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A nice list- there's a few on there I think I'll pick up now.
Peter F Hamailton- I read Pandora's Star a few years back and it was bad- read like 50's space opera, read Judas Unchained after that and it was just goddamnawful (to me) are these typical of his books, or just poor examples- there seem to be a fair few fans judging by his Amazon reviews.
+1 robert heinlein - starship troopers is a classic - (forget the film) - its on the required reading list for the USMC officer training course.
Roadside Picnic, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
The First and Last Men, by Olaf Stapledon is worth a read, you need to persevere with it though, as it is written as a future history, rather than as a narrative.
I forgot Brian Aldiss's Heliconia Trilogy too, which is an absolute classic of the genre.
Lots of good stuff mentioned. For a bit of fun, read Eric Frank Russell's "Next of KIn" or "With a Strange Device"
No John Wyndham or H G Wells either?
The Stainless Steel Rat, by Harry Harrison, including the first few sequels. In fact try anything by Harrison.
Dammit, stop reminding people of the stuff we have missed 😉
Wyndham is very good, a very british low key SF, books like The Trouble with Lichen, The Chrysalids, The Kraken Wakes and Day of the Triffids are well worth a read.
Oryx and Crake is a very good dystopian SF novel, even if Atwood disagrees with that classification. There is a follow up, The Year of the Flood, which has recently come out, but I haven't got hold of that yet.
Frank Herbert's The Dragon in the Sea and Thomas M Disch's Camp Concentration are lesser known books that are well worth a look as well.
Thanks people. There's also alot here for me to have a go at aswell. I mostly like the old stuff, the H G Wells type stuff, but also enjoyed Greg Bears The Forge of God. I thought that the (Stephen King) Bachman Books was good (the running man, the long walk etc). There are a few things here that look interesting. Personally, I tend to prefer the 'earth' or present time type Si-Fi or time travel, rather than fantasy or deep space type stuff (if you know what I mean).
oooh, forgot.....
barnes, niven & pournelle - footfall - a good sapceromp ala 'indepedence day'
Jon Courtenay Grimwood - Felaheen series, set in an alternative near future near-Eastern city might do the job then.
yeah i wasnt expecting quite as large a response... Anyway, popped down to my local library today, and have got out 'rendevous with Rama' by Arthur C Clarke, and The Drowned world by JC Ballard. They didnt have anything by old Dicky, or Ian M banks, and to be hnest, i couldnt remember the rest...
I like Ben Bova (stop that s****ing at the back)who seems to do all sorts.
Contact by Carl Sagan is one of my favoutite books of all time.
Cant believe no-one(I think) has mentioned WILLIAM GIBSON.
He is the person that coined the phrase 'cyberspace' in his novel 'Neuromancer'. 'Virtual Light' is fun too, about a girl bike messanger who gets in trouble after she disovers the contents of one of her deliveries. Futuristic earth based sci-fi.
And then for proper deep space visionary stuff I love IAIN M BANKS.
And then for proper deep space visionary stuff I love IAIN M BANKS.
He also has really cool spaceships.
Neuromancer
was mentioned in about the 6th post...
[i]Cant believe no-one(I think) has mentioned WILLIAM GIBSON.
He is the person that coined the phrase 'cyberspace' in his novel 'Neuromancer'. '[/i]
Neuromancer was suggested about three times (although I see I typed necromancer for some reason) 😉
To the OP, have you read the Dark Half yet? That's one of Kings best books after IT, IMO.
although I see I typed [b]necromancer[/b] for some reason
that was the first Sci-Fi I ever read, sitting on my dad's lap aged about 10 🙂
[edit] by Gordon R Dickson
According to my gf:
John Brunner - Stand on Zanzibar and The Sheep Look Up - Shockwave rider is also pretty good, apparently.
Stay away from the Dune sequels - although Dune is ace!
And apparently we should read sci-fi books by women because we are all sexist (but defintely not Margaret Atwood) - Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy is good, she says. 🙂
The book of Planet of the Apes is quite good too - by Pierre Boule.
Spook Country - William Gibson
Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson
Contact by Carl Sagan is one of my favoutite books of all time.
I had an illustrated book of his called Cosmos, kind of a catch all of popular science based on a TV series. So many beautiful things were in that book. I gave it away to a girl I knew 😥 She was beautiful too, but not in the same league...
Anything by William Gibson, Neil Stevenson, but only [i]Snow Crash[/i] or [i]Diamond Age[/i], Theodore Sturgeon, Roger Zelazny, Ian M Banks, Charles Stross, Larry Niven, Alfred Bester. Zelazny is a fabulous writer, always manages to introduce a degree of humour into his stories, and his characters are always well rounded. [i]Today We Choose Faces[/i], [i]Roadmarks[/i] and [i]The Doors Of His Face And The Lamps Of His Mouth[/i] are two perennial favourites of mine. Tim Powers, although more fantasy, is a very good writer also.
STEPHEN BAXTER
MANIFOLD SERIES
I have just finished several by Dan Simmons. What an exceptional writer and incredible research.
I liked him so much I then read his 'Drood' about Collins and Dickins. Fantastic!!!!!
Also more votes for China Mieville please!