Sci-Fi Authors and stories....

[qjakal]

Just a change of pace from too much serious crap in General Discussion lately. My favorite author for pure reading enjoyment (not necessarily "best" sci-fi) is by far Robert A. Heinlein. Most enjoyable series...toss up between ee doc smiths "Lensman" and Zelaznys "Princes In Amber". Most representative sci fi author...Isaac Asimov. Essential authors...Clarke, Dick, Vonnegut, Bradbury, Adams(Douglas),Huxley, Vernes and Farmer. Best short story... Eric Frank Russells "And Then There Were None" (no, not the Agatha Christie story...sigh...philistines).

I know we have a few other Heinlein fans, but I'm sure there are dozens of other opinions in this genre. Lots of great writers with so many different styles. Probably why I run out of bookshelves a lot... Q

 

[kurchatovium]

"The Foundation Trilogy" by Issac Asimov is very good.

"The Lathe of Heaven" by Ursula K. Leguin is very good as well.

"Childhood's End" was good as well I think that was by Heinlein.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

I liked the Ender series by Orson Scott Card, All of Bradbury's books, especially the Martian Cronicles, Michael Crichton's Prey (If that counts as Sci-Fi), and the Bolos series created by Keith Laumer.

 

[qjakal]

Childhoods End

is Clarkes I believe. I also should have given honorable mention to L Ron Hubbards "Wild Card" series. For a dianetic type guy, that wa some FINE writing! Q

 

[kurchatovium]

I read just about everything by Bradbury and I agree he is a very good writer.

You could be right about the "Childhood's End" book Q it has been a long, long time since I read it.

 

[Biscuit]

Now this one I can answer:

General Sci-Fi:

Heinlein - Cat who walks through walls, time enough for love (old fart special 2=for-one!)

Herbert - First three Dune books, and the last one. Others weren't that impressive. His son should give up writing and go play the baliset, their new series pales by comparison.

Asimov - Robot series I find intriguing, as well as the R. Daneel Olivaw series, which isn't strictly a Robot novel. I think we'll have to face these things eventually, and after all, good scifi is always prophetic.

Orson Scott Card - liked the ender novels, love where the series is going. Also liked his "homecoming series", and an unusual gem: Pastwatch.

Ok, that's it for General Sci-Fi. Now we get to my very favorite sub-genre: Military Sci-Fi.

Gordon Dickson - the Dorsai books and all companions. Fascinating and involvingly immediate.

Bolos (Laumer) and Hammer's Slammers (hmmm forgot the poor fellow) are good fun, but not particularly deep, with a few exceptions.

Haldeman - Forever War, Forever Peace, Free was tripe.

Orion among the Stars - now who the hell wrote that again? I have a feeling it was somebody I've already mentioned, too lazy to look it up.

and finally, my favorite author sub-genre *drumroll*

Easily, David Feintuch for his utterly engrossing and fascinating Seafort novels. Great story and characterization, with a believable future history and interesting character development along the way. Loved them all.

Let me know if you want more recommendations from the "deity's top 100 sci-fi"

I like Some fantasy, as well, but they've got to be able to write characters and have a flair for epic (Jordan comes to mind, or Tolkien if you want to be prosaic), or it's just "ooh, look, magical trolls".

Incidentally, Q-ship. Betcha My bookcase is bigger than Yours 😉.

 

[Limeoutsider]

I like Koontz and Patterson, I usually don't read sci-fi books

 

[JoBelle]

Hehe, something kinda fetching about men comparing the sizes of their bookcases. 😛

When I was 13 years old, my older brother introduced me to The Hitchhiker's Guide. I reread him as an adult and found the books much more entertaining. Go figure. I was reading bits and spots of the Hobbit around the same time period, but I was not quite ready for the long tales of seriously involved combinations of words....lol When I was in college, I had a soft spot for Tanith Lee and Ursula LeGuin. LeGuin made my freshman year finals easier! 😉 I read the obligatory Asimov and Heinlein and then I took a break. I like good works, but I like to digest a while before I pick something new up for a run. I like to live in the moment of being swept away by a good writer for a while. During my break from sci-fi, I became a Clive Cussler junkie. Thanks to my dad, I have every Cussler book and I'm working on my Dale Brown collection now!

