by JeffT 38 Replies latest social entertainment
So I have my daughter (a 33 year old choreographer turned psych student) reading RAH. So far she's read Double Star and Tunnel in the Sky, she stayed up all night Friday night finishing Tunnel. She's working on The Moon is a Harsh Mistress now. I think she needs to read Friday, and I'm going to loan her The Mote is God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle.
The above list is pretty much my all time favorites. I really like Stand on Zanzibar, but it's depressing.
Any other recommendations?
I really like Jim Butcher's Codex Alera series. It's a bit more fantasy than sci-fi though.
I'm not much of a sci-fi fan in general, but here's what I've enjoyed.
Dune, Frank Herbert. A humongous epic, that, if you let the story grab you will take you on a 900+ page ride.
Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov. My first foray into Sci Fi. Sometimes a bit dry, but I'm glad I stuck it out.
Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card. A great paperback, beach read. Easy to get into and the story grabs you and spits you out approx 350 pages later.
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Yes, Ken Scholes is a wonderful author. He has two books out right now and his next one comes out in a few months. The first one is called Lamentation and the next one is Canticle. I've read both and highly recommend them. The next one is Antiphon, which I have read the advanced copy, so I'll see how they edit it when it goes to press and I buy my copy.
For hard science fiction I'm a fan of Gregory Benford and Charles Sheffield. I used to not enjoy the fantasy genre very much, seemed like everyone was trying to copy Tolkien. But now there are some great authors out there. I like Jay Lake's work also, and I'm a huge fan of Patricia McKillip, some of what she does is like the old fairy tales but with a more adult twist, but my favorite is her Riddle Master of Hed series.
There are really so many out there its hard to pick. For chuckles and grins you can't beat Terry Pratchett, and if you like it a bit more dark, Neil Gaiman is wonderful.
Ada
Mote in gods eye is great. She might like iain m banks' culture sries scifi:
S
Here's the scoop on Lamentations from over at amazon.com:
In his first novel, a vividly imagined sf-fantasy hybrid set in a distant, post-apocalyptic future, Scholes, already highly praised in the speculative-fiction community for his dazzlingly inventive short fiction, turns his talent up a notch. When an ancient weapon destroys Windwir, the Named Lands’ greatest city and repository of knowledge, the only surviving member of the city’s Androfrancine order is the metallic android Isaak. Rudolfo, lord of the Ninefold Forest Houses, finds Isaak surprisingly intact in the Windwir’s smoldering ruins and guilt-ridden over his role in the city’s downfall. Yet Rudolfo quickly begins to suspect that Sethbert, overseer of the neighboring Entrolusian City States, is the real culprit and starts girding his Gypsy Scouts for battle. So begins Scholes’ Psalms of Isaak, a projected five-volume saga containing all the ingredients of a first-rate epic—magic, arcane science, and a handful of compelling protagonists. By the end of the novel, the reader is caring deeply about the characters and looking forward with burning anticipation to the sequels. --Carl Hays --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
Praise for Lamentation
“This is the golden age of fantasy, with a dozen masters doing their best work. Then along comes Ken Scholes, with his amazing clarity, power, and invention, and shows us all how it's done. No more ponderous plotting - Scholes barely gives us time to breathe. Yet he creates vivid characters, a world thick with detail, and wonders we've never seen before. I wish my first novel had been this good. I wish all five volumes of this series were already published so I could read them now.”-- Orson Scott Card
“Ken Scholes is a hot new voice to watch for on the interesting frontier between science fiction and fantasy. He has a keen eye for action and a keen ear for the sounds of the human heart. Grab on now, because he's going places.”--Harry Turtledove
"As intricate as a Whymer maze, Ken Scholes' Lamentation will keep the reader up until the wee hours, winding through this splendid labyrinth. Bravo!"--Dennis L. McKiernan, bestselling author of the Mithgar series
"Ken Scholes's Lamentation is an iconic SF story cloaked in fantasy, drawing raw material from classics such as A Canticle for Liebowitz and Earth Abides, but forging something new, with colorful characters, compelling scenes, and unfolding miracles."--Kevin J. Anderson, bestselling co-author of Sandworms of Dune
"Ken Scholes' Lamentation is a whale of a first novel, set in a world where technological magic has come and gone, and come again, where organized religion has attempted to recover and restore lost knowledge, if with a certain amount of censorship, where no one is quite what they seem, and where parental ambitions for offspring are filled with deep love and sacrifices, along with double double-crosses, conflicting motives, and tragedy."--L.E. Modesitt, Jr.
“The tone of [Lamentation] is precise and just about exactly right: I was engaged from the opening page, stayed up lat
Yes, early Asimov is a bit dry, but just skip ahead to his "modern" Foundation and Robot novels of the 80's.
Orson Scott Card is good as well. Especially, Ender's Game followed by, in my opinion, a different but much more profound and mature read, Speaker for the Dead. Great book!
Bourne
I love the old authors too, I read all of Asimov's stuff. Orson Scott Card's early stuff was great but when he converted or got back into his Mormonism his books got really boring in my opinion. Vernor Vinge is good too.
Ada
Any Asimov or Clarke. Heinlein is a great start.
BTS
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke.
metatron
