Heinlen - Door into Summer
Oof, I don’t know. I picked up Knave of Dreams on a whim and that just…oof. The prose was no good. I remember coming across several so poorly worded lines that I laughed out loud. And the main character learned and became proficient within a new language in the span of a few weeks (to the level of being able to fool upper government officials), which was utterly ludicrous. It put me off trying all his other works, but maybe that’s just me…
I’m also not a fan of Zelazny’s works. Tried Lord of Light and all of the first arc of Amber and they just didn’t stick.
Ready Player One was simply awful, for super-popular modern sci-fi. But it spoke to a lot of people, so…
So on to things I DO like then.
Anything by Asimov. I, Robot is great as well as his Robot series Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun, etc. which may be easier to get into compared to his* Foundation *series.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is a gem that’s often overlooked.
Nomad of the Time Streams by Michael Moorcock explores some ideas I enjoy. Dancers at the End of Time is also great (both are actually trilogies and some of the books are weaker than others but as a whole I like them plenty). They’re more of a fantasy/sci-fi blend though.
The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury. A rather sad and wistful take on planet colonization/terraforming
Neuromancer by William Gibson. Prose isn’t exactly my taste but the story really grows on you after a bit if you’re into the genre. It’s influenced a lot so it’s worth trying.
And for fun young adult, House of Stairs by William Sleator was one that always stuck with me and I still re-read. The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer is also plenty enjoyable by adults. Not heavy on the sci-fi but still good.
The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
The Paradox Men, Charles Harness
Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
The Planet of Adventure series (City of the Chasch, Servants of the Wankh, The Dirdir, The Pnume), Jack Vance
Spin, by Robert Charles Wilson
Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress
(Taken with a grain of salt because I don’t consider myself an sf fan (and I find Heinlein not worth reading).)
“Fire Upon the Deep” and “Deepness in the Sky” by Vernor Vinge
Dune, Frank Herbert
Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
also second Neuromancer by William Gibson.
also also, has anyone seen this:
Some of my favourite genera include Corvus, Rana, Macropus, Castor, Dacelo…
Genera =/= genre.
Fire in the Abyss by Richard Gordon, pretty interesting take on the Philadelphia Experiment.
The White Plague by Frank Herbert, very dark, very well written, but you kind of have to like a lot of “chin music”.
The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, a 60s era look at political systems.
These are not easy books. If you want an easy book, try Speaker for the Dead by that Card guy, it is kind of fun and you can blow through it in an evening or two (it alludes a bit to Ender’s Game, but it stands well on its own as the only book in that series worth reading).
And Bester’s The Demolished Man
A book that seems to get very little attention, despite the author’s profile:
The Gods Themselves, Isaac Asimov
Hard to summarize, but the crux of the novel regards a seemingly miraculous “free” source of energy for the denizens of Earth. The source of the energy is an essentially “magical” exchange of elemental metal with an alien race in a parallel universe. There are consequences and conflicts on all sides of the exchange.
The middle section of the book, which features the alien characters, is terrific. Asimov later wrote an SF story in which characters are producing a movie of an SF story, which is clearly intended to be the middle portion of “The Gods Themselves.”
“Accelerando” by Charles Stross is a mind-bending look at the future of humankind during and post-Singularity.You can get it for free here with the full blessing of Stross and his publishers.
However, I found it to be a bit disjointed. I much prefer a couple of his other works, “Halting State” and “Rule 34” set in the near future where cybercrime has become a lot more dangerous. You can get them both here on Amazon. I think his Laundry Files series, dealing with a British bureaucrat/spy dealing with Lovecraftian horrors (and I mean he very deliberately is borrowing from Lovecraft, this isn’t "Lovecraft-ish fantasy) is his most popular series, but like his Merchant Princes series, has strong fantasy elements, and you asked for SF. Plus, I prefer SF myself and consider his non-fantasy books to be better reads.
I didn’t care too much for The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin, but maybe should give it another try. I can definitely recommend The Left Hand of Darkness, by her. I think it’s her best book and one of the best I’ve read.
Stross also has a short story collection “Toast” available for free at his site After Appomattox, by Gregory Downs, reviewed.
Possibly because it was published as 9 separate novellas over the course of several years.
Zelazny is tricky. One thing to realize is that his first-person narrators are usually assholes. But that’s part of his genius: you find yourself interested in a tale told by (the character) someone you wouldn’t want to know in real life.
This is strongly evident in “The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth” and “A Rose for Ecclesiastes.” These are brilliant, brilliant stories, and both essentially involve the asshole narrator transcending his own limitations and demonstrating love for another person.
Here is a text copy of “This Mortal Mountain,” also by Zelazny, also featuring a first-person narrator who is a jerk…and who transcends himself at need. I think it’s completely brilliant, and also one of the best “mountain climbing” stories ever.
But…yes…I know a lot of people who tried to read the Amber series and couldn’t maintain any interest. Me, I love 'em! (Fair disclosure, the Amber series are fantasy, not SF.)
Anything by Jack Vance.
Another great Charles Stross novel is Saturn’s Children. It’s about a future where all the humans have died off but artificially intelligent robots are still around. Their problem is that they were all designed to serve humanity so they’re trying to figure out how their post-human society should work.
There is a short story Bit Rot and a novel Neptune’s Brood, which are sequels, but I haven’t read them yet.
Also, consider some of the collections of short stories by Cordwainer Bird. I am particularly fond of The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World (which includes A Boy and His Dog) and Angry Candy, but most of them are composed of 80~90% good-to-excellent with only a few clunkers. And the Dangerous Visions compilations he edited are quite good as well.
I’m betting you mean Harlan Ellison rather than Cordwainer Bird.
Go to that wiki thingy and type in “Cordwainer Bird”, see what you get.