I also suggest the Le Guin books: Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed.
I just finished The Good Omen by Pratchett and Gaiman…excellent humour, very enjoyable read for me.
There are so many wonderful science fiction titles to choose from. Good luck finding the ones that you like best.
Not usually a sci fi author but I really rate The Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson as a good foray into those things sci
None of these requires any pre- or post-reading, but most have follow-up/related stories.
Heinlein–Stranger in a Strange Land and Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Niven–Ringworld
Niven & Pournelle–Mote in God’s Eye
Herbert–Dune
Asimov–Caves of Steel
Harrison–Make Room, Make Room
Ellison–Deathbird Stories or Approaching Oblivion
Ellison (editor)–Dangerous Visions
Brin–The Uplift War
Van Vogt–Space Beagle
Also the Hugo Award collections are excellent.
Very gripping read!
There has been many great suggestions here, and probably a good 15 years of reading material. Some of my suggestions I would like to add are these: (warning, some of these are softer sci-fi, or Science-Fantasy mix)
LeGuin- Don’t forget The Lathe of Heaven ; check out the movie as well, blockbuster generally has it if there are any around where you live. (a great story about a guy that when he dreams he alters reality- he thinks he is going crazy and sees a shrink whom then takes advantage of him to change the world as he (the shrink) sees fit)
Robert Silverburg- So many novels has this guy published, and so many of them are wonderful. I would suggest his Adaptation of Asimov’s work Nightfall. The story of a race of creatures that due to alignment of their suns, has daylight ALL the time, except once every 1000 years, where there is one night of darkness. Will the darkness drive them mad and destroy them? The great unknown? An awesome read.
Also still on Silverburg, and older one of his, but one I really love is Kingdoms of the Wall. Click the link for the story. One of my all time favorite novels (lost my copy though, pretty hard to get ahold of)
You gotta check out Jack L. Chalker’s Well of souls novels, the original series anyhow. (series, btw, 4-5 books per series)
Some more of my favorite Sci-fi stand alone novels-
Ship of Fools- Richard Paul Russo. The story of a group of colonists that ship gets lost. They search for other intelligent life has become their main mission. They soon come to face a enemy of mysterious identity. A dark and fascinating read. I would rate this my #2 favorite. (for writing skills mostly)
An oldy but goodie- Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. An experiment in which a mentally retarded man is transformed into a supergenius. Written wonderfully from his perspective. Tragic and wonderful. A must read.
How like a God- Brenda W. Clough. Sort of fantasy really, a Man wakes up one day and discovers he is Telepathic. As his powers grow, his sanity weakens. He must search for stablity, and search for others like him, or for the one that made him. Awesome book.
Santiago: Myth of the Far Future- Mike Resnick. An old style western set in space. Mythic prose, a hero searches down a powerful yet nebulous enemy of the law- Santiago. Epic, gripping, and enjoyable. There is another book out now called Santiago returns or something similar.
The Time Ships by Stephen Baxter. A bit more of a hard sci-fi. This takes up after the Time Machine by H.G. Wells. Time travel far into the future. Hard to explain, but definately a great book.
Destiny’s Road- I know somebody warned you against Larry Niven, but this book is great. Jemmy is a boy that sets out on an adventure to find out where the Road goes, and where the ship that made it came from.
Blood Music- Greg Bear. A genetic scientific experement gone awry. A powerful intelligence springs forth and America is destroyed in the process. But is it? A definate addition to any list.
The Boat of a Million Years- Poul Anderson. A group of Immortals make their way through time, to our present, then our future and discover their true potential. Then they take a ship into space to discover what is out there. Great read, especially if you love reading about immortals and like some history.
Legion of the Damned- William C. Dietz. Really an interesting read about the French Foreign legion far in the future when they are cyborgs and giant robots fighting an alien invasion. A glurge book mostly, but wonderfully engaging.
