SF reading tips

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Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 7:37 pm

Does anyone know of any good SF books in the style of what Arthur C. Clarke (2001, a space odyssey) wrote?
Where the science in SF is written with an uppercase S, that's what I'm looking for.

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 8:29 pm

Anything by James P. Hogan.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I presume you've read Asimov

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 8:44 pm

^^^ Ouuu, ouuu. I read everything by him when I was 12. The category is Hard Science Fiction and Larry Niven is a start.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

Oh yes!
Ringworld, been a while since I read that

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 9:35 pm

May I suggest Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, Red Mars - Green Mars - Blue Mars. Great saga of a new society starting from scratch while terraforming Mars, complete with Mars First activists (or terrorists), very tall people, and falling comets.

Posted: Fri May 22, 2009 9:58 pm

I found the series ;Tschai from Jack Vance very good.
There is also a dutch writer Wim Gijssen i can recommend.
Have fun reading.

Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 5:18 am

Kurt Vonnegut--the thinking man's A.C. Clarke Very Happy

Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 10:46 pm

i'd recommend Larry Niven's early stuff, particularly...
# Neutron Star (collection) (1968)
# The Shape of Space (collection) (1969)

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 2:11 am

Mmmmm, sci-fi.

Larry Niven's earlier stuff is better than his later stuff. The sequels to Ringworld are not as good as the first. And, as mentioned, Neutron Star is a good one.

Likewise with Asimov, earlier is better. The Foundation trilogy is good, but after the trilogy they are not as good and go down hill with every book.

Anyone else like Alan Dean Foster?

Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 7:51 am

Thanks everyone for your suggestions, I just checked the local library's catalog; plenty of good reading ahead!

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 4:32 am

Awwww, I thought this was a thread about SlayerFaith... I miss her... Sad

I'll leave the thread now. Wink

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

You will be tempted by Robert A Heinlein, a much acclaimed SF writer .... don't go there! Sad

Not quite a Newb Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 64

I like the storytelling of Iain M Banks (as opposed to his alter ego Iain Banks). One of the names I always look for when I browse the bookshop.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Heinlein is fantastic. Stranger in a Strange Land, Time Enough For Love, and even Starship Troopers. Not as hard boiled SF as Niven, but on a par with Clarke in his softer moments - The City and The Stars for example.

On the other hand, Ray Bradbury doesn't write SF. He writes social commentary set in the future.

Another Niven to look out for - The Integral Trees.

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

I've just started reading Iain M Banks, The Algebraist.
As Ian Banks his Crow Road has one of the best opening lines ever-
It was the day my grandmother exploded

Posted: Tue May 26, 2009 10:43 am

thud419 wrote:

Heinlein is fantastic.

true - i always liked 'the moon is a harsh mistress' although not everyone agrees.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

Not the place to go into the demerits of Robert A Heinlein's writing style .... but I suggest you look more closely at his treatment of the female species in his novels .... pretty damn scary!

Stick to Niven and his succubii/prostitutes and blood sucking vampirettes of his Ringworld novels ... far safer ground! Razz

Has anyone mentioned Phillip K Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep ... which became the movie Blade Runner)?

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

Phillip K Dick is not really my cup of tea, although he is the SF authors' SF author. The few I've read are a little short of the absolute hardest Science SF.

Another name to throw into the mix: Bob Shaw (probably likewise a little soft).

ETA: Jerry Pournelle - as hard as SF comes.

Regarding Heinlein: nobody's perfect. Have you read any EE "Doc" Smith? Now that's scary.

Master of Master Baiters Joined: 26 Sep 2008 Posts: 689

thud419 wrote:

Have you read any EE "Doc" Smith? Now that's scary.

YEP! I read all of half a book and dropped him!.

What ... no one has mentioned Gene Roddenberry! Shocked

Not quite a Newb Joined: 05 Jul 2008 Posts: 64

^^ just as no-one has mentioned L. Ron Hubbard

Baiting Guru Joined: 19 Mar 2007 Posts: 2628

^^ Think they were looking for something believable.

Now Douglas Adams, thats believable

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 9:44 am

Peter F. Hamilton, for those that like space operas.

Baiting Guru Joined: 04 Jan 2006 Posts: 3193

And for those that like a good laugh, Harry Harrison, especially The Stainless Steel Rat and its sequels.

For those that can stand its 1930s stance on the feminine position, not to mention hints of racial purity, EE "Doc" Smith is an easy read and great fun.

Posted: Wed May 27, 2009 2:55 pm

If we're now going off the "hard" sf the OP was asking about, I'll mention my favorite - Anne McCaffrey. Her Dragonriders of Pern and Riding Pegasus series are worth re-reading every so often. And now her son Todd, an author in his own right, has taken up the standard of the Pern series.

(I once contributed to a gift given to Anne at a convention, and she sent a small Christmas gift to everyone on the list. I was tickled pink!)