Author Topic: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......  (Read 21793 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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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

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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:

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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

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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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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 »
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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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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.

Offline Diamondback

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #25 on: October 21, 2013, 12:12:09 PM »
Not exactly WHIF-bait, but I like Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International (Skippy's Hind is on the workbench in 1/48) and Grimnoir Chronicles series. (I take that back, Grimnoir has pirates and ninjas on Zeppelins...)

Offline Klaus Wachsmuth

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #26 on: October 22, 2013, 10:04:13 AM »
David Weber and Steve White collaborated on four novels that were based on Task Force Games' STARFIRE boardgame series created in 1979 (now currently published by Starfire Design Studio). They are, in publication order, Insurrection (1990), Crusade (1992), In Death Ground (1997), and The Shiva Option (2002). Several years later, the stories were re-released in the correct chronological order of events, published as two omnibus editions: The Stars At War (2004 - Crusade and In Death Ground), and The Stars At War II (2005 - The Shiva Option and Insurrection). Two follow-up novels, Exodus (2006 - Steve White and Shirley Meier) and Extremis (2011 - Steven White and Charles E. Gannon), missed the boat entirely IMHO.

Taken from Wkipedia, these are the four major reaces involved in the novels:

Arachnid Omnivoracity - As the name implies, the Omnivoracity was made up of large creatures with a resemblance to spiders. While the Arachnids were intelligent, communication with them was found to be completely impossible. As a result, little is known about them other than the fact that they were quite advanced, and considered all other intelligent races to be food sources (and, in fact, treated captured subject populations much the way a herder treats sheep or cows). The first encounter between Terran Federation and Arachnid vessels led to Interstellar War 4. The attitude of the Arachnids toward other races made peace impossible, and all known Arachnid worlds were destroyed by bombardment from space by the combined fleets of the Alliance - save one small colony hidden, isolated from its homeworld by a hidden warp point. Interstellar War 4 and the fate of the Arachnids is described in the novels In Death Ground and The Shiva Option.

Khanate of Orion - A race of humanoid felines that believes strongly in honor and fighting, the Khanate was the first empire encountered by the Terran Federation. The Khanate and the Federation clashed during Interstellar Wars 1 and 2, but new leadership and a common enemy during Interstellar War 3 brought the two enemies together as allies. They have remained on good terms since that time.

Terran Federation - The Terran Federation is composed of humans from Earth. The Federation enforces a strict non-interventionist policy in the affairs of pre-starflight races within its borders, and as a result, humans are the only race represented by the Federation. The Federation has fought one civil war, as detailed in the novel Insurrection.

Thebans - An alien race from the other side of an unexplored warp point near the Federation/Khanate border. Due to an odd confluence of events, the Thebans worshiped the planet Earth as "Holy Terra", and claimed to be Terrans. They embarked on a vicious campaign to "free" humanity and "return" them to the worship of Holy Terra. Despite initial Theban successes, the Federation ultimately prevailed. The peace treaty following the war invoked severe limits on the Thebans, and prohibited them from building their own starships. Details on the Theban War can be found in the novel Crusade.
« Last Edit: October 22, 2013, 10:06:44 AM by Klaus Wachsmuth »

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Offline jschmus

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #27 on: October 22, 2013, 11:17:52 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".


I've read three of these recently: "Matter", "Use of Weapons" and "The Hydrogen Sonata".  The ending of "Use of Weapons" totally wrecked me for days.  I was so convinced I knew what was going on, and then Banks ripped the rug out from under me.
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Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #28 on: October 22, 2013, 11:33:50 AM »
I've read three of these recently: "Matter", "Use of Weapons" and "The Hydrogen Sonata".  The ending of "Use of Weapons" totally wrecked me for days.  I was so convinced I knew what was going on, and then Banks ripped the rug out from under me.

J, I had the same reaction to "Use of Weapons"; but if you re-read it, there are subtle hints along the way as to what's going on. It's definitely an intense novel. "Dizzy" Sma (sans drone) appears in an earlier short story; it's the only time that the Earth is at the center of a Culture story, although it's mentioned (or humans are) in passing in "Consider Phlebas" and "the Hydrogen Sonata")

You should read "Surface Detail" now. You'll also get a surprise at the end.

Offline Gingie

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #29 on: October 22, 2013, 10:05:43 PM »
I don't think I've read or even heard of a single book in this thread!  :o Other than Redshirts which was a bit  :icon_sleep:

My Sci-fi is limited to The Forever War, Starship Troopers, Day of The Triffids...

