Favourite sci-fi/fantasy books or authors?

[Eldros]

I also remembered China Miéville, who has a really interesting style. He writes both sci-fi and fantasy, and some people would probably call his work “New Weird.” Embassytown is a pretty great book, and Perdido Street Station was a big success too.
He also wrote a book with Keanu Reeves, but that one wasn’t quite as successful as his solo books...

 

[Frater M.M.]

I also remembered China Miéville, who has a really interesting style. He writes both sci-fi and fantasy, and some people would probably call his work “New Weird.” Embassytown is a pretty great book, and Perdido Street Station was a big success too.

Yeah, I think I read a bit of Perdido Street Station and it was good from what I remember. Great little interview as well; he seems like quite an interesting guy.

He also wrote a book with Keanu Reeves, but that one wasn’t quite as successful as his solo books...

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I also remembered China Miéville, who has a really interesting style. He writes both sci-fi and fantasy, and some people would probably call his work “New Weird.” Embassytown is a pretty great book, and Perdido Street Station was a big success too.

I started Perdido Street Station but it badly needed more editing and I gave up in exhaustion about a third of the way through. Plus very few of the ideas really excited me.

 

[Noctua]

https://imgur.com/a/bX4zxDe

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I love Christina Rosetti's Pre-Raphaelite narrative poem Goblin Market. I'll post a pdf under The Library's Book Shares section in case anyone feels like a bit of the 'olde uncanny'.

 

[Rowena]

Off the top of my head, the ones that stand out to me are:

Terry Pratchett - Discworld series
Douglas Adams - Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Mary Gentle - Grunts!
Roger Zelazny - The Amber series
Michael Moorcock - Pretty much everything
Barbara Hambly - The Darwath 'trilogy' & others
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Mists of Avalon series
Alan Dean Foster - Spellsinger series & others
Edgar Rice Burroughs - Pellucidar & Barsoom series
Julian May - Pretty much everything
Iain Banks - The Culture novels
Charles Stross - The Laundry files
J R R Tolkien - Pretty much everything
Frank Herbert - The Dune series & others
Robert A Heinlein - Pretty much everything
Ursula K Le Guin - The Hainish books
Kim Harrison - The Hollows series
A E van Vogt - Everything, but especially The Voyage of the Space Beagle
John Wyndham - Everything, but especially Day of the Triffids, Chocky, The Midwich Cuckoos, & The Kraken Wakes

 

[Frater M.M.]

Off the top of my head, the ones that stand out to me are:

Some great stuff here. The only one I'm not familiar with is Julian May. Someone else mentioned him as well. I'll have to investigate him.

 

[Noctua]

I'm not familiar with Julian May.

Likewise! Not exactly relevant, but Julian turned out to be a female author. If you don't mind boatloads of spoilers, there's a rambling but enthusiastic retrospective of her oeuvre

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.

 

[Frater M.M.]

Thanks, I watched the little intro with Dr Wiggo but had to stop to avoid spoilers. I will definitely have to add her to the ever-growing list of books to read

 

[Eldros]

Empire of the Atom --A. E. van Vogt

About Clane, a mutant born to a noblewoman after she’s exposed to some kind of radiation.
They decide to keep him alive because one of the Atom priests wants to study him, but also makes sure he gets an education.
Pretty awesome book!

 

[Frater M.M.]

Don't think I've read this one but love that cover

 

[Eldros]

I think the covers are pretty different depending on the edition…
There’s also --The Word for World Is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, which James Cameron apparently took some inspiration from for the Na’vi in Avatar.
Except that Le Guin’s people are these little hairy, monkey-like creatures, less than a meter tall and completely covered in green fur.

 

[Kepler]

Adams, Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, Wells are the strongest influences among well known names whose books inspired my thinking.
Favourites include but not limited to Hitchhikers, Foundation, Stranger, Dune, and Time Machine.

Tolkien I loved the Silmarillion. De Lint and Someplace to be Flying.

What inspired this post however was that the thread brought to mind a lesser known author whose books I enjoyed when first starting magick.
Their worldbuilding was seemingly inspired by Solaris to tell a scifi fantasy tale that was compelling in drawing parallels to thought forms that I found adaptable. It was called the Coldfire Trilogy by Friedman.

 

[aelyn]

Lots of people mentioning Phillip K Dick, for a good reason. Especially, the Valis trilogy--a really interesting gorm of gnosticism and literary experimentation. Funny and also heartbreaking. I also second Ballard and LeGuin.

However! No one has mentioned Jack Vance!!! His writing inspired DnD and almost everyone else who writes fantasy. The Dying Earth Works and Lyonesse are very funny, highly imaginative, and full of egotistical wizards!

