science fiction (no gibson or dick)

Toilet & Bowels · 04.11.2007, 11:42 AM

can anyone recommend some good sci fi that isn't william gibson or phillip k dick?

thanks in advance!

floatingslowly · 04.11.2007, 11:45 AM

Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress!

my favorite book ever.

Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles are good too.

demonrail666 · 04.11.2007, 11:47 AM

Thomas Disch's The Genocides or Camp Concentration.

J.G. Ballard's High-Rise.

Brian Aldiss' Barefoot in the Head.

Joe Haldeman's The Forever War.

Michael Moorecock's Final Programme.

Alan Moore's The Ballad of Halo Jones.

!@#$%! · 04.11.2007, 11:49 AM

the dune saga is quite quite enthralling. there are something like 9 books and a lot of them are kind of crappy but it's hard to put down. i read it while stationed in some remote tropical location.

i also like the asimov gaia books, the ones about predicting history through math, what was it? oh-- foundation. perhaps a bit too pompous by today's standards but highly entertaining when i read it years ago.

now robinstigator is going to come & recommend greg bear, i haven't read him but he swears by him.

oh i also like jack vance. very fucking great short stories. not sure if it's easy to find i think he's kind of obscure.

french science fiction is kind of peculiar too, i don't have names, i've read short stories that were mind blowing but i've lost track... it's been years...

demonrail666 · 04.11.2007, 11:53 AM

If you want Gibson without having to get Gibson (if that makes any sense at all) then Rob Sterling's Schismatrix is good.

Iian M. Banks' stuff is also nice if you like the more epic stuff. Consider Phlebus is superb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

french science fiction is kind of peculiar too, i don't have names, i've read short stories that were mind blowing but i've lost track... it's been years...

Would be interested in knowing more about the French sci-fi stuff.

SpectralJulianIsNotDead · 04.11.2007, 12:13 PM

If you haven't read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley you need to.

whorefrost · 04.11.2007, 12:15 PM

My girlfriend bought me Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Haven't started it yet but my friend told me it's one of the best novels he has ever read.

demonrail666 · 04.11.2007, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpectralJulianIsNotDead

If you haven't read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley you need to.

That'd be good to read alongside Huxley's Island, which is a utopian response to Brave new World.

Rob Instigator · 04.11.2007, 12:28 PM

!@#$% yeah yeah bastard!

Greg Bear! I recommend the novels
BLOOD MUSIC (what is single celled organisms gained sentience? It takes it ALLLLL the way to it's logical conclusion! accelerated evolution. get this one FIRST!)
Forge of God (galactic conflict)
Moving Mars
Queen of Angels (deals with consciousness)
Darwin's Radio (accelerated evolution)

I ama huge fan of "hard" sci fi. I like it all but that is my fave.

I love Isaac Asimov's short stories. They are amazing. find a collection of them. all these books you can find at used bookstores CHEAP

I like crazy shit too, like Rudy Rucker
he wrote and writes cyberpunk tales with humor and hard science.
My faves are
Software
Wetware
Freeware
Realware
These are a series but each book is individual.

One of his best is not sci fi though. It is called AS ABOVE SO BELOW: a NOVEL OF PIETER BRUEGEL, which gives an account of the famous dutch painter's life and day to day living. very very very cool if you are interested in Bruegel, art, history, european stuff.

!@#$%! · 04.11.2007, 12:40 PM

im going to look for blood music next time i go to the bookstore

Toilet & Bowels · 04.11.2007, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Instigator

european stuff.

that's a lot of stuff!

that brueghel book sounds ineresting though.

thjanks for all the recommendations folks, keep 'em coming.

!@#$%! · 04.11.2007, 12:44 PM

forgot to say, foundation is a trilogy, i forget the names of the other 2 books but i suspect you might be able to find them in a single volume. this is also related to i robot, but i didn't read that. perhaps you could add it.

jon boy · 04.11.2007, 12:58 PM

tesla69 · 04.11.2007, 02:06 PM

totally agree with Rob above re Rudy Rucker

Richard K Morgans Altered Carbon is friggin awesome, if you haven't read this you should go get it today. You'll thank me. The followups are quite tasty as well.

Schismatrix is by BRUCE STERLING and it was a mindfuck in 1990 when I first read it...whores grafting genital tissue to the back of their throats so they can get off when giving head etc

John Shirley is a living master of scifi his new one The Other End is supposed to be out this month and looks to be killer. Silicon Embrace by him is one of the weirdest coolest novels.

I don't read as much scifi anymore, lately I've been into hardboiled mysteries,i.e., Charlie Huston, lee Child, Andrew Vacchss, Simon Kesnick...scifi has gotten too "literary" - more worried about "developing character" than ideas.

Iain · 04.11.2007, 02:18 PM

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is pretty essential dystopian fiction.

!@#$%! · 04.11.2007, 02:19 PM

another vote for rudy rucker. very highly readable stuff. and the guy's a mathematician.

Jt · 04.11.2007, 02:51 PM

Probably predictable, but look up Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash. You shan't be disappointed.

Rob Instigator · 04.11.2007, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tesla69

totally agree with Rob above re Rudy Rucker

I don't read as much scifi anymore, lately I've been into hardboiled mysteries,i.e., Charlie Huston, lee Child, Andrew Vacchss, Simon Kesnick...scifi has gotten too "literary" - more worried about "developing character" than ideas.

andrew Vacchs is fucking amazing! His short stories are so sharp, so evil deadly. I found a comic book that was adapted from his short stories and in between weere actual short stories so I started reading all I could find. brutal brutal shit.

!@#$%! · 04.11.2007, 03:52 PM

whoa man

ROB

while you here

my library has moving mars, darwin radio & the forge of god, but not blood music--- where to start?

