Sci-Fi Recommendations - for the unenlightened

I'd like to add the Dorsai novels by Gorden R Dickson. No one seems to have mentioned them, and for the longest of times they used to sit on the booksheves close to the DUNE books and when I read them (far, far too long ago now I thought them superb), particularly the second in the series SOLDIER ASK NOT and the massive FINAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Come to think of it, I think with the later book the series was renamed the Star Childe Cycle or some such, but I always refer to it as Dorsai.

Unfortunately it's one of those ongoing series, a bit like Dune, that never got finished...
 
The Dorsai books are a subset of an intended set called "The Childe Cycle" which was to include a series of historical novels, some contemporary novels, and finish with science fiction novels; the historical were to show how this evolutionary develoment of the splinter cultures began, the contemporary were to further develop the theme, showing how our own modern cultures are influenced by them, and the sf novels were, of course, to culminate the entire theme. "Star Child" is the being, or ultimate development, of Dave Bowman as a synecdochical figure for the human race in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Literary sf? Begin with Olaf Stapledon; H. G. Wells; a few of Verne's best; Stanislaw Lem; the Strugatski brothers; the stories of Henry Kuttner and C. L. Moore (especially "Mimsey Were the Borogoves", "The Children's Hour", "Vintage Season"); Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, I Sing the Body Electric, The Golden Apples of the Sun, A Medicine for Melancholy, Dandelion Wine or Something Wicked This Way Comes; several titles by Brian Aldiss come to mind, including Non-Stop, Hothouse (a.k.a. The Long Afternoon of Earth), the Helliconia books, Man in His Time; J. G. Ballard's work (pick just about anything, but The Atrocity Exhibition, while one of his best, is a very difficult place to start unless you're accustomed to Modernist and Post-Modernist writing); The Instrumentality of Mankind, by Cordwainer Smith; His Share of Glory, by C. M. Kornbluth; quite a few of Isaac Asimov's books (check to see if they're part of a series so you don't end up coming in in the middle of a long story); Frank Herbert's Dune, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune (though I know one or two lit. majors who are a bit put off by these, most seem to like them quite well); Dhalgren, by Samuel R. Delaney; despite controversy I'd highly recommend some of the collections of Harlan Ellison, especially Strange Wine or Shatterday (his non-sf collections are also often quite good, especially Love Ain't Nothing But Sex Misspelled). There's also A Clockwork Orange, the books of John Wyndham, and much of Clarke's earlier work (since the one you mention didn't appeal) and John Brunner's "dystopian trilogy", Stand on Zanzibar, The Jagged Orbit and The Sheep Look Up.

There are also the anthologies, which are often a good place to start, as you get a taste of a variety of writers and see what appeals. Groff Conklin's The Golden Age of Science Fiction or The Omnibus of Science Fiction; Anthony Boucher's A Treasury of Great Science Fiction, Damon Knight's A Science Fiction Argosy, David G. Hartwell's The Ascent of Wonder, Fred Pohl's Galaxy: Thirty Years, the Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction, or the various Norton Anthologies of SF, each substantial volumes, would be a good introduction to the genre. Some of these contain novels as well as short stories, novellas (which seems to be an archaic term nowadays), and novelettes. For an anthology (or series of anthologies) which gives a decent view of the development of the field from the 1950s on, there's The Hugo Winners, vols. I-V and The New Hugo Winners series, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame volumes and The Nebula Winners -- the Hugo winning stories were picked by the readers, the Nebulas by the writers, of science fiction. These also tend to include listings of the award-winning novels of the respective years, so you can have a substantial list there, as well.

It's a rich field, with bald spots and with some superb writing here and there, as well. But it's incredibly prolific and has both forest giants and undergrowth, each of which has something to offer. This should be a fairly good list to give you an idea of what you'd find interesting.
 
Thank you, J D Worthington, for such a fullsome reply! As a new poster, I'm not allowed to include a smiley emoticon yet...
 
Ill second that, Starfish by Peter Watts was completely amazing. It was so good (and I felt that it has been overlooked) that I actually bought three copies to give to friends.

Probably my favorite Sci books, and some are ones I rarely see mentioned anywhere.

Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Gateway, by Frederick Pohl-- for some reason I never see this book mentioned, how could it not be considered a classic?
Timeships, by Stephen Baxter
Steel Beach, Golden Globe, Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
The Skinner, by poster above
Starfish, by Peter Watts
Hyperion, Dan Simmons

Battle Royale by Koushun Takami--the novel, be warned! ignore the manga and the silly movie, head straight to the novel in all its poorly translated glory it will be worth it. Its probably my favorite story of all time.
I think its Sci-Fi, though some people might argue that its just fiction.
It has to be the most enjoyable read ive ever had.
 
Milk said:
Gateway, by Frederick Pohl-- for some reason I never see this book mentioned, how could it not be considered a classic?
Click to expand...

I think the reason Pohl so seldom gets mentioned this way is that he wrote in such a quiet fashion -- there's not truly a lot of the flashy about most of his writing (even "Day One Million" is somehow subdued, though that story is crammed with enough amazing concepts to overflow in even a dekalogy of well-written epic-sized novels) Fred Pohl is one of the overlooked masters of sf
... Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
Click to expand...

Though not a novel, and a little uneven in spots, I'd also highly recommend Varley's The Persistence of Vision collection for some very well-written and thought-provoking sf, including the title story. Science Fiction in general, and American sf in particular, for so long was largely made up of shorter forms of fiction (below novel level) that much of the best work ever done in the field is to be found in collections and anthologies -- for quite a while there, it was what was keeping the short story a viable form of fiction by bringing new life to something that had been allowed to go stale. There are a huge number of anthologies and collections that are worth checking out -- one that would take several pages on a thread, at least. Perhaps there should be a separate thread established to help people find these, as many are these days rather reluctant to go for such, feeling they're getting cheated, when a good short story can actually have as much weight as a great number of even the better sf novels that I've seen -- it depends on the strengths of the writer. And if a story has you going back to it (either re-reading or just finding yourself pondering and turning it to look at different facets in your mind), then isn't it giving you at least as much money's worth as something that takes you much longer to read, but which you don't remember a few months, let alone years, down the line?
 
I just recently finnished Ophiuchi Hotline. I was glad to finally learn more about the invasion. Persistence of Vision is one of the reason I read books today. I mean, I was a teen that just didn't read untill I found that. Varley is the one writer I can call a sure thing. I know he won't let me down. Steel Beach is my all time vavorite. My other new favorite as you can see is John Meaney. Now, I'm reading some Kevin J. Anderson and like it well enough but It's not quite what I'm looking for in Sci-fi. Any suggestions for a Varley, and Meaney fan? Also, I was browsing in the book store today and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on Asher or Bova?
 
I just finished To Hold Infinity, and enjoyed it. I think I'll probably be giving Meaney's Nulapeiron trilogy a go.

Neal Asher is fun. He does good monsters. The Skinner is probably the best of his I've read.

If you've not tried Iain M Banks, he's definitely worth a go. As is Ken MacLeod. There's also Paul J McAuley--although you'd probably prefer his more overtly SFnal novels, like Eternal Light, Red Dust, or the Confluence trilogy. And if you've not read Dan Simmons' Hyperion novels, they're definitely worth trying--Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion and The Rise of Endymion. You need to read them in order, though.
 
No problem, I’ve been trying to promote his work so he can keep at it and one day Steve Spielberg will make movies out of it. And isn’t it about time for a ‘next Spielberg’ especially on the sci-fi side. Some have called Shyamalan the next Spielberg but I don't see him doing any science fiction (if he did I would go see it!) We have the technology to tell any story we want to now. (pardon the tangent)

Wow, I asked about an author and he shows up a few posts later. I was asking about different authors because the forums seem to be heavy on the fantasy side lately and sometimes I try out sci-fi books that read more like fantasy in space. Maybe I’m drawing a fine line and I wouldn’t want to limit anyone’s creativity but I wanted a change from reading about galaxy spanning empires when there is so much to explore in our own cosmic back yard. My reading list is getting much longer these days. I really envy people that read really fast without missing out on any content.
 
I'm going to be reading Stephen Baxter's Time Ships (1985) soon, the "authorized" sequel to HG Wells "Time Machine" that celebrated 100 years since publicaion of the original. Supposed to be pretty good, let you know.
 
These are books that I recommend readers of science/fantastic-fiction to read.
Why? Because the gave me a feeling of either hope or wonder that only, and I say that in the most serious sense, that only science fiction can ever give.
These are books that can stand to be read many times over and you will still find wonders and details that you didn´t think of or missed the other past time.
In alphabetical order:

Aldiss, Brian HELLICONIA SPRING (and the following two books in the trilogy, Helliconia Summer, Helliconia winter)

Aldiss, Brian NON-STOP.

