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| < Brothers and Sisters in Arms ~ Great Sci-fi Stories |
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Wed May 19, 2010 4:00 pm
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Joined: 02 Dec 2008
Posts: 2195
Location: The City
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Got any science fiction stories or books to recommend? ^^
I just started reading Isaac Asimov's Nightfall, the novel. I'm only on page 4 and I'm already hooked!  I know Asimov was one of the first sci-fi writers to deal with robotics, and he created the Three Laws that many robots abide by in fiction, but I hadn't ead much of the man's actual work before. I'd read some of his short stories before, but this is the first novel I've read by him. ^^ |
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"Until you find a new Thundercon...the fans will be your home." --Me, to Panther |
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Wed May 19, 2010 8:40 pm
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Joined: 23 Apr 2007
Posts: 2056
Location: Oh, Maryville. FOR NOW.
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The Last Day by Glenn Kleier
Glenn Kleier mixes bioengineering and religion, miracles and modern warfare, politics and physics to produce a gripping tale set in the Middle East at the dawn of the 21st century.
It's a really, really good read. |
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Wed May 19, 2010 10:34 pm
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Joined: 31 Oct 2009
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If you want to go for a nice classic comedy, the Bill the Galactic Hero series by Harry Harrison is brilliant.
The origional's great. Think Starship troopers, but without the bugs and is more of a comedy. Also Bill on the planet of Zombie Vampires is just an Alien 2 clone (more of a parody) and it's just brilliant. |
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Wed May 19, 2010 10:40 pm
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Joined: 30 Jan 2010
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I never was into Sci Fi that much, but I advise that you read a book called The Stranger by Albert Camus.
It's pretty short, about 100 pages, and it's left a pretty big impact on me. I always try to read it every once in awhile.
The writing style is pretty beige, kinda like mine, but it's like that for a reason. The main character, the one who narrates the whole story, is a emotionless person. |
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"I have been blessed with many things in this life – an arm like a damn rocket, a cock like a burmese python, and the mind of a fucking scientist." - Kenny Powers. |
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Thu May 20, 2010 12:20 am
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Joined: 30 Sep 2008
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Location: Inner workings of a war torn city.
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just to name a few of the top of my head.
anthem
world war z
i am legend
hitchhikers guide to the galaxy collection
.... not really sci fi but i recommend the divine comedy, you might have heard of the first book called the inferno/ dante's inferno. its actually three books. inferno, pergitorio, paradisio. |
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Thu May 20, 2010 12:24 am
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Joined: 30 Jan 2010
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| crash426mnb wrote: |
| you might have heard of the first book called the inferno/ dante's inferno. its actually three books. inferno, pergitorio, paradisio. |
The reason why Inferno is more well known is because well..Lemme just say descriptions of torture are more entertaining than the theological conversations and stuff prevalent in the other two books, ESPECIALLY the last. |
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"I have been blessed with many things in this life – an arm like a damn rocket, a cock like a burmese python, and the mind of a fucking scientist." - Kenny Powers. |
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Thu May 20, 2010 12:54 am
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Joined: 15 Jan 2008
Posts: 557
Location: Michigan
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I just read Ender's Game for the first time. I can't believe that was Orson Scott Card's first novel; it's so good. You'll never look at a younger brother the same way again. I've heard mixed things about the sequels.
Another, more recent book is Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's available for free on his site. I read it in one sitting. One very long sitting. I couldn't stop. |
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Thu May 20, 2010 1:23 am
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Joined: 15 Jan 2008
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Location: Michigan
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Thu May 20, 2010 2:14 am
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Joined: 30 Sep 2008
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Location: Inner workings of a war torn city.
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| Kentok wrote: |
| crash426mnb wrote: |
| you might have heard of the first book called the inferno/ dante's inferno. its actually three books. inferno, pergitorio, paradisio. |
The reason why Inferno is more well known is because well..Lemme just say descriptions of torture are more entertaining than the theological conversations and stuff prevalent in the other two books, ESPECIALLY the last. |
i do love me some torture |
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Thu May 20, 2010 2:21 am
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Joined: 15 Jan 2010
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The last sci-fi book I really got into was Market Forces by Richard Morgan.
...I vaguely feel like I might have mentioned it here before, since its cynical portrayal of an especially cut-throat society would probably be right up the alley of most Protofans. |
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"Jesus loves you! He died for your sins!"
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| Posted:
Thu May 20, 2010 6:12 am
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Joined: 31 Dec 2008
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Location: Waukesha, WI
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| Kentok wrote: |
| The writing style is pretty beige, kinda like mine, but it's like that for a reason. The main character, the one who narrates the whole story, is a emotionless person. |
That's... one way of describing Existentialism, I suppose...
The thing is, though, it's not that Mersault was emotionless; in fact, far from it. He could feel a great many things, it's just that he had no ability to connect with other people. He could, and would feel irritation and annoyance with other people - think to the scene[s] in the diner. His description of some of the other patrons, such as the Robot Lady - he is irritated and annoyed by her, but lacks the ability to connect with other people - this is why he never learns anyone's names, and instead names them himself. (NOTE: This novel was a huge influence for Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld when coming up with Seinfeld. Note the similarities - inability to relate to other people, mock their misfortune - name the other characters based on characteristics of them; e.g. Soup Nazi, Man-Hands, Low-Talker, etc. Just a fun little fact, I thought) It's only at the end that he actually expresses emotion with the priest in prison, and that's the lesson of the novella - there are no rules, no universal laws of the universe, no karmic justice, no man in the sky ruling over us. Only ourselves; but that in and of itself is freeing, because it allows us to make our own rules, make our own laws, and therefore our own wishes and desires - it is only then, once you've made that realization, that you are truly human, and truly free.
