Author Topic: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......  (Read 21800 times)

Offline Volkodav

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SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« on: October 19, 2013, 10:00:10 AM »
Love it....my favourite genre, the bad guy / evil doer / malign entity, completely underestimates, miss identifies or miss targets the intended victim and pays the price.

There was a short story I read years ago in a sci-fi anthology that had a militaristic alien race engineer a conflict with a non-aligned, completely pacifist almost monastic human colony world that was so peace loving they apparently euthanized or banished the incorrigibly violent and warlike members of their society before they reach adulthood.  Can not remember the name of it and there were clews of what was really happening prior to the obliteration of the invading battle fleet......the moral of the story was that ever generation or so a demonstration was required as to why everyone should just leave that world well alone.

Offline Old Wombat

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #1 on: October 19, 2013, 09:20:54 PM »
Love it....my favourite genre, the bad guy / evil doer / malign entity, completely underestimates, miss identifies or miss targets the intended victim and pays the price.

There was a short story I read years ago in a sci-fi anthology that had a militaristic alien race engineer a conflict with a non-aligned, completely pacifist almost monastic human colony world that was so peace loving they apparently euthanized or banished the incorrigibly violent and warlike members of their society before they reach adulthood.  Can not remember the name of it and there were clews of what was really happening prior to the obliteration of the invading battle fleet......the moral of the story was that ever generation or so a demonstration was required as to why everyone should just leave that world well alone.

I have that story in one of my SF books back home but I can't remember the title or author, either. ???

:)

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Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #2 on: October 19, 2013, 10:06:45 PM »
There was a story somewhat like that by Christopher Anvil in which the planet banished, or put in stasis, those who could lively peacefully.  These types were unleashed when some unwise power attacked them.  In this particular story, it was crab-like aliens.  I know it's in one of the collections of his stories that Eric Flint edited.

Offline Weaver

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #3 on: October 19, 2013, 10:34:01 PM »
Another similar SF story is the one by Larry Niven where a human ship meets the Kzinti for the first time. Earth has been at peace for so long that the human crew literally have no concept of violence or war at all, except for an abstract historical concept. The warlike Kzinti pick all this up from comms and decide that since the Earth ship's technology is interesting, rather than blow it up, they'll just kill off the crew of "ridiculous weaklings" with an induction beam that heats it up and then take it home with them.

The human crew are utterly mystified as to why their ship is heating up and why the intelligent aliens (who MUST of course, be peaceful) don't want to talk to them, until one of them, a history buff, puts two and two together and realises the unthinkable truth. The humans turn their unarmed ship around, as if to move away..... then kick in their star drive at point blank range, cutting the Kzinti vessel in half and killing everyone aboard. They then head home in the blackest of depressions with the awful news that humanity is going to have to learn the killing game all over again.....

Edit - the story is called "The Warriors".
« Last Edit: October 19, 2013, 10:50:48 PM by Weaver »
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Offline Volkodav

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #4 on: October 20, 2013, 06:40:32 AM »
There was a story somewhat like that by Christopher Anvil in which the planet banished, or put in stasis, those who could lively peacefully.  These types were unleashed when some unwise power attacked them.  In this particular story, it was crab-like aliens.  I know it's in one of the collections of his stories that Eric Flint edited.
Yes that was it, their primary export was the ability to place anything in stasis for as long as desired and revive it immediately as required.  The secret was they could control the flow of time so when they were attacked they simply released their belligerent citizens from stasis and gave then a very large speed boost enabling them to literally fly rings around the attackers as if they were standing still.

Offline Klaus Wachsmuth

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #5 on: October 20, 2013, 10:56:32 AM »
Another similar SF story is the one by Larry Niven where a human ship meets the Kzinti for the first time. Earth has been at peace for so long that the human crew literally have no concept of violence or war at all, except for an abstract historical concept. The warlike Kzinti pick all this up from comms and decide that since the Earth ship's technology is interesting, rather than blow it up, they'll just kill off the crew of "ridiculous weaklings" with an induction beam that heats it up and then take it home with them.

The human crew are utterly mystified as to why their ship is heating up and why the intelligent aliens (who MUST of course, be peaceful) don't want to talk to them, until one of them, a history buff, puts two and two together and realises the unthinkable truth. The humans turn their unarmed ship around, as if to move away..... then kick in their star drive at point blank range, cutting the Kzinti vessel in half and killing everyone aboard. They then head home in the blackest of depressions with the awful news that humanity is going to have to learn the killing game all over again.....