I've just finished rereading Dragonriders of Pern. Isn't it funny how a feeing comes back to you as easily as the words. I felt like a kiddo again...which I was the first time I picked her up.

Right now, I'm reading Rebekah by Orson Scott Card. I've enjoyed his other books so I gave this a shot, though it's not what I'd typically pick up, I'm rather enjoying it. Folk of the Fringe was an interesting read for those who haven't read it yet.

I like books. Alot. Have many bookcases in my house, but the two really big ones in the front kinda stand out with my favorite books. 😀

Jo

 

[Strelnikov]

My tastes run generally along the same lines as Q's. I had the great good fortune to encounter E. E. Smith at age 12, before anyone had a chance to tell me how hackneyed and cliche'd his work was. But guess what - he INVENTED that stuff. It was fresh and new when he wrote it. And so was I when I read it.

If you like military SF, try David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series. Kinda like a female Horatio Hornblower in space, and very well done.

Mike Resnick is worth a read. They're even more fun if you know anything of the history of sub-Saharan Africa since 1830.

One thing about Q's list surprises me. He ignored Poul Anderson, one of my favorites. The whole of Anderson's work is a discussion on what it means to be free, and the consequences of that freedom.

Strelnikov

 

[venray]

All of the above along with Larry Niven (Mote in God's Eye)Jerry Pournelle, and one of my favs..Clifford Simak...I have read and enjoyed Sci Fi for years...



Ven

 

[qjakal]

Strel indeed..

Anderson and many others are awesome, just didn't want to list everybody or how would the poor 'ol thread survive and thrive...lol. I left out the Dorsai series and it roped one in...see the tactics..lol? Waiting for someone to mention The Stainless Steel Rat series as well...oops...see, spoiled it! Q

 

[Shem the Penman]

"L. Ron Hubbard's Wild Cards series"? The only Wild Cards series I'm familiar with is a long-running shared-world anthology from the late '80s/early '90s, edited by George R. R. Martin et al.

Anyway, here are a few of my particular favorites:

John Brunner, especially Stand on Zanzibar and The Squares of the City.

Harlan Ellison, for "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream," "'Repent, Harlequin!' Said the Ticktockman," and too many other great stories to list.

Philip Jose Farmer's "Riverworld" novels -- To Your Scattered Bodies Go, et al.

K. W. Jeter's Infernal Devices.

Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover.

Michael Moorcock -- mostly a fantasy author, but he's written some good SF, particularly An Alien Heat and the other Dancers at the End of Time books.

Spider Robinson for the Callahan's Place books.

Norman Spinrad for The Void Captain's Tale, Russian Spring, Little Heroes, and others.

Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon.

Jack Vance -- again, mostly a fantasy writer, but he's also got The Languages of Pao to his credit.

Connie Willis for Passage, Bellwether, and Lincoln's Dreams.

 

[milagros317]

My personal views on the subject after reading SF for over 40 years:

Best SF authors I've ever read: Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov (both now deceased)
Best living SF author: Orson Scott Card
Most overrated SF author: Kurt Vonnegut

 

[wishiswish]

What about...

For mores serious SF:

Stanislaw Lem; especially "The Futurological Congress"

just fun to read:

Cole & Bunch: the Sten-Cronicles (7 books)

 

[qjakal]

Vonnegut...

Is a genre unto himself, but you can't ignore his impact and vision. His "Welcome To The Monkey House" still scares me when I look at how prophetic the concepts discussed/disguised within those cute little stories have proven to be.....can't believe I forgot Harlan Ellison, but there's a TOn of incredible people out there as evidenced by the number of names that have already surfaced. Q

 

[Dave2112]

I have too many tastes within the realm of sci-fi to have an actual favorite, but here are some standouts.

I loved Orson Scott Card's "Ender" books, they were among the few I read in a single sitting, I was that enthralled.

The first "real" sci-fi I read as a child was the Foundation Trilogy by Asimov. I still have a soft spot in my heart for that one.

Anything Zelazny did regarding Amber is on my shelf, as are the inimitible Harry Harrison books (Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat being among my favorites.)

