# Good Sci Fi and Fantasy that I can probably find for cheap in a used bookstore! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 12, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869 "2012-06-12T01:59:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/1 "2012-06-12T01:59:15Z")
Yeah, I know, a very vague thread title. With my new schedule, I’ve got a lot of time to read. I’m looking for suggestions as to what I might be able to find cheaply in a used book store. I know this usually means books that may have sold fairly well ten years ago and were a pleasant read, but weren’t on a must keep list so they tend to find their way to the used book store. I tend to enjoy more of the ‘hard’ sci fi as well as books longer than 300 pages, but all suggestions are welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/2 "2012-06-12T02:13:57Z")
I’m reading _The Mote in God’s Eye_ by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle first published in 1974. It’s pretty entertaining but it’s one of those sci-fi books where feudalism seems to have made a come back and you’ve got age of sail style navies floating around in the year 3,000. I’m also reading _Wild Cards: I_ edited by George R.R. Martin which is an anthology of short stories surrounding a virus of alien origin that kills a lot of people, gives some people incredible powers and makes others into mutant freaks. If you haven’t read the Dune series I recommend the first three books. I haven’t read all 6 of the original books by Herbert. Check out anything by Philip K. Dick but “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” is pretty good. _The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman is another recent read of mine that I really enjoyed. It’s basically about the alienation a soldier experiences after coming home from various tours of duty. Good stuff whether you’re into military fiction or not. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/3 "2012-06-12T02:21:25Z")
I found the four books in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion/Endymion saga in a secondhand bookstore. They’re pretty decent. I’ll bet most of Robin Hobb’s books would be available too. If you like lighter fantasy, you might like the Farseer/Liveships/Tawny Man titles. The first is Assassin’s Apprentice. Also Gene Wolfe, the Book of the New Sun series; there are four. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/4 "2012-06-12T02:34:42Z")
Pretty much any Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, Bradbury, Niven… They did a lot more than just their biggies. And don’t neglect anthologies. Some priceless gems in many of those. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2012, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/5 "2012-06-12T02:36:54Z")
Tad Williams, _Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn_. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/6 "2012-06-12T02:41:18Z")
Check out Baen’s free library online [webscriptions.net](http://webscriptions.net) if you do not mind reading on a screen or have a smartphone/ebook reader. Hm, I think most of Lois McMaster Bujold’s backlist would be available in a used bookstore, same with Elizabeth Moon, David Weber and David Drake, probably Eric Flint, Mercedes Lackey, Anne McCafferey as well. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/7 "2012-06-12T02:46:41Z")
I am, of course, a huge fan of Le Guin. Her stuff isn’t exactly hard SF, but it’s not “magic has reawakened in a world of science,” either. China Mieville: you’ll love him or hate him, and that may vary from book to book. I’ve never known anyone who was neutral on him. I tend to love him, but some of his books are horrible. I recommend Perdido Street Station if you’re up for a long, dense urban fantasy, or The Scar if you prefer your long dense fantasies to be nautical. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/8 "2012-06-12T03:25:17Z")
I recommend that you find online a list of what a large group of people consider to be the best science fiction and fantasy of all time. One such list is this one: > **[Your Picks: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books](https://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books)** > > More than 5,000 of you nominated. More than 60,000 of you voted. And now the results are in. The winners are an intriguing mix of classic and contemporary titles. Then go to a used bookstore and pick out a few of them that happen to be available and buy them. This is as good as (and probably better than) asking people here for such a list. That doesn’t mean that you will like all of the books you find by this method. Indeed, you’ll distinctly dislike a few of them. The same is true of a list that you put together from the set of books that the posters to this thread will recommend to you. There is no possible way to find a list of books that you will consistently like, but at least you will have a slightly better chance that you will like most of the books in a list created by a large group than by asking a small group like the posters to this thread. ---
**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:** [June 12, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/9 "2012-06-12T03:40:46Z")
Duplicate ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/10 "2012-06-12T15:02:17Z")
Some of my favorites: Arthur C Clarke: _Rendevous with Rama_, 1973: Mankind discovers a cylindrical object approaching earth and sends a crew to investigate. Alfred Bester: _The Demolished Man_, 1953: the first Hugo award winner and _The Stars My Destination_, 1956: timeless classic in the noir tradition bet set in the future. Robert Heinlen: _The Door Into Summer_, 1957: One of the best time travel novels written. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/11 "2012-06-12T15:28:09Z")
