Be Excellent To Each Other

Hallo!

Just curious as to what your favourites might be, chaps. Please reel off everything you consider essential.

I recently read 'The Dispossessed' by Ursula Le Guin, which was a very allegorical, sociological sort of story, and while I thought it was great and very cleverly written, it's kind of put me in the mood for a trashier "So there's these fucking battlerobots. How messed up is that?" kind of experience. RMD, please!

The Gap Series

Malc

If you haven't read the Foundation/Robot series by Asimov, then I'd say they were a must. Also the Rama saga by Arthur C Clarke.

Richard Morgan's Kovacs series... Altered Carbon is the first.

Ha, I've just finished reading the first Foundation book, which handily had an order they should be read in in the frontispiece. You should start with the robot ones, really, as they were written in a sporadic fashion over Asimov's life and not in any chronological fashion, but it's no easy undertaking as there are about 15 or 20 books in total.


Not at all trashy really, but one of my all time favourite SciFi novels is Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, which is excellent.

Well, yes and no. Explaining further would spoil it for you, however.

Not for me personally. I should have said "re-reading" though the fact that I read last thing at night means I have less than total recall on most of the books so I've handily forgotten a lot of the narrative soup.

Snow Crash, obviously.

Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle: Cryptonomicon (split between WWII and the modern day), and Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System Of The World (a linked trilogy with the ancestors of the characters in Cryptonomicon, set in the late 17th century). It's arguable whether they are sci-fi at all due to the historical novel setting, but they are entirely concerned with the impact of science and technology on the world (the three 17th Century novels span the period characterised by the likes of Newton, Hooke and Leibniz; from the end of the Renaissance to the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution and modern financial systems). As such, you'll certainly find them in the sci-fi section of your local book store.

They are the best books I've ever read, bar none. Incredibly intricate and detailed, with a case of dozens of major characters, but levened by Stephenson's dry wit and clever eye for detail. Also contains one of the most thrilling actions scenes I've ever read, in the form of a massive battle between a dozen motley escaped slave (including a huge Russian human tank, a ronin, a Dutch marine captain, an English vagabond, and many more) and a ton of English soldiers in the Casbah.

Very long too -- each of those four volumes is a thousand pages or so. Incredibly worth reading.

Well in that case, you do know that


Please don't read the above if you haven't read the series and plan to do so. It's probably the biggest spoiler ever.

And don't reply either as it's exposes the spoiler text. Fortunately for Myoptika's future wellbeing I did know this

I knew that. Zeroth law, yeah? I had a massive Asimov binge in my youth, via my local library; I read about 80% of everything he'd written over the space of a few years, including all the Robot short stories and novels, and the Empire and Foundation books and their associated bits and pieces.

When I was 17 I had a paper round. I spent the money from that almost exclusively on books and computer games.

All the books I bought (fiction) are to do with scifi/fantasy/horror. I must have bought about 500 of them from that age till about 23, reading about 2/3 books a week.

Of course moving out of parents flat and having kids put an end to all that...

Malc

This is excellent.

Also,

Snow Crash, as mentioned.

'Spares', by Michael Marshall Smith

'Vurt' by Jeff Noon (though this is a sort of psychadelic cyberpunk)

I've only read One Of Us so far. Him and Richard Morgan are on my "buy this already" list.

No-one has mentioned Charlie Stross. The Atrocity Archive and The Jennifer Morgue are great, as is Accelerando.

Also, Iain M Banks writes the best modern space opera, trufax.

How could I forget Banks.

I bet you were the neighbourhoods oldest paperboy!@

None of these are particularly BANG BANG ROBOT RAA books, but I also like:

"Kil'n People" by David Brin

"Stone" by Adam Roberts (almost any of his are good... 'Land of the Headless' is another one I liked)

"Camp Concentration" is also an absolute classic, written by Thomas M Disch.

