Thanks everyone who has posted their suggestions. I really like to hear that other people have read and enjoyed the books that I have and to get recommendations for new ones. :-) Keep 'em coming..


..now I finally found the 'State of Fear' book that I put down a week ago and forget where I'd left it..it's not too bad actually...more later.

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Reality Internet Personality

I used to like Philip Jose Farmer some 20 years ago but am not so sure anymore today. Maybe he is a little too inclined to make his characters look like they belong to a kind of master race. A friend of mine chracterized Farmer as fascistoid, but I think that takes it too far. I cannot say today, I would have to read him again. But I admit he strung a chord in me then (after all, it was the first Fantasy I ever read).

But just as I write: Robert Zelazny! "Lord of Light" is just great, and "Jack of the Shadows" is a work of art in its own right. I love that entwinement of mythology, magic and childhood fantasies and his wonderful, sometimes very warmhearted characters. Lord of Light is one of those books I reread half a dozen times over the last 20 years and never tire to read it again, I think.

John Sladek, e.g. "Keep the giraffe burning". Very witty, surrealistic stories.

Robert F. Young. "Dandelion Girl" is a short story that I love very much, although I cannot say why I don't just find it hokey.

Of course there are dozens more, many of which have been named.

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"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." R.M. Nixon

Well, I guess it just figures that the same people that would be searching for "ET" would be science fiction fans! haha!
I love a good scifi too. It seems that you have already mentioned most of my favorites, Clark, Heinlein, Asimov, LeGuin, McCaffrey, among others too numerous to mention.
Here is one that I've read several times and am working on it again... Proxies, by Laura J. Mixon. Don't know if she has any other titles out, but this is a decent book.
Also I have a question that I'm hoping somebody can answer for me. Back in the 70's or early 80's Omni magazine carried a three part story that dealt with a man that was investigating the types of life on a new found planet. I don't remember much about it but as he was studying the life forms he found that they had a different body style and number of legs as they progressed from youth to adult to old age. Does anyone remember this and can tell me the name of the short story or book it came from, or the author's name? It was a very fascinating story and I have been wanting to read the book or the story again but I can't find it anywhere. And since time has dulled my memory, that's about all I can remember about it.

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Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

I don't recall the story you refer to.

I do sometimes miss Omni Magazine. I liked to call it the National Enquirer of the scientific world. Had a subscription in high school and early adulthood, though I felt they got too commercial/gizmo oriented (a la Popular Science) by the nineties.

For those of you too young to remember: Omni

Well, I guess it just figures that the same people that would be searching for "ET" would be science fiction fans! haha!
I love a good scifi too. It seems that you have already mentioned most of my favorites, Clark, Heinlein, Asimov, LeGuin, McCaffrey, among others too numerous to mention.
Here is one that I've read several times and am working on it again... Proxies, by Laura J. Mixon. Don't know if she has any other titles out, but this is a decent book.
Also I have a question that I'm hoping somebody can answer for me. Back in the 70's or early 80's Omni magazine carried a three part story that dealt with a man that was investigating the types of life on a new found planet. I don't remember much about it but as he was studying the life forms he found that they had a different body style and number of legs as they progressed from youth to adult to old age. Does anyone remember this and can tell me the name of the short story or book it came from, or the author's name? It was a very fascinating story and I have been wanting to read the book or the story again but I can't find it anywhere. And since time has dulled my memory, that's about all I can remember about it.

I seem to remember that story, but I don't think I read it in Omni. I'll try to have a think where I may have read it. :-)

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Reality Internet Personality

I seem to remember that story, but I don't think I read it in Omni. I'll try to have a think where I may have read it. :-)

It'd really be nice if someone could remember it. You could have very possibly read it somewhere else since the three part series in Omni was either a short story/novella or an excerpt from a book.

More good reads:
Frank Herbert, The Godmakers, fairly good reading. Also I loved the Dune series. Can't remember if it has been mentioned already.
And for something a little different, Prostho Plus by Piers Anthony. Follows an earth dentist as he goes galloping all over the galaxy treating alien dental problems. Not really my favorite type of scifi, but a good humorous read anyway.

