Can anyone reccomend a good Sci – Fi book?

I've not seen anything on this list I'd disagree with. But I'd add Niven's 'The Integral Trees', and anything by Roger Zelazny (although the Amber novels are more fantasy than Sci-Fi) – Roadmarks is my favourite. The Four Hyperion books by Dan Simmons are great, but 'Olympos' and whatever its companion was were disappointing by comparison. Iain M Banks culture novels are all brilliant, and I'm quite a fan of Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space books.

blip in the Matrix… premature launch…see next box….

Cor blimey! what a list, all of the above especially Iain M Banks, and most by William Gibson, his last book near/now future as opposed to Si Fi but oh so good, Alastair Reynolds, Greg Bear, P Hamilton, we have not had Orson Scott Card so far, Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy was great… but really I am on here to log this list…. Amazon and my card will get hit later!!

"Peter Hamilton – quantum murder and others in that sequence"

Yeah, good recommendation that, seems to me that Hamilton started out decent and has got progressively worse as his books have got bigger 🙂 The Mandel ones were pretty good, then the Reality Dysfunction series had its good points and its bad point, but the latest thing is just a bit of a mess IMO. Far too many pointless parallel storylines, all they do is pad the things out and it's not like they were short in the first place.

we have not had Orson Scott Card

I saw Ender's Run mentioned…

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 sniggering 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…

Cant believe no-one(I think) has mentioned WILLIAM GIBSON.
He is the person that coined the phrase 'cyberspace' in his novel 'Neuromancer'. '

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 necromancer 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 Snow Crash or Diamond Age, 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. Today We Choose Faces, Roadmarks and The Doors Of His Face And The Lamps Of His Mouth 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!