Sci-fi literature thread?

[IconBasser]

hey y'all, thought I'd start a thread specifically for science fiction literature, as I've been in the mood for sci fi over the past few months.

post your recommendations for good science fiction literature that you've read recently, or (if you disliked a recent title) tell us why to avoid any books you didn't like.


some recent ones I've completed:

Takeshi Kovachs trilogy (Altered Carbon, Woken Furies, Broken Angels) - Richard Morgan. Fantastic series, follows the exploits of a sociopathic ex-soldier across numerous human-inhabited worlds. The real strength of this series is the world building, which portrays IMO what the "real" future is going to look like: the same hierarchical power structures that have always existed, plenty of pointless conflicts, new and frightening methods to slaughter lots of people used often, fairly believable technology. It might be perceived as dystopian, until one realizes that many of the same types of things happen all the time in our own history.

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson. This was an interesting book, following the same theme present in Snowcrash in which governments no longer exist, giving rise to microstates that compete for membership and resources. Features a possible view of a world in which nanotechnology is highly developed and the dominant force in the socioeconomic order. The plot was a bit slow throughout the middle of the book, and while interesting, it became just a bit too ridiculous to be really enjoyable toward the ending.

The Quiet War - Paul McAuley. Very good read concerning the future of humanity in the next few hundred years, in which global climate change and dwindling resources have caused democracy to be completely abandoned on Earth in favor of vast pseudo-monarchies. A sizable faction of humanity (known as the "outers") has left earth completely and lives in small terraformed city-states on the moons of jupiter and saturn. This was mainly a political thriller, concerning the strife between earth's governments and the outers, and how the governments of earth eventually escalate to war and conquest of the outers' city states. Highly recommended.

[Bongolation]

Originally Posted by IconBasser

hey y'all, thought I'd start a thread specifically for science fiction literature, as I've been in the mood for sci fi over the past few months.

Good, I'll link to this to move them out of my "What Are You Reading ?" thread.

Both threads will last longer before hitting the 999-post drop-dead wall.

[Georynn]

Radio Free Albemuth for the 4th time... In preparation for the film that's been out for a while, but i still haven't seen.

[Bard2dbone]

RFA got turned into a movie? When did that happen?

I always liked it because when it came out it was a 1984-level paranoid dystopian fantasy. Now it looks more and more like it's going to be a documentary.


Basically that means as I get older, people suck more and more.

[Bard2dbone]

And the last two I read were:

How to Succeed in Evil -
How to Succeed in Evil is the story of Edwin Windsor, Evil Efficiency Consultant. He tries to help supervillains be more villainous. Or at least more profitable and sensible about the business side of Evil.
Along with his very proper and English secretary Agnes and his hench-lawyer Topper, he struggles to make the world of superpowered people make sense. But this is very difficult because, while Edwin’s advice is excellent, all of his clients are too egomaniacal to listen. There is, it must be said, a bit of comedy in this work.
Edwin struggles with a cast of characters including, Dr. Loeb, a trust fund child who desperately wants to be an Evil Genius, but has none of the talent. Dr. Loeb’s hideous mother, Iphagenia – who’s evil scheme is to foment a second Southern Rebellion, beginning with Lower Alabama. And the Cromoglodon, a brute with forehead villainous low and quite possibly the strongest creature on the planet.
Inevitably, Edwin’s unique clientele lead him into direct conflict with the greatest superhero of them all, Excelsior. And so, the quiet, restrained intellectual is pitted against heroic force.

