymede Project." I should probably mention up-front that I'm the author.

The book is set in the near past and the plot weaves around historical events. The central characters are an FBI counter-intelligence agent and a Russian spy, both trying to find and control the ultimate disruptive technology--thought tunneling devices found in alien tissue at a UFO crash site. There's also computer code that can crack any online facility, no matter how "secure." You can read about the book on my site:
http://ganymede-project.com

-- John Morrison