good sci-fi/fantasy books

[phyzik]

I'll admit it, I read fantasy and sci-fi books... they help me get away from reality, probably more so then video games.

I have read tons of books (more then any I can name here, though I'll name a few) and was looking for something else to read thatsreally good... sci-fi or fantasy that is.

Anyway, just to give an idea what I've read already and books I'd recommend for those that like the genre...

(FYI, I prefer lots of action and over-the-top violence but I read lots of true history stuff too, one such book is based off of Mithridates the Great call the Last King: Romes greatest Enemy)

Armor - John Steakley (probably the best "future" sci-fi book I've ever read)

Everything RA Salvatore (EVERYTHING)

all of the "Druss" and "Skilganon" novels - David Gemmell

Quest for lost heroes - David Gemmell

The Executioner novels - Don Pendleton

Legacies - L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Elminster series - Ed Greenwood

Age of Conan series - Loren L. Coleman

Forgotten Realms: The year of Rouge Dragons series - Richard Lee Byers

Bolos! series - Keith Laumer (sentient robotic tanks)

"Slayer" warhammer series - William King (Gotrek is a pure badass)

"Space Wolf" warhammer 40k series - William King

Enders Game - Orson Scott

Wyrm - Mark Fabi (Hard to find but DEFINATELY recommend if you like online games, or computers in general, can be found on Amazon)

So... what have you read?

[Cant_Be_Faded]

Salvatore is good, I've been wanting to read Ender's Game....

You need to read some Frank Herbert and Philip K Dick. My favorites of the genre.

[zero signal]

The early Dragonlance books were alright... at least the Chronicles and Legends trilogies.

[phyzik]

Salvatore is good, I've been wanting to read Ender's Game....

You need to read some Frank Herbert and Philip K Dick. My favorites of the genre.

Enders Game is awesome, you should pick it up...

Also, if you like Salvatore you should take a look at the Druss series from David Gemmell which I mentioned, as well as the Slayer novels from William king... you will definately NOT be disapointed.

Its too damn bad David Gemmell passed away last year, those Druss novels where gritty and showed a real side to war more so then any other sci-fi novel I have read. If there was any character more hardcore, and at the same time down to earth, then Conan... thats Druss.

[Cant_Be_Faded]

i thought chronicles sucked but Legends was amazing

Raistlin was one of the coolest characters of all time

[exstatic]

Alistaire Reynolds. Good hard sci-fi, semi-cyber-punk, excellent characters.

Start with Diamond Dogs/Turquoise Days, a double novella published under one cover. Warning: Diamond Dogs may give you nightmares. Then move to Chasm City. After that read the trilogy: Revelation Space, Redemption Ark, and Absolution Gap. These books are all set in a single universe/setting.

I'm now reading Century Rain, set in a different space/time. I keep only reading like 20 pages at a time, because I don't want it to be over. On deck: Pushing Ice. No idea what that's about, but looking forward to it.

Reynolds kicks ass. I cut my teeth on Asimov, Clarke, Herbert and the like, and he compares favorably.

[1369]

A few of my favorites (In no particular order):

Incarnations Of Immortality series: Piers Anthony

Time Enough For Love: Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers: RH
Stranger In A Strange Land: RH
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress: RH
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: RH

Old Man's War: John Scalzi

Hammer's Slammers: David Drake

The Forever War: John Haldeman

Fahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury

The Foundation Trilogy: Issac Asimov

Neuromancer: William Gibson

Snow Crash: Neal Stephenson

I'll come up with more later.

[tlongII]

Try reading Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker. There was a series of "Well World" books written by him. Some of the best science fiction/fantasy I've ever read.

[tlongII]

H.P. Lovecraft wrote some awesome stuff too, although probably more short stories.

[valluco]

:tu
The early Dragonlance books were alright... at least the Chronicles and Legends trilogies.

[valluco]

Dragonlance The Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur were good.

[leemajors]

i hear Kevin j Anderson has some awesome stuff!

[AlamoSpursFan]

Incarnations Of Immortality series: Piers Anthony

I wholeheartedly concur! Damn good series as was the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant The Unbeliever (http://www.stephenrdonaldson.com/) series by Stephen R. Donaldson.

[Silverheart80]

Hey, phyzik --

I don't post over here much at all, but I check out Spurstalk because I enjoy hearing what some of the fans over here have to say. I'm a longtime Spurs fan, and your thread here hit home, so I thought I'd drop a comment here.

