Recommend me some quality Sci-fi Literature

[Random_Dude]

Well I think the title says it all.

I really enjoy Sci-Fi novels, I've just finished reading Neuromancer and I need to start a new one.
My favourite ones are more in the dystopian category: "1984", "Fahrenheit 451", "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", etc... I don't like alien evasions or that type of story.

Does anyone have any favourite novels/authors?

Cheers :cool:

[peterdm]

I recommend Alastair Reynold's "Revelation Space", "Chasm City" and "Redemption Ark". I also much enjoyed Dan Simmon's "Hyperion".

[proggy]

Well I think the title says it all.

I really enjoy Sci-Fi novels, I've just finished reading Neuromancer and I need to start a new one.
My favourite ones are more in the dystopian category: "1984", "Fahrenheit 451", "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", etc... I don't like alien evasions or that type of story.

Does anyone have any favourite novels/authors?

Cheers :cool:
Find a store that sells used books and try and find sci-fi books that were written in the forties through to the seventies.

[Brutal cake]

Some of my favorites:

Accelerando (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_%28novel%29) and Glasshouse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasshouse_%28novel%29) by Charles Stross
Hyperion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_%28Simmons_novel%29) by Dan Simmons
Gateway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_%28novel%29)by Frederik Pohl
Non-stop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Stop) by Brian Aldiss
Rendezvous With Rama (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendezvous_with_Rama) by Arthur C. Clarke

[patagonik]

The day of Triffids -> John Wyndham
Martian Chronicles -> Ray Bradbury
The illustrated man -> Ray Bradbury
The space merchants -> Frederik Pohl
Gateway -> Frederik Pohl (this one is just amazing)
The Word of World is Forest -> Ursula K. Le Guin

Hope this helps...

Cheers

[cascade9]

I'm always suprised about how many Hyperion fans there are. The 1st bookwas great, but it all went downhill IMO.

For something a little different (prossibly not quite the OPs taste) try "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers.

[donkyhotay]

I'm always suprised about how many Hyperion fans there are. The 1st bookwas great, but it all went downhill IMO.

Strangely enough the fall of hyperion was my favorite out of that entire series. I wouldn't consider myself a fan of the series but it was pretty good. Now for the OP if you like dystopian sci-fi stories then you might want to check out the gap cycle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gap_Cycle).

[Endomancer]

I highly recommend Peter F Hamilton's Nights Dawn Trilogy
*The Reality Dysfunction
*The Neutronium Alchemist
*The Naked God
These books are about 1200 pages each but are real page turners

More info here (http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/index.php?page=confederation)

[matthewbpt]

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy! Great comedy intermingled with wonderful sci-fi geekery!

[Sporkman]

Check out The Greatwinter Trilogy by Sean McMullen.

[sanderella]

Dune.

[wieman01]

Here are some of my favorites which have not been mentioned (if you like classics):

A. I am legend (Matheson)
B. Time machine (Wells)
C. War of the worlds (Wells)
D. Hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world (Murakami)
E. City of last things (Auster)

I don't like Murakami or Auster in particular, but these are amazing books.

[happyhamster]

Foundation series, Isaac Asimov.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_series

A lot of short, robot-related stories, Asimov again.

Planet of Adventure, Jack Vance. (In Dutch it was called; "Tschai, de waanzinnige planeet", which would translate to "Tschai, Planet of Insanity", which of course sounds way cooler than "Planet of Adventure", which sounds rather ...dull? Anyway, the story is great.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_of_Adventure

Dune series, Frank Herbert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_universe

[Dixon Bainbridge]

Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End Of the World By Haruki Murakami. Best book I've read for a long long time.

[Shakz]

Well I recently read these from a lesser known author and I REALLY liked the 2 book series so far. I consider these two an indi writer gem. These are IMHO Well worth the 7 bucks a piece.

http://tonychandler.net/default.aspx

Another much overlooked book that was FANTASTIC was L Ron Hubbards Battlefield Earth....great book. Picked up my copy for like 2 bucks at Half Price Books.

[Nightstrike2009]

William Gibson's
Sprawl Trilogy "Neuromancer", "Count Zero", "Mona Lisa Overdrive"

"Burning Chrome" (Short Stories)

Bridge Trilogy "Virtual Light", "Idoru" and "All Tomorrow's Parties"

I am not keen on "The Difference Engine" co-written with Bruce Sterling and its also worth noting William Gibson has coverted to writing Tech-spy novels recently rather than the older cyberpunk novels listed above.

Hope this helps :-)

[jetsam]

Check out The Science of Discworld if you want to do some genre hopping.

It's hard to only read the good stuff. They publish science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and thrillers like they're going out of style, but they're always in style.

Where no man has gone before: historical romance.

The Time Traveler's Wife by Niffenegger (I've never read this one, but keep meaning to.)

A Handmaid's Tale by Atwood. Also, most of what she's written.

