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What do you guys think? I've read about a third of these, but it's making me want to pick them all up...
What do you guys think? I've read about a third of these, but it's making me want to pick them all up...
Best Sci-Fi novels List
- Thread starter Wintermute
- Start date
I've been (for better or worse) reading pretty much exclusively sci-fi since 1984 (no pun intended), and I've read just about all of those except 3.
Its a surprisingly good list, and modern. Which is important, because most lists seem to focus on only the "classics", and as important as those might be, like science itself, the genre has progressed in amazing ways. The concepts we have to work with have expanded, the ideas on which to speculate have new facets every year.
If youve got any questions about the genre, specific authors in that list, hit me up.
Its a surprisingly good list, and modern. Which is important, because most lists seem to focus on only the "classics", and as important as those might be, like science itself, the genre has progressed in amazing ways. The concepts we have to work with have expanded, the ideas on which to speculate have new facets every year.
If youve got any questions about the genre, specific authors in that list, hit me up.
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is pretty great. I liked I Am Legend by Richard Matheson too. But Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep devastated me. Just its scale of loneliness and alienation, absurdity, how unsure everyone must be about everything. It seemed both alien and brutally and beautifully true to life. I still call useless things "kipple."
I've read a bunch of P.K. Dick's short stories, but none of his novels. I need to check this out. Thanks for piquing my interest.
FYI, there's a low budget version of Radio Free Albemuth streaming on NetFlix. The story's great, the acting's good, but the special effects & the main song not so much. Check it out, it's wroth the watch:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q6vAkwIpcg
What do you guys think of this list?
View: http://imgur.com/gallery/lt4n1
1. Wool (2011) ~ Hugh Howey
Howey is the poster child for self-publishing. Wool started as a short story, but it became massively popular, so he wrote four more parts. Now you can just buy it as a five-part omnibus. Ridley Scott is apparently working on the movie version. (Don't f*#k it up Mr. Scott!) The story is brilliant. The setting is post-apocalyptic, with a few thousand people living in a silo that goes 144 stories into the ground. Then come the secrets, inside and out.
2. Altered Carbon (2002) ~ Richard K. Morgan
This is cyberpunk at its grittiest and most lurid. Morgan does a fantastic job of dishing out just the right amounts of gore, sex, technology and sick twists in a very intelligent detective story with more than a few surprises. You'll feel guilty for enjoying this one so much.
3. The Windup Girl (2009) ~ Paolo Bacigalupi
Technically, this is a dystopian biopunk sci-fi. Awesome. It takes place in Thailand in the 23rd century. Plagues and mutant pests have wreaked havoc on crop yields, so each nation focuses its resources on developing gene-hacked seeds. Enter an economic hitman trying to make a deal and a genetically modified Japanese windup girl just trying to stay alive, and you get a unique glimpse of how bad things can get.
4. Ready Player One (2011) ~ Ernest Cline
Cline is definitely aiming toward a specific reader - those of us who grew up with video games and D&D in the 80s and 90s. It's set in 2044, but the main character's life will hang in the balance of his knowledge of late 20th century pop culture. It's a blast to read, partly because of the pleasure of recognizing all of the obscure references that today's young generation probably won't get.
View: http://imgur.com/gallery/lt4n1
1. Wool (2011) ~ Hugh Howey
Howey is the poster child for self-publishing. Wool started as a short story, but it became massively popular, so he wrote four more parts. Now you can just buy it as a five-part omnibus. Ridley Scott is apparently working on the movie version. (Don't f*#k it up Mr. Scott!) The story is brilliant. The setting is post-apocalyptic, with a few thousand people living in a silo that goes 144 stories into the ground. Then come the secrets, inside and out.
2. Altered Carbon (2002) ~ Richard K. Morgan
This is cyberpunk at its grittiest and most lurid. Morgan does a fantastic job of dishing out just the right amounts of gore, sex, technology and sick twists in a very intelligent detective story with more than a few surprises. You'll feel guilty for enjoying this one so much.
3. The Windup Girl (2009) ~ Paolo Bacigalupi
Technically, this is a dystopian biopunk sci-fi. Awesome. It takes place in Thailand in the 23rd century. Plagues and mutant pests have wreaked havoc on crop yields, so each nation focuses its resources on developing gene-hacked seeds. Enter an economic hitman trying to make a deal and a genetically modified Japanese windup girl just trying to stay alive, and you get a unique glimpse of how bad things can get.
4. Ready Player One (2011) ~ Ernest Cline
Cline is definitely aiming toward a specific reader - those of us who grew up with video games and D&D in the 80s and 90s. It's set in 2044, but the main character's life will hang in the balance of his knowledge of late 20th century pop culture. It's a blast to read, partly because of the pleasure of recognizing all of the obscure references that today's young generation probably won't get.
Haven't read sci-fi in a few years. But a good list. Ender's Game is so much better than the film, and the sequel Speaker for the Dead, utterly blew me away, the characters in it, and all the fucked up relationships was so well done, one of my all time favorites. All i can say is i've read a few of them, and recommend;
Dune, The Foundation Books (fucking crazy!), Childhoods End, Ringworld, any Dick book.., All of the Assimov Robot's, Richard Matheson's I am Legend (forget Will smith), and i'll stop now...
Dune, The Foundation Books (fucking crazy!), Childhoods End, Ringworld, any Dick book.., All of the Assimov Robot's, Richard Matheson's I am Legend (forget Will smith), and i'll stop now...