I also recommend Confessions of a D-List Supervillain
Exploding from the pages of Horror, Humor, and Heroes Volume One - it's the full length adventures of the one and only Mechani-Cal! So grab your battlesuit and prepare to get a little nasty. "Being a supervillain means never having to say you're sorry ... Unless it's to the judge or the parole board. Even then, you don't really have to. It's not like it's going to change the outcome or anything." Those are the words of Calvin Matthew Stringel, better known as Mechani-Cal. He's a down on his luck armored villain. Follow his exploits as he gets swept up in a world domination scheme gone wrong and ends up working for these weak willed, mercy loving heroes. Immerse yourself in epic battles and see what it's like to be an outsider looking in at a world that few have ever experienced. Climb into Cal's battlesuit and join him on his journey. Will he avoid selling out his principles for a paycheck and a pardon? Can he resist the camaraderie of being on a super team? Does he fall prey to the ample charms of the beautiful Olympian Aphrodite? How will he survive the jealous schemes of Ultraweapon, who wears armor so powerful it makes Cal's look like a museum piece? See the world of "righteous do-gooders" through the eyes of someone who doesn't particularly care for them ... Revel in his sarcasm and hang on for one wild ride! Just remember - Losing an argument with a group of rioters isn't a good excuse to start lobbing tear gas indiscriminately at them. You've only got so many rounds and it's going to be a long day, so make sure you get as many as possible with each one.

[Georynn]

Originally Posted by Bard2dbone

RFA got turned into a movie? When did that happen?

I always liked it because when it came out it was a 1984-level paranoid dystopian fantasy. Now it looks more and more like it's going to be a documentary.


Basically that means as I get older, people suck more and more.

I kinda stumbled across this news by accident, not sure how I feel about it, since a lot of good source material gets raped by hollywood. His stuff seems to kinda transcend that trend lately (a scanner darkly was a pretty good adaptation, IMO).

[Thor]

Heinlein's 'Stranger in a Strange Land' was republished by Virginia Heinlein 10+ years ago. Much of the original was redacted and heavily edited for publication in the early 60's. If you have not read this book, as an aficionado I suggest, put it on your MUST READ list.

My second book on the MR list is Alfred Bester's novel, 'The Stars My Destination', originally titled 'Tyger,Tyger'. Bester is a consummate writer and though he wrote only a few sci-fi works, including 'The Demolished Man", I really feel this is his best work.

Frederick Pohl's 'The Space Merchants' has survived the test of time IMHO, as has Asimov's Foundation series. I also like the non-fantasy work of CJ Cherryh, 'Down Below Station' in particular. Also, the HG Wells novels are well worth your attention. 'The Island of Dr. Moreau' is now scientifically possible. The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds. This man had tremendous vision into the future.

I will mention Olaf Stapledon. You can discover him on your own.

[Lady Kayri]

EE Smith's Lensman series is a bit dated now but I still enjoy re reading it every year or so.

Eric Flint's 1632 alternate universe series can be a lot of fun.

David Weber's Honorverse series is pretty good, too, much in the space opera tradition.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series is quite enjoyable.

I'm also a fan of Christopher Anvil, Andre Norton, Eric Frank Russell, H Beam Piper, Heinlein, and Quite a few others. BTW, Baen Books is reissuing a lot of the Heinlein books, including as eBooks, if anyone is interested,

[IconBasser]

thanks for the suggestions, Thor! Looks like I'm going to have a busy week off

[cardboardJoe]

Man, I wish i could read........

[-Kramer-]

After I finished reading all of Arthur C. Clarke's books, I got into Stephen Baxter. He falls into the 'hard' sci-fi category which I find more interesting as I also like to keep up with theoretical physics (Brian Greene, Hawking, ect.). BUT, two of his more recent books, Flood and Ark are more traditional sci-fi, and IMHO, are his best to date.

The only thing I don't like about Baxter are his alternate-history series, and since he is currently in the middle of writing one, it might be a while until he writes a book I would be interested in again.

[Gaius46]

Originally Posted by Lady Kayri

EE Smith's Lensman series is a bit dated now but I still enjoy re reading it every year or so.

Eric Flint's 1632 alternate universe series can be a lot of fun.

David Weber's Honorverse series is pretty good, too, much in the space opera tradition.

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series is quite enjoyable.

