A good space/sci-fi book?

af_thefragile

I've noticed there's another sci-fi recommendation thread here but I'm not a fan of fantasy at all, neither do I like anything with zombies or vampires.

I'm looking for a good sci-fi book thats either set it space or is just good sci-fi. Like something similar to Carl Sagan or maybe Issac Asimov (sorry don't know many authors who do sci-fi, hence why I'm here). Something more like 2001 A Space Odyssey and not like Star Wars kinda fantasy stuff...

Thanks.

St Bunt

Check out Alastair Reynolds..

DazMarz

Not sure if it would fall under what you're looking for, but it involves aliens and so on, but is very dark and violent: Infected by Scott Sigler.

Reviews from the amazon.com page for the book (http://www.amazon.com/Infected-Novel-Scott-Sigler/dp/030740630X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266165997&sr=1-1):

Review

"Part Stephen King, part Chuck Palahniuk, Infected blends science fiction and horror into a pulpy masterpiece of action, terror, and suspense. Three recommendations: don't read it at night, or just after you've eaten a full meal, or if you're weak of heart. You've been warned!"
—James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of The Judas Strain and Black Order

“Powerfully written . . . an unforgettable central character.”
—Dallas Morning News

“Sigler is masterful at grabbing the reader by the throat and refusing to let go. Just when I thought I knew what abyss he was leading me across, he knocked the bridge out from under... I think I screamed the whole way down... Infected is a marvel of gonzo, in-your-face, up-to-the-minute terror.”
—Lincoln Child, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Storm and Death Match

“Fraught with tension . . . Invasion of the Body Snatchers meets The Hot Zone.”
—Rocky Mountain News

“Sigler is the Richard Matheson of the 21st Century…smart and creepy, Infected is a flawless thinking-person’s thriller.Bravo to a bold new talent!”
—Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Bad Moon Rising and Ghost Road Blues

“Riveting . . . even hardened genre fans will find themselves whimpering at each new revelation.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

docmol

St Bunt wrote: »

Check out Alastair Reynolds..

+1 Also try Ian Banks (start with Consider Phlebas)

LenaClaire

Some of my favorite authors with space stuff:
Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, etc - more philisophical)
David Weber (Honor Harrington series - space war stuff)
Lois McMaster Bujold (Miles Naismith series - space war/politics)
Elizabeth Moon (space war/adventure)

Nate--IRL--

Peter F Hamilton:- Pandoras Star. Edit:- Then start A Nights Dawn Trilogy
Frank Herbert:- Dune

Nate

Denerick

You've mentioned Asimov so you've probably already read this:

I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. Read it!

Saint Ruth

docmol wrote: »

+1 Also try Ian Banks (start with Consider Phlebas)

That, and:

Vernor Vinge
Dan Simmons (first two Hyperion books ... there are 4 Hyperion books...the last two are terrible).

Red Hand

Saint Ruth wrote: »

That, and:

Vernor Vinge
Dan Simmons (first two Hyperion books ... there are 4 Hyperion books...the last two are terrible).

I would go with Dan Simmons for Ilium and the sequel Olympus. Th only sci-fi novels that have left an impression on me. It's set both in the future and in the past, involving the siege of Troy, post humans, Gods and Goddesses, organic/machine entities and some really startling images.

Tigger

docmol wrote: »

+1 Also try Ian Banks (start with Consider Phlebas)

ships!


imagine the enterprise with hal's brain

docmol

Tigger wrote: »

ships!


imagine the enterprise with hal's brain

and much more interesting names!

Tabnabs

Rudy Rucker - Software

Amazon.com Review
Cobb Anderson created the "boppers," sentient robots that overthrew their human overlords. But now Cobb is just an aging alcoholic waiting to die, and the big boppers are threatening to absorb all of the little boppers--and eventually every human--into a giant, melded consciousness. Some of the little boppers aren't too keen on the idea, and a full-scale robot revolt is underway on the moon (where the boppers live). Meanwhile, bopper Ralph Numbers wants to give Cobb immortality by letting a big bopper slice up his brain and tape his "software." It seems like a good idea to Cobb.

From The Washington Post
"Delightfully irreverant. . . This is science fiction as it should be."
Review

"A genius. . .A Cult hero among discriminating cyberpunkers" -- -- San Diego Union-Tribune

"One of cyberpunk's most inventive works" -- -- Rolling Stone

A really good read and then you can continue as Software is the first book in Rucker's Ware Tetralogy

af_thefragile

Thanks, thats a good loads of recommendations. I usually don't like books that have sequels or are a part of a series but I'll check them out anyway to see which one I fancy most!

jimmyendless

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Forever_War

The Forever War, Fantastic, just read it. Comes on its own or with two other books in a compilation called 'Peace and War". Second book 'Forever Free' is not as good and the third is okay.

