Steve Long Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mallet Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverhawk Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TSandman Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List Add some of Lois McMaster-Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan Saga... (well, she only won a *few* nebula/hugo awards for them) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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') Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndianaJoe3 Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List I'm also starting to get into Edgar Rice Burroughs' "Mars" books' date=' starting with "A Princess of Mars."[/quote'] 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' date=' but personally I'd recommend Larry Niven's "[i']Flatlander[/i]" 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' date='" but feel free to suggest whatever you like. [/quote'] I notice you don't have any Pulp SF listed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Desmarais Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List Allen M Steele, (Clarke County, Space; Coyote series) Anne McCaffrey (Ship Who Sang) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beast Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List For AI's running amok and saving humanity all the Bolo books Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List Although I doubt you'd be interested, I still have to recommend the manga Planetes, which is A) extremely accurate in it's depiction of space and physics, and is the story of garbage men in orbit. Oh, and the sequence with Fee trying to get a smoke is hilarious (terrorists groups keep blowing stuff up on her.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List Planetes seconded. Very good Hard SF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List Speaking of Planetes, what about Sci-Fi in film and television? I won't post anything until there's confirmation though. That said, here's a few that I thought of: 1984 by George Orwell Brave New World by Alduous Huxley A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Harry Turtledove in general, but I especially recommend Guns of the South Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, Jr. ... ... Hurm... gotta recharge... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List Of Robert Silverberg's early stuff, The Man in the Maze and Nightwings both have interesting concepts for possible roleplaying campaigns; these are from about 1970. His later Majipoor stories (the first is Lord Valentine's Castle also look like a rich source for a quasi-fantasy quasi-sci-fi world. You need to read a collection of Keith Laumer's Bolo stories (most of them shorts), which is nearly definitive in establishing the "War Machine" subgenre. However, I very strongly recommend also reading Colin Kapp's Gottlos, where the war machine is human- or formerly-human operated; I have its original publication in a 1969 Analog magazine, and I am not sure about republication in collection. The latter is supposed to be a core ignition point for the Ogre tabletop game. Hal Clement's Mission of Gravity, published about the time I was born, is absolutely top-flight as some of the hardest of old-style hard science fiction. I would go so far as to say, in fact, that this defines that subgenre at the absolute extreme of its characteristics, with an absolute minimum of speculative tech and science. You have Brin's Uplift War listed; I heartily recommend Brin's Startide Rising with it, with its extended use of characters less human-like and, IMO, a more entertaining story (though there's more galactic politics background in Uplift War). If you can find it (and you'll probably have to get it from bound magazine volumes), the short story Zozzl by Jackson Burrows is wonderfully provocative for ideas about psionics, in particular domesticatible animals. Roger Zelazny's Doorways in the Sand is a very interesting "near-now" sci-fi story. His Lord of Light blurs the line between fantasy and sci-fi -- probably more fantasy than sci-fi, actually -- but IMO it's perhaps his best piece, fans of the Amber series notwithstanding. Clifford Simak's Cemetery World, another future-Earth vision of unusual depth. James H Schmitz's The Demon Breed (a horrible title; it was originally published as The Tuvela) is a very strong idea source for human-inhabited water worlds. It fits in the same universe as his Telzey stories but the book stands alone and apart from the rest. For a dystopian near-now sci-fi world based on global population manipulation by drugs, Stanislaw Lem's Futurological Congress is worth a read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yansuf Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List You need to read a collection of Keith Laumer's Bolo stories (most of them shorts), which is nearly definitive in establishing the "War Machine" subgenre. James H Schmitz's The Demon Breed (a horrible title; it was originally published as The Tuvela) is a very strong idea source for human-inhabited water worlds. It fits in the same universe as his Telzey stories but the book stands alone and apart from the rest. I agree about Bolo. I have always thought that The Tuvela was one of Schmitz's better novels, it is important also because we finnaly find out a key point about the Federation of the Hub. (Of course, it is a sequel to an earlier short story; both are in the Baen Reprint Anthology.) Hal Clement's Needle is an essential classic. Clarke's "Islands in the Sky is probably the first tale of life on a space station. And the Commander tells the story of the first mission to Mercury. Venus Equilateral by George O. Smith is classic; even if later discoveries made it obsolete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List For lighter sci-fi, Phil Foglio's 'Buck Godot' graphic novels. 'Zap Gun for Hire' is a series of shorts, but 'PSmIth' and 'The Gualimaufry' are both enjoyable and fairly quick (the time consuming part can be looking for the sight-gags). I believe they're available to read online as well... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List For lighter sci-fi' date=' Phil Foglio's 'Buck Godot' graphic novels. 'Zap Gun for Hire' is a series of shorts, but 'PSmIth' and 'The Gualimaufry' are both enjoyable and fairly quick (the time consuming part can be looking for the sight-gags). I believe they're available to read online as well...[/quote'] Here: http://www.airshipentertainment.com/buck.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List 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. I'd also add Niven and Pournelle's Oath of Fealty. While entirely Earthbound, and with not a lot of "future tech" to be seen, it is an outstanding sociological study of possible future social changes that might be seen in near-future enclosed societies (i.e. space colonies, sublight non-sleeper interstellar colonies, etc.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List I Am Legend by Richard Matheson A post-apocalypse and the first novel to propose scientific explanations for vampires. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury A dystopia that I forgot to mention earlier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Main Man Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 Re: STAR HERO Reading List A Boy and His Dog by Harlan Ellison The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand (more fantasy than Sci-Fi, but I dare you to read it) Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (also more Fantasy than Sci-Fi, and I double dog dare you) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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