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Rasitiln
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Posted - 2005.09.14 21:16:00 -
[31]
Enders Game
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mirel yirrin
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Posted - 2005.09.14 21:18:00 -
[32]
Try Halo: The Fall of Reach, Halo: The Flood, and Halo: First strike, It that order.
Great books.
Based on the game but you don't have to have played it to understand.
Fills in some very important Gaps inbetween the First and second Games.
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The Comments and/or Actions above in noway indicate the veiws or actions of my corporation.
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Herko Kerghans
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Posted - 2005.09.15 03:04:00 -
[33]
 Originally by: Demarcus
Orsen Scott Card -
Ender's Game
Speaker of the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender's Shadow
And Songmaster! Kicks ass to anything he wrote afterwards!
Another master (mistress), Ursula Le Guin. Anything from her, for example The Left Hand of Darkness. (Wizard or Earthsea is AWESOME, if you are into Fantasy)
William Gibson. Neuromancer is perhaps the best sci-fi novel ever written. Burning Chrome are the best sci-fi short stories, period.
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The lines and the scar |
Belzeem
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Posted - 2005.09.15 04:21:00 -
[34]
If you like Anderson, maybe you'll like his works for the Star Wars line of books. I was skeptical at first to read "Star Wars" books , but i actually quite enjoyed them. Also if you like some very hard scientific writing try Robert L. Forward, he wrote books such as Dragon's Egg and Roche World- very good reads.
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Dark Shikari
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Posted - 2005.09.15 10:16:00 -
[35]
Originally by: Sherkaner
Originally by: Dark Shikari
There are five series that I would consider The Best Series Ever.
In no particular order:
Xeelee Sequence (Baxter)
Ringworld Series (Niven)
Galactic Center Series (Bear)
Uplift Trilogies (Brin)
Foundation (Asimov)
The Galactic Center Series is by Gregory Benford, not Greg Bear 
And the Xeelee Sequence by Baxter is nice, but looking like childs play in comparison to his later Manifold Triology. In the Xeelee Sequence he was warming up, toying with different ideas and concepts. Manifold is his masterpiece.
Oh, lol, I confuse Bear and Benford all the time.
But are you serious about Manifold being better than Xeelee? I read the Xeelee sequence *after* and still enjoyed it far more. It seems to me entirely the other way around. The Manifold sequence, IMO, was a failure: it began with a great work (Time), but slowly went downhill into junk. His latest books have been miserable. His best books ever have been Timelike Infinity, Flux, Vacuum Diagrams, The Time Ships, etc.
--
Proud member of the [23].
Selling Capital Cargo Bays and Kernite Mining Crystal IIs, cheaper than anyone else. |
Jack Brimstone
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Posted - 2005.09.15 12:49:00 -
[36]
I would second Asimov: Foundation series (still good despite its age).
As for SciFi generally rather than space opera, try :
Lord of Light -- Roger Zelazny |
Sherkaner
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Posted - 2005.09.15 14:39:00 -
[37]
Originally by: Dark Shikari
But are you serious about Manifold being better than Xeelee? I read the Xeelee sequence *after* and still enjoyed it far more. It seems to me entirely the other way around. The Manifold sequence, IMO, was a failure: it began with a great work (Time), but slowly went downhill into junk. His latest books have been miserable. His best books ever have been Timelike Infinity, Flux, Vacuum Diagrams, The Time Ships, etc.
It's a matter of taste probably 
I admit that the plot and storytelling in Manifold is sometimes weak, especially in the third book - the Xeelee books are certainly more exciting to read. But the ideas behind the Manifold triology, the scope of his vision, the scientific and philosophical problems and his answers for them are what makes that triology better in my eyes.
I did compare him to Asimov for a reason - Asimov certainly wasn't the best writer and storyteller of his time either, but his ideas - the three laws of robots, the timeline of the foundation triology - were revolutionary for the SF genre.
Reading the Manifold triology makes look at the stars and wonder what's out there, and that's what SF should be about.
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Yith Solarius
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Posted - 2005.09.15 17:38:00 -
[38]
I' surprised no ones mentioned any Dan Simmons stuff, i've read the Illium series (Illium and Olympos) and enjoyed both.
I've also just finished the Hyperion Omnibus and it was fantastic, can't wait for the Endymion Omnibus to be published as it looks great too
***
check out my ideas for Concord logic |
Unaha Closp
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Posted - 2005.09.15 18:55:00 -
[39]
Iain M. Banks - Feersum Endjinn, IMO one of his best. As a good intro to the Culture books (and more Opera than you can shake a stick at) try Consider Phlebas.
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fairimear
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Posted - 2005.09.21 21:37:00 -
[40]
Originally by: jbob2000
I quite liked the Halo Series.
indeed, i love many other's (Dune series are the best book's i ever read and re-read once a year) but for a general sci-fi read the novel's of halo are a nice read.