Just buy it on its own anyway and you won't be disappointed.

Blackhorse Slim

Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C Clarke. A classic of hard sci-fi

af_thefragile

Blackhorse Slim wrote: »

Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C Clarke. A classic of hard sci-fi

Hard sci-fi is what I like and this one looks good... Might get this first!

Dades

+ 1 for The Forever War. A super read.

Also have a look at Ringworld by Larry Niven, and The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bestor

You mentioned Carl Sagan - so I'll assume you've read Contact (if not do it now!)

Also +1 for Iain M Banks "Culture" novels. Personally I would start with The Player of Games first (a good introduction), though in reality they can be read in any order as they simply share the same universe.

Lastly, Arthur C Clarke is the grandaddy, and if you haven't read Childhood's End - you haven't read sci-fi.
(His Rama series are super too - though get a little weird as they move on!)

Enjoy!

pwd

As mentioned, Iain M Banks' Culture novels are excellent.
I really like Philip K Dick. The films Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report were all based on his stories; so you can get a vague impression of what to expect from that.
Dune was already mentioned too. Fantastic book. Also one that you can re-read a number of times and see things from different angles. All Frank Herbert's Dune books are worth reading too. The Dosadai experiment is also very good (by FH).
Arthur C Clarke is good, probably the most similar to asimov, and probably the one fitting in the best into the hard sci fi category of any of the authors I mention here.
The first book in the Gap series by Stephen Donaldson is very good too. I wasn't mad on the rest of the series, but a lot of people like it a lot. The first book was originally intended to be a standalone story, as I recall, and concludes well enough that it works as such.

Dades

pwd wrote: »

Dune was already mentioned too. Fantastic book. Also one that you can re-read a number of times and see things from different angles.

Dune is an amazing book - though the impression I got reading it is that it is a lot more fantasy than sci-fi. There is sci-fi gadgetry alright, but they are never more than background to what is essentially a messiah-esque fantasy piece (imo!).

com1

The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson.

matrim

The Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson

ixoy

af_thefragile wrote: »

Hard sci-fi is what I like and this one looks good... Might get this first!

If you want hard sci-fi then try Greg Bear, who I've seen described as granite sci-fi. I'd recommend picking up a book of his stories - Axiomatic - which was bloody excellent and full of inventive ideas.

I'd also recommend:

Peter F. Hamilton - "Fallen Dragon". Excellent one-off novel ("Night's Dawn" trilogy is great except for the dire ending).

Alastair Reynolds - Grand space opera. Check out "House of Suns" for a novel that plays over a really epic scale. Attention to science is pretty good here too (no FTL, etc - sure in one book he has people recompiling kernel code!).

Frank Herbert - Dune. It inspired my boards user name because it's just that good. Still possibly the best-realised sci-fi universe of all time.

Charles Stross - Check out "Accelerando" if you want blistering innovative sci-fi. It explores the concept of Singularity, where technological development grows at an exponential rate - try and keep up with it! Or "Glasshouse", a very interesting take on "Big Brother".

Neal Asher - Check out his Agent Cormac series. It's somewhat pulp sci-fi but very entertaining.

Don't bother with Stephen Baxter - something like the Manifold sequence is definitely hard sci-fi but it's also quite dull. Has some great ideas but is very poor at bringing them across in an interesting way.

chalkstorm

Would recommend Dune series as well, the first 3 books especially. There's a lot to get into with these and once you've read the books you can then watch the David Cronenberg film and really enjoy it! But... it's not really hard sci fi, just amazing story telling. Its all about the dialog, characters and concepts.

I think its the same with Azimov, the sci fi elements aren't the main attraction, they exist to explain a future world but its all about the story. By not concentrating on technology Azimov's work ages very well. Still the master in my view.

I think Arthur C Clarke is more hard sci fi, but a lot less involving when it comes to plot and not as satisfying. There are great concepts and situations, lots of gadgets and inventions but I never feel that his books or series have tight story telling. I found the Rama series to be a real let down I have to say, the first 2 books were good but then it just becomes a series of extraordinary events.

Iain M Banks I like a lot, not great when it comes to ending a book, but you'll enjoy getting there! Use of Weapons, Against a Dark Background and I'd really recommend Feersum Endjinn if you can get over the phonetically written chapters.