Rob Instigator · 04.11.2007, 03:58 PM

hmmmmm, I suggest you get Forge of God. check that shit out.

04.11.2007, 11:42 AM	#1
Toilet & Bowels invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Northern Europe Posts: 12,282	can anyone recommend some good sci fi that isn't william gibson or phillip k dick? thanks in advance!
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 11:45 AM	#2
floatingslowly invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 21,165	Robert A. Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress! my favorite book ever. Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles are good too.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 11:47 AM	#3
demonrail666 invito al cielo Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 18,510	Thomas Disch's The Genocides or Camp Concentration. J.G. Ballard's High-Rise. Brian Aldiss' Barefoot in the Head. Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. Michael Moorecock's Final Programme. Alan Moore's The Ballad of Halo Jones.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 11:49 AM	#4
!@#$%! invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: mars attacks Posts: 42,648	the dune saga is quite quite enthralling. there are something like 9 books and a lot of them are kind of crappy but it's hard to put down. i read it while stationed in some remote tropical location. i also like the asimov gaia books, the ones about predicting history through math, what was it? oh-- foundation. perhaps a bit too pompous by today's standards but highly entertaining when i read it years ago. now robinstigator is going to come & recommend greg bear, i haven't read him but he swears by him. oh i also like jack vance. very fucking great short stories. not sure if it's easy to find i think he's kind of obscure. french science fiction is kind of peculiar too, i don't have names, i've read short stories that were mind blowing but i've lost track... it's been years...
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 12:13 PM	#6
SpectralJulianIsNotDead invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 7,409	If you haven't read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley you need to.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 12:15 PM	#7
whorefrost invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Arrived in Smoke, Arrived in Gold Posts: 2,572	My girlfriend bought me Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Haven't started it yet but my friend told me it's one of the best novels he has ever read. __________________ hehehe
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 12:28 PM	#9
Rob Instigator invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In the land of the Instigator Posts: 27,991	!@#$% yeah yeah bastard! Greg Bear! I recommend the novels BLOOD MUSIC (what is single celled organisms gained sentience? It takes it ALLLLL the way to it's logical conclusion! accelerated evolution. get this one FIRST!) Forge of God (galactic conflict) Moving Mars Queen of Angels (deals with consciousness) Darwin's Radio (accelerated evolution) I ama huge fan of "hard" sci fi. I like it all but that is my fave. I love Isaac Asimov's short stories. They are amazing. find a collection of them. all these books you can find at used bookstores CHEAP I like crazy shit too, like Rudy Rucker he wrote and writes cyberpunk tales with humor and hard science. My faves are Software Wetware Freeware Realware These are a series but each book is individual. One of his best is not sci fi though. It is called AS ABOVE SO BELOW: a NOVEL OF PIETER BRUEGEL, which gives an account of the famous dutch painter's life and day to day living. very very very cool if you are interested in Bruegel, art, history, european stuff. __________________ RXTT's Intellectual Journey - my new blog where I talk about all the books I read.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 12:40 PM	#10
!@#$%! invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: mars attacks Posts: 42,648	im going to look for blood music next time i go to the bookstore
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04.11.2007, 12:44 PM	#12
!@#$%! invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: mars attacks Posts: 42,648	forgot to say, foundation is a trilogy, i forget the names of the other 2 books but i suspect you might be able to find them in a single volume. this is also related to i robot, but i didn't read that. perhaps you could add it.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 12:58 PM	#13
jon boy invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: psycho battery Posts: 12,161	__________________ Sarcasm[A] is stating the opposite of an intended meaning especially in order to sneeringly, slyly, jest or mock a person, situation or thing \|@ <------- Euphoric brain cell just moments before expiration V _ \ / _ PING <-------- moments later / \ http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljhxq...isruo1_500.gif
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04.11.2007, 02:06 PM	#14
tesla69 Banned Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: NYC Posts: 4,055	totally agree with Rob above re Rudy Rucker Richard K Morgans Altered Carbon is friggin awesome, if you haven't read this you should go get it today. You'll thank me. The followups are quite tasty as well. Schismatrix is by BRUCE STERLING and it was a mindfuck in 1990 when I first read it...whores grafting genital tissue to the back of their throats so they can get off when giving head etc John Shirley is a living master of scifi his new one The Other End is supposed to be out this month and looks to be killer. Silicon Embrace by him is one of the weirdest coolest novels. I don't read as much scifi anymore, lately I've been into hardboiled mysteries,i.e., Charlie Huston, lee Child, Andrew Vacchss, Simon Kesnick...scifi has gotten too "literary" - more worried about "developing character" than ideas.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 02:18 PM	#15
Iain invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2,544	We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is pretty essential dystopian fiction.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 02:19 PM	#16
!@#$%! invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: mars attacks Posts: 42,648	another vote for rudy rucker. very highly readable stuff. and the guy's a mathematician.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|

04.11.2007, 02:51 PM	#17
Jt children of satan Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 345	Probably predictable, but look up Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash. You shan't be disappointed. __________________ Album of the Week: Pylon Gyrate 1980
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04.11.2007, 03:52 PM	#19
!@#$%! invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: mars attacks Posts: 42,648	whoa man ROB while you here my library has moving mars, darwin radio & the forge of god, but not blood music--- where to start?
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04.11.2007, 03:58 PM	#20
Rob Instigator invito al cielo Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: In the land of the Instigator Posts: 27,991	hmmmmm, I suggest you get Forge of God. check that shit out. __________________ RXTT's Intellectual Journey - my new blog where I talk about all the books I read.
	\|QUOTE AND REPLY\|