I have a confession to make. I've never really read any good sci fi books. I've never been much into reading but when I do I tend to go for historical or non-fiction. The kicker is, I love sci fi movies. I've read some Star Trek & Star Wars books but I've never read, say I am Legend by Richard Matheson. I've read the four books in the Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy but never read anything by Ray Bradbury. Actually I haven't read any book in the past 4 years. I've been meaning to. I plan almost every weekend to go to the library and pick something up for the past year but I never go.

So where should I start? I don't want to start of with a book that has 1000 pages and 18 books in a series.

I'd go with Polar City Blues by Katharine Kerr. It
isn't very thick and it stands alone. There is a
sequel but it's stand-alone. It also contains
elements of baseball, though that didn't lessen my
appreciation of the book, despite the fact that
I'm not very fond of baseball.
It might not be readily available if you're in the
US though.

i havent read much either these days either. . . but i did pick up some DnD books for some reason. . . what with Balders Gate 2 n all, i just had an itch to read that RA Savatore stuff. . . nice prose it is! i like that Drizzt, his character is pretty cool, at least in DnD terms, uhm i ramble.

anyway, I thought the first two books of RA Salvatores Dark Elf Trology were pretty cool. . .
i think hes worth a good read, and though its a trilogy i went thru it all in a week! still havent read his icewind dale stuff.

oh btw, its fantasy though.

etc

If you are looking for classic SF, go to the library and find the anthologies for the Hugo and Nebula awards. Go back to the 60s and 70s, when hard SF was more common.

If I was just starting out, I'd actually go with something more "modern", like Neal Stephenson or William Gibson. You can't go wrong with Stephenson's Snow Crash or any of Gibson's early books, esp. Burning Chrome or Neuromancer.

If you want one of the older classics, try Orson Scott Card's Enders Game. Pretty riveting stuff.

Yeah, what the other Jeff said! I think Supertanker's advice is excellent as well. Many of my favorite SF tales are short stories or novellas.

And don't forget the dick! Philip K, that is. Arguably the most movie friendly SF author ever.. can anyone else think of a SF author who has had more stories made into movies? Kinda weird when you think about it.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

I second Mr. Green's choices for the modern stuff. If you can find it, also look for an anthology called Mirrorshades, edited by Bruce Sterling. It contains some good early cyberpunk stories from that little knot of writers. Also, be sure to read "The Gernsbach Continuum" (which is in Burning Chrome and Mirrorshades, IIRC), as it provides an interesting bridge between the big SF of the past and the personal SF of the cyberpunks. Another modern-era writer to read, not cyberpunk, is David Brin - start with Startide Rising.

If you are unsure, just read the opening pizza delivery sequence of Snow Crash. I did that in the bookstore, and then kept reading as I took the book to the counter and bought it. I enjoyed The Diamond Age, too.

Lots of the old authors really should be required reading, but keep in mind the context of when they were written. They may seem trite now, but they were often the first ones to put those now-familiar devices to paper since Jules Verne. Here is a link to all Hugo & Nebula winners Damn there are some great stories in there! To use an example I haven't seen mentioned yet, read "A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, Jr. That was published in 1961, and you can see its echos in almost every post-apocalypse story written since.

If you are nearby, be sure to stop by UC Riverside (my alma mater) and check out the Eaton Collection. I'm not sure what the access rules are like these days, but it is truly awesome. They usually found great speakers, too. I remember David Brin spoke in 1987 or so, and he started out by discussing how upset he was by the first script treatment he received of "The Postman" from Warner Brothers. Apparently, things didn't get much better.

"If you are unsure, just read the opening pizza delivery sequence of Snow Crash. I did that in the bookstore, and then kept reading as I took the book to the counter and bought it."

Quite a tour de force opening, one of the best I've ever read.

"And don't forget the dick! Philip K, that is. Arguably the most movie friendly SF author ever.. "

I think his influence is seen in alot of the virtual reality movies like The Matrix and Dark City. . . or even The Truman Show (which resembles alot like Time out of Slip). Theres something intriguing about what is "real" i suppose. . . and PK Dick made a trademark out of that theme.

also another sci fi author that i read was JG Ballard with High Rise and Crash. . . sorta serious social commentary sci fi (like 1984/Animal Farm), pretty weird stuff. Crash the novel was his best novel imo, a fascination with car crashes (look at the Dale Earnhardt replaying of his death on TV). scary . . .

Canticle for Leibowitz reminds me of Fallout (the game) in some ways! though i forget most of it these days. . . but the idea of a "Catholic" type Church civilization reborn from some guys old engineering notes is a cool idea. is the sequel any good?

etc

"Canticle for Leibowitz reminds me of Fallout (the game) in some ways! though i forget most of it these days. . . but the idea of a "Catholic" type Church civilization reborn from some guys old engineering notes is a cool idea. is the sequel any good?"

Didn't Walter Miller die before he finished it and someone else had to write the last few chapters?

"Pound pastrami, can kraut, six bagels--bring home for Emma."

Miller committed suicide in 1997. I didn't know that he or anyone else was working on a sequel. The whole theme of the original would seem to make a sequel pointless.

