Sci/ Fi Readers! I need your help

[EndersDame]

I have always loved sci fi since I first saw Star Wars and then I moved on to Star Trek and loved that it could have an intellectual side as well.
And then I met my boyfriend who turned me on to Sci Fi Lit and now he is going to have some text:time on his hands and I would like to send him some books. Trouble is he is such a voracious reader it is hard to find a book he hasn't read if y'all are in the know about some recent (with in the past couple of years or new releases ) or obscure sci fi book or simply an author I havent mentioned let me know!
He likes Orson Scott Card Terry Pratchett Robert Heinlein Spider Robinson Peter F Hamilton some Neil Gaiman Isaac Asimov and Douglas Adams


Thank Y'all So much!

[Salviati]

1. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan is great if he hasn't read it yet

First in a 3 book series.

I assume he's read Neal Stephenson, but if he hasn't there's another great author to check out.

Also Vernor Vinge, Deepness in the Sky and Fire upon the Deep in particular, Rainbow's End is also worth checking out.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

41. Yes, a phenomenal first novel!

[JeffR]

2. He may well know both of these writers, but if not,

I'd recommend both Brian Aldiss and the late and very great JG Ballard.

[Ian David]

3. I don't help fans of that fascist Orson Scott Card. n/t

[EndersDame]

11. I know he is a political whack job but like mel gibson

I still like some of the books (and movies) he makes I really liked Enders Game and Pastwatch since learning that he uses his money for Prop H8 I resolved only to check out his books from the library

[MuseRider]

35. I love his books

and was tolerant to a point until he actively started working against Marriage Equality. I am done with him now. Stopped right in the middle of one of his books. I loved his books and this makes me very sad but there is a point that I can't cross. Once he went from opinion to actively working against equality I was over it.

[LuvNewcastle]

4. I don't read a lot of SciFi, but I like Greg Bear.

[MrModerate]

5. John Courtney Grimwood is massively cool. Have him check out the . . .

Arabesk trilogy. Peter McAuley is also very good. Can't say enough about Richard K. Morgan. He's a sci-fi god. Altered Carbon and Black Man are great.

P.S.: You might have noticed a certain animosity toward OSCard on this site. That's because his social/political opinions are considered deplorable by most DUers and that has led to a defacto fatwa against his fiction, which only sorta reflects his odious beliefs. I myself can't read him for that reason, although I did before he started spouting evil nonsense on the Web.

[EndersDame]

12. I still watch Mel Gibson movies

sinceI learned OSC uses his $$$ to support prop H8 I have resolved only to check out his boooks from the library.I think that closing yourself completly to the other political side (such as RWers boycotting Dixie Chicks ) is not in the best interest. I can also set aside the artist from the art (Jerry Lee Lewis was a inscestous pedophile but that does not make him any less of a genius or makes my behind wiggle any less when I hear his music. I also think that some of the imagery that Leni Reifensthal used was absolutely brilliant even though she was Nazi scum

[MrModerate]

17. The sci-fi community is, IMO, skewed toward the liberal and/or libertarian direction . . .

And so a downright homophobe just doesn't go down well.

I could always take or leave Mel Gibson, and now I just leave 'im. I do think we should take note of what the "other side" has to say, but that doesn't necessarily extend to reading their screeds in detail or patronizing their commercial endeavors.

There have always been brilliant but sociopathic artists and I agree, you should try to separate the work from the worker, but since fiction is entirely discretionary, I don't feel especially bad if someone's discretion is toward authors whose real-world opinions don't make you want to puke.

[EndersDame]

18. Oh I agree I barely got through an Ayn Rand novel

I met a conservative star trek fan and was completely flabbergasted

[LunaSea]

6. Stanislaw Lem

Some of his titles are a bit harder to find than American or British sf these days,
but quite worth the effort.

Check out the titles list and descriptions-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanis%C5%82aw_Lem

[Fumesucker]

7. Poul Anderson, AC Clarke, Norman Spinrad...

Larry Niven, Vernor Vinge, Lois McMaster Bujold, Jack Williamson, Fred Pohl, Connie Willis, SM Stirling, Joe Haldeman, Allen Steele, John Varley, Mike Resnick, Harry Turtledove, Nancy Kress, George RR Martin, Ian M Banks, Michael F Flynn, James Blish, Alfred Bester, Theodore Sturgeon, Roger Zelazny, Clifford Simak, John Brunner, Joan D Vinge, Philip Jose Farmer, Harlan Ellison, Bryan Aldiss, Robert Silverburg, CJ Cherryh, David Brin, Kim Stanley Robinson, Alexi Panshin..

I tend to like dystopias and military SF, but much of Card and Heinlein is in that vein so here are a few titles, mostly classic SF but stuff that modern readers may not be familiar with.

