Your Science Fiction recommendations

[Cheerful Charlie]

Stanislaw Lem, The Cyberiad

 

[bigfield]

Hi Everyone,

I was supposed to reply to this thread ages ago, but I forgot.

Thanks to everyone for your recommendations. I greatly appreciate it.

I've compiled a reading list from your suggestions:

Stranger in a Strange Land
Starship Troopers
Ender's Game
A Fire Upon the Deep
The Handmaid's Tale
Cyteen
Altered Carbon
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Ringworld series
Frontiers Saga
Star Force Saga
The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand
Vorkosigan saga
Mars trilogy
Oryx and Crake trilogy
Old Man's War series
Revelation Space series
Honorverse Series
Posleen War series
Empire of Man series
Vattas War saga

The Cyberiad

I'm midway through Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, but have also been reading the Neuromancer series, which inspired both the Matrix trilogy and the great Cyberpunk game, Deus Ex. Red Mars is exactly as promised: full of treachery, but also incredibly fascinating speculative hard sci fi.

At the rate I read books, this list will probably last me a few years.

 

[credoconsolans]

Please recommend science fiction novels, novellas, short stories etc. that you have read and enjoyed.

Recently I finished reading Dune by Frank Herbert.

I enjoyed it because it speculated on some interesting themes, like techniques for extreme desert existence, an intergalactic society world without computers, resource politics, and alien habitats. It also featured a "game of thrones".

The first 3 novels of Dune are good, even with a big honking plot hole in the first few pages of Dune. They did have computers, but they were human. But the universe it took place in was rather disappointing culturally.

The year is 10,191 and the best society could come up with is yet another feudal system? Where men are kings and warriors and emperors and women are possessions to be given away for treaties and in fights and at best, have to manipulate power via a quasi-religious group behind the scenes.

 

[spikepipsqueak]

I fully intend to mine this thread, myself.

Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon)

+1 for this ^

and, to add to the pile.

The 8 Julian May books beginning with The Many Coloured Land are an epic, complex and immensely satisfying read.

Nobody should die without reading A Canticle for Leibowitz. Walter M. Miller

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and its sequel.

Stephen Baxter writes an engrossing style of SF with a history focus. Time's Eye was written in conjunction with Arthur C. Clarke. It's good but there is another, better one whose name I can't dredge up.

If you like a good short story, Orson Scott Card wrote Maps in a Mirror. Short stories are often a vehicle for meaty goodness, these are chock full of ideas.

Inverted World. Christopher Priestley

Does nobody read David Eddings, anymore? Of the journey/questing type genre, I found them the best. They have the leaven of a dry humour and are very well written.

In a couple of years, when you get to the bottom of your pile, investigate A. E. van Vogt, Clifford Simak (esp. City), Damon Knight,, Spider Robinson (Telempath), Vonda McIntyre. James White wrote a couple of books about an all-species extraterrestrial hospital that were fun and interesting.

Then start at the beginning and read everything Isaac Asimov ever wrote.

[/avalanch}

 

[Narapoia]

I would read some Ian M. Banks before getting into the revelation space series, I've read both and consider Banks to be superior. Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games are a pretty good place to start but my favourites are Look to Windward and Use of Weapons. Though the authorial games mentioned by a poster above play a part in the latter.

I think possibly his best SF book though is The Algebraist. It is a stand alone novel rather than the above which are part of the same future history universe.

 

[Mageth]

I would read some Ian M. Banks before getting into the revelation space series, I've read both and consider Banks to be superior. Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games are a pretty good place to start but my favourites are Look to Windward and Use of Weapons. Though the authorial games mentioned by a poster above play a part in the latter.

I think possibly his best SF book though is The Algebraist. It is a stand alone novel rather than the above which are part of the same future history universe.

Just curious, why do you consider Iain Banks' writing to be superior to Alastair Reynolds' ?

Note that I've read Reynolds, but not Banks. At least not any Banks that I remember. I've been meaning to get around to him though.