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Jim

Some people plan their life out and look back at the wealth they've had.
Others live life day by day and look back at the wealth of experiences and enjoyment they've had.

if you want some good Hardcore scifi try David Weber Honor Harrington books they are excellent sort of like CS foresters Hornblower series but set in space also some other good authors John ringo david drake and eric flint they are published by Baen books, but my favorites are the Dune series and the prequels by Brian herbert and Kevin J anderson

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Sapiens dominabitur astris.
The wise shall exercise dominion over the stars.

Yes I have read the Honnor series or at least half of them ,but I prefer the SERANNO Legacey series by Elizabeth Moon, or the Hope series by David Feintuch

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Old enough to know better(but)still young enough not to care

I started a short list and got carried away big time. This is part one and my attempt to take away the title of most outragiously huge poster from AlecStaar. More to come.

I hope you find something you'll enjoy on this list. I've had a book going and have read very nearly every day since I was in the 1st grade and love reading very much.

Having been an avid sci-fi reader since the 6th grade, I've got a pretty sizable collection. I lost a few hundred of them in a move some years ago (it still pains me to think of it) but the stacks are overflowing the shelves again. There are so many choices out there! A lot of crap gets published but with the sheer volume of books to wade through, a lot gets missed. So thanks to you folks I now have 10 or so new books and authors to discover.

Here's a list of books I'd recommend to anyone. It's a huge list but these really are all books I know you'll enjoy. I hope you'll seek them out. Allowing for taste, I don't think there's a dud in the bunch.

I have to top the list with the great Robert Heinlein. Frankly, I absolutely love everything by him, something I can't say about any other author. When I turn someone on to him who has never read his work before I always feel a bit of a jealous pang because they're just about to embark on this wonderful journey of discovery that I never can again. Even his "Juveniles", those books written for children and adolescents during the 1940's - 1960's, are remarkable.
Rocketship Galileo
Have Spacesuit - Will Travel
The Rolling Stones (where we first meet the wonderful Hazel Stone)
Starman Jones
Starship Troopers and
Star Beast are my personal favorites. I'd love to see Disney/Pixar make Star Beast into a feature. It's been discussed for years.

My top picks (just a small sampling of total body of work) for his later works - and you might try to read them in this order since there are a large number of recurring characters:
From his Future History novels/novelletes
The Past Through Tomorrow Future History short stories
The Roads Must Roll
Blowups Happen
The Man Who Sold the Moon
The Green Hills of Earth
Logic of Empire
Methusela's Children Where we first meet Lazarus Long, his coolest character, I think.

All of his World-As-Myth. These are by far my favorite Heinlein with some additions I'll note below.
Time Enough For Love
Number of the Beast
The Cat Who Walks Through Walls
To Sail Beyond the Sunset

Rounding out my favorites
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Friday
Stranger in a Strange Land If this one isn't in your collection, you're not really a sci-fi afficianado.
Job: A Comedy of Justice Brilliant!
I Will Fear No Evil
Glory Road
The Puppet Masters
The Notebooks of Lazarus Long Also found originally in two "intermission" chapters of Time Enough For Love

Next, I think, has to come Harry Harrison.
All of the Stainless Steel Rat series are terrific, particularly the first four.
The Stainless Steel Rat
The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge
The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World
The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You
His character Slippery Jim DiGriz is my hero. Of course his wife, Angelina, is my dream woman.

Bill the Gallactic Hero is a pure farce series and a great laugh. Try any of them. The titles tell it all.
Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Robot Slaves
Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Bottled Brains
Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Tasteless Pleasure
Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Zombie Vampires
Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars
Bill, the Galactic Hero: the Final Incoherent Adventure

More seriously, Planet of the Damned & Planet of No Return
Any of the Deathworld series but at least the Deathworld Trilogy
To The Stars trilogy:
Homeworld
Wheelworld
Starworld

The West of Eden trilogy is tougher to get through, but hard to beat.
West of Eden
Winter in Eden
Return to Eden

Make Room! Make Room! was made into Soylent Green

The Hammer and the Cross trilogy can be found in one volume in Warriors of the Way. This one takes you back to the time of the Vikings and Romans in a very realistic fashion.

