Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Only Thread

[Buck]

There is a great thread in the lounge about Books in general, but to be honest, all I really want to read is Sci-Fi (including post-apocalyptic), and Fantasy.

In this OP I will compile every poster's top 3 Fantasy/SciFi suggestions if they give me them. I will try to keep the posters in alphabetical order in case you want to find someone's suggestions easier.

CP POSTER SUGGESTIONS

Baby Lee
1. Fritz Lieber's Swords Against series.
2. George R.R. Martin's SoIaF series [no brainer that will probably make tons of other lists]
3. Umberto Eco, Foucalt's Pendulum [a little more obscure/forgotten to make up for GRRM]

Frosty
1.Raymond Feist - Riftwar Saga
2.Terry Brooks - Shannara series (starting with the Knight of the Word books)
3.Tad Williams - Memory, Sorrow and Thorn

Huffmeister
(1) Dune - Frank Herbert
(2) The Stand - Stephen King (1000+ page unabridged)
(3) Starship Troopers - Robert A. Heinlein (checkout the song by Yes, too. lots of great bass)

Jawshco
1. "Book of the Long Sun" by Gene Wolfe
2. "Paradise War" by Stephen R Lawhead
3. "The Dragonbone Chair" by Tad Williams

listopencil
1. Edgar Rice Burroughs, any series
2. Robert Heinlein, everything he has written in chronological order (but read Starship Troopers first)
3. Doc Smith's Lensman series

vailpass
1. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, 2A & 2B books are a gold mine for sampling the evolution of sci-fi. (below)
2.The Nebula Awards and Hugo Awards (selected yearly, pick a year)
3. Years Best SF Annual publication, pick any volume from 1 to the current volume 17
See Post 142

[QuikSsurfer]

Originally Posted by Buck

Ender's Game is one of my favorite Sci-Fi books, shit, who doesn't have that in the list of their top sci-fi books.

Anyways, here are some ones that I've read recently, or am reading that I want to recommend, and I'd also like some recommendations given to me based on this.

Recent Favorites:
-Cat's Cradle / Breakfast of Champions (sorta sci-fi) / Slapstick - All by Kurt Vonnegut
-Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
-Rendevous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke

Currently Reading:
-World War Z - Max Brooks
-I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

Upcoming Reads (books I have recently purchased to read):
-Magician: Apprentice - Raymond E. Feist
-Wool - Hugh Howey
-The Road - Cormac McCarthy
-American Gods - Neil Gaiman
-The Stand - Stephen King
-John Dies at the End - David Wong (this one is more horror I think)

Next Up (books I plan on purchasing soon):
-Magician: Master / Silverthorn / A Darkness at Sethanon - Raymond E. Feist (that's the rest of the Riftwar Saga after Magician: Apprentice Above)
-Mistborn Series: The Final Empire / The Well of Ascension / The Hero of Ages - Brandon Sanderson
-On the Beach - Nevil Shute

Some I've Heard about, but don't know yet:
-A Game of Thrones Series - George R.R. Martin
-I, Robot - Isaac Asimov (never read any of his stuff)
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
-11/22/63 - Stephen King

I think that this list gives a pretty clear indication of stuff I like, and the kind of stuff I want to read. There are many more books I've heard about, but don't know yet, there's just not enough room to fill them all out.

I'm ready for suggestions.

I can confirm that these are indeed fantastic choices.
How much interest do you have in straight horror?

[nstygma]

i haven't read many in this genre, but this was really good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth_(novel))1050 pages

I also liked Dune and the 7 books that kinda round out the series

-I Am Legend - Richard Matheson: i thought this was very good. the most recent movie version did a horrible job

[ThaVirus]

Plague of the Dead and Thunder and Ashes by Z.A. Recht. They're a part of the Morningstar Saga, basically about a zombie outbreak. It's been a couple years since I read them but they were pretty entertaining from what I remember.

[Fishpicker]

Day by Day Armageddon - J.L. Bourne

I thought this book and its sequel were better than WWZ and The Walking Dead.

[Jawshco]

Originally Posted by JD10367

For Asimov star with "I, Robot". Then I'd move on to the Elijah Bailey detective novels ("Caves of Steel", "Naked Sun", "Robots of Dawn"). I hear the Foundation series is also good but haven't read it.

I'm a big fan of Anne McCaffrey's world of Pern, which starts with "Dragonflight", "Dragonquest", and "The White Dragon".

