I’ve been struggling with Game of Thrones, and really not enjoying the blatant wish of the author to make a long running series with swords n blood n stuff.

I’m hankering for a Tolkien or Philip Pullman or Orson Scott Card type of intelligent open minded fantasy sci-fi etc.

Whats Iain M Banks like?

Any other suggestions?

Razzle

Steven Erikson. not sci-fi but possibly the most intelligent fantasy I’ve ever read. You do need to read the books in order – it’s one story spread across about 10 books.

Captain, I’m not sure how the wife will take to me reading that in bed 😛

Which is the first book Wwaswas?

Alright then, why not try Playboy. You can read the articles. 😉

that might work…cultural development 😉

Which is the first book Wwaswas?

Gardens of the Moon, I think?

Have your read Stephen R Donaldson? Also see Katherine Kerr, JV Jones, Robin Hobb, Patrick Rothfuss

yes, gardens of the moon.

some more details here;

http://www.stevenerikson.com/

jonathan strange and mr norrell…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2004/oct/03/fiction.guardianfirstbookaward2004

really worth the read.

Gene Wolfe is the grand master of literary SF – he has a unique style though that may not be to everyone’s taste. He’s quite old now, and his late period novels are a bit inaccessible. Still peerless when it comes to the short story. The Book of the New Sun from the 1980s was his masterpiece.

Neal Stephenson and China Mieville are the best SF/fantasy writers I’ve read who are in their prime, so to speak, although I don’t keep up with the field any more. They’re not at Wolfe’s level, but Mieville in particular has written some brilliant stuff in the past 10 years e.g. perdido st station, the scar.

Reckon you’ve got it backwards with GRRM and his wish to make A Song of Fire and Ice long running – he’d end it tomorrow if he could. Sounds like he’s strapped to the mast with it and is really struggling to enjoy his writing – the 4th and 5th books floundered badly [did still enjoy reading the 5th though].

I’ve read several Ian Banks novels and loved them except The Steep Approach to Garbadale, where something went wrong as it bored me.

As Ian M Banks I’ve only read Consider Phlebas, which was gob-smackingly good until it ran out of steam about 2/3 way through and resorted to a sort of Alistair MacLean genre.

AndyRT – Member

I’m hankering for a Tolkien or Philip Pullman or Orson Scott Card type of intelligent open minded fantasy sci-fi etc.

The doctor prescribes a healthy dose of Kim Stanley Robinson. Not sure where I’d say to start though, maybe the Gold Coast? Or just jump straight into Mars. Definately not Galileo’s Dream though. He does repeat himself a little and it all has peaks and troughs but when he’s good, there’s nobody else that comes close IMO. Big ideas, tiny details, and yet so positive and warm- they’re always human stories, not vast and cool and unsympathetic.

Iain Banks, Neal Stevenson, China Mieville are all spot-on recommendations. Ken Macleod’s “Star Fraction” (he’s gone off lately but his Fall Revolution series is fantastic).

Couple of classics maybe- Heinlein’s Moon is a Harsh Mistress? Lord of Light or the first half of the Amber series by Roger Zelazny? Or Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner. Or Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes.

Ah, or Mary Gentle’s “Ash”. Bit shaky, doesn’t really know what it wants to be- bites off more than she can chew maybe but it’s good seeing her try.

Iain M Banks is very good. I started reading the Culture novels a few monts ago. I enjoyed Consider Phlebas and am about to start on The Player Of Games.

All the Ian M Banks books are excellent reading, with the exception of Player Of Games, where the main protagonist is utterly unlikable and unsympathetic, which makes the book very hard going. Read it once, not bothering again. Pretty much all of Roger Zelazney’s work is outstanding, if you can find it in print. He’s a master of character and prose, I’ve read a number of his books countless times, and never fail to find enjoyment from them. Neil Stephenson’s books are patchy, Zodiac, Snow Crash and Diamond Age are all really good reads, but later ones are very heavy going. Anathem I’ve not read yet, but is supposed to be very good, and he has a new techy one coming soon, which looks like a return to more real-world SF, involving gold-farming, Russian Mafia, guns, sex…
ReaMeD is the title. Cory Doctorow is also very good, and all of his ebooks are free, which is good.
Neil Gaiman should be checked out, and Kate Griffin’s Urban Magic books are superb. The first three, A Madness Of Angels, The Midnight Mayor, The Neon Court, are all available as dead tree and ebooks, and four is out next March. Five and six are finished, according to her blog. She’s a theatre lighting designer as well as an author. Talented girl, eleven books published by 25, first at 14, and that one owes a lot to Roger Zelazney, style-wise, which is where I came in.
Before anyone says anything, I don’t work for her publisher, and she’s not a friend, although I have met her. Just love her books, is all.

William Gibson’s recent books have been pretty enjoyable.

aP, I was going to mention William Gibson, very remiss of me not to, what with my username ‘n’all.
Everything he’s written is good, but the Virtual Light trilogy, featuring as it does San Fran cycle couriers is particularly appealing, and his latest trilogy, the ‘Hubertus Bigend’ series is wonderful. Just reading some of his tweets, as it happens; @GreatDismal

has no one said alistair Reynolds yet. his revelation space series is excellent
also Dan simmonds hyperion books and ilium are very very good
peter f Hamilton also deserves a mention

Surprised nobody’s mentioned Ian McDonald yet – Brasyl and River of Gods are well worth a read. Wasn’t so impressed with Cyberabad Days but I think that was mainly due to the short story format more than anything else.

I found Richard Morgan’s ‘The Steel Remains’ pretty enjoyable- and I’m not keen on fantasy.
Kim Stanley Robinson as said above can be an excellent writer- the Californias series and most of the Mars trilogy are great. The Gold Coast was a text on my American Literature course at uni.

Add in Richard Sterling and Jeff Noon if you like William Gibson.

peter f Hamilton also deserves a mention

I’ve got a real bee in my bonnet about this guy, a really awful writer imo, but no-one else seems to agree.

I not a big SF fan but I do enjoy the Neal Stephenson & William Gibson ones (a hangover from when I did).
The new Stephenson (actually its Reamde) is good but not quite as good as Cryptonomicon or Anathem (which I read after recommendations on here and having liked Snow Crash BITD). Reamde was still a good read and kept me busy last (rainy) weekend but I’d probably start with Anathem first, then crypto (which is one of my all time favourite books, quite Pynchonesque I thought).
Spook Country by Gibson I really, really liked too. Zero History wasn’t bad neither.