Arthur C. Clark Another master, of course.
Childhood's End
Earthlight
The Fountains of Paradise (Hugo and Nebula winner)
Rendezvous With Rama (Hugo and Nebula winner)
2001: A Space Odyssey
2010:Odyssey Two
2061: Odyssey Three
Didn't really dig 3001: The Final Odyssey
Cradle (with Gentry Lee)
Hammer of God
The Songs of Distant Earth

Any of the Thieves World (edited by Robert Lynn Asprin) series though since it's a series of short stories by various authors, not all are as good as others. Authors create and then share characters in each other's stories. Cool concept, though not rare now.
Thieve's World
Tales From the Vulgar Unicorn A great title. It's from the sign outside the bar of the same name that is central to many stories. The unicorn is doing improbable things to itself ;-)
Shadows of Sanctuary, Storm Season, The Face of Chaos, The Wings of Omen, Blood Ties, Aftermath, Uneasy Alliances, Stealer's Sky
There's a new series, edited by Lynn Abbey but I haven't gotten around to any of them.

Steven Brust is amazing. He's from my home town of Minneapolis and I used to see him and Emma Bull play in a terrific folk/rock/jam band called Cats Laughing. If you like Hothouse Flowers or The Waterboys you'd love Cats Laughing.
Don't miss his Vlad Taltos series Jhereg (an amazing 1st novel), Yendi, Tekla, Taltos, Phoenix, Athyra, Orca, Dragon and Issola. Vlad's an assasin in the mold of Harrison's Slippery Jim DiGriz (except Slippery Jim abhored violence). He, too has an amazing wife. Vlad says:"I first met my wife the day she killed me."
Frankly, I've never been dissapointed by a Brust novel and more often than not, have been amazed.
Brokedown Palace will make you want to read it twice through in succession.
To Reign in Hell tells a version of the Angel's revolt in Heaven - mesmerizing.
Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille is dark and scary with a strong flavor of the joy of playing music and eating good food. You'll see what I mean.
The Phoenix Guards sprang from the Vlad Taltos world of Adrilankha and feels like a Three Musketeers homage.
500 Years After continues after The Phoenix Guards and provides a bridge to his three-part novel The Paths of the Dead, The Lord of Castle Black and Sethra Lavode. With these last 5, you'll feel like you've learned and lived the history of a world that doesn't, but just might, exist.
Freedom and Necessity rounds out my Brust list (every one I think but I haven't shopped for his books for a while). It's a historical novel written with Emma Bull and is told with letters written between a number of people similar to the style of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Flowers For Algernon and The Green Mile. I think there's a name for the style.

Emma Bull shouldn't be missed. One of my favorite novels of the past two decades is War For the Oaks (I think it was her first - she and Brust must influence each other). It tells of a young girl who gets involved with a battle between good and evil in a reality just out of synch with ours - but the landscape and features are the same in both. Definitely belongs in every fantasy reader's collection.
Bone Dance was a Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Award Nominee and received the Philip K. Dick Award second honors. Second or third novel, sheesh.
Falcon is on my re-read list for the third time.
Freedom and Necessity with Steven Brust of course.

Terry Brooks has turned out all sorts of good and great stuff.
Most famous for his Shannara series, The Sword of Shannara, The Elfstones of Shannara and The Wishsong of Shannara the story is continued in different era in The Scions of Shannara, The Druid of Shannara, The Elf Queen of Shannara and The Talismans of Shannara. I found all of them compelling and was surprised when, unlike Stephen Donaldson's Thomas Covenant series, it didn't get stale for me after the 4th or 5th book. Here's another example of only being able to call yourself a fantasy fan if the first three at least are on your shelf.
First King of Shannara is a prequil to the first trilogy and fills in some questions (Episode 1-3 style)
Ilse Witch, Antrax and Morgawr follow Jerle Shannara and can stand alone but read these last.
I haven't read the High Druid of Shannara trilogy yet - it's on my list.
I understand that another trilogy is in the works for this fall and into 2008.
The Magic Kingdom of Landover series is light but rewarding - I liked all of them. Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, The Black Unicorn, Wizard at Large, The Tangle Box and Witch's Brew. All worth reading.
The Word and the Void trilogy is deeper and darker stuff and has a Knight of the Word (a centuries-old warrior for good) fighting evil in modern times. Very engrossing, I thought. Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word and Angel Fire East.

