Book Discussion Favourite sci-fi/fantasy books or authors?

[Radithor]

Cuttlefish That Loves Diving (Yuan Ye), who wrote "The Lord of the Mysteries." series. Honestly an incredible 8 Volume adventure. Heavy on the mysticism aspect and I couldn't put it down.

 

[Eldros]

N. K. Jemisin writes both fantasy and sci-fi. Her novel The Fifth Season won the Hugo Award in 2016.
I’d also mention Liu Cixin, who won the Hugo in 2015. He was first translated into English by Ken Liu. Netflix later adapted his Three -Body Problem into a TV series, which is still ongoing.
And John Scalzi, who writes fast -paced, very accessible military sci-fi.. By “accessible,” I don’t mean superficial -his style is more Hollywood-like, with lots of humor and action. He’s best known for the Old Man’s War series.

 

[Frater M.M.]

I enjoy Ursula LeGuin, Michael Moorcock, James Ballard. Tim Powers' Declare. I had good fun with Charles Stross over the last few years.
And among the last fiction reads, Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is a masterpiece I'd recommend to anyone interested in magical practice.

Did you ever read Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (occult/time-travel fantasy)? Outstanding book, IMO.

Oh that reminds me! Also by her, Jonathan Strange and Mister Norell. It's a long read but well worth it.

Yeah, I read about 1/3 -1/2 of it. Great book. Was watching a bit of it on Prime the other day. Not sure how accurate it is but was entertaining.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

Did you ever read The Long Earth (Stephen Baxter & Terry Pratchett)?

I read the first book. I could tell which bits Terry Pratchett wrote because they were the interesting bits

Otherwise, Iain M. Banks, Larry Niven (what if Asimov/Clarke but with actual people?), I have read most of Moorcock - my opinion is the Jerry Cornelius books are actually the most interesting to occultists (playing with identity, multiple timelines etc. etc.)

I like Neal Stephenson, but he's not good at endings. Snow Crash, his first novel has a proper ending. Anathem (IMO his best book) doesn't really have an ending but it ends where it needs to. Ditto Cryptonomicon. Ironically, I couldn't finish his book about an organisation trying to bring back magic. It was just too long and rambling. YMMV.

Other authors I like: Clifford Simak, John Sladek, E.C. Tubb (or one of his other many pen names - a writer of excellent pulp), and probably many more. I've read much Heinlein, but can only recommend Glory Road - a great pisstake of fantasy novels, and Job - A Comedy of Justice, where Heinlein takes the piss out of... well, himself, I think.

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Did you ever read Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (occult/time-travel fantasy)? Outstanding book, IMO.

ooh yes! My favourite of his books!

 

[Tryp]

Did you ever read Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (occult/time-travel fantasy)? Outstanding book, IMO.

I bought it not long ago (along with an anthology of his short stories) and I'm aware it's his most famous novel. I didn't start it right away because, you know, time constraints... which if anything have become even more constraining lately. But thanks for the reminder, I'll move it from the shelf to my bedside table and try to start it when I have a chance.

Declare was the kind of book that made me get more stuff from the same author. Surprising, because the background (post-WWII spy plot) is not the kind of topic that will usually hook me, but I found his take on the whole concept of the djinn fascinating.

 

[Eldros]

Frederik Pohl also wrote a book called

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, which is part of the Heechee Saga.
It’s about Robinette Broadhead, a guy who gets the chance to get away from his poor life on Earth and go to this alien space station called Gateway.
He uses the old Heechee ships to travel to different places in space, hoping to make some money.
Thing is, he never knows where the ships are going to take him, or if he’s even going to make it back.
Basically, every trip is a huge gamble.
It’s kind of like playing Russian roulette -you just hope things work out and that you come back alive.

 

[Frater M.M.]

R Scott Bakker (The Second Apocalypse)
Steven Erikson (Malazan Book of the Fallen)
Janny Wurts (Wars of Light and Shadows)
Michelle West (Essalieyan)

Those are my top 4 in no particular order.

I'm actually not familiar with any of these authors. Is there a common thread here? Is there something all of these books have in common?

.Also, I forgot to mention Brian Aldiss and his novel -Greybeard, a pretty decent post-apocalyptic story about an Earth sterilized by nuclear war, leaving behind only an aging population..

Can't remember if I've read Greybeard or not

In any case, Aldiss is another classic author. Read loads of his stuff years ago.

While I was never really into horror, I finally got around to reading Stephen King's IT last year and found out that it's really sci-fi horror. Books are always better than the movies.

Yeah, IT is a good book, IMO. He has done other sci-fi horror like The Tommyknockers and Under the Dome, which I never finished, although I saw the TV series, which degenerated into a train wreck.

