Some classic SF recommendations?

[Snowdog]

I have the Panther pb edition of The Imperial Stars, which I couldn't get into and so I haven't read the rest. The cover has E.E 'Doc' Smith in huge lettering and underneath 'With Stephen Goldin' in tiny type. On the spine Goldin's name is miniscule. When I first got the book, I didn't even notice Goldin's name. Whoever wrote it, it was certainly being pushed as by Smith. It certainly fooled me at the time.

 

[iansales]

Ironically, the last two books in the series are worth quite a bit of money. As the series progressed, the print runs got smaller... so The Omicron Invasion and Revolt of the Galaxy are hard to find. I've seen them go for £20 or more each on eBay.

 

[DeepThought]

Robert Heinlen- Starship Troopers,The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
...

Since Conn has mentioned two of RAH's best work let me toss in one more; Stranger in a Strange Land. I'm currently two-thirds of the way through...

Solaris by Stanisław Lem

Cheers, DeepThought

 

[AE35Unit]

Its quite funny,since I posted this back in December i have managed to find quite a few classic SF books both in shops and bookmooch,including van vogt's Slan,Simak's Way Station and of course Dune. New before I came here I'd never have found those books,now thanks to you guys I have a shelf full of classics!

 

[yngvi]

How about Paul Anderson's Tau Zero? The synopsis sounds good!

I read Tau Zero as a teenager and I was very impressed with it. It's Poul by the way.

I read a lot of stuff by him, highlights being 'The Dancer from Atlantis' and 'Three Heart and Three Lions', the former being a time travel novel and the latter a straight up fantasy.

I had a 25c copy of 'Virgin Planet' which I kept for about 30 years, before giving it away last year (I only keep to re-read so that's a good recommendation in my book).

I just Googled him and it reminded my of just how much good stuff he did.

As always, 'mainstream' (technically based 'speculative fiction' rather than fantasy based) does tend to date more that fantasy, so I'm not sure I'd read Tau Zero again, but if it's what you're into...

 

[j d worthington]

As always, 'mainstream' (technically based 'speculative fiction' rather than fantasy based) does tend to date more that fantasy, so I'm not sure I'd read Tau Zero again, but if it's what you're into...

I'm not sure I'd agree with your classifications here, as sf has always had a mixture of "soft" and "hard" sf, whether fantasy was introduced or not. There's always been those technologically-based, and those sociologically-based, but both were well within what could be called sf's "mainstream", just as both can be (and at times have been) outside it....

 

[GOLLUM]

Well this doesn't stricty belong in this thread but I recently spoted a copy of The Captian Of The Pole Star - Arthur Conan Doyle from Ash Tree Press. It represents the most comprehensive collection of Doyle's Weird Fiction to date. I was sorely tempted to purchase it because it's a beautifully produced book and I know little of Doyle's weird fiction.

I wouldn't mind buying it but does anyone here know much about Doyle's weird fiction? I confess to knowing a little of it but how good is it? JD, Nomanar, Nesa....someone out there can you help me?

 

[AE35Unit]

Hey Gollum I've read quite a bit of Conan Doyle and have a huge collection of all his stories-my brother is a huge fan and bought me the book. His stuff is really well written,on a par with his friend H G Wells (who he somewhat resembles!)
Try The Horror of the Heights or The Ring of Thoth or of course The Lost World-the inspiration for Jurassic Park's sequel of that name. Or any of the other Professor Challenges stories,he wrote a few. A great author,for every occasion-he wrote so much in numerous genres.

 

[j d worthington]

Doyle's weird work is uneven (as is his work in general); but the majority of it is quite good, and a substantial amount is first class....

 

[Connavar]

I didnt know he did wierd work. I knew of his historical fiction stories.

I think at best he is very good albeit a bit dry. That i got from Holmes stories i have read.

 

[AE35Unit]

yea Conn, Conan Doyle did a lot of different stuff from historical fiction to SF to stuff like Hornblower. He also wrote a book on the Boer war,out bowled W G Grace,was a ship's surgeon and a boxer. Sherlock Holmes was just a small part of what he did.

 

[clovis-man]

I think at best he is very good albeit a bit dry. That i got from Holmes stories i have read.

Not sure if it's a requirement, but I think it helps to be an older reader to fully appreciate the Holmes stories. Rather than dry, I find the Holmes stories imbued with a sense of the period in time in which they were portrayed. No matter how desperate the case being pursued by Holmes and the good doctor, there was always time for a nice lunch and the trains were always on time. And if you were taking a cab, it was important to know if it was a two wheeler or a four wheeler. Great stuff and wonderful fun.