Nah, there was some guy who did about 4 rounds in his car. he was about 50. There were 4 kids and this guy. My younger brother and me, and 2 other kids (who were also brothers, but not related to us) they were both older than me.

So, not even the oldest for the newsagent that I worked for. And there were at least 10 other newsagents within walking distance of my flat.

Malc

Just re-read all Altered Carbon and the other two....

You realsie how hard Tak Kovacs is... I so want envoy conditioning

Michael Marshall Smith (also published as Michael Marshall) is probably my favourite author ever.

"Only Forward" is the other one of the three he wrote at that point in his career. It was, until very recently, my fave book ever.

If you like a wonderfully rich steampunk book - "Perdido Street Station" by the ever-wonderful China Mieville is another in my top two or three books ever.

"The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell is a harrowing one - it's the story of a Jesuit mission to another inhabited planet, and what happens when they finally meet the 'aliens'. Here's a clue; it all goes fine for a bit, then horribly wrong.

The Charles Stross books are good. "The Atrocity Archive" and then "The Jennifer Morgue" are really good sci-fi spy pastiches. "Halting State" is a very good cyber-thriller. "Singularity Sky" can be a bit much like hard work at times though. A very hard sf book.

Of course, then there's always stuff like "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley, etc etc etc.

If this has anythign to do with

Not at all.

It's a novel about faith and clashes of culture, in a space exploration setting. It's never too heavy handed though, like the suggestion you just made.

Peter Hamilton's Nights Dawn Trilogy: Sexy space opera with interesting ideas and the undead...VERY LONG
Perter Hamilton's Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained: Sexy space opera with interesting ideas and a very alien threat

Stephen Baxter's Origin Series: V.Hard Sci Fi, very, very bleak (but excellent)
Stephen Baxter's Time Ships: Sequel to The Time Machine, most excellent indeedy

What's he all about then, because I've avoieded him so far due to his stupid name and looking like a bit of a cock on the telly.

How to describe...

Well, most of his books (Perdido Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council) are set in one world (Bas Lag), but you don't need to know anything of them to read the others. The main city, New Crobuzon, is a steampunk kind of place, where people can be 'Remade' according to their crimes, which often include mechanical or animal parts being included in their body. Several races live there, including people who are cactuses, and others who are insect types. The first book is a sprawling book, featuring a moderately large cast, and it creates this world more convincingly than any other I have read. There's some magic in there too (sort of), but it's a gothic steampunk sf/fantasy book written with incredible emotion, and without pussying out on interesting endings and fates for certain characters.

Also, that actually is his name, so it's not an affectation.

Yeah, Iain M Banks stuff can be good, but he does put toe curlingly awful sex scenes in unecessarily. Which makes it less good. Excession is good, as is Consider Phlebas.

Anything by Philip K Dick is a good sci fi novel.

I quite like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep which inspired Bladerunner.

Thanks for all the input, folks! Much appreciated. A lot of this stuff I do already own, but my shopping list has still grown exponentially this evening, hehe. Definitely picking up Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash as soon as I can; I'd been umming and ahhing about those for a while.

Anybody have any thoughts on the Vorkosigan Saga (particularly 'Falling Free') or the Mars trilogy? Cheers.

Fucking Oh ar.

Frank Herbert's Dune - ignore the follow-ups if you want to - they're great, but the first can stand alone.

Isaaaaaac Aaaasimov's Foundation - I've only read the first, and will read more eventually, but the first is acebest.

H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds - still a magnificent piece of storytelling. Still neatly understated, with a uniquely intelligent-yet-ordinary protagonist who is almost the polar opposite of Tom 'Cunting' Cruise.

H.G. Wells' The Sleeper Awakes - the grandfather of almost every 'future society' story and film, and still a damned good read. An insomniac falls into a slumber for 200 years, and when he wakes up, investments made on his behalf by friends have made him basically the owner of society, which is run by an elitist cabal who keep the masses oppressed in lives of drudgery, working to maintain the ultra-huge cities (while the countryside rots - Wells predicted the supremacy of mass transit rather than affordable private cars), whose only sustaining hope is that the Sleeper will one day awake and set them free. Classic stuff, rarely bettered. Bit weak at the end, but hey ho.