Frank Herbert's Dune, et al, was mentioned - one was enough for me to be honest. The Jesus Incident and The Lazarus Effect written with Bill Ransom are worth picking up. A very unique plot idea - an ocean world with sentient kelp and a Godlike space ship. Very enjoyable.

Robert Silverberg is a vastly prolific writer (80+ major works and 200+ minor works!!) and I'm sorry to say that I only know a few of his works. Deep and rich, every one. A fantasy collection staple HAS to be Lord Valentine's Castle and hopefully its companions, The Majipoor Chronicles, Valentine Pontifex, The Mountains of Majipoor, Sorcerer of Majipoor, Lord Prestimion and The King of Dreams. Somehow he's kept a long running series fresh and interesting.
Don't miss The Alien Years. Aliens come to Earth, conquer the hell out of us, send us into a new Dark Age and then ignore us. There are Heinlein type characters and family relations here. I can still picture certain scenes in my mind.
The last I have from him is Roma Eterna that speculates what the world would be like if the Roman Empire never fell.
You'll get a laugh out of what he did to make most of his vast fortune in life. Those 200+ minor works are almost all smutty novels with titles like; The Bra Peddlers, Carnal Carnival, Dial O-R-G-Y, Flesh Fever, Lust Cult and Suburban Sin Club - all written in the 1960's when that was VERY scandalous. Hey, if it pays, what the hell?

Stephen Donaldson opened my eyes to fantasy worlds beyond Hobbits with Lord Foul's Bane the first in his Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Life changed for me after reading that one. An absolute must-have for any self respecting fantasy buff. He continued it with the equally astounding The Illearth War and [b]The Power That Preserves. The Second Chronicles are worth reading, especially the first of that trilogy, The Wounded Land. The One Tree and The White Gold Wielder complete the trilogy. You'll feel compelled to read them and they're worth it, but the protagonist starts to get a bit tiresome in places. Still, I own them all in hardcover - a rare thing for me. The Last Chronicles is coming out over the next few years. The first two, The Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant are in print but I haven't gotten to them.
Daughter of Regals is an interesting collection of short stories - buy it if you can find it.
The Mirror of Her Dreams and A Man Rides Through are very good. Mirrors are portals to other places - good hero.

Michael Moorcock is one of the original goth masters of fantasy. Gruesome and brutal, the two Elric Sagas are totally engrosing. Elric of Melnibone is an albino (for lack of a better term) warrior prince who posesses a sentient great sword named Stormbringer which sucks the souls of its victims in a most horrific manner. Not for the weak of heart, but here's another example of a series that you need to be able to say you've read in order to be taken seriously in uber-geek fantasy circles. Buy them in hardcover. And don't get the individual books, look for the two, three-novel bound versions because you'll want to zoom right through all six books. Be forwarned; like when reading Anne Rice, the world will seem a bit darker and more serious when you're reading these.

Piers Anthony (Jacob) was already mentioned here but I thought I'd throw two cents in. The Xanth series was fun at first, but after the first 10 or so gave me the impression that he was just quick banging out another one because he wanted to buy a new beach house or something. They also got to be even more simplistic in language than they were to start with. It was these that made me think of the term "mental floss". Fun if you want to start an adolescent on fantasy or just shut your brain off for a while.
I loved the Apprentice Adept series up until Robot Adept (Split Infinity, Blue Adept, Juxtaposition, Out of Phaze, Robot Adept). I thought the last two were rubber stamped. Cool treatment of the "dual reality" concept. Also a Game system that I think would trully change the world if it were to come to be. No exageration. Worth it for the telling of the competitions alone.
The Aton series, Chthon, Phythor, Plasm and Soma are "dark and brooding" as they say. If you're an Anthony fan you should have these.
I missed most of the Dragon's Gold series but would recommend Dragon's Gold and Serpent's Silver to Anthony fans.
The Bio of a Space Tyrant series got really tough to get through after Polititian (Refugee, Mercinary, Polititian). I never got to the last four. Those that I read were interesting and recommended to Anthony fans.
The Incarnations of Immortality series is where Anthony starts to show what he's capable of. I loved all of them; On a Pale Horse, Bearing an Hourglass, With a Tangled Skein, Wielding a Red Sword, Being a Green Mother, For Love of Evil and And Eternity. They tell of incarnations of various powerful immortal figures such as Death (a real guy replaces Death and has to learn how to do the job in On a Pale Horse), Time (who lives from the present to the past in Bearing an Hourglass), War (Wielding a Red Sword), etc. Another cool Anthony concept. Glad he stopped when he did.
My personal favorites are his Planet of Tarot books, God of Tarot, Vision of Tarot and Faith of Tarot. I'll give no plot or spoilers - just buy them.
In the Shade of the Tree isn't fantasy (more light horror) but I liked it and have read it at least twice.