Courtship Rite by Donald Kingsbury (a dystopia so severe that it is immoral *not* to be a cannibal)

Man Kzin Wars I through XII by various authors (based on a universe and characters by Larry Niven)

Marching Through Georgia, Under the Yoke, The Stone Dogs, Drakon by SM Stirling

A Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness In the Sky by Vernor Vinge

A Canticle For Leibowitz by Walter M Miller Jr.

Ensign Flandry, A Circus Of Hells, A Stone In Heaven, A Knight Of Ghosts and Shadows, The Game Of Empire, The Avatar by Poul Anderson

The Mote In God's Eye, The Gripping Hand, Footfall, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

The Dosadi Experiment, The White Plague by Frank Herbert

[Mz Pip]

33. Norman Spinrad's

"Bug Jack Barron." A novel of the future written in 1969 set in 1999.

It's been re issued and is certainly worth the read.

[krispos42]

8. Oh, I have a couple

Harry Turtledove:

The WorldWar series. 4 books, with a 3-book follow-up that takes place 20 years later.

Plot summary: In spring of 1942, with the Western Europe under Nazi occupation, German soldiers marching towards Moscow, and the Japanese pushing the US across the Pacific... space aliens invade. Their military technology is about as advanced as our current state-of-the-art stuff, bullets and jet fighters and guided missiles. It's written from the viewpoints of many characters of different nationalities, faiths, and ethnicities, including ghetto Jews. Turtledove has a doctorate in history and he researched the hell out of this. He's also a very prolific writer and has written numerous bestselling books and won major sci-fi awards.

A World of Difference is a standalone novel by him as well that's a good sci-fi read. It's an alternative-history novel, where the 4th planet from the Sun is not dry, lifeless Mars, but Minerva, an Earth-sized planet with a breathable atmosphere and intelligent life. The plot of the story is first contact by a US and a USSR spaceship and the challenges and rivalries they face.



David Feintuch

The Seafort Saga. Seven books total; I've read the first four. (I'm a bit behind).

Plot summary: The series starts with the story of a midshipman on a United Nations starship in the 22nd Century heads out on his first voyage. The traditions and practices are based on the 19th-century Royal Navy, i.e., harsh. But the first book, MIdshipman's Hope is a pretty absorbing read. It's a bit hard to put down.



David Drake

He writes military sci-fi, and one book, Ranks of Bronze, is about a defeated Roman legion being sold into slavery... to an advanced alien merchantile corporation that needs low-tech (muscle-driven weapons only) soldiers in its dealings with low-tech civilizations. I haven't read this one yet but I want to.

Drake edited a book in the same "universe" called Foreign Legions, also a good read.

He also wrote a book called "Starliner", about a one of the largest passenger starships from the point of view of a newly-assigned officer. During their several stops there are several adventures, including war tensions building up between two human planets.



William R. Forstchen

He wrote a 9-book series called The Lost Regiment, about a Union regiment from the Civil War being lost in the Bermuda Triange and re-appearing on an alien planet inhabited by the descendents of other people lost in history. Russians, Romans, Carthenians, Greeks, Chinese, Japanese, and other nationalities lost hundreds or thousands of years ago survive in basically the same form as when they were lost.

However, they are enslaved by a warrior alien race and the Union regiment must create a modern state to free and protect the humans.

It's a pretty good read; the author is a history professor and Civil War buff.




Larry Niven

He's got about 40 years of stuff to go through, lots of short story collections like Tales of Known Space and N-Space. Some classic novels, too, like Ringworld.

He's teamed up with Jerry Pournelle to write some excellent novels like The Mote in God's Eye and it's sequel The Gripping Hand, and Beowulf's Children.

[sarge43]

9. Oldies, but goldies

A Martian Odessey, Stanley Weinbaum.

Last and First Men & Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon

[Howler]

10. Roger Zelazny

"Lord of Light"
One of my favorite Asimov books "The gods themselves"

[Mz Pip]

32. +1

on both "Lord of Light' and Asimov.

Zelazny wrote wrote quite a few remarkable book but Lord of Light was the best.

[elehhhhna]

13. oryx & krake from Atwood

[YankeyMCC]

14. Alastair Reynolds and Ian McDonald

Alastair Reynolds has a great modern and literate Space Opera series known as "Revelation Space"

Ian McDonald's "River of Gods" ought to keep him busy for a while.

I'm guessing he'd like Alastair Reynolds the most though but there's plenty of reading material there.

[Posteritatis]

20. It's impossible to recommend Reynolds too much IMO

I bought one of his books out of curiosity and then ate everything he published over the next month or so.

