NationStates Jolt Archive

(I thought I'd limit this to books, as films, I feel, are over-represented. :D sue me.)

anyway, clue is in the title. I'm not 100% knowledgeable, but I'll try and include as many as I can remember. Personally, my favourite is the "nights dawn" trilogy, by Peter F Hamilton, purely because in the world of SF, it's quite unique, and has some of the most believable characters I've seen in a novel. Not to mention that it's my favourite kind of SF, fairly low tech stuff. All gold.


Anyway, here's one or two I can remember in an attempt to aid yours. (memory, that is)

Asimov - Foundation and Empire trilogies
Adams - Hitch Hikers guide to the galaxy
Hamilton - nights dawn trilogy
Banks - Culture series
Herbert - Dune series
(whoever done the "Ender" saga, I've never read it, I just know of it :D )
Star Wars novellas
Star Trek Novellas

Yeah, Nights Dawn all the way. Absolutely amazing books, and some fantastic characters.

Orson Scott Card's Ender series (Until CotM, the happily ever after book).

Larry Niven's Ringworld books (until the last one).

Vernor Vinge's Qeng Ho stories (Fire Upon the Deep, A Deepness in the Sky, and others...)

I love Asimov and Adams. The Foundation series and all the related books are superb. The Rama series by Sir Arthur C. Clarke is another of my favorites, some of the Star Wars books are also good.

I have to admit to never having read asimov, though I plan to rectify that this summer.

Philip K Dick is always a good one, but I don't know whether he does any series

Larry Niven Tales of Known Space series including Ringworld and its sequels

Jerry Pournelle CoDominon Series

Harry Harrison Stainless Steel Rat series

David Drake Hammers Slammers series

Gordon Dickson Dorsai series (especially the Final Encyclopedia and Dorsai)

Isaac Asimov Foundation series

the entire Honor Harrington series and the Crusade/Insurrection/Death Ground/Shiva Option series

the entire Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy series

SM Sterlings Island in the Sea of Time series and Draka series

as you can tell, I like military science fiction a lot

John Christopher The Tripods series (juvenile books, but they were great when I was a kid)

I loved "Dune" but thought Dune Messiah and Children of Dune were ok and HATED (I simply can't emphasize enough how much) the remainder of the series

I really like the prequels though

Gateway, by Frederik Pohl was a great book but I didn't much care for the sequels to that either

Poul Anderson Dominic Flandry series (his Technic History) is a classic and every one of the books is excellent

Anne McCaffrey the Planet Pirates series (not a Dragonrider or Ship fan though but thats just me)

Richard Morgan:
Altered Carbon - Broken Angels - Woken Furies

Douglas Adams's Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series
Iain Banks's Culture series
Frank Herbert's Dune series (first three books)
David Wingrove's Chung Kuo series (first few books, before it unfortunately dissolved into silliness)

The Legacy of the Aldentea series by John Ringo and David Weber
March to the ---- series by Ringo and Weber
Dahak series by Weber

C. J. Cherryh's Chanur books were pretty good.
Steve Perry's Matador series was lots of fun.
William F. Gibson's "Sprawl Series" are a definite mention.
John Varley's Eight Worlds and Gaea series are truely outstanding, and worthy of a master such as Heinlien.

Some other favorites include:
David Brin's Uplift series
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series
George Alec Effinger's Marid Audran books

Wow. That's a tough question.

I'm currently re-reading Gibson's "Sprawl" trilogy. Good stuff, to be sure.

Also, Robert Doherty's "Area 51" series was really, really interesting. I definitely recommend it.

Lastly, just about any of Anne McCaffrey's series are highly recommended. :)

Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton

I can read that book over and over and i never tire of it at all. Has me spell bound the whole time.

William Gibson - Neuromancer Trilogy
Frank Herbert - Dune
Dan Abnett - Gaunt's Ghosts series

And, if you do consider it Science Fiction: Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues

Asimov - Practically everything
&
Clarke - Ditto, except "Childhood's End", it creeped me out

No other series, although I've read books by other authors. Never read HGTG, but intend to change that this summer.

I haven't read too much because I write some science fiction short stories myself and try not to be too influenced.

~Czardas, Supreme Ruler of the Universe

Rob Grants Red Dwarf series. Though based around the TV show, it adds so much more and, eventually, moves off into its own continuim(sp).

"SMAKIBBFB" :D

Star Wars without a doubt

Orson Scott Card is possibly my favourite author period.