 

[Eldarion Lathria]

Jack Vance's Demon Princes Novels. Local color, a good plot and good characters. Read them in this order: The Star King, The Killing Machine, The Palace of Love, The Face, and The Book of Dreams.

Eldarion Lathria

 

[Narapoia]

I would read some Ian M. Banks before getting into the revelation space series, I've read both and consider Banks to be superior. Consider Phlebas or The Player of Games are a pretty good place to start but my favourites are Look to Windward and Use of Weapons. Though the authorial games mentioned by a poster above play a part in the latter.

I think possibly his best SF book though is The Algebraist. It is a stand alone novel rather than the above which are part of the same future history universe.

Just curious, why do you consider Iain Banks' writing to be superior to Alastair Reynolds' ?

Note that I've read Reynolds, but not Banks. At least not any Banks that I remember. I've been meaning to get around to him though.

Firstly, I really enjoyed the Reynolds books I have read which are the first two of the Revelation Space series, Galactic North and Century Rain (Weird but good little title this). All of these are very much Dystopian and while I love a good dystopia it can be a bit of drag without some variety. Maybe I need to read some of his other work.

Both authors have fantastic ideas to drive their stories but its the execution and variety of Bank's methods that make me enjoy him more.
Banks, I have found, writes dis/utopia with equal ease - his Culture series is essentially Utopian (though admittedly a utopia where gigadeath crime is a thing and the 'good guys' have no qualms deploying terror weapons) and some of his standalone novels like The Algebraist and Against a Dark Background are definitely dystopian. His dry wit, almost melancholic style and interesting character development set him apart from Reynolds in my experience. Plus I just love the Culture universe, it takes the Star Trek Prime Directive and throws it out the window because they can prove subtle interference with lesser civilisations is statistically better for everyone. Statistically better doesn't mean it always works, and that is some of the richest plot line material.

 

[arnoldo]

 

[Kharakov]

I enjoyed the Ringworld series by Larry Niven. The Last Question by Asimov is my favorite short story from him ever. Well worth the short amount of time it will take to read it.

Nice one. I found it over here (the link you posted is dead).

I especially like this quote (Microvacs are computers, and they are "ACs" or "analogue computers") " It was a nice feeling to have a Microvac of your own and Jerrodd was glad he was part of his generation and no other. In his father's youth, the only computers had been tremendous machines taking up a hundred square miles of land. There was only one to a planet. Planetary ACs they were called. They had been growing in size steadily for a thousand years and then, all at once, came refinement. In place of transistors had come molecular valves so that even the largest Planetary AC could be put into a space only half the volume of a spaceship. "


For years I've been trying to find a short story I read in my early teens. It was in a collection by either Heinlen, Asimov, Niven, Clark, Bradbury, or another of the old greats.

An alien race had logged the Earth as a planet with evolving life forms, with potential for the evolution of intelligence, a few million years before the current date. They basically monitored planets with promise, and checked on them every so often.

Well, their astronomers noticed a peculiarity in the sun- it was due to go nova at an early stage, so they sent a ship to collect samples of life, and find out if an intelligent species had evolved in the few million years since they had first discovered the planet.

When they arrived in the solar system, they found they only had about 12 hours before the critical time when they would not have enough time to stay ahead of the radiation shock wave from the nova.

The aliens decided to explore the earth. They found evidence of a global civilization, and great museums, but not one being on the planet. It was completely empty, except for wildlife.

They eventually found a recording, after following a beacon of some sorts. It was a message from humanity, and stated that they had pooled all the resources of the world, to build armadas of ships to seek habitable planets around 3 promising star systems. Humanity's scientists had determined the sun would go nova, yet they could not pinpoint the date with their primitive technology. The armadas had set off for the star systems hundreds of years ago.

These armadas were the last hope of a race of beings that had learned to join together as one, in the end, facing adversity from outside.

Following their viewing of the recording, a decision was made to seek out the remnants of humanity. The aliens looked at one another grimly- for they knew from what they had witnessed on earth, that the technology of the human race would not make for an easy interstellar trip. Humanity had never discovered faster than light travel, so each of the armadas would take many centuries to arrive at their destination. Not too mention, humanity was ill prepared for the rigors of deep space.

