Philip K. Dick: We Can Remember it for You Wholesale (movie = Total Recall), Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheap (movie = Bladerunner).
H.P. Lovecraft: Lot's of horror short stories and many versions of the collections to buy. I have the one's under Penguin Classics.
The William Gibson cyberpunk books as already mentioned in this thread.
Pretty much covers my favourites.
H.P. Lovecraft: Lot's of horror short stories and many versions of the collections to buy. I have the one's under Penguin Classics.
The William Gibson cyberpunk books as already mentioned in this thread.
Pretty much covers my favourites.
Soldato
- Joined
- 6 Nov 2002
- Posts
- 9,945
- Location
- London UK
Loved those books especially Use of Weapons and Excession.calnen said:
The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E Feist
Riftwar Saga
* Magician
* Silverthorn
* A Darkness at Sethanon
Krondor's Sons
* Prince of the Blood
* The King's Buccaneer
Empire Trilogy
* Daughter of the Empire
* Servant of the Empire
* Mistress of the Empire
Serpentwar Saga
* Shadow of a Dark Queen
* Rise of a Merchant Prince
* Rage of a Demon King
* Shards of a Broken Crown
Riftwar Legacy (Krondor)
* Krondor: The Betrayal
* Krondor: The Assassins
* Krondor: Tear of the Gods
Conclave of Shadows
* Talon of the Silver Hawk
* King of Foxes
* Exile's Return
Darkwar Saga
* Flight of the Nighthawks
Read em in that order else you`ll become confused
Riftwar Saga
* Magician
* Silverthorn
* A Darkness at Sethanon
Krondor's Sons
* Prince of the Blood
* The King's Buccaneer
Empire Trilogy
* Daughter of the Empire
* Servant of the Empire
* Mistress of the Empire
Serpentwar Saga
* Shadow of a Dark Queen
* Rise of a Merchant Prince
* Rage of a Demon King
* Shards of a Broken Crown
Riftwar Legacy (Krondor)
* Krondor: The Betrayal
* Krondor: The Assassins
* Krondor: Tear of the Gods
Conclave of Shadows
* Talon of the Silver Hawk
* King of Foxes
* Exile's Return
Darkwar Saga
* Flight of the Nighthawks
Read em in that order else you`ll become confused
Perdido Street Station and The Scar by China Mieville are strange, intense reads.
I enjoyed The Diamond Age and other novels by Neal Stephenson
David Eddings is worth a look, as long as you look at his earlier stuff - The 5-part that starts 'Pawn of Prophecy' was OK.
I used to really enjoy the long novels by John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up, but the subject matter is a little dated now. The best thing about them was the way loads of apparently unconnected threads came together after 600 or so pages.
My wife raves about The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, but you may think a bit too romantic.
Look at some of Ursula Leguin's stuff - she wrote the Earthsea books (don't be put off if you saw the US mini-series, she disowned it!) but she also wrote loads of other good books.
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Gold Coast is a good one to start with, especially if you like novels of a sub-cultural nature. Some of his other stuff is good, but can be hard to get into.
Another one recommended by my wife is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, you'll need to check it out for yourself before you get it...
I enjoyed The Diamond Age and other novels by Neal Stephenson
David Eddings is worth a look, as long as you look at his earlier stuff - The 5-part that starts 'Pawn of Prophecy' was OK.
I used to really enjoy the long novels by John Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up, but the subject matter is a little dated now. The best thing about them was the way loads of apparently unconnected threads came together after 600 or so pages.
My wife raves about The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, but you may think a bit too romantic.
Look at some of Ursula Leguin's stuff - she wrote the Earthsea books (don't be put off if you saw the US mini-series, she disowned it!) but she also wrote loads of other good books.
Kim Stanley Robinson, The Gold Coast is a good one to start with, especially if you like novels of a sub-cultural nature. Some of his other stuff is good, but can be hard to get into.
Another one recommended by my wife is The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, you'll need to check it out for yourself before you get it...
Adex said:The Riftwar Saga by Raymond E Feist
Riftwar Saga
* Magician
* Silverthorn
* A Darkness at Sethanon
Krondor's Sons
* Prince of the Blood
* The King's Buccaneer
Empire Trilogy
* Daughter of the Empire
* Servant of the Empire
* Mistress of the Empire
Serpentwar Saga
* Shadow of a Dark Queen
* Rise of a Merchant Prince
* Rage of a Demon King
* Shards of a Broken Crown
Riftwar Legacy (Krondor)
* Krondor: The Betrayal
* Krondor: The Assassins
* Krondor: Tear of the Gods
Conclave of Shadows
* Talon of the Silver Hawk
* King of Foxes
* Exile's Return
Darkwar Saga
* Flight of the Nighthawks
Read em in that order else you`ll become confused
Agreed! absolutely fantastic series of books have read most of them mulitple times.