I class "The DragonRiders of Pern" as sci-fi, as it morphed from fantasy to hard science fiction by the middle of "The White Dragon" and continued nicely as a sci-fi series with "All the Weyrs of Pern", and the prequel novel "DragonsDawn."

I wouldn't go on to list all of the Star Wars novels, but a few that stand out as very well-written on thier own include the Thrawn trilogy by Tim Zahn, the Han Solo trilogy by A.C. Crispin and "Shadows of the Empire" by Steve Perry. I actually count the entire New Jedi Order story-arc to be one long tale, but a few of them just blew me away. "Star by Star" by Troy Denning contained some of the best space combat writing (that's actually easy and enjoyable to follow) along with bringing a real sense of doom to characters we've grown to think invincible. "Watching" Coruscant fall to the Yuuzhan Vong and become transformed to become a new Vong homeworld was as crushing a blow as the deaths of Chewbacca and Anakin Solo. Also, "Destiny's Way" by Walter Jon Williams finally explored the true nature of the Force to my satisfaction.

A little known book that I really enjoyed was "Prisoner of Conscience" by Susan R. Matthews. It dealt more with the "sci-fi" aspect of advanced thinking and morals, both societal and religious, rather than just hardware and technology. It was actually very lite on the tech side, delving more into the way societal thinking can "devolve" as time goes on.

Of course, my all-time favorite sci-fi author was Ayn Rand, and my favorite book by her has always been "Anthem", followed closely by "Atlas Shrugged". I read "Anthem" at a very young age (and have since read it about twenty times), and it probably had more to do with my love for Rush than anything. I heard "2112" shortly after reading "Anthem" for the first time, and to hear a piece of music based (loosely) on my favorite book just blew me away.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Definitely agree on your Star Wars selections. Those were all awesome.

 

[qjakal]

Hey...

Define "Piers Anthony" and throw me an opinion of his stuff if you all would be so kind. I'm on the fence about him in several ways...Q

 

[Myriads]

I enjoyed the Incarnations series that Anthony wrote 20 years back... but thats been about it. He's a specific taste, and not mine I fear.

I quite like Turtledove, and S.M Sterling. Both are tops in the alternate world game.

Myriads

 

[qjakal]

Piers...

There was also BattleCircle, circa 1978, a great concept and a helluva good one to re-read. THEN there was the Xanth series...wtf happened? Commercial success led to a dilution of his vision? You can't even call his later stuff sci-fi without placing ye olde tongue firmly in ones cheek. The Incarnations series was superior, and coming on top of BattleCircle I thought a new star was looming upon the horizon...sigh...damn shame. Q

 

[MadKalnod]

In no particular order:

Douglas Adams. The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is a modern classic, or at least the first four books of it are. I found the fifth book, Mostly Harmless, to be lacking the same screwy verve that the first four possessed and would much rather have seen another follow-up to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency instead. The Guide books though, as well as Dirk Gently and his non-fiction travelogue Last Chance to See, are among the few novels that I make it a point to re-read every couple of years or so.

Isaac Asimov. One of my all-time favorites. I devoured his stuff thoughout grade school and high school, notably the Elijah Bailey/R. Daneel Olivaw mysteries and the Foundation Trilogy. They were among my first exposures to Big SF Ideas (TM) like robots that possessed more humanity than their flesh and blood creators, and galaxy-spanning Empires so old that Earth is but a forgotten legend. I really ought to go back and re-read them some day, now that I'm old enough to get all the deep thematic stuff. More obscure but very fun are his George and Azazel comedies, about a man who uses a 2-inch-tall conjured demon to "improve" the lives of his acquaintances with disastrous results, told from George's hilariously windy and self-important P.O.V.

Harry Harrison. The Stainless Steel Rat series is loads of fun. I've always loved heroes who outwit their foes through trickery rather than brawn. Bill the Galactic Hero is another great satire.

Kieth Laumer. His Retief books are a hoot, a sort of tongue-in-cheek version of James Bond in space with heaping gobs of satire. His gimmick of the Terran Diplomatic Corps (or Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne) having all of their facial expressions numbered for the purpose of standardized insincerity stands out. I also find the syntax he gives the perfidious alien Groaci, in which sentences have no subject and the infintive form of the verb is always used ("To offer deep apologies. To suggest an alternative compromise."), to be one of the better alien speech-modes I've come across.

