Great Science Fiction literature?

[Mdizzle]

Anything by H.G. Wells. They're not all necessarily "sci-fi"ish, but most of them have that feeling.

I love distopic literature.

[Mr. Wooden Alligator]

You might check out Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern books. I've skimmed through an omnibus of the first three books, and while there are dragons, it does have a science-fiction feel to it.

In what way did The Dreams in the Witch-House have science fiction elements? All I can recall is some stuff about the geometry of the main character's room...

[jewmaican20]

Originally Posted by LOUD_SILENT_MAN

Like... all of his stuff? I'm already considering Valis and Do Androids Dream in Electric Sheep, but are there others worth reading?

A Scanner Darkly
The Man In The High Castle

Replay by Ken Grimwood

^ These aren't straight up Sci Fi in the sense that the sci fi aspect takes more of a supporting role in terms of setting and tone.

Heinlein has some good stuff, but if you liked the Starship Troopers movie, don't go into the book expecting the same thing.

[The Professor]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Illustrated Man (Short Stories) by Ray Bradbury

I'd also suggest some Kurt Vonnegut (Cat's Cradle, Timequake) although its more-so use of science fiction elements. Vonnegut himself said that most sci-fi had such good ideas yet was so poorly written, which I think holds water. But that's a whole other thread.

[Eklypze]

Anyone here read any Charles Stross? This guy if fn brilliant! Accelerando totally blew my mind and I definately intend to read Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise. He also wrote Glasshouse which Im told is a great book as well.

[FVD]

I'm considering giving CS Lewis' Ransom Trilogy a go. And then before/after that I'm actually dying to check out Michael Ward's Planet Narnia, which he recently made a discovery that each of the 7 Chronicles of Narnia may actually be linked to the 7 Planets of the Medieval Age. And he's got a lot of research to back up his claims too.

http://www.planetnarnia.com/
http://www.narniacode.com/

Can't wait...

[chamber-music]

Can anyone suggest me some good Sci-Fi books from the last 10 years to read?

[BlackLantern]

why last 10 years?? there's good sci-fi from the 80's and 90's as well....try the Honor Harrington series by David Weber

[chamber-music]

I'm not discriminating against older stuff good literature is timeless but I've read alot of older stuff and I was just wondering if anyone had read anything intresting written this decade worth checking out.

Honor Harrington series is still ongoing so I would count that as current as well.

[Eklypze]

Originally Posted by chamber-music

I'm not discriminating against older stuff good literature is timeless but I've read alot of older stuff and I was just wondering if anyone had read anything intresting written this decade worth checking out.

Honor Harrington series is still ongoing so I would count that as current as well.

Charles Stross! Dude is a genius Ive read Accelerando which is amazingly bizarre and just the ideas this dude has are magnificent. I havent read any others but Ive heard they are great. His other sci/fi novels are Singularity Sky and its sequel Iron Sunrise and then Glasshouse which is loosely based in the Accelerando universe.

[Yurka]

Anyone read Island by Aldous Huxley?? I almost picked it up today, I heard its a big influence for Lost. Any comments?

[redmarvel]

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon - Spider Robinson
Time Travellers Strictly Cash - Spider Robinson

Anything by Douglas Adams, Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Robert Asprin or Marion Zimmer Bradley

- but I like my SF funny, so if you're not into humour these may not appeal to you.

[elgaz]

Have a look for anything by Robert J Sawyer ...................... I've just bought 3 of his books, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. They're not particularly action-packed or tense, but certainly thought provoking and he has a nice writing style. Flash Forward has now been made into a TV series.

Flash Forward - During a particle accelerator experiment at CERN, the entire human race blacks out for 2 mins and experiences a vision of their future - 21yrs ahead. The book follows their attempts to explain how and why it happened, and why not everyone had the vision.

Mindscan - In the near future, a company called Immortex have the technology to allow humans to upload their minds into android bodies, so that they may live on when their human self dies. The book follows what happens when 2 of these mindscans find love, and one of them has to face a court challenge to prove that it is more than just a copy of the original.