Anything by Jack Vance. He’s been writing for almost 70 years, and he’s produced so much SF and fantasy that I’ve never seen a science fiction section of a used book store that didn’t have at least one of his books. He’s also consistently entertaining. > [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > China Mieville: you’ll love him or hate him, and that may vary from book to book. I’ve never known anyone who was neutral on him. I tend to love him, but some of his books are horrible. I recommend Perdido Street Station if you’re up for a long, dense urban fantasy, or The Scar if you prefer your long dense fantasies to be nautical. I’m sort of in the middle - I can’t stand him, but I love his books. They’re brilliant literature written by (IMHO) a hateful, narrow-minded misanthrope. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/12 "2012-06-12T15:36:36Z")
Besides the major Sf writers, you should look for anthologies (always good for disciovering authors you didn’t know about), especially The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, volume I and IIA and IIB (ignore the others) or The Year’s Best Science Fiction. They’re getting harder to find now, but I love the 1950s short stories-with-a-twist of the sort that _Twlight Zone_ made famous (many of them, in fact, having appeared as episodes of TTZ) Authors like: **Fredric Brown Robert Sheckley William Tenn Theodore Cogswell Richard Matheson Charles Beaumont** ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/13 "2012-06-12T15:37:15Z")
Some titles: Dune (Herbert)- great as a stand alone or as the portal into a huge (sometimes messy, ymmv) world of books Glory Road (Heinlein)- Mix fantasy and sci-fi? Sure! And it’s fun, too The Mote In God’s Eye (Niven/Pournelle)- fascinating imagination of what a totally alien culture might be like. Plus, it has big spaceships. The individual sub stories were well done, I thought Ringworld (Niven) - As a stand alone or as your own intro to more Known Space stories. Excellent visualizations. The City and the Stars (Clarke)- one of my faves as a youth, reread it a couple of years back, still good. A better version of his earlier Against the Fall of Night. Set so far in the future, even we are somewhat alien (in thinking, at least). Intelligent machines, space travel, mystery, etc … Up The Line (Silverberg)- a different take on time travel. campy, weird, fun The End of Eternity (Asimov)- another different look at time travel (of course you might also want to read his lesser known work, the Foundation series) A Princess of Mars (Burroughs)- may be campy, prejudiced, silly, what have you, but boy is it fun. Inspired a lot of early sci-fi writers and even some who grew up to be scientists. The Time Machine (Wells)- time travel? really? Sometimes, a story is a classic for good reasons. This is one of those times. has been reprinted in paperback many times. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/14 "2012-06-12T15:59:09Z")
Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny are usually available in most used book stores, and pretty much everything they wrote is worth reading. Most of the stores I visit also tend to have large collections of Star Trek novels, which can be hit or miss but are generally worth a look. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/15 "2012-06-12T16:11:34Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny are usually available in most used book stores, and pretty much everything they wrote is worth reading. Most of the stores I visit also tend to have large collections of Star Trek novels, which can be hit or miss but are generally worth a look. They’re also easy to find - just go to the last shelf. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/16 "2012-06-12T22:17:20Z")
Arthur C Clarke’s **A Fall of Moondust** is one of my favorites, short but hard SF (at least for 1961). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/17 "2012-06-12T22:38:52Z")
L. Sprague De Camp’s short stories are **loads** of fun, & in several collections. If you can find _A Gun For Dinosaur_ or his _Rivers Of Time_, you’ll enjoy them. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/18 "2012-06-12T22:51:52Z")
If you like big space operas then anything by Peter F Hamilton is recommended, they are long and complex. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/19 "2012-06-12T23:07:04Z")
I really, really like L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future anthologies. Yeah, I know you will probably recoil at the mere mention of Hubbard, but the anthologies are actually quite good. Hubbard set up a contest for writers and illustrators of SF/fantasy (tending more towards SF) and the winner and runners up of each year have their stories published. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/good-sci-fi-and-fantasy-that-i-can-probably-find-for-cheap-in-a-used-bookstore/624869/20 "2012-06-13T13:30:31Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > I recommend that you find online a list of what a large group of people consider to be the best science fiction and fantasy of all time. One such list is this one: > > [Your Picks: Top 100 Science-Fiction, Fantasy Books : NPR](http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139085843/your-picks-top-100-science-fiction-fantasy-books) > > Then go to a used bookstore and pick out a few of them that happen to be available and buy them. This is as good as (and probably better than) asking people here for such a list. That doesn’t mean that you will like all of the books you find by this method. Indeed, you’ll distinctly dislike a few of them. The same is true of a list that you put together from the set of books that the posters to this thread will recommend to you. There is no possible way to find a list of books that you will consistently like, but at least you will have a slightly better chance that you will like most of the books in a list created by a large group than by asking a small group like the posters to this thread. This is what I was going to say. The question is so vague, and opinions are so divergent, that this seems like a much smarter approach.