If you have never played halo read them all the first and last book don't take place in either game or the upcoming halo3, if you yhave played halo and hated it as a game try reading the book's.
If you did play both games don't bother with the second novel (the flood) as it only covers what happened in halo.
fall of reach cover's the backstory of the main characters and give's you a entire diffrent view on the universe halo is set in.
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liquidism
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Posted - 2005.09.21 23:42:00 -
[41]
 NEUROMANCER
HITCHHIKERS GUIDE TO THE GALAXY
UNIVERSE IN A NUTSHELL
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Scots Crusader
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Posted - 2005.09.22 08:44:00 -
[42]
Anything by Asimov or Iain M. banks is good. An earlier poster mentioned the classic Lensman serious which is awesome to.
For a lighter side i recommend L Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth serious which is hilariously funny. From there you go of in a tangent to Pratchett etc. all excellent reads.
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Xandalex
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Posted - 2005.09.22 12:53:00 -
[43]
Iain M Banks is my fav. Consider Phleabas, Excission, Against a Dark background, er.....all of them. After you've read the culture novels you'll be renaming all your ships!
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Gunstar Zero
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Posted - 2005.09.22 13:26:00 -
[44]
CCP should set up as an amazon affiliate - I've ordered so many books based on recommendations here.
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Sherkaner
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Posted - 2005.09.22 13:49:00 -
[45]
Ah, this thread is still going ... nice
I bookmarked it, some good ideas in here for when I need more books 
Some more recommendations from me:
If you want to read some really really weird science fiction, try "Rats and Gargoyles" by Mary Gentle. Most book publishers and librarians would classify it as Fantasy, but the author insists that it is SF, and I won't argue with her.
"Normal" SF extrapolates from current science and society, while this book is based on 16th century "Hermetic Science", it plays in a weird and surreal world, and makes for a very interesting read.
Other good works by Mary Gentle:
"Golden Witchbreed" / "Ancient Light" (First Contact SF)
"Grunts!" (hilarious Fantasy/SF parody)
"Ash" (Alternate History SF)
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Posmart
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Posted - 2005.09.22 16:34:00 -
[46]
Just buy any and everything in the "SF Masterworks" series.
...and everything by Philip K D!ck and Iain M Banks.
No. 1 in the SF Masterworks series is "The Forever War", by Joe Haldeman, and it is amazing in its scope. These enormous space opera trilogies can get a bit overwrought sometimes - this novel fits 10,000 years into 400 pages.
If you need an antidote (or complement) to space opera read some early Philip K novels, because he had to churn them out quick just to eat.
"Clans of the Alphane Moons" for example, is about a lunatic-asylum moon abandoned for a generation by Earth. When they reestablish contact, the society has divided itself into clans based on their psychoses, and it is very funny, especially the mind-reading jelly from Ganymede.
But it's not half as funny as "A Scanner Darkly", about an undercover narcotics agent investigating a drug that splits your brain in half. Pretty soon, he's investigating himself...It's hilarious and my favourite book ever, soon to be a film too I think.
Other classics by PKD are "The 3 Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich" (bored miners on Mars share hallucinations)and of course "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" (Bladerunner is loosely based on this). As with much "classic" SF from the so-called golden age, they're really about human nature and reality, not aliens.
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Mistress Margaret
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Posted - 2005.09.22 17:15:00 -
[47]
Every five years or so I fall in love with an author's body of work...the last two are:
John C Wright and Nancy Kress
Wright is future mythic, dense and wonderously expansive
Kress crafts tight clean prose, works through issues hovering at our horizon, and disappears into her work.
Each is incredibly original, and both have trilogies.
My all time favorite author will always remain Larry Niven
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Laocoon
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Posted - 2005.09.22 22:03:00 -
[48]
Really, like some other people have said, try the night's dawn trilogy. it's heavy going at first, but about 1/2way into the book (and its a biiiig book), is where it REALLY starts to heat up. though theyre all good so far (am about to start thr 3rd book)
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Sirial Soulfly
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Posted - 2005.09.22 23:14:00 -
[49]
If you like a lot of science fiction space based fleet battles with destroyers and cruisers and even dreadnoughts , please do read the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.
Maybe not as sophisticated as witers like Asimov, Simmons and or Hamilton but very readable and enjoyable.
If you like Iain M Banks, you might also like Ken Macleod
One of the classics I still hold close to my heart is the Null-A trilogy by AE van Voght, if you liked something like the foundation then have a look at that.
Another hard sf series I thoroughly enjoyed is the gap series from Stephen Donaldson.