From Amazon.com:

Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

"This is the 30-years-in-coming sequel to Walter M. Miller's seminal work, A Canticle for Leibowitz. It chronicles the odyssey of Brother Blacktooth St. George, a fallen monk of the Leibowitz order who becomes secretary to the politically ambitious Cardinal Brownpony. Brownpony is involved in a complex scheme to break the rule of the Hannegan Empire, which dominates the 35th-century's post-apocalypse world. Even though Brownpony's plans will ultimately restore both the world and the declining Papacy to some form of order, he is not a religious man, although he is drawn to those who are. He sees something profoundly religious in Blacktooth, who on the surface seems to be a disgraced monk foundering in confusion because of his love for a woman, his semi-pagan visions of the Virgin Mary, and his nomadic heritage. Ultimately it seems that Brownpony's--and indeed humanity's--salvation may lie with Blacktooth, who will never quite realize how great is the gift he's been given."

Also, from that SF site I mentioned in today's 3am:

"Shortly before Miller's death in late 1995, he had his agent contact author/editor Terry Bisson to request help in finishing Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman. Miller had finished the majority of the novel, but was suffering from a bad case of writer's block and wanted to ensure that his second novel would be finished. According to Bisson, all he did was go in and tie up the loose ends Miller had left lying around. In truth, Bisson's hand is practically invisible as the novel reads remarkably smoothly for being finished after the initial author's death."

http://sfsite.com//~silverag/miller.html

There are five books in the Hitchhiker's trilogy.

Mostly Harmless is the last book.

I agree with Jeff though. Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash is one of the best recent Sci-Fi novels (and all of his other work is stellar).

Rudy Rucker's Ware series is pretty neat.

"Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

"'This is the 30-years-in-coming sequel to Walter M. Miller's seminal work, A
Canticle for Leibowitz. It chronicles the odyssey of Brother Blacktooth St. George,
a fallen monk of the Leibowitz order who becomes secretary to the politically
ambitious Cardinal Brownpony.'"

Thanks for this, Mark. For some reason,I've been completely unaware of this book. Makes sense that it's not a chronological sequel (wasn't much left to follow after the original) but a story set in the same world as the original. Not at all surprising that it's despairing either.

"There are five books in the Hitchhiker's trilogy. "


See I told you I don't read much. :)

Actually I think I have. Wasn't that when Author Dent returned home, ended up flying and having sex on the wing of an airplane?

i think my favorite classic sci fi author (of the few i read) is Ray Bradbury. i think you can't go wronf with his short story collection or mars books (illustrated man or martian chronicles), theres a bit social commentary. as well he did a good story to movie in Something Wicked This Way Comes (he did the screenplay as well). . . probably the most pessimistic movie from Disney. . .ironic isnt it.

btw, anybody remember that movie and The Black Hole? the Black Hole had Hell at the ending hehe. . . what kind of Disney movie is that! i saw that as a kid and was pretty scared!

etc

Favorite sci-fi. Hmm. I think I've got to agree with Jeff on the Gibson nod. I loved Burning Chrome, and thought Neuromancer was great, too. There was a series called Wild Cards a long time back. I thought the first few books were good, but lost interest after the first four or so. But I think a huge favorite of mine would be the Many-Colored Land series from Julian May. It lost some steam towards the end, but it took off like a rocket, and was deep. Sort of what I wish jordan had done with the Wheel of Time series. Big, complex, and finished by book 4 ;-)

the first few Gibson novels Neuromance and Burning Chrome were awesome! they were like hard boiled sci fi noirish. i think Gibson has some of the best prose in any fiction . . .though i havent read much after his mona lisa punk book.

Gibson practically invented the cyberpunk genre. . . (well at least made it popular some say Sterling started it. . .)

anyway, weird. .. recently i seem to post more about movies and books here then games and gaming. . . maybe tom and mark should open up a TV and Music section to round it all out!

etc

One older title that still holds up well today is Heinlein's Starship Troopers. It's amazing how many sci-fi concepts we now consider derivative were born in that book (um, yes, it's way better than the movie).

One of my all-time SF favorites is certainly derivative of Starship Troopers, but with a very different slant on the subject: Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.

"Gibson practically invented the cyberpunk genre. . ."

There's a theory that all science fiction is basically a pre-existing genre cast in a future setting.

Gibson, whose prose is beautifully textured, is to me a latter day Raymond Chandler. If you can do without cyberspace and insidious corporations, any Gibson fan would do well to pick up some Raymond Chandler -- just take his first novel, The Big Sleep.

-Tom

"One older title that still holds up well today is Heinlein's Starship Troopers. It's amazing how many sci-fi concepts we now consider derivative were born in that book (um, yes, it's way better than the movie). "

Anyone who hasn't, also check out the recent Starship Troopers game by BlueTongue. One of my favorite sleeper games of last year.. sort of a latter-day Syndicate.

wumpus http://www.gamebasement.com

"btw, anybody remember that movie and The Black Hole? the Black Hole had Hell at the ending hehe. . . what kind of Disney movie is that! i saw that as a kid and was pretty scared! "

I've got The Black Hole on DVD! Some of the coolest ships and special effects. And Maxamillian rocks.

The Forever War is amazing. It's like a continuation of Troopers. I haven't read the follow up books by Haldeman to it (Forever Peace and whatever the newest book is called)

I'm kicking my self for not picking up the Starship Troopers game the other day when it was used at EB. Only $25 (Canadian... about 30 cents US I think :)

It looks wild, and after having just watched the movie again, I must own it!

"some Raymond Chandler -- just take his first novel, The Big Sleep. "

thats one novelist i wanted to read but haven't found his books. . . i think The Big Sleep was a great movie! Funny as hell (one of Bogart and Bacall's best imo!). . . iirc William Faulkner wrote the screenplay for it as well. . . the history of Hollywood and writers can be insane! ie Faulkner also wrote a few Hemingway stories for screen adaptation . . . (hemingway wasn't too thrilled about that!)

etc