I second the following;
Hyperion series
Gap series
Night’s Dawn Trilogy
Anubis gate
A fire across the Deep
Amber series
I’d also like to suggest C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire Trilogy…or any of fantasy books by Jack Vance.
I enjoyed that one, as well.
I’m looking forward to your reaction to The Briar King. You say you like alternate history, so if you end up liking Keyes’s writing, he has an alternative history series starting with Newton’s Cannon.
I can second most of the choices listed above( particularly Hamilton and Feist), and would like to add some books that I’ve read and enjoyed that weren’t listed. ( That I noticed at least).
Marrow Story of a jupiter-sized spaceship manned by immortal humans and other species.
Fevre Dream George RR Maartin’s other book. This is an excellent vampire book set in the Mississsippi in the 19th century.
The book I most recently read was Newton’s Wake. It’s slightly confusing at times, but it has some nifty and sometimes scary ideas about what happens after computers inevitably get smarter than we are. ( Hint: they’ll make even smarter computers: which will make even smarter ones…) I
My favorite book af all time: A miracle of Rare Design by Mike Resnick. It’s a very short book unfortunately , but it has some excellent stuff that keeps you thinking about it long after you’ve finished reading.
I am a avid lurker on Great Debates and I’ve read many threads with zev_steinhardt contributions. I thought Job might be and interesting read given his background. You’re recommendations are also excellent.
to zev : thanks for the followup on your selection.
My recommendations:
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Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. Especially the Liaden novels (Agent of Change, Conflict of Honors, Carpe Diem (those 3 are available separately, or in a collection titled Partners of Necessity*), Local Custom, Scout’s Progress (those 2 are available separately, or in a collection titled Pilot’s Choice, Plan B and I Dare). Their non-related SF novel The Tomorrow Log is good, too. (I love these. If you come across a “Jelaza Kazone” anywhere online, there’s a good chance that it’s me.)
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Michelle West’s Hunter/Sun Sword series.
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Juliet McKenna’s Tales of Einarinn (I’m sure I spelled that wrong; the first one is The Thief’s Gamble.
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Jasper Fforde (I’m sure I spelled that wrong, too), The Eyre Affair and Lost in a Good Book (I haven’t read the rest of them yet).
As for Steven Brust, I like Jhereg, but I started with Dragon and that inspired me to buy the whole rest of the series even before I was finished.
For Terry Pratchett, I started with Mort, and I think that one or Guards! Guards! seem like the best to read first. I highly recommend against reading them in publishing order; the first 2 are the weakest I’ve read so far.
Anything by Phillip K. Dick.
Larry Niven and jerry Pournelle make a super writing team.
That’ll keep you busy for awhile.
I must protest Small Gods is not an attack on organized religion, but rather an attack on organized religion that is not backed by true belief and that enforces othodoxy by stifling dissent and shutting out all new ideas by any and all means. I don’t see how you can say that in light of how the book ended.
zev_steinhardt,
The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump does have a bit of that feel to it, but I like this world much better. This book seems fresher than anything Piers Anthony wrote since A Spell for Chameleon. I like the dynamic of a society where the supernatural manifests more readily and undeniably than this one, and still that society maintains many separate, thriving religions.
Soooo, how was it? Are we good at suggesting books or should we hang our heads in shame?
The Witches of Wenshar
Which is a sequel to The Ladies of Mandrigyn. Both of these I recommend highly. A recent addition, The Dark Hand of Magic isn’t quite as good. (Not a bad read, just not same feel.)
Zev, I realize I’m a bit late, here, but I’ll still offer my suggestions:
Jane Lindskold’s Firekeeper books, about a girl in a fantasy world raised by intelligent wolves. It may sound like standard fantasy fare from that description, but it rocks. The books, to date, are Through Wolf’s Eyes, Wolf’s Head, Wolf’s Heart, and The Dragon of Despair. Lindskold has a number of other books out, too, and all are worth a look.
I want to second the good words said by previous posters about Tim Powers, Connie Willis, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Robert Heinlein.
Ender’s Shadow is pretty good. The rest kind of sucked. Ender’s Game was excellent of course, but…Speaker for the Dead & Xenophobe got too religious and too into human nature for me, and Children of the Mind was just damn confusing.
