Science-Fiction novels

spinviper · December 2006

<div class="IPBDescription">I hunger for more.</div>This is intended to be a "sister thread" to Dr. Suredeath's <a href="http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/index.php?s=7307214097272128512&showtopic=99038" target="_blank">Fantasy Novels, I hunger for more</a> that will instead focus on Science Fiction novels.

I shall also attempt to compile a "Must Read" list here that shall be frequently updated.

"The Songs of Distant Earth" by Arthur C. Clarke
"The Invincible " by Stanislaw Lem
"Neuromancer" by William Gibson
"Stranger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein
"The Foundation Trilogy" by Isaac Asimov
"Dune" by Frank Herbert
"The Diamond Age" by Neal Stephenson
"Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson
"A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge
"Rainbows End" by Vernor Vinge
"2001: A Space Oddyssey" by Arthur C. Clarke
"2010: Oddyssey Two" by Arthur C. Clarke
"Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury
"Nightfall" by by Isaac Asimov, Robert Silverberg
"Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card
"Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham
"Manifold series (Time, Origin, Space)" by Stephen Baxter
"Evolution" by Stephen Baxter
"1984" by George Orwell
"Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
"Variable Star" by Spider Robinson and Robert Heinlein
"The Gods Themselves" by Isaac Asimov
"The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy "Trilogy" (pentalogy)" by Douglas Adams
"Ringworld by Larry Niven
"The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
"Starship Troopers" by Robert Heinlein
"The Reality Dysfuction " by Peter F. Hamilton
" The Neutronium Alchemist " by Peter F. Hamilton
"The Naked God " by Peter F. Hamilton
"The Commonwealth Saga (Pandora's Star, Judas Unchained) " by Peter F. Hamilton
"Altered Carbon " by Richard Morgan
"Broken Angels " by Richard Morgan
"Moving Mars " by Greg Bear
"The Culture series " by Iain Banks
"Revelation Space series " by Alastair Reynolds
"The Light Of Other Days" by Arthur C. Clarke, Stephen Baxter
"Moonseed" by Stephen Baxter
"Chronicles of the Lensmen " by E.E. "DOC" SMITH
"Slaughterhouse 5 " by Kurt Vonnegut
"Slapstick " by Kurt Vonnegut
"The Man In The High Castle " by Phillip K D1ck
"Flow My Tears " by Phillip K D1ck
"The Policeman Said " by Phillip K D1ckt
"A Scanner Darkly " by Phillip K D1ck
"Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep " by Phillip K D1ck
"Ubik " by Phillip K D1ck
"Footfall " by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
"A Canticle for Leibowitzl " by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes
"When the Sleeper Wakes" by H. G. Wells
"The Time Machine" by H. G. Wells
"To Your Scattered Bodies Go" by Philip Jose Farmer
"Signal to Noise" by Eric S Nylund
"A Signal Shattered" by Eric S Nylund
"Old Man's War" by John Scalzi

Warning: Adult Content
<a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/mopiidx.html" target="_blank">The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect</a>

Last updated as of 2:39 P.M. GMT +8, 15/12/06

Thanks go out to iFire, lolfighter, DrSuredeath, Melatonin, tankefugl, TychoCelchuuu, Necro, 404NotFound, RustySpoon, Underwhelmed, KungFuSquirrel, AllUrHiveRblong2us, emperor_awesome, NeonSpyder(Michus), Mantrid, Transmission, ChimpZealot, frostymoose , Exploder and Quaunaut.

lolfighter · December 2006

Well, I mentioned Stanislaw Lem's "The Invincible" in the other thread. Can't hurt to do it again.

Then there's Arthur C. Clarke's unforgettable four:
2001: A Space Oddyssey
2010: Oddyssey Two
2061: Oddyssey Three
3001: The Final Oddyssey
Also by the same author, "The Songs of Distant Earth," a book filled with an incredible mixture of sadness and optimism. Indescribable. How do you describe the sadness and loneliness a race experiences when they have lost their cradle to the apocalyptical demise of their primary star? Before this book, I wouldn't have thought it possible. If the Oddysseys don't interest you, this one should.

spinviper already mentioned Isaac Asimov. I haven't read any of his novels, I must admit. And the only one of Ray Bradbury's novels I've read is Fahrenheit 451.
If you had asked me a year ago to name the master of science-fiction short stories, I would have said 'Ray Bradbury' without a moment's hestitation. Now that I have read Isaac Asimov's short stories, I don't know. I think they'll have to share the title. Read them! READ!

That's it for now. I'm sure I've read more than that, but I can't remember at the moment. That should keep you busy until I think of more, at least.

DrSuredeath · December 2006

Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card. I envied people who haven't read and didn't know about the twist yet.

