Best Sci-Fi Book?

Originally posted by Badwater
Just about anything by Philip Dick.

Crazy Phil. Yay!

Originally posted by AThousandYoung
Xenocide let me down. It wasn't up to the level of the rest of the Ender's Game stuff.

That's the one with the piggies right?

Xenocide is being read on XM satellite radio, chan 164 I think, it sounds a lot more dramatic when read aloud. I heard an interview by Card on XM where he said he learned to write from doing screenplays and told his technique, just saying, 'look, there's the bridge', say, instead of going into a long descriptive narration about the bridge.
It was a very revealing interview and I must say, I enjoy the audio book presentation, they are very good readers who read with emotion and authority.

A couple of old series i thought were a good read was Jack L. Chalkers "The Saga of the Well World" and "The Rings of the Master" series.

'The year of our war' by Steph Swainston
Technically it's not sci-fi but the trilogy is excellent throughout.

Originally posted by orangutan
Poes work is good.

You are SO right...

Originally posted by Crowley
You are SO right...

Take up thy crotch, and follow me ...

long long ago, I liked Hugh Walters
then Asimov, Heinlein, E.E. "Doc" Smith
didn't like Arthur C. Clarke so much
then Moorcock, Robert Sheckley, Niven & Pournelle
a bit of Ben Bova, some others I forget
read a lot of A.E. van Vogt but don't remember liking it much (?)

but who can forget that great author A. Stubbles

Originally posted by aging blitzer
long long ago, I liked Hugh Walters
then Asimov, Heinlein, E.E. "Doc" Smith
didn't like Arthur C. Clarke so much
then Moorcock, Robert Sheckley, Niven & Pournelle
a bit of Ben Bova, some others I forget
read a lot of A.E. van Vogt but don't remember liking it much (?)

but who can forget that great author A. Stubbles

I liked Asimov at first, but his "Foundation" idea, that science could solve everything for us, clashed with my one time favorite Frank Herbert who taught us to adapt and not rely soley on science or leaders for our salvation. After reading Herbert I couldn't stomach Asimov anymore although he's certainly a skilled writer. Has no one mentioned Frederick Pohl or have I just missed it? Surely he is to be in the same league as Asimov/Clarke/Heinlein.

A Boy and His Dog

damn, i just looked through my bookshelves to find my favouite sci fi book is gone, and i dont remember its name 😞
if any one knows it, let me know, it was basically about a guy who invented a transporter portal, an invention that was not popular with big business such as airlines, because it would put them out of business.

the stars my destination is a good one

also anything by dick or bradbury

I second "Anvil of Stars", "The Martian Chronicles" and "Neuromancer". I'll add Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz", as well as "Zodiac" and "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson.

Also, I see Phillip K. Dick's name being mentioned in this thread. I've never read any of his work, but "A Scanner Darkly" was a great film. Where should one start with Mr. Dick?

Originally posted by ChronicLeaky
I second "Anvil of Stars", "The Martian Chronicles" and "Neuromancer". I'll add Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz", as well as "Zodiac" and "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson.

Also, I see Phillip K. Dick's name being mentioned in this thread. I've never read any of his work, but "A Scanner Darkly" was a great film. Where should one start with Mr. Dick?

I would start with his short stories. Mr. Dick did a lot of drugs in his time and frequently used them or a sense of altered or skewed reality in his novels. A lot of paranoia. Doesn't make the subject invalid for science fiction of course, but it might get old for some people in novel after novel. His short stories are more varied I think. But if you like novels like "Ubik" you will like most of his work.

The Riverworld Series by Phillip Jose farmer was a lot of fun. The best has to be the Foundation Trilogy.

The best? That's really a tough question. Sort of like asking me to pick my favorite composer. So I'd rather just list a few authors whose books I've enjoyed a lot.

I actually corresponded with Isaac Asimov when I was a kid living in Boston. He wrote me post cards. Little did I know that I wasn't so special -- Asimov corresponded with post cards with over ten thousand people, according to his brother. Still, I've always enjoyed his writing -- and it was his non-fiction books The World of Nitrogen and the World of Carbon that allowed me to ace college chemistry.

I have a bias in favor of "hard" science fiction -- the sort that John W. Campbell insisted on in Astounding Science Fiction and then in the renamed magazine Analog. Also, the SF magazine Galaxy under James Baen was really outstanding.

So, not in any particular order or priority are some folks you might want to look up online and get both some novels and some short story collections:

Besides the folks already mentioned, like Philip K. Dick, try Alfred Bester, Poul Anderson, Ursula K. Le Guin, Larry Niven, Frederik Pohl, C.M. Kornbluth, Jerry Pournelle, Fred Saberhagen, Charles Sheffiled, John Varley, Roger Zelazny, Robert Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Anthony Boucher, Fredric Brown, Jack Finney, Fritz Leiber, John D. MacDonald, Alan E. Nourse, Arthur Porges, Robert Sheckley, Theodore Sturgeon, A.E. Van Vogt, Jack Finney, T.P. Caravan, Alan Bloch, Damon Knight, Jack Vance, Mack Reynolds, William Tenn, Clifford Simak, Ben Bova, Algis Budrys just to name a few .... 😀😉