Need Book Recommendations

[Jaxom]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I'm not sure how the release was handled... It may have been a serial. Tiger! Tiger! is definitely the same thing.

 

And yes, Steakly's works are mature subject matter as I mentioned before. Lots of violence and some sexual content. Definitely something to read and judge for yourself before providing it to a young teen.

 

Neil Gaimon is in the same boat. A lot of his stuff is accessible, like Stardust... Some is questionable depending on what your tolerances and the age of the child are... Like Neverwhere, American Gods and a few others...

[Merovign]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Spencer - I got started on McCollum with Antares Dawn (then the rest of the series). It's a "Jolly Good Wheeze" to put it a certain way. I'd call it good solid sci-fi with a definite adventure/pulp angle - kind of positive but not chirpy. Made me happy.

 

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/michael-mccollum/

 

As to Heinlein, I have mixed feelings about that. A lot of adult themes, and since the OP brought that subject up I'm guessing it's important.

 

I also have mixed feelings about Heinlein because I read John Steakley's Armor before I read Starship Troopers, and you can guess how disappointed I was with ST at that point. Armor's a bit on the adult side, too, but any warfic is going to be.

 

Bester and Gaimon are good. Pournelle and Niven, also carefully selected.

 

Ursula K. LeGuin is actually a great writer, but her male readers have been known to suffer from estrogen poisoning and develop breasts and have periods. Best to follow her books with a few Soldier of Fortune magazines to even things out.

 

Check bookstores for old "Sci-Fi Annuals" anthologies - many of them are absolutely terrific.

[ThatDarnCat]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Ray Bradbury has a lot of good shot stories and novellas. The Illustrated Man is particularly good, though the futurist ideas are far from reality.

 

Some of Larry Niven's books are suitable, but you would have to be a bit more picky. The same with Poul Anderson's books.

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Spencer - I got started on McCollum with Antares Dawn (then the rest of the series). It's a "Jolly Good Wheeze" to put it a certain way. I'd call it good solid sci-fi with a definite adventure/pulp angle - kind of positive but not chirpy. Made me happy.

 

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/michael-mccollum/

 

That's who wrote them! I read them a while back. I lost them in a move and could never remember the author and full titles. You are right, they are good fun reads. I need to see if I can hunt them down again.

 

 

 

As to Heinlein, I have mixed feelings about that. A lot of adult themes, and since the OP brought that subject up I'm guessing it's important.

 

 

I also have mixed feelings about Heinlein because I read John Steakley's Armor before I read Starship Troopers, and you can guess how disappointed I was with ST at that point. Armor's a bit on the adult side, too, but any warfic is going to be.

 

For Heinlein anything on the juvenile list is young person safe. Later in life his style morphed and the books became more adult in theme so they could be a bit mature depending on the reader.

 

Too bad about ST, it was one of the first of the power armor scifi books plus it was written with the understanding younger readers would probably pick it up. I have Armor and really enjoyed it, but it is a much more adult book, grittier and darker.

[Starwolf]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Another few...

 

The Starwolf Series by David Gerrold (and yes I had the call sign before he published the book )

 

and

 

The Wing Commander series by Mercedes Lackey (based on the computer game of the same name, and published way before the lame movie the almost ruined the genre).

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Another few...

 

The Starwolf Series by David Gerrold (and yes I had the call sign before he published the book )

 

and

 

The Wing Commander series by Mercedes Lackey (based on the computer game of the same name, and published way before the lame movie the almost ruined the genre).

 

Ah yes, the great movie Wing Commander.

 

 

 

That was a joke, the great part.....

 

Basically the movie Wing Commander was a steaming pile when compared to the actual books just like Starship Troopers the movie was when compared to what Heinlein actually wrote.

 

But both movies have their minions who think they were great.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Veering away from science fiction a bit, you might want to give him some Diana Wynne Jones books, especially the Chrestomanci books. They have a lot of the same structure as Ender's Game, where there's more going on than it would appear on the surface to the young main character, and it involves a character with a peculiar talent well beyond that of his (or her) peers.

 

She's remarkably prolific, so if he likes those, he'd have a lot to read.

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned Harry Turtledove. He has a series of young adult-oriented alternate history novels, with science fiction as the background of how they get to these alternate worlds in the first place.

 

Any other ideas I'd have with a science fiction slant have already been mentioned, though nobody's mentioned that perhaps you should try starting with short stories, so he doesn't need to make a huge investment in something he may or may not like. It's far less frustrating, and there are a TON of science fiction short stories.

[egaroadkill]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I’ve found Ben Bova’s “Grand Tour”books, Power Sat, Moonwar, The Precipice/Rock Rats/Silent War, Mars, Jupiter, etc... easy reading sci-fi.

Also I'd reccomend most of Larry Niven and or Jerry Pournelle's works.

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I don't think anyone has mentioned Harry Turtledove. He has a series of young adult-oriented alternate history novels, with science fiction as the background of how they get to these alternate worlds in the first place.

 

 

Which stories of his do you consider "young adult". I've read a lot of his books, but never felt he was "aiming" at any particular age group. He just seems to be able to write a story without needing the gratuitous sex crutch.

 

Enjoyable reads though.

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Which stories of his do you consider "young adult". I've read a lot of his books, but never felt he was "aiming" at any particular age group. He just seems to be able to write a story without needing the gratuitous sex crutch.

 

Enjoyable reads though.

The Crosstime Traffic series, about which Wikipedia says:

 

This series is based on the premise that travel between parallel universes is possible. This is a series for young adults. Turtledove makes sure not to use any profanity or racial slurs in this series.