The Icarus Hunt- Timothy Zahn. A renegade star frieghter pilot takes on a job and is chased by some powerful enemies that control 95% of space flight. Jordan (the pilot) soon enough discovers that this is no ordinary cargo, but something that may bring mankind a power that can change the course of human history. Enjoyable read.
Madness Season- C.S Friedman. Daetrin is a strange man. He has survived an alien invasion, survived several centuries of inhabitence, and is probably around 500 years old. When the alien conquerers discover something odd about him, they take him away off planet, where he meets some pretty interesting beings. Can he free humanity?
This Alien Shore by C.S Friedman is also a great read. Jamisia is a girl that apparently knows something, or has something somebody wants. She runs across the galaxy, running from strange but ruthless adversaries, trying to unravel the mystery of her identity and importance. She will uncover a secret buried deep within her psyche a secret which the universe may not be ready to face…
Well, those are a few of my favorite. I think these and the others suggested are all good and will keep you busy for quite some time.
Slap me for all my typos, lack of bolding, terrible coding, and piss poor grammar. Looks like a dyslexic monkey was slapping poo on the keyboard rather than something a college student would type.
I agree heartily. Except you forgot The Golden Globe, one of my favorite books of all time. Oh, and you forgot to tell him to find a shovel so he can bury Millennium when he’s done.
Opinions differ, I’m sure.
Robert Silverberg: The Face of the Waters was very good. Kingdoms of the Wall was good but fatally flawed in the home stretch.
Larry Niven: All in all, a much better short story writer than a novelist. The Fifth Profession is just brilliant. All the Myriad Ways is one of the most haunting sci-fi short stories I’ve ever read. For novels, I’d recommend Legacy of Heorot if you like pretty straightforward sci-fi/horror, Ringworld if you like talky but visionary sci-fi, and Lucifer’s Hammer if you like apocalyptic meteor fiction.
So many other great stories have been mentioned so far, I’ll just second: *The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Time Ships, Armor, The Left Hand of Darkness, Startide Rising, Ender’s Game, *and Blood Music.
My own additions to this prestigious list:
Patricia Anthony: Happy Policeman
Greg Egan: Quarantine
But you get bonus points for actually saying something about each story/book that you have recommended!
Cherryh is a very good writer. Second the recommendation.
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And don’t forget Frank Herbert’s “Dune!”**
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Of course this is a classic, but I don’t know that I’d recommend it as a “starter” for someone just getting into SF. The first sixty pages or so are awfully dense; once you get through that, it’s a corker, but there’s a heck of a lot of setup first. I’d call it “intermediate,” something to read and enjoy once you’re familiar with the genre, as well as “advanced,” something to come back and read again later once you recognize just how damn good it is.
I like the Gap books a lot. Really good hard SF; it’s clear Donaldson has thought about the implications of his setting a lot more than the average writer, and the Amnion represent one of the most plausible (and scary) nonhuman societies I’ve read in SF. But the books are dark, dark, dark. Violent, scary, nihilistic, full of emotional and physical pain. Much of the story revolves around the premise of space as a frontier, which allows unsupervised humans to indulge the worst of their proclivities. Being a cynic, I think Donaldson is probably right, and the stories are undeniably compelling (in a white-knuckle sort of way), but I wouldn’t recommend these to a neophyte.
One more to look for, which is out of print but absolutely worth it if you can find it: Orphan of Creation by Roger MacBride Allen. Not at all your typical SF plot; it’s set in the present, and begins with an anthropologist who discovers that australopithecine protohumans may not have died out millions of years ago after all. Great story, excellent characterizations.
One more author suggestion: If stories about manned space travel in the next century or so excite you, read anything Ben Bova has written in the last 10 years or so. Titles like: Mars, Return to Mars, Moonrise, Moonwar (distinctly inspired by The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but it’s an important step in his future history), Venus, Jupiter, The Rock Rats, etc.
Right off the top of my head, I can’t remember every title or what the chronological order should be, but I liked them all. The order doesn’t matter too much, except in the case of the Mars and Moon books.
Of course, you could also read anything Bova wrote earlier in his career. He’s always been good.
