Recommend some Sci-Fi/Fantasy I've never heard of

[Bateluer]

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Trush saga. But only read the first and last few chapters of Pillars of Creation, thats all you need, the rest is irrelevent and exceedly boring.

 

[Martin]

A song of Ice and fire. I may be commiting a crime here, but I will come out and say that its better than LotR

 

[cmdrmoocow]

Mindstar Rising, by an author that I thought nobody else knew until now, Peter F. Hamilton. Quantum Murder is the sequel.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Martin
A song of Ice and fire. I may be commiting a crime here, but I will come out and say that its better than LotR

Lots of fantasy series are better than LOTR. LOTR was just the first major one. LOTR is actually fairly subpar when measured against the words of many modern fantasy writers.

 

[Ameesh]

Originally posted by: Wag
I've read alot of the classics. Dune, Foundation, 2001, LOTR, etc. Looking for something new.

A song of Fire and Ice is the best fantasy series you will read.

mars trilogy by kim stanley robinson

rama series by arthur c clarke

 

[nageov3t]

Deathstalker series, by Simon R. Green.

it's a space opera... almost Star Wars-like in tone, but the plots aren't alike at all. gets kinda cheesy by the 4th book, but the first 3 books are phenomenal, and the 3rd book ends pretty nicely if that's where you chose to stop reading. a couple loose ends aren't tied up by the end of book 3, but nothing that would keep you up at night.

for fantasy... pick up the Chronicles of Amber anthology.

 

[LtPage1]

gene wolfe's book of the new sun series.

 

[UglyCasanova]

The Mote in God's Eye - dunno who wrote it Great lil book about mankinds first encounter with aliens (and suprisingly this time we have the better technology)

Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams Fun and funny

Snowcrash - Neal Stephenson Awesome book.

Age of Spiritual Machines - Ray Kurzweil (not exactly sci fi but rather predictions of the future, really interesting)

 

[DaveSimmons]

Originally posted by: loki8481
Deathstalker series, by Simon R. Green.

it's a space opera... almost Star Wars-like in tone, but the plots aren't alike at all. gets kinda cheesy by the 4th book, but the first 3 books are phenomenal, and the 3rd book ends pretty nicely if that's where you chose to stop reading. a couple loose ends aren't tied up by the end of book 3, but nothing that would keep you up at night..

They were good dumb fun and pretty inventive if not especially well written, but "Doc" Smith, Schmitz, Laumer, Lee & Miller and Daley all are better [ both as SF and specifically space opera ] . See my earlier post for book titles.

 

[Kadarin]

Hellstrom's Hive, by Frank Herbert
All of the Culture novels by Iain Banks
Changewinds, by Jack L. Chalker
All of the Well World novels, also by Jack L. Chalker
The Flux and Anchor series, by Jack L. Chalker
All novels by Daniel Keyes Moran, but particularly Emerald Eyes, The Long Run, and The Last Dancer
The Dragon Never Sleeps, by Glen Cook
Aristoi, by Walter Jon Williams

 

[DanTMWTMP]

ENDER'S GAME!!!!!

hands down the BEST sci-fi ever written by any human. PERIOD.

 

[biostud]

Originally posted by: Bateluer

Originally posted by: Martin
A song of Ice and fire. I may be commiting a crime here, but I will come out and say that its better than LotR

Lots of fantasy series are better than LOTR. LOTR was just the first major one. LOTR is actually fairly subpar when measured against the words of many modern fantasy writers.

Yup, LoTR is pretty simple compaired to "A song of fire and Ice". LoTR is "just" an adventure story , while "A song of fire and Ice" is an epic story of grandous dimensions.

 

[Monkey muppet]

Michael Moorcook - The Eternal Champion for a good series of book

or Firefly for a good visual series

 

[hjo3]

Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy.
Rudy Rucker's "-ware" series (starts with Software, IIRC).
Nancy Kress's Beggars trilogy (starts with Beggars in Spain).

