# I need science fiction and fantasy recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2006, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133 "2006-07-12T03:54:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/41 "2006-07-12T20:44:23Z")
[QUOTE=Left Hand of Dorkness] [World Fantasy Award Winners](http://www.worldfantasy.org/awards/): if you’re not sure which books to order, you could do worse than to go over these recommendations. [/QUOTE] Cool site! I’m looking at the list to see what I’ve read. So far, not much, though I did read Susannah Clarke. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/42 "2006-07-12T20:58:05Z")
If awards are what you want, look at the [Locus Index to Science Fiction Awards](http://www.locusmag.com/SFAwards/). Every award ever given in the field. Worldwide. By year, category, name, etc. Mark Kelly did a great job. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/43 "2006-07-12T21:25:01Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] Iain Banks [/QUOTE] Nit pick… Iain Banks writes his Sci-Fi as Iain **M** Banks, if you by a book by Iain Banks without the ‘M’ it will be his contempary stuff. I liked The Wasp Factory, was hugely impressed by the his non-sci-fi stuf. I really rate his sci-fi stuff (Player of Games, Feersum Endjinn). [Returns to mom’s basement to re-sort magic-the-gather cards] 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/44 "2006-07-12T21:42:39Z")
Stephen Brust: His _Taltos_ series is high fantasy told with a detective noir tone. Very good stuff. One quirk about it is that the books were written out of chronological order, which makes the inevitable, “Which book should I read first?” question a little tricky. He also has done a few books set in the same universe, but written as a pastiche of Dumas’ _The Three Musketeers_, that are quite funny. James Morrow: One of my favorite authors, his books are very dark, satirical urban fantasies with a strong, and terribly sympathetic, focus on Western religion. He’s best known for _Towing Jehovah_, about the discovery of God’s miles long corpse floating in the mid-Atlantic, and the efforts taken to inter it in an Arctic tomb. Jonathan Lethem: He made a big splash with his dystopian \*Gun, with Occasional Music," which tied in such disparate elements as _Brave New World_, _The Island of Doctor Moreau_, and the works of Raymond Chandler, but _As She Crawled across the Kitchen Table_ was a much more ambitious work, focusing around the creation of a miniature black hole in a university lab, and the problems it creates for the social life of the protagonist. That’s what I’ve got off the top of my head. I’m sure I’ll be back as new names present themselves. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/45 "2006-07-12T21:53:56Z")
I’ll vouch for all **Miller’s** recommendations as well, with the caveat that I find Morrow to be a little on the didactic side for my tastes. Brust, however, can be wonderful; **Phoenix Guards** is a lovely companion volume to _The Three Musketeers_. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/46 "2006-07-12T22:15:53Z")
No love for Gene Wolfe? Or the guy who _really_ invented the genre, H. G. Wells? Would also recommend Neal Asher (wide-screen all-action space operas, fun stuff) and Alastair Reynolds (somewhat higher-concept space operas, lots of cosmic concepts and general bogglement, still fun). ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2006, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/47 "2006-07-12T23:01:02Z")
Gene Wolfe was mentioned a while back, I’m sure… [QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Is the Deryni series (Kurtz) good? [/QUOTE] The first Deryni set (D.Rising, D.Checkmate & High D.) and the first Camber set (C. of Culdi, Saint C. & C. the Heretic) were the best, imo - the later ones not so good. Her _Adept_ series was quite fun. Not sure it would really be worth stocking… ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/48 "2006-07-13T01:29:42Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I really like The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry. [/quote] \< Looks at **Khadaji**'s username \> I would _never_ have guessed ! 