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

[Frater M.M.]

Was just chatting with Eldros about Anathem and thought it would be good to have a general thread on sci-fi and fantasy books (couldn't see one) for ppl to share their favourites (or something they're enjoying right now) and tell us a bit about them and compare notes.

Some of my favourite authors were roughly New Wave/experimental SF: Moorcock, PKD, Sheckley.

Reading Eye in the Sky by PKD was mind-blowing for me as a teen. It was the first time I'd read a book where reality/truth kept shifting so much in a mundane setting and you never really had a stable footing as to what was actually going on. It begins with a group of ppl touring a particle accelerator when an accident happens and they all wake up in a bizarre world. Explanation hidden behind spoiler button

Spoiler

Later on they all shift to another world with different rules/environment and then more and you don't know which is the real one (and in a way you never do by the end). At some point you learn the gangway they were all walking on collapsed and they all fell into the path of the accelerator beam. Then, somehow, their consciousnesses seem to have become entangled and they start hopping from one person's mind/world to another.

 

[HoldAll]

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.

 

[mxrciel]

Harry Potter series, Eragon and Naruto manga are what i love the most personally. That plus reading tons of fanfiction made me go down the rabbit hole and discovering the occult especially the harry potter series

 

[Tryp]

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.

 

[MageJohn183]

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone anti-hero was quite the inspiration to me. Not because he is a dark figure, but because of his occult skills. Always summoning elementals and beings from other planes, plus traveling around the spirit world. Very cool.
And okay, what about Raistlin Magere? If you don't know who he is, you are missing out. Another great but magically awesome character.

 

[Eldros]

I’d start with Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, A. E. van Vogt, Frederik Pohl, Jack McDevitt, John Scalzi, Liu Cixin, James S. A. Corey, and, more recently, Arkady Martine and Ann Leckie.

I’d also like to mention

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, because she wrote both science fiction and fantasy.
I especially love her

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. The books are mostly separate stories, but they’re connected through the same universe.
She also introduced the idea of the

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-a fictional device that allows faster-than-light communication. Other authors have used the idea since then, but Le Guin was the one who came up with it.
And then there’s her fantasy work, especially the

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books. There are six books in that series. The story starts with a young boy named Duny, nicknamed Sparrowhawk, who becomes an apprentice to a mage and eventually takes the wizard’s name Ged. He appears in several of the books.
I’m mentioning Earthsea too because there might be people here who are more interested in fantasy and would like to give it a try.

As for me, -I'll admit I’ve only read the Hainish books -the science fiction ones.

 

[Albintres]

Iain M. Banks for me or Ian Banks when he was being literary. About '92 or '93 reading The Crow Road and came across Rory's epitaph which goes like this

All your nonsenses and truths, your finery and squalid options (squal-adoptions), combine and coalesce, to one noise including laugh and whimper, scream and sigh, forever and forever repeating, in any tongue we care to choose, whatever lessened, separated message we want to hear. It all boils down to nothing, and where we have the means and will to fix our reference within that flux; there we are. If it has any final signal, the universe says simply, but with every possible complication, "Existence", and it neither pressures us, nor draws us out, except as we allow. Let me be part of that outrageous chaos ... and I am.

Which made quite the impression I learned it off by heart.

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Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is a masterpiece I'd recommend to anyone interested in magical practice.

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

 

[MrMelnibone]

Michael Moorcock, R Scott Bakker, George RR Martin, and Miles Cameron are my favorites

 

[odrep]

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. Others that I enjoy are Robin Hobb, Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie and Christopher Ruocchio.

​

 

[Tryp]

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

Yes, it's worth the read and the fact it was her first novel is, well, impressive. Some brilliant ideas, it's true that in the last fourth of the book I was tempted to speed read because I was a tad tired, but particularly anyone interested in folklore and the fae will enjoy it.

That said, if you liked her first and haven't read Piranesi yet (much shorter novel) please grab it. If by the end you regret the buy, I'll refund.

 

[Albintres]

Yes, it's worth the read and the fact it was her first novel is, well, impressive. Some brilliant ideas, it's true that in the last fourth of the book I was tempted to speed read because I was a tad tired, but particularly anyone interested in folklore and the fae will enjoy it.

That said, if you liked her first and haven't read Piranesi yet (much shorter novel) please grab it. If by the end you regret the buy, I'll refund.

don't want to detail the thread but if I remember correctly in the publicity photos for JS&MN she poses à la Crowley with her chin on fists which I thought a nice touch.

 

[Frater M.M.]

Great to see so many Moorcock fans

I loved most of his eternal champion books. Elric books are great, IMO. I remember when he joined with three other eternal champions to defeat a couple of mega-alien bosses (maybe book 5/6?). Then later encountering the same events from Hawkmoon’s perspective, as well as similar crossovers from Corum’s side elsewhere.

It blew my mind to see the same situation in the multiverse and how much its meaning and significance changed depending on whose history (and perspective) you'd been following in previous books and the different impact on each character afterwards.

 

[Eldros]

.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..

 

[Frater M.M.]

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.

Sounds good. Guessing part of his culture series? Oddly, the only book of his I ever read was The Wasp Factory, which is great but unusual for me as it's not sci-fi. I must check out more of his scif-fi stuff.

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

I’d start with Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, A. E. van Vogt, Frederik Pohl,

All classics

Jack McDevitt,

Oddly, I don't think I've ever read him before I came across The Cassandra Project (co-written with Mike Resnick), recently. It's not the kind of book I'd normally read but the characters and general writing style were so good, I just got hooked. I really never saw the ending either. Great twist.

 

[Eldros]

Oddly, I don't think I've ever read him before I came across The Cassandra Project (co-written with Mike Resnick), recently. It's not the kind of book I'd normally read but the characters and general writing style were so good, I just got hooked. I really never saw the ending either. Great twist.

Good old Jack McDevitt is 91 now. I’ve always thought he’s a great sci-fi writer, even though Seeker (2005) is the only book of his I’ve read so far.
It’s part of the Alex Benedict series and won the - Nebula Award in 2006.
Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, get involved in a mystery about an ancient ceramic cup. There’s a nice mix of hard sci-fi, space adventure, and a bit of a detective story.
I also liked the idea of Jacob, an AI integrated into Alex’s house, quietly helping out in the background.
.Pretty cool stuff./

 

[Frater M.M.]

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone anti-hero was quite the inspiration to me. Not because he is a dark figure, but because of his occult skills. Always summoning elementals and beings from other planes, plus traveling around the spirit world. Very cool.
And okay, what about Raistlin Magere? If you don't know who he is, you are missing out. Another great but magically awesome character.

I do not know who he is, but must check out Dragonlance if it's recommended by an Elric fan.

Good old Jack McDevitt is 91 now. I’ve always thought he’s a great sci-fi writer, even though Seeker (2005) is the only book of his I’ve read so far.
It’s part of the Alex Benedict series and won the - Nebula Award in 2006.
Alex and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, get involved in a mystery about an ancient ceramic cup. There’s a nice mix of hard sci-fi, space adventure, and a bit of a detective story.
I also liked the idea of Jacob, an AI integrated into Alex’s house, quietly helping out in the background.
.Pretty cool stuff./

This sounds good. I shall add it onto the ever growing book list.