Melatonin · December 2006

Two short novels ive read recently are;
Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham, manages to merge science fiction with post apocalyptic horror,
in an insightful and believable, if slightly quaint way.
Also, Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut is a great character led examination of the impending apocalypse and the kind of men who create devistating weapons for the sake of science.

lolfighter · December 2006

Right, those. Day of the Triffids, agree with Melatonin on all counts.

Cat's Cradle, dunno. I'm not sure it's science fiction, really. I'm not sure what it is. Except weird. I'm sure it's very weird and odd. I may have been too young to understand it when I read it. Long long time ago.

tankefugl · December 2006

Stephen Baxter's manifold series (Time, Origin, Space) and Evolution contains some very interesting ideas, which I enjoyed.

Isaac Asimov is just excellent; in particular Nightfall.

1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley are both classics that are still relevant to today's and tomorrow's society.

TychoCelchuuu · December 2006

Variable Star by Spider Robinson and Robert Heinlein
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov
The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy 5 books by Douglas Adams
The Puppet Masters by Robert Heinlein
Ringworld by Larry Niven
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

Necro · December 2006

*pulls out his collection*

Ender's Game, Speaker for the dead, Xenocide, Children of the mind, Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Giant, Shadow Puppets and Shadow of the Hegemon by Orson Scott Card

The Reality Dysfuction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God by Peter F. Hamilton[/b[

[b]Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov

Moving Mars by Greg Bear

Altered Carbon and Broken Angels by Richard Morgan

Ringworld, The Ringworld Engineers and Return to Ringworldby Larry Nivens

Hyperion, The fall of Hyperion, Endymion and the Rise of Endymion by Dan Simmons

underlined are what i HIGHLY suggest reading as they rock, most of em are a set like the ender's game series all those by orson scott card i listed are one series, same with hyperion/endymion, ringworld, reality dysfuction, alchemist and naked god also altered carbon and broken angels too are all part of the same universe.

404NotFound · December 2006

I got quite a kick out of both Snowcrash and Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson.

RustySpoon · December 2006

If you like the more surreal stuff I'd suggest Adam Roberts. Best modern writer in my opinion.

Melatonin · December 2006

yeah, I wasnt sure wether cats cradle would come under sci fi, I think its more an introduction to a sci fi story if anything, but that still counts right? <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/tounge.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":p" border="0" alt="tounge.gif" />

oh yeah, I forgot the Red Dwarf Omnibus, really nice fleshing out of the series

Underwhelmed · December 2006

Seconded suggestion on Stephen Baxter.
The Culture books by Iain Banks.
I found the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds very interesting. Probably a bit convulted for somebody who's new to Sci-Fi to get into, but definitely worth checking out if you're into hard sci-fi.

KungFuSquirrel · December 2006

I'll third the Stephen Baxter recommendation. The Light Of Other Days that he collaborated with Arthur C. Clarke on was pretty bad***... Moonseed is an older one of his that's kinda weird, but I still enjoyed it.

Big recommendation for the Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) by Kim Stanley Robinson.

Also, it's really old (to the point where the contents of space are still commonly referred to as "the ether") but the Chronicles of the Lensmen was some good reading... threw every pre-conceived notion of space combat I had on its head. I guess reading stuff written 30 years before Star Trek and 40 years before Star Wars can have that effect <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

Necro · December 2006

i never could really get into the mars trilogy but moving mars was fine altho not as great as the hyperion or the reality dysfunction sagas.

AllUrHiveRblong2us · December 2006

Cat's Cradle is really not a science fiction novel I'd say, but Vonnegut has written some extremely good science fiction. His best would probably be Slaughterhouse 5, which changes from being a sci-fi story to a straight up war novel. Slapstick was also pretty good, if a bit too insane for its own good.

Phillip K D1ck (I shouldn't have to swear dodge that, it's just a danged name) is an absolutely amazing author, one of the best in science fiction, period. If one avoids the books he wrote in his latter career where his schizophrenia really took over his writing style and he became obsessed with Gnosticism and his own visions. The Man In The High Castle, Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said, and A Scanner Darkly are some of his best works for an introductory read, while a reader who wants more of a trippy and complicated read would do better with Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep (which is what the movie Blade Runner was very loosely based on) or Ubik (probably my personal favorite, along with maybe A Scanner Darkly). These books all explore the themes of what exactly defines reality, and the clash of reality vs perception, and they do it rather well. You will not find a better author to illustrate these themes at all, ever, period. His books are all masterpieces in making the reader question exactly what is happening, while at the same time actually being coherent for the most part. I could go on and on about this guy, love him to death.

eediot · December 2006

Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard

(Absolutely insane guy, founder of scientology, but the book itself isn't bad if you like dumb action-movie style sci-fi)

Redford · December 2006

The "Year's best" contimplations of short story science fiction are execellent. They are huge, contain twenty or so short stories each (though tough they range from 5 pages to 50 pages in length) and each takes you to a diffrent potential reality for things to come. There are stories of deadly bioengineered creatures under the ice of an inhabilited europa, a spy mission gone terribly wrong where self-evoloving robots are discovered, a reality where man, fleeing neuclar winter, maroons himself on the moon with only one terrible way to gather the materials to get off again and a future where one woman with her maternal instict attached to a group of colonists trades a von numan terraforming device to the wrong person.