Jack Chalker was a favorite of mine for years. Check out:
The Dancing Gods series; The River of ..., The Demons of ..., Vengance of ..., Songs of ...,
The Saga of the Well World series; Midnight at the Well of Souls, Exiles at the Well of Souls, Quest For ..., The Return of Nathan Brazil and Twilight at the ..., there are more but I haven't gotten to them
The Rings of the Master series; Lords of the Middle Dark, Pirates of the Thunder, Warriors of the Storm and Masks of the Martyrs. Good 'ole sci-fi.
The Changewinds series; When the Changewinds Blow, Riders of the Winds, War of the Mealstrom. A unique premise, smooth pace, easy to read.
The G.O.D. Inc. series; The Layrinth of Dreams, The Shadow Dancers, The Maze in the Mirror. I really like the idea here - aliens with a series of portals that operate like a railway with station masters and all. Exciting and surprising.
The Identity Matrix is also worth owning.
Chalker had written much more but that's all I've read from him. An amazingly prolific writer, it was a sad thing when he died this time last year. He had a couple of series left unfinished.

A Princess of the Chameln, Yorath the Wolf and The Summer's King by Cherry Wilder are favorites. Sadly, she too died a few years ago after only this and one other series I can't seem to locate in any used book store or used on-line store.

Joel Rosenberg's Guardians of the Flame series, The Sleeping Dragon, The Sword and the Chain, The Silver Crown, The Heir Apparent, The Warrior Lives is straight role-playing D&D type stuff - love it. Pretty basic but he's ruthless as an author.He's not afraid to kill off favorite characters. It stings because you really get to love all of them (or hate them) There are five more to the series, but yet again, I didn't get to them.

I, for one, loved the first Dragonlance novels, the ones written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I'm not ashamed to say it. I only know the earliest stuff; Time of the Twins, War of the Twins and Test of the Twins. Super solid straight swords and sorcery, good vs. evil stuff. Love it.
The same duo also wrote the marvelous Forging the Darksword, Doom of the Darksword, Triumph of the Darksword and Legacy of the Darksword. Brilliant, no nonsense straight-up D&D. Tight.

If you like that sort of thing you need to look into Dennis McKiernan's The Dark Tower trilogy; The Dark Tide, Shadows of Doom and The Darkest Day. The Silver Call duology dovetails nicely with those; Trek to Kraggen-Kor and The Brega Path. These five rank right up there with Tolkien's works in my opinion. Believe me, I don't say that lightly. There is more than a strong relationship between them but McKiernan's work stands up on its own. This is only a tiny bit of his writing, but yet again I have to say I haven't gotten to it yet.

Raymond E. Feist's The Riftwar Saga rocks. Magician: Apprentice, Magician: Master (I also have a combined copy called simply, Magician), Silverthorn and A Darkness at Sethanon. Not too deep, but very solid and enjoyable.
Also look into his Empire Trilogy; Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire and Mistress of the Empire.
I really like this stuff.

Alan Dean Foster's The Damned trilogy is solid fantasy. A Call to Arms, The False Mirror and The Spoils of War are really enjoyable.
Also Spellsinger is very good. There are a ton of them is the Spellsinger series but I only know the first one.
He's also written a mess of stuff that's been turned into movies or were screenplays. The list is impressive; Alien, Aliens, Alien3 (with William Gibson), The Black Hole, Clash of the Titans, Outland, The Thing, Krull (boo), The Last Starfighter (yay), Starman, Pale Rider (my favorite Clint Eastwood western movie), Alien Nation and The Cronicles of Riddick.

I'm embarassed to say that I only have one Charles di Lint book especially since that one, Jack of Kinrowan, is an ABSOLUTE must-have. I'm sure I've read it 5 or 6 times. Think Celtic myth/magic/epic adventure set in modern day Ontario and you'll be close. It's a collection actually. Jack is not a proper name but rather a title. A Jack is powerful hero type and the heroine must defend the "little people" against the evil Hunt. You'll buy me a beer for this one. Or better yet, buy me another di Lint novel.

