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Seeing as we seem to be on the verge of losing yet another well-known sci-fi author (Iain Banks) I thought to create this thread (forgive me if there is a duplicate somewhere I missed in search)
I'd like to recommend the following:
Fantasy
Jacqueline Carey (Kushiel's Trilogy - only the first three books and perhaps one or two of the second trilogy worth looking at, Kushiel's Dart remains a favorite, Banewreaker is a fun inversion of classical fantasy tropes)
Carol Berg (only for The Collegia Magica series so far, which is like Renaissance fantasy-mystery)
China Mieville (Bas Lag series and others, brilliant, twisted writing, prose rich with imagery, though I think Perdido Street Station set a standard his other novels are hard put to match, some magical elements difficult to like; very steampunk-y writing)
Guy Gavriel Kay (one of the older, more well-known fantasy favorites, read and liked Tigana, A Song for Arbonne and Lions of Al-Rassan, though a -very- optimistic sort of writer if you dislike that kind of thing)
Catherynn M. Valente (whimsical, mythology-driven tales and children's stories, beautifully crafted language)
Sci-Fi
Gene Wolfe (Book of the New Sun - Cerebral sci-fi/fantasy that reads very strangely, surreal, one of the hardest authors I've read but also very satisfying)
M. John Harrison (Viriconium, similar in style to the previous I think)
John C. Wright (The Golden Age trilogy, fantasy in similar vein to old-school optimistic sci-fi albeit "hard" sci-fi with sweeping space opera themes, author's political bent tends to influence his writing. Love the lush prose though)
My "old favorites" are Frank Herbert, Tolkien, etc. and am currently on Book Five of ASOIAF. :)
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it we go nowhere.” - Carl Sagan
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Cool thread.
In fantasy, i would recommend Andrzej Sapkowski, the witcher novels are so awesome.
Also Michael Moorcock and his Elric series.
For sci fi, my fav is Orson Scott card, Ender's game was one of my fav novels back in the day. And there is a (i presume pretty awful) movie coming.
And my classic favourites are the same you mentioned and fantasy/sci fi pulp authors like Howart and Lovecraft.
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Nice idea!
I always find it hard to keep these lists short because I find it hard to have favourites when there are so many awesome books out there. I also never want to miss out "the usuals" and the old classics because these have stood the test of time and are always worth reading. So I started a list but it was taking forever so instead, here are some links to the winners of best Novel for the Hugo and Nebula awards. I decided to try and read my way through all the Hugo and Nebula awards winners about 5 years ago (that's a lot of books!) and from what I have got through so far, I can pretty much say if you just pick one and go for it you probably won't be dissappointed.
Hugo winners : Best Novel . There are other categories worth checking out too. These are taken from worldwide authors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel
Nebula winners: Best Novel. These are US published authors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Awar...Best_Novel
If you go to the list that have won both, you're probably guaranteed an awesome read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_joi...ula_awards
And interestingly: Awards for best professional art in the genre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_...nal_Artist
And you can stop reading here but if you want to see some of the ones that I read and stood out for me so far.
Vernor Vinge : Across Realtime (collection of 3 separate but linked stories set in the same world)
Larry Niven : A mote in God's eye (first contact)
Robert Hienein: The moon is a harsh mistress, a stranger in a strange land, starship troopers
William Gibson: Neuromancer
Phillip K Dick. : Anything of his really.
Greg Egan: Permutation city
Ursula K LeGuin: The Dispossessed, Left hand of darkness (definitely not your usual sci fi with pew pew lasers and aliens)
Margaret Atwood: Children of Men, Oryx and Crake, Handmaid's tale
John Wyndham: Day of the triffids
Orson Card of course: Ender's Game, less the other books in the series
Walter M Miller: A Canticle for Leibowitz (I really enjoyed this)
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five. Sci fi context but not really about the sci fi. Really good though; a favourite author for sure, read anything by him.
Asimov: Foundation series.
Dan Simmons: Hyperion series
Philip Jose Farmer: The Riverworld books. (Enjoyed muchly)
Joe Haldeman: The forever war (Apparantly Ridley Scott is making this into a movie now, sigh)
Clarkesworld: Small free online 'zine of 3 short contemporary sci fi stories every month. Awarded Hugo awards. There hasn't been anything bad I've read on there yet, and some really awesome stories and cover art.
Fantasy: besides the "usual"
Marion Zimmer Bradley: Mists of Avalon (Arthurian retelling)
Ursula K LeGuin: Earthsea books
Greg Bear: Infinity Concerto (very different fantasy to the usual. he does mostly write sci fi)
Stephen King: Dark Tower series up to a point...book 4 or 5 or something?
Neil Gaiman: Ok surrealist fiction, but his shit gets close to fantasy in instances. Neverwhere, American Gods, Stardust etc
Beowulf. The actual poem was surprisingly epic.
Tolkien's Silmarillion: worth it if you can manage to drag yourself past the first 90 pages or so and you are a fan of his other stuff.
