Sci-Fi List

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Postby RomanyX » Sat May 09, 2009 1:37 am

I liked Count Zero a shade more than Neuromancer, but I read CZ first, so your mileage may vary. I've read Mona Lisa Overdrive, but I can't remember a damned thing about it other than that it was nice to see "old friends" again.

That list is interesting. Lots more Horror and Fantasy than SF, tho'.

Add Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle to my list.
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Postby tron » Tue May 12, 2009 1:54 pm

anything by charles stross

cowl by neal asher

ken macleod (lots of good stuff) especially the execution channel which features some nefarious internet disinfo agents
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby NeonLX » Sat Jan 01, 2011 4:46 pm

I've read Larry Niven's _Ringworld_ four or five times. I remember reading it when it was new and being completely blown away. It's loads of fun.

I also enjoy most stuff by Jack McDevitt. I'm reading _The Devil's Eye_ right now.
America is a fucked society because there is no room for essential human dignity. Its all about what you have, not who you are.--Joe Hillshoist
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Re:

Postby justdrew » Sun Jan 02, 2011 4:57 pm

RomanyX wrote:F. Paul Wilson's "LaNague" novels: Healer, Wheels Within Wheels, An Enemy of the State, Dydeetown World, The Tery, plus The LaNague Chronicles (anthology). And his "Sims" series: La Causa, The Portero Method, Meerm, Zero, Thy Brother's Keeper, and Sims (another anthology).

John Shirley's City Come A-Walkin'.


F. Paul Wilson's An Enemy of the State is very worth reading.

Along similar lines, L. Neil Smith's books starting with the Probability Broach are also very nice.

both are heavy duty libertarian, but not in a bad way :lol: :shrug: Just the opposite really, not the all too common libertarian-as-excuse-for-oligarchy variety.

John Shirley is amazing, look for the short story collection (s).
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby Peregrine » Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:17 pm

I need to look in the book forum more often!

My favorite is Jeff Long, he did a book called The Descent & it was the first part in a three part series. I do believe the second part, Deeper, is out & I will be looking to get that one soon.

Also, Into the Out Of by Alan Dean Foster was really good & I've read it at least 3 times.
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby Elihu » Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:45 pm

Hard SF
The Forge of God
Anvil of Stars
Blood Music - awesome Greg Bear


slant
strength of stones
heads
vitals
moving mars

would wait on queen of angels unless you're hooked.
But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby DrEvil » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:17 pm

+1 for Charles Stross. Especially his Laundry novels, and his short story "A colder war" (available for free here : http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm
If you like Lovecraft you need to read this :thumbsup )
Also anything by Peter Watts (Blindsight, Rifters trilogy, short story "The Island", all available for free here :
http://rifters.com/real/shorts.htm :yay ),
"Rainbow's End" by Vernor Vinge, Anathem, Snowcrash and the Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson, anything by Iain M. Banks, The Golden Age trilogy by John C. Wright and "The House on The Borderlands" by William Hope Hodgson (Not really scifi, but one of Lovecrafts main inspirations, and it does go into space (kinda) at one point..).

Edit: See one of my posts in the other scifi-thread for a super-secret hint leading to scifi-heaven :)
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Re:

Postby JackRiddler » Mon Jan 23, 2012 4:57 pm

chillin wrote:Picked up the Hugo Award winning Hyperion by Dan Simmons. The first page mentions receiving a burst message via decaying tachyons which to me means it will be a cool book.

I'm about half-way, cool story but it has one of the most offensive paragraphs I've ever read.


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The highest Wisdom and the first Love.

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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby The Consul » Fri Feb 17, 2012 8:26 pm

Childhood's End Arthur C. Clarke
" Morals is the butter for those who have no bread."
— B. Traven
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby Handsome B. Wonderful » Tue May 08, 2012 6:35 pm

Just found this thread, so I'll repeat what I posted in general discussion.