If you are a fan of short story literature, or sci fi in general, you MUST check these out. They are the best stories you can imagine of everything scifi.

Necro · December 2006

hubberts book sucked like him ;p

i forgot to add the revelation space books too theyre good altho not as good as the others i mentioned <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />

DrSuredeath · December 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(emperor_awesome @ Dec 6 2006, 07:58 PM) [snapback]1585035[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
</div>

I'm not going to support a cult. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/marine.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="::marine::" border="0" alt="marine.gif" />

eediot · December 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Necro @ Dec 7 2006, 02:42 PM) [snapback]1585128[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
hubberts book sucked like him ;p

i forgot to add the revelation space books too theyre good altho not as good as the others i mentioned <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt="biggrin-fix.gif" />
</div>

Mission Earth? Yes, they were terrible.

However, Battlefield Earth was great on a "Commando" level. Easy reading, leave your skepticism at home, enjoy strangely-scottish humanity kicking implausible butt.

arctica · December 2006

Dean Koontz's "Fear Nothing" and "Seize the Night" in said order. Crazy stuff.

Xyth · December 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(arctica @ Dec 6 2006, 11:01 PM) [snapback]1585144[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
Dean Koontz's "Fear Nothing" and "Seize the Night" in said order. Crazy stuff.
</div>

They hardly count as science fiction, however good they may be.

NeonSpyder · December 2006

"A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, Jr.

[Quasi-spoiler book description]
It is set in an abbey in the Southwestern United States after a devastating nuclear war, and takes place at intervals of hundreds of years apart as civilization rebuilds itself. The plot combines elements of dark comedy with more serious examinations of the issues surrounding faith, knowledge, and power. The book was inspired by the author's witnessing of the destruction of the monastery at Monte Cassino during World War II.

"Flowers for Algernon" by Daniel Keyes

Great little novel exploring intelligence and self awareness, gain and loss and emotion and whatnot. Read the wikipedia article or something.

I'm really pleased to see that Fahrenheit 451 was already recommended. That is a damn fine book. Damn fine.

lolfighter · December 2006

I didn't even mean to. I meant to call attention to the short stories of Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, but somehow that entire paragraph except for Fahrenheit 451 was overlooked. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />

spinviper · December 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Dec 7 2006, 02:46 PM) [snapback]1585195[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
I didn't even mean to. I meant to call attention to the short stories of Ray Bradbury and Isaac Asimov, but somehow that entire paragraph except for Fahrenheit 451 was overlooked. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":(" border="0" alt="sad-fix.gif" />
</div>

My apologies for the oversight, lad. I've added Stanislaw Lem's "The Invincible" as well as Clarke's "The Songs of Distant Earth" to the list. I also corrected a minor spelling error on my part.

lolfighter · December 2006

Thanks. Also, please do not spell my name with a capital L. <img src="style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile-fix.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":)" border="0" alt="smile-fix.gif" />

Mantrid · December 2006

<a href="http://www.kuro5hin.org/prime-intellect/mopiidx.html" target="_blank">The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect</a>

Posted it before, very NSFW.

lolfighter · December 2006

The prime intellect thing started to bore me after the first chapter. Is there a summary of some kind that allows me to cut past all the filler and get to the core of it? I mean, in-depth descriptions of Caroline getting killed get old fast.

TychoCelchuuu · December 2006

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lolfighter @ Dec 7 2006, 11:32 AM) [snapback]1585364[/snapback]</div><div class='quotemain'>
The prime intellect thing started to bore me after the first chapter. Is there a summary of some kind that allows me to cut past all the filler and get to the core of it? I mean, in-depth descriptions of Caroline getting killed get old fast.
</div>

I don't think you understand; the NSFW/not suitable for minors/omg naughty warning stuff is supposed to make you keep reading even though it's not any good. It alone serves to draw you in.

lolfighter · December 2006

Doesn't really work with me. I mean, it's basically violenceporn so far. I'm asking whether there's anything ELSE there.

Omegaman · December 2006

*raises hand*

Yeah, I got a question...

Are there any good Sci-Fi Noir books NOT written by Philip K. D1ck?

Science-Fiction novels

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