I need some Sci-Fi suggestions

[LadyCrimson]

David Brin (Startide Rising/Sundiver)

 

Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I picked up the hardcover years ago in some bargin bin and I loved it. editI tried reading some of Niven's other works and have yet to find another novel of his I liked as much. Just me tho.

 

Firstly, even though Alan Dean Foster spends most of his time doing novelisations of SF films (they may have been better completely ignored and forgotten), he did write some good short stories early in his career, and I can personally vouch for The Man Who Ruled The Universe.

 

I like his Icerigger books and most of the Flinx & Pip short novels. And Prism. Haven't read too much else of his tho, and I generally avoid reading movie-adaptations.

Edited March 12, 2006 by LadyCrimson

[HaPhApAbLaP]

Im not sure if this one qualifies as sci-fi, but "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons is pretty good. the sequels I found to be pretty good as well

 

Hyperion

[Penny]

Some of Heinlein's works are pretty good. Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, for instance.

 

Aldous Huxley's Brave New World is a classic, too.

 

Ender's Game is a must have in any sci-fi library as well. The sequels aren't bad, but they aren't in the same vein.

 

I don't know if you'd consider 1984 as sci-fi, but it's a great book either way.

 

I should be able to come up with loads of this stuff, but my memory just sucks. I haven't slept much either, so I'll probably add some more later.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Don't forget Job and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress also by Heinlein.

 

I think the parallel series OSC wrote, the 'Shadows' were pretty awesome. I liked Bean as a protagonist better than Ender.

[tarna]

joe haldeman: tarna already mentioned, but we can only recommend "forever war" as we thought "forever peace" and "tools of the trade" were uninspired... but "forever war" is fantastic even so.

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Forever Peace sucked in the worst of ways. The problem with reading Forever War is that nothing else he wrote could hold a candle to it. Mindbridge wasn't bad though. There is a sequel to Forever War called Forever Free that picks up where the first book ended. It's okay at best. Look for it second hand though.

[Blank]

-Sphere by Michael Chrighton is a really good one i think.

 

-I'll second the Starship Troopers book by Heinlein. The movie is good in its own way, though, different. (the book is better)

 

-Halo: the Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund. First of all, the title may put people off to this book (since it is a "prelude" to Bungie's "Halo" game), so I must dispell any misgivings that this book is automatically lame, because it is not. If you liked Starship Troopers, you'd probably like this one.

 

-Ender's Game is once again recommended here. if you liked it so much after you read it that you have an undismissable desire to read another book in the series, i think the next one you should read is Ender's Shadow.

 

-i also recommend 1984. somewhat similar but shorter is Farenheit 451 by ray bradbury. both are good books respectively.

[Nartwak]

I second Richard Matheson.

 

Depending on your threshold you could always trawl through online original fiction repositories. I'm suppose you'll find something good... eventually.

[Walsingham]

Couple of unusual ones.

 

The Death of Grass - John Christopher

 

A little bit Day of the Triffids. But also very good indeed. Looks at the consequences to society of a disease whch destroys all the grass family, including wheat, rye, and rice. Worldwide.

 

When Gravity Fails - George Alec Effinger

 

I was overjoyed to see this title has been reprinted recently, with blurb on the cover to indicate it is finally getting the recognition it deserves. GAE is one of the best sci-fi writers I've ever read, for the humanity of his characetrs, and the the (admittedly intermittent) originality of his ideas and settings. When Gravity Fails is the first in the Budayeen trilogy, which terminated with the author's death from cancer. And in many ways it echoes the desperate energy, despair and hope one finds in late work by Bill Hicks.

[metadigital]

I would just like to annouce that I have purchased The Wizard Knight (Gene Wolfe) and I am looking forward to reading it ... all 920 closely typed pages of it ... :D

[WinterSun]

I'll second the "Hyperion" suggestion, and recommend "Ilium" by the same author. It's a pretty odd book; you've got Greek gods on Olympos (Mons), sentient robots arguing about the homo-erotic subtext in Shakespeares sonnets and a post-apocalyptic Earth with possibly the best reason ever for destroying the internet.

[Hurlshort]

Whoever mentioned "Footfall", I second. That's a classic, and so is "Lucifer's Hammer".

[Walsingham]

I'll second the "Hyperion" suggestion, and recommend "Ilium" by the same author. It's a pretty odd book; you've got Greek gods on Olympos (Mons), sentient robots arguing about the homo-erotic subtext in Shakespeares sonnets and a post-apocalyptic Earth with possibly the best reason ever for destroying the internet.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[WinterSun]

Read it. It'll all make sense in the end.

[Bulgarian Jedi]

I do not know about fiction movies, but Farenhiet 451 and Angels and Demons are quite good.