Farmer- How could i forget? Riverworld- is that where everybody is re-incarnated? His books are Great!
I was wondering when someone was going to mention Herbert and his Mouse
Agreed on Dune. Here’s a warning to unsuspecting folk who haven’t tried Herbert yet, though:
Stay away from the prequels!!!
I’m deadly serious. They’re junk, drek, cartoons. Herbert Jr. and Kevin Anderson should be taken out and shot for desecrating The House That Frank Built.
Seriously.
totally with you there Jayjay- and shot with slow bullets to boot…
[another slight hijack]Anyone into Heavy Metal? Especially the older stuff?[/a s hijack]
I’d like to add Glen Cook to the list. He writes both fantasy and science fiction, usually with a military angle, and is, IMNSHO, one of the best but least well-known (and hardest to find) writers out there.
(I shoved his books at some friends of mine once; the next time I saw them they were chanting, in unison, “We hate you, we hate you, we hate you”, because they were having trouble finding any of his books and they really, really wanted to read more of his stuff. 
)
I think that his Passage at Arms is one of the best books ever written; I’d put it up against Starship Troopers or The Forever War any day. His Black Company series has also been excellent.
Robert Heinlein can’t be beat.
The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
Stranger In A Strange Land
Starship Troopers
Friday
A few (very few) stinkers too, but when some one writes as long and as much as Bob, well, watta ya want.
Woo hoo, more Bujold fans. She just rocks! All the style and flare of Heinlein with better character developement. And she blows stuff up, too.
Re-reading Banks’ Culture stories now.
And David Drake. Now he really gets a story moving. Military SF at its best.
Jerry Pournelle is no slouch either in the Military SF line. Falkenberg’s Legion could kick Dorsai butt.
By now you ought to’ve finished some a those Spiders- whattya think? And which ones? One I left off which I very much enjoyed was ‘Mindkiller’.
Man- in the next day or two, I’m gonna fire up notepad, come to this thread, go on a cut’n paste frenzy, and make me a ‘recommended’ list for the next year or so…
(I hate to admit it, but I’m looking forward to Lynn’s Vinge recommendations…)
Agreed. When I eventually actually pay my overdue fines, I’m going to be heading to the library for some Bujold, at the least. I’ve heard good things about her, but never read any. Also some Banks. I’ve been hearing the Culture series crop up on this board for a few months now and I’m curious.
I also like Heinlein, Sturgeon, Niven (alone and with Pournelle), Bujold, Willis, Vinge Robinson, and others too numerous to mention. Re Willis, I esp. like “Fire Watch” and “To Say Nothing of the Dog”. Re Sturgeon, my faves include “More then Human” and the stories “The (Widgett), the (Wadgett) and Boff” and “Claustrophile”.
If I were trying to introduce someone to Heinlein, the books I’d suggest starting with would include “The Door into Summer” (which was the first of his I encountered) plus a few of the juviniles: “The Rolling Stones” and “Have Space Suit, Will Travel” in particular. And the short story collection, “The Green Hills of Earth”.
I also like Neal Stephenson, esp. “Cryptonomicon”. And William Gibson.
I think I’ll have to spend more time in MPSIMS. Can I get an irish coffee?
I read Crosstime Saloon last night and by page 17 I knew I was in good hands! Anyone who know knows enough to drink Tullamore Dew has got to be all right I don’t remember which others I got, but will be getting to them in the next day or so.
You guys are mentioning some of my favorite SF ever, I like your taste! And maybe I should take some of the ones I haven’t read as suggestions (scribble, scribble… Vernor Vinge? sounds more like a character from the Jetsons than a real person… scribble).
I didn’t think anyone else would ever have heard of H. Beam Piper’s Paratime stories, Lok, but I loved those! (Read them about twelve years ago, but haven’t found them in any library or bookstore since)
I’ve got to join in agreement with those who’ve expressed good things about Callaghan’s Crosstime Saloon, Brin’s Startide Rising (I also liked Brin’s Earth except for the ending… he writes extremely well, but he’s got to learn how to write a good ending), A Canticle for Liebowitz by Miller was great, I liked Le Guin’s The Dispossessed and her Earthsea series, Card’s Ender series, and Haldeman’s Forever War.
So far I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Kim Stanley Robinson, his Red Mars was pretty good too…
I knew it
Gaahh- Gibson- Damn, how could I have forgotten sooo much?
FWIW, John Carr who co-authored (with Roland Green) the Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen sequel, Great Kings’ War, has just released (and self-published) Kalvan Kingmaker, the sequel to GKW. I believe that he is projecting two or three other books in his series.
The stylistic and philosophical differences between Piper and Carr are pretty obvious. GKW was still a pretty good read, and I expect that Kalvan Kingmaker will be, too.
Additional news about Piper and Kalvan may be found here.
In reply to my post:
> 16. Michael Frayn The Tin Men
Fenris writes:
> <blink>
>
> Who? I’ve either read or heard of every other author/book
> (just got my hands on several Lem, for example, but
> haven’t read 'em yet) on your list, but this one stumped
> me…and given our tastes, I’m probably going to like
> this one. Some info please?
Michael Frayn is a British author, more known for his plays than for his novels, considered mostly a mainstream writer even to the extent that he’s mentioned as a novelist, and better known in the U.K. than he is in the U.S.
I don’t think you can buy The Tin Men new. Try a library, a used bookstore, or the usual Internet sources for used books. Although I read the book twice, it’s been a while since the last time I read it, so who knows? My tastes might have changed in the meantime, so it’s possible I might no longer be so impressed with it.
Geeze, you go away for a day or two and come back to a killer thread like this!
Wouldn’t you know that ** AuntiePam **, who has demonstrated a high level of empathy in previous posts, would be the first to mention ** Theodore Sturgeon **?
