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David_Dweedle

Anyone know of any good Sci-fi or Fantasy Books?

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Having trouble gettin to sleep the past few weeks.. sometimes Im awake till about 11pm Watching DVDs on my portable till I fall asleep..

Well im sick of watching Spongebob and Simpsons DVDs so I wouldn't mind finding a good Fantasy or Sci-fi Book..

I havn't read a good book in awhile so I have no idea what the good ones are at the moment.. anyone know of any good ones?

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I second Snow Crash. Anything by Neil Stephenson is entertaining, but that one was a masterpiece.

Philip K Dick is another great author, although quality may vary between his books.

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My favorite author James Alan Gardner. His writing is addictive. Basically read anything and everything you can get of his.

Also, most stuff from Piers Anthony. He was one of the first authors to really fuse science fiction and fantasy. I highly recommend the Incarnations of Immortality series, starting with On a Pale Horse. The Mode series is pretty good too, though I've only read the first one.

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destx said:

Everything by Robert E. Howard.


Hell yes. Howard, for the uninitiated, is basically the progenitor of modern sword & sorcery. Try and get your hands on the Conan books published by Del Rey.* If you want something more introspective, try his other barbarian character, Kull: Exile of Atlantis.

Another good author in a similar vein is C.L. Werner. All his books thus far are a part of the Warhammer franchise, but you don't need to know anything about the game to appreciate the books. They typically have a horrific bent and are pretty well written.

*The ones listed here.

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Stranger in a Strange Land, by Robert Heinlein; Dune, by Frank Herbert; and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick. Your head a splode.

On a more serious note, those are all great books but fairly complex. Unless you're an avid reader I wouldn't much recommend them, at least the first two. If you want something fun, easy to read, and at the same time intellectual, try The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

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11pm is really not that late going to bed... Try going to sleep on acid. That is trouble getting to sleep. Anyways, Harry Potter is probably a good read for you, if you haven't already read it (I'm sure you have, but I think it's worth a re-read every once in a while). A pretty good sci-fi/actual science book that I read a while ago was some theoretical physics book. It wasn't a novel or anything, just an educational book but it should help you go to sleep, or at least expand your mind just a little bit.

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Anything by Asimov and Clarke for what regards sci-fi, although I recently picked up the habit of buying pocket "anthologies" that give me the chance to read various authors.

For Fantasy, I only give cred to Michael Ende's Neverending story. The more I read it, the more I discover something else. Definitively not (just) a children's book, it can have some pretty dark undertones. Michael Ende's Momo is also pretty good (though not Fantasy in the strictest sense), and if you are able to find an English version of "Der spiegel im spiegel" (The mirror inside the mirror"), try it: it was one fuck of a trippy experience O_o

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaughterhouse_5

I loved Slaughterhouse 5 and from what i remember it was pretty short too, although i wouldn't use it much to get to sleep. I stayed up to read the book at night on weeknights, disregarding classes in the morn. Did i mention this author draws horrible breasts? Yeah, last couple of pages made me laugh hard.

Also if youre a fan of Stephen King look for The Gunslinger.

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Snow Crash is a good book, and whilst certainly a must-read, it's still pretty overrated and pretty much Stephenson's only good book.

My favorite book in the world is Neuromancer by William Gibson. In fact, all of his books are just brilliant. I've read them several times. Burning Chrome is a great collection of short stories by him.

Another vote for Dune, great series though the second book is possibly the most boring piece of literature I've ever had to endure, luckily it's quite short. If you're just starting out, stick with the first book only for now.

Infernal Devices by KW Jeter is credited with being the first steampunk book ever, and actually made me enjoy the genre when I previously hadn't. Jeter also wrote the Blade Runner sequels (all 3 of them) which are all good reads and expand well on Dick's foundations in Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep (which is the same thing as the first Blade Runner book).

The Alien books are a good read. So are the Doom books, though only the first two are canon with the game we all know, the last two are quite wacky though still enjoyable.

The Red Dwarf books are immensely funny, capturing all the good bits from the TV shows. Hitchhiker's Guide is another light-hearted series. Star Wartz is another lesser-known book in this comedy/sci-fi genre.

And another vote for the Myst and Harry Potter books too.

Last time I counted I owned over 350 books, and pretty much all I read is sci-fi and fantasy, so if you need more obscure books just ask :P

Also, I dunno what book prices are like around you but I loathe paying the full retail price for them. When I lived in a country town there was a great second-hand bookstore where I could pick up stuff for a few bucks, but here in the city I find it's cheaper to buy a second hand book for US$1 off Amazon and pay the postage to Australia. If I lived in America I'd never shop anywhere else. Amazon sellers usually have pretty much any book you want too, whereas in bookstores you have to go hunting and call around.

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Drawing Grayswandir, I leaped after him. I caught him just as he had brushed my cloak aside and was struggling to rise. I skewered him where he sat and saw the startled expression on his face as the wound began to flame.
"Oh, basely done!" he cried. "I had hoped for better of thee!"
"This isn't exactly the Olympic Games," I said, brushing some sparks from my cloak.

Roger Zelazny's Amber series. it doesn't hold together perfectly at all times, but damn that. it's entertaining, extremely original and very badass. definitely my favourite fantasy books.

also, Fritz Leiber's Lankhmar series (a.k.a. Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser series). surely the best classical swords&sorcery fantasy beside howard. the guys are not the unstoppable tanks conan is, but they're much more loveable in their lack of moral code and their snide humour.