 

Gunpowder Empire (2003)

Curious Notions (2004)

In High Places (2006)

The Disunited States of America (2006)

The Gladiator (2007)

I've read the first two of those. While they're enjoyable, the language is definitely toned-down, there's nothing terribly inappropriate for a preteen, and there's some exposition which adult readers might find unnecessary.

 

Did anyone specifically mention that Ursula LeGuin has come out with some young adult-oriented novels lately? Josh and I own Gifts, and there's also Voices, and another new one coming out this month. I haven't read any, so I can't comment specifically, but those would be less confusing than, say, Left Hand of Darkness.

[Starwolf]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Another great teen read...

 

The High Crusade by Poul Andserson (medeival warfare vs alien invasion)

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

The Crosstime Traffic series' date=' about which Wikipedia says:

 

 

I've read the first two of those. While they're enjoyable, the language is definitely toned-down, there's nothing terribly inappropriate for a preteen, and there's some exposition which adult readers might find unnecessary.

 

 

I wasn't doubting you, I was just curious. I had never looked at his books as being aimed at a specific age. Of course I don't have kids and hardly ever give much thought to if something is appropriate or not.

 

I do think it is great that he has taken the time to write scifi so that young people can read it. It seems to me that between the 80's and 90's, most scifi authors available in the US refused to write “clean” serious scifi, the only stuff you could find was so kiddyfied that even kids couldn’t stand it.

 

Kind of like Anime. They either imported true pre-school/kiddie shows or took stories aimed at adults, edited and dubbed them for the “appropriate” audience (everyone knows animation is only for ages 12 and under, right [/sarcasm]). Now many Americans are firmly entrenched that Anime is just kid cartoons.

 

Same with books. I think one of the reason I like Heinlein, Del Ray and the other 50-60’s authors who wrote “juveniles”, was because they told the scifi stories in a “serious” manner instead of being condescending. Just like the Harry Potter books have done for fantasy.

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Another great teen read...

 

The High Crusade by Poul Andserson (medeival warfare vs alien invasion)

 

Good one

[Lysando]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

However, you might not want to give him The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (by Heinlein) if you want him to improve his English skills. The characters speak a very clipped English with lots of skipped pronouns, etc., not really "correct" grammar. :-)

 

I find myself writing like that after reading it.

 

Lysando

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Same with books. I think one of the reason I like Heinlein' date=' Del Ray and the other 50-60’s authors who wrote “juveniles”, was because they told the scifi stories in a “serious” manner instead of being condescending. Just like the Harry Potter books have done for fantasy.[/quote']

I find that fantasy for young people is a lot easier than science fiction. I could rattle off several dozen of my favorite authors from when I was a kid, but they'd either be fantasy or regular ol' fiction. One kind of has to seek out science fiction that's all right for yonger readers, because it seems like most of the novels I've read lately from the science fiction sections involved either sex or gory violence (and often both).

 

Or maybe I'm reading the wrong books.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I'm going to go off in a wild direction and suggest Star Trek novels. Yeah, they ain't the greatest of fiction, but I remember them being fun to read. Well, some of them anyway. Too bad I don't remember the titles, but it has been over twenty years since I've read one. I don't know about the novels based off the Next Generation or later, as I haven't read any of those.

 

As a bonus, most of those were "clean" in regards to gratuitous violence and explicit sex. Not sure if that makes a difference, but for a juvenile, I thought it might.

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I find that fantasy for young people is a lot easier than science fiction. I could rattle off several dozen of my favorite authors from when I was a kid, but they'd either be fantasy or regular ol' fiction. One kind of has to seek out science fiction that's all right for yonger readers, because it seems like most of the novels I've read lately from the science fiction sections involved either sex or gory violence (and often both).

 

Or maybe I'm reading the wrong books.

 

Nope, you are right. I read a lot of scifi and they do tend to have a lot of the sex, violence or both.

 

And thinking about it, I'll have to agree with the statement that fantasy seems to have a lot more kid friendly books.

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I'm going to go off in a wild direction and suggest Star Trek novels. Yeah, they ain't the greatest of fiction, but I remember them being fun to read. Well, some of them anyway. Too bad I don't remember the titles, but it has been over twenty years since I've read one. I don't know about the novels based off the Next Generation or later, as I haven't read any of those.

 

As a bonus, most of those were "clean" in regards to gratuitous violence and explicit sex. Not sure if that makes a difference, but for a juvenile, I thought it might.

 

Just remember there seems to be no middle ground in the Trek novels. They are either really fun to read or really really really......REALLY bad.

[Nolgroth]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Just remember there seems to be no middle ground in the Trek novels. They are either really fun to read or really really really......REALLY bad.

I agree whole-heartedly. I also would recommend at least trying them because there is a whole lot of selection that can keep a young reader busy for months.

[Spence]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I agree whole-heartedly. I also would recommend at least trying them because there is a whole lot of selection that can keep a young reader busy for months.

 

And I heartily support that comment.

 

I just wish there was a good list of which books to read and which ones to run away from

 

Unfortunately, your list is likely to be different than mine

 

Meaning people just have to chance it and hope they can survive the bad ones with their minds reasonably intact

[AliceTheOwl]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

I know people have already mentioned Heinlein, but my-friend-who-I-always-ask-about-books-because-she-reads-three-times-as-much-as-I-do says that Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky and Space Cadet are the most similar to Ender's Game.

[Vondy]

Re: Need Book Recommendations

 

Thanks for all the suggestions!