Science fiction ?
 

Any appreciators of scifi in written form here?

Im always looking to discover some new authors, my preference is for post-apocalyptic and cyberpunk novels, but can also enjoy space opera type novels as well.

i liked alot recently:

- Random acts of senseless violence
- Parable of the sower
- Wasteland anthology (didnt read em all yet, i liked the George RR Martin story)
- Ship of fools (Richard Paul Russo)
- Day by Day Armageddon (a bit "republican" to my taste but well told)

Any suggestions you might wanna share? I have a preference for books published recently, i like reading cutting edge stuff.

the second one...
religious lesson of the druid?

sounds uber geeky

Dam I wish I read this before I posted in the lore post. I was just asking if anyone knew a good everquest lore book, happen to know any taxi?

Parable of the sower and Random acts of senseless violence have the best description of society falling apart following economic and environemental collapse ive yet read. Its so eloquently described that they are page turners cuz it feels real.

Parable of the sower is a bit religious yea. Still a good book, Octavia Butler, a black author, is really good at making metaphors and picking racism apart. I prefer random acts of senseless violence though, its the shit hitting the fan in Manhattan, one of my top 5 books ive ever read.

Recent?

For recent-ish there is Tad William's Otherland Series. Surreal not-so-distant future with a bit of William Gibson-esque sci-fi flavour.

Joe Haldeman is one of my favourite sci-fi authors. He does a really job of ending books with amazing questions on ethics and morality and you don't even notice it. He wrote The Forever War as his most famous work, but An Accidental Time Machine, one of his more recent works was enjoyable as well.

I just picked up Camouflage from the library today, never read Haldeman before, was checking the nebula awards at the library and saw this book as a winner, picked it up.

Thanks for the suggestions :D

The best part about Haldeman's sci-fi is the background info he gives you on everything is solid. He has his BSc in Astronomy (and physics) and it shows in every way. The science in An Accidental Time Machine (a derivation of applied string theory), and in Forever Peace (what could happen if we used gravitational pulls in space to wing particles similar to a large hadron collider) is explained enough to understand for the science inept, and greatly appreciated by those all the more inclined to it.

This guy : http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/

Space opera typish stuff.

I'd recommend starting out with the Commonwealth universe, and starting with the first two books in it :Pandoras star, and judas unchained. (missspent youth is more of an optional fluff / background story book and isn't really required to read the series).

Hes probably one of the best authors i've had the pleasure of reading anything by - and the last book in that series isnt out yet(scheduled for september 2010)


I assume you have already read The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy - if not, you better get on it :)

Enders game is also pretty good, thought its an old book, unsure of the author. And also, however lame the movie was, see if you can pick up a copy of Starship troopers. Not sure i've ever seen a move shamelessly destroying a great story as that one did. The book is excellent however, wouldn't surprise me if games workshop got a bit of inspiration for space marines from that one.

phase 1 : Play mass effect
phase 2 : Read mass effect books by drew karypshan
phase 3 : profit!

I'm not a massive sci-fi novel fan, but mass effect was such a great game i ended up getting the books for it :p

Have you read Roger Zelazny? He's a prolific author, with fingers of influence all over the greater fantasy/Sci-Fi network. Of particular recomendation are his Amber novels, along with several dozen notable individual titles, including: "Eye of Cat", "Isle of the Dead", "Lord of Light", "Doorways in the Sand", "Damnation Alley", "And Call Me Conrad" (all REALLY fabulous reads), and several collections of short-stories. Zelazny's unique style is really in writing the "fantasic" story, as opposed to the strictly sci-fi or fantasy story. He's extremely adept at blending aspects of both genres into something truly original. He also writes the most truly evocative and compelling descriptions of meals eaten by his characters, hands down! I mean, it's enough to make you start grilling steaks and drinking scotch after reading a passage about a dinner had by one of his protagonists (and hell, I'm a vegetarian)!

An author highly influenced by Zelazny (if you've read RZ, and want a similar flavor), and a creative nut in his own right, is Steven Brust. His Draegara novels (the Vlad Taltos series, the Khaavren Romances) are extremely enjoyable, but run a little closer to the fantasy side of the "fantastic" genre.

In the "space opera" category, consider Stephen R. Donaldson's "Gap Series". The fact that there are about 10 books in the cycle should be enough alone to keep you going. ;) And, in the "great works to read before you die" category, consider Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever cycle (The Chronicles of, the Second Chronicles of, the Last Chronicles of). The last books have several things to recommend them, not the least being that they are currently on-going, they are beyond epic, and they approach a level of writing skill and craftsmanship (in the Last Chronicles, in particular) which is mind-boggling to read (I'm talking LITERATURE here, dude! ;)).

All three of these guys are fairly well-known authors - I imagine I'm not telling you anything that you don't already know! :o I'd highly recommend any of them to anyone in need of a good read, and I'll bet that there are many others here who have read them, as well. I hope that this has been somewhat helpful, and that you get a few good titles out of it (I know that I have, in re: the other responses)!

Have a good read! :D