 

[Connavar]

Not sure if it's a requirement, but I think it helps to be an older reader to fully appreciate the Holmes stories. Rather than dry, I find the Holmes stories imbued with a sense of the period in time in which they were portrayed. No matter how desperate the case being pursued by Holmes and the good doctor, there was always time for a nice lunch and the trains were always on time. And if you were taking a cab, it was important to know if it was a two wheeler or a four wheeler. Great stuff and wonderful fun.

I think im older in spirit, i have enjoyed works several decades older than Holmes that was so victorian that the you could touch the feeling.

I find it interesting reading how people 1800's saw the world. HG Wells optimism in utopian SF made me smile. People had so different look. I LOVE how many authors of those time write about moral all the time like it was a holy code.


By the way i think E.A Poe detective stories is 10 times better than Doyle's.

Poe is the classic writer of those days that i didnt even feel the style,issues of the time needed getting use to like other authors.

So i dont think you have to be old to like works from authors of that time.
I think it depends on how much you have read.

Couple of years ago i would never think of reading any work older 30 years cause i didnt read books more than a couple books a year.
Now i can enjoy anything good no matter how old cause of the practice.

 

[j d worthington]

I didnt know he did wierd work. I knew of his historical fiction stories.

Though by no means all of the work he did in the field, the following should give you some idea:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Short Stories

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Short Stories

Couple of years ago i would never think of reading any work older 30 years cause i didnt read books more than a couple books a year.
Now i can enjoy anything good no matter how old cause of the practice.

And I think you'll find that, the more you read, and the more variety you read, such pleasure will only grow with time....

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks all.

JD, sounds as if that book could be worth purchasing then, cheers.....

 

[Connavar]

Though by no means all of the work he did in the field, the following should give you some idea:

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Short Stories

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Short Stories



And I think you'll find that, the more you read, and the more variety you read, such pleasure will only grow with time....

Variety is all i seek these days. Cause of the many qaulity writers i have read in many types of fiction.

I read one good writer in certain genre, and i cant stop reading that genre for weeks, my hunger for such pleasures takes over me

I read Edgar Allan Poe and i couldnt stop reading 1800's fiction, Wilde,Hawtorne etc and even much less famous writers that arent classicly famed.

This month im ordering classic horror and modern horror collections. So i will surely get stuck there for a while too.

 

[Snowdog]

This month im ordering classic horror and modern horror collections. So i will surely get stuck there for a while too.

I highly recommend The Opener Of The Way by Robert Bloch. I've never been a big horror fan but I loved these stories.

 

[Joe Meils]

Without reading the rest of the thread, (and thus being influenced by other people's choices) I'd say:

Most of Heinlien's "juvies" like Tunnel in the Sky, Time for the Stars, Starman Jones, etc.

Tau Zero by Pol Anderson

Foundation Trilogy and I, Robot, by Asimov

Childhood's End by Clarke

The Martian Chonicles and Farenheight 451 by Bradbury

The Left Hand of Darkness by LeGuin

The Man in the High Tower by Dick

Riverworld by Farmer

The Man Who Folded Himself by Gerrold

The Earth's Last Citadel by Henry Kuttner

(I'm starting to go alphabetical by author, so maybe I'd better stop, or I'll be up all night...)

 

[xenofon]

This is my short list:

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic
Frank Herbert - Dune
Arthur C. Clarke - Rendezvous With Rama
Arthur C. Clarke - The Fountains of Paradise
Philip K. Dick - Ubik
Ursula K. Le Guin - The Left Hand of The Darkness
Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man
Alexei Panshin - Rite of Passage
Isaac Asimov - Foundation SAGA
Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves
Orson Scott Card - Ender's Game

 

[Contrary Mary]

NOte on the Lensman Series: Galactic Patrol #3 was the very first Lensmanstory written. It appeared in the Sf magazines.

When issue as books in the 1950's, Smith rewrote Triplanetary (Lensman#1) to strenghten its connection with the Lensman Series. Then he wrote a new novel, First Lensman (Lensman #2) to link Triplanetary with the last four in the series.

One problem is Triplanetary, which is actually a pre-quel, is not as good as the later novels and I fear reading them "in order" puts people off the series.

Since they are all very similar in the type of writing, I strongly recommend reading Galactic Patrol (Lensman #3) first; as it was written first. If you like it--I do, I've read it several times--then you can read the series in order.