Ender's Game is a must read, and for the philosophically inclined read the follow ups (Speaker for the Dead, and, Xenocide) and the Worthing Saga (a superb parable for the neccesity of evil/pain).

The original Frank Herbert Dune books are pretty cool as are the Otherland books buy Tad Williams.

The Federation of the Hub series (James H. Schmitz) is one of my favorites.

ohhh...I just remembered...James P. Hogan's "Giants" books.

Orson Scott Card - Ender`s Game
Frank Herbert - Dune
Asimov - Foundation
Ursula LeGuin - Earthsea trilogy

Jack Chaulker's "The Well of Souls" series is excellent; in fact most of his books are quite good.
Truly love Anne McCaffery's "The Ship Who Sang" series.
I tend to read more Fantasy than SF now; best author in that genre would have to be Dennis L. McKiernan, (Mithgar series), followed very closely by David Eddings, (the Belgariad and the Malloreon (sp?) series).

Orson Scott Card's Ender series. Hands down.

Wow, I can't believe nobody's mentioned Robert A. Heinlein.
Stranger in a Strange Land is my all time favorite.

My favorites:

Virtually all the Star Wars Expanded Universe novels

Sir Arthur C. Clarke's works

Orson Scott Card's Ender books (I especially like the trilogy he did on Bean, you know: Ender's Shadow, Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets)

Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton

I thought the Earthsea series was fantasy not sci-fi.

The Foundation series and the Star Trek DS9 novel "A Stitch in Time" are my current favorites.

Im tempted to say the Ender saga by Orson Scott Card, but I have to say Dune by Frank Herbert. As fun as the Ender saga was, it just wasnt the epic that Dune was, and the concepts it explored were not as grand. Ender's Game and the rest of the books may be a more entertaining read but when you finish an Orson Scott card book, you are not left with an intense desire to discuss the implications of the theories about humanity expounded upon in the books. Because to me, the best part about reading or watching a movie is the discussion with a friend who has read or watched it afterwards, I have to say Dune is the best sci fi saga, followed by the Ender saga. However, I have to qualify this by saying that I have not read Foundation and all signs point to it being a contender against Dune for best sci fi saga of all time.

1. Dune
2. The Ender saga (not the Bean saga)

in addition to stuff that's already been mentioned, i also like ken macleod's 'fall revolution' and 'engines of light' series.

And, if you do consider it Science Fiction: Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues

OMGss people. Consider Jules Verne Sci Fi? Is the Pope German?? Of course JV is Sci Fi, just as much as HG Wells with The Time Machine is Sci Fi.

Just because it was written before Star Trek and Star Wars doesn't mean it isn't sci fi!

Oh and BTW. H. G. Wells' The Time Machine is my favorite all time Sci Fi book. But I mostly read horror and fantasy. George R. R. Martin and Laurel K. Hamilton are my favorite authors in those genres.

Snow Crash and a Young Lady's Illistrated Primer for cyberpunk.
Heinlein, of course.
Just about everyone else I normally read has been mentioned except:
Elizabeth Moon (Serrano series) she co-wrote part of the Planet Pirates with Anna McCaffery.
Shirow Matsumune, Dominion Tank Police, Appleseed, and, of course, Ghost in the Shell.

The absolute foundation of modern science fiction is William Hope Hodges who wrote "The Night Land" parts 1 and 2 He died in 1918 of the Spanish flu. The books are hard to find but are still quite good if you can get past the things he didn't know about the way the universe works. He was the first on all sorts of things that have become standard science fiction fair. I am not denigrating Jules Verne. He is another favorite. However, Verne covered technology in a known world what made him exciting was that people could imagine these things. Hodges wrote about a completely different reality and his books are quite strange. If you can find them read them.

I'm also kind of found of the trilogy done by C.S. Lewis (The first major sci-fi trilogy BTW) Out of the Silent Planet/Peralandra/That Hideous Strength. I like them because Lewis reverses the normal bad aliens come to kill us plot. In those books it is the humans who are evil and the aliens who are innocent if not helpless. Great stuff!

It would have to be The Guide, but I haven't read many of the other options. I just love Adams' sense of humour.

I'm now reading "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", and I'm up to the part where he finds the horse in his professor's bathroom... suitably weird...

It would have to be The Guide, but I haven't read many of the other options. I just love Adams' sense of humour.

I'm now reading "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency", and I'm up to the part where he finds the horse in his professor's bathroom... suitably weird...

I agree. Douglas is the best.