My job is illustrating covers for sf/fantasy books. Saw your mention of Gemmell's Druss/Skilgannon books. Small world! I've done several of those covers. My favorites are the most recent US mass market paperback editions of LEGEND and ECHOES OF THE GREAT SONG. I did those covers several years back, when I was doing work that involved paint and photo combinations. These days, I don't use much photography in my work anymore, because I enjoy drawing and painting much more. Anyway, I mention those because you're a Gemmell reader....I agree with you that it was a real shame when David passed away too soon.

A few covers that I've done in recent years, for books that I thought were terrific reads....

A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (the HarperColllins/Eos trade edition, released in 2006).....this book's one of the all-time sf/literary classics. Bar none. I hugely recommend it.

GATEWAY by Frederik Pohl (the Ballantine/Del Rey trade edition, released in 2004)....another all-time classic.

FAST FORWARD 1 (edited by Lou Anders, Pyr, forthcoming February 2007)....Publishers Weekly has already given it an outstanding review (which is pretty rare for sf anthologies), and I think this is gonna be the standout sf anthology of 2007. Phenomenal new short stories by some of the best including Kage Baker, Stephen Baxter, Gene Wolfe, Robert Charles Wilson, Ken McLeod, Ian McDonald, Justina Robson, and many more. This is the kind of book that makes me proud to be associated with sf...some terrific, provocative stories here....you might want to look into this one, when it comes out next month.

GHOSTS OF COLUMBIA by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor, released in 2005)....collects two novels from his steampunk GHOST series....I have several friends that love this stuff....if you like Modesitt and you haven't read these, you might check this out....

Lots more, but those are the first off the top of my head....admittedly, they're mostly not over-the-top with action, but hopefully you might enjoy them anyway...

[leemajors]

on a serious note, gene wolfe has some great stuff - i recommend Shadow and Claw (First Book of the New Sun) as well as the sequel Sword and Citadel. Dense, but incredibly well written. lots of cheap used copies on amazon.

[1369]

Canticle For Leibowitz has been on my list for some time.

"Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card was a good read, but was too predictible in the end for me (Saw the ending coming about halfway through). "Enders Shadow" was a good read after "Game" as well as "Shadow Of The Hegemon" and "Speaker For The Dead" as followups.

Others I've read and liked:

"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman

"The Martian Race" by Gregory Benford

"Darwin's Radio" by Greg Bear

"Camouflage" by Joe Halderman

"A Fold In The Tent Of The Sky" by Michael Hale

"Bio Of A Space Tyrant" Series by Piers Anthony

"Red Branch" by Morgan Llywelyn

[ObiwanGinobili]

Salvatore is good, I've been wanting to read Ender's Game....

You need to read some Frank Herbert and Philip K Dick. My favorites of the genre.


Holy fuck - you havn't read enders game yet???
that book friggin rocks! :tu

and Salvatore is GOD. I have read every book opf his. every. one.

Terry Brooks is a writer I am just getting into right now, also the whole Wheel of Time series (robert jordan)

I was never into Star Wars books (preferred comics) untill the New Jedi Order series, which actually starts with a book by Salvatore : Vector Prime. thtas the one where Chewbaca dies.
NJO has 21 books if you include the 2 e-books. Very good series. It changes hands from writer to writer, mostly in Trilogy format, but it's excellent.

Ed Greenwood is one of my Fav, ForgottonRealms writers.

Also - Dragon Lance- Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, I've read all of their books. Highly recomend.




and Dune is a given.


ETA:
Ringworld
the Mote in gods eye

[ObiwanGinobili]

oh- am I the only one who LOVE the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony??
damn they maek me LMAO.

[leemajors]

j.v. jones is also good, and robin hobb is incredible - farseer trilogy, liveship traders trilogy, and the tawny man trilogy are great. soldier son trilogy is also good, third book is on the way.

[nickbroken]

George R.R. Martin, "A game of thrones", "A clash of kings", "A storm of swords", and "A feast for crows' the best fantasy books I have ever read, I fully believe the best fantasy writer out there today.

[LaMarcus Bryant]

A few of my favorites (In no particular order):

Incarnations Of Immortality series: Piers Anthony

Time Enough For Love: Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers: RH
Stranger In A Strange Land: RH
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress: RH
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls: RH

Old Man's War: John Scalzi

Hammer's Slammers: David Drake

The Forever War: John Haldeman

Fahrenheit 451: Ray Bradbury

The Foundation Trilogy: Issac Asimov

Neuromancer: William Gibson

Snow Crash: Neal Stephenson

I'll come up with more later.


