Oh crap, how could I have forgotten.
Neil Gaiman. Pretty much anything, although Neverwhere is a must. American Gods I wasn't crazy about, but it was still interesting.
ScFi Recommendations
If you're looking for fantasy stuff, I just read The Dwarves by Markus Heitz and
found it very entertaining indeed. It's more of a book that gets inside the head
of a dwarf an dwarf society/life.
Anyone here read Orcs by Stan Nicholls? I've read some on-line reviews that have
it as a really good book.
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"i surf because, i"m always a better person when i come in"-Andy Irons
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I'd have to recommend anything by Jack McDevitt, he writes great novels; the novels are typically sci-fi/mystery.
Also, I just read "Depths of Time" by Roger MacBride Allen. It was a great read and is the first book in a trilogy, now I need to hunt down the other two books.
Not sure if you would be interested in the Star Wars universe at all, but despite what a lot of people think, there are some very good Star Wars novels. Authors like Timothy Zahn have written some great ones; there are also collections of short stories which I've enjoyed.
Sounds like you've read through a lot of the classics, but if you haven't done so already you might want to look into short stories as well. I know that there are some collections from Asimov.
22 Pride
I have a "collection of short stories by Asimov" (I think there's more than one).
Anyway, the one I have was good but hit and miss. I think part of what makes
Asimov so great was his depth and detail of the universe he writes about. I loved
the foundation series, wish there were more.
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"i surf because, i"m always a better person when i come in"-Andy Irons
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I'd add Zelazny to the list.
I'm suprised Guy Gavriel Kay hasn't been mentioned yet.
The Summer Tree
The Darkest Road
The Wandering Fire
anything by hubbard
Yes, I recommend my own works.
Also, has anyone mentioned John Brunner yet? The Sheep Look Up and Stand On Zanzibar are two of my favourites.
Stanislaw Lem
"The song of a bird…We used to ask Ennesson to do bird calls. He could do them. How he could do them, and when he perished, along with him went all those birds…"-Return from the Stars, Stanislaw Lem
"We just walk around, and sometimes we go out and dance, and then we listen to the environment."-Ralf Hutter, Kraftwerk
Philip Jose Farmers Riverworld series was kind of fun.
I dare you to to try Image of the Beast by the same author.
Ursula K Le Guin: Run away! I almost never put a book down once I've read the first few pages, but I've twice thrown her crap across the room.
Saberhagen's Berserker books are worth reading. So many ways to play with the Berserker concept.
Dan Simmons has a great series called The Hyperion Cantos. Its a very complex series, wildly creative and well written. Its great for long flights, long bus rides or weeks you have nothing to do because you won't want to do anything else.
Grumpy Trail Builder in Training
Because recommendations have slipped into Fantasy a couple of times already:
George RR Martin, Song of Ice and Fire, just be aware that he hasn't finished the series yet. Get on it Martin!
I would include "The Road" by McCarthy.
What I dislike about most sf is the really bad writing. Some authors havegreat sotries, but the writing is terrible. I just can't read such drivel. The Road was a neat book, post apocalyptic survival. And was well written. used an interesting punctuation style, or lack thereof.
Anyone have any well written sf book?
So far the Sheep Look Up has made it to my short list.
Seriously, The Sheep Look Up is amazing. Its no Dostoevsky, but it is prescient and definitely well written.
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