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I know how you feel about the list thing. Asimov, Le Guin and the Silmarillion were reads that shaped my childhood taste for scifi/fantasy. Great post.
Classics I've never read - Hyperion, Lensman series, Jack Vance's Dying Earth and Tanith Lee's Tales of a Flat Earth.
I was lookng at some Elizabeth Bear, as well.
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(04-06-2013, 10:37 AM)Kitsune Wrote: I know how you feel about the list thing. Asimov, Le Guin and the Silmarillion were reads that shaped my childhood taste for scifi/fantasy. Great post.
Classics I've never read - Hyperion, Lensman series, Jack Vance's Dying Earth and Tanith Lee's Tales of a Flat Earth.
I was lookng at some Elizabeth Bear, as well.
Yeah, Asimov and Tolkien basically started me off. Not a bad way to start :D I will have to check out a bunch on your list that I haven't read.
I don't read as much contemporary sci fi because there is so much classic stuff to go through that I almost can't be bothered hunting out the "new" things.
I recently read Perdido St Station, and it was written very evocatively and descriptively which was cool but it didn't really strike me with anything new to think about afterwards which is what I find really good sci-fi tends to do to me. I was a bit disappointed after I had to listen to countless people raving about it. This is why recommendations are ultimately useless unless you really trust the other person's judgeement and taste and they align with yours. :D
I did read the Coyote Series by Allen Steele that I enjoyed which is relatively new. I've got The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi on my e-shelf that came highly recommended by a few friends of mine and is also on the Hugo list..I think that one is next.
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Windup Girl is on my to-read list, let me know how your impressions are. What I didn't like about Perdido was the concept of the nightmare moths. I tend to like harder science whenever that is used, or at least something more true to the alchemy of the universe he was working with, but I liked how his vision read to me like a painter's on LSD. :P
You might like John C. Wright, though his is more of a retelling of old Golden Age of Sci Fi stuff with some new ideas drawn from contemporary cyberpunk, like the media, transhumanism etc. I ultimately liked how everything came together - prose, grand ideas and plot.
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(04-06-2013, 12:53 PM)Kitsune Wrote: Windup Girl is on my to-read list, let me know how your impressions are. What I didn't like about Perdido was the concept of the nightmare moths. I tend to like harder science whenever that is used, or at least something more true to the alchemy of the universe he was working with, but I liked how his vision read to me like a painter's on LSD. :P
You might like John C. Wright, though his is more of a retelling of old Golden Age of Sci Fi stuff with some new ideas drawn from contemporary cyberpunk, like the media, transhumanism etc. I ultimately liked how everything came together - prose, grand ideas and plot.
Yeah for me Mieville's use of language and description is where he excels...and he clearly dabbled in some mind altering substances at some point ! :p I just finished the Windup Girl; easily the best book I've read in the past year, and that included Perdido st. :). It's definitely speculative sci fi and pretty darn believable...great plot and characters...couldn't put it down at the end. I'm even considering illustrating an alternate book cover for it because I was inspired. definitely recommend the read
I'm starting on the Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, and so far it's pretty good too. I love reading through the award winners....seriously never a wasted read. I'll check out Wright next, never read his stuff.
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For fantasy, I'd have to say Brom for his book "The Child Thief", fantastic read of a twisted version of Peter Pan.
And Terry Prachett for his Discworld series. I've read a few, but not for years.
For a semi fantasy/steampunk kinda thing check out the Operation Red Jericho series by Joshua Mowll. A series that's mainly targeted towards early teenagers, but brilliant nonetheless. There's some fantastic detailed artwork within those pages. Apparently there's a film on the way too.
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I just got a graphic novel called Sheraz-de by Sergio Toppi an Italian illustrator who died last year and his work only recently got translated into English. His artwork just completely blew me away...and the stories are great too. Adapted from Arabian Nights, Scherazade. I'm not sure I've ever seen a graphic novel this beautiful before. In fact I'm pretty sure it's the best thing I've seen so far.
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C.J. Cherryh with the "Chanur" series and "Cyteen", Sci Fi - Best read of my life, Cherryh wrote a lot of other stuff, go check her out.
Amitt talked about MZ Bradley already, just go read the entire Darkover series - SciFi/Fantasy
Robin Hobb "Royal Assassin" - Fantasy
I'm currently reading Peter Hamilton "The Night's Dawn Trilogy" and Loving it - Sci Fi
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I have read some of them like windup girl, Anyways the fantasy and Sci fi depending on our imaginations, thinking beyond the imagination is the sign of intelligence.
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(04-05-2013, 12:30 AM)EduardoGaray Wrote: Cool thread.
In fantasy, i would recommend Andrzej Sapkowski, the witcher novels are so awesome.
I've been wanting to read those for a while now, but I can never find them in english. Any recommendations as to where to get them?