Neuromancer was pretty fucking tight, Gibson practically invented the matrix like 25 years before the movie came out...i've read On a Pale Horse, which is part 1 of the incarnations of immortality, and it was pretty cool but i just can't see the other ones being as good so i didn't read any more of them.

They should have saved Death as the last in the series, not the first.

Is foundation trilogy really good?

[1369]

The Incarnation series went pretty much like you described it, but it held my attention (although I read it when it first came out).

I enjoyed the Foundation trilogy too.

If you liked "Neuromancer", try "Pattern Recognition".

[LaMarcus Bryant]

I want to read gibson's other cyberpunk novels, is that one of them?

[1369]

"Pattern Recognition" is, but not as "hard" as "Neuromancer".

"Count Zero" and "Mona Lisa Overdrive" make up the trilogy that "Neuromancer" started.

[pooh]

Hell - buy mine. :) Plus you'll get it signed.

[CubanMustGo]

Since this is a SF/Fantasy thread, hard to believe nobody has said anything about the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Read the books even if you've seen the movies, there's a lot in the books that didn't make it to the screen.

Dune - Frank Herbert - rocks. Lots more books in the series but Dune is by far the best.

2001, Arthur C. Clarke. Be warned that the further you go in the series (2061, ... 3001) the more watered down the writing gets.

Rendevous with Rama, AC Clarke. Again, sequels get bogged down in "humanity bad" crap.

Foundation Trilogy (Foundation/Foundation & Empire/Second Foundation) a bit dated but still a classic.

The Dream Park novels by Niven and Barnes are fun, especially for anyone who does fantasy gaming. Most of Niven's writing is top-notch, especially the Ringworld series. Not as fond of the Niven-Pournelle collaborations.

1633: Eric Flint. Alternate history with a twist - a West Virginia town finds itself plopped down in the middle of the Thirty Years' War (in 1633). A lot more fun than it sounds.

Islands in the Sea of Time, S. M. Stirling, as well as Conquistador. More alternate history, fun stuff.

1984, George Orwell.

The Martian Chronicles; Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

Gateway, Frederick Pohl.

A Song of Ice and Fire, George R. R. Martin. I hope he lives long enough to finish the damned series; it takes him more time each time he writes a sequel, and the last one told only half of the story.

The Once and Future King (Arthur), T. H. White.

Chalker's Well World series. The man had a twisted thing about morphing characters into different bodies/shapes but it's good stuff.

Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover series.

Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series (haven't read the newest) and Gap Into ... series.

The Dark Tower series, Stephen King. Just wow.

Just about anything from Terry Pratchett.

Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes.



OK, that's enough for now.

[phyzik]

Hey, phyzik --

I don't post over here much at all, but I check out Spurstalk because I enjoy hearing what some of the fans over here have to say. I'm a longtime Spurs fan, and your thread here hit home, so I thought I'd drop a comment here.

My job is illustrating covers for sf/fantasy books. Saw your mention of Gemmell's Druss/Skilgannon books. Small world! I've done several of those covers. My favorites are the most recent US mass market paperback editions of LEGEND and ECHOES OF THE GREAT SONG. I did those covers several years back, when I was doing work that involved paint and photo combinations. These days, I don't use much photography in my work anymore, because I enjoy drawing and painting much more. Anyway, I mention those because you're a Gemmell reader....I agree with you that it was a real shame when David passed away too soon.

A few covers that I've done in recent years, for books that I thought were terrific reads....

A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (the HarperColllins/Eos trade edition, released in 2006).....this book's one of the all-time sf/literary classics. Bar none. I hugely recommend it.

GATEWAY by Frederik Pohl (the Ballantine/Del Rey trade edition, released in 2004)....another all-time classic.

FAST FORWARD 1 (edited by Lou Anders, Pyr, forthcoming February 2007)....Publishers Weekly has already given it an outstanding review (which is pretty rare for sf anthologies), and I think this is gonna be the standout sf anthology of 2007. Phenomenal new short stories by some of the best including Kage Baker, Stephen Baxter, Gene Wolfe, Robert Charles Wilson, Ken McLeod, Ian McDonald, Justina Robson, and many more. This is the kind of book that makes me proud to be associated with sf...some terrific, provocative stories here....you might want to look into this one, when it comes out next month.

