Science/Fantasy fiction bukes (1 Viewer)

[Diddles]

the isaac asimov robot books are good, also some philip k dick, though not valis as it is the worst book ever written

there's another dude called alastair reynolds who writes big huge epic scifi books

Could never get into Asimov, I did enjoy his book of limericks though.

Read revelation space by Alistair Reynolds - it was going well and then seemed to end in nothing happening.

Still my favourite genre.. I've essentially bought the sci-fi section in Waterstones..

Hyperion by Dan Simmons - simply sublime, and the sequels are (very unusually) just as good, if not better.

I thought Hyperion was deadly! Endymion was rubbish though. Ilium and Olympos were pretty cool.

the silmarillion reads like an academic history book.

It's my bible.

Magician was my lord of the rings. Fantastic book that. Then i read lord of the rings and felt stupid.Never got into stephen donaldson. The Wheel of Time series by Robert jordan was pretty good too, but i lost interest after the 36th book. The first few Vampire Chronicles were'nt bad either; i'd also suggest 'I was a teengae Goth' by, uh...me.

Grrrr - Wheel of Time. That fella must've made a fucking fortune dragging that story out.


I reckon Julian May is one-of my all-time favourites. The Saga of the Exiles is amazing - science and fantasy fiction combined.

 

[Lord Damian]

he is alive still, he had a new book out recently. farenheit 451 and something wicked this way comes were my favorites, although its years since i read them. i read one of his more recent collections a while back - quicker than the eye - and he seemed to have become a bit bitter... that short story he had called "the foghorn" was deadly too - the one where the last fearsome sea monster left in the depths was summoned up to the surface every year by the foghorn that he kept mistaking for a potential lady friend...

i think it annoyed him to be called a sci-fi writer though.

i really dug all those stories he had of that family of vampires, where you didn't really catch on that they were vampires until you were well into the story and then all of a sudden you read "Uncle Thomas unfurled his great black wings and..." - awesome.

still alive eh? must be older than rock.

i think this thread has given me a newfound desire to read geek.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

i really dug all those stories he had of that family of vampires, where you didn't really catch on that they were vampires until you were well into the story and then all of a sudden you read "Uncle Thomas unfurled his great black wings and..." - awesome.

still alive eh? must be older than rock.

i think this thread has given me a newfound desire to read geek.

hmmm, ive either never read the vampire ones or never copped that they were vampires at all. i'd love to read them again but im addicted to the internet and incapable of sitting down with a book. did you read that short about this kid who lived with his mother in this country house surrounded by a forest. the mother told him never to go out beyond the trees because it was full of monsters and danger and she only allowed him to go to school in a room in the house. he knew nothing at all about the real world except for the fantasy his mother created. it turned out that there was only the two of them in the house and the mother used dress up in disguise and pretend to be the teacher and whatever other few different people were in the kids life and then she died and he was left in the house alone. that one was terrific!

 

[Lord Damian]

hmmm, ive either never read the vampire ones or never copped that they were vampires at all. i'd love to read them again but im addicted to the internet and incapable of sitting down with a book. did you read that short about this kid who lived with his mother in this country house surrounded by a forest. the mother told him never to go out beyond the trees because it was full of monsters and danger and she only allowed him to go to school in a room in the house. he knew nothing at all about the real world except for the fantasy his mother created. it turned out that there was only the two of them in the house and the mother used dress up in disguise and pretend to be the teacher and whatever other few different people were in the kids life and then she died and he was left in the house alone. that one was terrific!

i'll have to go looking for those vampire stories and let you know what they were....just short stories from what i recall, not stand alone novels.

i kinda do remember that story you're talking about, but i recall the house being in the city, like in New York or somewhere...maybe i'm thinking of another story or another author even.

Bradbury's great. Just now remembering all his Martian stories. classics.

OHH -OHH!!! another great longish short story - the planet where everybody lives in caves to hide from the Sun's deadly rays, and people are born, live and die in the space of a week.....and then you find out at the end that they are a race of folks descended from the crew of a spaceship that crashed on the planet not too long ago....brilliant.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

i kinda do remember that story you're talking about, but i recall the house being in the city, like in New York or somewhere...maybe i'm thinking of another story or another author even.

might have been a city actually, coz after the mother died he ventured out into the real world and i think it was a city... you couldnt see it from the house though

 

[Lord Damian]

might have been a city actually, coz after the mother died he ventured out into the real world and i think it was a city... you couldnt see it from the house though

that's the one alright.
awww mannnn...why am i at work and not at home with the vast amount of Bradbury books i stole from the library when i was 13? !ninjaaaa

 

[Cormcolash]

go for any of the science fiction masterworks series. nary a duffer amongst them...
http://www.sfsite.com/lists/orion01.htm

I concur with this. Everyone I get is fucking great. Same for the Fantasy masterworks series too.