Three ships were sent to search along the paths that the armadas would travel. They searched along the paths, finding great abandoned ships, stripped of all valuables, as humanity lost one ship after another along the paths. Some ships were lost to space debris, some to simple technological failure, the ships not having been designed for the high energy dust flows of interstellar space.

With each ship found, the hope of finding any survivors diminished. At the rate that the armadas were losing ships (humanity had left a detailed account of the strength of the armadas), not one of them would make it to the star systems they had set out for. The aliens knew that the remnants of humanity must know this, and wondered if they had decided to end the struggle finally, to give up, for they would only suffer the dismal trip, and continue on to a sure fate of doom.

One of the armadas was found to be fully destroyed. It had suffered throughout the long journey, only to end up torn to shreds by a 1000 parsec wide flow of space debris. This brought only a grim nod from the captain of the rescue effort, as teams were dispatched to salvage what could be salvaged, to discern the final tale of these desperate travelers.

A call came in from one of the alien vessels. They had found the remnants of one of the vast human armadas! Crippled, beat up, worn down by the rigors of interstellar space, the armada had kept its course, despite losing many ships, and all hope of ever reaching its destination.

The captain of the search sighed happily, and looked over at his second and laughed. "You know, something tells me these creatures have quite a bit of determination, not to have given up in the face of sure defeat, traveling through space with these primitive technologies?" He chuckled again to himself, thinking about the resolute nature of beings that would travel on, despite the horrible suffering and loss they endured on the trip, knowing they could not possibly make it to the end of the journey.

A 100 years later, it didn't seem so funny.

 

[Kharakov]

Burn it!

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The Brilliance Saga by Marcus Sakay.

In the 1980s, a bunch of kids start to be born with special abilities and now they're starting to come of age. Not abilities like flying or healing or anything like that, but all enhancements on existing abilities and they're called the Brilliants. You have some people who can read body language so well they know all the moves you're going to make in a fight before you make them. You have a guy who figured out the stock market so well that he made $300 billion dollars and it had to be shut down because nobody could compete with the Brilliants and they took all the profits. You have a football player who can see where all the defensive linemen are going to move and he can just stroll through the gaps where they're not going to be. There's a bunch of scientists who can see patterns so well they leap technological advancements ahead decades.

About 1% of the population is born Brilliant and they've basically taken over all science, art and every other area. This makes Normals nervous because they see a future where they're quickly becoming irrelevant and they want to control the Brilliants and the Brilliants don't want to be controlled. The plotline focuses on this one government agent who's a Brilliant that hunts down Brilliant terrorists who are using their abilities for evil. He goes up against this Magneto type who's basically a super Chessmaster and can see the patterns of what's going to happen years out and is preparing for a war between the Brilliants and the Normals.

It's a really well done story and I recommend it.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I enjoyed the Ringworld series by Larry Niven. The Last Question by Asimov is my favorite short story from him ever. Well worth the short amount of time it will take to read it.

The first three books are good. The last one did not impress me and fails the consistency test with the rest of the universe. (Specifically, the short, "Borderlands of Sol".)

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I rather enjoyed Sclazi's Redshirts, but it is the only novel I have read of his. I have been meaning to read more from him, and I have heard good things about the Old Man's War series.

I also enjoyed the Redshirts book
Might look into the Old Man's War now

As for other Sci-Fi...

The Honorverse Series by David Weber

Definitely good.

John Ringo and the Legacy of the Aldenata (aka Posleen War) series

Just watch out for the collaboration books. Ringo collaborations generally leave a lot to be desired.

Or try his Empire of Man Series

Yup.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

For years I've been trying to find a short story I read in my early teens. It was in a collection by either Heinlen, Asimov, Niven, Clark, Bradbury, or another of the old greats.

I want to call the author Ben Bova. I know the story, I can't think of the title.

 

[Toni]

I fully intend to mine this thread, myself.

Me, too.

and, to add to the pile.

The 8 Julian May books beginning with The Many Coloured Land are an epic, complex and immensely satisfying read.

