I know it says Film , Music, Home Entertainment - well reading is Home entertainment?
Favourite novel - Time Enough for Love - Robert Heinlein
Favourite Novella - The Bicentennial Man - Isaac Asimov
Favourite short - The Star - Arthur C Clarke
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I know it says Film , Music, Home Entertainment - well reading is Home entertainment?
Favourite novel - Time Enough for Love - Robert Heinlein
Favourite Novella - The Bicentennial Man - Isaac Asimov
Favourite short - The Star - Arthur C Clarke
Favourite book - The Lord of the Rings or Stephen Kings: ITQuote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Either:Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan
Cities in Flight - James Blish
Neuromancer - William Gibson
Night's Dawn trilogy - Peter F. Hamilton
It's hard to know where to start so here's a slection of my favourites, books I've read at least 2-3 times
The Ender Saga and Ender's Shadow series - Orson Scott Card
World War and Colonisation Series - Harry Turtledove
Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
Clive Barker - Weaveworld and also Cabal
Stephen King - Green Mile
Graphic Novel - Lobo : Bounty Hunting for Fun & Profit (DC Comics)
Not strictly sci-fi but
Frank Herbert : Dune
Everything by Douglas Adams (Hitch-hikers huide to the galaxy; A trilogy in five parts! But is bettered by the Dirk gentley Books)
Everything by Terry Pratchett - If you can't get into DiscWorld, then try Good Omens.
I also like Robert Rankin and his 5 part Brentford Trilogy (Also love all his other books, can't remember the names off the top of my head as its years since I've read them)
I liked Good Omens by Pratchet and Gaiman
Another favourite of mine is the Myth books by Robert Asprin but they are so hard to get hold of. I got them from the library years ago and couldn't get enough of them but can't find them anywhere now.
Finally I really like H.P Lovecraft and his Cthulhu mythos (Brian Lumley has done a few of these also). I managed to get Dagons Wish and Other Exaltations a while ago but that has gone missing unfortunately, something else I want to replace and will have to look out for. Theres 3 books in total with all his short stories in them.
Good Omens is fantastic - "Crawley, you BASTARD! Holy Water??!!" :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Ferral
Dune - Frank Herbert
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip Dick
Chariots of the Gods - Erich Von Daniken
All the above for different reasons and all at different times when I was growing up. The Danniken book, which was a monster seller when it first came out, is utter tosh but I really loved it when I was young.
What worries me is that all my choices are pseudo-religious books :confused:
A few science fiction books I've enjoyed:
Julian May's Saga Of The Exiles trilogy
Julian May's Intervention.
Julian May's Galactic Milieu trilogy.
Damnation Alley & Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
Finally got round to reading The Hobbit and Lord of The Rings Trilogy - I'm about half way through The Return Of The King right now - but that's not really Science Fiction, is it?
Another vote for Rendezvous with Rama. What a book. The sequels are readable but not as good as the original.
Rich :¬)
The Memory Of Whiteness - Kim Stanley Robinson
for pure sci-fi, probably Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan...
...but I have to say that most of bookshelf is occupied by discworld novels. :D
World War and Colonisation Series - Harry Turtledove. bloody brilliant
Night's Dawn trilogy - Peter F. Hamilton. Cant recomend these books enuff.
Any of the Battletech books mostly the Michale stackpole ones.
Conquerors trilogy - Timothy Zahn. all so recomend
Apocalypse troll - David weber. very good book, has sum intresting tech.
Absolutely - you read any of PFH's Greg Mandel series? Outstanding stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rattchet69
Fraid not no, i kinda wanted the Nights Dawn universe to carry on, just felt wrong to read any thing else by him just incase i didnt like it, lol silly i no but true.Quote:
Originally Posted by nichomach
Any one else read any of the battle tech books ??
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rattchet69
Yes :)
Im a huge battletech / mechwarrior fan :)
Cities in Flight - yes great trilogy read it for the first time last year.
Rendezvous With Rama - I wish someone could turn it into a film and do it justice!
Do Androids Dream etc. have you read any of the other Philip K Dick novels and short stories - 'cos a lot of them are better.
Dune is science fiction - in fact it is traditional science fiction in that it takes a major dicovery - spice - and sees where that could lead to, over thousands of years.
Altered Carbon - I saw that in Smiths a while ago - it really is that good?
Stephen Donaldson - the Gap series
Just reading Kim Stanley Robinson's "Mars" trilogy, very good, on the last book but not really got into it yet.
