STAR HERO Reading List

[Steve Long]

OK, folx, now that FH is nearly done it's time to switch to Science Fiction reading -- the "research" for next summer's new Star Hero. Since my library and tastes run more to Fantasy than SF, I thought I'd solicit fans' opinions for novels/stories I should read.

Here's my current working list:


Adams, Douglas. The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy

Asimov, Isaac. The “Foundation” trilogy, some of the “Robots” books

Banks, Ian. One of the “Culture” novels

Bester, Alfred. The Stars My Destination

Brin, David. The Uplift War

Card, Orson Scott. Ender’s Game

Cherryh, C.J. Downbelow Station

Clarke, Arthur C. 2001, Childhood’s End, various short stories

Dick, Phillip K. Various short stories

Dickson, Gordon. Possibly some “Dorsai” novels or stories

Drake, David. Hammer’s Slammers

Gibson, William. Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, Burning Chrome

Heinlein, Robert. Starship Troopers, Stranger In A Strange Land, Starship Troopers

Herbert, Frank. Dune; possibly one more such as Hellstrom’s Hive

Niven, Larry. Ringworld, The Ringworld Engineers, various short stories

Pohl, Frederick. Various short stories

Russell, Eric Frank. Wasp

Schmitz, James. One of the “Telzey Amberdon” novels

Smith, E.E. A “Lensman” novel or two

Vance, Jack. Various, possibly including the “Araminta Station” trilogy, the “Demon Princes” novels, the “Alastor” series, and/or the “Planet Of Adventure” series, plus various short stories

Verne, Jules. Possibly various

Weber, David. One or more “Honor Harrington” novels

Wells, H.G. Possibly various



So... what's not on that list that you'd recommend? I am more inclined to look at "old classics" than "hot new things," but feel free to suggest whatever you like.

[BobGreenwade]

Charles Stross' "The Merchant Princes" series has some very interesting ideas on what can be done with the ability to travel between alternate time-lines. (On the other hand, the story "jumps the shark" plot-wise from excessively heavy-handed politicization about halfway through the fifth book, so beware.)

I'm also starting to get into Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Mars" books, starting with "A Princess of Mars."

Some of Lovecraft's work, though usually associated with horror, also has somewhat of a sci-fi bent. Right now I'm about halfway through "The Whisperer in Darkness," and "At the Mountains of Madness" and "The Shadow Out of Time" also qualify.

[mallet]

You already mentioned "Ringworld" which is good, but personally I'd recommend Larry Niven's "Flatlander" and "Crashlander". Both are excellent. Some of the best Sci-Fi around in my opinion.

I also love Harry Harrison's "The Stainless Steel Rat" and the first 4 books of that series (after that they get kind of repetitive).

Also, not that I'd imagine that you have the time to read the whole thing, probably the greatest Sci-fi book/novel ever written is L. Ron Hubbard's "Mission Earth". Huge (10 large volumes make up the novel) and epic in scope. Super funny with lots of violence and action and cool sci-fi stuff going on it is an amazing read. I wish more people would give it a chance, but people hear "L. Ron Hubbard" and automatically think Scientology and such because they don't know that he was primarily a Sci-Fi writer before Scientology and in fact was one of the great writers from the golden age of Sci-Fi.

[Escafarc]

Tanya Huff's Valor Confederation series - military sci-fi with multible alien races
Alan Dean Foster's Commonwealth Novels in particular the ones with Pip & Flinx

[Silverhawk]

I'd add on Niven's The Integral Trees and The Smoke Ring. The setting alone has been percolating on the back burner of my mind for some time.

In addition to Cherryh's Downbelow Station some of the other novels in that same universe particularly Merchanter's Luck, Tripoint, and Finity's End. All three are set in the same period as Downbelow.

Someone not on the original list that I would add is

Allen Steele - Coyote, Coyote Rising, Coyote Frontier to start. There are at least four more novels after those but don't want to over load the list after all the summer is alway shorter than we want.

[TSandman]

Add some of Lois McMaster-Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan Saga... (well, she only won a *few* nebula/hugo awards for them)

[Yansuf]

I strongly recommend that you familurize yourself with some of the classic "short stories." If your public library is any good, they probably have a bunch of anthologies "the best of Astounding" for most of the 1950's, and "the best of Analog" for the 1960's. Try some other anthologies as well.

Read more Heinlein! His "juveniles" (Rocketship Galileo, Space Cadet, Red Planet, Farmer in the Sky, Between Planets) defined SF for boys in the immediate post WWII period. The Past Through Tomorrow gives an excellent overview of his universe. Revolt in 2100 is a collection of related novelettes of a possible dystopia future America. The Puppet Masters is THE classic "early cold war paranoia" story, much better than the movies that proliferated after it. (Curiously, the recent movie version of it isn't bad, but is not up to the original.) Double Star (Hugo), Citizen of the Galaxy, Podkayne of Mars and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress are classics. (The ones of his that you already have on your list are important too.)