Edit - the story is called "The Warriors".

The series is called The Man-Kzin Wars, and is already at Book XIII.

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Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #6 on: October 20, 2013, 11:37:07 AM »
There was a story somewhat like that by Christopher Anvil in which the planet banished, or put in stasis, those who could lively peacefully.  These types were unleashed when some unwise power attacked them.  In this particular story, it was crab-like aliens.  I know it's in one of the collections of his stories that Eric Flint edited.
Yes that was it, their primary export was the ability to place anything in stasis for as long as desired and revive it immediately as required.  The secret was they could control the flow of time so when they were attacked they simply released their belligerent citizens from stasis and gave then a very large speed boost enabling them to literally fly rings around the attackers as if they were standing still.
The story is "The Claw and The Clock" and is collected in Interstellar Patrol II: The Federation of Humanity from Baen Books.

Offline Volkodav

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #7 on: October 20, 2013, 12:19:15 PM »
Great thanks.  It really had me racking my brains but some good came of it, during my research I found David Brins Temptation on line and had a read.

This could be a good thread in its own right, good SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #8 on: October 20, 2013, 12:27:11 PM »
As suggested above...
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Volkodav

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #9 on: October 20, 2013, 12:52:42 PM »
As suggested above...

Tah

Brin!

Gremmel

Jordan

Feist

 ;D

Offline GTX_Admin

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #10 on: October 20, 2013, 01:03:17 PM »
My pleasure.

Re such novels, I can recommend the Red Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson:

All hail the God of Frustration!!!

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Offline jcf

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #11 on: October 20, 2013, 02:56:47 PM »
Dan Simmons
Hyperion Cantos:
Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, Endymion Rising

Ken MacLeod
Fall Revolution series:
The Star Fraction, The Stone Canal, The Cassini Division, The Star Road

Learning the World
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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #12 on: October 20, 2013, 03:32:27 PM »
I go with some classics:

Arthur C. Clarke - The City and The Stars

Ursula K. Le Guin - The Word for World is Forest
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never...

Offline Litvyak

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #13 on: October 20, 2013, 03:55:36 PM »
Two fantasy novels as opposed to SF I liked a lot (and laughed a lot!) were "Jhereg" and "The Phoenix Guards" by Steven Zoltan Brust.
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Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #14 on: October 21, 2013, 12:27:23 AM »
Well, I can recommend just about everything Baen publishes by David Weber as well as Eric Flint, Tom Kratman, "Doc" Taylor, and Michael Z. WIlliamson (note, Michael Z. Williamson also has some thrillers about a US sniper from another publisher that are also good, but neither sf nor fantasy).  John Ringo is somewhat hit or miss, he's got some excellent stuff (love his Posel-verse and his collaborations with Weber) but some of it doesn't do anything for me; in person he's a good guy, though.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #15 on: October 21, 2013, 01:13:05 AM »
My favorite SF series, by far, has been Iain M. Bank's "Culture" series of books. They rekindled my love for SF: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_series


The books are all self contained, so they can be read in any order, although it's best to read them in the order they were published, since some books reference events or characters from previous books.

"Consider Phlebas" is the first book in the series; it's one of my favorites, but some people prefer to start with the next book " Player of Games" or even what is considered the best book in the series "Use of Weapons".

Offline Weaver

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #16 on: October 21, 2013, 01:46:58 AM »
I love Michael Moorcock's sci-fi and fantasy work. Despite covering a broad sweep from fantasy to sci-fi through historical fiction to experimental wierdness, most of it fits within his "multiverse" meta-framework. This is partly achieved by ruthlessly re-writing earlier works, which makes reading older editions of the same stories interesting too.