I heartily agree that Heinlein is good, but
is absolutely false. Stranger in a Strange Land should not, under any circumstances, be the first Heinlein you read. You’ll either love it or hate it. If you love it, you won’t love it any less for having waited a while, but if you hate it, it’ll leave a bad taste in your mouth for anything Heinlein. I would recommend starting with his juveniles (you can’t go wrong with any of Heinlein’s juvies) and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. After you’ve got 3 or 4 other Heinleins under your belt, then go ahead and pick up Stranger.
Niven’s specialty is in coming up with wildly imaginative ideas, which are still fully consistent with what we know of science. The world of The Integral Trees (and the sequel The Smoke Ring), for example, is more bizzare than anything I’ve read in any other literature, fantasy, SF, or otherwise. He’s also done things like having an astronaut strip off his suit, in order to survive long enough to be rescued (and it works!)
Asimov, of course, is also a good choice. I would recommend that you start with I, Robot, which contains his classic robot short stories, or The Caves of Steel (and its sequel The Naked Sun). All three of these are also contained in The Complete Robot. You might also want to read the Foundation series: The robot stories are an easier read, but Foundation is probably better overall. My favorite Asimov is Pebble in the Sky, his first novel, but unless you have a good library, it’s impossible to find any more.
Ellison is a very skilled writer, but you may or may not like his work. Almost all of his work is very dark and morbid. He mostly wrote short stories, though, so it doesn’t cost too much time or effort to give him a try.
More recently, I’m also a fan of David Weber. I’ve read all but the last of the Honor Harrington series, and he’s also done some very good fantasy.
And yet another suggestion, for getting started: Pick up any volume of The Hugo Winners anthologies. The Hugo is the most significant award in science fiction (it’s voted by fans, not authors like the Nebula, and the choices are generally better), so you’re sure of getting good stuff. All of the stories are relatively short, and there are a variety of authors in them, so you can get an idea of whose work you particularly like. The earlier ones were edited by Asimov, and have his unique style of commentary between the stories.
Interesting suggesitons, everyone. But I think if one is really going to give good advice here, we should really ask what Kaspar is looking for … as is obvious from above, the range of “types” of SF is Astounding. (Or should that be Amazing …) Are you looking for something easy or complex? Funny or serious? Short or epic? Rattle off a few qualifiers and you’ll find someone with a suggestion …
Most of my favorites have been mentioned. I’ll just point out a few must-read short stories of Asimov that you can find in his collections.
“The Feeling of Power”
“The Final Question”
“Nightfall”. Asimov inscribed it with this quote from Emerson:
Another vote for Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series-- gripping character-driven novels in a science-fiction setting, with a great main character. A lot of the “science” is biological, dealing with how people and societies create themselves. The drive to become a parent is also a strong recurring theme.
The hard thing with these books is knowing where to start. Shards of Honor and The Warrior’s Apprentice are both okay, but probably wouldn’t strike you as anything spectacular. If you stick with it, the writing improves exponentially. I think Memory is probably my favorite, though A Civil Campaign is absolutely charming.
That’s a good idea. As I said, I’m looking for novel-length stories.
If it’s the beginning of a series that’s fine, but I would like to finish the book having read a complete story, not just part of one. It should stand alone. Then, if I liked it, I have the choice of reading more about the characters, etc., because I want to, not because I feel obligated. I’m certainly not afraid of epics, if they’re self-contained. And funny or serious, I like them both!
This is a very important point, maybe the most important: Easy – very easy – on the technobabble. I care that they get to the moon, not how they get to the moon. I’ve heard the qualifiers “hard” and “soft” being bandied about. I think I definitely lean towards “soft” at this point.
There are a lot of suggestions here that seem very promising. And I’m not discounting any for the future! As I said, I’ll be saving them all.
Someone mentioned Make Room! Make Room!. While it’s a great novel, it is very depressing. Just keep that in mind when you read it.