Speaking of being truly human, and to get back on track with this thread, there are two novels I can think of that are fantastic sci-fi: Frank Herbert's Dune and Phillip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Actually, pretty much anything by Dick is extraordinary. His novels have had tons of movies based on them: Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, and the upcoming film The Adjustment Bureau. Note I didn't mention Next - Dick's The Golden Man is probably one of his most difficult pieces to read, and was a just plain awful, awful movie.
Other good sci-fi? Well, William Gibson is a pretty sweet author. Neuromancer is probably one of the most influential sci-fi novels of the past 30 years. Almost singlehandedly launching the cyberpunk genre, it's a fantastic read. I love the opening line, it's probably one of my favorites I've ever read:
| Gibson wrote: |
| The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. |
It's such a unique description: the color of television. But, you instantly know exactly what Gibson's getting at. So fantastic.
If you want to go more Golden Age sci-fi, and if you like Asimov, definitely check out his Foundation series. It starts off incredibly strong, but gets progressively worse as you go on. Start it for sure, stop when you get bored of it (I've read it all, but whenever I go back and read it, I usually stop at around book 4 or 5).
And if you like Asimov, check out Arthur C. Clarke - the 2001 series is pretty good, but the Rama series is even better.
If you enjoy a mix of classics and sci-fi, check out Dan Simmons: his Hyperion is a sci-fi retelling of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, but instead of a pilgrimage to Canterbury cathedral, it's seven people making a pilgrimage amid a galactic war, a series of anti-entropic buildings, gigantic tree-ships, and a robot-god-demon-thing that's got spikes coming out from all over it called The Shrike, and it will impale all but one pilgrim on a gigantic metal tree made from the same material as it that will keep said pilgrim alive for eternity; or, at least, until the anti-entropic fields wane and enter real-time. It's really quite good. There are three sequels, and they fade away from the Chaucer-esque elements, but maintain a great story.
But if that didn't pique your interest, how about Simmons' retelling of Homer's The Iliad, called Ilium? It features the story of The Iliad. ON MARS. IN THE FUTURE. But with Achilles, Helen, Paris, Agamemnon, Ajax, etc., as well as all the Greek gods and goddesses. Also, a ancient-Greek historian from our time who has been resurrected to make sure that events pan out as they're supposed to according to [/u]The Iliad[/u]. Also, on Earth, there's a group of people living like the Eloi from H.G. Wells' The Time Machine (another great read). Also, there are crab-aliens living on Jupiter's moons, that are obsessed with Shakespeare's sonnets. And yes, they are all related somehow. Also, this book is like a skajillion pages long, but it's good. Really, really good. The sole sequel, Olypmos, is good, but gets a little too didactic for its own good, and gets too involved in theoretical physics. It gives a decent primer on String Theory, though, kinda...
I'm sure there's more out there, but that ought to keep you occupied for at least the next few months. |
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The Slithery-dee, he crawled out of the sea; He ate all the others, but he didn't eat me. |
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| Posted:
Thu May 20, 2010 9:44 am
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Joined: 15 Jan 2010
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| SlitheryDee wrote: |
| But if that didn't pique your interest, how about Simmons' retelling of Homer's The Iliad, called Ilium? It features the story of The Iliad. ON MARS. IN THE FUTURE. |
This sounds badass!
...and reminds me to recommend Lord of Light by Zelazny, which is something of a Hindu/Buddhist analog of that. Sort of. |
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"Jesus loves you! He died for your sins!"
"Protoman hates you. He died for them twice." |
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| Posted:
Thu May 20, 2010 11:04 am
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Joined: 01 Dec 2009
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Location: Raptor Island
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I've been on an HP Lovecraft binge for the past two and a half years. I can't get enough.
If you're looking for a really scary book that's...sorta sci fi'ish, check out House of Leaves. Scared me shitless. |
Last edited by Last son of Light on Mon May 24, 2010 1:48 pm; edited 1 time in total
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| Posted:
Thu May 20, 2010 11:54 am
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Joined: 15 Jan 2010
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| Last son of Light wrote: |
| If you're looking for a really scary book that's...sorta sci fi'ish, check out House of Leaves. Scared me shitless. |
I loved that book too. What's really fun is scribbling your own footnotes in the margins, especially before lending it to a friend. |
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"Jesus loves you! He died for your sins!"
"Protoman hates you. He died for them twice." |
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| Posted:
Thu May 20, 2010 7:12 pm
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Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 653
Location: King George, VA
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| Lasergoose wrote: |
I just read Ender's Game for the first time. I can't believe that was Orson Scott Card's first novel; it's so good. You'll never look at a younger brother the same way again. I've heard mixed things about the sequels.
Another, more recent book is Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's available for free on his site. I read it in one sitting. One very long sitting. I couldn't stop. |
I've read every book in the Enderverse so far. I do not regret any of my time spent doing so, and I regularly re-read the entire series. The sequels are DEFINITELY different, but your best bet is to check them out anyway. |
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| Lasergoose wrote: |
| To clarify, Avyrex is 27.5 feet tall and has six arms. |
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