What's your favourite science fiction book?

[Dan B]

In fact, Neal Stephenson's 'Anathem' has to rate as one of the most involving, deeply thought and genuinely thought-provoking sci-fi books I've read for a long time.

Page 7 and at least someone has mentioned Stephenson, though I far prefer his slightly earlier stuff (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon) which seemed to bear much more sign of having been actually edited before publication. In fact I would say Snow Crash is a strong contender for my favourite SF book. The Baroque Cycle was where the rot set in, I think.

+1 for China Mieville and Ian McDonald recommendations, too. I'm currently half way through his Cyberabad Days

 

[Melvil]

Page 7 and at least someone has mentioned Stephenson, though I far prefer his slightly earlier stuff (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon) which seemed to bear much more sign of having been actually edited before publication. In fact I would say Snow Crash is a strong contender for my favourite SF book. The Baroque Cycle was where the rot set in, I think.

+1 for China Mieville and Ian McDonald recommendations, too. I'm currently half way through his Cyberabad Days

How're you finding it? I've read Brasyl and really liked it.

 

[tmcd35]

My favourite Sci-Fi novel has to be Mars by Ben Bova. I also like Race Agains Time by Piers Anthony and Eon by Greg Bear.

For fantasy, I've read Lord Of The Rings but Pratchett (especially the later novels) is hard to beat.

 

[2wheelsgood]

"Originally Posted by rich p
How very humble of you

I read one once about a soldier in an intergalactic war where the plot involved time travel and going back to where the war started after it finished or something. Entertaining tripe and tosh, like most SF in my humble bla bla bla...."


Sounds like The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Terrific book.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I adore the Earthsea Trilogy.

There's five of them now, and more if include Tales from Earthsea - the last one, The Other Wind, was extraordinarily moving.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Sounds like The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Terrific book.

Yes indeed, and one of the most humane literary responses to the Vietnam War by someone who was there.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Page 7 and at least someone has mentioned Stephenson, though I far prefer his slightly earlier stuff (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon) which seemed to bear much more sign of having been actually edited before publication. In fact I would say Snow Crash is a strong contender for my favourite SF book. The Baroque Cycle was where the rot set in, I think.

+1 for China Mieville and Ian McDonald recommendations, too. I'm currently half way through his Cyberabad Days

Agree with you on Mieville and McDonald of course - and on Stephenson's lack of editing. The popularity Snow Crash passes me by though... it seems to me to be really just a overly in-jokey satire of the later second-rate cyberpunk stuff with massive info-dumps on ancient languages, which seem to be there just to tell us how clever the author is.

 

[WeeE]

Oh - Michael Marshall Smith.

(Is it in Only Forward, where he has someone define Fantasy as "fairy tales written by computer programmers...? )

There is some brilliant Fantasy, but...is it just me, or is the jewels-to-dunghill ratio really small?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

There is some brilliant Fantasy, but...is it just me, or is the jewels-to-dunghill ratio really small?

Depends what you call fantasy... China Mieville (already mentioned) writes urban fantasy, and there's loads of talented writers in a similar 'new weird' vein, like Jeff Vandemeer, Joanthan Carrol, John Crowley, Tim Powers, etc.

Crowley's Little, Big is lovely, and the Aegypt sequence is very ambitious. Oh yes, and Richard Morgan has just written an excellent, hard, dark, and very gay, fantasy novel called The Steel Remains.

 

[CopperBrompton]

Stranger in a Strange Land

 

[rh100]

Tad Williams anyone? I've read two series by him, one SF and one fantasy. The SF was called Otherland - 4 books long and the fantasy series was called Memory,Sorrow and Thorn (thats the name of the series, the books are something else). I found both series a very slow start, but really got going after a bit and difficult to put down.

I'm seeing some really good recommendations in this thread, will be making a shopping list for ebay I think.

 

[rh100]

Oh - Michael Marshall Smith.

(Is it in Only Forward, where he has someone define Fantasy as "fairy tales written by computer programmers...? )

There is some brilliant Fantasy, but...is it just me, or is the jewels-to-dunghill ratio really small?

There is some real tripe around. I've got a bit of a theory, tell me if I'm wrong - most fantasy books come with maps of the made up world, now if the names of all the places seem a little bit 'forced', or just sound bad, then the book probably is.

 

[Paulus]

Not sure if they are true Science fiction, but any of the Robert Rankin books. They seem to be based around Brentford in West London and have a lot of Victorian references and characters. i.e. The Brentford trilogies, there are 5 of them.

 

[jimboalee]

Sci-fi is not a new thing.

In the "Tale of Gilgamesh", Assyria, dated C 4000 BC, the Cedar Mountains ( modern day Palestine ) were guarded by 'Giants with swords of flashing light'.

Many centuries later, another book was written which had "He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life." in the third chapter of it's first section.

Many centuries later, another book was written where a gifted group of individuals were tasked with freeing the galaxy from tyranny. They too had 'flashing swords'.

 

[NickM]

I find the label "Science Fiction" too restrictive. However, if it were adjusted to "Speculative Fiction" my top few would be:

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Attwood
Pavane by Keith Roberts
The Road to Corlay by Richard Cowper
Escape from Kathmandu (or maybe The Gold Coast) by Kim Stanley Robinson
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin
The Sword of the Spirits trilogy by John Christopher