Dune of course, excellent book. Had Dune Messiah for years but not got round to reading it yet.
Anne McCaffrey's Dragonsdawn - prequel to the whole Pern series, and my favourite book in the series..probably.
The Gap books are amazing though. To anyone who loves Stephen Donaldson - the third Thomas Covenant series is on its way!!
Guys if your into this sorta thing, I would really recommened you 2 writers,
Michael Marshall Smith,
Christopher Brookmyre.
Both Scottish writers, and both are very science fiction crime based, very intriguing ideas, search these 2 writers up on Amazon for more information on their books and what not!
Sorry that it's late, and I'm not being pedantic, BUT, the Saga of the Exiles is actually a quadrilogy!!! comprising - The Many Coloured Land ; The Golden Torc ; The Nonborn King; The Adversary. I got the first three from a 2nd hand book shop and only after starting to read book 2 did I realise that I was missing a book from a series out of print. Took me almost a year to track down book 4 in local book shops.Quote:
Originally Posted by floppybootstomp
Oh, and add a big vote from me for Julian May's books!!
Also, Pratchett, Iain M. Banks and Greg Bear are the toppest.
Richard Matheson - I am Legend.
Fantastic vampire novel with a sci-fi twist.
Agreed with most of the listed ones: (MYTH, Pratchett, Assimov & Clarke..)
but my own? the Necroscope series - Brian Lumley - and the very hard-to-obtain "Chtorr" series from David Gerrold (The one behind "The Trouble With Tribbles")
"Fantastic!"Quote:
Originally Posted by daverobev
Heavy going - but excellent series
I really enjoyed reading Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, its a sci-fi cyberpunkesque thriller set 500 in the future and it was the guys debuts novel, very good read.
Anyone else like the Amtrak Wars? I enjoyed them.
I liked the Early Asimov short story compilations.
Also if you want to count graphic novels the 2001 Nights trilogy are very good IMHO.
Need some recommendations, although I would say I didn't enjoy 'Flow my Tears the Policeman Said' by Philip K Dick.
Mainly books by Philip K Dick, books of his you might want to check out are:
Do androids dream of electric sheep (what became bladerunner)
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldrich
The man in the high castle (basically how the world would be if Germany won the world wars)
We Can Remember It for You Wholesale (short story of his used to base the film total recall on)
I won't list the majority of his books as he has nearly 30 of them, most of his books appearing in the 1950's - 1970's with a few appearing shortly after, but when you consider these were wrote nearly 30 - 50 years ago, he has visions and stories of sci-fi that writers of today would never of come close to. One of his books was also adapted to the movie Minority Report.
Iain M Banks has a good collection of books you should check out, also another fav of mine is Neuromancer by William Gibson, now that is up there in the ranks of Sci-Fi greats :) Wrote in 1983 and its referenced as the first time cyberspace is used in a novel I do believe.
Not forgetting one of the best writers ever... Edgar A. Poe
My current read is really good, Dan Brown Angels and Demons. That has quite a clever science feel. However you can't beat hitch hikers series.
Ed
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein is the best science fiction book I've read, not that I've read a lot of them.
Greg Egan's collection of short stories in AXIOMATIC.
Be careful when you read it though, it might make your brain explode.
Does no one read Iain M Banks? Most of his stuff is great, especially the culture series. Consider phlebas and the player of games are really very good.
Tha Rama books are great and I want to re-read them (having been bought them recently - first time being library copies) but I just can't be bothered to start them...
Revelation Space - Alistair Reynolds. (Stunning space opera like no other)
Chasm City - Alistair Reynolds. (Excellent story set in the "Revelation Space Universe" good place to start)
Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanly Robinson (Just the way it may pan out, breathtaking detail)
Stone - Adam Roberts (You don't quite get it until the last page)
For Classic Sci Fi I like Poul Anderson
Trader To The Stars for instance
If you REALLY want to read about ALIEN societies, then read Genji Monogatari
It's like nothing seen on Earth... except it was...
I have to agree with that one....Iain M Banks....what an imagination that guy has...and to be able to switch between all the Culture classics and regular fiction stuff like The Wasp Factory...absolutely amazing.Quote:
Originally Posted by menthel
oh man I prolly read 2 scifi books a week.. except peter hamiltons.. cos his are like thousand page whoppers as a rule.
