Books: SciFi & Fantasy

[glaucon]

I'm still waiting for the final volume of that. Not due out in hardback (and I generally buy paperbacks - less shelf space taken up, not to mention cover price) until October this year.
Edit: oh hell! It's apparently the last two volumes - The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant is a quadrilogy... October 2010 and sometime in 2013. I hope I live long enough.

Yeah, it's a shame how slow he's been going as of late.
I was tentative at best, when I heard of the Last Chronicles, and his style has changed [for the worse, IMO], but I found that if I stuck with it, it was good.

Of course, I'd be quite happy with his now slow writing if I found out he was writing more Gap Series books....

That stuff was primo SF.

[Ilithi_Dragon]

Don't know if anyone's mentioned them yet, but Dr. David Brin's Uplift Saga is a great series to pick up if you get the chance. Lots of fun ideas, and Dr. Brin's a great author (who also happens to be a real scientist, with a BS in astronomy, a MS in astrophysics, and a PhD. in philosophy).

[Shogun]

Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein.

[ricrery]

Starship Troopers by Robert A Heinlein.

What an unorthodox choice

[Shogun]

What an unorthodox choice

It is a great book and it is highly influential, what more can I say.

Tom Clancy is my favorite author however, too bad he doesn't write Sci Fi.

[ricrery]

Tom Clancy is my favorite author however, too bad he doesn't write Sci Fi.

The Horus Heresy novel Mechanicum has been stated to be like a Tom Clancy novel, in space, but I've never read it.

[Starshower8]

I haven't read much of any Science Fiction. Most of what I read is Fantasy.

I have never read Dune, but I have wanted to. What are some good Science Fiction books to start out with?

[Caution! Robot]

Ian Watson - A freakishly inventive and often overlooked sci-fi author. I found out about him through a story that Kubrick had bought everything Watson had written. Kubrick later hired him to collaborate on (the eventual Speilberg film) A.I.

Another vote for Arthur C. Clarke - you can't go wrong here!

[Miko]

Hello there

My current favs are:

Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi and Terry Pratchett.

And now onto reading the entire thread, for new inspiration

[Believe]

The Horus heresy, at least most of it. Snow crash and the Diamond age by neil stephenson. The Hyperion series by Dan Simmons. Starship troopers by Heinline. Enders game and the books to come after by Orson Scott Card.

[MostyMath]

Really liked NOTW too. Just finished Wise Man's Fear and it was awesome. I'm really excited for when kvothe get's his naming abilities!

[Honeyb35]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is very good too. As is Dune by Frank Herbert. Or read Rash by Pete Hautman.

[sheneversleeps]

YOu left out Kurt Vonnegut my favorite writer! He wrote such great books as slaughterhouse 5 and timequake, which was sadly his last book (or at least thats what he says)

Vonnegut definitely!

[Jan Ardena]

Vonnegut definitely!

''Replay'' by Ken Grimwood.
Definately worth a read if you're into time travel.

jan.

[Snocrash]

Some of my favorites: Snowcrash by Neil Stephenson, Will the Last Person To Leave the Planet Please Shut Off the Sun? by Mike Resnick, Anything by Ray Bradbury, Anything by Philip K. Dick

[KilljoyKlown]

This series has a lot of great elements and is a very good read. I highly recommend it.

The Galactic Center Saga is a series of books by author Gregory Benford detailing a galactic war between mechanical and biological life.

In the Ocean of Night (1977) -- 1977 Nebula Award nominee, 1978 Locus Award nominee
Across the Sea of Suns (1984)
Great Sky River (1987) -- 1988 Nebula Nominee
Tides of Light (1989) -- 1990 Locus Award nominee
Furious Gulf (1994)
Sailing Bright Eternity (1996)
"A Hunger for the Infinite" a novella published in the anthology Far Horizons

[GeoffP]

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card is very good too. As is Dune by Frank Herbert. Or read Rash by Pete Hautman.

Is it just me? The first part of Ender's Game was good. But the ending seemed to be dragged out and diluted. Maybe the denouement was too long; the side stories about the brother and the sister was pretentious, pointless crap.

[Der Großmann]

''Replay'' by Ken Grimwood.
Definately worth a read if you're into time travel.

jan.

Seconded! I really enjoyed this novel.
For time travel I also recommend Stephen King's 11/22/63.