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sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 12:43:11 PM   
MasterJohnSteed


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Thoughts, suggestions, additions
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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 1:35:59 PM   
Hillwilliam


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 1:42:14 PM   
kiwisub12


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Status: offline 		The two that spring to my mind are -

Something wicked this way comes    by Ray Bradbury

and

Neverwhere  by Neil Geiman

There are dozens of other sci fi books that i love, but for sheer writing and endurance, these two are special to me.

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 2:00:19 PM   
Wolf2Bear


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Status: offline 		Good suggestions and have read about half of what was suggested.  I'd have to add all the Dune books written by Frank Herbert's son, Brian. 

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 2:15:18 PM   
hertz


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I really liked 'Vurt', and the sequel 'Pollen' by Jeff Noone.

I was surprised to see that Arthur C Clarke didn't make the list (credited with the idea of artificial satellites) - maybe 'Rendezvous with Rama'? Although I guess 2001 would be the better known of his works.

Fred Hoyle should also be on the list - another proper scientist as well as a writer. 'The Black Cloud' has a fantastic retro vibe going for it. It was written in 1959, and is right out there.

John Wyndham should be there - 'The Day Of The Triffids' was pretty influential.

'A Clockwork Orange' should get a mention for the use of language. And 'Frankenstein' for being ancient.

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 2:35:19 PM   
DesFIP


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 2:37:30 PM   
switch2please


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Status: offline 		I've read 24 out of the 32, woohoo!
I have to say I liked Ender's Shadow better than Ender's Game, and the first three or four of the Dune series are excellent. After that, they lost me...and when Frank Herbert stopped, Brian Herbert continued the series by collaborating...*shudder*...put down the stick, the worm is dead!

I would like to add Tad Williams' Otherland series to the queue. It's long (split into four books of 1000+ pages each) but brilliantly written and well worth it. The cyberspace descriptions are more detailed and as colorful as Gibson's, and the character development is excellent - quite a feat considering there are 10+ main characters and each chapter switches perspective.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger was also good (the book - I didn't see the movie but I hear it was terrible). It focuses more on the characters than the science but the time traveler's condition is explained as a chromosomal anomaly similar to epilepsy, and his 'jumps' are space-time seizures. I appreciated the emphasis on biology rather than machinery - I love H.G. Wells' contraption, but I have a better idea of how the human body works than a time machine does, and I like to know how things work.

eta: Arthur C. Clarke. Yes.


< Message edited by switch2please -- 9/23/2010 2:38:52 PM >

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 3:06:06 PM   
lazarus1983


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quote:

ORIGINAL: switch2please

I've read 24 out of the 32, woohoo!
I have to say I liked Ender's Shadow better than Ender's Game, and the first three or four of the Dune series are excellent. After that, they lost me...and when Frank Herbert stopped, Brian Herbert continued the series by collaborating...*shudder*...put down the stick, the worm is dead!


Whole heartedly agreed about Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson's books. Far as I'm concerned, Dune ended with Frank Herbert's emotional epilogue in the sixth book. Hell, even the book about Frank Herbert, Dreamer of Dune, sucked.

Just about anything by Robert A. Heinlein is a must read. Starship Troopers, Stranger In A Strange Land, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress... Also Philip K. Dick's work is good, especially A Scanner Darkly and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 4:14:50 PM   
DomKen


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IMO Neuromancer is the good Gibson novel. The rest are better used for landfill.

I'd have included more Heinlein, everyone should read the novels aimed at teens he wrote in the 1950's, but everything before Number of the Beast is worth reading.

The Mote in God's Eye is a novel that was a good read while delivering an important message.

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 4:52:56 PM   
Hillwilliam


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 5:16:31 PM   
calamitysandra


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 6:29:10 PM   
Hillwilliam


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 7:18:52 PM   
Hillwilliam


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Status: offline 		Sorry I'm 'double posting' but noone haws mentioned the "Gor novels" by Norman yet.

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 7:26:19 PM   
playfulotter


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 7:35:43 PM   
LadyRian


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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 8:13:34 PM   
MercTech


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

Sorry I'm 'double posting' but noone haws mentioned the "Gor novels" by Norman yet.


ForNorman, we need to have a "must read" Fantasy thread.

Stefan

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/23/2010 8:24:48 PM   
LastThoughts


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I'll throw in my $0.02 for Keith Laumer's work with the Bolo tank series - Last Stand.  Perhaps the best sci-fi series I've ever read and thrown around the old binary campfire with fellow Geeks.

_LT

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/24/2010 6:37:03 AM   
Aneirin


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The musician; Mike Oldfield  created an album in response to  the book, so inspired was he by what he read. The album took the same name as Arthur C. Clarke's book; The songs Of Distant Earth and I count it as one of the best pieces of music Oldfield did, but having read the book long before I heard the music, the musical scenes had their accomplanying mind imagery.


< Message edited by Aneirin -- 9/24/2010 6:55:00 AM >

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/24/2010 6:58:00 AM   
Hillwilliam


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quote:

ORIGINAL: MercTech


quote:

ORIGINAL: Hillwilliam

Sorry I'm 'double posting' but noone haws mentioned the "Gor novels" by Norman yet.


ForNorman, we need to have a "must read" Fantasy thread.

Stefan


Or maybe some folks dont realize theyre fiction

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RE: sci-fi novels you should read - 9/24/2010 8:06:16 AM   
GreedyTop


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Anything Heinlein, Card, Zenna Henderson.]

I'm not sure if this would fall into the same category, but the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon.

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