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Recommend Some Science Fiction Books
Zeromus
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I'm looking for some mind-bending, space-time-oriented science fiction books, but don't know much about the genre or its champions yet. I'm thinking about getting this for Dimension of Miracles, but otherwise I don't really have an idea of what I'm looking for.
As an extra bit of background, I have a full-time job and an active social life that includes a girlfriend, so I probably won't find the time to read through anything gigantic, but might be open to series comprised of shorter novels like, say, Foundation or some such.
What can you guys recommend?
As an extra bit of background, I have a full-time job and an active social life that includes a girlfriend, so I probably won't find the time to read through anything gigantic, but might be open to series comprised of shorter novels like, say, Foundation or some such.
What can you guys recommend?
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Time Ships by Stephen Baxter is pretty entertaining. It was written as a sequel to HG Wells' Time Machine, and was given the thumbs up by the Wells Estate.
The first book is Expendable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expendable).
They're fun books and a bit different.
How about The Time Machine?
Yes.
For a modern book/series, The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton. It's seriously great, and it's a 3 book series.
His latest series has some elements of what you're after.
But, his books are BIG - though, they are surprisingly readable.
His worlds are very interesting, however.
If you want truly awesome, mind-bending time travelly sci fi, check out Light by M. John Harrison.
He just sort of throws you into stories and you pick up on stuff as you go, but he's VERY inventive and a very good writer. And that's a damn good book. Not too long, either.
I'm not looking for goofy magical stuff, necessarily. Books that are actually steeped in real theoretical stuff would probably be even more interesting to me, in fact.
And thanks for all the suggestions so far, guys!
The second one deals with it to a lesser extent, but is still a fantastic read.
If you're looking for stuff that's lighter and fluffier read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and then The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Heinlein. The first isn't time travel but the second is a sequel to the first with plenty of time travel and they're both classics.
It's about a bunch of "travelers" who have special powers. They travel through time and space. They fight a demon, named Saint Dane, who wants to destroy all the worlds.
Another I'd recommend in the hard sci-fi genre is John Cramer, author of Einstein's Bridge and Twistor.
I've read and quite enjoyed Ender's Game, in fact!
Definitely read The Forever War, it's short, sweet, and really amazingly awesome!
It's the ultimate cyberpunk book. It practically INVENTED cyberpunk. Short synopsis:
A samurai hacker who delivers pizza in an armored tank for the mafia makes a mistake that causes him to go on the run. He ends up assaulting an air-craft carrier sea fortress and fighting a guy who's heart is wired to an atomic bomb.
"Oh what a day, what a LOVELY DAY!"
Other than that, Ann McCaffrey has some great Sci Fi (that isn't Pern, which is Fantasy pretending to be Sci Fi, but quite good). A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge was great, really good aliens. Ian M. Banks has some good stuff, like The Player of Games.
Also Try The Reading Thread in debate and discussions it has a long spoiler intro post with recommendations. There may be a newer one.
So nice to see someone appreciate these sublimely-written books. They don't have much of a time-travel aspect though.
I also recommend Bones of the Earth, by Michael Swanwick. This is a fun book if you think it would be fun to follow a plot where the chapters jump around randomly in time and the characters jump around randomly in time, but they do so according to totally different schemes. Not Swanwick's best work, but whatever gets more people into this secret master.
I've read Ender's Shadow and Speaker for the Dead and they didn't really do it for me.
Read the start of M. John Harrison's "Light" at the bookstore today after the recommendations here and liked it quite a bit so I will probably buy that soon, but thanks for the continuing suggestions!
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The books in the series are Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion.
This series is pretty much beyond compare.
Go. Read it now.
Listen to ceres, and listen good.
"And this is his sofa, is it?" said Arthur.
Well, that's a convincing sell.
I'll third this. It's my favorite series of all time.
Dan Simmons also has a newer, two-book set called Olympos and Ilium, which is really really good. And does feature some fantastically interesting time travel and high sci-fi.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.