🙂 Personally, I reread the Matador series on a regular basis. [QUOTE=Polycarp] **Lois McMaster Bujold** : Imagine Georgette Heyer, E.E. Smith, and Tom Clancy doing a three-way collaboration, with James Michener helping out on the family-saga aspects. The Vorkosigan saga is all that and more. She also has a fantasy series going, which I am not familiar with. [/quote] The Chalion books; a very good series. I like the theology; the five Gods are the Mother, the Father, the Daughter, the Son, and the Bastard. Besides stuff already mentioned, here’s some stuff I like : I like Tanya Huff; I recommend her ( mentioned ) Blood books, a vampire series, and her Summoning books; a very funny fantasy series. “Never tell Egyptian gods they remind you of cartoon characters.” By Dennis Jones, I like _The Stone and the Maiden_ and it’s sequal, _the Mask of the Sorceress_. A fantasy set on a world where the “Deep Magic” has been sealed away, it involves a genocidal war, led by an evil magician named Erkai the Chain who wants to unbind the great magics and become a “Thanaturge”. I’d recommend Jane Lindskold and her Firekeeper series and the Athanor books. The first is a fantasy series about a young woman rescued and raised by sentient wolves as their agent in the human lands, and the Athanor books are about the secret existence of mythical creatures in the real world. A detail I like : Ragnarok isn’t a Norse prophecy; it’s the distorted legend of the greatest magical battle ever waged. I like most things by Eric Flint, except his Philosophical Strangler books. I like just about everything by Lawrence Watt-Evans, except his Worlds of Shadow trilogy; much too depressing. More later, perhaps . . . ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/49 "2006-07-13T01:46:52Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] The Chalion books; a very good series. I like the theology; the five Gods are the Mother, the Father, the Daughter, the Son, and the Bastard. [/QUOTE] I loved this series and I think you were the person who recommended it to me. You’re swell. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/50 "2006-07-13T02:04:38Z")
How about some **Jules Vern**? You might also care to look at **John Brunner** , **Samuel Delany** or **Micheal Moorcroft**. On the lighter side you can try **Tom Holt** or **Robert Rankin**. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/51 "2006-07-13T02:14:00Z")
> [@](#): > > How about some Jules Vern? Seconded, but only if you spell it **Jules Verne**. There’s something of a Verne renaissance going on now. A lot of books that have been out of print for ages are back in print now in paperback ( **Kereban the Inflexible, Dick Sands, Captain Antifer** ). Some Verne works that have never been in print have, in the past decade, been published ( **Paris in Twentieth Century** , and a _musical_ Verne wrote uniting several of his major charactwers, like Captain Nemo), and translated (what purports to be the first full, unabridged English translation of **The Mysterious Island** just came out a couple of years ago. I picked up a new collection of Verne short story translations in Ireland a couple of years ago. Verne wrote a _helluva_ lot more than most people know. And I’ll dispute that Wells was the _real_ creator of science fiction – Verne more than qualifies for the title. Unfortunately, I don’t know how much call there is for this stuff. It’s too unfamiliar to most readers (although if they see these brightly-colored books on the shelves, with the instantly recognizable name “Jules Verne” on them, they might be intrigued enough to pick them up), and, even in paperback, they’re a bit on the pricey side. Also, most bookstores tend to stick both Verne and Wells (and Poe, for that matter) under “Classics” rather than “science fiction/fantasy.” ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/52 "2006-07-13T02:16:35Z")
[QUOTE=Balance] **P. N. Elrod** –Her _Vampire Files_ series is about a reporter-turned-vampire in Prohibition-era Chicago. It’s pretty extensive, and most of the books are fun, light reads–think gumshoe/gangster with a twist. Some of the later books are darker. [/QUOTE] I’ll second this one. Did not realize the author is female, but that kinda explains certain things about the books I’ve read… I’d thought she was a really bitter guy. Seems to make her main female characters the villian as often as not. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/53 "2006-07-13T02:29:19Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] I loved this series and I think you were the person who recommended it to me. You’re swell. [/QUOTE] Thanks; after a search, it appears I did, in this thread where you asked for fantasy recommendations : [Want epic fantasy, but. . .](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343945&highlight=Chalion) It seems relevant to the OP, so I added the link. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/54 "2006-07-13T03:05:45Z")
Many of my favorite authors have already been mentioned, and I don’t want to just say, “Me too.” [QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Our clientele is reasonably literate, tending towards the Giller prize/Canadian fiction/_Kite Runner_ type books, but the sf section tends to be a little pulpy. [/QUOTE] It’s hard to get much more literate than Joanna Russ, and there’s even an on line [sample.](http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/russ/) I think Sylvia Engdahl’s mother star trilogy is underrated, (even though I was disappointed in the third book, _The Doors of the Universe_) and it has been rereleased as one big book called _Children of the Star_. ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/55 "2006-07-13T08:11:27Z")