What appeals to me depends on what mood I'm in. The ones I've just re-read, with half a mind on some very left-field modelling ideas, are the War Amongst the Angels trilogy, plus the associated graphic novel Michael Moorcock's Multiverse, which, cleverly, is not so much an adaption of the novels as an artifact mentioned in them made real....
« Last Edit: October 21, 2013, 07:41:39 AM by Weaver »
"I have described nothing but what I saw myself, or learned from others" - Thucydides

"I've jazzed mine up a bit" - Spike Milligan

"I'm a general specialist," - Harry Purvis in Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke

Twitter: @hws5mp
Minds.com: @HaroldWeaverSmith

Offline raafif

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #17 on: October 21, 2013, 02:29:02 AM »
I like the The Ecolitan Matter Series by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Based in the near future, the hero is an ex-spacetrooper turned forensic accountant ...
we all know that Al Capone was undone by the taxman not the cops ;)
Many bright new plot ideas - caution - you need to be on your toes to get all the ramifications of the ideas .... apart from the crude "invisible cloak" :icon_sueno:

Modesitt also writes a lot of fantasy & is an ex-USN fighter-pilot.
http://www.lemodesittjr.com/


Also like the Family d'Alembert series by EE "Doc" Smith - imagine under-cover intergalatic police posing as circus performers (idea based on real life).

Then there's the classic Doomsday on Ajiat by Neil R Jones -- a professor's body is shot into space & brought back to life by a species that puts their brains in robotic bodies.  Travel to dead cities on strange worlds, then on to Ajiat where your ship crashes - takes time to repair it among primitive natives & aggressive animals ..... :) :)
« Last Edit: October 21, 2013, 02:38:51 AM by raafif »

Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #18 on: October 21, 2013, 03:56:18 AM »
Then there's the classic Doomsday on Ajiat by Neil R Jones -- a professor's body is shot into space & brought back to life by a species that puts their brains in robotic bodies.  Travel to dead cities on strange worlds, then on to Ajiat where your ship crashes - takes time to repair it among primitive natives & aggressive animals ..... :) :)


You can read the original short story ("The Jameson Satellite") here : http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26906 It's even illustrated!

Offline deathjester

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #19 on: October 21, 2013, 04:18:36 AM »
I would recommend:

A Fall of Moondust - Arthur C. Clarke, a brilliant, and utterly believable vision of the near future.

and:

BOLO!! - David Weber, a hardback collection of short stories focusing on Bolo AI Supertanks.

Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #20 on: October 21, 2013, 06:45:49 AM »
It should be noted that BOLO!! is an authorized expansion on Keith Laumer's original concept.

They are more AU than strictly SF, but Robert Conroy's novels are very well researched and thought out AU explorations; highly recommended.

Offline ed s

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #21 on: October 21, 2013, 08:16:00 AM »
John Scalzi's "Red Shirts" is an interesting and humorous take on Star Trek.  His "Old Man's War" is also very good. I just finished James S A Corey's trilogy "Leviathan Wakes", "Calaban's War", & "Adaban's Gate. Another good read.

Ed

Offline Cliffy B

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #22 on: October 21, 2013, 08:24:31 AM »
Give Taylor Anderson's "Destroyermen" series a read if you enjoy fantasy mixed with Tom Clancy.  He's currently up to book 8 with more on the way.  Short and sweet, two US destroyers from the Asiatic Fleet steam into a squall to escape an IJN battlecruiser and wind up in an alternate dimension where people from our world have been disappearing to for hundreds of years.  They're still on Earth but one where evolution took a different route and the dominate species a mammalian race similar to Lemurs and a reptilian race similar to Velicoraptors.

I thought it was rather "odd" at first until I started reading them.  The scenes aboard the ships are full of technical details and imagery but worded in a very easy to understand way.  Not techno babble but not baby talk either.  The way the two races are treated are done very well and you instantly sympathize with the good and hate the bad.

I got book one from the library and before I was half through I went back and checked out books 2-7.  They're THAT good!  Give em a try, you won't be disappointed.
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Offline Buzzbomb

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #23 on: October 21, 2013, 10:16:43 AM »
More David Weber.....Mutineers Moon.
Interesting story about what the moon (luna, call it what you will) really is and the folks who "put" it there.

All sorts of tinkering with Earth history.. and battlearmour suits.


Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #24 on: October 21, 2013, 10:49:46 AM »
More David Weber.....Mutineers Moon.
Interesting story about what the moon (luna, call it what you will) really is and the folks who "put" it there.

All sorts of tinkering with Earth history.. and battlearmour suits.

A fun romp, as are the two sequels.  All three have also been collected in a single, large-size trade paperback under Empire From the Ashes.

I can honestly say I've enjoyed, and would unhesitatingly recommend, all the sf and fantasy David Weber has written for Baen, some of his stuff for other publishers, I'm not so certain of.