[mzteris]

15. some oldies

Olaf Stapledon
Theodore Sturgeon
Samuel R. Delaney (caution: some of his stuff is seriously sexually different (I don't know if they have any restrictions where your friend is . . . )


some female authors:

Olivia Butler
Connie Willis
Nancy Kress
Sheri Tepper
Ursula Le Guin (of course)
Elizabeth Moon (I like some of her stuff, I absolutely hate some of her stuff)
Melissa Scott



others:
Bruce Sterling
James Patrick Kelly
John Kessel
Michael Swanwick
David Brin
Brian Aldiss
Michael Moorcock
S.M. Stirling
Robert Silverberg
Gene Wolfe (not sf but very bizzare)
Kim Stanley Robinson
Harlan Ellison



NEW AUTHOR:
China Mieville (very very VERY different)



Note: not all of these are true "Scifi" but alternative and speculative and maybe even some fantasy stuff.


Ooo - speaking of alternative stuff:

David Wingrove "Chung Kuo" series

Historical Fiction:
Jack Whyte
Stephen Lawhead
Naomi Novik (historical fiction with dragons.)

[EndersDame]

16. I was always wondering were the female sci fi writer where!

[bain_sidhe]

23. C. J. Cherryh is another great female SF author

especially her "Alliance-Union" universe books. The best starting point for that set (IMHO) is Downbelow Station. It was the first, and gives the best "grounding" in the universe for reading the others. For quick, light action-adventure, "Merchanters Luck" and "Rimrunner," for more indepth view of the ways in which future human society might evolve, Finity's End, TriPoint, Cyteen, and 40,000 in Gehenna. For ways in which we might get to that future, Heavy Time and Hellburner. For alien societies in that universe, the Chanur novels and the "Faded Sun" novels.

And for a completely different alien "universe" (but with humans in it), I'm loving the Atevi novels (starting at the beginning, of course, with Foreigner). There's nine of them so far (three trilogies) and I hear she's starting a fourth trilogy.

Yes, I am a fan. Why do you ask? ;-)

**edited because I left a couple of faves out - doing this from memory, you know...**

[azmouse]

19. Dan Simmon's "Ilium" and "Olympos"

[fadedrose]

21. THE MINERVAN EXPERIMENT

HOGAN, JAMES P.
The Minervan Experiment (3 books) – Inherit the Stars, Meet the Giants, The Giants’ Star (One Volume)

Interesting, exciting and good....


I read these and enjoyed them. Got them thru library loan.

[Onceuponalife]

22. Can't believe no one's mentioned Stephen Baxter yet....

Pretty much my fave SF writer (along with Peter F. Hamilton) going, now that Clarke and Asimov are no longer with us.

About Alaister Reynolds: I've only read one of his books but his Revelation Space book was one of the most boring SF books I've ever read.

[comrade snarky]

24. Normally I'd suggest Phillip K Dick

But maybe not in his situation. Dick's books involve a lot of paranoia and feelings of helplessness so while they are great art I wouldn't want to read them where he is.

For hard SF try Greg Egan. Wild mind expanding stuff based in real physics. I'd recommend Diaspora to start with.

Someone else suggested "Lord of Light" by Roger Zelazny. Seconded! Great book and easy to lose yourself in. An engrossing mythology with a rocking good story.

Dan Simmons "Hyperion Cantos" is excellent.

John Varley is also a good choice. "Titan", "Wizard" and "Demon" are a fun read. Not deep maybe but a fine airplane book.

Finally, since he likes Heinlein and Asimov I'm guessing he appreciates the older writers. I'd suggest Clifford Simak. While others of his time were doing space opera his books were smaller and more personal. There might be an alien but he'd probably be found on a porch down the road a piece. There's a spirituality to his work as well. In a "Choice of Gods" one of the main characters is a robot tortured by the idea he may have no soul and if he doesn't will god see his devotion as an insult. One of the things I love about him is his robot characters, they are every bit as human as the people made of flesh.

Of his books I can recommend:

City - In the far future, only dogs and robots are left on Earth to recount the old stories and debate whether Man ever existed at all.

Way Station - A civil war veteran runs a teleportation way station on a galactic network

All Flesh Is Grass - The town of Millville is trapped in a bubble by an alien hive-race of purple flowers. It's established a toehold for mutual cooperation - or invasion.

A Choice of Gods - After 99.99% of the human race has disappeared, people discover they have lifespans of 5 or 6 thousand years.

Shakespeare's Planet - Two explorers, a robot, a warrior, and even an inky "pond" are stuck on a dead-end planet because the star-tunnel is locked. Yet something is about to happen.

Project Pope - On the planet End of Nowhere, robots have labored a thousand years to build a computerized infallible pope to eke out the ultimate truth. Their work is preempted when a human Listener (mind-caster) discovers what might be the planet Heaven.

