Recommend a book - SciFi only

[Flibb]

The dune prequels are well worth a look, I prefer them to the middle books in the original saga, and maybe evern better than the original dune novel.

[DavidM]

If you like it with a horror-edge......

The Necroscope series by Brian Lumley.....14 books in total now, truely epic and a thoroughly good read from start to finish

Although Necroscope crosses a lot of genres!

(Espionage, Horror and Sci-Fi)

(Think there's another book out as well? Set before the E-Branch stories?)

[IBM]

I've read Dune a few times, excellent book, amazing scope, and the Fremen kick ass.....I wasn't going for that look with my avatar, but it's a striking resemblance none the less.

The Foundation sage is a phenomanal piece of writing, but at David points out, not exactly what I was looking for. I've lost track of how many times I've read Foundation, it was one of my earliest SciFi books I think.

I read a lot of the Necroscope books, and enjoyed all of them. Kind of lost track after they killed off Harry, and now I can't remember where I got to. Might pick it up again one of these days.

So I've got a couple of books to be going on with, but if anyone else has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.

[shaithis]

Well, there is a brand new book thats set after all the others and has a new necroscope, its still a good book but after reading it I can't help but think it was written purely and simply to allow the Necroscope film to go ahead in a manor that made it easier for the film studios to accept

[DavidM]

So... Silky & Brian have agreed on the film?

Shame it's not with Harry.... the original and best.

Anyway - a bit off topic now perhaps?

[timread]

The ultimate zero to hero scifi story, IMHO, is 'The Stars My Destination' by Alfred Bester. It certainly influenced the whole cyberpunk scene and films like The Matrix. I think it fits the zero to hero genre anyway!

His other well-known title 'The Demolished Man' is also brilliant, and one of my favourites. Doesn't quite fit the zero to hero criteria though. It's a shame Bester wasn't more prolific.

[DavidM]

I read a lot of the Necroscope books, and enjoyed all of them. Kind of lost track after they killed off Harry, and now I can't remember where I got to. Might pick it up again one of these days.

Definitely recommend the Bloodwars trilogy - set on Sunside/Starside.... and the E-Branch Trilogy isn't bad reading ... although the lead character certainly isn't Harry.

[Fabula]

It would... but its a bit different to what he was after

(anyone know if the "Authorised" prequel & sequels are any good?)

They are decent. If you enjoy Foundation then you should enjoy them as well. They are not quite as good, but still worth the read.


The Dune prequels are also interesting to fans of the series. Definately pads out a lot of previously hinted at themes.


Also just thought of Tad Williams "Otherland". A very interesting Sci-fi series, though set in the near future. Fantastic stuff, but quite detailed.

[IBM]

Yup, I liked 'The Stars My Destination', but the writing style always felt very dated. Very distinctive and striking, but dated. And the charecter really is a zero in the beginning, and throughly unlikable, where as I'd like someone with a little more of a personable nature...

Fabula .... I'll check out Tad Williams, thanks

[Whiternoise]

Pity you want sci fi.. i know loads of fantasy sagas

[DavidM]

Like The Chronicles of Thomas Convenant ... ?

Would have been one suggestion from me.

[Whiternoise]

I was thinking of the Wheel of Time

[IBM]

I've read plenty in the Fantasy genre (Belgariad, Wheel of Time, Black Magician, His Dark Materials) but not so much in SciFi....

[ cough ]

[ /cough ]

[Whiternoise]

ahem.. didn't see that

alright then.. most of the Terry Brooks stuff is good or Stephen King's Dark Tower..

[IBM]

Thing is that I've done the whole Orks, Elfs (Elves?) Wizards & Warlocks thing to death. Read a fair number of Terry Brooks, although none of SK's Dark Tower series (I went through a period of really not liking anything of SKs, just when I first saw the Dark Tower books), and now it all seems the same.

"No, he's got the Orb of Blahblahblah. We're all doomed." said short comedy elf.

"By the two moons of Blahblahblahblah, this cannot stand. I will use my twin swords of BlahBlah to open a portal to BlahBlahBlah and retrieve the ancient soul of ........" said brutal but misunderstood hero.

You get the idea.

*reads instructions for portable flame retardant suit and places it carefully next to chair for emergency use*

I love the scope of imagination and the exploration of possibilities offered by SciFi. Foundation saga was the first book to truly open up the awe inspiring possibilities of technology and human exploration, and I'm always trying to find books to match the vision behind it.

[Ferral]

Neuromancer by William Gibson. One of the first cyberpunk novels wrote and very good. Dead easy to get into and quite difficult to actually put down.

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

Do androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. Tis is the story that inspired Blade Runner all thos years ago. Its a bit of a heavy read but very good if you can get into it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_andr...electric_sheep

If you are wanting more fantasy type Sci Fi I would go for the Myth series by Robert Asprin. I have read all of them due to the great stories and comedy element. He also wrote a series about Mercenaries, these are the Phules Company books etc.

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