Sci-Fi Recommendations - for the unenlightened

[UltraCulture]

I'm thinking of reading a bit of time travel sci fi, would appreciate your views on the following two books

An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed

Flashforward By Robert J Sawyer

Failing that are there any you would reccomend?

 

[murphy]

I'm thinking of reading a bit of time travel sci fi, would appreciate your views on the following two books

An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed

Flashforward By Robert J Sawyer

Failing that are there any you would reccomend?

By Connie Willis:

The Doomsday Book
To Say Nothing of the Dog

 

[Connavar]

I'm thinking of reading a bit of time travel sci fi, would appreciate your views on the following two books

An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed

Flashforward By Robert J Sawyer

Failing that are there any you would reccomend?

Now Wait For Last Year is a great time travel story by Philip K Dick.

Its not only about that but time travel plays a very big role in the story.

I havent read the two you mentioned.

 

[AE35Unit]

Only one i can think of off the top of my head is Asimov's End of Eternity. An oldie but goldie. And of course HG Wells' Time Machine,followed by Stephen Baxter's sequel The Time Ships.

 

[j d worthington]

Behold the Man and Breakfast in the Ruins by Michael Moorcock. Unconventional sort of time travel, but definitely time travel. For that matter, most of Moorcock's work deals with time and dimension traveling in one form or anoher....

Farnham's Freehold, by Robert A. Heinlein, is a time travel story, as well, as is (at least parts of) Time Enough for Love....

 

[Pyan]

Short story? By His Bootstraps, by Robert Heinlein.
The classic time-travel circular causation paradox story.

Novel? Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut

Humour? The Technicolor Time Machine, by Harry Harrison

All personally recommended.

 

[UltraCulture]

Thanks for the ideas folks, given me something to look out for.

cheers.

 

[Shinya]

Hi, everybody.
I like to ask which new SF book (roughly, after the year 2000) is worth to read, other than works of Egan, Ted Chiang, Stross and Reynolds(I've already read them).
I've recently moved to the States from Japan, so now I'm very happy that I no longer need to worry about shipping fees.
I especially appreciate If you could recommend short stories.
Thanks.

 

[AE35Unit]

Stephen Baxter?
I think The Time Ships was written around 1999/2000 (must get me a copy!)
Also he has written quite a few other series since too,notably the new Odyssey sequence,following on from Clarke's Odyssey books.

 

[murphy]

Peter F. Hamilton. Check the link for a list of his books.

 

[Shinya]

I've read Baxter's Xeelee and co-works with Clarke, and Hamilton's mindstar rising in Japanese translation, but recent stories I haven't known sounds like great hard SF.
Thanks: I'll try NASA Trilogy and Night's Dawn.

 

[Connavar]

I recommend Richard Morgan Takeshi Kovacs books. A great cyberpunk series.

 

[Shinya]

I recommend Richard Morgan Takeshi Kovacs books. A great cyberpunk series.

Thanks, but...
I tried to read it in Japanese translation, but the name of protagonist reminded me a famous comedian and I couldn't be serious.
I'm very sorry, but I think the author should've checked carefully for the name. Most Japanese readers share this problem...

 

[Simian]

To the list of classics already mentioned in this thread, I would like to add From These Ashes - The Complete Short SF of Fredric Brown. A pretty definitive collection of stories by one of the greatest (and most criminally overlooked) practitioners of short form SF the genre has ever produced. Brown had the uncanny ability to go from funny to terrifying (and back again) in the space of a single sentence, and a knack for writing stories which stay in the mind long after you have finished reading them.

 

[FRANKTYM]

Eek. Sorry abt Wells - I sort of take the lad for granted. And Moreau is my favourite of his books, too. Come to think of it, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and some of EA Poe's stories probably ought to be considered part of a through SF reading program too. And it's all fun!!!

Personally I avoid SW/ST franchise fiction like the plague. Others are less fastidious.

Odd, read the book after seeing several of the Frankenstein movies. Surprised me how the book actually had me sympathizing with the Monster. Checked the mirror to see whether it was based on similarity in appearance.
Nope.
The Monster's much prettier.
Well, give or take a little.

 

[Zubi-Ondo]

I've read Baxter's Xeelee and co-works with Clarke, and Hamilton's mindstar rising in Japanese translation, but recent stories I haven't known sounds like great hard SF.
Thanks: I'll try NASA Trilogy and Night's Dawn.

You might also try: Stealing Light - Gary Gibson. A new British author.
Set in the future ~600 years, kind of an unlikely hero type story. I enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars ****.

- Z.

 

[Connavar]

I highly recommend Kesrith by CJ Cherryh. She might be famous SF writer but i hear from her fans that Faded Sun isnt her best series, still i recommend the first book.

 

[Zubi-Ondo]

I especially appreciate If you could recommend short stories.
Thanks.

I just noticed that you asked about short stories. There are 3 big sources I know that are great for SF short story collections:

Gardner R Dozois...
The Year's Best Science Fiction ... - Google Book Search

David G. Hartwell...
Amazon.com: Year's Best SF 12 (Year's Best Sf): David G. Hartwell,Kathryn Cramer: Books

Short stories by individual authors...
Category:Science fiction short story collections - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hope those help!

- Z.

 

[The Procrastinator]

I don't think this one has been mentioned yet, though others of his have (but I can't resist mentioning this one as I love it so):

Arthur C. Clarke Rendezvous with Rama

Never fails to evoke a sense of wonder, awe and mystery for me.

Excellent list of recommendations, most of my faves are in there somewhere. A duo I read fairly recently that is worth checking out for the harder sci-fi types is Dan Simmons' Ilium and Olympos. Very inkeresting.

Others have done so but I must make mention of Iain M. Banks as I cannot help myself, he's my favourite "current" sci fi author. I can't choose a favourite book of his but his Culture series is fabulous (no need to read in order).

 

[Grimward]

Michael F. Flynn was mentioned before for Fallen Angels, but I'd like to add that his Firestar series was especially excellent. Constantly trotting out technologies that seemed right around the corner, or perhaps right there at the so-called "bleeding edge" of technology. Some of it was really in the works when the series was written (e.g., "spiders" crawling the internet), of course, but in general much of it seems plausible. The first 3 books, Firestar, RogueStar and LodeStar, are especially good and deal with the same set of characters over a span of decades. The last book, The Wreck of the River of Stars, is OK, but not as good as the earlier books in my opinion. You don't have to really already know much about any of the technology involved; Flynn has a way of introducing it quickly, moving off to another plot, then working the first technical subject back in with a gradual explanation at a later point in the book. It sounds flighty, but Flynn pulls it off.