I'm also a fan of Christopher Anvil, Andre Norton, Eric Frank Russell, H Beam Piper, Heinlein, and Quite a few others. BTW, Baen Books is reissuing a lot of the Heinlein books, including as eBooks, if anyone is interested,

Oh man I was gonna suggest the Honor Harrington series and 1632. HH is basically Horatio Hornblower in space and Weber is at his best with the military aspects of the novels.

Jeff Somers Avery Cates (Electric Church, Digital Plague, Eternal Prison, Terminal State, Final Evolution) series about the life and times of a hitman in a future dystopian world run by a single worldwide corrupt government is also very enjoyable.

I just started George Martin's Game of Thrones series after watching season one on HBO. The series is very good but the book has been much more impressive.

Nancy Kress' Beggars in Spain (the Hugo and Nebula winning novella or the novel) about a group of people genetically engineered to not need sleep is a masterful piece of work.

Anything by Ursula K. LeGuin is worth reading.

[Funky Ghost]

Dragons Egg and Starquake! are two books I've always been fond of.

Retief! by Keith Laumer is a great read. Also by Laumer is his Bolo series which is among my fav books wrote.

The book Friday by RAH is an amazing book and is set in his familiar universe with a few cameos tossed in from other books

A great space opera yarn would be the Deathstalker series. I also like the Rings of the Master series by Jack L Chalker. Chalker also has a great series in the Well of Souls books.

[basss]

Just read China Mieville's Perdido Street Station - dark with a surrealist edge - a great read

Another favorite is the Forever War by Joe Haldeman

[fraublugher]

Iain M. Banks , same as Iain Banks but the M initial is his sci fi stuff.

[shadowtippy]

For war/mercenary stories, try Gordon R. Dickson (Dorsai) and David Drake (Hammer's Slammers).
For humor, Spider Robinson (Callahan...)
For SF in general, Assimov, Clarke, Ben Bova, Piers Anthony. Those few authors should keep you entertained for a few months, but they are only the "tip of the iceberg" for the genre.

[crucislancer]

Originally Posted by IconBasser

Takeshi Kovachs trilogy (Altered Carbon, Woken Furies, Broken Angels) - Richard Morgan. Fantastic series, follows the exploits of a sociopathic ex-soldier across numerous human-inhabited worlds. The real strength of this series is the world building, which portrays IMO what the "real" future is going to look like: the same hierarchical power structures that have always existed, plenty of pointless conflicts, new and frightening methods to slaughter lots of people used often, fairly believable technology. It might be perceived as dystopian, until one realizes that many of the same types of things happen all the time in our own history.

This trilogy is among my favorites, I just got done re-reading these a couple of weeks ago. What I really like about Takeshi Kovacs is that even with his Envoy Corps training, there are times that he still gets blind-sided, which shows that he's fallible, and only later do things fall into place. Altered Carbon is the best of the three for sure. Morgan's prose is outstanding as well.

A recent trilogy that I read by Simon Morden is pretty good as well: Equations of Life, Theories of Flight, and Degrees of Freedom.

[poorbassist15]

I have an entire box of Asimov to read through(I'm doing a paper on Foundation and Empire), so, I'll let everyone know how that goes.

One of my favorites is Clarke's 2001 series, though, IMO, I like Asimov better.

[Marial]

Originally Posted by basss

Just read China Mieville's Perdido Street Station - dark with a surrealist edge - a great read

Another favorite is the Forever War by Joe Haldeman

Both are excellent and I have several of Mieville's other books on my wish list at Amazon.

Frank Herbert's Dune series is pretty much the be all/end for me in terms of Sci Fi (the books by his son are pretty much uniformly awful). That said, I've enjoyed all of William Gibson's work up until his last two or three most recent books (I just really don't give a hoot about the minutiae of fashion or cool-hunting). David Gerrold's War Against the Chtorr series is also one of my favorites. There have been sporadic rumors of a fifth book but is has never materialized.

[basss]

+1 on Dune!!

Has anyone read Gene Wolfe's Shadow and Claw? That's next in line for me.