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

[Braincase]

Originally Posted by Rausch

This is the theme I've been gearing up for lately. Reading "Warday" (loved it) and recently King's 11/22/63 kind of geared me up.

I think I'll start with Dick's "The Man In The High Castle" and work from there. Apparently there's a big surge in alternative history books out there...

What do you know about the "Destroyermen" series?

[Rausch]

Originally Posted by Braincase

What do you know about the "Destroyermen" series?

Nothing...

[Bowser]

So after enjoying Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon as much as I did, I tried listening to a couple of his other books. Reamde was pretty good, if a bit more far fetched in areas than others, and Anathem was awful. Couldn't get into that book on a dare. Might be one of those that is better to actually read than listen to.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Bowser

So after enjoying Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon as much as I did, I tried listening to a couple of his other books. Reamde was pretty good, if a bit more far fetched in areas than others, and Anathem was awful. Couldn't get into that book on a dare. Might be one of those that is better to actually read than listen to.

I love all of Stephenson, but some of his stuff is more Thomas Pynchon than regular scifi. Reamde was really good and pretty accessible. Anathem is very challenging but the back half payoff of it is well worth the slog of the front part. The Baroque Cycle is amazing and more like Cryptonomicon, except historical.

I'm sure you've read Snow Crash, but you'll likely love it if you haven't.

[lawrenceRaider]

Originally Posted by Braincase

In my queue now - the balance of the Dresden books (8-14), followed up by Larry Correia's books, and I also snagged some of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series. Those, combined with Simon R. Green's Nightside series ought to get me into spring.

Eventually, I must do the Dark Tower series. Yeah, I'm a loser. I get too distracted, but next year I'll definitely do Dark Tower.

Love Hearne's Iron Druid series.

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Bowser

So after enjoying Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon as much as I did, I tried listening to a couple of his other books. Reamde was pretty good, if a bit more far fetched in areas than others, and Anathem was awful. Couldn't get into that book on a dare. Might be one of those that is better to actually read than listen to.

Cryptonomicon is his best IMO, but I liked Anathem a lot.

Diamond Age is really good too. It's cyberpunk and I think I liked it even more than Snow Crash.

[Buck]

I need to get my gf a bday present. She likes politics and scifi. I am going to get her The Foundation Trilogy, what else can I get her? Nothimg too hard scifi. She also likes psychology. Is there any psychological scifi out there?

[Frosty]

I've been having trouble lately finding books that hold my interest for long (I currently have six or so books I'm in the middle of and just can't seem to get back into).

A while back, Amazon was running a special on Kindle books and I bought several on impulse but hadn't gotten around to reading them. I finally started one the other day and it turned out to be the first "can't put down" book I've come across in quite a while.

The book is "The Scourge". It is a story of a knight making his way across a plague ridden England during the 1300's. Only, in this story, the plague isn't the Black Death; it's a plague that turns its' victims into zombies.

Like "The Walking Dead", the tale isn't really about zombies (or the afflicted, as the book calls them); it's about how men deals with it and the resulting power void.

There is a second book called "Nostrum (The Scourge, Book 2). The final book of the trilogy is schedules for release this March. The second book is as good as the first.

The books were originally released as a serial and there are Author's Notes after every four chapters or so explaining the history of the time, whether the people in the story were real people or not and notes about the places in the story. I didn't find them distracting at all and actually looked forward to them.

Highly recommended.

[Buck]

Based on another thread I have started reading Leviathan Wakes. I'm not a huge fan of the alternating POV chapters, but it just got to a point (about 40% in) that the POVs are starting to intertwine so that's sorta cool.

Like the direction it has started in, I hope I like the ending.

I also read Ubik a few months back. Didn't care for it too much. Found it way too predictable.

[keg in kc]

I'm pretty comfortable in predicting you'll like the ending.

[Buck]

So this Expanse series, are the follow ups sequels or concurrent? Or prequels?

[keg in kc]

Direct sequels. As in each one continues the story from the previous book. No giant leaps forward in time or anything like that that (related to your previous mention of Foundation in the other thread). There are recurring characters and points of view, etc. Part of the reason I think it's going to translate so well to TV...

Three books currently: Leviathan Wakes, Caliban's War and Abbadon's Gate, with a fourth, Cibola Burn coming in June.

[jiveturkey]

I finally started Starship Troopers. I'm about half way through it and absolutely love it.

[duncan_idaho]

I'm about 90 percent of the way through the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Finally working through the last book, The Crippled God.

The series has been excellent and brilliant, but is some of the more difficult fantasy reading I've done. I'd probably rank it HIGHER in difficulty than George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

But it's worth it, if you stick the whole thing out. Huge, rich canvas of characters. Ever-shifting landscape of layered antagonists with complex motivations.

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by duncan_idaho

I'm about 90 percent of the way through the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Finally working through the last book, The Crippled God.

The series has been excellent and brilliant, but is some of the more difficult fantasy reading I've done. I'd probably rank it HIGHER in difficulty than George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire.

But it's worth it, if you stick the whole thing out. Huge, rich canvas of characters. Ever-shifting landscape of layered antagonists with complex motivations.

I'm about halfway through Toll the Hounds. I think you are absolutely right about the difficulty. And initially the constantly changing landscape of characters was off-putting, but I've grown used to it.