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

[blaise]

I liked the Stand right up until the end. Pretty much like most Stephen King books.

[cookster50]

The Riftwar Saga from Feist was the first fantasy series I ever read, still on my top favorite list. Once you are done with it, read the companion series from Janny Wurtz(or something like that). The individual books after the Riftwar Saga are pretty good too.

I'll also second Battlefield Earth. I read that, thought it was good, then watched the movie. Oh my, what the heck was that?

I really liked a series from Harry Harrison called The Hammer and the Cross, highly recommend it.

Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series is great.

I'm in need of a new book to read right now anyway, so I'll be taking some of the suggestions from this thread.

[jiveturkey]

Has anyone read the latest from the Enderverse? Shadows in Flight?

http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Flight...=3U5CI5U8DCOHD

I find it odd that it's not coming to Kindle until next February.

[jiveturkey]

Originally Posted by Buck

I wouldn't know about Wool, Rex Rising, The Dig, I Am Legend, I, Robot, etc if it weren't for my kindle. ****ing love this thing.

Which one do you have?

I have the 3rd generation one with the free 3G.

I have the original with 3G.

I also have a Fire that I rooted and installed CM7 on. I do most of my reading on the old Kindle though. The fire is good for surfing and gaming and when I travel.

[keg in kc]

I've been reading just tons and tons of fantasy the last few years, I'll try to work up something by the end of the week. I've probably read stuff that nobody else has even heard of, all of it pretty good.

[jiveturkey]

Originally Posted by keg in kc

I've been reading just tons and tons of fantasy the last few years, I'll try to work up something by the end of the week. I've probably read stuff that nobody else has even heard of, all of it pretty good.

Haven't you dabbled in writing?

[keg in kc]

Originally Posted by jiveturkey

Haven't you dabbled in writing?

Yes, but I wouldn't punish anybody with that.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by JD10367

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

If you are going to read the Shannara series, start with Brooks' Knight of the Word trilogy. He is currently bridging the two series (the KotW series sets up the apocalypse that creates the Shannara world).

Originally Posted by Jawshco

Memory, Sword, and Sorrow series - Tad Williams

One of my all time favorite fantasy series. His recent Shadowmarch series is a good read, too, though not as good as Memory, Sword and Shadow.

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by blaise

I liked the Stand right up until the end. Pretty much like most Stephen King books.

Yeah, that's always been my biggest critique of him. He comes up with incredible characters and concepts, and knows how to use them to create good suspense and tension. But it's like half the time he just doesn't know how to end stories.

The exception, of course, is Needful Things. That's just a well crafted story from beginning to end.

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by listopencil

And then I'd recommend that you read every book he [Heinlein] wrote anyway.

I really, really like Heinlein, but I just could not get into Stranger In A Strange Land. When I finished it, I couldn't figure out why it's widely regarded as his masterpiece.

[Huffmeister]

Originally Posted by Buck

-American Gods - Neil Gaiman

Neverwhere is another good one by Gaiman. Cool characters and clever humor, all set in a "hidden world within our own".

[patteeu]

Have you read any cyberpunk, Buck? William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive) is very good.

[AndChiefs]

There's a lot of good series in here. I also have enjoyed books written by Turtledove. He writes alternative history novels.

[cookster50]

Originally Posted by Huffmeister

I really, really like Heinlein, but I just could not get into Stranger In A Strange Land. When I finished it, I couldn't figure out why it's widely regarded as his masterpiece.

You just don't grok it, eh?

[keg in kc]

Gaiman may be my favorite writer. I just love American Gods to death.

Okay, here's a few, mostly fantasy:

Joe Abercrombie: First Law Trilogy, Best Served Cold, The Heroes, A Red Country (forthcoming). Dark, gritty epic fantasy. The trilogy is told primarily from the standpoint of a torturer, an asshole of a nobleman and a barbarian warrior. The standalone books involve a few recurring characters, but are...standalone. The Heroes in particular is pretty awesome, about a 3-day battle. Some of my favorite books of all time, all written in the last decade and there's more to come.

Jim Butcher: Dresden Files and Codex Alera. He's best known for the Dresden books, which is some of the best urban fantasy going (about a wizard who works as a detective in Chicago), but he also wrote a more traditional epic fantasy series called Codex Alera, which began, as I recall, when he was challenged to create fantasy based on Pokemon. It's pretty hilarious, but it turned out well.

Glen Cook: The Black Company. It's a 10-volume dark epic fantasy series about a mercenary company told primarily in first person, initially by Croaker, the company doctor and annalist and later by Murgen, who takes over the annalist duties. Fantastic series written from the mid-80s through the late 90s.

Larry Correia: Monster Hunter and Grimnoir series. The Monster Hunter books are present-day urban fantasy about, you guessed it, monster hunters, and the Grimnoir series is historical fantasy set in the early 1930s, sort of a mash-up of film noir and fantasy. Love both series.

Lev Grossman: The Magicians and The Magician King. Basically a wonderfully dark mashup of CS Lewis and JK Rowling, written for adults. Came out fairly recently. Really excellent.

Richard K. Morgan: Takeshi Kovacs series and A Land Fit for Heroes. This stuff is adult. With a capital 'A'. The Kovacs series is science fiction, basically hard boiled detective stuff set in the future, filled with sex and violence. A Land Fit for Heroes, which he's currently writing, is the fantasy equivalent, but some people may have trouble getting through it because it features some graphic depiction of homosexual acts. Fantastic writer and fantastic stories if you can get past that.

Patrick Rothfuss: The Kingkiller Chronicle. An epic fantasy trilogy (2 novels currently finished) which autobiographically tells the story of a musician/mage/adventurer by the name of Kvothe. Extremely well done.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch: The Diving Universe. She's an extremely prolific author who's written everything from romance to mystery to fantasy, but what I know her for is her Diving series, which is science fiction centered around an antisocial wreck diver named Boss. Just a fantastic series, what I've read of it (there are currently 3 novels, I've read the first 2).

Adrian Tchaikovsky: Shadows of the Apt. A multi-volume epic fantasy series set in a world where different groups of people (called kinden) take on aspects of insects. So you have people who are like ants and people who are like dragonflies and people who are like flies and beetles and all sorts of things. Some of them show physical attributes of this association, some have special magical abilities like wasp stings or fly wings. Further, there's an ongoing conflict between people who use magic (the inapt) and who use technology (the apt). So you end up with a relatively unfamiliar fantasy world that's to me reminiscent of steampunk in some pretty cool ways. There are guns (that aren't really guns) and blimps and trains and all kinds of cool stuff, but there's also magic, which the apt refuse to believe in. It creates some really interesting conflicts. Tchaikovsky does a fantastic job at telling his stories and is great at characterization, and he's not afraid to have characters fail or even die. One of my favorite currently ongoing series.