# Another book post..sorry..Please could you list your favourite SciFi/Fantasy book **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 21, 2000, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484 "2000-04-21T16:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/41 "2000-04-21T23:04:00Z")
I can’t comment on the more recent stuff, as my favorite period is the so-called “Golden Age” of Sci-Fi, up into the 50s. Nowdays, when I go to the Science Fiction section of the bookstore, what I mostly see is Sword-and-Sorcery Fantasy. Yuk. Anyway, my recommendations for some of the older stuff (these are actually novellas–my library mostly consists of anthologies): _The Weapon Shops of Isher_–A. E. Van Vogt _Re-Birth_–John Wyndham _The Stars My Destination_–Alfred Bester anything by Lewis Padgett (pseudonym of Harry Kuttner)–for stories with an ironic or humorous bent Way too many short stories to include here. ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy\_Greg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Cowboy\_Greg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy_Greg)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/42 "2000-04-21T23:17:00Z")
Hmmm. It’s hard to pick only one in each category, but if I had to: Novel: Heinlein’s _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress_ Series: Gerrold’s _War Against the Chtorr_ series. I only wish he’d _freakin’ finish book five already!_ ahem… excuse me. But there’s just so much good stuff out there! I didn’t even mention Varley, or Spider Robinson, or Terry Pratchett, or Larry Niven, or Jerry Pournelle (seperately or together), or C.J. Cherryh, or… * * * “It’s a sunny little doomed planet, inhabited by a number of frisky little doomed animals.” ---
**Author:** ![as\_u\_wish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@as\_u\_wish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/as_u_wish)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/43 "2000-04-21T23:35:00Z")
My favorite fantasy/sci fi works are by Anne McCaffrey. I particularly like the dragonriders of Pern series and Crystalsinger series. The Ship who Sang and related works are also very moving. Hearty second votes for Dune (particulary the first three novels) & The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings. * * * Inconceivable? I don’t think that word means what you think it does. ---
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/44 "2000-04-21T23:37:00Z")
Dittos to a bunch of these, particularly Ender’s Game and Eddings. The one I haven’t heard mention is Iain M Banks. IMHO the most consistantly brilliant sci fi writer of our times. Also writes very good fiction, albiet often twisted. * * * [http://www.madpoet.com](http://www.madpoet.com) I am human, and I need to be loved Just like anybody else does ---
**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2000, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/45 "2000-04-21T23:49:00Z")
Many of you have mentioned books that also rank high on my favorites list, so I won’t repeat them. And thanks for the books mentioned that I haven’t read - I’ll have to check them out! I thought I’d mention a few that haven’t been listed yet: The Annals of the Black Company series, by Glen Cook. The Dragonrider of Pern series, by Anne McCaffrey The FT&T/Rowan/Damia series, by Anne McCaffrey. The Crystalsinger series, by Anne McCaffrey. The Recluce-Chaos/Order series, by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. The John Grimes/Rimworlds series, by A. Bertram Chandler. The Patternmaster series, by Octavia Butler. Not sure what to call it, but two books about nighthorse riders by C.J. Cherryh - Cloud’s Rider and Rider at the Gate. Wish she’d write another one - I really liked those two! And when in hell is another Wheel of Time book coming out? I’m afraid Robert Jordan is going to disappear and leave us hanging with the story half told! BTW, **obfusciatrist** , there is a third book in the Fuzzy series, but I’ve not been able to find a copy. I found the same two that you’ve read in a used bookstore, and there was a third Fuzzy title listed on the flyleaf. Unfortunately, I’ve loaned mine out (and will probably never see them again), so I don’t even know the title! * * * God is love. Love is blind. Ray Charles is blind. Therefore, Ray Charles is God. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/46 "2000-04-22T00:09:00Z")
Hmmmmmm I was keeping quiet about things I think don’t measure up, because, after all, this is a taste question, not a GD thread. 🙂 But I have to draw the line with Anne McCaffrey. That woman’s books, while entertaining, are not good science fiction. The Pern novels are based on the most silly premise: a planet that only manages to come close to the sun every 200 years, but while close seems to be able to have its spores travel to Pern even when PERN is on the other side of the sun from it, but NEVER arriving at Pern at night. OY! And the Crystal Singer books show she didn’t even understand music, given that she has singers singing things like “A minor” (a chord, not a note… try that one at home). Good science fiction writers do their homework, first. 🙂 _Weapon Shops of Isher_ is a great classic, and ought to be injected into any of our 2nd Amendment discussions in GD 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/47 "2000-04-22T00:25:00Z")
