Best sci-fi novels ever

thanks to you guys, and all the authors you mentioned, I stumbled onto this site : www.isfdb.org... that tries to keep a database of all the sci-fi authors .... guess I will spend a lot of nostalgic time there, and try to build up my library again ..... if I can find the e-books.... I never had enough money for hard-covers, so my library was mostly soft covers, and I can't even begin to tell my frustrations of picking up a 30-year old soft-cover sci-fi book that I have read only once (about 30 years ago), and the whole book just falls apart in my hands trying to read it again .....

Originally posted by Hellhound604
thanks to you guys, and all the authors you mentioned, I stumbled onto this site : www.isfdb.org... that tries to keep a database of all the sci-fi authors .... guess I will spend a lot of nostalgic time there, and try to build up my library again ..... if I can find the e-books.... I never had enough money for hard-covers, so my library was mostly soft covers, and I can't even begin to tell my frustrations of picking up a 30-year old soft-cover sci-fi book that I have read only once (about 30 years ago), and the whole book just falls apart in my hands trying to read it again .....

You know, couldn't have said it better.....Those stories live on in our minds....I will say that I picked up Eye of the World, robert jordan when I was a teenager, and fell in love with the story. It was the only series of books that I got hot off the press, even got him to sign 6 of them. It broke my heart when he died before he could finish the tale. But that seems the way with all of them.....Douglas Adams.....Almost happened to King, they paint a picture for us, and we travel down the road enjoying the sights they show, only to have them abruptly stop. I know it is not the same, but I am thankful for those who pick up the torch and carry on were they have left off in the stories so we may have a sense of closure.

PS...sorry, I didn't mean it was sad they died without completing it for us.....Their deaths are a true loss to us as a society, but that for some of them, it was their life's work and they didn't see it to completion. As for so many, give their life to something, and not see that endeavor pay off.

my biggest dream when I was young, was that I would have a signed book by Isaac Asimov, but alas, it never happened, even though I had hundreds of fan-mail to him in my cupboard, that I never dared to post .... but alas, that is too late now ....

reply to post by pointr97


Derf, I meant Peter Straub. I apparently was a little confused.

reply to post by pointr97


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s+f

reply to post by vatel


amen.....

i was about to have a seizure until i saw stephen king at the very end, only one of the sci-fi kings IMHO because of the gunslinger and the dark tower series

Originally posted by POPtheKlEEN89
i was about to have a seizure until i saw stephen king at the very end, only one of the sci-fi kings IMHO because of the gunslinger and the dark tower series

I must admit, that his Dark Tower series were never up there with the true masters, but maybe that was because I was trying to read it during a very low period of my life ....... maybe I must try reading those again

Originally posted by POPtheKlEEN89
i was about to have a seizure until i saw stephen king at the very end, only one of the sci-fi kings IMHO because of the gunslinger and the dark tower series

Oh now do wait Dear Sir, King himself admits that the Dark Tower is the sun of his writing solar system.....All other stories orbit that central theme.....It is the story that has driven him through all of his writing projects, he claims there are constants that tie back into Roland's quest in all of his stories....Once more to the Dark Tower child Roland came......

Thanks for this thread.

I love Sci Fi - - but for some reason have read very few books.

Where would Gaiman fit? I loved American Gods.

Just finished Under the Dome by King.

I am surprised no one has mentioned Robert E. Howard or H.P. Lovecraft.

The Cthulhu Mythos as awesome fantasy and what is there not to love about Conan?

I loved the "Venus Prime" series by Arthur C Clarke and Paul Preuss

Also Terry Brooks Sword of Shannara series - bought the first book when it came out in 1979 and it was my first REAL book to read. Took me 3 days to read it and loved every minute - was hooked then.

Streibers "Cat Magic" I think was the name? Another I enjoyed.

One that I had read MANY years ago was about 3 or 4 aliens who crashed to earth and one "died" and "possessed" a girl. But the aliens used sound to manipulate their environment etc. I dont know how else to explain it!

and the original starship troopers, though that wasnt the title I remember. You guys definately took me down memory lane!

Ender's Game will always be my first love. The whole series. Those books take me somewhere no other book ever could

Been in a few threads like this but never thought to post a pic of the room I live in. You guys will get a kick out of this.





They aren't mine BTW. I've only read a portion of those books. Heinlein, Anthony, Pratchett - "Thunder rolled. Thunder rolled a six." LOL, McCaffrey, Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey are about all I've read from this wall.

I refuse to do Eddings or Jordan. I once read a Terry Goodkind book and it was cool. Then there were hundreds(ok, slight exaggeration there) in the same series. Too much, just like Eddings and Jordan. I don't have time for that. Crikey, it's taken me most of this year to catch up on some Stephen King stuff that tied into the Dark Tower(not all of them do but most are tied somehow into it).

