Favorite Science Fiction Book or Series...

Dark Tower, no doubt.

Freaked my 3rd grade teacher out reading "The Gunslinger" in class.

I was genuinely worried for a while after "Wizard and Glass" that King would die before completing it.

Every few years when I re-read the series, I still feel like I'm part of Roland's ka-tet.

a reply to: cynicalheathen

So true. I was terrified King wasn't going to wrap that all up; I believe he's describe it as his 'magnum opus.' So many connections in his other work as well. I thought it was amazing how he wove his own accident into it. I also liked how he finished it. One of the all time greatest series.

I will say I'm a little on the fence about watching the new movie though. Don't want to prejudge it, but it appears like they're trying to mash several pieces of it into one film. I just don't see how they can remotely do it justice if that's the case.

Philip Dick, his non-fiction is as mind bending as his fiction, Stigmata 3 of Palmer J Eldritch is one of my favorites
Robert Heinlein, citizen of the Galaxy
Ursula le Guin, the Left Hand of Darkness
That book House of Leaves was good, more of a psy-fi read, by Mark Z. Danielewski

a reply to: FyreByrd

Had to chime in here. I really like Dan Brown's books. But, I hadn't heard of this title. You seem to be referring to a Dale Brown. A different writer.

Deception Point, I believe, is Dan's best.

James Dashner's Maze Runner series were a great read too and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned here.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Robert Bloch.

Famous for writing Psycho but also an incredible short story writer.
My personal favourite is The Hell bound train.

Thank you for asking.

The trilogy ,Red Mars , Blue Mars, Green Mars.

Basically humanity's long-term colonization of Mars, complete with, predictable social change.

Manifold Space,.
earth made contact with a race of space faring robotic aliens, some folks are taken off planet,, humanity, adopted alien technology, at the cost of their own, thousand of yes goes by, the original off worlders cannot truly go home again, so much had, change.
BTW these aliens are called Gaijins the Japanese word for foreigners..
My fav, sf flicks at the .moment, colony , 100, and the Expanse.

Author Alastair Reynolds - Revelation Space

An excellent read in my opinion. It is not necessary to read the books in chronological order.

a reply to: FyreByrd

H.G. Wells " The World Set Free "

Written in 1913 it predicted the creation of nuclear weapons followed by nuclear war.

Way head of it's time.

a reply to: Spider879

Robinson's Mars trilogy is pretty intriguing. I read through it all once, but these days, I always wind up stopping after the first one. Red Mars is my favorite.

a reply to: ketsuko

Yes my fav also, love how their new reality turned them into Martians with different moral out look and economy and how quickly they wanted to break away from Earth, if it ever happen that humans colonized Mars , expect them to want to be independent..those ingrate , the old taxation without representation thingy..

J R R Tolken, Isaac Asimov, Doyle, Verne and straying slightly Tony Hillerman mysteries.

a reply to: Spider879

It's a common trope in most sci-fi that the realities of being able to permanently colonize Mars will do essentially what colonization did thanks to the oceans and travel times involved -- it will isolate the colonies enough that the realities of having to be self-sufficient will create new cultures that will come to resent the attempts of the parent to control them from afar because the parent won't understand the day-to-day realities of having to survive the colonial environment and it will be unable to respond in a timely or efficient manner.

Robinson posits that cultural engineers would be able to shape the new culture knowing this, but I think the reality is that it would be an organic process growing out of the needs of survival as much as anything else.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Not seen Richard K Morgans Altered Carbon trilogy mentioned yet. It's cyberpunk at its very best.

Altered Carbon

It's the twenty-fifth century, and advances in technology have redefined life itself. A person's consciousness can now be stored in the brain and downloaded into a new body (or "sleeve"), making death nothing more than a minor blip on a screen. Onetime U.N. Envoy Takeshi Kovacs has been killed before, but his last death was particularly painful. Resleeved into a body in Bay City (formerly San Francisco), Kovacs is thrown into the dark heart of a shady, far-reaching conspiracy that is vicious even by the standards of a society that treats existence as something that can be bought and sold. For Kovacs, the shell that blew a hole in his chest was only the beginning.

the other books in the trilogy are Broken Angels, and Woken Furies.
It's currently being made into a Netflix series. Hope they don't screw it up!


