What should I read next?

[antiloquax]

Hi. I am just about to read the end of "Downbelow Station" and I am not sure what to read next.
The last 4 SF stories / books I have read are "Solaris" (Lem), "Eon" (Bear) and "True Names" (Vinge). I am also about to listen to the audiobook of David Lindsay's "Voyage to Arcturus" (from the wonderful Librivox site).

I am more into SF (especially the harder stuff and cyberpunk) than fantasy (although I do love Donaldson and Tolkein). I am willing to give anything a try for instance I am intrigued by what I have read about Steven Erikson.

I am keen to read something from either the SF Masterworks list or James Gunn's list. I am totally spoilt for choice, so your recommendations would be really helpful! (I have a Kindle so actually getting the text is not a problem in most cases).

I have big gaps in my reading but I've read quite a bit of PKD, Asimov, Clarke, Niven, Niven & Pournelle, Vonnegut, Wells, Wyndham ...

Some authors I am considering are: Christopher Priest, Gregory Benford, David Brin, Orson Scott Card, Joe Haldeman, Daniel Keyes, Ursula Le Guin (not read anything by her except Earthsea), Sheri S Tepper, Roger Zelazny. With the exception of Le Guin, I have read nothing by any of these [blush].

hope you can help me
a

 

[thatollie]

James Gunn's list is pretty exhaustive, I'll take a few authors from his list.

Fritz Leiber: Gunn recommended The Big Time (and with good reason) and it's included in this collection of Leiber's award winning stories.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0583133096/?tag=brite-21
Shame it isn't on kindle though. The novel itself is though.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003TFESM4/?tag=brite-21

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RI9KAE/?tag=brite-21

Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B000SEH13C/?tag=brite-21

 

[antiloquax]

Thanks thatollie. I've read Cat's Cradle, but "Snow Crash" is tempting, as is the Leiber.

 

[thatollie]

Read it again?

 

[antiloquax]

Read it again?

That's certainly a possibility! I don't remember it that well and I think Vonnegut is great, mind you there are plenty of his I haven't read yet ...
Thanks!

 

[Fried Egg]

antiloquax

Of the authors you are considering:

Christopher Priest - I would recommend "Inverted World". One of his more overtly SF novels exploring a fascinating concept. Also there is his a very good short story collection: "Real time world".

Gregory Benford - I have only read a couple of his novels but would not really recommend either.

Orson Scott Card - "Ender's Game" of course.

Joe Haldeman - "Forever War" was excellent.

Daniel Keyes - "Flowers for Algernon" was excellent as well.

Ursula Le Guin - Her best SF includes "Dispossessed" (read especially if you are interested in political philosophy, particularly anarchism), "Left hand of Darkness" (beautifully written, character piece that explores gender issues) and "Lathe of heaven" (Le Guin does Philip K. Dick.).

Sheri S Tepper - I've only so far read "Beauty" which was very good but "Grass" is supposed to be her SF masterpiece.

Roger Zelazny - Read "The Amber Chronicles" for his fantasy masterpiece. Not your usual fantasy tropes used here at all. Very original and engaging. For SF, there's "Lord of Light".

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks thatollie. I've read Cat's Cradle, but "Snow Crash" is tempting, as is the Leiber.

All the suggestions made so far are really good IMO. Snow Crash is excellent as is almost anything by Stephenson. Cryptomnicon is great as is the marvellous trilogy Braque Cycle. He's another whose entire ouevre I've collected. Fritz Leiber is great, in particular - and his entire ouevre is large so I've only read some of his work - Our Lady Of Darkness, The Big Time and of course Fahrd and the Grey Mouser, one of fantasy's oddest couples and available in the Masterwork series. Christopher Priest is to me amongst the greatest of the current crop of SFF authors, Flowers of Algernon will blow you away, Zelazny, Haldemann etc.. all wonderful recommendations. You mentioned Steven Erikson. As far as EPIC fantasy goes, Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best series I've ever read. You'll find there's a fairly healthy divide amongst fans who love George RR Martins excellent Song of Ice and Fire series and Erikson. Easily the most complex series I've ever read. Oh yeh and I'm a big fan of Donaldson, got all of his stuff except for the SF GAP series. Big Thomas Covenant fan. Also, you may wish to check out China Meiville, author of so-called New Weird fiction. Check out Perdido Street Station, it's a masterpiece and also Jeff Vandermeer's Veniss Underground is a little known masterpiece, as well as anything by Neil Gaiman and of course Gene Wolfe, for me the best living SFF author. Lastly some of the best Fantasy novels written in the previous century that are available in the Fantasy Masterwork series include Hope Mirlees' Lud In The Mist, Johnathan Crowley's Little Big, Jack Vance's Songs of a Dying Earth, Lord Dunsany's King of Elflands Daughter, Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster of Hed, Clark Ashton Smith's Emperor Of Dreams, William Hope Hodgson's House on the Borderland and Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. Anyway, I could type until my fingers bleed, so I better restrain myself now...