Chronos had some very good suggestions, including
Even now, Heinlein’s juvies are very readable and exciting, though sometimes they do show their age. Heinlein made sure that the science in his SF was as accurate as possible. An added bonus…last time I looked, most libraries had quite a few of these books in the stacks.
Kaspar, now that you’ve defined your wishes more clearly, I think that you should DEFINITELY give Niven’s Ringworld a try. It does have some technobabble, but it’s a fascinating story, with a true sense of wonder. I found his The Integral Trees and its sequel Smoke Ring to be harder to wrap my mind around, though still VERY good stories. You can read The Integral Trees as a standalone novel.
Some bookstores have an SF/fantasy geek, and will have a good selection of SF/fantasy. Same with libraries. If you don’t find a good selection of SF at one store, then try another.
By the way, some people call it scifi. There’s a clash in the SF reading community about calling it that. I, for one, rarely call ANYTHING scifi unless it’s a film. If I call a book scifi, I am sneering at it. My preferred term is SF or science fiction.
Congratulations on finding an interesting new genre. You have endless hours of entertainment waiting for you.
If you’ve got a humanities degree and are used to reading mainstream fiction and prefer your SF soft, you have GOT to read Le Guin. She’s one of our most literary authors, and her science is always subordinate to the story. She specializes in developing characters and societies (her father was a famous anthropologist, and it shows). If any SF enters the literary canon, it’ll be Le Guin – there are already Cliff’s Notes for The Left Hand of Darkness. A wonderful, beautiful writer.
Red Mars comes recommended by a fairly famous postmodernist philosopher whose name escapes me now. The science in it is good, but the sociology is better; it describes a politic that is completely plausible and subtly terrifying. Add in some amazing spectacle scenes, and you’re set.
For sheer linguistic style, you can’t beat William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Written in the mid-eighties before the man had ever seen a computer, the book is chock-full of coolisms, with strange and electrifying images jumping out from every page. He’s not so big on the character development, and after reading the book three times I have no idea what its plot is, but it’s a terrifically fun read if you don’t worry too much about that stuff. And the book is the seed for the whole cyberpunk aesthetic, which is kind of nifty.
Daniel
I’d also recommend one of the best books derived from the cyberpunk tradition–Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash. Great story and wonderful, wonderful writing. He has a very distinctive style that may initially be strange–he writes (IIRC) in the present tense and has a habit of ending his books very abruptly. Many people are annoyed by this. That said, Snow Crash is still chock-full of fascinating ideas.
I’d also recommend Vernor Vinge’s A Deepness in the Sky. Huge, involving story, with a minimum of technobabble. His A Fire Upon the Deep won the Hugo.
Last, I’d recommend Robert Sawyer, a Canadian author. He writes books that are, basically, about ideas. But they’re fascinating ideas, so I don’t mind if his humans are rather more boring. I liked his Illegal Alien, a courtroom novel about an illegal alien (literally) and his Quintaglio series, about a world where dinosaurs became the dominant species for some reason I can’t recall. Each of the books is about a time in the history of this species where someone makes an important scientific discovery: the dinosaur Galileo, the dinosaur Darwin, and the dinosaur Freud. Another good one is Hominids, where a Neanderthal from an alternative universe where they beat out homo sapiens is brought into our universe.
What would you start with first, Battlefield Earth or dianetics? Seeing as how both are complete crap fiction.
There’s one thing that needs to be said about science fiction readers. Some of us read for cool scientific ideas, others want stories that are still focused on human beings and human societies. If you’re in the second category, I highly recommend these two short solo novels:
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. LeGuin. Imagines a planet where the populations is similair to human beings, but gender does not exist. The result is a very interesting look at how government, religion, and economy are all affected by gender issues. Beautifully written with great characters.
The Songs of Distant Earth, by Arthur C. Clarke. The idea is that humanity is starting to establish colonies in nearby star systems, but those colonies are carefully engineered to be Utopias. Those who planned the colonies feel that human life would be better without religion, military force, or traditional families, so they simply don’t teach the children about the possible existence of such things.