H.P. Lovecraft. Some would classify him as horror or dark fantasy, but his idea that the dark Elder Gods of the Cthulhu Mythos are extradimensional aliens and the Necronomicon's magic spells are hyperspatial equations grounds him in SF. I'll never forget reading The Whisperer in Darkness at 3AM with Danny Elfman's Nightbreed score on the stereo and becoming aware of a scuttling sound in the kitchen...

George R.R. Martin's Wild Cards were highly enjoyable. Fans of comics like Powers and Rising Stars should check them out if they aren't already familiar with them. I also recall an enjoyable novel by Martin called Tuf Voyaging, about a tramp frieghter captain who salvages a long lost terraforming ship full of genetic records from across the galaxy and cloning facilities to produce any of these creatures en masse. It's a neat story that explores the blurring of the line between man and god that technology may bring.

Anne McCaffrey. Another one that I latched onto in high school. The Dragonriders of Pern series is recommended.

Larry Niven. Ringworld and The Ringworld Engineers are quite good, of the "Full of Big Wild Ideas That Make Me Say Wow" school.

I've recently become aware of David Brin's Uplift series through gaming and intend to track it down.

 

[JoBelle]

ugh...just thought of one to avoid...Face of Appollo by Fred Saberhagen.

Bad stuff that. Must not thibnk on it much or I'll get a migraine.

Jo

 

[Dave2112]

Piers Anthony had one good series that I liked, "The Apprentice Adept" series. I liked the concept of the trilogy (along with the four mass-marketed paperbacks that followed and were unneccesary). I have to agree with Myriads that his writing isn't my cup of tea, though. He has a tendency to ruin a really good plot line or original idea with some really hokey dialog. He took a crack at a horror novel called "Firefly" that was almost painful to read. Jar-Jar Binks had some better lines.

"Incarnations" wasn't bad, but it didn't really hold my attention either.

I completely forgot to mention the late Douglas Adams. I loved the Hitchhiker series (especially "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish", and the five-page "Young Zaphod Plays it Safe".)

 

[BigJim]

I'm currently enjoying the Timothy Zahn and Kevin J. Anderson novels, on the Star Wars saga.

There are a few nitpicks though. Zahn has an annoying habit of repeating the same phrases too frequently. In Heir To The Empire he describes about 8 different people as being "glacially calm" and twice as many people say "point taken" or "point". I've complete lost count of how many people have "grinned wryly" or "arched an eyebrow".

And they both have a habit of comparing events in the novels with events from the movies too often. (Especially annoying when the characters verbally refer to them.) It's almost as if he authors are trying to catch a ride on the back of the films, which really isn't necessary.

 

[Ignatz]

Forgive me for bumping this old thread, but I've lately been re-reading the science fiction classics I loved in my teens and twenties and the subject is on my mind.
Like many of you, my favorite is Heinlein (early to mid-period Heinlein, that is) and I love especially Puppet Masters, Methusaleh's Children and Double Star (the first RAH I ever read). But the man himself considered The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress to be his finest work and I agree. I still hear rumblings occasionally of a movie version in the works, but I almost dread to see it happen. Hollywood would surely screw it up.
I just read Childhood's End for the first time in (cough!) years and am again awed by the sweep of Arthur C. Clarke's imagination. But he depresses me, perhaps because he so blithely wipes out planets and races and galaxies or transforms them beyond recognition. Sheesh, doc...leave us a little something to cling to!
I love Bradbury, of course, and I delight in the fertile, puckish imagination of Fredric Brown, sci-fi's answer to O.Henry. Funniest story I ever read was Brown's "Placet Is a Crazy Place." Runner-up: "The Proud Robot" by Henry Kuttner.

One masterful novel I just re-read, which I had not truly appreciated in my youth, was by a brilliant though unprolific author I don't believe any of you mentioned in your posts. Can anyone identify it from this quote?
Tenser, said the tensor.
Tenser, said the tensor.
Tension, apprehension and dissension have begun!