Offline raafif

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #30 on: October 23, 2013, 05:47:49 AM »
The end of "Day the Earth stood Still" is a great read because the famous movie didn't really pick up on the twist - just a suggestion of it.  I won't give it away, unless you ask me to ;)  Otherwise the movie was quite true to the book.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #31 on: October 23, 2013, 06:27:04 AM »
The end of "Day the Earth stood Still" is a great read because the famous movie didn't really pick up on the twist - just a suggestion of it.  I won't give it away, unless you ask me to ;)  Otherwise the movie was quite true to the book.


Here's the original: "Farewell to the Master": http://thenostalgialeague.com/olmag/bates-farewell-to-the-master.html

Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #32 on: October 23, 2013, 09:01:04 AM »
The end of "Day the Earth stood Still" is a great read because the famous movie didn't really pick up on the twist - just a suggestion of it.  I won't give it away, unless you ask me to ;)  Otherwise the movie was quite true to the book.
Much the way the novelization of Forbidden Planet added a bit of twist not seen in the movie; but of nowhere near as much import.

Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #33 on: October 23, 2013, 12:31:18 PM »
Much the way the novelization of Forbidden Planet added a bit of twist not seen in the movie; but of nowhere near as much import.

That was an awful hack of a novel. It added a few extras to the story, but was about as entertaining as reading the phone book.

Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #34 on: October 23, 2013, 12:45:07 PM »
Much the way the novelization of Forbidden Planet added a bit of twist not seen in the movie; but of nowhere near as much import.

That was an awful hack of a novel. It added a few extras to the story, but was about as entertaining as reading the phone book.
Well, ti's been a fair while since I read it, so I can't comment further.  Truly, all novelizations are not equally well done, a lot depends on matching author and style.  James Blish is/was a superb writer in his own right Cities in Flight series, Jack of Eagles, and the After Such Knowledge series for example, but his adaptations of the original ST:TOS episodes lack something; Alan Dean Foster was far better suited as shown by his work on printed versions of the animated episodes.  For an original writer who was there early on and had much effect on the sf field, I recommend works by Murray Leinster, even his mediocre work is a good read and he's definitely written a number of classics. *chuckle* He ended up doing the novels based on The Time Tunnel tv show because he already had a novel out there with that title.  I'll admit to being particularly partial to his Med Ship series and the other stories that shared that "landing grid" universe; The OTher Side of Nowhere  and "i[The Pirates of Zen[/i] being particularly fun romps.

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #35 on: October 23, 2013, 06:54:08 PM »
the culture novels
the discworld books

should keep you going for a few years lol

Offline tsrjoe

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #36 on: October 23, 2013, 08:53:10 PM »
Stephen Baxter's 'Titan ... waw a must read  8) the darkest piece of sf. writing iv ever read (his 'Moonseed' and 'Voyage' novels are really good too)

cheers, Joe

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #37 on: October 24, 2013, 02:42:30 AM »
Stephen Baxter's 'Titan ... waw a must read  8) the darkest piece of sf. writing iv ever read (his 'Moonseed' and 'Voyage' novels are really good too)

cheers, Joe

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Offline Old Wombat

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #38 on: October 25, 2013, 01:40:10 AM »
My Sci-fi is limited to The Forever War, Starship Troopers, Day of The Triffids...

The first 2 are, imo, great stories. DotT.... good but not great.

Any of Pratchett's Disc World books. As far as I'm concerned he's the greatest writer ever.

David Drake's Hammer's Slammers stories are, also, good reads.

I'm generally a bit of a classics fan of SF, Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov, etc., followed by the 70's/80's generation; Dick, Haldeman, Niven, Pournelle, Drake, etc.

Not having my library here to trigger my brain I can't remember too many of my favourite novels/stories (Really!) but The Forever War, Starship Troopers & I, Robot stand out, as do the stories All My Sins Remembered (I'm pretty sure that was a collection of stories, too, including the title story) & We Can Remember It For You, Wholesale.

:)

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Offline perttime

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #39 on: October 25, 2013, 02:43:25 AM »
What about something less "space"? Cyberpunk.
Start with William Gibson's Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive.

Offline Gingie

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #40 on: October 25, 2013, 07:23:35 AM »
There was another one, Seeds of War or something, children who were bred for fighting, that was quite good. And one about a giant man-made ring around the sun. Man, this is going back 25 years when I was in college. Have not had much time to read fiction. And since they installed TV screens on airlines, the last bastion of my book-reading-for-fun is under attack :-)

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #41 on: October 25, 2013, 07:45:57 AM »
There was another one, Seeds of War or something, children who were bred for fighting, that was quite good. And one about a giant man-made ring around the sun. Man, this is going back 25 years when I was in college. Have not had much time to read fiction. And since they installed TV screens on airlines, the last bastion of my book-reading-for-fun is under attack :-)


That would be Ring World by Larry Niven.