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Thank you for starting this thread! I was thinking of starting this myself as I just got my library card again! I’m taking notes like crazy.
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I can’t stand Raymnd Feist. Too much crap, too much long-winded boringness.
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I’ll put in another vote for Clarke. And I KNOW this is going to sound weird, but William Shatner makes a much better writer than he ever did actor. (And I *liked * Kirk, honest). His Tek Wars are really quite good, although it’s been a few years since read any of them.
Also, I am currently reading Time Enough for Love by Heinlein due to someone on this Board’s recommendation. Haven’t finished it yet, but it seems good so far. Also, I think Orson Scott Card is a great author.
Plus I’m surprised no one’s mentioned Asimov’s Robot books. Foundation is a lot to slog through (I haven’t done it yet!) but the others are good.
Am I too late? Oh well. I’ll post anyway, it’s not like i’m reviving a week-old thread.
Well, I started the book but found it a bit difficult, so I put it down for about a week. After that, however, I picked it up again and got into it.
Keyes, I’m finding, is a bit difficult, because he doesn’t write in English 
. Seriously, a fair portion of the words in the book are words that he made up and that the reader has to figure out what they mean from the context of the conversation. In other cases, he uses words that are English, but don’t mean in that world what they mean here; and again the reader has to figure it out.
But I am enjoying the book a lot. Unfortuantely, because I’m currently in the process of moving, I’m finding my reading time is being severely curtailed.
I’ll let everyone know when I’m finished. The next book waiting for me (which since came out in paperback since this thread was started) is One Knight Only by Peter David. This novel is a follow up to Knight Life, which was a very funny light read about King Arthur as a candidate for Mayor of New York City.
Again, thanks to everyone for their help.
Zev Steinhardt
You do know that those were ghost-written by Robert Sheckley (I think it was Sheckley anyway. But they were definitely not written by Shatner.)
And no one mentioned Elizabeth Moon. 
Fun and well written space opera, starting with Hunting Party which leads into a large series. She has recently changed publishers and started another series which may or may not be related to the first one. And she wrote and excellent stand alone titled The Speed of Dark. Near future novel dealing with autism.
zev you like alternate history, have you read Turtledove’s In The Presence Of Mine Enemies? Very depressing and very good.
Not yet. As I said in the OP, I’m the type who will wait a year to save ten bucks on the softcover (although I will break that rule for A Feast for Crows when (if?) it is published. However, ItPoME is on my list…
Zev Steinhardt
Well, I finished The Briar King by Keyes.
When I first picked it up, I thought…
…it was going to be a stand-alone novel. Clearly I was wrong. Keyes was just using the first novel to set up the rest of the series by prophesying to Anne that there had to be a Queen in Crotheny and then setting her up to be the legitimate heir. The only part missing was actually getting her back to Crotheny; as it stands now, no one knows if she is alive or dead, and so Charles is king (although, of course, his mother really rules – for the moment anyway). In addition, he led us to believe that the Briar King’s awakening was going to be an aplocolyptic event, but, in fact, it turns out that this is simply the first part… the world hasn’t ended for the humans yet.
I found the book a bit difficult to get into at first. As I mentioned earlier, the names he uses are very foreign sounding, and many of the words that the characters utter are not words that have the common meanings that we (the readers) associate with those words. There were times I had to go back and ask myself “What did (s)he say there?”
The world that Keyes created has a rather interesting feel to it that I can’t quite place - it’s not as simplistic as the world that the Belagriad takes place it, but yet not anywhere as complex as that of Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice. The combination of the human and non-human races (such as the Sefry) were interesting.
I was kind of upset in that he spent time bringing up the whole Neil/Fastia romance only to doom it right away. In addition, I thought he could have gotten a lot more milage out of Robert as well. He made such a wicked villian (the callousness that he showed in offing LesBeth was chilling).
I am looking forward to the second book in this series but will wait for it to come out in paperback, so that means a wait of about a year or so.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m now reading One Knight Only, a follow up to Peter David’s Knight Life which was a fun read.
I re-read the thread again and there are so many good suggestions here that I’m not sure where to go to next. Depending on my mood the next time I go, I’ll probably pick up either the first book of the Garth Nix series, or else Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog which looks like a fun read.