Enjoy! :)
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Meneer Wolf
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Posted - 2005.09.22 23:28:00 -
[50]
Edited by: Meneer Wolf on 22/09/2005 23:29:46
Edited by: Meneer Wolf on 22/09/2005 23:29:17
to name a few...
William Gibson - all of 'm :)
Brian Herbert - Frank Herbert's son prequels of the Dune series
Peter F. Hamilton - Nights dawn trilogy
Larry Niven - Ringworld series
Greg Bear - Eon is still one of my favorites
Isaac Asimov - Foundation series
edit: how did i dare forget Asimov?
<dude, where's my sig?> |
Hoshi
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Posted - 2005.09.22 23:38:00 -
[51]
Was going to make some nice suggestions but it seems most of the good ones have already been mentioned.
But to add something to the thread.
The Dispossessed (Urusla K LeGuin) Not so much hard sci-fi as as social sci-fi, still very good.
Aliens - Earth Hive, Nightmare Asylum, Female Wars (Steve Perry)
Battle Tech - Twilight of the Clans (a series of books by different writers)
And a second (or third or something) for A Deepness in the Sky and A Fire Upon The Deep, best sci-fi I have ever read.
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Redwolf
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Posted - 2005.09.23 03:14:00 -
[52]
Banks Culture series (though I didn't enjoy The Algebraist much, it's not culture sooo), and PF Hamiltons Nights dawn Trilogy - both excellent and already mentioned.
Simmons too for the Hyperion omnibus.
No one for Neal Asher?
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nahtoh
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Posted - 2005.09.23 15:53:00 -
[53]
give the following site a try... free baen books.
Its a legit site and you can have a look at some of Daid webbers and John Ringos books along with quite a few others.
very usefull for bored at work issues 
"I am not saying there should be capital punishment for stupidity, but
why can`t we just take the safety labels off everything and let the
problem solve itself" (credits to mcallister TCS)
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Benilopax
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Posted - 2005.09.23 16:42:00 -
[54]
Edited by: Benilopax on 23/09/2005 16:42:33
Originally by: Nero Scuro
Edited by: Nero Scuro on 14/09/2005 17:07:51
Ben Bova's (one letter away from being the greatest name EVER) planets series are excellent books. Especially the rock rats and precipe(sp?). They remind me of EVE. Sorta.
Ben Bova's "Tour of the solar system" series is very good its a more realistic version of near future space travel!
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Spy4Hire
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Posted - 2005.09.23 17:07:00 -
[55]
The 'Exordium' series by Sherwood Smith & Jeff Trowbridge... a fantastic, deep space opera of epic proportions. Completely blows Star Wars away, Dune with less sand and more flesh.
Phoenix in Flight
Ruler of Naught
Prison Unsought
Rifters' Covenant
Thrones of Chronos
fanfic
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Ione Hunt
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Posted - 2005.09.23 17:39:00 -
[56]
Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn trilogy and Pandora's Star. Oh, and the sequel to Pandora's Star is out now, in case you were ****ed at the cliffhanger ending 
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Zac Paris
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Posted - 2005.09.23 17:54:00 -
[57]
Originally by: Yith Solarius
I' surprised no ones mentioned any Dan Simmons stuff, i've read the Illium series (Illium and Olympos) and enjoyed both.
I've also just finished the Hyperion Omnibus and it was fantastic, can't wait for the Endymion Omnibus to be published as it looks great too
The Hyperion Cantos (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and Rise of Endymion) are fantastic stories. They're crammed full of good sci-fi concepts as well as some great action, both on personal and space fleet scales. I also can't wait for the Endymion Omnibus later this year!
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Deidranna
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Posted - 2005.09.23 18:17:00 -
[58]
Originally by: Zac Paris
Originally by: Yith Solarius
I' surprised no ones mentioned any Dan Simmons stuff, i've read the Illium series (Illium and Olympos) and enjoyed both.
I've also just finished the Hyperion Omnibus and it was fantastic, can't wait for the Endymion Omnibus to be published as it looks great too
The Hyperion Cantos (Hyperion, Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and Rise of Endymion) are fantastic stories. They're crammed full of good sci-fi concepts as well as some great action, both on personal and space fleet scales. I also can't wait for the Endymion Omnibus later this year!
brilliant stuff
deidranna
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Wanoah
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Posted - 2005.09.24 10:36:00 -
[59]
Originally by: Tyto
Spares
or One of us
by Michael Marshall Smith
The Daddy of MMS books is Only Forward though. I love his approachable writing style and extremely well-realised, sympathetic characters. He has a habit of luring you in with wit, then sucker punching you to the gut with emotion.
We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at stars.
(Sig best viewed with Firefox)
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Pistonbroke
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Posted - 2005.09.24 19:35:00 -
[60]
Enders Game 4tw (Orson Scott Card)
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