 

[J-Sun]

I've never read Priest. I agree with Fried Egg on Benford - I've read several novels and a collection and just wasn't as impressed as I wanted to be. Can't stand Card. Agree with the Egg on Haldeman, too. However you can hardly go wrong with Haldeman. I don't know of anything Keyes has done besides "Flowers" and I prefer the story to the novel. I can't add much to Fried Egg on Le Guin except her collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters is also excellent. Never read Tepper. For Zelazny I recommend his short stories first and foremost, especially those in the awkwardly titled The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth though My Name Is Legion, The Last Defender of Camelot, and Unicorn Variations (and the Four for Tomorrow thing or whatever it's called) all contain excellent stuff. I think you have one of the later ones, don't you?

I'll third thatollie and GOLLUM on the Leiber. Gather Darkness deals with science cloaked as religion, Destiny Times Three is a great parallel worlds story, The Sinful Ones aka You're All Alone is an excellent paranoid trip in either major version, The Big Time is a remarkably theatrical story (with several companion stories) about two forces battling to control the timestream, Conjure Wife and Our Lady of Darkness are kind of urban fantasy progenitors I think (haven't read much urban fantasy, but the Leibers are excellent) and, yeah, the Lankhmar stories of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser are superb - they're credited with almost inventing or having a huge influence on the heroic sword and sorcery sort of fantasy but, while I haven't read much of that, it seems ironic to me, since Lankhmar is very urban, F&tGM are not typically heroic characters, the stories are very ironic and often humorous, and there's a kind of science fantasy underlay to the whole thing - in other words, not your typical sword and sorcery, despite nominally being archetypal. Plus Leiber's written scads of good miscellaneous stories. I'm actually currently reading a collection (among other things) called The Night of the Wolf. It's not his best, but still not bad. I'd recommend a more overview-oriented collection first, like The Best of Fritz Leiber from Ballantine.

 

[GOLLUM]

...I can't add much to Fried Egg on Le Guin except her collection The Wind's Twelve Quarters is also excellent. Never read Tepper. For Zelazny I recommend his short stories first and foremost, especially those in the awkwardly titled The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth though My Name Is Legion, The Last Defender of Camelot, and Unicorn Variations (and the Four for Tomorrow thing or whatever it's called) all contain excellent stuff.

Agreed on The Wind's Twelve Quarters and the Zelazny collection The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth to me is a SFF masterwork and the best Zelazny collection I own. I'm also quite keen on the First Book Of Amber in particular.

 

[antiloquax]

Many thanks for your posts. I am going to read "Inverted World".

a

 

[GOLLUM]

Many thanks for your posts. I am going to read "Inverted World".

a

Good choice. One of Priest's early novels but certainly indicative of his talent. It is also available in the excellent NYRB series. That is New York Review Of Books. Knowing your interest in classic works and I presume the broader canvass of World Literature they have the best list of translated works from some of the greatest novelists living and dead that I know of. Here is the link...

http://www.nybooks.com/books/imprints/classics/

*Select from the top menu Classics - Browse Classics.

 

[antiloquax]

Thanks Gollum! Some other threads on here had mentioned Priest so the comments from Fried Egg and yourself swung it. I fancy "The Prestige" and "The Affirmation" also!

 

[Kierkegaurdian]