The following is 1 of my favourite quotes from the 1st book, and gives a decent example of his writing style IMHO.

“The personal, as everyone’s so f**king fond of saying, is political. So if some idiot politician, some power player, tries to execute policies that harm you or those you care about, take it personally. Get angry. The Machinery of Justice will not serve you here – it is slow and cold, and it is theirs, hardware and soft-. Only the little people suffer at the hands of Justice; the creatures of power slide from under it with a wink and a grin. If you want justice, you will have to claw it from them. Make it personal. Do as much damage as you can. Get your message across. That way, you stand a better chance of being taken seriously next time. Of being considered dangerous. And make no mistake about this: being taken seriously, being considered dangerous marks the difference - the only difference in their eyes - between players and little people. Players they will make deals with. Little people they liquidate. And time and again they cream your liquidation, your displacement, your torture and brutal execution with the ultimate insult that it’s just business, it’s politics, it’s the way of the world, it’s a tough life and that it’s nothing personal. Well, f**k them. Make it personal."

Quellcrist Falconer
Things I Should Have Learned by Now, Volume II
― Richard K. Morgan

originally posted by: SlowNail
a reply to: FyreByrd

Had to chime in here. I really like Dan Brown's books. But, I hadn't heard of this title. You seem to be referring to a Dale Brown. A different writer.

Deception Point, I believe, is Dan's best.

James Dashner's Maze Runner series were a great read too and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned here.

So right you are - I do tend to mix them up. I do however greatly recommend "Return of the Old Dog" but not as Science Fictiion.

originally posted by: Noncents

originally posted by: FyreByrd
Come on some more contemporary stuff guys...

Most modern entertainment of just about every medium is just formulaic garbage. There's not much that's modern worth talking about.

Old Man's War is pretty good for something more modern but it's got a noticeable Starship Troopers vibe.

I recommend Diskworld to people as well but those are (vastly) more fantasy than sci fi. One of the best authors of recent years though.

American Gods is great and the TV show is looking excellent so far. I would recommend reading it if you plan on or have started watching it. Same as Diskworld, heavy on the fantasy.

And, not modern at all but, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream from the 60's. Beyond excellent stuff.

I do agree with you about contenporary music, fiction, art as feeling, as you say formulaic. It also feels very disjointed and unedited to me. Take Stephenson's works - great interlocking storylines covering large timelines but, to my eyes, much too wordy, random and sloppy. But in todays, ADHD world, that may appeal.

Then there is the age/experience factor - having done so much reading in this genre - everything seems to have been said before and better. And why I find "The Three Body Problem" so refreshing.

originally posted by: Spider879
The trilogy ,Red Mars , Blue Mars, Green Mars.

Basically humanity's long-term colonization of Mars, complete with, predictable social change.

Manifold Space,.
earth made contact with a race of space faring robotic aliens, some folks are taken off planet,, humanity, adopted alien technology, at the cost of their own, thousand of yes goes by, the original off worlders cannot truly go home again, so much had, change.
BTW these aliens are called Gaijins the Japanese word for foreigners..
My fav, sf flicks at the .moment, colony , 100, and the Expanse.

Yes, thank you for reminding me... I read Red Mars a few months back and got distracted (or something LOL) from the rest. I found the subject matter very interesting and relevant.

seeing a lot of good stuff here. lots of books i remembered on seeing the thread title and a few i had forgotten about. a few series no one has mentioned yet:

the golden compass

the riddlemaster of hed (the riddle master trilogy)

the chronicles of prydain

the chronicles of the karionin

that last one i literally just googled. its crazy because i have spent years trying to find the name of it and google was no help at all. i cant believe it was so easy because i used one of the phrases i have been using repeatedly to try and find it and none of them ever worked...until just now when i made a half hearted last ditch effort and boom, it was the first result to come back. so excited, im off to see if i can dredge a copy of the trilogy from the internet.

Anne macaffery (sp): the dragon riders of pern series.. I really enjoyed this saga as a kid. Its like a pg 13 version of game of thrones. All the drama and dragons and intrigue without the soft core porn and incest.

Richard zelazny(sp): the chronicles of amber

Good thread.

Respectfully,
~meathead