Associate
- Joined
- 8 Nov 2005
- Posts
- 1,161
Damn, beaten to it... twice...leezer3 said:
Surprised Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series hasn't been mentioned. Currently on 11 books, author is hoping to finish the 12th before he dies of amyloidal cancer. Warning though, the series has been nicknamed 'Waste of Time' as it does take quite a while to get through 
Associate
- Joined
- 13 Jan 2005
- Posts
- 1,890
- Location
- On the road
If you haven't done so read the first books of the Dune saga by Frank Herbert , Classics!
Associate
- Joined
- 3 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 1,614
- Location
- Bendigo, Australia.
Isaac Asimov
THE granddaddy of “robot fiction”, I highly recommend you read at least some of his short stories (you’ll find most robots from later authors borrow some of his idea’s)
His numerous books include:
I Robot, Rest of the Robots, The Complete Robot (short story collections exploring how robots may be treated and dealt with, also introduces the famous “3 laws of Robotics”)
Caves of Steel A great (detective type) story that introduces one of 2 very important characters for his later books (although you may not know it until you have read a number of his 500 or more other books)
Foundation Series (Foundation, Second Foundation, Foundation and Earth etc, great books to read)
Bicentennial Man (written for Robin Williams?
No known official site although plenty of other good ones
Iain M Banks (also writes fiction under the name Iain Banks) - My personal favourite!
His sci-fi books include:
Excession
Use of Weapons
Consider Phlebas
The State of the Art (a collection of short stories)
Most of his sci-fi books form part of his “Culture” series (but they are not really meant to be read in any particular order). Although many years ago now, I have read them all and found them utterly enthralling and very difficult to put down. I might even read them again come to think of it...
The official Iain M Banks site.
Ben Bova - Another recognised sci-fi God although I must confess to only reading one in my early teens and can't remember which it was, sorry.
Books include:
Mars
Return to Mars
Forge of God
The official site.
Arthur C Clarke
Credited as being the first man to think about and work out that a satellite could be placed in Geo-Synchronous orbit around the Earth (so you can blame him for Sky TV) in fact the geostationary orbit at 42,000 kilometers is named The Clarke Orbit
His numerous books include:
2001 - Space Odyssey
2010
The Fountains of Paradise
Waldo Inc (ever wonder why remote operated hands in things like power stations are sometimes referred to as “Waldo’s” this is it)
no known official site
William Gibson
Books include:
Neuromancer, the book that is accredited as starting the Cyberpunk style.
The official site.
Peter F Hamilton
Books include:
A Second Chance at Eden (a collection of short stories that build up the background for his Nights Dawn Trilogy)
Nights Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, The Naked God), a great series of books that build an immense universe full of characters and places
no known official site
Robert A Heinlein
Books include: (among many others)
Starship Troopers – Much better than the film (apart from a lack of Denise Richards)
Space Cadet
The Puppet Masters – Donald Sutherland starred in the film
no known official site
Brian Herbert
Note: Son of Frank Herbert, teamed up with Kevin J Anderson to write the prequels to his fathers Dune series.
Dune: House Attreides
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corrino
The official site.
Frank Herbert
Note: his son Brian Herbert has continued on prequels for his fathers books based on notes his father left behind.
Books include:
The Dune Trilogy (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune)
The Second Dune Trilogy (God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chaptor House Dune)
All are highly recommended, although be warned they can be tough going at times.
The official site.
H.G.Wells
What can you say about HG Wells? He invented Science Fiction,
The War Of The Worlds is a classic everyone should have read at least once, and The Time Machine is still arguably one of the best novels about Time Travel ever! Incedentally, the recent film was directed by Simon Wells, Herbert's great grandson, no less.
Books include:
The Time Machine
The War Of The Worlds
The Invisible Man
The Island of Dr. Moreau
no known official site
John Wyndham
Another often ignored writer but has written some of the best sci-fi books. The Day Of The Triffids is a certain classic, as is The Midwich Cuckoos. (Filmed as Village of the Damned)
Books include:
The Day Of The Triffids
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Kraken Wakes
The Chyrsalids
Chocky
no known official site
Kurt Vonnegut
Books include:
Slaughterhouse Five about Billy Pilgrim, prisoner of war, optometrist and time-traveller. An Anti-War Novel based on Vonneguts experience of Dresden in WW2.