Good recommendation, **jodih** , for Ursula K. LeGuin. I personally prefer _The Dispossessed_ by that author. I’ll also agree with **DSYoungEsq** for his recommendation of C.J. Cherryh. Her best book (in my opinion) is _Cyteen_, better than _Downbelow Station_. But in recent years, I haven’t read anything that surpassed Kim Stanley Robinson’s trilogy on Mars Exploration: _Red Mars_, _Green Mars_, _Blue Mars_. Of course, the first three Foundation Novels by Isaac Asimov are still a must-read. _Foundation_, _Foundation and Empire_, _Second Foundation_. ---
**Author:** ![UncaStuart](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncastuart/32/404_2.png) [@UncaStuart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncaStuart)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/48 "2000-04-22T00:33:00Z")
_Stand on Zanzibar_ – John Brunner ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/49 "2000-04-22T00:38:00Z")
Favorite single Fantasy novel? Either **The Last Unicorn** Peter S. Beagle or **The Forgotten Beasts of Eld** Patricia A. McKillip Lots of good stuff posted above, of course. How these two authors got missed, I can’t imagine. Of course, the entire James Branch Cabell _oeuvre_ is outstanding in a totally different way. * * * Tom~ ---
**Author:** ![coosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@coosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coosa)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/50 "2000-04-22T01:48:00Z")
Umm, DS, why is it impossible, or even unlikely, for a planet to have a very elliptical, cometary-type orbit? I’m not an astronomer, so I don’t know, but I don’t see anything wrong with it. I guess you’ve not read all of the books - the spores don’t come from the planet itself, they reside in the Oort cloud. Some of them are dragged behind the planet in a sort of tail when the planet passes through the Oort cloud during its orbit, and fall on Pern when Pern passes through this tail. You’re right about them falling at night, though, and I’ve wondered about that myself. I seem to remember reading an explanation for that in one of the books, but can’t seem to recall it. And I don’t know anything about music, so can’t comment on that - if I did, I might not like the books as much. But, hell, if you can suspend disbelief enough to accept FTL space flight, I think nitpicking a minor detail that _could_ possibly occur, (something known as ‘coincidence’, or even ‘serendipity’) is a little bit ridiculous. We are talking about _fiction_ here, aren’t we? Heck, if you’re going to find fault with the books, how about criticizing something obvious, like the telepathy between humans and dragons? The teleportation and fire-breathing abilities of the ‘dragons’ and firelizards? The ‘metasynth’ enhanced intelligent dolphins? Etc., etc. Sheesh. Get an imagination, dude. * * * God is love. Love is blind. Ray Charles is blind. Therefore, Ray Charles is God. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/51 "2000-04-22T01:48:00Z")
_Watership Down_ by Adams _The Plague Dogs_ by Adams _Ender’s Game_ by Card _The Iron Tower Trilogy_ & _The Silver Call Duology_ by McKierron _Archangel_ by Shinn _The Rose of the Prophet Trilogy_ & _The Dark Sword Trilogy_ by Weis & Hickman * * * “I guess one person can make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn’t.” ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/52 "2000-04-22T02:19:00Z")
Gosh, I’m surprised at how much my tastes differ from most of those here. I either dislike, or have never wanted to read, most of the books mentioned here. I only read Fantasy - I’ve never liked Science Fiction novels, unless you count Douglas Adams, which I wouldn’t. So my faves include: Dave Duncan Julie V Jones Terry Pratchett Terry Goodkind - though his latest is not grabbing me yet Robin Hobb (aka Megan Lindholm) Mark Oakley - he does a comic called _Thieves and Kings_ David Eddings’ _Belgariad_ (the rest suck) Tad Williams’ _Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn_ Weis and Hickman, especially _Dragonlance_ and _The Death Gate Cycle_ ## and tons more. [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - **Shadow of the Pigeon** - Weirdo of the Night ---
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/53 "2000-04-22T02:34:00Z")
Wrack and Roll by Bradley Denton * * * Oh your from Wales?? Do you know a fella named Jonah?? He used to live in whales for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/54 "2000-04-22T03:51:00Z")
My 20 Favorite Science Fiction Long Works (greater than 25,000 words) 1. Olaf Stapledon _First and Last Men_ 2. Philip Jose Farmer _The Riverworld Series_ 3. Frank Herbert _Dune_ (and maybe its sequels) 4. Walter Miller _A Canticle for Leibowitz_ 5. Alfred Bester _The Stars My Destination_ 6. Ursula K. LeGuin _The Left Hand of Darkness_ 7. H. G. Wells _The Time Machine_ 8. Philip K. Dick _The Man in the High Castle_ 9. Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth _The Space Merchants_ 10. Theodore Sturgeon _More than Human_ 11. Roger Zelazny _Lord of Light_ 12. Arthur C. Clarke _Against the Fall of Night_ 13. Stanislaw Lem _Solaris_ 14. Ken Grimwood _Replay_ 15. Joe Haldeman _The Forever War_ 16. Michael Frayn _The Tin Men_ 17. Larry Niven _Ringworld_ 18. Robert Heinlein _Stranger in a Strange Land_ 19. Clifford Simak \_City 20. Isaac Asimov _The End of Eternity_ My 20 Favorite Fantasy Long Works (greater than 25,000 words) 1. Lewis Carroll _Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland_ and _Through the Looking Glass_ 2. J. R. R. Tolkien _The Hobbit_ and _The Lord of the Rings_ 3. Peter Beagle _The Last Unicorn_ 4. Mervyn Peake _The Gormenghast Trilogy_ 5. C. S. Lewis _Till We Have Faces_ 6. Ursula K. LeGuin _The Earthsea Books_ 7. G. K. Chesterton _The Man Who Was Thursday_ 8. Madeleine L’Engle _The Time Quartet_ (A Wrinkle in Time\_, _The Wind in the Door_, _A Swiftly Tilting Planet_, _Many Waters_) 9. Ray Bradbury _Dandelion Wine_ 10. John Fowles _The Magus_ 11. T. H. White _The Once and Future King_ 12. Patricia McKillip _Stepping from the Shadows_ 13. C. S. Lewis _The Ransom Trilogy_ (_Out of the Silent Planet_, _Perelandra_, and _That Hideous Strength_) 14. R. A. McAvoy _Tea with the Black Dragon_ 15. H. P. Lovecraft _The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath_ 16. John Myers Myers _Silverlock_ 17. Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman _Good Omens_ 18. L. Frank Baum _The Wizard of Oz_ 19. Daniel Pinkwater _Borgel_ 20. Mark Twain _The Mysterious Stranger_ ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/55 "2000-04-22T04:36:00Z")
Uh-oh, now you’ve done it ;). Some of my current favorites: The _Castle_ books, John DeChancie (Strangely enough, _Castle Perilous_, the first book in the series, is not as high on my list as the others) The Farseer/Assassin trilogy, Robin Hobb The Jhereg novels, Steven Brust, especially _Jhereg_ and _Taltos_ _The Uplift War_, David Brin Sheri Tepper’s True Game novels, especially the Jinian novels _Little Fuzzy_ and _Fuzzy Sapiens_, H. Beam Piper _Fuzzy Bones_, William Tuning (_Fuzzies and Other People_ by Piper just doesn’t do anything for me, though. Probably because it contradicts _Fuzzy Bones_ in places, which I read first.) Spider Robinson’s Callahan’s Place books Lisanne Norman’s Sholan Alliance novels Katherine Kurtz’s Deryni novels _Ethan of Athos_, Lois McMaster Bujold (Although I find the rest of the Vor novels only so-so) _Hunter’s Oath_ and _Hunter’s Death_, Michelle West _Cold Iron_, Melisa Michaels _A College of Magic_, I don’t remember the author, and my sister borrowed it. David Feintuch’s Seafort series Nancy Springer’s Isle series _Agent of Change_ and _Conflict of Honors_, Steve Miller & Sharon Lee _The Ecologic Envoy_ and _The Ecolitan Enigma_, L.E. Modesitt, Jr. Also his Recluce novels. Okay, I’ll shut up now. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/56 "2000-04-22T04:55:00Z")
Changed my mind; I wasn’t done yet. _The Songmaster_, Orson Scott Card. The Tales of Alvin Maker, Orson Scott Card _Dragon Companion_, Don Callandar _A Logical Magician_ and _Calculated Magic_, Robert Weinberg _Sassinak_ and _The Death of Sleep_, Anne McCaffrey/Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey/Jody Lynn Nye _King’s Man and Thief_, Christie Golden The Dragon King Trilogy, Steven R. Lawhead _Talion: Revenant_, Michael A. Stackpole _A Hero Born_ and _An Enemy Reborn_, Michael A. Stackpole ---
**Author:** ![Avumede](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/avumede/32/7235_2.png) [@Avumede](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avumede)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/57 "2000-04-22T07:37:00Z")
Of all the lists, only Wendell Wagner’s seems that good to me… those are mainly serious sci-fi books. For me (in no particular order): Memoirs Found in a Bathtub - Stanislaw Lem Fiasco - Stanislaw Lem The Face on the Waters - Robert Silverberg The Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon Valis - Philip K Dick ---
**Author:** ![concrete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bbce88/32.png) [@concrete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/concrete)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/58 "2000-04-22T07:43:00Z")
I’m surprised no one mentioned Michael Moorcock…guess I’m the only fan here. ---
**Author:** ![2sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/e47774/32.png) [@2sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2sense)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/59 "2000-04-22T07:54:00Z")
Hmmm. No 1 mentioned Neal Stephenson. I think he is the hotest young writer in hard SF. For me, _Snowcrash_ was a mind-blowing introduction to his work. I had avoided _The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer_ because of the alternate title. But it rocks! Now Stephenson has a WW2 book out called the Cryptomonicon. I’ts still in hardcover so I don’t have it…yet. The man has good ideas. And he can tell a story. And he does excellent action sequences. As for fantasy: honorable mention to _The Black Company_ But **LotR** kicks WoT’s ass. Start a “vs” thread. I dare you! I have read most of the books mentioned. Thanks for the woolgathering moment everyone. peace ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2000, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484/60 "2000-04-22T08:34:00Z")
Book of the New Sun-- by Gene Wolfe Without a doubt the best SF series ever. Also for earlier posters: Lucifer’s Hammer was written by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. Armor was written by John Steakley. (sp?) Concrete, Micheal Moorcock rules!!! especially the Elric series and the End of Time series. * * * Perked Ears indicate curiosity - Know Your Cat [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-book-post-sorry-please-could-you-list-your-favourite-scifi-fantasy-book/16484.md?page=4)