I really enjoyed red mars blue mars and green mars by kim stanley robinson, and I approve of some things said in this thread... but not of others.
Terry Pratchett, while enjoyable is NOT sci-fi. It's not even close.
Greg Bear's Eon and Eternity haven't had a mention, but omg.. theres some "hard science" in those two.
Dirk Gently is not even close to the hitchhikers guide, and I thought the film let the books down terribly.
The Rama series and A C Clarke in general is top stuff, and Aasimov, though dated, is still a cracking read - swearwords like "gosh" and "bother" seem almost quaint yet so out of date as to be not relevant.
LOTR isn't sci-fi. And if anyone ever says to you "oh man i really enjoyed all that elven poetry, all 200 pages of it" they are telling LIES. The book is fashionable "quality reading" for one reason only.
Julian May... I have missed him in my readings... //logs into online book retailer. Cos tbh I'm running out of authors.
As for my favourites.. well I couldn't choose, I'll put in a good word for Iain M Banks.. sci fi from the top drawer.
And Evolution by Stephen Baxter is pretty god.
William Gibson - artistic beautiful prose sci fi... try pattern recognition - just awesome.
Heinlein -- girl friday, and of course Starship Troopers - but these are proper starship troopers not the wimpy nubs in the film, these guys have many mini nukes and large armoured jumpsuits.. none of this trying to kill bugs with little things like guns... cracking read.
Greg Bear deserves a 2nd recommendation. Just because.
But my favourite
Mother Of God - by David Ambrose
woman creates AI... AI goes mentalist and starts pwnin earth.. its so uber words fail me. Everyone buy it now.
And I agree with a lot of what you say, Nana; I'm a Hamilton addict, a Gibson addict, but I should probably point out that Julian May's a she, not a he... :) (named, I believe, after the anchoress Dame Julian of Norwich). I highly recommend her; the Saga of the Exiles BEGS to be read, as does Intervention and the Galactic Milieu series.
Come out, Neville.Quote:
Originally Posted by Theo
Lol.
That would make such a great film. (I liked The Omega Man, but that was only loosely based on I Am Legend.)
Cough, splutter!Quote:
Originally Posted by daverobev
I remember when the 2nd set was coming out, after reading each book I'd think "I hope I don't die before the next one comes out."
I don't know if I can handle the withdrawal symptoms again.
The difference between hard sciene fiction, fantasy, and pop drivel: Hard science fiction
Heinelin
Asimov
Clarke - the three giants of the golden era. Other fab writers include:
Gordon R Dickson with his Dorsai worlds
A.E. Van Vogt with his worlds of Null A
Anne McCaffrey with the fabulous Dragons of Pern worlds. (Genetics and A.I.)
Poul Anderson
Ray Bradbury
Damon Knight
John Brunner
Larry Niven (The Ringworld stories)
Robert Silverberg and many more.
Hard science fiction/fantasy mix:
Roger Zelazny
Samuel R Delaney
Philip K Dick
Frank Herbert
There's a few to get on with.
2001 by Arthur C Clarke
A god of a book, even if you've seen the film the book is 10x better. Also Hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy.
Some great names and books mentioned - but my own fave is out of print in the UK -- Chtorran invasion stories by David Gerrold ... (the chap who was responsible for The Trouble With Tribbles... but don't hold that against him!)
Hitchhikers - classic! But I really wish he'd have stopped with the first 3 books in the trilogy - i'm not a fan of the last 2 :(
/me laughs - didn't realise i'd already mentioned this :)Quote:
Originally Posted by DavidM
On that note - I was wondering how many issues of "Lobo the duck" where made? :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferral
My fave quote from that book is -Quote:
Originally Posted by nichomach
"You can't do 80 miles an hour through central London!!!"
"Why not?"
Well worth a read folks!
My faves tend to be graphic novels such as Bone, The Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, V for Vendetta and loads more. Too many to mention! As for "proper" books I like mine (A Gathering of Storm Clouds (plug plug!)), Neuromancer by William Gibson, Timothy Zahns original three Star Wars books, oh jeez, far far too many to mention!
EDIT: And Asimov's books are wonderful. So full of sheer brilliance coupled with an easy to read style. Everyone should read them.
Mars trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson
most things Arthur Clarke has written (not the later 20xx books - pants, only written
due to huge demand)
Same again for Philip K Dick
Use of Weapons - Iain M Banks. Superb.
Eon - Greg Bear. Totally mind buggering
Foundation series - Asimov.