Also, OP, I don't know if it really qualifies as fantasy, but I highly recommend reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, if you haven't already. It has very little to do with what Pop culture has turned it into, and the book is just beautiful! And if you wanna see some really amazing ink drawings get Bernie Wrightson's version of it. i got it a few months ago and it was one of the best purchases I've ever made :)
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www.bookdepository.co.uk/search?searchTerm=+Andrzej+Sapkowski&search=Find+book
Only two books have been translated so far it seems 3rd to come out aug 2013 if wikipedia is right, and yeah Frankenstein is a really good read, nice tip with the wrightson version, will have to check it out
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Since I didn't see either listed, both of these authors are brilliant, with great visual writing and really unique concepts.
Fantasy
Brandon Mull: the Beyonders trilogy and the Fablehaven series
Sci fi
Timothy Zahn: The Icarus Hunt (my favorite sci fi book ever), The Conquerer's Trilogy, The Green and the Gray, Cobra (only the first book), Blackcollar (sort of a futuristic ninja team)
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Sci-fi Illustrated
The Metabarons or The Saga of The Meta-Barons is a science fiction comic series relating the history of a dynasty of perfect warriors known as the Metabarons. The Metabarons series was written by creator Alejandro Jodorowsky and illustrated by Argentinian artist Juan Giménez. The series, published by Humanoïdes Associés, is complete, the last volume having been released at the end of 2003.
Fantasy
The Night Angel Trilogy
The Night Angel Trilogy is a fantasy series written by Brent Weeks. The story follows the life of Azoth (later Kylar Stern) as he struggles as a guild rat to become the ultimate wetboy (an assassin with magical talent, such as the ability to muffle sound or to block an attack), but then tries to leave it all behind and finally becomes the avatar of retribution: the Night Angel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Angel_Trilogy
Fantasy
Legacy of Blood is the first novel based on Diablo by Blizzard Entertainment, published in 2001. The book itself is written by Richard A. Knaak. Legacy of Blood is intended for mature readers. It uses the same image that graced the cover of the Diablo II game box.
The book is written about a group of three men who stumble upon enchanted armor of unfathomable, immense powers that they have no clue about. The armor ends up belonging to a past warlord named Bartuc, who was the most brutal of all men to walk the earth, painting his armor each morning with the blood from the battle from his deceased foes. He was a Sorcerer who could control demons and used them to his own power to take over cities and countries in order to fiercely reign over the entire earth. He was eventually killed during an enormous battle by multiple people including his own brother Horazon. The armor was hidden away in a dark dungeon protected with dark magical powers where it sat dormant secretly calling to the main character, Norrec. Norrec was among the three tomb raiders when the armor was discovered. The three men were caught in a dire situation causing Norrec to put on the armor and reawaken the power of legions of demons and hell itself. His life would be forever changed...and one would question whether for the better or not.
Awesome list of books, looks like I'm going to have to hit the bookstore :p
Personally, The Witcher by Andrej Sapkowski is amazing and remains one of my favourite books to this day. He also has a series based in the same world with the same main character, the first of which is The Sword of Destiny but personally I found The Witcher to be better.
Also The Malazan Book of the Fallen (series) by Steven Erikson sounds really great! Haven't gotten the chance to read it yet but it's been compared to ASoFaI
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I'd really recommend just about anything by Neil Gaiman. I know he's not "traditional" fantasy, but all of his books are fantastic.
Also, there's a couple of masters of science fiction that should really be mentioned here: Robert Heinlein and Harlan Ellison. Everyone knows Heinlein, with novels like Starship Troopers (pretty much nothing like the movie), Stranger in a Strange Land, and Time Enough for Love. Ellison, on the other hand, is one of the most prolific living authors, having published literally thousands of short stories and novels over his career. I'd start with the short story "I Have No Mouth, But I Must Scream." There was a documentary about him that was pretty rad called "Dreams with Sharp Teeth" that everyone should check out.
For more traditional fantasy, I got interested in it through the Weis and Hickman books, mostly the Dragonlance, Darksword and Deathgate Cycle series. Those were the ones that opened me up authors like Tolkein and Doyle (Doyle wasn't really a fantasy author, but his Lost World books ought to count as some sort of scifi/fantasy hybrid).
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Oh amazing! I looove reading. Thanks about the Witcher's recommendation, guys. Seeing that many people have enjoyed it, I'll keep an eye for it in the library :) Here's a few fantasy recommendations:
Patrick Rothfuss's The Name of the Wind and The Wiseman's Fear. I love the style in which these books are told. Really clever. Without spoiling much, you read how a legend tells the unbelievable story of his life! I also like how magic is portrayed in this book.
Brandon Sanderson's The Mistborn Trilogy. This guy is really prolific. I can't tell much about the other books he has written, but man, these three books... I believe it has the perfect cast of characters. All so charming, rounded... I cried as I read the last chapters of each book! :D Again, the author makes a point of explaining how the magic in this world works, while maintaining a halo of mystery and weirdness. All I'll say is... metals.
Blake Charlton's Spellwright I believe this is book 1 of a series, but it's the only one I have read. This magic is also wonderfully explained, it's written in words! And.. it's mighty powerful!
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