Pretty much any Wells sci-fi, in fact. Unlike a lot of innovators, his work was strong enough to be excellent even without the originality, and even his weaker books are interesting in parts and effortlessly readable. And that's just the sci-fi - he did loads more besides.

John Wyndham's The Chryssalids - excellent far-future post-apocalypse tale about genetic mutation, religious dogma, and human potential. Full of typical Wyndham social commentary and theorising, but never at the expense of the story or characters. I'd recommend most of Wyndham's work, too - he always struck me as a spiritual successor to Wells (and arguably the predecessor of Michael Crichton), always striking a perfect balance between intellectual discussion and compelling storytelling.

The Seeds of Time - Wyndham's short stories, a bunch of them about spacey things, but mostly very good regardless.

The Red Dwarf books. They run in parallel to the series in parts, but there are vast differences and a generally coherent narrative and plot holding them together, and the themes and characters are still comical, but are handled with a more serious and in-depth touch than the series, and offer some clever and thought-provoking ideas while entertaining you instead of showing off.

I realise most of these aren't spacey, but y'know, it's all just the same stuff in a floaty tin can.

Hold the fuck on there man.



Look me in the swollen, bloodshot eye and say you think Chapterhouse and Heretics were good.

I've not read Chapter house, and it's been about ten years since I read Heretics. I remember God Emperor being interesting for some reason, but that's about it.

I'll sum up chapter house for you: Duncan Idaho trapped in a no-ship for fucking years while fuck all happens then they fuck off nowhere.

Heretics: Fuck all happens, a woman loves worms, hungry man eats some soup and goes batshit.

Hang on, are you saying Herbert ripped off James Joyce?

In fact, God Emperor: worm-Leto wonders stuff, rolls on Duncan Idaho a few times.

Based upon recommendations from people with good taste in books, I recently read the below Science Fiction books and can thoroughly commend them to all:

A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Fire_Upon_the_Deep

Light, by M John Harrison
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_(novel)

The Stars My Destination (AKA Tiger, Tiger), by Alfred Bester
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Stars_My_Destination

All 100% excellent.

Blake-inspired sci-fi? Holy fuck. Sold.

I personally didn't like The Diamond Age, but I did read it about ten years ago and had very different tastes at the time. It just went on and on about calligraphy and stuff, which bored me.

Seconded

It is astonishingly ahead of its time. Its time being 1956. Astonishingly.

But, whatever you do, don't read The Demolished Man. It is pish.

Les Misérables: ex-convict meets kindly bishop, hijinks ensue.

Simply put one the greatest SF books ever written. Funny, savage, mesmerising, thrilling and thought provoking - and slim! Also has one of the bestest anti-heroes ever. Also read 'The Demolished Man' by the same author, which is all of the above too.

The Man-Kzin Wars series entertained me thoroughly in the early 90s, a series of short stories set in Larry Niven's excellent 'Known Space' universe, which had a lot of interesting technology and aliens to discover.

I second the Red Dwarf books as well... they provide an interesting, more in-depth tale of the crew's adventures that the hardened fan (like myself) will find fascinatingly different. Small aspects of some episodes are spun out into massive story arcs, for example.

The film adaptation with Stallone wasn't much cop, either.

Knackered as I was when I posted I didn't actually see Sir Hugh's qualifier.

He's wrong of course, I really enjoyed it. Though to be honest now I think about it Demolish Man ISN'T quite as good as Stars/Tiger Tiger.

Also read Ray Bradbury 'The Martian Chronicles'.

The Forever War's deffo worth a punt. A Vietnam allegory that has some relevance today, too. And it's an interesting take on spacechips and space travel.