All the suggestions made so far are really good IMO. Snow Crash is excellent as is almost anything by Stephenson. Cryptomnicon is great as is the marvellous trilogy Braque Cycle. He's another whose entire ouevre I've collected. Fritz Leiber is great, in particular - and his entire ouevre is large so I've only read some of his work - Our Lady Of Darkness, The Big Time and of course Fahrd and the Grey Mouser, one of fantasy's oddest couples and available in the Masterwork series. Christopher Priest is to me amongst the greatest of the current crop of SFF authors, Flowers of Algernon will blow you away, Zelazny, Haldemann etc.. all wonderful recommendations. You mentioned Steven Erikson. As far as EPIC fantasy goes, Malazan Book of the Fallen is the best series I've ever read. You'll find there's a fairly healthy divide amongst fans who love George RR Martins excellent Song of Ice and Fire series and Erikson. Easily the most complex series I've ever read. Oh yeh and I'm a big fan of Donaldson, got all of his stuff except for the SF GAP series. Big Thomas Covenant fan. Also, you may wish to check out China Meiville, author of so-called New Weird fiction. Check out Perdido Street Station, it's a masterpiece and also Jeff Vandermeer's Veniss Underground is a little known masterpiece, as well as anything by Neil Gaiman and of course Gene Wolfe, for me the best living SFF author. Lastly some of the best Fantasy novels written in the previous century that are available in the Fantasy Masterwork series include Hope Mirlees' Lud In The Mist, Johnathan Crowley's Little Big, Jack Vance's Songs of a Dying Earth, Lord Dunsany's King of Elflands Daughter, Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster of Hed, Clark Ashton Smith's Emperor Of Dreams, William Hope Hodgson's House on the Borderland and Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun. Anyway, I could type until my fingers bleed, so I better restrain myself now...

I think we have identical taste, Gollum. OP, I would say something by Stephenson [Cryptonomicon is amazing] or Gibson [Neuromancer is my favorite, although Pattern Recognition is good as well] if you are into hard sci-fi and cyberpunk (and want to read something that isn't a huge, complex series). If you want to read something that is more of an investment, I would suggest The Book of the New Sun, The Baroque Cycle, and The Malazan Book of the Fallen. All three of these are dense, multi-book series, so you might be reading them for a while!

 

[antiloquax]

Thanks Kierkegaurdian. I loved "Neuromancer" but I haven't read any other Gibson novels, just some of the stories. I MUST get around to reading "Snow Crash". I've had a copy for ages, but just not bothered with it .

I am probably going to read some Erikson soon - I've read his preface to "Gardens of the Moon" and it makes me want to take on the challenge of reading it!

Thanks for these suggestions. Holiday reading and beyond seems pretty sorted!

 

[bluespider100]

Why not try Jeff Somers particularly the Avery Cates series;
The Avery Cates Series
1. The Electric Church
2. The Digital Plague
3. The Eternal Prison
4. The Terminal State

I got through it particularly well and enjoyed it much.
i believe there will be a fifth book that would be released this year.

 

[GOLLUM]

Thanks Kierkegaurdian. I loved "Neuromancer" but I haven't read any other Gibson novels, just some of the stories. I MUST get around to reading "Snow Crash". I've had a copy for ages, but just not bothered with it .

I am probably going to read some Erikson soon - I've read his preface to "Gardens of the Moon" and it makes me want to take on the challenge of reading it!

Thanks for these suggestions. Holiday reading and beyond seems pretty sorted!

Make sure you get a copy of The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling. Probably the most significant book in Steampunk and something of a classic for me.

Snow Crash is a great book, perhaps Stephenson's best along with Cryptonomicon and the Baroque cycle.

Gardens of the Moon throws you into the deep end but by the end of that book I started to get an idea of things. It has for the last 200 pages what I would call a real machine gun finish. Book 3 Memories of Ice which is in my top 5 fantasy novels of all time, starts to bring things a bit more together. Fabulous series IMO!

 

[Kierkegaurdian]

Thanks Kierkegaurdian. I loved "Neuromancer" but I haven't read any other Gibson novels, just some of the stories. I MUST get around to reading "Snow Crash". I've had a copy for ages, but just not bothered with it .

I am probably going to read some Erikson soon - I've read his preface to "Gardens of the Moon" and it makes me want to take on the challenge of reading it!

Thanks for these suggestions. Holiday reading and beyond seems pretty sorted!

If you do decide to get into Malazan, be warned that you get plopped right into the middle of the action, there is very little explanation, and the style / pacing is a bit unorthodox. If Erikson had written the Lord of the Rings, for example, it would start halfway through the battle of Helm's Deep, and you would be stuck figuring out the story! Gardens of the Moon is a bit disjointed, Erikson became a much better writer in the ten years between writing books 1 and 2!

 

[antiloquax]

I have "The Difference Engine" - another one that's waiting to be read.

 

[thatollie]

Snow Crash is excellent as is almost anything by Stephenson.

Does this mean you finally got around to reading Anathem?

I have "The Difference Engine" - another one that's waiting to be read.

Read it, please.

 

[antiloquax]

Thanks, thatollie, for your reply. As soon as I have finished "The Forgotten Beasts of Eld", I will read "The Difference Engine".

Thanks also to bluespider100 - I am not aware of Jeff Somers - I'll look into him also!
a