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dr wu23

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Posted: December 08 2013 at 13:39

Decent list

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_Fiction:_The_100_Best_Novels

One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin

BrufordFreak View Drop Down

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Posted: December 08 2013 at 13:12

WOW! Awesome, guys! I cannot wait to get started!

Not being a huge fiction reader for the past 30 years, please excuse me if I don't get through this list of your recommendations any time soon. I think I'm gonna start with Banks' Culture series. But I hope to try something from all of these writers.

THANKS!

Drew Fisher
https://progisaliveandwell.blogspot.com/

dr wu23

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Posted: December 08 2013 at 12:48

Toaster Mantis wrote:

If you don't mind an (at first) extremely unsympathetic protagonist Alfred Bester's The Stars, My Destination is worth a read. It's got a well-constructed, action-packed plot and an outlandish yet well thought-out universe... not to mention that most important, the concept and storytelling aspects are equally well-handled. A similar situation applies to the same author's The Demolished Man.

I'm kind of odd in that I by far prefer the 1960s New Wave Science Fiction style (and its cyberpunk successors) to the "golden age" of the genre, though, except authors like Alfred Bester who foreshadowed the New Wave.

Bester's 2 novels are indeed worth reading and remind me a little of PK Dick.

One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin

Toaster Mantis View Drop Down

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Posted: December 08 2013 at 12:22

If you don't mind an (at first) extremely unsympathetic protagonist Alfred Bester's The Stars, My Destination is worth a read. It's got a well-constructed, action-packed plot and an outlandish yet well thought-out universe... not to mention that most important, the concept and storytelling aspects are equally well-handled. A similar situation applies to the same author's The Demolished Man.

I'm kind of odd in that I by far prefer the 1960s New Wave Science Fiction style (and its cyberpunk successors) to the "golden age" of the genre, though, except authors like Alfred Bester who foreshadowed the New Wave.

"The past is not some static being, it is not a previous present, nor a present that has passed away; the past has its own dynamic being which is constantly renewed and renewing." - Claire Colebrook

sleeper

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Posted: December 08 2013 at 11:57

Anne McAffrey's Dragon Riders of Pern series is an excellent, at least up until the more recent books (I'd stay away from anything written by/with her son Todd).

Spending more than I should on Prog since 2005

dr wu23

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Joined: August 22 2010
Location: Indiana
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Posted: December 08 2013 at 11:22

BrufordFreak wrote:

I am periodically interested in reading GOOD science fiction. Any recommendations?

Past favorites include:

Frank Herbert's Dune series

Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land

Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles

Isaac Asimov's 2001 series

Madeleine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time quintet

Ursula LeGuinn's Earthsea series

Dan Simmons' Hyperion series

Orson Scott Card's Ender and Shadow Series

J.K. Rawling's Harry Potter series

It does not have to be a series, a single book title is quite welcome. Thanks!

I've been reading sci-fi for over 45 years...........here are a few of my favorites though it's just the tip of the iceberg and there are so many good ones I can't even recall now.

Iain Banks- The Culture 'series'; they are all superb but you might want to start at the beginning. Very literate sci-fi and imo equal to anything by Asimov, Clarke, Herbert.

Michael Moorcock- The Dancers At The End of Time series and/or The Elric saga...part fantasy part sci-fi and fun to read.

PK Dick- Martian Time Slip, 3 Stigmata, Maze of Death, Ubik, etc...brilliant surreal sci-fi with plenty of existential angst.

Robert Holdstock- Mythago Wood series; fantasy but set in a reality situation where one can slip into another world.

Zelazny- Nine Princes In Amber; my personal favorite fantasy/sci-fi series . Not like any other fantasy novel you might read. Again the hero slips back and forth between our modern world and alternate realities or 'shadow worlds'.

F Paul Wilson- Repairman Jack series...totally unique anti-hero who helps people caught up in 'occult' trouble...Stephen King is a fan...'nuff said?

Jim Butcher- The Dresden Files...a series about a contemporary adult wizard who lives in Chicago and fights evil with the help of a local cop and some friends.

happy reading..............btw I have read everything you mentioned except for the Ender series which I have been meaning to read for 20 years.