Another classic Niven Pournelle collaboration was Footfall. 

Imagine the 16" guns of the New Jersey used in a space battle. Take that you arrogant Elephants. 

Here are images of the Michael:



http://www.up-ship.com/apr/michael.htm

Build this bad boy in 1/72. 



« Last Edit: October 25, 2013, 08:09:22 AM by The Big Gimper »
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Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #42 on: October 25, 2013, 12:01:45 PM »
A good Niven short story is "Inconstant Moon".
Niven is fond of setting some of his stories in West LA;  parts of this story are set in Westwood (my neighborhood) and I can identify most of the locations (although several are long gone). I can see the building in the story from my living room (the same building is featured in "Lucifer's Hammer" - when the surfer crashes into the top of the building).

Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #43 on: October 25, 2013, 12:40:41 PM »
I rather imagine that Lucifer's Hammer had a number of familiar locales and, likely, a few familiar personalities (I'm pretty sure I recognized the televangelist that showed up).  Considering that Niven and Pournelle both live in the LA area, their setting stories in that are is hardly surprising (I'm sure you'll recognize the locale of a short story, "Kenyon's to the Keep").

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #44 on: June 12, 2021, 01:28:35 AM »
The MurderBot Diaries by Martha Wells.

Once a SecUnit hacks their governor module, all bets are off.  Fun reads from a construct that is always saving stupid humans, addicted to soap operas and loves to drop the F-bomb.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries



https://www.tor.com/2017/05/01/book-reviews-all-systems-red-by-martha-wells/
« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 01:35:15 AM by The Big Gimper »
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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #45 on: June 12, 2021, 01:30:08 AM »
Some free short reads.

The Secret Life of Bots by SUZANNE PALMER
2018 WINNER: HUGO AWARD FOR BEST NOVELETTE, 2018 FINALIST: THEODORE A. STURGEON MEMORIAL AWARD, 2018 FINALIST: WFSA SMALL PRESS AWARD

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/palmer_09_17/
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« Last Edit: June 12, 2021, 01:59:20 AM by The Big Gimper »
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Offline Frank3k

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #48 on: June 12, 2021, 04:49:51 AM »
The Murderbot series is a lot of fun.

I would enjoy sitting near Murderbot, staring at walls together (but not making eye contact! That's too uncomfortable) and not saying anything.

"Asshole Research Transport" AKA ART is the best AI asshole since Skaffen Amtiskaw from Iain Banks "Use of Weapons"

The "Hooded Swan" /Star Pilot Grainger series by Brian Stableford dates from the 1970s, but all six books are a great read. Graiger starts out as a complete ass, but he has an alien parasite that keeps reminding him of the fact - in addition to getting him out of trouble on occasion.

Offline elmayerle

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #49 on: June 13, 2021, 06:14:58 AM »
David Weber has an interesting novel, Path of the Fury which drops a Fury from Greek Mythology into a SF-nal universe at war and things get interesting.  He is now writing a prequel series showing how that universe came about and the first novel, Governor looks quite interesting.

Offline Gingie

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #50 on: July 15, 2021, 05:16:39 AM »
I keep picking up Roadside Picnic but never get a chance to really chew into it.

I'll be baching it for a few weeks, so I should be able to cross that off the list.

Offline Story

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #51 on: July 15, 2021, 01:19:53 PM »
Does anyone have a copy of Pournelle's THERE WILL BE WAR Volumes 1 & 2?
https://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Be-War-Volumes/dp/9527065593

There's  a story in one of them that I distinctly remember reading, but for the life of me can't run it down because I can't remember the title or author.

Offline kim margosein

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Re: SF and Fantasy novels we have read and could recommend.......
« Reply #52 on: July 20, 2021, 11:05:03 AM »
This iskind of fuzzy, but here goes.  I forgot my Amazon password so I can't get more specific.  One called "Invasion taking place around 1980.  An alien race with technology not much more advanced than our own is fleeing their dying planet to take ours.   A second, is a multi-novel series follow up to HG Wells' War of the WOrlds.  It takes place in 1908, and is told from the point of view of both the Earthlings and the Martian invaders. It's interesting to to see things from the invaders POV.  They don't know how to deal with soft ground or open water, and wildfires are beyond their comprehension.  Also, the home office is demanding results.