GHOSTS OF COLUMBIA by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. (Tor, released in 2005)....collects two novels from his steampunk GHOST series....I have several friends that love this stuff....if you like Modesitt and you haven't read these, you might check this out....

Lots more, but those are the first off the top of my head....admittedly, they're mostly not over-the-top with action, but hopefully you might enjoy them anyway...

Thats pretty sweet!!

Was it this one for Legend? Its the cover I got... (Wont mention your name if its yours, even though its on the back cover :toast )

http://www.johnpicacio.com/blogpics/legend.jpg

If so, its pretty much exactly how I imagined his axe Snaga :tu

On a side note, Im pleasantly suprised at the number of people who read sci-fi on ST... I thought for sure after CBF posted this would fall off the first page... definately gonna check out some of the books mentioned (the one's I havn't read anyway :reading )

[Silverheart80]

Right on, Physik. Yeah, that's my cover for LEGEND. Hey, I really appreciate the kind comment re: Snaga. Makes me feel good. :)

This month, I'm working on a cover for the third book in Mike Resnick's STARSHIP series. The first two are out from Pyr in hardcover. The first one is STARSHIP: MUTINY and the second is STARSHIP: PIRATE. These are really pulpy, fast-paced, wise-cracking space dramas. The first 2 books were really popular and have been selling well, and there will be five books in all for the series. You might check these out for fun escapism.

I saw Lamarcus' comment about NEUROMANCER. Yeah, that's a great one. If you like William Gibson, you might want to check out Charles Stross. His book ACCELARANDO has received a lot of critical love. I just turned in a cover to the Science Fiction Book Club for a 2-in-1 omnibus that will collect his books, THE ATROCITY ARCHIVES and THE JENNIFER MORGUE. These are really smart books and if you're an IT person, you'll love this stuff....think Ian Fleming meets H.P. Lovecraft, with heaping spoonfuls of geek-speak. Stross is one of the best writers of the latest sf wave. Check him out. If you're not a member of SFBC, I think you can still find TAA and TJM in hardcover via Amazon (except the covers on those editions are by Steve Montiglio, I believe).

Back to work....but yeah, I concur that it's terrific to see all of these ST folks who are knowledgeable about sf/fantasy. Very cool!

[LaMarcus Bryant]

How is Flowers for Algernon a sci fi/fantasy story?

[LaMarcus Bryant]

Also ya'll should check out some Aleister Crowley if ya'll are into fantasy

it blows those pussy Harry Potter books out of the water....plus he writes a cool book about Yoga.

[zero signal]

The Incarnation series went pretty much like you described it, but it held my attention (although I read it when it first came out).
The ones about the men were good. Death was my favorite, then Satan, War, and Time.

The ones on Fate, Nature and God are really :sleep but unfortunately contain a lot of important plot.



Dragonlance The Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur were good.
Those are both great books. :tu

I like just about everything pre-Age of Mortals. The Villains and Lost Legends series are my favorite supplementals.

I didn't like the direction taken after the original authors left, though.


oh- am I the only one who LOVE the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony??
damn they maek me LMAO.
I liked the earlier 1-10 books. After that they got too cute for my taste. Too many bad puns.

[ChumpDumper]

I haven't read much of this kind of literature since college and some Micheal Moorcock stuff. The last sci-fi I read was some interesting books by Walter Mosley, who is better known for his LA-based mysteries. They were called Blue Light and Futurewolrd. I just read realized he has one more out there called The Wave, but it doesn't sound quite as original as I remember the others.

Now I'm just reading a bunch of history and political bullshit.

[mookie2001]

The Alchemist is good

[CubanMustGo]

How is Flowers for Algernon a sci fi/fantasy story?

The setup is straight SF: making someone smarter through science. It's not typical SF but still fits on the edges.

[shelshor]

In no particular order:
William Gibson
Bruce Sterling
Howard Waldrop
Spider Robinson
Rudy Rucker--usually a hoot
CJ Cherryh--especially the Down Below Station universe and the Faded Sun trilogy
Orson Scott Card
Frank Herbert--in addition to Dune, check out "Whipping Star"
Robert Anton Wilson--both the Illumitatus trilogy, and the Historical Illuminatus

Older guys:
Theodore Sturgeon
Harlan Ellison
Clifford Simak
RH Heinlein