scifi books

[kingldub]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behold-S-F-Mast ... 1857988485

Meet Karl Glogauer, time traveller and unlikely Messiah. When he finds himself in Palestine in the year 29AD he is shocked to meet the man known as Jesus Christ -- a drooling idiot, hiding in the shadows of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth. But if he is not capable of fulfilling his historical role, then who will take his place?

You should check out the Dancers at the end of time series as well if you like Moorcock.

Will do mate, cheers.

[kay]

Alastair Reynolds (Redemption Ark, Galactic North)
Charles Stross (Accelerando, Glasshouse)
Iain M Banks (Matter, most of the 'culture series' is good though)
Vernor Vinge (A fire upon the deep)
Jack Vance (The dying earth saga.. ok thats fantasy technically, The devils princes series)
Kim Stanley Robinson (The mars trilogy, all 3 won either a hugo or nebula)
Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game, Xenocide)
Keith Laumer (A plague of demons, Dinosaur Beach)
Harry Harrison (Death planet)

I could go on for a little longer but this comes to mind at the moment. I love SF to bits, it beats any other type of fiction hands down when done right.
Some of these guys have published a ton of stuff so ill add some titles that i think stand out for you guys to check.

If you liked Accelerando, you might enjoy Hannu Rajaniemi's Quantum Thief as well.

I think a frequently overlooked author is Joe Haldeman. His writing is superb and his books are always very well-paced page-turners.

[mrdii]

Maybe I'm blind, but no one has mentioned Arthur C Clarke's 2001 Space Odyssey yet?!
That shit is next level.

[slothrop]

Second William Gibson - Sprawl trilogy (Neuromancer etc) and Burning Chrome are ace. Didn't like Virtual Light, though, and haven't read any of his other stuff...

Also:
JG Ballard - The Drowned World
Stanislav Lem - Solaris
China Mieville - The City & The City (don't know if this is strictly SF, but it's ace)

Edit: Also, does anyone know Jack Womack? I've only read one of his (Going, Going, Gone) but it was pretty cool.

[node]

Phillip K dick, Gibson and stanislaw Lem all mentioned and I've found good things in there stuff...also for the better version of this story check: was relentless fun, really find the film amusing but wish it'd been more like the book which I thought wasn't deep ot anything but enjoyable dystopia!
Also
was really good, may not be everyones cup of tea I'll admit but worth a check.

[deadly_habit]

neal stephenson is worth a mention as well

[makerowner]

anything by lovecraft innit

This for sure
I remember when I first heard Biome's "Persepolis" I thought it sounded like the soundtrack to a Lovecraft story. Some poor dope disturbs ancient ruins and unleashes a cosmic monster...

[parson]

http://www.amazon.com/Ecstacy-Club-Nove ... 1573227021

[twilitez]

@node: 'The player of games' is also part of the culture series , of which i listed 'Matter'. Heres the complete list: http://www.iain-banks.net/books/#culture

[bright maroon]

I just started reading Altered Carbon as per all of ya'lls suggestion...

and my god!!!

Talk about BIG DICK SWINGING!!!

The first 10 pages are like - SUPER HULK MANLY DICK MAN AND MAJOR ARMS



I am enjoying it though, is well written...well written steroidal testosteroness

[SCope13]

Put a bunch of scifi stuff on my birthday list. I'm hopefully getting an HP Lovecraft collection.

[node]

@node: 'The player of games' is also part of the culture series , of which i listed 'Matter'. Heres the complete list: http://www.iain-banks.net/books/#culture

Nice one, yeah I read 'games' first and is my favourite out of the series so far, not checked them all..went back and checked 'consider phlebas' recently, good but very long! Need to check 'Matter'.

Oh shit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass This book was so good I read it in an afternoon I just couldn't stop reading it, so dark, can't recommend it enough.

[kay]

@node: 'The player of games' is also part of the culture series , of which i listed 'Matter'. Heres the complete list: http://www.iain-banks.net/books/#culture

Nice one, yeah I read 'games' first and is my favourite out of the series so far, not checked them all..went back and checked 'consider phlebas' recently, good but very long! Need to check 'Matter'.

Oh shit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass This book was so good I read it in an afternoon I just couldn't stop reading it, so dark, can't recommend it enough.

I suggest leaving Matter till later, it's nowhere as good as the earlier ones. Excession's the one to read.

On a related note, there's a new Culture novel out in late Sept/early October. Debating whether I can be bothered to put down a deposit to go to the Iain Banks booksigning in Bristol.

[twilitez]

How would you rank the series?
I quite enjoyed Matter tbh.

[constrobuz]

I think a frequently overlooked author is Joe Haldeman. His writing is superb and his books are always very well-paced page-turners.

yeah i finished "the forever war" a few weeks ago, excellent book.

[node]

@node: 'The player of games' is also part of the culture series , of which i listed 'Matter'. Heres the complete list: http://www.iain-banks.net/books/#culture

Nice one, yeah I read 'games' first and is my favourite out of the series so far, not checked them all..went back and checked 'consider phlebas' recently, good but very long! Need to check 'Matter'.

Oh shit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Grass This book was so good I read it in an afternoon I just couldn't stop reading it, so dark, can't recommend it enough.

I suggest leaving Matter till later, it's nowhere as good as the earlier ones. Excession's the one to read.

On a related note, there's a new Culture novel out in late Sept/early October. Debating whether I can be bothered to put down a deposit to go to the Iain Banks booksigning in Bristol.

Not checked Excession so will look out for that. Not sure how many I've read, been a good many years since I got into them

[kay]

How would you rank the series?
I quite enjoyed Matter tbh.

I would probably rank the series: Excession > Player of Games > Consider Phlebas > Look To Windwards > Matter > Surface Detail

You don't necessarily have to read the books in order but I do find that it helps because he often sprinkles in little references to stuff that happens in earlier books. So while Excession is my favourite, it was much better having read the ones before it first. Matter was ok, but I thought it wasn't as strong as the earlier books.

I think a frequently overlooked author is Joe Haldeman. His writing is superb and his books are always very well-paced page-turners.

yeah i finished "the forever war" a few weeks ago, excellent book.

Yeah I read that as the "Peace and War" collection, the sequels weren't as good but still decent reads. Camouflage is probably one of my favourites, and Old Twentieth is pretty good too. Everything he's written so far is very very readable and I always end up staying up way too late because I just can't put them down.

[deadly_habit]

mark danielewski has a new book coming out soon, the guy who did house of leaves
the fifty year sword or something due soon
hopefully sci fi

[SCope13]

House of leaves sound interesting, gonna check it out sometime.


Also: reading scifi+listening to techstep =

[finji]

If you liked it: check out SnowCrash by Neal Stephenson and The Diamond Age by the same bloke.

The Diamond Age is awesome.

But yeah, Altered Carbon is a must.

Finished Snow Crash a little while ago, really enjoyed it, though the amount of over the top futuristic technology got a bit.... tiring. Gibson has it in his books coolly, while Neal Stepenson was like "CRAZY ASS SHIT IN YO FACE"