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Author Topic: Sci-Fi  ( 10,432 )

Kermit, B.

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Sci-Fi
« on: May 08, 2009, 02:39:42 PM »
Anyone have good recommendations (either new or old) in sci-fi?  I've been in a sci-fi mood.  I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson right now, and I just ordered Odd John and Sirius, Last and First Men, and Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon from Amazon based on a friend's recommendation.
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PenFoe

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2009, 02:41:26 PM »
Quote from: Kermit, B. on May 08, 2009, 02:39:42 PM
Anyone have good recommendations (either new or old) in sci-fi?  I've been in a sci-fi mood.  I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson right now, and I just ordered Odd John and Sirius, Last and First Men, and Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon from Amazon based on a friend's recommendation.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation series is fantastic.

I can't believe I even know these people. I'm ashamed of my internet life.

Wheezer

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2009, 03:58:14 PM »
Have Spacesuit, Will Travel is very good juvenalia if you're looking for something breezy.

Jon, of course, has already reviewed The Man Who Folded Himself.
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Jon

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2009, 04:12:36 PM »
Quote from: PenFoe on May 08, 2009, 02:41:26 PM
Quote from: Kermit, B. on May 08, 2009, 02:39:42 PM
Anyone have good recommendations (either new or old) in sci-fi?  I've been in a sci-fi mood.  I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson right now, and I just ordered Odd John and Sirius, Last and First Men, and Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon from Amazon based on a friend's recommendation.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation series is fantastic.


That's what I was going to recommend.

Stanislaw Lem and Philip K. Dick are always good.

People either love or hate the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. So you might like it, you might not.
Take that, Adolf Eyechart.

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Pre

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2009, 04:15:45 PM »
Quote from: Kermit, B. on May 08, 2009, 02:39:42 PM
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson right now

If you like the cyberpunk aspects of it, can't beat William Gibson.  Neuromancer is probably his best known work, but I've enjoyed them all.

I dig the hell out of Ian M Banks (Excession is awesome place to start), which more in the Space Opera realm of SF.

Foundation is a good series, it's short if you stop after the original few (which are the better ones).

Ender's Game is a hell of a book, I can't really get behind the sequels.  Card is a hell of a writer but he loves his religion a little much for my tastes.

Jon

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #5 on: May 28, 2009, 04:24:22 PM »
Quote from: Pre on May 28, 2009, 04:15:45 PM
Card is a hell of a writer but he loves his religion a little much for my tastes.

Oh, I agree there.

Other Stephenson I recommend: Cryptonomicon, and (though not really sci-fi) The Baroque Trilogy.

Another writer I've enjoyed recently: Vernor Vinge. Fire in the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky are excellent.
Take that, Adolf Eyechart.

"I'm just saying, penis aside, that broad had a tight fuckable body in that movie. Sans penis of course.." - A peek into *IAN's psyche

Kermit, B.

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #6 on: May 28, 2009, 04:44:23 PM »
Thanks for the recommendations, everyone.  I'm almost done with Snow Crash (I'm slow), and I'm listening to Anathem (another Stevenson one) right now.  The latter is a bit dull so far, but I think I'm only on disc 12 of about 28, so it damn well better pick up.  I'm going to do Adams' Dirk Gently series after this, and then I'm going to library the shit out of these suggestions.
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Andy

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #7 on: May 29, 2009, 10:02:50 AM »
Quote from: PenFoe on May 08, 2009, 02:41:26 PM
Quote from: Kermit, B. on May 08, 2009, 02:39:42 PM
Anyone have good recommendations (either new or old) in sci-fi?  I've been in a sci-fi mood.  I'm reading Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson right now, and I just ordered Odd John and Sirius, Last and First Men, and Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon from Amazon based on a friend's recommendation.

Isaac Asimov's Foundation series is fantastic.



Didn't Asimov write one about a parallel universe where a Major League Baseball team threw a World Series because some gamblers paid them to do it, and one of them, a sure Hall of Famer was not only banned for life but tried to use his illiteracy as a defense?

Nah, that's too crazy, even for Sci-Fi.

Eliot Asinof, Issac Asimov, what's the difference?

HST Redux

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2009, 11:09:31 PM »
I'll second (third?) the Foundation series, although it's been many years since I read it. The Library of America's Philip K. Dick compilation is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Philip-K-Dick-Library-America/dp/1598530097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243742349&sr=1-2

I do not recommend the Baroque trilogy. The man's a genius but he needs an editor and is just out of control here. Cryptonomicon rocks.

I enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's series starting with....

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345457684

Finally, it's not pure sci-fi (more cyberpunk) but Daniel Suarez Daemon is very very good.
"In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: Not necessarily to Win, but mainly to keep from Losing Completely." - Hunter S. Thompson

Kermit, B.

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #9 on: June 01, 2009, 04:47:45 PM »
Quote from: HST Redux on May 30, 2009, 11:09:31 PM
I'll second (third?) the Foundation series, although it's been many years since I read it. The Library of America's Philip K. Dick compilation is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Philip-K-Dick-Library-America/dp/1598530097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243742349&sr=1-2

I do not recommend the Baroque trilogy. The man's a genius but he needs an editor and is just out of control here. Cryptonomicon rocks.

I enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's series starting with....

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345457684

Finally, it's not pure sci-fi (more cyberpunk) but Daniel Suarez Daemon is very very good.


That's exactly how I feel about Anathem so far.  He's taking me on a very lengthy journey between interesting parts.  Snow Crash was much tighter.
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PenFoe

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #10 on: June 01, 2009, 04:50:13 PM »
Quote from: Kermit, B. on June 01, 2009, 04:47:45 PM
Quote from: HST Redux on May 30, 2009, 11:09:31 PM
I'll second (third?) the Foundation series, although it's been many years since I read it. The Library of America's Philip K. Dick compilation is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Philip-K-Dick-Library-America/dp/1598530097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243742349&sr=1-2

I do not recommend the Baroque trilogy. The man's a genius but he needs an editor and is just out of control here. Cryptonomicon rocks.

I enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's series starting with....

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345457684

Finally, it's not pure sci-fi (more cyberpunk) but Daniel Suarez Daemon is very very good.


That's exactly how I feel about Anathem so far.  He's taking me on a very lengthy journey between interesting parts.  Snow Crash was much tighter.

Maybe that's why none of us recommended it.
I can't believe I even know these people. I'm ashamed of my internet life.

Kermit, B.

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2009, 05:07:21 PM »
Quote from: PenFoe on June 01, 2009, 04:50:13 PM
Quote from: Kermit, B. on June 01, 2009, 04:47:45 PM
Quote from: HST Redux on May 30, 2009, 11:09:31 PM
I'll second (third?) the Foundation series, although it's been many years since I read it. The Library of America's Philip K. Dick compilation is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Philip-K-Dick-Library-America/dp/1598530097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243742349&sr=1-2

I do not recommend the Baroque trilogy. The man's a genius but he needs an editor and is just out of control here. Cryptonomicon rocks.

I enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's series starting with....

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345457684

Finally, it's not pure sci-fi (more cyberpunk) but Daniel Suarez Daemon is very very good.


That's exactly how I feel about Anathem so far.  He's taking me on a very lengthy journey between interesting parts.  Snow Crash was much tighter.

Maybe that's why none of us recommended it.


The Naperville Public Library may be the GREATEST LIBRARY IN THE COUNTRY, but its audio book selection is limited.
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PenFoe

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #12 on: June 01, 2009, 05:14:01 PM »
Quote from: Kermit, B. on June 01, 2009, 05:07:21 PM
Quote from: PenFoe on June 01, 2009, 04:50:13 PM
Quote from: Kermit, B. on June 01, 2009, 04:47:45 PM
Quote from: HST Redux on May 30, 2009, 11:09:31 PM
I'll second (third?) the Foundation series, although it's been many years since I read it. The Library of America's Philip K. Dick compilation is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Philip-K-Dick-Library-America/dp/1598530097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243742349&sr=1-2

I do not recommend the Baroque trilogy. The man's a genius but he needs an editor and is just out of control here. Cryptonomicon rocks.

I enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's series starting with....

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345457684

Finally, it's not pure sci-fi (more cyberpunk) but Daniel Suarez Daemon is very very good.


That's exactly how I feel about Anathem so far.  He's taking me on a very lengthy journey between interesting parts.  Snow Crash was much tighter.

Maybe that's why none of us recommended it.


The Naperville Public Library may be the GREATEST LIBRARY IN THE COUNTRY, but its audio book selection is limited.

Soriano's HAPLR score is 946.
I can't believe I even know these people. I'm ashamed of my internet life.

Jon

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #13 on: June 01, 2009, 05:20:53 PM »
Quote from: PenFoe on June 01, 2009, 05:14:01 PM
Quote from: Kermit, B. on June 01, 2009, 05:07:21 PM
Quote from: PenFoe on June 01, 2009, 04:50:13 PM
Quote from: Kermit, B. on June 01, 2009, 04:47:45 PM
Quote from: HST Redux on May 30, 2009, 11:09:31 PM
I'll second (third?) the Foundation series, although it's been many years since I read it. The Library of America's Philip K. Dick compilation is very good.

http://www.amazon.com/Philip-K-Dick-Library-America/dp/1598530097/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243742349&sr=1-2

I do not recommend the Baroque trilogy. The man's a genius but he needs an editor and is just out of control here. Cryptonomicon rocks.

I enjoyed Richard K. Morgan's series starting with....

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345457684

Finally, it's not pure sci-fi (more cyberpunk) but Daniel Suarez Daemon is very very good.


That's exactly how I feel about Anathem so far.  He's taking me on a very lengthy journey between interesting parts.  Snow Crash was much tighter.

Maybe that's why none of us recommended it.


The Naperville Public Library may be the GREATEST LIBRARY IN THE COUNTRY, but its audio book selection is limited.

Soriano's HAPLR score is 946.

TOO SMALL A SAMPLE SIZE!
Take that, Adolf Eyechart.

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Tank

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Re: Sci-Fi
« Reply #14 on: June 01, 2009, 05:29:08 PM »
Santos L Haplr?
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