ScFi Recommendations

wicked, this is awesome. i've been looking for some new authors for awhile.

If you like dry humour and satire, try Terry Pratchett's Disc World series.

I enjoyed the Agent Cormac series by Neal Asher.

I don't do fantasy unless it's Dragonlance stuff, but I do like sci-fi.

Arthur C Clarke and Stephen Baxter did a great 3 book series called A Time Odyssey:
Time's Eye, Sunstorm and Firstborn (I like Sunstorm the book but they're all pretty cool)

Stephen Baxter has some other good sci-fi though on his own.

Alastair Reynolds has some interesting stuff too.

Azimov's Foundation series is out there….

I notice you didn't list Frank Herbert in your old-timers list. If you've not read Dune, you should. That opens up a whole new universe. Ignore the latest books by his son, they're brutal.

I recently finished the whole of the original dune series and I gotta say it gets a bit tedious in the later novels. The first three are great, fourth and fifth are good, sixth was kind of take it or leave it for me. I love the Dune universe, but it's a shame Herbert died before he could expand on where he left off in Chapterhouse: Dune.

Also a shame to hear (although not surprising,) that the new iterations by Herbert's son suck.

Oh yeah, Heinlein's Job: A Comedy of Justice is a good read. It's not one of his more well known ones, but I enjoyed it a lot.

will second the previously mentioned stuff by gibson (big fan), stephenson [HTML_REMOVED] stross (accelerando was great). china mieville has done some decent stuff (iron council, the scar, perdido street station); steampunk / scifi / fantasy mashups. richard morgans last bunch of shiny books have been fun gritty [HTML_REMOVED] violent reads. john harrison's 'light' was neat. bruce sterling did some decent early cyberpunk. tad williams 'otherland' series is epic. of course pkd rocks the vintage stuff…

currently looking for some new reading that's more hard edged / fucked up (ie, not space opera). suggestions? who's hot right now?

will second the previously mentioned stuff by gibson (big fan), stephenson [HTML_REMOVED] stross (accelerando was great). china mieville has done some decent stuff (iron council, the scar, perdido street station); steampunk / scifi / fantasy mashups. richard morgans last bunch of shiny books have been fun gritty [HTML_REMOVED] violent reads. john harrison's 'light' was neat. bruce sterling did some decent early cyberpunk. tad williams 'otherland' series is epic. of course pkd rocks the vintage stuff…

currently looking for some new reading that's more hard edged / fucked up (ie, not space opera). suggestions? who's hot right now?

+1 for richard morgan and john harrison. Lets quote Iain Banks on this: "Light is brilliant" :lol:

More hard edged stuff would be 'House of Leaves' by Mark Z. Danielewski. Smart (almost too much so), scary and epic.

And some of Iain Banks novels lean that way. 'Against a dark backround', 'Use of Weapons' and especially the contemporary ones like 'The Wasp Factory' or 'Dead Air'.

Another vote for Iain Banks here.

One of my favourite authors is Piers Anthony, particularly the Robot Adept series. I also really liked the books of Tarot (it's not a guide to tarot cards LOL) and the Incarnations of Immortality. The Robot Adept books were definitely my favourites though. His Xanth books are really popular, but I odn't like them as much.

I was going to recommend Asimov but you said you've read his stuff. There are a couple others I can't think of offhand; I'll try and remember to post them tomorrow. If you like fantasy, I'd reccomend the Fionavar Tapestry by…Guy Gavriel Kay I believe his name is, Terry Goodkind, David Eddings…well I could go on for a while there! Enjoy your new books! :)

another vote for Tad Williams, the Dragonbone Chair Series was one of my all time favs and the Otherland stuff is pretty cool….probably what the 'net will be like in the future…..R. Scott Bakker's Prince of Nothing and the Warrior Prophet are pretty interesting, Gene Wolfe's Long Sun series is good stuff too…

currently looking for some new reading that's more hard edged / fucked up (ie, not space opera). suggestions? who's hot right now?

Oryx [HTML_REMOVED] Crake by Margaret Atwood might fit the bill. Her newest (The Year of the Flood) is a sequel, though it occurs in the same timeline - haven't read that one.

Titan by Stephen Baxter was pretty good hard sf.

I notice you didn't list Frank Herbert in your old-timers list. If you've not read Dune, you should. That opens up a whole new universe. Ignore the latest books by his son, they're brutal.

^^ This, and make sure you grab the right one, cuz all his son's books look conveniently like the original. I haven't read it in a long time and I am planning on picking it up for another go through.

If you like truly imaginative Sci-Fi, and don't mind black british humor, read novels by Iain M. Banks.

And if you haven't read William Gibsons "Neuromancer", do yourself a favour and read it now. It is more recent, but at least as influential as Enders Game or Forever War.

I couldn't get into Iain M Banks's stuff because of all the ludicrous names he uses. I found it really hard to keep track of characters.

if you haven't read any, William Gibson, particular faves of mine are Mona Lisa Overdrive, Virtual Light and the Difference Engine.

He co-wrote The Difference Engine with Bruce Sterling, and Bruce Sterling has some interesting stuff too. Heavy weather and the short story compendium "Globalhead" are two books that I remember really enjoying when they came out.

One of my favourite authors is Piers Anthony, particularly the Robot Adept series. I also really liked the books of Tarot (it's not a guide to tarot cards LOL) and the Incarnations of Immortality. The Robot Adept books were definitely my favourites though. His Xanth books are really popular, but I odn't like them as much.

Piers Anthony writes fairly light fluffy books that still remain enjoyable. The Incarnations series was really cheesy, but still really fun.

For Fantasy series, I really like the Riftwar Saga (Magician Apprentice/Master, Silverthorn, Darkness at Sethanon. There are a lot of books that follow too.

Oryx [HTML_REMOVED] Crake by Margaret Atwood might fit the bill. Her newest (The Year of the Flood) is a sequel, though it occurs in the same timeline - haven't read that one.

Just what I was going to suggest. Year of the Flood is good. Not as good as Oryx and Crake, but still creepy and weird and scary and unsettling. xy9ine - highly recommended.

Fitzpatrick's War by Theodore Judson is good post-apocalyptic steampunk stuff.

M