Anderson, Poul TALES OF THE FLYING MOINTAINS.

Anderson, Poul TAU ZERO.

Asimov, Isaac FOUNDATION (and the following books in that series, Foundation And Empire, Second Foundation, Foundation´s Edge, Foundation And Earth)

Baxter, Stephen SPACE.

Clarke, Arthur C. THE CITY AND THE STARS.

Clarke, Arthur C. RENDEVOUZ WITH RAMA (and the following books in that series, Rama 2, The Garden Of Rama, Rama Revealed)

Eskridge, Kelley SOLITAIRE.

Farmer, Philip José TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO (and the following books in that series, The Fabulous Riverboat, The Dark Design, The Magic Labyrinth, Gods Of Riverworld)

Hamilton, Peter F. PANDORA´S STAR. (and the sequel Judas Unchained)

Hamilton, Peter F. THE REALITY DYSFUNCTION (and the following books in that series, The Neutronium Alchemist, The Naked God)

Heinlein, Robert A. STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND.

Heinlein, Robert A. ´THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST`.

Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin J. DUNE: HOUSE ATREIDES ( and the following books in that series, Dune: House Harkonnen, Dune: House Corrino)

Herbert, Brian & Anderson, Kevin J. DUNE: THE BUTLERIAN JIHAD.

Herbert, Frank DUNE (and the following books in the series, Dune Messiah, Children Of Dune, God Emperor Of Dune, Heretics Of Dune, Chapter house: Dune)

May, Julian JACK THE BODILESS (and the following books in the series, Diamond Mask, Magnificat)

May, Julian INTERVENTION.

May, Julian THE MANY COLORED LAND (and the following books in the series, The Golden Torc, The Non-Born King, The Adversary)

McDevitt, Jack THE ENGINES OF GOD (and the following books in the series, Deepsix, Chindi, Omega)

Robinson, Kim Stanley THE YEARS OF RICE AND SALT.

Silverberg Robert LORD VALENTINE´S CASTLE.

Williamson Jack TERRAFORMING EARTH.
 
ScottSF said:
I just recently finnished Ophiuchi Hotline. I was glad to finally learn more about the invasion. Persistence of Vision is one of the reason I read books today. I mean, I was a teen that just didn't read untill I found that. Varley is the one writer I can call a sure thing. I know he won't let me down. Steel Beach is my all time vavorite. My other new favorite as you can see is John Meaney. Now, I'm reading some Kevin J. Anderson and like it well enough but It's not quite what I'm looking for in Sci-fi. Any suggestions for a Varley, and Meaney fan? Also, I was browsing in the book store today and wondered if anyone had any thoughts on Asher or Bova?
Click to expand...

Well for Varley, damn, no one is like him, he is my favorite Sci-Fi writer atm. I would be hard pressed to decide if I liked Golden Globe or Steel Beach better. I'm always checking the web to see if any sequals are planned for that series. Sort of similiar to Varley? Hard to say. Chasm City by Alastar Reynolds was very good. Maybe Alastair Reynolds' space opera is similiar to Varley's. I dunno both were good and had many elements to them in common, its tough to compare. And I havent read John Meaney yet.
 
Some books and authors I've enjoyed and would recomend are
Richard Morgan - Altered Carbon
- Broken Angels
- Woken Furies
Ken Macleod - anything of his its all good
Charles Stross - again anything
 
Thanks for the input Milk. I take suggestions to heart in here, so I'll put Reynolds on my list. Of course I'm restlessly jumping between three books right now so it may take a while. Oh recently I really enjoyed Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card. It was an insane page turner for me, I could not put it down. I found it very well focused. Liked it much better than Ender's Game (which I also liked I just think Speaker took it up a few notches).
 
I've only seen Philip K. Dick mentioned a handful of times here. I think he needs more acknowledgement!

I've found a really good sci-fi/fantasy recently by H. Dahlquist, the latest edition of the Glass books of the dream eaters. I'd put that in my top ten as well
 
I would recommend Jeff Noon's Vurt trilogy.
The books were published in this order
Vurt
Pollen
Nymphomation

...but Nymphomation takes place before Vurt.
 
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