If you haven't read Silverlock by John Myers Myers you owe me a huge thanks forevermore. Imagine you'd never heard of Heinlein or tasted beer or had sex and I was the one to introduce you to it (you guys can substitute the sex with anything else you feel passionate about). You would love me forever. The more classic literature you've read, the more you'll enjoy this novel since it is rife with literary characters. Virtually every character but the protagonist is someone you've met before. You'll actually meet Don Quixote, The Mad Hatter (in a bar), Mark Twain, Circe from "Odysseus", The Great White Whale and loads of others. One of the classic side effects of reading this is that you'll want to start a list of things to read up on that you didn't know about before or maybe that you had forgotten. A very uplifting experience. In fact, I may slide this one to the top of my reading stack again. Wonderful.

Ah, another one of my absolute favoites: Tad Williams. Few others have the ability to excell in both the science fiction and the fantasy realms. Williams does it in spades! None of his books are small nor are they "simple". This isn't to say they drag on or confuse you. Rather, they are full and rich. Any cat lover who also enjoys fantasy simply must own Tailchaser's Song. I held off on this one because somehow I got the idea that it would be "girly" or fluffy. I'm sorry I waited so long. Get it soon!
The series Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is an absolute classic of the fantasy genre. The Dragonbone Chair, Stone of Farewell and To Green Angel Tower (2 parts in paperback) are fundamental must-haves in my opinion. Just amazing. To Green Angel Tower was the only book I have ever stood in line to get the first day it came out.
Otherland, his sci-fi offering, contains City of Golden Shadow, River of Blue Fire, Mountain of Black Glass and Sea of Silver Light. In it, Williams takes Gibson's "cyberspace" concept to all new heights. Mesmerizing. Plan on doing (or wanting to do) nothing else until you finish each one. With all of these, do yourself a favor and get them all in each series before starting the first one. That way you'll save yourself the frustration of not wanting to read anything else until you get the next one in line.
The War of the Flowers is another foray into fantasy simply must be read to be appreciated. Worth owning in hard cover if you can afford it.
His latest, Shadowmarch, is one I think I'll wait on until the second in the series is available for the reasons I described above.

Eon by Greg Bear is worth owning. Sort of a 2001 idea taken to a different place.

Artifact by Gregory Benford is unique. Modern day scientists find an ancient artifact. Cool stuff happens.

Wreck of the River of Stars by Michael Flynn was one I just stumbled on last year. Solid sci-fi. Time to read it again.

William Gibson, along with just a few others, popularized a whole new type of science fiction. It's now taken on a name coined by Gibson; Cyberpunk. His books are scary and razor edged. Very stark. Dirty (not smutty) and clean at the same time. He also coined the term "Cyberspace" to describe the realistic 3D world you experience when you physically plug yourself into the Net. He creates worlds where assassins modify their bodies in order to become more deadly and efficient. Mega corporations own and govern the world. Surviving is for the ruthless and savvy only. When Neuromancer (part 1 of the Sprawl trilogy) came out I had never imagined much less read a novel that was anything like it - absolutely revolutionary for it's time. Most recent novels in the genre still pretend to it in my opinion. It was the was the first novel ever to win all three major science fiction awards: the Nebula, the Hugo, and Philip K. Dick Memorial Award, beating out even my beloved Heinlein. You're a sci-fi punk if you don't own it. Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive are perfect followups as parts 2 and 3 of the Sprawl trilogy. Burning Chrome is a collection of short stories that has Johnny Mnemonic in it. SO SAD what they did to that with the movie - destroyed it in every way. The Difference Engine (with Bruce Sterling) is a departure for both of them. You'll be glad you read it. Idoru and Pattern Recognition are more of the same gold.

Though not sci-fi or fantasy, the Detroyer series is enough good fun to mention here. The series from which Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins was derived, it's written by a number of authors and has over 130 volumes. If you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a huge favor and rent it. Great fun. Fred Ward is Remo, Joel Grey(!) is Chiun, the Master of Shinanju who trains Remo to be an assassin for the President. You'll also see Wilford Brimley and young Kate Mulgrew who later became Capt. Janeway in Star Trek: Voyager. The books are cool/fun/funny to match the movie.