Can anyone recommend some good SF reads? I'll list my favourite books to give you an idea of what I'm looking for.
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Manifold: Space by Stephen Baxter
Kingdom of Cages by Sarah Zettel
Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Spider Star by Mike Brotherton
Accelerando by Charles Stross
Isaac Asimov's robot books (Caves of Steel, Naked Sun, Robots of Dawn, Robots and Empire)
Basically I like books that deal with deep space, (space opera, I believe is the term), hard science. I'm thinking of getting Leviathan Wakes by James Corey.
Stuff like that. Your recommendations would be most helpful. :bigsmile
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby worldsastage » Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:46 pm

Softish and non space-opera sci-fi:
Canopus in Argos series by Doris Lessing
Anything by China Mieville
Everything Octavia Butler has written
Everything PK Dick has written
Everything by Ursula Le Guid

Hard Sci-fi:
Existence by David Brin
2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Dune by frank herbert
Foundation series by Asimov

I actually liked some of Orson Scott Card's Ender Universe books but got so turned off by his increasingly militaristic stance (should have seen that since Ender's Game) and rabid homophobia that I can no longer stomach buying his stuff.
"who is more likely to make a personal, resolute change - an optimist... or a pessimist?
I reckon The System prefers an optimist"----Coffin_dodger
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby 0_0 » Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:18 am

I randomly bought two nice looking hardcover short stories anthologies, one by Cyril Kornblut ("best of"), one by Theodor Sturgeon ("is alive and well") couple of weeks ago. I was very impressed with the Kornblut stories, bleak as they are. The Sturgeon stories were corny as hell in my opinion, but somewhat enjoyable nonetheless. I only read the first 3 stories from both books, so I might have to readjust my opinion if I ever read the rest.
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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby 0_0 » Mon Dec 23, 2013 2:22 pm

I was happy to find a secondhand hardcover of the house on the borderland by William Hodgson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_ ... Borderland

One of the few books I know of in which the whole universe breaks down! Also features evil swine-creatures persecuting the protagonist and his dog Pepper..

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Re: Sci-Fi List

Postby DrEvil » Mon Dec 23, 2013 6:17 pm

Some recent good books I read:

Tales of the Ketty Jay series by Chris Wooding, starting with "Retribution Falls". Superb swash-buckling steampunk adventure. Like Firefly with airships and daemons. And the series is finished, so no need to wait for the next book.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey was very good. Classic space opera. Gonna start on the sequel next I think.

'Daemon' and 'Freedom(TM)' by Daniel Suarez. Starts out as a hi-tech murder mystery but escalates to a global scale quickly. Has rogue AI's, all out corporate warfare, myth-making and clash of civilizations.

Edit: Daniel Suarez' next book looks like it should be right up the Rigint alley (from Amazon):

Influx

--imagines a world in which decades of technological advances have been suppressed in an effort to prevent disruptive change.

Are smart phones really humanity's most significant innovation since the moon landings? Or can something else explain why the bold visions of the 20th century--fusion power, genetic enhancements, artificial intelligence, cures for common disease, extended human life, and a host of other world-changing advances--have remained beyond our grasp? Why has the high-tech future that seemed imminent in the 1960's failed to arrive?

Perhaps it did arrive...but only for a select few.

Particle physicist Jon Grady is ecstatic when his team achieves what they've been working toward for years: a device that can reflect gravity. Their research will revolutionize the field of physics--the crowning achievement of a career. Grady expects widespread acclaim for his entire team. The Nobel. Instead, his lab is locked down by a shadowy organization whose mission is to prevent at all costs the social upheaval sudden technological advances bring. This Bureau of Technology Control uses the advanced technologies they have harvested over the decades to fulfill their mission.

They are living in our future.

Presented with the opportunity to join the BTC and improve his own technology in secret, Grady balks, and is instead thrown into a nightmarish high-tech prison built to hold rebellious geniuses like himself. With so many great intellects confined together, can Grady and his fellow prisoners conceive of a way to usher humanity out of its artificial dark age?

And when they do, is it possible to defeat an enemy that wields a technological advantage half a century in the making?
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