I also like Terry Brooks and his watered-down Tolkienish post-apocalyptic earth in the Shannara series (Sword, Elfstones, Wishsong, and then more) and his Magic Kingdom of Landover series.

Terry Goodkind's "Wizard's First Rule" and "Stone of Tears" are excellent, but then his series bogs town for me.

I like Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. I've read them all except for the newest book, the Omen Machine. There are some slow books in that series, but the first two books and Faith of the Fallen are amazing. I also found the last 3 Chainfire books pretty entertaining.

I don't read much SciFi beyond Star Wars, Star Trek, and Doctor Who books. But I love all if Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dirk Gently books. I'm a tepid fan of Asimov - I liked I, Robot; but got bored with the foundation series. Anything by Bradbury is great. Gene Wolfe is a fun writer to read- the dude writes in his own odd language-the Book of the Long Sun is a good one to try.

I read Battlefield Earth before that crap movie came out, and before I knew about L Ron Hubbard's bizarre religion, but I thought that book kicked anus when I first read it.

I have a ton of favorite Fantasy books. I'll just list the first few I can think of :

Albion Song series- Stephen R. Lawhead.

Dark Tower Series, The Talisman, The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon- Stephen King.

Light Fantastic (Discworld series) - Terry Pratchett

Song of Ice and Fire series - George RR Martin.

Memory, Sword, and Sorrow series - Tad Williams

The Lies of Locke Lamora- Scott Lynch

Wheel of Time series - Robert Jordan

The Dresdin Files series - Jim Butcher

[Jawshco]

Originally Posted by nstygma

i haven't read many in this genre, but this was really good: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlefield_Earth_(novel))1050 pages

I also liked Dune and the 7 books that kinda round out the series

-I Am Legend - Richard Matheson: i thought this was very good. the most recent movie version did a horrible job

Oh, I forgot about Dune. I read the first 3 and they were great. I read those books and The Planet of the Apes at the same time and remember thinking how awful the movies were of those fantastic books.

[Jawshco]

Originally Posted by Buck

I forgot that my friend literally just lent me Robopocalypse. I was really digging World War Z in the beginning, but it's gotten boring. When they were talking about the actual breakout and the "War" it was cool, but once I hit about 30% in they started talking about Zombie, National, and Foreign Policy, it's started to get boring.

I hope it picks back up. I don't really care about the movie star who used his celebrity to film the last major Zombie battle to raise the moral of the people.

Anyways, some others that I have picked up recently, but I don't know how soon I'll read them.

-The Dig - Michael Siemsen
-Rex Rising - Chrystalla Thoma

Also I guess I actually bought The Stand. I shouldn't operate my kindle late at night. I'm buying shit that I don't even know about lol. I almost bought the paperback today, not even knowing that I bought it on Kindle last night.

I thought that World War Z started slowly, but got really great by the end. If you're only 30% in, you haven't got to the really good stuff.

[Buck]

Dune is on my must read list, I forgot to mention it.

Great recommendations guys.

Quikies, I'm somewhat interested in horror. Do you have a short horror novel you could recommend?

Sci-Fi horror would be cool. Something like that movie Sunshine.

Jaws, I'm over 50% in.

[notorious]

The Stand.


Jizz.

[Huffmeister]

The Stand, definitely. Just be sure to get the unabridged 1000+ page version.

[pr_capone]

Originally Posted by Buck

Some I've Heard about, but don't know yet:
-A Game of Thrones Series - George R.R. Martin
-I, Robot - Isaac Asimov (never read any of his stuff)
-The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams

I'm ready for suggestions.

Game of Thrones is pretty damn good but Hitchhikers Guide is freaking incredible. One of my favorite reads ever.

[listopencil]

Originally Posted by Brainiac

I highly recommend a couple of books by "the dean of science fiction", Robert A. Heinlein: Methuselah's Children and Starship Troopers. If you decide you like Heinlein, there are many more.

I'd recommend "The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress", and "Time Enough For Love" rather than "Methuselah's Children". And then I'd recommend that you read every book he wrote anyway.

[Rasputin]

Dune chronicles by Frank Herber, havn't ever read them but I thought Dune was a good movie so the books should be good too.

[Mr Luzcious]

I haven't read I, Robot, but Asimov's Foundation series was pretty great, you might throw those in somewhere.

And when you read the Dune series..just..forget there's a 7th one.

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Huffmeister

The Stand, definitely. Just be sure to get the unabridged 1000+ page version.

This.

And don't buy the Gary Sinese/Molly Ringwald covered version. The first time I saw it I though it was a romance novel.