Click to flag this message as abuse

What is abuse? (1) personal attacks, (2) commercial solicitation, (3) spam. See terms of use.

Group:  Fantasy Forum ignore
Topic:  Science Fiction Books 0 / 19 read

Nov 1, 2009, 4:14am (top)Message 1: fanderik

Discuss about the sci-fi novels that you liked.

Nov 2, 2009, 7:38am (top)Message 2: Jenson_AKA_DL

Most all of my sci-fi reads come attached to tv shows/movies like Star Wars, Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica. I also enjoy the fantasy/sci-mixes like the Apprentice Adept series by Piers Anthony and Tinker by Wen Spencer. Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair was very good as well (but maybe a bit too romancy for many sci-fi readers).

Nov 2, 2009, 10:43am (top)Message 3: TransformersFanGirl

Nov 4, 2009, 2:54pm (top)Message 4: spoiledfornothing

I avoid science fiction books about tv shows and movies. :P I liked Gabriel's Ghost! I like the Vor books by Lois McMaster Bujold best. Hmm. Right now I am also following the Safehold books by David Weber.

Nov 4, 2009, 9:07pm (top)Message 5: Narilka

Last scifi book I read was Dune. It was a couple years ago. Figured it was about time. Any of the books after the first worth it? Just about everyone else I've asked has said the first one was the best.

Nov 5, 2009, 12:36pm (top)Message 6: Shanra

I don't read a whole lot of scifi, to be honest, though I'm slowly branching out a little. Some of the last scifi novels I've read are
Slow River by Nicola Griffith
Dust by Elizabeth Bear
Libyrinth by Pearl North

If you're gathering/guessing that my scifi intake tends to come with a fairly high dose of fantasy elements, you'd be right.

I didn't realise this until now, but my scifi intake also seems to be geared towards "written by women and dealing, in some way or another, with GLBT issues". Always nice to be aware of such things. ^-^

Nov 5, 2009, 1:03pm (top)Message 7: spoiledfornothing

Message 6: Shanra - i have read dust and i thought it was good. have you read carnival by the same writer? it was the first work i read by her and i still think it is one of her best. has far fewer fantasy elements, but it does have the glbt thing - the main characters are gay.

Nov 5, 2009, 5:49pm (top)Message 8: Shanra

I haven't, but it's on my (massive) TBR pile along with several other of her works. ^-^

Nov 6, 2009, 12:16pm (top)Message 9: spoiledfornothing

8: Shanra - you could move it up your tbr pile because it is a really good read.

Nov 6, 2009, 2:17pm (top)Message 10: Jenson_AKA_DL

I have now requested Carnival from the library because you've made me so curious. Dust is already in my TBR pile along with Blood and Iron by the same author.

Nov 6, 2009, 6:02pm (top)Message 11: spoiledfornothing

10: Jenson_AKA_DL - lol Enjoy!

Nov 7, 2009, 10:48am (top)Message 12: psychobabble4u

If you liked Dune then you should definitely read the books by Brian Herbert, Frank's son. House Atreides, House Corrino and the rest are excellent novels that are set as precursors to Dune.

Nov 7, 2009, 11:09pm (top)Message 13: imager

I like scifi in all forms but a few favourite authors are: Peter Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Peter David, Dan Simmons and Greg Bear.

I prefer books where there are interesting characters and aliens and how they interact with humans such as The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Alien Earth by Megan Lindholm.

Nov 8, 2009, 7:51am (top)Message 14: Shanra

#9 spoiledfornothing, I have it somewhere where I can easily see it, but for the time being, my reading will be mostly predetermined by other factors. (Like coursework, bleh. I like most of the books and poems we're reading, would never have read these if not for courses, and still I'd prefer to have read them completely of my own volition. I'm weird.)

#10 Jenson, I should warn you a lot of people seem to have problems with Blood and Iron, so you might not want to start with that one.

Nov 8, 2009, 5:05pm (top)Message 15: spoiledfornothing

14: Shanra - eck. coursework just increases the tbr pile. it sucks. lol I never liked most of the stories my teachers made me read except for a few (Kafta for one). And there some stories which I thought I would like but didn't - The master and margarita. It sounds like urban fantasy, and if it was published here today, it would probably count as urban fantasy, but I just could not get into it.

Message edited by its author, Nov 8, 2009, 5:08pm.

Nov 15, 2009, 4:47pm (top)Message 16: unorna

Has anyone read Anathem By Neal Stephenson or Hunters of Worlds by C.J Cherryh??

Nov 16, 2009, 11:47am (top)Message 17: Jenson_AKA_DL

>14 Now I'm very curious, what kinds of problems??

Nov 17, 2009, 4:45am (top)Message 18: Shanra

Her work in general can be a little hit-and-miss for people. There's a thread here, but it contains spoilers. With Blood and Iron specifically, though, most people seem to think there are too many (bland) pov characters and too much going on.

Not having read the book (yet) myself, I don't have any personal experience to share, though. At least not unless you want a general impression of the books I did read.

Dust (and from what I've heard Carnival) are possibly/probably better starting points with Bear's work because the scale is(/sounds) smaller.

Nov 23, 2009, 10:19am (top)Message 19: Jenson_AKA_DL

I'm reading Carnival now and am totally enjoying it. Thanks so much for mentioning it!

(back to top)

Debug test: your member name is:

Help/FAQs | About | Privacy/Terms | Blog | Contact | APIs | WikiThing | Common Knowledge | 46,222,244 books!