Special Deliverance - A college professor and other oddballs are dropped onto a bleak world near a giant blue cube - and no clue how to proceed.

Highway of Eternity - A man who can "step around a corner" gets scattered across time alongside futuristic refugees. All are fleeing super-advanced humans who have transcended into pure thought - and expect everyone else to come along.

[RebelOne]

25. Anything by Ray Bradbury is good. He's my favorite sci-fi author. n/t

[pitohui]

26. alaistar reynolds (sorry for poor spelling) can you look it up?

if he hasn't done pk dick he should do it now this is actually the guy who has had the most influence on movie making w. his novels -- watching movies w/ no experience of pk dick is sorta like watching plays and you never heard of that dude name of william shakespeare

i'm gonna go out on a limb and say MOST of the writers you cite are lite entertainment and you need to think if "lite entertainment dude" is where you wanna be in your 40s, yeah, i realize you're 23 now or whatever the fuck...heinlein ( a very unsophisticated libertarian is actually one of the MOST sophisticated writers you cite)...this guy is either not as smart as you think or not as advanced as you think

try alasteir reynolds (still can't spell it), ian banks, kim stanley robinson, philip k dick, margaret atwood, david mitchell...you may find out you're already beyond this guy or you may introduce him to some place he needs to go, that takes him to the next step -- win/win either way


i don't know if you are honestly looking for an intellectual side, star trek is not the intellectual side it's the S/M fun side (let's watch "sexy back" -- see youtube -- for what people back in the day took from star trek, it's fun not deep) but IF you actually want intellect you have to accept your BF either is a scammer (been known to happen w. criminals and i've been scammed too I"M NOT SAYING I"M BETTER THAN YOU) or he too is v. v. naive -- or he don't know as much as you seem to thin khe knows -- based on previous posts, i'd be saying run forest run but no one ever learns from anyone else's experience, everyone has to suffer as if the world was new and freshly invented again

[fadedrose]

27. Here's a link for Alastair Reynolds

I'm not into Science Fiction, but you are a good salesman. Will look into him when I finish about 15 on my todo list.

Thanks for all the info.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/alastair-reynolds/

[unpossibles]

28. "Accelerando" by Charles Stross was one of the more interesting newer Sci Fi books I've read

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando_%28novel%29

[pitohui]

39. i have this book in hardback and need to pass it on, here is a xmas giveaway

i guess it's a test of is anyone is still reading this thread

the first person who wants to PM their shipping address, as a christmas gift to DU, i will ship them a copy of accelerando and possibly another SF/fantasy title, but definitely accelerando -- no charge, i'll pay the shipping and i don't want anything in return but some good karma/vibes/kind thoughts

my used book store no longer takes hard covers and it's too nice to just toss it but i need space

it probably won't arrive for xmas, but i'll post the handle of the "winner" in this thread so people will know when it's gone

i can leave it available for at least 2 more weeks before i have to do major clean-up of the book shelves

i wish i had thought of it earlier, i already sold a number of paperbacks (and left a number of others in airports for other readers)

i'll try to log in to check my PM every day for the next week or until it's gone

merry xmas, happy yule, merry merry!

[pitohui]

40. ok folks we have a winner and the book is claimed

have a great christmas season


"bluescribbler" is the lucky winner this time :-)

i tend to accumulate too many books which i donate in a variety of creative ways, maybe we'll do this again sometime

[DavidDvorkin]

29. I'd recommend my own most recent book

but that would be self-serving and immodest.

http://www.dvorkin.com/bizstars/

Oops. How did that URL get in there?

[timeforpeace]

30. Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon and it's two sequels are great.

[intheflow]

31. Brand new "sequel" to Hitchhiker's Guide series by Eoin Colfer.

It's called And Another Thing...

Colfer is known for his Artimus Fowl series for young readers. He's very imaginative a la JK Rowling. Adams' wife gave him permission to write it. Reviews sound good. And your friend probably hasn't read it yet. :hi:

[MrCoffee]

34. For any Heinlein fan...The Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin

and Radio Freefall by Matthew Jarpe

[Tesha]

36. Sheri S. Tepper is a goddess.

She has written some tremendous sci-fi. Much of it is outright
sci-fi and some of it appears to be fantasy, but turns out to be
sci-fi when you reach the end.

Tesha

[pitohui]

38. tepper is fantastic, i also love marge piercy's "he, she, and it" EOM

,

[Tesha]

37. Arthur C. Clarke? (NT)

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

42. The ultimate non-Heinlein for a Heinlein fan: Mote in God's Eye (and sequel The Gripping Hand)

Niven and Pournelle.