Calculating God - An alien lands on Earth, and publicly announces that it there to carry out some very important research : to find out why mass extinctions which have happened in Earth's history have also happened to other races and planets at the same time. The book follow the joint alien/human effort to find out if there is a God and if so, why has he been wiping out civilisations throughout history.

[Eklypze]

Originally Posted by elgaz

Have a look for anything by Robert J Sawyer ...................... I've just bought 3 of his books, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed. They're not particularly action-packed or tense, but certainly thought provoking and he has a nice writing style. Flash Forward has now been made into a TV series.

Flash Forward - During a particle accelerator experiment at CERN, the entire human race blacks out for 2 mins and experiences a vision of their future - 21yrs ahead. The book follows their attempts to explain how and why it happened, and why not everyone had the vision.

Dude I swear this is true but I just read like the entire synopsis for this book while I was just surfin around looking for sci/fi stuff to check out and like 3 days later what do I see during the LOST season finale?? The damn thing is now gonna be a tv show?!?!?! AWESOME! It was just really weird cuz I had just read about it randomly with no idea it was being made into a series. Its just one of many instances that are just a testament to my apparent precognitive abilities

[redmarvel]

Originally Posted by chamber-music

Can anyone suggest me some good Sci-Fi books from the last 10 years to read?

Anything by Kelly Armstrong (though it's more Fantasy) or China Meville.

[Eklypze]

So has nobody read any Charles Stross?? Dude has won all kinds of awards with Accelerando I dunno about the rest though but he seriously is a futurist genius! Seriousl has no one read his stuff? I figured at least somebody around here would have.

[VampElvis]

Originally Posted by FVD

I'm considering giving CS Lewis' Ransom Trilogy a go. And then before/after that I'm actually dying to check out Michael Ward's Planet Narnia, which he recently made a discovery that each of the 7 Chronicles of Narnia may actually be linked to the 7 Planets of the Medieval Age. And he's got a lot of research to back up his claims too.

http://www.planetnarnia.com/
http://www.narniacode.com/

Can't wait...

Any idea if this documentary is available in the US? Unfortunately I've not much time for leisure reading these days :-(

[Shaolin Kenobi]

Asimov is classic... though in some respects time has added a touch of camp to his work.

The Coldfire Trilogy (beginning with Black Sun Rising) is also quite good. Although, I will say it is a unique blending of fantasy and science fiction.

check it:
http://www.amazon.com/Black-Rising-C.../dp/0886775272

[Sawyer]

For those that have read them, what do you think of the Riverworld series and the Illuminatus trilogy?

[The Squirrel]

Anybody know of good Space sci-fi that is not Star Trek/Star Wars or Foundation?

[Brick]

Originally Posted by The Squirrel

Anybody know of good Space sci-fi that is not Star Trek/Star Wars or Foundation?

The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt

It's the book that was the inspiration for both Star Trek and Alien.

[redmarvel]

Originally Posted by The Squirrel

Anybody know of good Space sci-fi that is not Star Trek/Star Wars or Foundation?

For you I recommend the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison

The Stainless Steel Rat is a galaxy travelling theif.

[Motown Marvel]

i havent read through this whole thread but: what do you guys recommend for imaginative weird and wonky spacey sci-fi stuff? it'll probably get bonus points if its from the 50's, 60's, and 70's. i really enjoyed reading 2001: a space odyssey.

[Obi-Ron]

The annual "Writers of the Future" anthology is always good for imaginative "outside the box" speculative fiction.

[VampElvis]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

For those that have read them, what do you think of the Riverworld series and the Illuminatus trilogy?

Illuniatis - I hve not read.

Riverworld - I wish I had not read. They started out decent enough. Light adventures but the last two books were garbage. It was almost as if Farmer wanted to see what he could put in a book and still have people buy it. I wanted to punch him in the face when the mother condoned the actions of her drunk brother against her child. My stomach feels a little sick just thinking of it. Because of that, I would never recommend those books. In fact, I threw mine in the garbage rather than reselling or donating them.