reading sci-fi

POSTED BY: NewOldBrownCoat
UPDATED: Wednesday, August 30, 2006 08:29
VIEWED: 6773
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NEWOLDBROWNCOAT

Monday, August 28, 2006 7:13 PM

What is anybody out there *reading* in sci- fi?

I'm an old guy- I read Robert Heinlein, Arthur C Clarke, and Isaac Asimov ( when he still wrote SF).
I've read Douglas Adams, Spider Robinson, David Drake, Victor Vinge, John Varley. Last stuff I read was the Pournelle-Niven collaborations.

What are yall reading, as opposed to watching?

ASORTAFAIRYTALE

Monday, August 28, 2006 7:18 PM

I don't really read too much sci-fi stuff, but I have read a few good ones. Douglas Adams is great, and so is The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl (I think that's how you spell her name.) And The Giver and Gathering Blue by Lois Lowry are good, I guess you could call them sci-fi. Then if you're into the classics H.G. Wells and Ray Bradbury are good.

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We're all just floating...

ECGORDON

Monday, August 28, 2006 7:25 PM

I've read everybody you mentioned except Drake.

Heinlein is my all-time favorite, although of current writers it is Gene Wolfe, and I can't think of two writers more dissimilar. I will have to say though that I was a bit disappointed with Wolfe's latest, The Wizard, not as good as The Knight.

Lately, I've also enjoyed E. E. Knight's Vampire Earth series. I'm waiting for the fifth book to come out in paperback, but I have reviewed all the others. Check it out - http://templetongate.net/vampire-earth.htm

I like a wide range of styles, both hard and soft SF, along with some fantasy. Here's just a short list of authors I can recommend.

Brian Aldiss
Ray Bradbury
Orson Scott Card
Philip K. Dick
Gordon Dickson
Harlan Ellison
Philip José Farmer
David Gerrold
Joe Haldeman
C. M. Kornbluth
George R. R. Martin
Edgar Pangborn
Kim Stanley Robinson
Cordwainer Smith
Norman Spinrad
James Tiptree, Jr. (Alice Sheldon)
Roger Zelazny

I'm sure I'll think of a few others later. I've written author profiles or reviewed books by quite a few of those, along with some general info pages, which you can check out here - http://templetongate.net/authors.htm - and there are links to other areas of the site dealing with films and tv using the menu buttons at the left of the screen.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

THELURKER

Monday, August 28, 2006 7:27 PM

John Varley is the guy who probably is putting out the best stuff these days. I really like his work.

Also, the Maximum Ride novels by James Patterson are fun to read.

INDIGOSTARBLASTER

Monday, August 28, 2006 8:28 PM

Don't forget Connie Willis (esp. _Doomsday Book_ and _Passage_)!

BTW, for my sci-fi reading fix, I subscribe to Asimov's Science Fiction magazine -- very, very high quality stuff, and lots of it.

Cheers,

Indigo S.

P.S. Isaac Asimov remains one of my favourite authors -- to paraphrase Orson Scott Card, one of the finest prose writers the U.S. has ever produced.

FIZZIX

Monday, August 28, 2006 8:31 PM

I'm fond of anything Trek at the moment, but Diane Duane... Whoo, if you're at all liking Trek enough to read it, go get a copy of anything she's written from the library.

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May not be smart, and it may not please you, but you're definitely gonna see what I have to say.

CRUITHNE3753

Monday, August 28, 2006 9:00 PM

Iain M. Banks
Stephen Baxter
Greg Bear
Gregory Benford

Hmmm, a swarm of "B"s...

RMMC

Monday, August 28, 2006 9:13 PM

My old standard that I keep going back to is Ray Bradbury. For me, this is the yardstick I judge other authors by.

Also I tend more towards fantasy/horror than strict SF.

Other authors include James P. Hogan, Douglas Adams, Spider Robinson and Steven Brust.

Fantasy/horror include Tanya Huff, Laurel K. Hamilton (first 3-4 Anita Blake novels), Terry Pratchett, J.R.R. Tolkien and Esther Freisner.

I also read a fair amout of mysteries, but ya'll weren't askin' 'bout that.

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RMMC

MORDACIL

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 12:35 AM

Im young but i got that AC Clarke, bradbury, Asimov, HG Wells and Jules verne since forever, Ender/bean Sagas, anything startrek, and i recomend trek books by judith and garfield reeve-stevens, and most of the ones with Q. i want to read me some heinlin and niven stuff sooner or later

May have been the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one, so I joined starfleet and was stationed at the SGC to fight the covenant, whos gate happens to be down, and through which I must cast the ring from whence it came. It was our last best hope for peace but it failed so millions of voices cried out and were suddenly silent but there was no spoon and also no fate but what we make for ourselves.
-I thought of that in the shower

SAVEWASH

Tuesday, August 29, 2006 1:11 AM

Ray Bradbury for me, too! I will never get tired of his writing. What a writer.

I subscribe to Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine, and they have a lot of very fine stories. I've been introduced to several good writers there that I might never have heard of otherwise.

"We need to keep our heads so we can ... keep our heads."

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