End of part one. I hope you'll use this as a reference for the future.

Kind regards to all -

Jim

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Without love, breath is just a clock ... ticking.
Equilibrium

Jim, this is a fantastic list. I agree with you on so many of the titles and authors you have suggested, and according to your criteria I am definitely a true sci-fi/fantasy fan ;-)

I fully intend to read those books you've suggested that I haven't read yet. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together.

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Reality Internet Personality

Jim, this is a fantastic list. I agree with you on so many of the titles and authors you have suggested, and according to your criteria I am definitely a true sci-fi/fantasy fan ;-)

I fully intend to read those books you've suggested that I haven't read yet. Thank you so much for taking the time to put this together.

The pleasure was mine. It was a labor of love. Part two to come next week or sooner.

Thanks for the support Es!

Jim

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Without love, breath is just a clock ... ticking.
Equilibrium

I just thought i'd share what I regard as 'essential' sf and fantasy books...

in no particular order:

Robert Heinlein - Door into Summer(sf)

Arthur C Clarke - The Sands of Mars(sf), Expedition to Earth (short stories)(sf), Rendezvous with Rama(sf), The City and the Stars(sf)

C J Cherryh - The 'Morgaine' books(sf) and Kutath(sf), Kesrith(sf), Shonjir(sf)

C L Moore - Jirel of Joiry(f), Northwest Smith(sf)

Steve White - The 'Disinherited'(sf) series and Prince of Sunset(sf)

Glen Cook - The Black Company(f) series and The Dread Empire series(f)

Jack McDevitt - The Engines of God(sf)

Peter Morwood - The Horselord(f), The Demonlord(f)

Stephen Donaldson - The six Thomas Covenent books(f)

David Gemmel - Legend(f), Waylander(f)

Christopher Evans - Aztec Century(sf)

China Mieville - Perdido Street Station(sf)

and the list goes on...!

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Jim, that was some list - looking forward to part 2.

I want to echo the Incarnations of immortality series, and the rift war saga.

I enjoyed most of Robert Asprin's books, when I am in the mood for something 'light'.

For something darker, I was just turned on to a series by Jim Butcher called, "The Dresden Files"; Which I read in very quick succession the first six in paperback, really had me enthralled - patiently waiting the seventh.

Thanks to all who have contributed their opinions, have to add several more books to my ever growing library.

Sparky

ok, ok..I know it's a bit of necromancing, but Rom's post about the Mote in God's Eye reminded me of this.

I've been meaning to bump it for a while since I finished reading "State of Fear", which was ok. A bit of a silly book, but I enjoyed it. Thought the whole conspiracy thing was well far fetched though.

I am now reading A book called American Gods by Neil Gaiman which I am quite enjoying. Don't know if anybody else here has read it.

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Reality Internet Personality

Great thread! How come I didn't know about it before?

Anyhow, I'd like to recommend the Mars Trilogy, by Kim Stanley Robinson. They are Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars, in that order. Truly amazing novels.

Have fun!

so what was the first sci-fi book you can remember reading. and what was it about the story that got you hooked on sci-fi?

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people demand freedom of speech as a compensation for freedom of thought which they seldom use - soren kierkegaard

One of the earliest memorable books (in fact, a series of books) was the Lensman series of books by E E 'Doc' Smith. This is classic 'space opera' from the Golden Age of Sci-Fi - the 1940s.
I can heartily recommend it to anyone here, but you may have difficulty obtaining copies of the seven volume set. (I have the set, in paperback and I will not part with it!)

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so what was the first sci-fi book you can remember reading.

Simak : city ('demain les chiens' in french)

One of the earliest memorable books (in fact, a series of books) was the Lensman series of books by E E 'Doc' Smith. This is classic 'space opera' from the Golden Age of Sci-Fi - the 1940s.
I can heartily recommend it to anyone here, but you may have difficulty obtaining copies of the seven volume set. (I have the set, in paperback and I will not part with it!)

I also have this series as well as the skylark set almost as daft when you compare it to todays space operas,and most of Asimovs Foundation books
aggh the list goes on and on!

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Old enough to know better(but)still young enough not to care