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good sci-fi?

It actually winds up good. It just takes a long time to get there. Of course, not a lot of people are geeky enough to follow the technical and cryptological stuff that sort of carries the story along.
 
I really enjoyed Donaldson's Gap series. It does make your skin crawl at some points, but it has great evil, anti-hero characters.

Also the Fire and Ice series by George R.R. Martin is good, although it's more fantasy than SF. It's also a bit long winded, but since I've gone this far (4 looong books) I can't stop now...

And you can't go wrong with Philip K Dick for off-center stuff.

I loved Cryptonomicon, it's definitely worth slogging through, but I'm not sure I'd call it SF per se.
 
varwoche said:

Maybe Vonnegut doesn't quite count, but Cats Cradle is an all time fave.

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See the cat? See the cradle?

Ice nine!

It's funny, as I was reading this topic, I was thinking of Vonnegut. I have read all his books. I'm also a big Kilgore Trout fan.

Well, if you like Vonnegut, then take this advice:

originally posted by ASRomatifoso
Neal Stephenson: Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon
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Outstanding choices.
 
Luke T. said:


See the cat? See the cradle?

Ice nine!

It's funny, as I was reading this topic, I was thinking of Vonnegut. I have read all his books. I'm also a big Kilgore Trout fan.
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Oh yes! Mustn't forget Vonnegut. He is so philosophical that it is easy to forget the strong sci fi element. When I read Cat's Cradle, I wanted to convert to Bokananism.

I think, though, that his most underappreciated book is Galapagos.
When I was alive, I often received advice from my own big brain which, in terms of my own survival, or the survival of the human race, for that matter, can be charitably described as questionable. Example: It had me join the United States Marines and go fight in Vietnam.
--Thanks a lot, big brain.
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Lithrael said:
Eeeg, I don't know about that. I picked up the Mote in God's Eye on a rec like that and, well, I guess I'm just not used to sci-fi with such a 1950's view of women. It read like they *thought* they were being forward-thinking and emancipated but had no idea what they were doing. Seriously, the women in that book were ghastly. "Exploring space and contacting aliens is great but what I really want is a baby" level stuff. The line (spoken by one of the women to the aliens they've just met) about "nice girls" not using birth control was great too.
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To be fair, the politically correct view of women seems to change every decade or so. I remember thinking during the 1980s that the view of women in 1950s SF was terribly dated. Now, some of the stuff produced in the 1980s seems more dated than the stuff from the 1950s.
 
Luke T. said:
Ice nine!
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I read Cat's Cradle when I was a teenager, and I liked it, but I got a surprise when I took a materials science course in college. There really are eight known configurations of ice.
 
Try Ian M. Banks:
"Feersum Endjinn" is a real beauty.

Big favourite of mine:
Kim Stanley Robinsons "Mars"-series. Big fat thoroughly hard fiction. After you´ve read the 3 books (Red Mars/Green Mars/Blue Mars) you can´t listen to any Mars Mission commentary or some gouvernment creep trying to sell the next 40 billion dollar program without remembering this work of art...
 
Jundar said:
Try Ian M. Banks:
"Feersum Endjinn" is a real beauty.
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Banks' sci-fi books are an enjoyable read but are lacking if one desires hard science. His mainstream novels, to me anyway, provide more satisfaction. His political views tend to hamper his style.

The most entertaining sci-fi novel I've ever read is probably "The Mote in God's Eye" by Niven and Pournelle. Everything a sci-fi buff needs is contained in this book. If you haven't read it already, give it a try.

Of course, I may be wrong...
 
Hehe- Different strokes....

I really enjoyed Bank's Feersum Endjun (and The Bridge as well)

Wheras I found Mote only OK... Been years since I read it, though.
 
I rarely find anything in contemporary SF that meets my aging tastes (though Charles E Schloss shows promise), so I find myself revisiting favourites from the past. Most of these are ideas type fiction, rather than space opera.

Phillip K Dick - almost anything.

Edmund Cooper - a sort of British version of PK Dick. Hard to find.

Clifford D Simak - "Way Station" and many others.

Harry Harrison - the Stainless Steel Rat series, and most everything else he's written. In partcular, after reading all of Asimov, then read Harrison's "Bill the Galactic Hero".

Eric Frank Russell - "Wasp"

Orson Scott Card - "Ender's Game", and the second series of sequels.