Other books on my sci-fi/fantasy waiting list are (in no particular order):
Dies the Fire by SM Striling – the world that was left behind in the Island in the Sea of Time series.
The Charnal Prince - Keyes - the follow up book to The Briar King
In the Presence of Mine Enemies - Harry Turtledove
Hybrids - Robert J. Sawyer - the follow up to Hominids and Humans
Gunpowder Empire - Harry Turtledove
The Probability Broach - L. Neil Smith
Return Engagement - Harry Turtledove - the followup to the American Empire series
Out of the Darkness - Turtledove again - the last book to his Darkness/World War series
The Time Travellers Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - not really a classic sci-fi/fantasy book (at least in the way it was described to me), but still sounds interesting - kind of in the way The Man Who Folded Himself was.
West of Eden - Harry Harrison
Tong Lashing - Peter David - the third book in the Sir Apropos of Nothing series.
and, of course,
A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin - the book for which I will break my rule about not buying hardcovers.
Most of these books are not yet available in soft cover (or at all) and are on my radar screen. The ones that are available are sort of “if I see them in the bookstore and I’m in the mood, I’ll pick them up.”
So, again, I want to thank everyone for thier contributions and suggestions. I’m always open to more suggestions, so if you come across something good, please feel free to post here and let me know.
I’ll keep updating this thread from time to time as I finish other books.
Zev Steinhardt
$&%&^ coding!!
I didn’t mean to underline everything like that. Can a mod please fix it by putting a slash in the tag after the word “King” in the first line of my post?
Thanks.
Zev Steinhardt
I noticed China Mieville doesn’t appear on your list. zev, you gotta read you some China Mieville. Seriously, he’s the best thing to happen to fantasy/SF fiction in a really long time. If nothing else, read the first two chapters of Perdido Street Station; that should be enough either to decide it’s not for you, or to get grabbed by the throat, thrown against the wall, and overwhelmed by the sheer force of Mieville’s imagination.
I’ve just started his latest book, The Iron Council, and it’s oh so good to be an audience for his storytelling once more.
Daniel
Since you mentioned you liked a Gerrold book…have you checked out his war against the Chtorr series?
I was recommended the short story “He Walked Around the Horses” by H.Beam Piper, on this very board, and after some searching I located it in a collection named “The Complete Paratime”.
This collection I recommend to you. To all, in fact. I’ve been away from SF for a long time and I don’t know how it’ll relate to your other favourites, I’m afraid, but I have been reading my way slowly through the book over the summer and have become more and more engrossed in the parallel universes and their policemen. Already more than impressed with the shorter stories, I’m now halfway through the climactic novel, “Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen”, and it’s wonderful stuff.
Here’s a review, but beware of spoilers - possibly best left alone if you’re already sold on the book: http://www.troynovant.com/Franson/Piper/Complete-Paratime.html
Oh, btw, unfortunately it’s out of print but you should be able to pick it up easily enough at abebooks or somewhere. Last time I looked they had plenty. Just make sure you get the “Complete” version, because it all ought to be read together.
ps: ironically “He Walked Around The Horses” was the only story that didn’t really do anything for me. More interesting for its real-life origins.
Dipping back into the thread after some time away… I’d agree with a later poster that Small Gods is something more interesting than an attack on organized religion; though Catholicism does come in for its lumps… (Omnian…)
Bear in mind that Pratchett’s main (and highly sympathetic) protagonist, Brutha, is a Disk-world analogue of St. Thomas Aquinas. (Known to fellow students, as I understand it, as “The Dumb Ox.”) You might plausibly say that Pratchett is taking sides in a religious dispute, but not, I think, simply attacking religion.
In any event, I think Pratchett’s later use of an Omnian cleric as a main hero (and very sympathetic character) in Carpe Jugulum illustrates one of the reasons I consider him one of the most humane writers around. Here’s a writer who’s used his stock-character Omnian doorbell-ringers as a running joke; then he turns round and makes one of them an altogether admirable center of the story. Very few writers can skewer their own preconceptions as deftly.
So: yes, definitely read Pratchett, and don’t be put off by concerns that he might be anti-religious. Bawdy perhaps, at times. And definitely irreverent. But I know any number of theologians whose work might be improved by reading him…