 

[SkullTraill]

Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Liu Cixin

 

[Firetree]

Kurt .

If you are unfamilar , try this ;

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 3:37 AM

'' The only controls available to those on board were two push-buttons on the center post of the cabin—one labeled on and one labeled off. The on button simply started a flight from Mars. The off button was connected to nothing. It was installed at the insistence of Martian mental-health experts, who said that human beings were always happier with machinery they thought they could turn off. ''

 

[Frater M.M.]

What inspired this post however was that the thread brought to mind a lesser known author whose books I enjoyed when first starting magick.
Their worldbuilding was seemingly inspired by Solaris to tell a scifi fantasy tale that was compelling in drawing parallels to thought forms that I found adaptable. It was called the Coldfire Trilogy by Friedman.

Hmm .. this author sounds interesting. I'm not familiar with them.

Kurt .

If you are unfamilar , try this ;

Post automatically merged: Wednesday at 3:37 AM

'' The only controls available to those on board were two push-buttons on the center post of the cabin—one labeled on and one labeled off. The on button simply started a flight from Mars. The off button was connected to nothing. It was installed at the insistence of Martian mental-health experts, who said that human beings were always happier with machinery they thought they could turn off. ''

Classic book, very funny.

Lots of people mentioning Phillip K Dick, for a good reason. Especially, the Valis trilogy--a really interesting gorm of gnosticism and literary experimentation. Funny and also heartbreaking.

Yeah, tbh, PKD deserves a whole thread to himself along with his fiction, his exegesis and his life/experiences/theories.

However! No one has mentioned Jack Vance!!! His writing inspired DnD and almost everyone else who writes fantasy. The Dying Earth Works and Lyonesse are very funny, highly imaginative, and full of egotistical wizards!

Yeah Dying Earth is a classic, absolutely hilarious (it's on my list of re-reads at some point). And I don't think we've had other DnD influences like Fahfrd and Grey Mouser (Fritz Leiber) mentioned either in this thread.

 

[nunaphael]

Did you manage to read entire Wheel of Time series? What's the TV series like? Worth watching?

My gosh, I thought I had the thread watched but I missed the notification that you replied, sorry. I just decided to check the thread and saw your question.

I unfortunately did not get around to finishing the whole thing. I read the first 4 novels but I got sidetracked by a campaign I was running for one of my favorite tabletop RPGs of all time called "Rifts" that got really complicated when my group decided they wanted to ditch Earth and explore the Phase World after a random ley-line opened a portal there. I sort've never got back to finishing the Wheel of Time sadly. I should probably do that actually...

I read "Snow Crash" because it was a big deal in Second Life (SL), having inspired the creation of Linden Labs. It still seems politically relevant due to its portrayal of "hyper-corporate secession."

That's crazy. I used to spend a lot of my time in Second Life before I got VR during covid and migrated over to VRChat with some of my old buddies. I read Snow Crash during my time on Second Life as part of a book club in SL I had joined that was reading it at the time. They were about five chapters in already, but I caught up in one night because it was so good.

 

[frater_pan]

My favorite "fantasy" author is still HP Lovecraft esp. "The Dunwich Horror". Sci-fi is mostly Clarke and Banks. I've never been able to get into Tolkien's writing although I love his stories/novels.

 

[Frater M.M.]

My gosh, I thought I had the thread watched but I missed the notification that you replied, sorry. I just decided to check the thread and saw your question.

No worries, dude. There are so many threads/notifications flying around, it's really easy to miss stuff.

I unfortunately did not get around to finishing the whole thing. I read the first 4 novels but I got sidetracked by a campaign I was running for one of my favorite tabletop RPGs of all time called "Rifts" that got really complicated when my group decided they wanted to ditch Earth and explore the Phase World after a random ley-line opened a portal there. I sort've never got back to finishing the Wheel of Time sadly. I should probably do that actually...

Hmm ... I have not heard of Rifts

Many years ago, aside from D&D I played things like Way of Bushido, GURPS, Call of Cthulhu, V&V.

I wonder what the Amazon version of Wheel of Time is like.

My favorite "fantasy" author is still HP Lovecraft esp. "The Dunwich Horror". Sci-fi is mostly Clarke and Banks. I've never been able to get into Tolkien's writing although I love his stories/novels.

Yeah, can't beat a bit of HPL and co.

I read the Hobbit as a child, but I used to listen to the BBC radio play of Lord of the Rings. I've never read that and in fact I tried reading it the other year and just couldn't read more than a few pages. It's not really the style I like reading. Not a fan of Game of Thrones either. Someone like Moorcock is more my kind of thing.