So much sci-fi/fantasy I wanna read but I've got a reading list that's getting really long. I have to finish Black House(my last King for now), then speculate on this cool Civil War book with maps and all, then How The States Got Their Shapes, then who knows and on and on and I'm sitting here typing to you'se guys, not reading a lick and watching playoff baseball.

Anyone ever read Sterling E. Lanier? Probably not.

There actually is another few shelves in here. I know, I know, pics or it didn't happen but I'm lazy. Mom is unable to ever get rid of a book. She has a kindle now - that works but she went to the store and bought more books today. Nothing I can do. There's no room for more.

I need to reread American Gods as it's been a while and I want to read Anansi Boys. Got a few Gaiman books here. More to add to the list. I never finished off the Jerle Shannara books either.

So many books, so little time I make for them.

I've read so many sci-fi books that I've actually re-read three different books having forgotten I've read them before. The current series I've really been enjoying is David Weber's Safehold Saga. If you like space opera, I also recommend Kevin J. Anderson's Saga of the Seven Suns, and though it doesn't fit perfectly into that category, Harry Turtledove's World War series is worth the commitment.

To offer an obscure selection, one of my favorite books might be William Forstchen's Gamester Wars. It's a rerelease of three indidivual books that bring Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, and the 47 Ronin back to life in a future where people bet on them. I'm not claiming it is the greatest book ever, but I really enjoyed it.

Originally posted by TheLoony
Been in a few threads like this but never thought to post a pic of the room I live in. You guys will get a kick out of this.

They aren't mine BTW. I've only read a portion of those books. Heinlein, Anthony, Pratchett - "Thunder rolled. Thunder rolled a six." LOL, McCaffrey, Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey are about all I've read from this wall.

I refuse to do Eddings or Jordan. I once read a Terry Goodkind book and it was cool. Then there were hundreds(ok, slight exaggeration there) in the same series. Too much, just like Eddings and Jordan. I don't have time for that. Crikey, it's taken me most of this year to catch up on some Stephen King stuff that tied into the Dark Tower(not all of them do but most are tied somehow into it).
.......
.....

So many books, so little time I make for them.

Haha ... almost as bad as me - all my bookshelves are stacked two sets deep and I have taken over the linen closet for book space - that is stacked 4 books deep. Not all of it is SF/Fantasy, but most of it is.

I find the run -on (aka never ending) series irritating as well.

You should try Raymond E. Feist - Magician and Silverthorn. There are other books in the set but those two are the best and they are complete. Or his stand-along Faerie Tale.

There is a book called The Whims of Creation by Simon Hawke- light, humorous SF/ fantasy mix - that I rather enjoyed.
www.amazon.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">Amozon page

I don't have the Feist books but I have some others from him, sounds like a series, Rage of a Demon King and Shards of a Broken Crown. Found a few more hiding in here and they aren't the ones mentioned. Darn.

Simon Hawke did a killer time travel series, twelve books I think. Really cool how he used real world events and people like Winston Churchill in it and other books were based on works of fiction like, IIRC, The Scarlet Pimpernel. They would send people back in time to fight in a war that had already happened and the side that had the most survivors won the "war" i the future. Pretty cool, all about split time lines and the fight against using time travel, I remember that series fondly.

Anyone ever read Gordon R. Dickson? Got quite a few of them, they look interesting. A series about a dragon, I presume? Looks like it. So many authors I know nothing of, are they any good, should I read any of the stuff in here? Robin Hobb, Julie E. Czerneda, Julian May, Peter Beagle, Dianna Wynn Jones, Judith Tarr, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Tom Deitz, and a whole boatload of Stephen R. Donaldson - I hated the Thomas Covenant series, boring boring boring, but I also hated The Lord Of The Rings too, so my opinion is maybe a little wonky.

I've got Philip K. Dick's VALIS trilogy also, that I need to delve into. Really enjoyed Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep and Blade Runner(took me thirty years to find a proper edition of that movie so it took me until a year or so ago to see that flick). Odd dude he was.

and then there was Marion Zimmer Bradley with her Darkover novels, and "mists of Avalon"

anyone ever heard of michael moorcock ?

maybe not because no one has mentioned him ,

he is the master of heroic fantasy and has been for over forty years,

to follow the adventures and the destruction of the worlds through elric, corum and hawkmoon,
to read about the sentient sword stormbringer or the sword of the dawn,

or follow the adventures of the last human to be born, jherek carnelian, the son of the iron orchid and lord jagged of canaria, as he gets manipulated into falling in love and saving the human race in the last days of time,
a love story to end all love stories - or begin all stories

or karl glogauer, a time traveller in search of jesus, but finds an imbecile,
commited to the idea of the jesus we know he has to 'play the part' to its end

then there is the league of temporal time travellers, keeping an eye on the time stream and wandering the multiverse (with a revived karl glogauer),

so many books, most are related and concern the champion eternal - in his various guises,
all are superb

www.multiverse.org...