How about [Robert Jordan’s](http://www.tor.com/jordan/) Wheel of Time series? The last few books have been a bit drawn-out and it is hard to remember (11 books in) all of the details, but I still love the series! ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/56 "2006-07-13T10:48:52Z")
There’s both **Neil Gaiman** and **Clive Barker** ’s stuff. Barker always gets shelved under horror, but it’s much more fantasy nowadays. I’m really enjoying the _Abarat_ series. Gaiman’s _Stardust & Neverwhere_ are a must, and his connected\* American Gods/Anansi Boys\* novels. Are you including kidlit/YA-ish stuff? I can’t recommend **Paul Stewart** & **Chris Riddell** ’s _The Edge Chronicles_ enough. A nice return to good illustration in books, and really good for adults too, I think (I don’t usually care about the distinction - I reread _Wind in the Willows_ regularly). Warning - It’s a dark world they’ve created. ---
**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:** [July 13, 2006, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/57 "2006-07-13T16:50:39Z")
[QUOTE=MrDibble] There’s both **Neil Gaiman** and **Clive Barker** ’s stuff. Barker always gets shelved under horror, but it’s much more fantasy nowadays. I’m really enjoying the _Abarat_ series. Gaiman’s _Stardust & Neverwhere_ are a must, and his connected\* American Gods/Anansi Boys\* novels. Are you including kidlit/YA-ish stuff? I can’t recommend **Paul Stewart** & **Chris Riddell** ’s _The Edge Chronicles_ enough. A nice return to good illustration in books, and really good for adults too, I think (I don’t usually care about the distinction - I reread _Wind in the Willows_ regularly). Warning - It’s a dark world they’ve created. [/QUOTE] **MrDibble** , that last sounds very interesting. I’ll have to look for it! The first recommendation makes me wonder whether this store has a graphic novel/comic book section. If so, make sure you keep _Sandman_ in stock, and _V for Vendetta_ and _Watchmen_ are also highly recommended. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/58 "2006-07-13T16:51:18Z")
We’ve got _Spiderwick_, _Edge Chronicles_ et al in the kids’ section. Our kids fantasy is much better than the adult, even with me violently threatening people who don’t buy Robert McKinley and Kim Stanley Robinson. I love all of you guys. Quite a bit of this I recognize- we’ve got Robert Rankin, Iain M. Banks, Gene Wolfe, several of Spider Robinson’s books, some of the Shattered Worlds stuff, most of WoT, some Asimov, a couple of the _Dune_ knockoffs. So far my list looks like this: A bunch of China Mieville, including _Iron Council_, which won something or other Octavia Butler R. A. Salvatore Robert Wilson (Illuminatus, right?) More Marion Zimmer Bradley Robert Asprin (Phule series) Must get _Spindle’s End_ and _The Hero and the Crown_ A lot more Charles De Lint, especially _The Little Country_ and the one about the painter. I liked those Some Lois McMaster Bujold Several Patricia McKillip Tanya Huff’s Blood series is only available in several volume in one sets. I like them- I think we should get them all. And the Keeper series A few Marion Zimmer Bradley. Specific recommentations? We’ve got the Avalon books, I think Elizabeth Moon’s _The Speed of Dark_ Stephen Brust’s Taltos series James Morrow’s _Towing Jehovah_ because it sounds interesting P. N. Elrod’s Vampire Files Joanna Russ, because that section impressed me More of the Recluce series Lynn Flewelling’s _Luck in the Dark_, because I’m 200 pages in and it’s great Sheri S. Tepper’s _Beauty_, _A Plague of Angels_, and _Shadow’s End_ Guy Gavriel Kay’s \*A Song for Arbonne[/i]and _The Lions of Al-Rassan_. We’ve had the Sarantium series- I’ll see about re-ordering Greg Keyes’s The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone More Mercedes Lackey Ooh! Ooh! _The Mirror of Her Dreams_! That’s so far. I’m working tonight, and I’ll tell my manager that he’s getting a big long list. Verne and Wells go in fiction. So does Susanna Clarke and Audrey Niffenegger. I don’t understand that. I refuse to get the Xanth series- if we get it, I think it goes in the kids section. Thank you all so much. This has been amazingly helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/59 "2006-07-13T16:53:00Z")
We’ve got _V for Vendetta_. There’s a small but growing graphic novel section. Ooh! Ooh! Can I order the _Firefly_ graphic novel? I’ll look up the isbn. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2006, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133/60 "2006-07-13T17:05:41Z")
[QUOTE=Lissla Lissar] Ooh! Ooh! _The Mirror of Her Dreams_! [/QUOTE] Yes, I like Mordant’s Need more than Thomas Covenant, personally. I think it’s just because I could root for the characters. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-need-science-fiction-and-fantasy-recommendations/364133.md?page=4)