Science Fiction Novels

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

We believe that we invent symbols. The truth is that they invent us; we are their creatures, shaped by their hard, defining edges. When soldiers take their oath they are given a coin, an asimi stamped with the profile of the Autarch. Their acceptance of that coin is their acceptance of the special duties and burdens of military life--they are soldiers from that moment, though they may know nothing of the management of arms. I did not know that then, but it is a profound mistake to believe that we must know of such things to be influenced by them, and in fact to believe so is to believe in the most debased and superstitious kind of magic. The would-be sorcerer alone has faith in the efficacy of pure knowledge; rational people know that things act of themselves or not at all.

--The Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolfe.

Not bad, not bad at all...

[MN Dave]

You're a materialist, like all ignorant people. But your materialism doesn't make materialism true. Don't you know that? In the final summing up, it is spirit and dream, thought and love and act that matter.

--Citadel of the Autarch, Gene Wolfe

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Golden passages can entice as much as they can irritate. They entice us, and we cannot wait to dive into the verbal stream; they irritate us with their tantalizing glimpse of what we cannot yet enjoy, and we return to the originator with a quiet vengeance of our own.

--Reply to the Recommendator, Johan Herrenberg

[MN Dave]

Golden passages can entice as much as they can irritate. They entice us, and we cannot wait to dive into the verbal stream; they irritate us with their tantalizing glimpse of what we cannot yet enjoy, and we return to the originator with a quiet vengeance of our own.

--Reply to the Recommendator, Johan Herrenberg

Ha! Love it.

[lisa needs braces]

  Might give The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress a second read, someday.

It's probably nowhere near as good as "Dune." 

[eyeresist]

I read sci-fi as a kid, particularly Arthur Clarke and Ray Bradbury, but like the OP I find little to interest me now. And it's all so badly written!

Philip K Dick is worth investigating. His prose is fairly average (good for sf) but when he gets carried away by his obsessions, it's a great journey into a strange nightmare world. I especially liked A Scanner Darkly, Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Radio Free Albemuth.

I have several things by Slanislaw Lem, but got stuck on the first chapter of Solaris. Cyberiad was just annoying. OTOH, 'A Perfect Vacuum' is a great, head-twisting collection of reviews of non-existent books.

I'd say avoid "The Stars My Destination" - it's really trashy.

[canninator]

Some good recs here, I would add

William Gibson-Neuromancer
Kurt Vonnegut-Slaughterhouse 5
Aldous Huxley-Brave New World
John Wyndham-Day of the Triffids

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

I don't read much SciFi (or any fiction for that matter), but I really enjoyed Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea when I was a kid. Last summer, to take a break from my work, I read Arthur C. Clarke's 2010, 2061, and 3001, all of which I enjoyed a great deal. (2001 A Space Odyssey is my favorite film of all time.) IMO Clarke is not so much a great writer per se as he is a great thinker and furutist who uses fiction as a medium to communicate his ideas. I have Childhood's End sitting on my shelf staring at me, so I think I may start on that one soon.

[Drasko]

Is that the one about the colonists on another planet where it rains all the time, and on the one day out of thousands when there's a break, the vicious school-punks lock their sensitive classmate in a closet so she misses her chance to see a sunny day? 

No it isn't. Don't think I'm familiar with that one.

[eyeresist]

Some good recs here, I would add

William Gibson-Neuromancer
Kurt Vonnegut-Slaughterhouse 5
Aldous Huxley-Brave New World
John Wyndham-Day of the Triffids

Good recommends, which reminds me - you must read George Orwell's 1984.

[rickardg]

Good recommends, which reminds me - you must read George Orwell's 1984.

Seconded.

