The Sci-Fi Books and Recommendations Thread [Archive]

pagad

June 18th, 2008, 04:34 PM

Dune kind of went over my head. I got the distinct impression (no matter how unfair) of Arabs In Spaaaaaaace.

Just not my kind of sci-fi, I guess.

I personally recommend Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, which I'm re-reading for the umpteenth time. It's much more - naturalistic? I hesitate to use the word "realistic" - in that it's more believable and less impenetrable than most written SF.

His one-off SF novel Fallen Dragon is also brilliant.

Pnutmaster

June 18th, 2008, 05:18 PM

Hahaha, Dune, i.e., the saga written by Frank Herbert, is my Bible to the fullest extent of the Greek word. Honestly, one full reading of the Dune saga and you will see the re-imagined BSG in an entirely new light.

Personal favorites also include Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, Asimov's Foundation series, Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (which has a better plot than Blade Runner, no offense StarStruck :p), Starship Troopers (The book! The book!), and occasional helpings from the Star Wars Expanded Universe (because, IMO, most Star Wars novels are absolute garbage).

Joe Beaudoin Jr.

June 18th, 2008, 05:47 PM

Dune kind of went over my head. I got the distinct impression (no matter how unfair) of Arabs In Spaaaaaaace.

Just not my kind of sci-fi, I guess.

Well, that's true.

Yet it is no different than BSG (both of 'em) being—at their core—glorified re-tellings based off the Biblical story of Exodus with SF garnish. The leader that won't reach the promised land, the search for said promised land, the questioning of faith in Earth, etc.

Steelviper

June 19th, 2008, 02:10 PM

One of the aspects of Dune I really enjoy is the use of language. Understanding a language can go a long way to understanding (or establishing) a culture, like in Dune or LOTR.

I enjoyed Heinlein a great deal. Aphorisms from Time Enough For Love are pretty common in sigs.

Ender's Game is great, but the rest of the series didn't do it for me as much.

Foundation is pretty neat, though I've always meant to go back and read some of the prior books that are referenced.

pagad

June 19th, 2008, 06:19 PM

I do wish that Starship Troopers had been made into a proper film rather than Verhoeven's atrocity. Really did butcher the book, and it's one of my favourite SF reads, even if the politics is a little dodgy.

EverlastingGaze

June 19th, 2008, 10:42 PM

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith
Stone by Adam Roberts
Vurt by Jeff Noon...
...these are all great sci-fi books as long as you don't mide things being a little strange.
I like Starship Troopers the movie, it is the definition of campy goodness.

cylon_democrat

June 25th, 2008, 05:56 PM

BSG is Dune in re-imagined form, due to themes of immortality (Leto Atreides) clones, (them Duncan Idaho gholas), religion, and space opera, to mention a few.

As far as clone mentality goes, I think Ken Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go is very revelatory.

Pnutmaster

June 25th, 2008, 10:00 PM

Agreed, cylon_democrat. Halfway into Season One I had associated the Cylons with the Bene Theilaxu and their gholas.

Much of what kept me drawn to Battlestar Galactica were inspirations taken from Dune.

ranvir

June 26th, 2008, 02:34 AM

Um, I've actually never read Dune, haha.

Jonathan

June 29th, 2008, 01:42 AM

Um, I've actually never read Dune, haha.

I have to echo this statement. In fact there are a few others I need to echo.

Two titles that have been mentioned that I've read are must reads.

Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep? - Philip K Dick
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

I'd like to rebut the comments about the Veerhoven film but will do that in the TV and movies board.

That said I'd like to venture a few more titles.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy & The Restaurant at the End of the Universe -Douglas Adams

The Mists of Avalon - Marion Zimmer Bradley

I'm sure people will say that Mists of Avalon is a fantasy novel and that is correct. But the entire genre is now commonly considered to be scifi-fantasy with a blending of the two into a new larger genre. At least, that is how it is up here in libraries.

I also have some more titles for everyone.

The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher (Read Storm Front first, and lesve the stand alones until last)

Star Wars - George Lucas

Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn (Read this order: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command)

The House of the Scorpion - Nancy Farmer (YA title, National Book Award, Newbury Honor, and Printz Honor Book)

pagad

July 6th, 2008, 12:27 PM

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy & The Restaurant at the End of the Universe -Douglas Adams

The first four books in the "trilogy" of five are worth reading (by which I mean they're practically my Bible) - that is to say, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Life the Universe and Everything and So Long And Thanks For All the Fish, but don't touch Mostly Harmless with a 30-foot barge pole (as far as I'm concerned, it never happened in the series canon, it's that bad).

The first four, though (the copies collected in my Hitchhiker's Guide) are pretty much must-read. Although the humour is VERY British (I can think of one joke in particular that would never be gotten by an American reader).

genji2000

July 6th, 2008, 12:30 PM

(I can think of one joke in particular that would never be gotten by an American reader).

lol. I take it that was deliberate?

What do you think of the Dirk Gently books? I loved them.

pagad

July 6th, 2008, 12:33 PM

Sadly I've never read any of Adams' work outside Hitchhiker's. Generally when I have a craving for sci-fi and humour I just find my copy and dive in at a random page.

genji2000

July 6th, 2008, 12:36 PM

Sadly I've never read any of Adams' work outside Hitchhiker's. Generally when I have a craving for sci-fi and humour I just find my copy and dive in at a random page.

