What Is Your Favorite Sci Fi or Fantasy Novel.

reply to post by SprocketUK


That's his job, Sprocket. You are very cool for being such an indulgent dad.
I played a lot of D+D starting when I was 10. The boxed set had just been relaesed and we had been playing from a spiral bound set of rules that Gary Gygax produced called 'Chainmail'. Of course we did not have Warhammer 40K but I really loved this guy...



Doc Savage! I could not get enough of these pulp novels (in the truest sense).

it's set of novels:

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson

great series !!

The first sci-fi book book I ever read as a kid was Gladiator at Law by Frederik Pohl and C M Cornblush written in 1955. Something about this book has stayed in my mind ever since but it took me time to trace it.

The story tackles something I doubt anyone, when the book was written took seriously, but today many of us would not only cheer the heroes from the story on, but join in ourselves.

Corporate Lawyers Green and Charlesworth, through a company called GLM control the world. Its a simple operation, every single work contract includes a Bubble House leased to the company by GLM for its employees. These state of the art, luxurious automated houses basically cater to all the needs and will even change shape to the whim of the occupant. However the unemployed, old and no contractors' live in Belle Reve, a slum now known as Belly Rave and run by gangs.

The plot is much wider based than I have portrayed it and I haven't really done it justice.

The characters are a mixed bunch some have been been suddenly tossed aside into Belly Rave or work on the fringers of corporate life scraping a living. This little group decide to bankrupt GLM and the story tells of how they cope with Belly Rave, negotiate the gangs with the help of friends and through various contacts, manage to procure 1 share of GLM stock in order to take their fight through GLM and their corporate thugs right up to Green and Charlesworth themselves, whose home is in the top of the Empire State Building.

What's remarkable about this book for me is that it demonstrates that ideas regarded as 'sci-fi' 56 years ago actually are threatening us from the horizon, albeit without the luxurious Bubble Houses . Although Green and Charlesworth do not have the pre-fix Rock in front of their names, did Frederik Pohl and Cyril Cornblush have the NWO in mind in 1955.

With modernising some of the obvious 1950's take on espionage, I think this book would make a fabulous sci-fi thriller. Has anyone else read it?

Time Enough for Love and Lord of the Rings...

reply to post by lostsock


I also loved Time Enough for Love...



Some books just stick to your ribs.

reply to post by nonnez


One of my all time favorites.

Have you read the "sequels"? There's two: Forever Peace and Forever Free. They are good reads but no where near the level of The Forever War.

reply to post by isthisreallife


Well it's looking like Forever War by Joe Haldeman is the front runner here for Sci Fi book we would (have) like(d) to (have) see made in to a movie.


I really loved this book too. I think I remember starting it again right after finishing it.
My vote is still (would be) for The Stars My Destination but overall Joe's book is coming out ahead

AHH c'mon man!!! I skimmed through this entire thread and not one person mentioned Isaac Asimov!! Best books I've ever read.
en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by enament

You are right. I have never read any of the man's books but there is no doubt that his ideas have enhanced my life greatly. Many of the authors whose work I enjoy the most have been influenced by Issac Asimov.



I have loved all things 'Robot' since I was little. I know I must be breaking some horrible law of Sci Fi fandom by not having yet read any of his stuff.

reply to post by Frater210


Personally, I don't know if I want to see that made into a movie. I think Hollywood wouldn't be able to do the kind of job that our imaginations do. I personally know that I would go see the movie but I'm not sure if I would be satisfied. I would much rather see a movie made out of a book like, "Containment" by Christian Cantrell. One of my new favorite sci-fi books that is definitely worth the read. It's about a Venusian colony in the future after Earth is polluted past the point of survival.

reply to post by Frater210



I hear ya!

Peter Watts - Blindsight

reply to post by enament


Oh man, I'm sorry. Asimov? I thought that was a given.

"Sirens of Titan" by Kurt Vonnegut.

Regular sci/fi adventure of following a mysterious signal being broadcast from Titan. The earthlings put together a mission and arrive only to find an ancient alien craft. There are no aliens.

They find a slim electrical current maintaining the signal beam and jump start the crafts computer.The computer comes alive and informs them it is the alien. It requests the 'whatsamacallit' unit from the water filtration system of the human craft, which they provide.

The whole alien craft comes to life when the human unit is inserted in place of the broken alien unit. The ship then tells them that it was forced to land on Titan millions of years ago and it's only hope of survival was to shoot a biological missile at the third planed with genetically inserted directions to evolve a race which would be able to develop a technology to invent the "whatsamacallit" and then fly it out to Titan. It flies away and doesn't even say thanks. Or that's how I remember it.

But thanks to this book I got turned on to Vonnegut. And what a ride he was.

reply to post by TerryMcGuire


Yes, for sure. I loved Sirens of Titan and Kurt Vonnegut Jr. We were all reading his stuff in High School...




Do you like any of the so-called New Weird? Steph Swainston or Jay Lake or any of those folks. I really liked Steph Swainston's first book 'Year of Our War'

reply to post by Frater210


Somehow I missed these writers. I am now reading James P Hogans "Moon Flower". A juxtaposition of Earth culture and society with an alien world where the people are amazed at our foolishness. As a statement on our current economic and cultural paradigm it makes a clear argument that we just don't have to do things the way we do.

I've read most of his stuff and have never been disappointed. This is his latest and last. He died around a year ago and I just found out. Huge sigh....

reply to post by isthisreallife

Dune the movie...
I remember waiting and waiting and waiting for Dune to make it to the screen. I'd read the first paperback when it was released and when I heard it was to be a movie I was just thrilled.

And I waited and finally it was released. I watched and the movie seemed to be going very well at first and then about an hour and a half into the movie, I said to myself, whoaa. They are only finishing the first chapter. How they gonna wrap up the rest of the book in half an hour. Poo.

reply to post by Frater210

Frater dude. You've not read Asimov? You gotta be kidding me. The Foundation Trilogy. Absolutely Fundaf###ingmental.

reply to post by TerryMcGuire


I really have no excuse for myself. I apologize to one and all. I thought I would make up for it by posting his portrait...

Some excellent recommendations in this thread!

One of my favs is Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller, I didn't see it mentioned yet.

Not a long read, and not necessarily what one might expect, but there's a reason this little book seems to make it on the short list of the most influential sci-fi stories of all time, as gauged by possibly the most important measure. That is, what the great sci-fi writers of all time think. Maybe others would prefer to measure by "best seller" status, or dollars earned, etc., but I was always interested in learning what the great authors thought was "good."

Walter Miller wasn't prolific (and regrettably, he eventually committed suicide), which is probably why many do not know his name, but for those that look into it, many of the big names already mentioned in this thread, these "greats", quite often you will see Miller mentioned on their Top Ten lists.

I won't spoil the story for those who want to read it, but as good as it is, there is a bittersweetness to discovering this author: Once you read this book, you will be sad that there isn't much more Miller to read.

JR