In a different vein I can also recommend Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. It's been a while since I read them, but I do remember enjoying them thoroughly. Snow Crash is a pretty straightforward cyberpunk novel, one of the best IMHO. The Diamond Age is harder to describe but more imaginative, it's set in a future where nanotechnology has diminished the value of physical objects and subcultures modeling themselves after historical societies (e g the Neovictorians) have superseded the nation state, highly recommended.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

In a different vein I can also recommend Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash and The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. It's been a while since I read them, but I do remember enjoying them thoroughly. Snow Crash is a pretty straightforward cyberpunk novel, one of the best IMHO. The Diamond Age is harder to describe but more imaginative, it's set in a future where nanotechnology has diminished the value of physical objects and subcultures modeling themselves after historical societies (e g the Neovictorians) have superseded the nation state, highly recommended.

Neal Stephenson certainly sounds like a writer I should read. Several members of this board think highly of him (The Baroque Cycle also crops up a lot).

Life is too short.

[Sergeant Rock]

Hey, Bill. I know you have an interest in things military so I suggest Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai!, Tactics of Mistake, and Soldier, Ask Not, which are part of Dickson's Childe Cycle set in a universe where planets have split into specialized cultures. The Dorsai are the warriors; the Exotics are peaceful philosophers, psychologists and artists; the ironically named Friendlies are religious fanatics. Dickson believed these groups are the most important to the development of humanity, exemplifying the traits of courage, wisdom and faith. (Dickson would have agreed with Baudelaire: "There are only three beings worthy of respect: the soldier, the priest, the poet: to destroy, to know, to create.")  Although part of a cycle, the three books can be read on their own (I suggest reading them in the order I listed).

Another good SF novel that explores what it means to be a soldier is Heinlein's Starship Troopers (the book is considerably better than the film of that name).

Sarge

[DavidRoss]

Another good SF novel that explores what it means to be a soldier is Heinlein's Starship Troopers (the book is considerably better than the film of that name).

I recall Starship Troopers as an entertaining satire-one of the first sci-fi books I ever read.  The film took the title and nothing else, least of all the satire--a disgrace.

[drogulus]

   

[eyeresist]

I recall Starship Troopers as an entertaining satire-one of the first sci-fi books I ever read.  The film took the title and nothing else, least of all the satire--a disgrace.

I don't care what the Heinleinites say - it was a great parody of a gung-ho war movie.

[Daverz]

I don't read a lot of SF novels, but the last good "hard" SF novel I read was Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds.  Also look for Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky.
Authors of lighter SF fare that I like are Kage Baker and Lois McMaster Bujold.

In Fantasy, I tend to prefer secret history and urban fantasy.  I loved  "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke and most of the novels of Tim Powers (Last Call, On Stranger Tides, or the Anubis Gates are the ones to start with).

Of classic SF authors, most haven't held up well for me, except for Cliff Simak.

[RebLem]

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress--Robert Heinlein.  Residents of the Moon decide its time for independence from Earth.

The Foundation Trilogy--Isaac Asimov.  A rich tapestry of a civilization dying, a new one growing, and a deep mystery at the heart of the galaxy.  A multi-generational story.

Brave New World--Aldous Huxley.  A world which seems ideal to many who live in it, except a few malcontents at the core of the story.

The Dispossessed--Ursula LeGuin.  An exiled group on a moon with a thin, but survivable atmosphere have built a civilization over several generations.  Then, one of the citizens of this society decides its time for a rapprochement with the mother planet.

The Man in the High Castle--Philip K Dick.  One of the best examples of my favorite sub-genre, the alternative history.  The story centers around the life of a small time Jewish merchant in San Francisco, under Japanese occupation after an Axis victory in WWII.

[Hector]

Not read it for years.

However, favourites were Robert Sheckley, Ursula Le Guin and the great, late Arthur C.

[bwv 1080]

Brian Aldiss' Heliconia Trilogy was another great one.  No spaceships just a very well thought out series of books on how human cultures would exist and develop on a planet where one complete "year" = 1000 or so earth years, so 300+ years of winter, 300+ years of summer and so on.

Poul Anderson was a classic SF writer I always enjoyed, never read any of his earlier books but some of the Harvest of Stars and Time Patrol books