Absolutely. One of my favorites. I started with The Many Colored Land and surprisingly enough, did not lose interest throughout the series, including the prequels, which were as good and in some ways, better than the first.

 

[credoconsolans]

The Brilliance Saga by Marcus Sakay.

In the 1980s, a bunch of kids start to be born with special abilities and now they're starting to come of age. Not abilities like flying or healing or anything like that, but all enhancements on existing abilities and they're called the Brilliants. You have some people who can read body language so well they know all the moves you're going to make in a fight before you make them. You have a guy who figured out the stock market so well that he made $300 billion dollars and it had to be shut down because nobody could compete with the Brilliants and they took all the profits. You have a football player who can see where all the defensive linemen are going to move and he can just stroll through the gaps where they're not going to be. There's a bunch of scientists who can see patterns so well they leap technological advancements ahead decades.

Sounds like the Force.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

The Brilliance Saga by Marcus Sakay.

In the 1980s, a bunch of kids start to be born with special abilities and now they're starting to come of age. Not abilities like flying or healing or anything like that, but all enhancements on existing abilities and they're called the Brilliants. You have some people who can read body language so well they know all the moves you're going to make in a fight before you make them. You have a guy who figured out the stock market so well that he made $300 billion dollars and it had to be shut down because nobody could compete with the Brilliants and they took all the profits. You have a football player who can see where all the defensive linemen are going to move and he can just stroll through the gaps where they're not going to be. There's a bunch of scientists who can see patterns so well they leap technological advancements ahead decades.

Sounds like the Force.

There's nothing mystical or anything about it, it's just enhanced pattern recognition. You see how everybody's about to move and how their movement will interact with the movement of everyone around them and how that interaction will lead to the next interaction etc, etc, etc. Then when all those movements are made, you've already reacted to them and put yourself somewhere else.

 

[James Brown]

The Brilliance Saga by Marcus Sakay.

In the 1980s, a bunch of kids start to be born with special abilities and now they're starting to come of age. Not abilities like flying or healing or anything like that, but all enhancements on existing abilities and they're called the Brilliants. You have some people who can read body language so well they know all the moves you're going to make in a fight before you make them. You have a guy who figured out the stock market so well that he made $300 billion dollars and it had to be shut down because nobody could compete with the Brilliants and they took all the profits. You have a football player who can see where all the defensive linemen are going to move and he can just stroll through the gaps where they're not going to be. There's a bunch of scientists who can see patterns so well they leap technological advancements ahead decades.

Sounds like the Force.

There's nothing mystical or anything about it, it's just enhanced pattern recognition. You see how everybody's about to move and how their movement will interact with the movement of everyone around them and how that interaction will lead to the next interaction etc, etc, etc. Then when all those movements are made, you've already reacted to them and put yourself somewhere else.

Reminds me of the fight scenes in the latest Sherlock Holmes movies with Robert Downey Jr.

 

[Kharakov]

For years I've been trying to find a short story I read in my early teens. It was in a collection by either Heinlen, Asimov, Niven, Clark, Bradbury, or another of the old greats.

I want to call the author Ben Bova. I know the story, I can't think of the title.

Ehh... Lemme look at his collections. No. It was definitely a short story, and I don't remember those collections. I'm leaning towards Asimov or Clarke, but I think I had a collection by Heinlein as well. I'll dig through them.

Ahah, I had "Reach for Tomorrow" by Clarke. Read it a bunch of times. Anyway... the story is called Rescue Party. Still love the last lines of it, although I got a lot of the story wrong:

"Something tells me they'll be very determined people," he added. "We had better be polite to them. After all, we only outnumber them about a thousand million to one."

Rugon laughed at his captain's little joke.

Twenty years afterward, the remark didn't seem funny.

Ok, now I'm thinking of another story, and I'm thinking it reminds me of the Foundation series.

It's about the Earth being sequestered off from the rest of the universe by some type of force field, and aliens eventually rediscovering Earth, and breaking through the force field only to find that the force field had protected them from humanity, rather than the other way around.