Recommendations

**Lani** · March 13th, 2003, 11:27 AM

I usually read more fantasy than sci-fi, but I dabbed in it as well and here are the books I enjoyed:

1. The Last Legion series by Chris Bunch
2. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide by Douglas Adams
3. Infinity Beach by Jack McDevitt
4. Armor by John Steakley
5. I liked everything I read by Orson Scott Card, especially Ender's Game
6. Psycho Shop by Roger Zelazny and Alfred Bester
7. Technogenesis by Syne Mitchell

Also, anything else by Roger Zelazny is great as well

**lemming** · March 20th, 2003, 10:15 AM

I dug this up from my post on the "top 10" thread we had a while back, and added in one recent but exceptional read. I've added in sickeningly short descriptions of what, for the most part, the books are about and/or what field they're in.

11. Timemaster by Robert L. Forward, an actual physicist with ideas that surge past the sometimes clunky writing (time travel)
10. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (psychology of battle)
9. End of Days by Dennis Danvers (cyberspace)
8. Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (Red and Green should be read first, of course) (geography, nation-building, terraforming)
7. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (this is more SF than Cryptonomicon, IMHO, or I'd have listed that) (nanotech)
6. A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (aliens, posthuman tech advances, brainwiping)
5. The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (autism)
4. Emergence by David R. Palmer (posthumans, postapocalypse)
3 . Earth by David Brin (black holes, cyberstuff, environmental issues)
2. Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress (posthumans, society)

...and the obligatory drum roll...

1. Orbital Resonance by John Barnes (asteroid colonization, psychology, post-Earth-apocalypse)

**Clarkesworld** · March 21st, 2003, 12:51 AM

John Shirley's Eclipse books
Anything by Allen Steele
Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos
Any short story collection by Paul Di Filippo
Michael Flynn's In the Country of the Blind
and I've just started getting into Ken MacLeod's books.

Oh and I just received some copies of Brin's latest, Tomorrow Happens, at my store and I really like what I've read so far.

-Neil

**michiel** · April 10th, 2003, 03:04 AM

If there´s one book I´d recommend to a newcomer, it´d be Larry Niven´s Ringworld.

It´s fast-paced, and it has decent characters (the lack of which is often a turn-off in other sci-fi novels).

On the other hand, it´s pretty straightforward science-fiction.

I think that it would be a great ´test´.. if the newcomer doesn´t like it, it means he/she will have a hard time finding anything of interest to him/her in the field of sci-fi.

**Rumfuddle** · April 16th, 2003, 03:31 PM

I picked up an ancient paperback edition of Michael Moorcock's Warlord of the Sky the other day. It was bloody excellent! What's become of (old man) Moorcock these days?
Highly recommended.

**Clarkesworld** · April 16th, 2003, 04:09 PM

Moorcock released a novella called FIRING THE CATHEDRAL in late 2002. Its a Jerry Cornelius story. All copies were signed and limited and released in the UK. I have the details on my web site if you want to know more.
Firing the Cathedral by Michael Moorcock

**Colonel Worf** · April 19th, 2003, 09:41 PM

I'm going to throw Mars and Return to Mars by Ben Bova out here. Two books that I really loved.

**Hungry Jo** · April 22nd, 2003, 03:33 PM

Ok this my first post on these forums, so...hi everyone

Lots of great books have been mentioned but I think there are a few great oens that havn't been:

Last and First Men - Olaf Stapleton. In my opinion, One of the greatist Science Fiction books of all time. Its not so much a story as the story of gumanity. It was written in the 1930s so most of the "future history" of the near future is wrong but after that it just explodes with hugely original and interesting ideas. I havn't read Star Maker (Stapleton's only other major work) yet but as soon as I've finished Red Mars I will.

The City And the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke. My favoraite Clarke novel, I'm not really sure why, it just really struck a chord in me, not that easy to get hold of these days though as it was written in the 1950s.

A few others:

The Martian Chronicals - Ray Bradbury.

Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut. infact anything by Vonnegut is great (Sirens of Titan, and of course, Slaughterhouse 5 in particular are excelent.)

High-Rise - J.G. Ballard.

Chasm City - Alaister Reynolds. A pretty new writer but he writes awsome hard sci fi, Revelation Space is also extremely good.

Oh, and the 5 volume collected stories of Phillip K Dick is brilliant as well.

**Hobbit** · April 22nd, 2003, 07:40 PM

Welcome, Jo!

Lots of good choices there, from the contemporary to the not so!

Always pleased to see some AC Clarke (a big fan of Stapleton, who is a major influence!). It has been reprinted a bit here in the UK - most recently as part of the Millennium Classic Sf Series. For comparison, have you tried the novella version?

JG Ballard's always a bit contentious

A few recent fans of Reynolds round here (including me!).

Have you tried Iain M Banks and Peter F Hamilton? If not also worth a try.

Hobbit

**Hungry Jo** · April 23rd, 2003, 02:09 PM

I have all of Bank's Sci Fi and a couple of his strait fiction ones and I like them all alot, but the reason why I never put any of them forward as a recommendation sit hat I never know which one to recommend - I like them all so much!

I havn't read any Peter F Hamilton basically because none of them have turned up in any of my local second hand bookshops (being a poor student I have to get all my books from second hand or discount bookshops!) but as soon as they do I'll get them, infact if I get myself a job this summer I'll probably "splash out" and buy something new for once

**HiveMind** · April 28th, 2003, 02:13 AM

this is my fist post as well so here goes
What about the Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson, I know that many of you wouldnt read him because of his fantasy links but hey this is a great series!
And Neuromancer by william gibson is a classic too, Ender as well and the first in the Foundation series by Assimov too.

**Hungry Jo** · April 28th, 2003, 03:14 PM

I have read "The Real Story", the first book in Donaldson's Gap series and I have to say I was not impressed, my Dad swears by his fantasy stuff (and my Dad dosn't even like Fantasy or Sci FI for that matter) so I assume he is capable of good writing, does the series get better?

**fortytwo** · April 28th, 2003, 04:21 PM

This is a link to a previous thread about The Gap Series:I hope this works!

42

**HiveMind** · April 29th, 2003, 05:01 AM

yeah it starts off a bit slow and can be a bit too intense for some people but if you have the stomach for reality then the series will be great.
donaldson also has a couple of short story book, Reave the Just and Daughter of Regals. there a couple of good old school sf shorts in there like Mythological Creature as well as some great fantasy like the Djinn who looks over the accursed.

**Hungry Jo** · April 30th, 2003, 01:38 PM

I didn't realy have a problem with the "reality" of it, It just came across as not only space opera (which I quite like every no and then) but BAD space opera. Just wasn't a great story in my opinion, maybe I'll try the second book if I can pick it up cheap somewhere (I have to pick up all my books cheap)