He is indeed an acknowleged master of the short story (my
favorite being the incredible “Slow Sculpture”) but he was
no slouch as a novelist, either, as ** More Than Human ** shows. Heck, it was great even as the novella “Baby is Three.” Also, his “Saucer of Lonliness” has a powerful message, and IIRC Spider Robinson says somewhere that people have said it was the single reason they didn’t commit suicide as a teenager.
Thanks,** Fenris ** for the news that they’re reprinting all of Sturgeon. It’s about damn time. I hope they also include the unfinished novel ** Godbody ** which came out shortly after his death but seems to have vanished since.
Far be it from me to argue with such excellent fan suggestions about where to turn on someone with Heinlein, other than to say the age of the subject could have a difference. For younger teens, I would suggest one of his great juveniles. When my son started showing interest in my huge collection, I started him with ** Red Planet ** as a sentimental favorite, as it was my introduction over :: coughs ruefully :: 40 years ago. After that, he tore through them in no time.
** Scylla ** I would add that ** The Demolished Man ** is worthy of inclusion as well. I even enjoy ** Alfred Bester’s ** later work, when he came back to the field after his long time at Holiday magazine.
**RealityChuck ** All the props to you for beating me to Pangborn’s ** Davy ** and suggest that folks hunt for a copy of his very first work, the novellette “Angel’s Egg” as well worth the effort.
Of course, ditto to Herbert’s Dune, Haldeman’s Forever War; LeGuin’s Earthsea Trilogy and H.Beam Piper’s Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, and damn near anything by **Niven/Pournelle/Barnes **.
May I also suggest ** David Gerrold’s War With the Chtorr ** series? Excellent stuff, though he’s kept us awaiting resolution for a VERY long time now.
Also, ** Kevin O’Donnell, Jr. ** for his ** Fire on The Border ** and ** Bander Snatch ** books and his McGill Feighan Series ** Caverns, Reefs, Lava, Cliffs **
For old timers, check out the works of ** Frederick Brown,** or ** Henry Kuttner & C.L. Moore,** singly or in combination.
hometownboy - hey! Fredric Brown – of course! I guess I think of him as more of a mystery writer, forgot about his SF.
(Amazon shows a collection of his short SF stories due out pretty soon.)
Nobody has mentioned Cordwainer Smith! Take a look at his short stuff first (“The Game of Rat and Dragon” might be my favourite).
For hard SF, read Hal Clement. His characters aren’t nearly as good as some writers can do, but his science is right and he can keep you reading. I just picked up a couple of recently-published anthologies at the library.
“The Dancers at the End of Time” by Michael Moorcock also works for me. How can you go wrong with a story about immortality, decadence, and the redeeming power of true love? :;
Me, too. It looks like you folks have good taste.
Interestingly, I’ve been introduced to a lot of my favorite science fiction authors by other science fiction authors, especially RAH. It seems that the best ones are a very generous lot, eager to share their favorites with their readers.
For instance:
I was a major Star Trek fan as a kid. I learned about Heinlein from David Gerrold’s The World of Star Trek. During the production of his episode “The Trouble with Tribbles,” someone noted that tribbles were an awful lot like the flat cats in The Rolling Stones and contacted Heinlein to see if he would sue for plagiarism over it. Heinlein graciously replied that he would not, and that both he and Gerrold probably owed credit to the author of the short story “Pigs is Pigs.”
So, that got me started reading Heinlein. The Rolling Stones had been checked out, so I started with the Red Planet.
[Aside to Fenris]Willis as a phallic symbol?? 
Had this woman ever SEEN a phallus? [/Aside to Fenris]
After devouring all the juvenile Heinleins in my school library, I then started buying the adult ones (Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough for Love, etc.) in paperback. I still remember blushing and looking around guiltily when I got to the racy parts of SISL and TEFL. What if people knew I was reading about s-e-x? Heady stuff for a very naive eighth grader…
Heinlein introduced me to lots of others, with comments in either his author’s notes or by characters in his novels about books they’d loved. Without these, I might not have been introduced to H. Beam Piper, E.E. “Doc” Smith, or Theodore Sturgeon. And The Number of the Beast probably inspired a lot more people besides me to check out Edgar Rice Burrough’s John Carter series. (I had seen the books, but always rejected them out of hand, because I automatically assumed that books with cover paintings of green men and semi-naked women would be pretty stupid.) I enjoyed these and Burroughs’ other books immensely (and one of them also contained the funniest typo I’ve ever read.)
Now I’ve got a REAL problem. Now that I’ve gotten addicted to hanging out here at the SDMB, it has seriously cut into my reading time. When am I going to find time to read all this great stuff? (I’ve got this pesky family that still expects to eat, have clean clothes, etc.) How do you guys do it?
That’s exactly how I came to read the Burroughs books- to the word!
<sigh>
Personally, I cope by learning to read even faster. Now if I could just keep my eye sockets from overheating…
rjk, “The Game of Rat and Dragon” is my favorite Cordwainer Smith short. I’ve got a battered old anthology of cat stories that I hang onto just to reread that one.
Larry Niven is usually on the top of my list, though he hasn’t been producing much recently, and some of his recent collaborations just fell flat for me. I own over 95% of his work, which says a lot considering how prolific he is.
David Brin may belong on the top of my list now. I’ve read everything by him but ‘Earth’. I really liked the short stories in ‘Otherness’, and really enjoyed both of the Uplift trilogies.
William Gibson is pretty awesome, but he’s like Ellison in that the more of his work you read, the more it begins to look alike, and his style begins to get a bit annoying.
I like most John Varley. I didn’t care for the ‘Wizard’ books from the '70s, but his short stories are universally good, and ‘Steel Beach’ is one of my favorite SF novels of all time.