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Minimalist777 View Drop Down
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    Posted: August 15 2006 at 21:25
Lets discuss the great literary genre of Science Fiction! I recently have been getting into it. So far I have read some Orson Scott Card (Enders Game), H.G. Wells (The Time Machine) and several short stories (Asmiov, Bradbury, Vogt amoung others) Currently I am reading The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock. What is everyon else currently reading Sci-Fi wise and what is everyones favorite novels in the genre?
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Points: 336 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 15 2006 at 21:30
Well.....i don't have big experience in Science Fiction Novels...But recently i purchased Rama(adventure game) an old Sierra Classic and was introduced to Arthur C. Clarke's novels...I was really amazed....Those books are really great Smile
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Points: 2822 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 15 2006 at 22:37
I don't normally read science fiction, although I'm a big fan of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series.  But I'm currently reading, in rather a desultory fashion, Robert Heinlein's Stranger In a Strange Land.
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Points: 3839 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 15 2006 at 22:52
Gotta love some SF!

I just finished the first 2 books of the Dune series, and I'm now on the 3rd.
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Points: 34550 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 15 2006 at 23:16
Originally posted by zappaholic zappaholic wrote:

I don't normally read science fiction, although I'm a big fan of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide series.  But I'm currently reading, in rather a desultory fashion, Robert Heinlein's Stranger In a Strange Land.
 
 
 
Hitchhikers Guide  is great. I remember getting "stuck" with one of those stories in 10th grade English class....and it turned out I loved it.
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Points: 2383 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 00:24
Philip K. Dick is the man.
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Points: 89372 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 00:54
I like H.G. Wells.  What a great writer and thinker of his day!  His stories are also rather prophetic today as well.

I've yet to really explore any further into the genre yet however.  I did read an Asimov short story once though and it was excellent (not especially science fiction though).
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Equality 7-2521 View Drop Down
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 01:08
Kurt Vonnegut's work in general is just amazing, but his sci-fi work in particular really blows me away. He's one of the few sci-fi authors to really employ a strong sense of comedy into his art.
 
Here's an excellent short story of his:
 
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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Points: 89372 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 01:09
Thanks for reminding me, Equality 7-2521!

I picked up a Kurt Vonnegut novel in the charity shop the other day and I'll try and read it soon, once I've finished some of my other reads.
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Equality 7-2521 View Drop Down
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 16:11
^^
 
If I may ask, what work did you pick up?
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Points: 1014 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 16:40

Hitchhikers Guide is of course a classic and so is Dune (2 entirely different entities), but I think a science fiction thread wouldn't be complete without mentioning William Gibson (Neuromancer!). Honourable mention to Larry Niven and his Ringworld trilogy also.
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Points: 4088 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 16:43
The Dune cycle is great.  The Darkover cycle is also great (by Marion Zimmer Bradley).  In fact, I am writing a prog epic based on the Darkover cycle.  Will be in the twenty something minutes...
 
I am also an Asimov nut.  Man was he ahead of his time.
 
But at the present, my favorite author has to be Neil Gaiman.  Read 'Neverwhere', 'Stardust' and 'American Gods'.  Man is he good !
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darksinger View Drop Down
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Points: 1091 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 17:45
i sporadically read science fiction, although as of lately i'm in a lovecraft mood. my interests tend towards older, darker sci-fi, as i find there's too much "learned" stuff in recent science fiction. i have a rather large collection of 50's. 60's and 70's sci fi books with such authors as pel torro, perry rhodan and jeffery lloyd castle and titles such as "galaxy 666", "the not-men", and "the secret of the black planet". i think i might start hauling them to school when i sub this year and read them all. they look like quick reads in most cases...
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VanderGraafKommandöh View Drop Down
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Points: 89372 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 17:48
Originally posted by Equality 7-2521 Equality 7-2521 wrote:

^^
 
If I may ask, what work did you pick up?


The Sirens of Titan.
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The Wizard View Drop Down
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Points: 7341 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 17:53
Childhoods End by Arthur C. Clarke is an essential piece of literature. I seriously recommend this to all. A must have and quite possibly my favorite book.
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Points: 7341 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 17:55
Originally posted by darksinger darksinger wrote:

i sporadically read science fiction, although as of lately i'm in a lovecraft mood. my interests tend towards older, darker sci-fi, as i find there's too much "learned" stuff in recent science fiction. i have a rather large collection of 50's. 60's and 70's sci fi books with such authors as pel torro, perry rhodan and jeffery lloyd castle and titles such as "galaxy 666", "the not-men", and "the secret of the black planet". i think i might start hauling them to school when i sub this year and read them all. they look like quick reads in most cases...
 
I've been reading lots of Lovecraft lately, my dad has a ton of his stuff so I just read his books. Some of the best stuff I have ever read!
 
"Children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse."

-H.P. Lovecraft
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VanderGraafKommandöh View Drop Down
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Points: 89372 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 17:59
Sounds more like Rico, than Lovecraft  Wink
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Minimalist777 View Drop Down
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Points: 293 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 18:32

Lol, yeah I totally forgot to list the Dune series in stuff I had read. The first book is great! Oddly I have not gotten around to finishing any of the other books of the series, same thing happened to me with Enders Game. I need to just finish both those series someday.



Edited by Minimalist777 - August 16 2006 at 18:32
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maani View Drop Down
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Points: 2632 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 19:06

The classics are always good: Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Heinlein, Herbert, LeGuin, Niven, Vonnegut, Wells.  You might also want to try A.E. Van Vogt, who was probably the greatest sci-fi short story writer ever.

However, Logos and I agree: if you have not read Philiip Dick, you have not read some of the best science fiction ever written.  Whether it is his stunning short stories - well over 200 of them (including, by the way, Minority Report, Imposter, Total Recall, Paycheck and Screamers) - or his novels - over 35 of them (including, among others, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (i.e., Blade Runner) and A Scanner Darkly) - PKD grabs you and doesn't let you go.  And he "stays" with you for quite some time...

Peace.
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Equality 7-2521 View Drop Down
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Points: 15784 		Direct Link To This Post Posted: August 16 2006 at 19:23
Originally posted by The Wizard The Wizard wrote:

Originally posted by darksinger darksinger wrote:

i sporadically read science fiction, although as of lately i'm in a lovecraft mood. my interests tend towards older, darker sci-fi, as i find there's too much "learned" stuff in recent science fiction. i have a rather large collection of 50's. 60's and 70's sci fi books with such authors as pel torro, perry rhodan and jeffery lloyd castle and titles such as "galaxy 666", "the not-men", and "the secret of the black planet". i think i might start hauling them to school when i sub this year and read them all. they look like quick reads in most cases...
 
I've been reading lots of Lovecraft lately, my dad has a ton of his stuff so I just read his books. Some of the best stuff I have ever read!
 
"Children will always be afraid of the dark, and men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars, or press hideously upon our own globe in unholy dimensions which only the dead and the moonstruck can glimpse."

-H.P. Lovecraft
 
 
Never thought of Lovecraft as a sci-fi writer. I always saw him as a seminal figure in the horror genre.
 
 
And to Geck0, that's one of his stronger novels, you'll enjoy it thoroughly.
"One had to be a Newton to notice that the moon is falling, when everyone sees that it doesn't fall. "
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