I Need Something to Read!

[lumberjim]

that's Man-Kzin wars....and yes...you cannot go wrong w/ Niven. or Poul Anderson. or Orson Scott Card.

I have learned to trust clodfobble's taste, and Happy Monkey''s. look thru the books you're currently reading thread for reviews.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

that's Man-Kzin wars....and yes...you cannot go wrong w/ Niven. or Poul Anderson. or Orson Scott Card.

I have learned to trust clodfobble's taste, and Happy Monkey''s. look thru the books you're currently reading thread for reviews.

Heh, thanks. Now I've gotta get off my ass and write something here.

Niven invented Man-Kzin, but I don't know how many of them he wrote. Anything by Niven is worth reading, though his more recent stuff isn't quite up to his earlier level.

You can't get much harder science fiction than Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars series. The tech in that series is not quite sufficiently advanced to be indistinguishable from magic, which is nice. Lots of politics, and occasionally dry, but I liked them.

Alfred Bester, the namesake of the Babylon 5 villain, is an icon.

Neil Stephenson's Cryptonomicon may or may not be considered science fiction, but it is fascinating, and includes its own encryption method.

E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman series can't be called "hard" - it is the prototype rollicking space opera - but it is a lot of fun.

John Varley's Steel Beach is fun and racy. It's got the magic tech, but it uses it to very good effect.

As for fantasy, I'm currently rereading Neil Gaiman's Stardust, after seeing the movie. Gaiman's Sandman is like a romp though the entire world of fantasy. His "Through the Looking-Glass-esque" Coraline is going to be another movie.

Wolf's not a fan, but I'll recommend the Thomas Covenant series, which still has a couple more books coming out some time. I'll also second the Gap series mentioned above, also by Donaldson.

H.P. Lovecraft is great, as well.

I guess I'll stop here.