Look out for almost anything by Lloyd Biggle Junior: they're mostly out of print, but still pop up in second hand shops.

John Whyndam wrote about a lot more than Triffids and Krakens. "Chocky", for example, is recommended.

Larry Niven - anything more than 20 years old.

Robert Heinlein - all of it, including the junior fiction, but check the publication dates: he got a bit weird towards the end.
 
hey Thumbo - read M John Harrison's "Light"? Or Midshipman's Hope et al by Feintuch?
Cryptonomicon is one of the best books I've read in a while. Of course every so often I switched to scan mode as I didn't need so much detail on number theory etc but it didn't get in the way of the stor(y/ies) at all.
 
Bikewer said:
Hehe- Different strokes....

I really enjoyed Bank's Feersum Endjun (and The Bridge as well)

Wheras I found Mote only OK... Been years since I read it, though.
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Different strokes, indeed :) Banks is a genius, a superb writer. I've thoroughly enjoyed everything he's written. Science fiction ? Well, he has some fine ideas. I'm not too sure he has a thorough enough grasp of science to really do the job.

Pournelle does, but he can't hold a candle to Banks when it comes to writing. Niven can write when he tries but tends towards the pulp end of the genre.

Arthur C. Clarke has turned out a few good reads but he too, suffers from the inability to infuse his characters with life and, to put it bluntly, balls.

Oh well, another Monday begins and I suppose I'd better go and earn some money. In the meantime, may I suggest you try Jeff Noon's "Vurt". I couldn't put it down. If you enjoy Banks, you'll love Noon.

Regards,

A_not_a_literary_critic_C
 
Wudang said:
hey Thumbo - read M John Harrison's "Light"? Or Midshipman's Hope et al by Feintuch?
Cryptonomicon is one of the best books I've read in a while. Of course every so often I switched to scan mode as I didn't need so much detail on number theory etc but it didn't get in the way of the stor(y/ies) at all.
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I'll give them a try - thanks for the pointers.

I relaized after posting I'd omitted two more contemporary authors who still produce good SF (though not enough of it) Joe Haldeman and Spider Robinson.
 
Many old favourites mentioned here.

How about Bob Shaw- "Other Days, Other Eyes" is a classic.
Harlan Ellison- "Dangerous Visions".
For modern space opera, C.J.Cherryh's "Merchanter" books are hard to beat- an elegant and stylish writer with far better characterisation than most SF,which tends to be idea driven rather than character based. Start with "Downbelow Station " and clear some shelf space.
As a youngster, I loved Andre Norton's books, James Blish, Ted Sturgeon... ah, bliss was it, in that dawn, to be young.
 
Have I mentioned Greg Egan? Brilliant up-and-coming writer. His novel Diaspora is one of the most ambitious works I've ever read, and I'm including Dante's Inferno and Milton's Paradise in that group.
 
I don't think anyone has mentioned Connie Willis yet, but I may have easily missed it if they have. For my money, she's not only the best science fiction writer working today but also one of the best modern writers period. Doomsday Book is worth it's weight in gold, but her recent The Passage is easily my current favorite book. It's fascinating, and more about realistic science as we know it as opposed to the standard futuristic fantasy that people associate with scifi. Bellwether is similar, in that way, to The Passage . Both books are really just contemporary fiction with scientists as the main characters and their science as the main plot.

Of course, her futuristic, fantastic and/or space stuff is pretty great as well.
 
I second the nomination for CJ Cherryh, particularly Downbelow Station, Rider at the Gate, Cyteen and the Morgaine series.

But I'm surprised no one has mentioned Sheri S. Tepper, who is superb when she's on her form (The Gate to Women's Country and Grass are the ones I'd recommend for starters) or Louis McMaster Bujold, who has written the best ongoing space opera series ever.

If you want mighty crap, though, you cannot go past E. E. "Doc" Smith. Leave literary taste at the door. :).
 
Interesting thread. Good science or good fiction ? Which is most important to you ? George Zebrowski's Macrolife is a fair read if you enjoy so-called hard SF. At the softer end of the scale, Frank Herbert's Dune scores well.

When does SF become fantasy ? The book shops have difficulty with this one, as do I.

Perhaps someone with more ability than myself could draw a line between the two ?

Regards,

AC
 
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