Timequake - Time repeats making everyone in the world endure ten years of deja-vu and a total loss of free will. Funny.
The official site.
THE granddaddy of “robot fiction”, I highly recommend you read at least some of his short stories (you’ll find most robots from later authors borrow some of his idea’s)
His numerous books include:
I Robot, Rest of the Robots, The Complete Robot (short story collections exploring how robots may be treated and dealt with, also introduces the famous “3 laws of Robotics”)
Caves of Steel A great (detective type) story that introduces one of 2 very important characters for his later books (although you may not know it until you have read a number of his 500 or more other books)
Foundation Series (Foundation, Second Foundation, Foundation and Earth etc, great books to read)
Bicentennial Man (written for Robin Williams?
No known official site although plenty of other good ones
Iain M Banks (also writes fiction under the name Iain Banks) - My personal favourite!
His sci-fi books include:
Excession
Use of Weapons
Consider Phlebas
The State of the Art (a collection of short stories)
Most of his sci-fi books form part of his “Culture” series (but they are not really meant to be read in any particular order). Although many years ago now, I have read them all and found them utterly enthralling and very difficult to put down. I might even read them again come to think of it...
The official Iain M Banks site.
Ben Bova - Another recognised sci-fi God although I must confess to only reading one in my early teens and can't remember which it was, sorry.
Books include:
Mars
Return to Mars
Forge of God
The official site.
Arthur C Clarke
Credited as being the first man to think about and work out that a satellite could be placed in Geo-Synchronous orbit around the Earth (so you can blame him for Sky TV) in fact the geostationary orbit at 42,000 kilometers is named The Clarke Orbit
His numerous books include:
2001 - Space Odyssey
2010
The Fountains of Paradise
Waldo Inc (ever wonder why remote operated hands in things like power stations are sometimes referred to as “Waldo’s” this is it)
no known official site
William Gibson
Books include:
Neuromancer, the book that is accredited as starting the Cyberpunk style.
The official site.
Peter F Hamilton
Books include:
A Second Chance at Eden (a collection of short stories that build up the background for his Nights Dawn Trilogy)
Nights Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, The Naked God), a great series of books that build an immense universe full of characters and places
no known official site
Robert A Heinlein
Books include: (among many others)
Starship Troopers – Much better than the film (apart from a lack of Denise Richards)
Space Cadet
The Puppet Masters – Donald Sutherland starred in the film
no known official site
Brian Herbert
Note: Son of Frank Herbert, teamed up with Kevin J Anderson to write the prequels to his fathers Dune series.
Dune: House Attreides
Dune: House Harkonnen
Dune: House Corrino
The official site.
Frank Herbert
Note: his son Brian Herbert has continued on prequels for his fathers books based on notes his father left behind.
Books include:
The Dune Trilogy (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune)
The Second Dune Trilogy (God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune, Chaptor House Dune)
All are highly recommended, although be warned they can be tough going at times.
The official site.
H.G.Wells
What can you say about HG Wells? He invented Science Fiction,
The War Of The Worlds is a classic everyone should have read at least once, and The Time Machine is still arguably one of the best novels about Time Travel ever! Incedentally, the recent film was directed by Simon Wells, Herbert's great grandson, no less.
Books include:
The Time Machine
The War Of The Worlds
The Invisible Man
The Island of Dr. Moreau
no known official site
John Wyndham
Another often ignored writer but has written some of the best sci-fi books. The Day Of The Triffids is a certain classic, as is The Midwich Cuckoos. (Filmed as Village of the Damned)
Books include:
The Day Of The Triffids
The Midwich Cuckoos
The Kraken Wakes
The Chyrsalids
Chocky
no known official site
Kurt Vonnegut
Books include:
Slaughterhouse Five about Billy Pilgrim, prisoner of war, optometrist and time-traveller. An Anti-War Novel based on Vonneguts experience of Dresden in WW2.
Timequake - Time repeats making everyone in the world endure ten years of deja-vu and a total loss of free will. Funny.
The official site.
Last edited:
Soldato
- Joined
- 19 Oct 2004
- Posts
- 12,387
- Location
- Jesmond
Associate
- Joined
- 3 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 1,614
- Location
- Bendigo, Australia.
William said:Post #34 NEEDS to be stickied.
I have recently read:
Ian M Banks - The Algerbraist
A Brave New World - A. Huxley
Both very good.
...and in 2007 it's 75 years since Huxley penned the classic ABNW! It's as relevant today as it ever was.