Cyberkitten Recommends……
In a recent discussion I promised dbackdad some modern Science Fiction & Fantasy books to try out. So here are some of my recommendations:
Kim Stanley Robinson: The Mars Trilogy (Red, Green & Blue), The Years of Rice and Salt, The Gold Coast.
Iain M Banks: The Culture Novels (Consider Phlebas, Player of Games, Use of Weapons, Excession, Look to Windward).
Greg Bear: Blood Music, Eon, Anvil of Stars.
Alan Dean Foster: A Call to Arms, The False Mirror, The Spoils of War, The Tar-Aiym Krang, Icerigger.
Joe Haldeman: The Forever War, Worlds, The Long Habit of Living.
James P Hogan: The Proteus Operation, Paths to Otherwhere.
Frederik Pohl: Gateway, Beyond the Blue Event Horizon, Heechee Rendezvous.
Tim Powers: Earthquake Weather.
Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials Trilogy (Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass).
W T Quick: Dreams of Gods and Men, Dreams of Flesh and Sand.
Rudy Rucker: Software, Wetware.
Brian Stableford: The Werewolves of London, The Angel of Pain, The Carnival of Destruction, The Empire of Fear.
Bruce Sterling: Islands in the Net.
Sherri S Tepper: Gibbon's Decline and Fall.
Walter Jon Williams: The Praxis, Hardwired.
15 comments:
Thanks CK. I've read Foster, Pohl and Sterling ... but not those particular books.
I'm getting on Ebay right now and am ordering some of these.
Philip Pullman: His Dark Materials Trilogy (Northern Lights/The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass)
Ugh.
I loved the first book, actually. Then the protagonist started annoying me. She's a very--hmmm...annoying little girl.
Then of course the antagonist--God--was a shocking surprise.
*laughing*
But that's not what made me drop the series.
The antagonist is not so much God as it is the church.... difference between faith and relegion :-)
Love iain Banks both his SF and non-SF stuff, for me would add Arthur C Clarke to the list - have just finished one of his early book called the city and the stars and found it spectacular in places.
CK - can I borrow dreams of god & men & the forever war - I'll return the other stuff you lent me...honest...
Sadie Lou said: I loved the first book, actually. Then the protagonist started annoying me. She's a very--hmmm...annoying little girl. Then of course the antagonist--God--was a shocking surprise. *laughing*
But that's not what made me drop the series.
Oh, I LOVED these books. Thought 'The Subtle Knife' was one of the best books I've read in years......
What made you drop the series..?
rca said: CK - can I borrow dreams of god & men & the forever war - I'll return the other stuff you lent me...honest...
Maybe... Do you STILL have some of my stuff? I thought you'd returned it all?
rca--
there is a huge difference but the author made sure the reader was clear that God was to be destroyed.
:)
cy--
I dropped the series because the second book couldn't step up with the first book. It was totally boring and I stopped believing in the story.
For a fiction book to grab me--I have to believe in it and I just couldn't get behind the little girl. She bugged me too much and the author's voice was louder than the story. Do you ever run across that? When the fiction starts becoming the author's agenda?
sadie lou said: Do you ever run across that? When the fiction starts becoming the author's agenda?
I'm guessing that you mean when the author gets all heavy handed with the story...? Sure. But I don't think it was the case with Pullman. His 'slant' was obvious and passionate but I don't think that it detracted from the story. Maybe because I agreed with him..? [grin]. But I thought the characterisation was mind blowing. Mrs Culter was amazing as was the physicist Mary Malone was superb. So far I've read the trilogy twice - and will certainly read them again at some point.
BTW - I liked Lyra a lot. Didn't irritate me in the least.
I have to agree that Lyra was a tad annoying, but the books were fantastic - although I remember being amazed the catholic church hadn't protested their publication:-)
God was an irrelevance to the story - Pullman goes to great pains to point out how he had been sidelined by the power of the Church.
RCA - Clarke definitely deserves to be there - The City & the stars was the first clarke I ever read and I have a soft spot for it even though i don't think its his best.
You can never go wrong with a bit of Verne or Wells. they are classics for a damn good reason. But it looks a good list. There's a good number i've not read, which is always nice:-)
Mrs A - dbackdad wanted some 'modern' writers to add to his reading list - so I picked books post 1985.
The list I posted certainly isn't meant to be 'the Best of' SF & Fantasy...
Oh yeah. I did read his comment & remeber that now. whoops. *embarrassed grin*
Oops... missed the modern bit as well...
in whichcase though there is only one name for me - Neil Gaiman.
:-)
CK - still have a biography of Charlamane but think that's it :-)
Neal Stephenson - Zodiac then Snowcrash.
KSR is quite good....can be hard to get through. Also try Icehenge.
I read loads of stuff. Richard Morgan is a favourite.
Indeed... Neal Stephenson. Loved 'The Diamond Age'.
I don't know Richard Morgan's work...
Also Check out Neal Stephenson's latest trilogy. Quicksilver; The Confusion and The System of the World. Turns history into something more.
pisces iscariot said: Also Check out Neal Stephenson's latest trilogy.
I've picked them up & put them back a few times. They do look interesting though...
RCA--
Neil Gaiman is wonderful. I loved Coraline.
I just watched the movie MirrorMask as well. Good stuff.
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