In terms of modern sci-if I enjoy Peter f Hamilton. If you give him a try you can skip his first trilogy ( it's ok). Fallen Dragon is an easy and engaging one off, otherwise chronological by publication is the way to go. The other series aren't really linked but may sort of connect. (Snowflake)
It's funny, I saw the Starship Troopers movie before reading the book and thought it was kind of fun, then when I got around to it the book became by far my preferred choice. My one issue is his work isn't really that lengthy, but that's just personal taste. Same with Gibson.
It's funny, I saw the Starship Troopers movie before reading the book and thought it was kind of fun, then when I got around to it the book became by far my preferred choice. My one issue is his work isn't really that lengthy, but that's just personal taste. Same with Gibson.
man, I cannot like that post enough. he's super brilliant, and quite smart for what could loosely be typed as "space opera". (A lot of that sub-genre often focuses on "adventure" as opposed to high concept.) really writes some mind blowing trilogies.
Blindsight by Peter Watts is a really good read that I bet you guys would dig. It raises some great questions about the nature of consciousness and free will, as well as being a fucking awesome story. I'm just starting the sequel Echopraxia now, betting it's also awesome. I'll keep you guys posted.
Also, Dune is one of the best novels/series of any genre ever, IMO. Definitely a demanding read, but soooo worth it. I've only read the original six by Frank Herbert himself though. Anyone here read the others?
Edit: Another great few worth mentioning are "Calculating God" by Robert J. Sawyer, as well as a series called "The Neanderthal Parallax". The three books in the series are titled "Hominids", "Humans", and "Hybrids". He has a style that's good hard sci-fi while still being very accessible. Totally worth checking out.
Also, Dune is one of the best novels/series of any genre ever, IMO. Definitely a demanding read, but soooo worth it. I've only read the original six by Frank Herbert himself though. Anyone here read the others?
Edit: Another great few worth mentioning are "Calculating God" by Robert J. Sawyer, as well as a series called "The Neanderthal Parallax". The three books in the series are titled "Hominids", "Humans", and "Hybrids". He has a style that's good hard sci-fi while still being very accessible. Totally worth checking out.
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So I've read 3 out of your five, the WILL anthology and RPO. I'm at the Barnes and Noble now and I don't see Altered Carbon but they do have Thirteen, any idea how it is?What do you guys think of this list?
View: http://imgur.com/gallery/lt4n1
1. Wool (2011) ~ Hugh Howey
Howey is the poster child for self-publishing. Wool started as a short story, but it became massively popular, so he wrote four more parts. Now you can just buy it as a five-part omnibus. Ridley Scott is apparently working on the movie version. (Don't f*#k it up Mr. Scott!) The story is brilliant. The setting is post-apocalyptic, with a few thousand people living in a silo that goes 144 stories into the ground. Then come the secrets, inside and out.
2. Altered Carbon (2002) ~ Richard K. Morgan
This is cyberpunk at its grittiest and most lurid. Morgan does a fantastic job of dishing out just the right amounts of gore, sex, technology and sick twists in a very intelligent detective story with more than a few surprises. You'll feel guilty for enjoying this one so much.
3. The Windup Girl (2009) ~ Paolo Bacigalupi
Technically, this is a dystopian biopunk sci-fi. Awesome. It takes place in Thailand in the 23rd century. Plagues and mutant pests have wreaked havoc on crop yields, so each nation focuses its resources on developing gene-hacked seeds. Enter an economic hitman trying to make a deal and a genetically modified Japanese windup girl just trying to stay alive, and you get a unique glimpse of how bad things can get.
4. Ready Player One (2011) ~ Ernest Cline
Cline is definitely aiming toward a specific reader - those of us who grew up with video games and D&D in the 80s and 90s. It's set in 2044, but the main character's life will hang in the balance of his knowledge of late 20th century pop culture. It's a blast to read, partly because of the pleasure of recognizing all of the obscure references that today's young generation probably won't get.
No idea. In reality, most of what I read is short stories by PK Dick & Robert Howard, or graphic novels. I trane, am learning jazz guitar, & have a busy, active 10 year old.
If you're into trades/graphic novels, I would suggest Transmetropolitian, by Warren Ellis. Picture Hunter S. Thompson in a cyberpunk world similar to Blade Runner:
Another that I picked up but haven't read yet is called Saga, which is more of a space opera. More than one person swear that it's the best comic running now:
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@soundoff71 : Great choices for graphic novels! I have almost all of the TPBs for Transmetropolitan and the latest one for Saga!
Thanks for the TPB reminder. I changed my post, people get touchy about that sometimes, LOL.
I'm finishing up the 3rd Transmetro trade, "Year of the Bastard". Not only is it great sci-fi, but it's hilarious at times, too.
Can't wait to dive into Saga. I know nothing about it, other than it's a space opera, & it's great.
I here there is some kind of creature with a giant set of balls & that it gets a bit rapey. Is that right?
@soundoff71 :LOL! Not sure about the rapey bit, but that's an affirmative on the giant balls!
There is a weird dynamic with the whole alien trafficking storyline, though. Maybe that's it?
Maybe...I asked the guys at the comic book shop I go to about my 10 year old reading it, & they told me about the the giant balls. My next question was if it was rapey at all & they were like, "Kind of'.
LOL! Not sure about the rapey bit, but that's an affirmative on the giant balls!
There is a weird dynamic with the whole alien trafficking storyline, though. Maybe that's it?
I'll check it out, thanks
@SpawnIsGay . The friend who turned me on to Transmetro & Saga also recommended Lazarus.BTW I'm also reading Fight Club 2 (not sci-fi, obviously), Bloodline (fantasy) & a short series called Boy 1. Boy 1 is okay. Decent, but not great.