BTW, someone mentioned Clarke's Rama series -- the first one is the only decent volume. The later books were mostly written by another author who, IMHO, sucks ass.

Re: Brin's Startide Rising: good, but still inferior to the first Uplift book, Sundiver.

And here's another vote for Larry Niven's Known Space books. IIWY, I'd start with Protector, then go on to Ringworld and its sequels.

Also, though it's not exactly what you might think of as science fiction or fantasy, I'd really recommend Chuck Palahniuk's Lullaby. One of the best books I've ever read.

Finally, the Dragonlance saga and Salvatore's Drizzt books are okay if you're looking for something simple and fun. But they seem aimed at younger readers; it's the sort of thing ppl read on vacation.

 

[Coquito]

Current American History textbooks.

 

[Calin]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

Originally posted by: Wag
I've read alot of the classics. Dune, Foundation, 2001, LOTR, etc. Looking for something new.

A song of Fire and Ice is the best fantasy series you will read.

mars trilogy by kim stanley robinson

rama series by arthur c clarke

:thumbsup: for Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars)

 

[Michael]

E. E. "Doc" Smith - Lensmen series

Read these first.

Go through DaveSimmon's suggestions and work through some of the other one's in his lists.

The Stars my Destination by Alfred Bester is another I would add
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep and others by Philip K. Dick

If you're looking for Fantasy:

Fafhrd and Gray Mouser by Fritz Leiber
Elric of Melnibone series by Michael Moorcock
Face in the Frost by John Bellairs
Riddlemaster of Hed by PATRICIA A. MCKILLIP

Michael
(missing his 4K book collection in storage in CA right now while he's in Singapore)

 

[Schadenfroh]

donnie darko

 

[Wag]

Originally posted by: Ameesh

A song of Fire and Ice is the best fantasy series you will read.

mars trilogy by kim stanley robinson

rama series by arthur c clarke

Check, check and check. These are all fairly popular books.

I've pretty much read all Gene Wolfe's stuff, so no need to mention him. One thing I really like about Gene Wolfe is that he won't start releasing books in a series unless they're all completed- something more authors (GRR Martin) needs to take note of. At this rate GRR probably won't live to finish the Fire/Ice series, so I don't want to invest time into it. By the time the next novel arrives I'll forget much of what came before.

 

[n0cmonkey]

Michael Moorcock's Elric series
Phillip Jose Farmer's World of Tiers
Steven R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series
Anything by Phillip K. Dick (Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Man in the High Castle, and UBIK being the best I've read so far)
Knox and A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison
Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles
Anything by Neil Gaiman
Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game series (and the Shadow series)
Guns, Drugs, and Monsters by Steve Niles

 

[nakedfrog]

The Chronicles of Amber gets another vote
Anything by Alan Dean Foster
(Flinx series, Spellsinger series, etc)

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

If you want military sci-fi, look into David Weber. Weber, along with others are published by Baen books. In my experience, about 75% of whaat they publish is something I enjoy.

 

[Metron]

Originally posted by: Astaroth33
Hellstrom's Hive, by Frank Herbert
All of the Culture novels by Iain Banks
Changewinds, by Jack L. Chalker
All of the Well World novels, also by Jack L. Chalker
The Flux and Anchor series, by Jack L. Chalker
All novels by Daniel Keyes Moran, but particularly Emerald Eyes, The Long Run, and The Last Dancer
The Dragon Never Sleeps, by Glen Cook
Aristoi, by Walter Jon Williams

I second his commendation for Jack Chalker's Well World series...

also check out any of the "Stainless Steel Rat" series by Harry Harrison

Metron

 

[TreyRandom]

Originally posted by: nakedfrog
The Chronicles of Amber gets another vote
Anything by Alan Dean Foster
(Flinx series, Spellsinger series, etc)

Yeah, Foster's great. Dunno why I forgot him. Spellsinger is a quick, easy, fun read. Very enjoyable.

 

[Actaeon]

Orson Scott Card's - Ender's Game

Wonderful series.