You should try them. They're very good.

barnmaddo

July 6th, 2008, 04:17 PM

Once a Hero by Elizabeth Moon
A Dark Imbalance (Evergence, Book Three) by Sean Williams
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand

damrod

July 7th, 2008, 07:39 PM

Anybody ever read any of The Destroyer Series???

SicOne

July 25th, 2008, 07:42 AM

I highly recommend the three-part Axis Of Time series by John Birmingham...Weapons Of Choice, Designated Targets, and Final Impact. Look any of these up on Wikipedia to get a breakdown, but basically an alternate-history/sci-fi trilogy in which an American/allied carrier battle group and marine unit get sent back in time from 2021 (where the Global War On Terror is still going strong) to 1942, right before the Battle of Midway, with no way home. Think "The Final Countdown" writ large, and factor in many societal effects as well.

pagad

July 26th, 2008, 04:24 AM

I read Weapons of Choice. It was entertaining - brains off and enjoy the 'splodes.

fr33lancer

August 5th, 2008, 08:12 PM

Actually just read "Starship Troopers" for the first time and I have to agree that the movie was a completely different animal..... uh no powered suits WTF?

Right now I'm reading "Semper Mars" Not hard sci-fi by any means but so far it's pretty good. Marines, Mars,archaeology.. etc.

Got a free download for ebooks from TOR of "The old man's war" Haven't read it yet but all the reviews I've seen have been positive.

I've been reading a lot of ebooks lately on my ipod. Ya Iknow "how can you do that?" Actually with my busy schedule and the kids I never know when I'll have time to read a few pages. Having books on my ipod is pretty slick and allows me to get in some reading I wouldn't ordinarily be able to do.

Jonathan

August 6th, 2008, 01:42 AM

I've tried the e-book method but despite the plethora of time I devote to the computer I have a difficult time reading e-books. Not sure why but it is tough for me.

Yeah the lack of medium MI in Starship Troopers the film was odd but they do appear in the Roughnecks animated TV series, worth a watch. This is an aside and more appropriate for gaming but I was a Mongoose Infantryman (demo team member for Mongoose Publishing) and I demoed the Starship Troopers tabletop miniatures game.

They started off with the light MI seen from the film. A lot of people, myself included, were anxious for the medium MI discussed in the novel. They appeared but not as first. I don't know why Veerhoven went with light MI but his film is incredible. Not as good as the novel, which I constantly find myself rereading, but quite good nonetheless.

I'm glad you enjoyed the novel. I tried to read book 1 of Wheel of Time but a book shouldn't make a librarian want to burn said novel. I put it down and promptly returned it to work.

The Dirt

August 6th, 2008, 02:02 AM

How about the Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). I thought that it was an engrossing series (that's a good thing), but not without it's faults (can be long-winded at parts).

fr33lancer

August 6th, 2008, 08:49 PM

I've tried the e-book method but despite the plethora of time I devote to the computer I have a difficult time reading e-books. Not sure why but it is tough for me.

I can't read a book from the computer. I have to be in bed or in a good chair with a drink or cup of coffee or something.

I'm glad you enjoyed the novel. I tried to read book 1 of Wheel of Time but a book shouldn't make a librarian want to burn said novel. I put it down and promptly returned it to work.

I've thoughtn about reading WoT a couple times and never have. Several people have said that it starts well but then just keeps going...and going...and....

I got into Geaorge RR Martins, fire and ice which I found to be just excelent. I'm hoping that sometime this year that A Dance with Dragons will actually get finished.

How about the Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars). I thought that it was an engrossing series (that's a good thing), but not without it's faults (can be long-winded at parts).

I started Red MArs years ago and never finished. I'll have to put that on my list. Sometimes the first try at a book doesn't work and then much later I'm like " What the hell was my problem, this is awesome." Guess it depends on my mood somethimes.

EverlastingGaze

August 13th, 2008, 09:48 PM

Has anyone read Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan?...its a crime/sci fi hybrid and great if you want a quick fun read. Lots of violence and some cool concepts.

DrWho42

August 15th, 2008, 08:57 AM

Slaughtermatic (http://www.sfsite.com/07a/slot36.htm) by Steve Aylett.
Steve Aylett's Slaughtermatic is enacted in a parodic, cyberpunk world in which crime has become an individualistic and self-evolutionary art. Dante, the protagonist, plans to rob a bank with the help of Download Jones, a human meat puppet whose personality is live on the Net, and Kid Entropy, whose Kafkacell weapon bonds with his psyche to produce a suicide-wannabe who can only kill others. With the vault scan code in his pocket, Dante is duplicated in a time shift that puts him virtually ahead of the actual event--and able to enter the vault undetected. His crime and the action-filled plot become complicated when his second self, Dante Two, refuses to sacrifice himself as planned, murderous Brute Parker is set on Dante's trail, and Rosa Control takes matters into her own razor-bladed hands. Into the melee steps Eddie Gamete, the presumed-dead postmodern prankster-philosopher, Dante's only hero and the author of The Impossible Plot of Biff Barbanel, a book no reader can survive. Expectations about what and who is real change like television channels in Dante's world, where fates much worse than death await.

BSGfan-atic

September 19th, 2008, 12:59 AM

I had almost forgotten this, it was so long ago, but there used to be a magazine called Omni. It was put out by the same guy who published the skin mag Penthouse. Omni was devoted to science and scifi. They had some damn good stories and writers in there. I first read William S. Gibson and Frank Herbert, among others, in there. If there is some kind of Omni scifi compendium out there in a used bookstore, or maybe something online, it would provide some good short stories.