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Check out Dan Simmons' Hyperion books, or anything by Heinlein. For fanstasy, you could check out Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time, Or George R. R. Martin's Song of Fire and Ice series. Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series is alright too.

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The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are by far my favourite fantasy books ever, I'd highly recommend them. That wikipedia article contains some rather large (unwarned) spoilers though. His other shorter fantasy book http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordant's_Need is awesome too, the main antagonist in it is the only fictional character I've ever really, really hated :P. I've heard his sci-fi series is rather good too, though I've never read it myself (I will eventually heh).

I'm currently reading the Wheel of Time books, which are also highly worth reading.

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I would highly recommend the Discworld series, by Terry Pratchett. He's widely considered to be the world's best parodist. If you enjoy fantasy that's mostly a conveyance of amazing humour (British, you see), take a look at some of them. "Jingo" or "Mort" would be good starting points.

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Heh. I am reading Starship Troopers at the moment.

Some others:

Vernor Vinge. For a guy who has won 2 Hugo awards and been nominated for just about everything else, his books are relatively little known. "Rainbow's End" is brilliant, or "A Deepness in the sky."

"The "Forever War" series by Joe Haldeman.

"Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson.

"Ender's" Game" by Orson Scott Card.

"The Forge of God" by Greg Bear. Possibly the best sci fi novel ever. (imo)

"Lord of the Rings" if you haven't read it yet.

"Perdido Street Station." by China Mieville. Awesome steampunk fantasy.

This whole thread is a pretty good list of must read books. I have read many of the books listed here, but far from all. Just reading through these posts makes me want to go read a book right now. :)

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Ender's Game is one of the worst sci-fi books I've ever read.

@Snarboo: The movie, while great, is only very loosely based on the book. Like the game, it uses the Zone as a backdrop for it's own storyline.

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I'll throw in some stuff;

David eddings, with over 20 years worth of books; the series starting with the diamond throne, the mallorean, 2 other series names I don't remember -.- and now some newer stuff in the land of dhrall. Pretty interesting fantasy.

David brin, wrote all the uplift wars, kiln people (great book), and the postman. The actual postman :P His stuff is pretty scifi oriented, although it's a little lite in the actual physics department, better in the biology imo. Still really good.

I'll also second dan simmons' hyperion and endemion series, you might want to check out ilium and it's sequel if you're into history with a bit of a scifi twist.

Slightly different category but the book Shogun is awesome, too lazy to check the author now.

If you're interested in a different POV, you can look up marion zimmer bradley's darkover books, they're good but a woman wrote them so some things are emphasized over others -.-

Eifelheim, I can't remember the author, is also pretty good, gives a good idea of a medieval POV to aliens stranded on earth that help the lord of the land in exchange for secrecy, with a bunch of random math theory and historical researching.

Charles Stross, a recent author, with Saturn's children and accelerando, both good, although I wish he hadn't saved a really good bit of humor with fruit until the end :( kind of needed the lead-in though.

Finally edgar rice burroughs, if you haven't read his Mars books you're missing out on some great fantasy (guess you could call it scifi, if only because it's on mars). I haven't gotten around to reading tarzan yet but I'll get there :)

And I think that will be enough for now :D

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ArmouredBlood said:

Finally edgar rice burroughs, if you haven't read his Mars books you're missing out on some great fantasy (guess you could call it scifi, if only because it's on mars). I haven't gotten around to reading tarzan yet but I'll get there :)


I've read 4 of the Tarzan books and can confirm that they're entertaining as hell. They can be a little contrived or formulaic in places, but I couldn't stop reading them.

BTW, the book "Shogun" was written by James Clavell.

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Kinda related, does anyone know a good online personal library site?

Like "social networking" for books, where you can add in the books you own or have read, rate them, easily share that with other people and maybe even get some recommendations on what to read next?

I'm not particularly concerned with meeting people due to the books we read, more keeping a good centralised database of books I think are good or not.

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Super Jamie said:

Kinda related, does anyone know a good online personal library site?

Like "social networking" for books, where you can add in the books you own or have read, rate them, easily share that with other people and maybe even get some recommendations on what to read next?

I'm not particularly concerned with meeting people due to the books we read, more keeping a good centralised database of books I think are good or not.


readprint.com

That will be one Plasma Gun, Sir.

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Belial said:

Ender's Game is one of the worst sci-fi books I've ever read.

i disagree. it reads like an adventure book for young boys and i see nothing wrong with that. i enjoyed it's fast pace. try the sequels, Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide. they're more pensive and 'adult', if you wish.

i've seen the Forever War mentioned. i've read just the pilot book, but that was one weird setting. :) quite interesting.

a book worth mentioning is Kirinyaga, by Mike Resnick. it's one of the most awarded sci-fi books ever, but i was pleasantly surprised it DOES deserve all the praise.

and to mention some of my favourite short stories...
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream, by Harlan Ellison
Mimsy Were The Borogoves, by Henry Kuttner (oh, and Through The Looking Glass, by Lewis Carroll, heh)
For A Breath I Tarry, and Unicorn Variations by Roger Zelazny
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
The Ship Who Sang, by Anne McCaffrey
Hinterlands, by William Gibson (absolutely cyberpunk-free, but you WILL get suspicious where Event Horizon got it's ideas from!)
...i can guarantee these are amongst the most original sci-fi novelettes ever written. i'm a fan of the weird. :)

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