 

[Cormcolash]

Not only have I just realised I own at least half the books on the sf masterworks list, having read this thread I have realised that I have read at least half the books mentioned in this thread.

 

[Diddles]

am reading this at the moment - going quite well!

 

[BC]

 

[Diddles]

any use?

 

[BC]

any use?

one of the greatest novels i have ever read: i cannot recommend it highly enough. its very use of language is mind-altering in itself.

 

[ratmonkey]

Very very good indeed.

 

[nEiLo]

iain m banks has a new one - "Matter"
€19.99 in Waterstones so didn't buy it.

 

[Denny Oubidoux]

iain m banks

i got a bit tired of him. are his books still all the same? i loved Excession, that was my favorite of his (maybe because it was the first i read).

im reading Super-State by brian aldiss at the moment, one of his more recent ones, very good so it is

 

[Gino Padula]

Great thread.

I've just finished Emphrio by Jack Vance. It's brilliant. Same with Gateway by Frederik Pohl.

I think the SF masterworks is a great collection but I didn't like a few of them. Cities In Flight, whatever about the ideas, isn't well written I think. I'd recommend avoiding Life During Wartime, apart from the first section. I also didn't like Book Of Skulls, Blood Music, or First and Last Men. I agree re. Valis. First chapter aside, it's depressing.

Philip K Dick did have some great stuff especially Ubik, A Scanner Darkly, The Three Stigmata.., The Simulacra, Dr. Bloodmoney. I do wish he had a different surname though.

Gene Wolfe's Shadow of The Torturer is really well written. I must try to get more of his stuff.

Can't beat The War of The Worlds.

Early Ballard is worth checking out too I think.

Ursula Le Guin is good, although I didn't like the Dispossed. The Left Hand of Darkness is excellent.

Darker Than You Think, which is a werewolf/lycantrophy novel by Jack Williamson (fantasy masterworks) is totally class.

I think much of modern literature incorporates sci-fi/fantasy/horror without being burdened by those labels. The Road by Cormac McCarthy, or Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood etc is basically fantasy or sci-fi, I think.

Chapters of Parnell St. has a huge selection and cheaper prices than HMV/Hodges & Figgis/Waterstones, for some strange reason. Possibly not being owned by the one company might have something to with it?

Cheers.

 

[TenRabbits]

i got a bit tired of him. are his books still all the same? i loved Excession, that was my favorite of his (maybe because it was the first i read).

That was the first one I read too, and possibly my favourite also. I'm really looking forward to the new one though, because when he gets it right he really knows how to make a page turner.

I've been really enjoying the Takeshi Kovacs books at the mo (Richard K Morgan's books). They're trashy as hell, but compulsive page turners. I felt the same about the Mindstar series by Peter Hamilton - both get better and better and the last book is the best one.

 

[Squiggle]

Could never get into Asimov, I did enjoy his book of limericks though.

Have you tried reading any of his short stories? Some of them are really good. Also Magic is more Fantasy than Science Fiction so you might like it too. Can lend it to you if you're interested.

 

[timbot]

I think the SF masterworks is a great collection but I didn't like a few of them. Cities In Flight, whatever about the ideas, isn't well written I think. I'd recommend avoiding Life During Wartime, apart from the first section. I also didn't like Book Of Skulls, Blood Music, or First and Last Men. I agree re. Valis. First chapter aside, it's depressing.

I would disagree on First and Last Men it is a really great book, quite unlike alot of sci-fi and written in a really nice style.

I was always a fan of the Dune series. The first book is great, the next few are ok, the last 2 are for completists. Don't go near the new histories written by Frank Herbert's son. The worst kind of lasers and robots sci-fi with none of what made his Dad's books so great.

 

[frona]

Hey hey hey hey, y'know who's great? Lois McMasters Bujold. Really fun (but not silly) sci-fi with great characters, loads of action and interesting stuff going on with gender too.

Boy can she write! It says it right there ^