And yes, so many Stephen King and PKD books were butchered as films, or just not as good.

 

[Eldros]

I like Neal Stephenson, but he's not good at endings. Snow Crash, his first novel has a proper ending. Anathem (IMO his best book) doesn't really have an ending but it ends where it needs to. Ditto Cryptonomicon. Ironically, I couldn't finish his book about an organisation trying to bring back magic. It was just too long and rambling. YMMV.

I’ve made it roughly to Part III of Anathem, so about 170 pages in../ I’m taking my time with it, though - no rush...
It’s my first Neal Stephenson book, and I’m really enjoying it so far. I especially like the three main ideas: the clock, the intellectuals livving this almost monastic life, and the gates that open every 1, 10, 100, and 1,000 years..
I also enjoy the descriptions found at the beginning or middle of chapters - passages where he explains specific terms or other concepts. You find this kind of descriptive writing in Asimov’s work, with his references to the Galactic Encyclopedia, or in Frank Herbert’s Dune series (such as the descriptions of the Fremen or Arrakis).
I’m very curious about the Incanters and Rhetors. They seem almost like wizards to me - people who can mess with time or move between different universes. I’m still trying to figure out exactly what they are.
That’s why I think the book could be classified not just as hard science fiction, but also as having elements of fantasy.\

 

[RobCorvid]

I have long been a fan of the original Dune series by Frank Herbert.

 

[cassianogpaiva]

Iain Banks, Neal Asher, Alastair Reynolds, Charles Stross, Richard K. Morgan. Hard scifi, space opera, FTL or non-FTL, utopian or dystopian, aliens or not, what mainly interests me is how civilisations can change, alternative models of societies, left-field technologies that aren't merely a continuation of what we currently have. Honorable mention for Justina Robson and her

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(elves as rockstars!).

Iain Banks'

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would have fitted well into a certain forum thread: some civilisations have artificial hells in which the mind-states of the dead are tortured (for religious reasons or just on general principles) while others are violently opposed to the idea. Which implies that society gets to decide your afterlife (however, there's no mention of a virtual heaven). Mind-boggling.

Any suggestions on Hard Sci-fi books?

 

[Robert Ramsay]

Any suggestions on Hard Sci-fi books?

Greg Egan - sometimes categorised as "When physics attacks"
qntm - not sure if it really counts as hard sci-fi, but everyone should read "There is no anti-memetics division"

 

[HoldAll]

Any suggestions on Hard Sci-fi books?

Neal Asher and his Agent Cormac novels, also his Spatterjay series with its focus on biology - parasitology run amuck. It's also in how he depicts alien technology as living organisms (you'll probably have to look up 'ovipositor' ).

 

[Frater M.M.]

My favorite authors in the sci-fi and fantasy genres are Clive Barker, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, JG Ballard, and Julian May. Imajica is my favorite book.

Yeah, Clive Barker is great, IMO. I think Weaveworld was the first book I read of his. Don't know Julian May tho. I like all the other authors you mentioned tho so probably worth checking him out for me. Any good books of his you'd recommend?

Cuttlefish That Loves Diving (Yuan Ye), who wrote "The Lord of the Mysteries." series. Honestly an incredible 8 Volume adventure. Heavy on the mysticism aspect and I couldn't put it down.

rofl love his pen-name. I'm going to have to check out the first book just on the basis of that.

N. K. Jemisin writes both fantasy and sci-fi. Her novel The Fifth Season won the Hugo Award in 2016.
I’d also mention Liu Cixin, who won the Hugo in 2015. He was first translated into English by Ken Liu. Netflix later adapted his Three -Body Problem into a TV series, which is still ongoing.
And John Scalzi, who writes fast -paced, very accessible military sci-fi.. By “accessible,” I don’t mean superficial -his style is more Hollywood-like, with lots of humor and action. He’s best known for the Old Man’s War series.

I don't who any of these young whippersnappers are (although I vaguely heard of the Three-Body Problem).

 

[Eldros]

I have long been a fan of the original Dune series by Frank Herbert.

Yes, that's true -I forgot to mention the

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series by Frank Herbert. /
His son later continued the story with sequels and prequels, but I definitely prefer his father's writing style.
I could probably talk about Paul Atreides, aka Muad'Dib, for ages, because I really loved the philosophy behind his character and the whole idea. ..But since we’re on a wizard website, where people talk about rites, wizards, and witches, I’d also like to mention the

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especially their Reverend Mother,

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. They were almost like a powerful order of witches, with their own special training and abilities, including "the Voice."

Here’s a fragment from David Lynch’s version.

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I don't who any of these young whippersnappers are (although I vaguely heard of the Three-Body Problem).

Some of them are less well-known, but they’re just as talented as the classics.