Parliament10 wrote:SMTBSI wrote:Ima right a short story where literally everything posted on twitter is true. Contradictions, impossibilities, all of it. It's gonna be a sci-fi comedy horror sports romance starring coach mang, Celtics History Lesson, Pogue Mahone, and several of Constable's lesser known egos.Fencer reregistered wrote:Poul Anderson once wrote a book whose premise was that everything Shakespeare wrote was true, from Prospero's Isle to Fortinbras' cannon. The premise sort of worked. Not among my 10 favorite books of his, however.SMTBSI wrote:Well, if you've read enough Poul Anderson to have a top 10, let me ask you:
What are some of your favorite sci-fi novels, by any author, that I've likely not read?Fencer reregistered wrote:I don't know anything about your reading habits, other than that you seem to know who Poul Anderson, but for starters and in no particular order:
-- Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series is amazing. Miles is my favorite dwarf character, Tyrion Lannister not excepted.
-- If you haven't read Leguin's Left Hand of Darkness, it's one of the greats.
-- Samuel Delany's Babel-17 is as great as his other books without the tediousness that can creep in.
-- I love Zelazny, who could write pure fantasy (Amber series) or do similar stuff in SF (the delightful Lord of Light or the great but depressing This Immortal). His novella A Rose For Ecclesiastes was one of the things that first hooked me on SF. Lord of Light is an amazing romp: Space travelers reinvent Hinduism (with functioning reincarnation) and are evil despots. One of their number reinvents Buddhism to lead a revolution.
-- In general, the Science Fiction Hall of Fame is a lot of what hooked me. Vols 2A and 2B were even better than Vol 1.
-- Niven/Pournelle was a great collaboration. Mote in God's Eye was their best.
-- Generally I love Niven's hard SF. And one of his best stories, Inconstant Moon, can be found plagiarized online.
-- Brin's Practice Effect is a fun, fantasy-like romp.
-- Also on the light side, Piers Anthony's first six Blue Adept books are fun. But stop with the series right there.
-- I really liked John Brunner's work back in the day, notably Shockwave Rider. That might seem dated now, however; I haven't read it for decades. His fantasy Traveler in Black is woefully underrated.
-- In straight fantasy with strong Earth history analogues, I really like G. G. Kay's A Song For Arbonne and Turtledove's Videssos series.
I also edited some of my wife's paranormal erotic romances, one of which was a top seller on Amazon, but I'm going to guess your taste doesn't run in that direction.SMTBSI wrote:Actually never read any Poul Anderson, which is why I asked: if you've got a full top-10 by an author I haven't even gotten to yet, you were likely way better read than I.
At this point, I've mostly been exposed to the big names classics that are readily findable in any book store. Asimov, Clarke, Herbert, Bradbury, Heinlein, Le Guin (Left Hand is certainly an all-time favorite), Dick, etc. Some Niven/Pournelle, including Mote+sequel and Footfall. Bester - The Stars My Destination. Still on the lookout for The Demolished Man.
I'm mostly thrifting these days. Last haul included my first exposure to Harlan Ellison and Delany. Babel-17 has been on my list for a while, per an earlier recommendation, but haven't found it yet. Not much modern stuff, but The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi was absolutely excellent.
Either way, you've got a couple names in there I've definitely never heard of, which was the goal. So, thank you very much.Fencer reregistered wrote:Got it. You're welcome.
Poul Anderson was one of those guys who wrote both hard SF and fantasy. His fantasy was more memorable. If you can find his anthology with 5 novellas including Goat Song and Queen of Air and Darkness, they're awesome. (Fantasy in spirit; technically SF.) Tau Zero is my my favorite straight SF novel by him. Three Hearts and Three Lions is one of his fun fantasies, as is one whose name I'm now forgetting about a witch and a werewolf in a magic-heavy alternate WW2 and beyond. The Man Who Counts (straight SF) is the most memorable of his van Rijn books/stories.
Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series is one of the all time classics (I think the first was called To Your Scattered Bodies Go, but check). Ditto Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight series, if you don't mind that 4 of the first 6 books have female protagonists. (I think that's the name of the first book.)
Spider Robinson's Callahan's Saloon story collections were fun ... uh, you do like puns, don't you?
I'll stop now.Bad-Thoma wrote:I'm not as well read as either of you apparently but am a sci-fi/fantasy go to as well, if you're looking for something more modern The Expanse novels by James S.A. Corey are good fun. I know we're in the wrong thread though.floyd wrote:Recommendation for The Three-Body Problem. Hard Sci-fi from a Chinese author (Cixin Liu). Slow pacing but I really enjoyed the series.yosemiteben wrote:Totally off topic but I loved that series, highly recommended.Curmudgeon wrote:I love the Expanse, both in print and on the screen. My other faves are CJ Cherryh's Faded Sun Trilogy and her Morgaine Cycle, and of course Asimov's Foundation trilogy. I'd also love to see a movie of Cherryh's Serpent's Reach, to let the guys and gals at WETA Digital have a go at the Majat, her alien species from that book.CavemanDoctor wrote:Netflix has greenlit the production of a The Three-Body Problem series by the way. Created by the creators of Game of Thrones. Just FYI!Fencer reregistered wrote:While we're on filmed adaptations of great book series, His Dark Materials is VASTLY better than the movie was. Season 1 did suffer from lack of budget, specifically in that humans' intertwining with daemons wasn't clear, and similarly a little in the bear/armor area. But otherwise it was excellent. Little of the acting was scenery-chewing brilliant, but this is a story where almost every important character has important internal conflict, and the actors and writers were consistently effective at capturing that.
I base that all on Season 1, but my wife tells me Season 2 recently started.
Y'all should check out Octavia Butler. She was an African-American Feminist Sci-Fi Writer.
Most of her Protagonists are African-American Women.
She wrote a number of really great series of books. The Pattermaster Series (of 5 books), Xenogenesis Trilogy, Parable Series.
Though, her most acclaimed work is Kindred, ironically a solo novel.
Here's the Wikipedia link detailing her works and life. It's mostly accurate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octavia_E._Butler
She was a fantastic Writer. Unfortunately, she passed in 2006.
I don't know too many African-American Women, who wrote as well as her, in the Sci-Fi genre.
I'm actually working on the Parable of the Sower right now
that is all