Awesome if you can find a copy:
The Magic Goes Away by Larry Niven.

For a change of pace, read some history of the genre. The early pulp magazines have fascinating back stories.

Oh. The Bromeliad Trilogy! Best shopping mall full of little people story ever!

[arsenic23]

Anything by Gene Wolf particularly his solar cycle books:
The Book of the New Sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_New_Sun)
The Urth of the New Sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Urth_of_the_New_Sun)
The Book of the Long Sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Long_Sun)
The Book of the Short Sun (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Short_Sun)

Anything by Joan Slonczewski; particularly:
Brain Plague (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/121609.Brain_Plague)
A Door into Ocean (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Door_into_Ocean)

Paul J. McAuley's Confluence (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/77339.Confluence)

[blucat]

I would recommend a couple of series by Orson Scott Card.
The Homecoming Saga starts with "The Memory of Earth".
The Ender Saga starts with "Enders Game".
I would also like to echo the recommendation of another poster.
The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov is excellent, if you haven't read already.

[cariboo]

I don't understand why no one has mentioned Heinlein, you my not agree with his politics, but most of his books are a great read.

[Random_Dude]

Thanks for the replies so far, there're some interesting suggestions.
I've noticed that there are a lot of space exploration/aliens/spaceship novels among the suggestions. Maybe I'll read some of them (probably Dune, which I've been curious to check out for a long time), but right now I was looking for some Sci-fi that didn't fit in this category.

Thanks again for the suggestions, keep them coming and keep the discussion.:guitar:

Cheers :cool:

[immoweichert]

Anything by Stanislaw Lem !!!

[red_Marvin]

The 2001 series by Arthur C Clarke for Hard SF/Exploration. Haven't read much dystopic sf, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - did not really like it though.

[LowSky]

I don't understand why no one has mentioned Heinlein, you my not agree with his politics, but most of his books are a great read.

Stranger in a Strange Land is one of my favorite books. Starship Troopers is way better than the oddball movie they made, and Time Enough for Love is a odd but fun read.

I can really recommend anything by Asimov, Phillip K D!ck (forum wont let me spell his last name, LOL), Herbert, oh and if you like Star Wars the books are decent read, and follow the Solo's and Skywalker familys long after Return of the Jedi

[Random_Dude]

Phillip K D!ck (forum wont let me spell his last name, LOL)

I've read "A Scanner Darkly" and "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?". It's a great Sci-fi writer.
I was thinking of buying "Ubik", has anyone read it? Is it as good as the two I've mentioned?

[MaxIBoy]

The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. It's a collection of shortish stories about the same two characters, and it is truly hilarious. Funnier than Hitchhikers' Guide if you can believe that.

[jetsam]

The Man in the High Castle is good...

Dangerous ground. Proceeding further leads through Gibson and circles Naked Lunch.

The Unlimited Deam Company -> Naked Lunch -> Dostoyevsky The Idiot is an almost healthy path through that tangle.

Invasion of The Body Snatchers is more fun.

[Elfy]

Alastair Reynolds has not been mentioned yet - newer than most of the stuff mentioned previously.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds

[Ebere]

I prefer the collections of short stories.

I'd have the bookcase filled with them, if I could.

Aside from the 'pulp magazine types', its always difficult to pick out the anthologies from the rest on the shelves at the thrift shop, etc.

Sometimes well worth it.

[cariboo]

If alternate timelines are of any interest have a look at S.M. Stirling (http:///www.smstirling.com/)

[Letrazzrot]

Some suggestions if you liked Neuromancer:

"Queen of Angels" by Greg Bear.

and, surprised no one has mentioned this: "Snow Crash" by Neil Stephenson.

[jetsam]

Doink! Bradbury. Short story collections.

[earthpigg]

Foundation, by Asimov.

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card. Yeah, there are aliens... but it is not action sci-fi.

[MaxIBoy]

I just remembered David Brin's "uplift" Universe, which has a ton of great books (and some bad ones) in it.

[jetsam]

Oh, just subscribe to Fantasy and Science Fiction and write the review column for them.

[Fenris_rising]

Mordants Need - A man rides through and The mirror of her dreams by Steven Donaldson

The Chronicles of Morgaine and Exiles gate by C J Cherrah

Anything by Terry Pratchett

The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy by J R R Tolkien

Anything by Alan Dean Foster

Some Micheal Moorcock

As some has said SCI-FI from the 40's to the 70's

There is a hell of a lot out there. I sometimes just take a punt when in a book shop and have been pleasantly surprised most times.

regards

Fenris

[nothingspecial]

I`m really enjoying Arthur C. Clarke - the collected stories.

It is a compilation of every short story he ever published (I think)

Some of the early ones are poor, but to see (read) the development of one of the greatest sci-fi authors is worth the read in itself - never mind that most of the stories are brilliant.