I'll throw a wild card out there and suggest something by A E Van Vogt, Slan or The Silkie. Quite often find his books in second hand shops, also have some lovely cover art and the stories are always totally crazy!

PADRAGON

com1 wrote: »

The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson.

Couldnt agree more

Amhran Nua

com1 wrote: »

The Gap series by Stephen Donaldson.

Yup, plenty of hard tech, byzantine political maneuvering, great character development, a few gotchas that you won't see coming. A thoroughly well put together series. I always found it interesting how he avoided dates or numbers though, its a testament to his skill that you wouldn't even notice it.

ixoy

And yet another for the Gap series - can't believe I forgot it! Probably the best sci-fi series I've read. It's got some great characters in it - something that's often lacking in sci-fi when it goes for the Big Ideas. There's some great fun trying to work out which sides people are on as double- and triple-bluffs come in to some excellent power play moments.
That's not to say the sci-fi element is missing either as it's very strong with one of the most interesting, and truly alien aliens, in a sci-fi series.

Stephen Donaldson should stop writing his mystery novels and Covenant books and get back to this sort. Highly recommended!

kevin_de_big

Alastair Reynolds, as was said previously. He hasn't written anything lacking. I've been meaning to check Asimov's "Foundation" series, though I haven't read any of his other material. Is that a good place to start?

Amhran Nua

Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan books were pretty good also.

ynotdu

Dont forget Jules Verne the 'Origional Sci-Fi author.His book 'from the Earth to the moon' written in 1864 predicted within 100 miles the launch area on Earth and landing area of the first moonlanding:

Jules Gabriel Verne (8 February 1828 – 24 March 1905) was a French author who helped pioneer the science-fiction genre. He is best known for his novels A Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1864), From the Earth to the Moon (1865), Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea (1869–1870), Around the World in Eighty Days (1873) and The Mysterious Island (1875). Verne wrote about space, air, and underwater travel before navigable aircraft and practical submarines were invented, and before any means of space travel had been devised. Consequently he is often referred to as the "Father of science fiction", along with H. G. Wells.[1] Verne is the second most translated author of all time, only behind Agatha Christie, with 4223 translations, according to Index Translationum.[2] Some of his works have been made into films

H.G Wells:

Wells's first non-fiction bestseller was Anticipations (1901).[14] When originally serialised in a magazine it was subtitled, "An Experiment in Prophecy", and is considered his most explicitly futuristic work. Anticipating what the world would be like in the year 2000, the book is interesting both for its hits (trains and cars resulting in the dispersion of population from cities to suburbs; moral restrictions declining as men and women seek greater sexual freedom; the defeat of German militarism, and the existence of a European Union) and its misses (he did not expect successful aircraft before 1950, and averred that "my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocate its crew and founder at sea").

Statue of a The War of the Worlds tripod, erected as a tribute to H. G. Wells in Woking town centre, UK.


His early novels, called "scientific romances", invented a number of themes now classic in science fiction in such works as The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, When the Sleeper Wakes, and The First Men in the Moon. He also wrote other, non-fantastic novels that have received critical acclaim including Kipps and the satire on Edwardian advertising, Tono-Bungay.
Wells wrote several dozen short stories and novellas, the best known of which is "The Country of the Blind" (1904). His short story "The New Accelerator" was the inspiration for the Star Trek episode Wink of an Eye.[15]

HG Wells full Bio here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H_G_Wells

Jules Vernes here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jules_verne

What they foresaw would scare the hell outta yeah!

PADRAGON

ixoy wrote: »

And yet another for the Gap series - can't believe I forgot it! Probably the best sci-fi series I've read. It's got some great characters in it - something that's often lacking in sci-fi when it goes for the Big Ideas. There's some great fun trying to work out which sides people are on as double- and triple-bluffs come in to some excellent power play moments.
That's not to say the sci-fi element is missing either as it's very strong with one of the most interesting, and truly alien aliens, in a sci-fi series.

Stephen Donaldson should stop writing his mystery novels and Covenant books and get back to this sort. Highly recommended!

I agree with everything you said about the Gap.
It's probably the best sf series i've read,and Donaldson
is a great favourite of mine.
What is it about Covenant that you dislike?

Kinski

Not exactly a big sci-fi enthusiast myself (just dip in now and then) but Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss is really worth a look - well-written and has an intriguing premise; plays some interesting games with genre conventions too.