Recommend me a Sci-Fi Novel

[Renaldo]

Originally Posted by motormanjh

"The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins is an awesome sci-fi. It's a quick read about a teenage girl in a "to the death" competition against other teens. Give it a try.

I'll have to look for that one. If there's one thing I'm certain of, there's way too many teens on this planet.

[Andybaby]

I'm currently reading treason by Orson Scott Card, it's a little like Dune, I like it

and I'm Also reading Riverworld, And I Love it, and I suggest people read it if they havent, Scifi is doing a 6 hour movie on it I believe (or was it 4?) anyway, the budget is good, and so is the director if I remember correctly.

[mgrunk]

Hey - what a great thread - I love post apocalyptic literature. In high school, the only book I enjoyed was Alas Babylon - that and A Swiftly Tilting Planet (and Star Trek reruns) were what started my addiction to SF (I know, A Swiftly Tilting Planet is fanatasy, but at that I age, I couldn't discern).

Anyway, to add something productive - there is Plague Year - it's ok, not great IMO and it sounds like you have a huge list to work through already. And there's also Oryx and Crake that people seem to really like - I didn't like it much but as I said, the reviews seem to be really good.

And, speaking of Star Trek - I got teary eyed when I heard Spock say Live Long and Prosper - it hit me that I might not hear him speak those words in another movie.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by mgrunk

And, speaking of Star Trek - I got teary eyed when I heard Spock say Live Long and Prosper - it hit me that I might not hear him speak those words in another movie.

You mean Nemoy. also he said anyone who doesn't like this movie is a Dick on SNL. which I found hilarious

[Jaime_Astorga]

Science fiction? I recommend the following novels.

Sphere by Michael Crichton
Contact by Carl Sagan
A for Andromeda by Fred Hoyle and John Elliot
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

[Andybaby]

3 of those were movies
(atleast I've never seen a movie titles a for andromeda)

[MrDrWatson]

One of the first scifi books I read was "Stanger in a Strange Land" by Robert A. Heinlein, also by the same author "Tunnel in the Sky", still two of my favourite books.

[ahi]

Originally Posted by ChaseKR

Recommend me a sci-fi novel. I'm open to any author. I really like post-apocalyptic books too.

Do you like early Science Fiction? Edward Bulwer-Lytton's "The Coming Race" is interesting... though written almost a bit like a travel/adventure memoir.

I will soon be preparing a free eBook of it. If you like, I can upload a PDF of it, customized to your screen size and font size preference this evening. I do not expect to get around to the ePub and other reflow formats until later this month, or early June.

[Jaime_Astorga]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

3 of those were movies
(atleast I've never seen a movie titles a for andromeda)

A for Andromeda was also a British serial =P

Mind you, I only learned about that a couple of days ago. I had never heard of that series when I read the book.

[ghazali]

Hey, if you haven't read 'Spin' by Robert Charles Wilson, you definitely should. I read tons of science fiction and yet there are very few books that even come close to this one.

Great premise, good storytelling, ingenious ideas, and great characters make this one of the best science fiction novels of all time.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by ChaseKR

Recommend me a sci-fi novel. I'm open to any author. I really like post-apocalyptic books too.

I know this one is way out of left field but good old L. Ron Hubbard was a fair to very good SciFi author...and since you enjoy post-apocalyptic works, the actual novel Battlefield Earth is an entertaining read. but please don't judge it by that abomination of a movie adaptation. The novel provides all the basis for the situation and is actually a very long read. I don't often recommend it for the obvious reasons. Still he had some very solid novels and felt this was one of them...I even enjoyed the somewhat juvenile Mission Earth series as well. But only like the first 6-8 of them...after that I had enough because it felt as if he was just writing to find a TV deal for a series.

I also will second the suggestion of Spin. I was nicely surprised by it's originality and presentation of where we humans could stand in the universe...

I am unsure how to categorize the two novels by John Twelve Hawks, but The Traveler and the sequel The Dark River are fun reads as well. But I am not sure of I would read the rumored 3rd in a trilogy. For me the 2nd novel pretty much went as far as I care to follow.

My most recent read was Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. Not linear read at all, so it can take a couple reads to get it all, but it's a creative bit of fiction. Other than the Sam Gunn omnibus collections by Ben Bova and all but one of Spider Robinson's Callahan series (and a couple other works as well), I enjoyed Pandora's Star quite a lot.

[Andybaby]

isn't pandoras star like 650 pages hard cover already? and you want multiple reads?

I never actually saw the book for pandoras star, only the Void books by Hamilton, those are books that I would uses if I wanted to use to make a cudgel, or knock down a wall and not have a sledge hammer handy.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by brecklundin

I know this one is way out of left field but good old L. Ron Hubbard was a fair to very good SciFi author...and since you enjoy post-apocalyptic works, the actual novel Battlefield Earth is an entertaining read. but please don't judge it by that abomination of a movie adaptation.

I entirely agree. "Battlefield Earth" is a thoroughly entertaining "space opera" novel. A little over-long, perhaps, but a very good read.

[brecklundin]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

isn't pandoras star like 650 pages hard cover already? and you want multiple reads?

I never actually saw the book for pandoras star, only the Void books by Hamilton, those are books that I would uses if I wanted to use to make a cudgel, or knock down a wall and not have a sledge hammer handy.

Sure, why not? Gives a person a goal. I know I had to read Stranger a couple times before it truly registered with me, then again I first read it when I was 10. And freaking Snow Crash took me THREE reads before I realized how good it was...man the first time I read Snow Crash I swear my eyes started to bleed and my brain checked out after the first 50-pages.

But, yup Pandora's Star is about as long a read as I might want...ever...actually a book like that is enough to justify buying an ereading device all by itself! a person could induce permanent physical damage just lugging it around! Add a copy of War & Peace (1452 pgs.) on with it and one might never need more than two books...ever.

[mklynds]

I will second Oryx & Crake. I will also add that I found the book to be good, the content can be a little "raw" shall we say. Being a Canadian I had to read Atwood through out school and found this to be the best book of hers that I have read. It is definitely post apocalyptic and very very original. If you don't have an overly sensitive soul I would recommend it but as it does contain content some may find hard to swallow. Take that as a WARNING as you will.

I would also like to throw out another post apocalyptic read that all readers of the genre are sure to love. S.M. Sterling's Dies The Fire is an absolute must read in the post apocalyptic genre. I didn't see anyone else recommend this, but if it has been recommended consider this my second. And because it deserves better explanation than I have time for....

From Booklist
For survivors of a mysterious event that caused electricity, internal combustion engines, and gunpowder to fail, the Pacific Northwest furnishes enough land to support subsistence existence in a future that belongs not to today's rifle-toting survivalists but to people who know older ways. Musician Juniper takes refuge on her family's land with a growing group of friends that becomes "Clan MacKenzie." Reenactors know useful things (see Jenny Thompson's War Games [BKL Je 1&15 04]), such as how to build log houses and craft bows for hunting. Meanwhile, Mike Havel, a pilot who was flying when the Change happened, and his passengers, having survived crashing in a frigid lake, gather followers, too. Thanks to a former Society for Creative Anachronism (a real organization of eclectic reenactors) fencer, and after hard work and the accident that gives their group the name "Bearkillers," they have the knowledge to sell their protective services. There are villains, too, such as a medieval history professor who starts a feudal revival, in Stirling's intriguing what-if about modern humans denied their treasured conveniences. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

I hope these recommendations give someone a good read as so many of your recommendations are giving me good reading material.
Mike