Alice Mary Norton, who wrote as "Andre Norton" and "Andrew North", is essential to get the feel of classic post WWII SF. Almost all (if not all) of the generation of SF writers who grew up in the 50's and 60's list her (along with Heinlein) as their inspiration! Her Starman's Son started the genre of coming of age via a journey over the post atomic war world. Quest Crosstime is the first novel about crosstime travel, although it's true Jenkins started the idea with the short story Sideways in Time, and Piper had already done short stories in his Paratime series. The Stars are Ours, Sargasso of Space, and Eye of the Monster are all classics, as is Beast Master, which is SF, not fantasy, no matter what treatment hollywood gave it.

I also recommend James Schmitz for so much more than Telzey! Try reading the 4 book collection of his "Hub Universe" that Baen releases a few years ago.

Niven and Pournelle did The Mote in God's Eye, which is an essential classic. Also their "Footfall" is one of the best "Alien Invasion" novels in SF.
Individually Pournells's "Co-dominion" stories are classics; and Niven's "Known Universe" (where the Kzinti come from, indeed the first Kzinti story is classic) helped create several of the SF tropes we take for granted.

And don't forget H. Beam Piper and Christopher Anvil!

[Susano]

CJ Cherryh's Chanur novels.

Of the Culture novels... Use of Weapons or Look to Windward.

Frederick Pohl's Gateway

H Beam Piper's Little Fuzzy

Since you mentioned Starship Troopers twice, I also recommend Heinlein's Friday.

Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama.

How about the Tripod trilogy? They're kid's books, but still pretty interesting mix of post-apoc and SF. (That's The White Mountains, City of Gold and Lead, and Pool of Fire.)

And finally, Phillip K Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

[Tom]

The Lensman series is EE 'Doc' Smith's best known work (and is great for Military/Covert Ops style action), I'd strongly recommend the Skylark and Subspace series as well if you can find them as well as 'The Vortex Blaster'/'Masters of the Vortex'. My middle-aged memory may be painting too rosy a picture, but if you can imagine pulp sci-fi, this is probably it. Plus, these books are on less of a multi-galaxy-spanning-conflict-involving-cosmic-level-puppet-masters-and-planet-destroying-interstellar-battles scale than the Lensman gets to be...

(though how cool is it to destroy a planet by placing it between two opposing planetary masses and watching the resulting collision?)

'The Witches of Karres' is sometimes considered to be James Schmidtz's most 'classic' work, and it certainly has a good RPG material feel to it IMO.

Weber's Harrington series is solid military sci-fi, though it works best from a gamer's perspective in the earlier books (If I had to pick just two for you, I'd suggest 'On Basilisk Station' and 'Honor Among Enemies'. Obviously y(and others)mmv). I like Weber's 'Path of the Fury'/'In Fury Born' better for 'over-the-top space opera', but in fair warning, anyone who thinks Honor Harrington is a Mary Sue char obviously hasn't met Alicia DeVries. Still, power gamers have got to love a three way cross between a mythological entity, a cybernetically-enhanced commando, and an AI superstarship. I've been known to describe 'Fury' as a high-end Star Hero game about to go Galactic Champions.

Also in the Military Sci-Fi/Space Opera romp tradition, I'd add Bill Baldwin's 'Helmsman' series. The books lose steam, imo, in the last couple of installments, but they're much lighter material than Weber's books and have more of a gamer-feel to them. (I'd build a wargame campaign off the Weber stuff, iow, but I'd build a RP campaign off of Baldwin. Picking two: 'The Helmsman' and 'The Trophy')

[IndianaJoe3]

I'm also starting to get into Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Mars" books, starting with "A Princess of Mars."

Burroughs wrote a number of planetary romances that are nominally set in the same universe as his Martian Tales.

You already mentioned "Ringworld" which is good, but personally I'd recommend Larry Niven's "Flatlander" and "Crashlander". Both are excellent. Some of the best Sci-Fi around in my opinion.

The best Niven anthology is probably All the Myriad Ways. Many of his most famous short stories and essays are in it.

So... what's not on that list that you'd recommend? I am more inclined to look at "old classics" than "hot new things," but feel free to suggest whatever you like.

I notice you don't have any Pulp SF listed.

[John Desmarais]

Drake, David - The Lt. Leary novels.
Harrison, Harry - The Stainless Steel Rat novels.
Nowlan, Philip Francis - "Armageddon 2419 A.D." and "The Airlords of Han"
Resnick, Mike - Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future.
Vinge, Vernon - A Fire Upon the Deep (first book of the Zones of Thought series)

[dmjalund]

Allen M Steele, (Clarke County, Space; Coyote series)
Anne McCaffrey (Ship Who Sang)

[Beast]

For AI's running amok and saving humanity
all the Bolo books

[Tasha]

Mike Shepherd: Kris Longknife Series

John Ringo: Live Free or Die (kind of preachy for freemarket ideals, but still good), Posleen War series: Hymm Before Battle, Gust Front etc, inc Eye of the Storm(newest spin off)

Elizabeth Moon: Vatta's War Series (Trading in Danger etc)

H. Beam Piper: Paratime Series (The Complete Paratime), Federation, Space Viking, Cosmic Computer, Uller Uprising (Last 4 being other novels set in the same future history as "Little Fuzzy"

[BobGreenwade]

I feel silly having forgotten about this before, because it's one of my favorite SF universes.

Robert Asprin's "Phule's Company" series make fun comedy from the "military SF" genre. I recommend at least the first two volumes (Phule's Company and Phule's Paradise); the set does start to get weaker after that, though I still enjoyed them all.