Hey it's me apoloto!
So, I would like to know what kind of Scifi books you would recommend:confused:, because I am a huge fan of the genre. Now, first of all, don't post any of the books listed, because I have already read them:

Jurassic Park
The Andromeda Strain
The Lost World
Timeline
The Time Quartet (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, & Many Waters)
Double Helix
The Maze Runner
The Hunger Games
The Giver

I hope that you recommend some really good reads!

Hey it's me apoloto!
So, I would like to know what kind of Scifi books you would recommend:confused:, because I am a huge fan of the genre. Now, first of all, don't post any of the books listed, because I have allready read them:

Jurassic Park
The Andromeda Strain
The Lost World
Timeline
The Time Quartet (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, & Many Waters)
Double Helix
The Maze Runner
The Hunger Games
The Giver

I hope that you recommend some really good reads!

This is some what hard as most of my Scifi reading took place many years ago and I normally remember authors better than book titles.

Try the link below, I've read most of the great ones, sometimes everything they wrote. I didn't see EE Doc Smith, but I really liked his stuff. If you want to get any of his stuff you'll have to find used books on the Internet I would recommend the Skylark series. Order all the books in the series at once so you can do them in order as fast as you like.

http://www.adherents.com/adh_sf.html

I've read a little bit about the first book, The Skylark of Space, online, and it sounds like a very good read! Thanks for the suggestion!

I've read a little bit about the first book, The Skylark of Space, online, and it sounds like a very good read! Thanks for the suggestion!

I believe there are 4 books to that series. Also the Lensman series is excellent. It's hard to believe he started writing these series’s back in the 1930's. I found a good link that list all his books.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/e-e-doc-smith/

"Finch" - Jeff Vandermeer.

I believe there are 4 books to that series. Also the Lensman series is excellent. It's hard to believe he started writing these series’s back in the 1930's. I found a good link that list all his books.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/s/e-e-doc-smith/
Thanks again!!!

I would suggest the short stories from the golden years of sf (1930's to 50's). There are tons of anthologies, read as many as you can. Almost every sf novel or film you come across now will have taken their idea from one of these stories. You might enjoy the old sf magazines too - analog, astounding, etc. If you are serious about science fiction you should be sure to know the work of isaac asimov, arthur c clarke and ray bradbury (to begin with). My personal favourites among the greats though were a little less well known - theodore sturgeon and robert sheckley.

Give Gordon R. Dickson's Dorsai books a try

Philip K. Dick (http://www.philipkdick.com/)

Philip K. Dick (http://www.philipkdick.com/)

I love a bit of Dick every now and then ! ;)

"For everyone lost in the endlessly multiplicating realities of the modern world, remember: Philip K. Dick got there first" - Terry Gilliam

Once of my favourite SciFi books recently was Halting State (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halting_State) by Charles Stross

this is cute:
http://www.davidwgoldman.com/Radical_Acceptance.html

A personal favorite; The Stars my destination, by Alfred Bester. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZU63qFItRI) I'm still hoping for a good movie adaptation.

A personal favorite; The Stars my destination, by Alfred Bester. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZU63qFItRI) I'm still hoping for a good movie adaptation.

Book reading on YouTube, that's really cool. You wouldn't happen to know if they do complete books would you? Besides that I to like Alfred Bester.

Book reading on YouTube, that's really cool. You wouldn't happen to know if they do complete books would you? Besides that I to like Alfred Bester.

I doubt it. That appears to have been done by a fan. He can probably slide on copyright issues by only doing one chapter, but would likely get knocked off for doing the whole thing. And, that would be quite a bit of work.

Reading the notes on that, he's saying a film version is due for release in 2012? If true, I hope it's faithful to the book.

I have read and enjoyed quite a variety of Robert Heinlein's work.


Robert Anson Heinlein (July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. Often called "the dean of science fiction writers",[1] he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a high standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of literary quality. He was one of the first writers to break into mainstream, general magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, in the late 1940s, with unvarnished science fiction. He was among the first authors of bestselling, novel-length science fiction in the modern, mass-market era. For many years, Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the "Big Three" of science fiction.[2][3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_heinlein

I have read and enjoyed quite a variety of Robert Heinlein's work.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_heinlein



I've read most of Asimov and Heinlein and some of Clarke’s stuff. When I pick up a SciFi book and start reading, if I'm not hooked within the first 50 pages, I probably won't finish the book, and I found that more often than not Clarke fell into that category for me.

I've read most of Asimov and Heinlein and some of Clarke’s stuff. When I pick up a SciFi book and start reading, if I'm not hooked within the first 50 pages, I probably won't finish the book, and I found that more often than not Clarke fell into that category for me.

Actually you are along my tastes.... I read the Foundation series and loved it, very EPIC. I then began on Heinlein and found his work to be more my thing because it's just written with such style and like he really cared what he thought up. So in all those are my two favorite authors of fiction. I also really enjoyed Saturns Race by Larry Niven and there was a very cool one about something but I've forgotten it :( I am going to read these cool books about terraforming it's a fiction umm damn what's the name grrr! I use to have a BOOK LIST of everything I read that way I'd never forget, but damned if i lost it :(

Actually you are along my tastes.... I read the Foundation series and loved it, very EPIC. I then began on Heinlein and found his work to be more my thing because it's just written with such style and like he really cared what he thought up. So in all those are my two favorite authors of fiction. I also really enjoyed Saturns Race by Larry Niven and there was a very cool one about something but I've forgotten it :( I am going to read these cool books about terraforming it's a fiction umm damn what's the name grrr! I use to have a BOOK LIST of everything I read that way I'd never forget, but damned if i lost it :(

It's a real bitch when your halfway through a book and you realize you've already read it before. That does happen when your list of read books is in the thousands. However if I liked it the first time around there's a good chance I'll finish it the second time too.

My clicking on this thread had a dual purpose

I'd recommend The Foundation Series by Isaac Asimov as well.

I also think I will now read The Star My Destination recommended by Repo Man, as it looks interesting. I doubt I will hold out for a movie adaption, though ;-) since they usually never do the book justice.

IMHO, Starship Toopers, (the book, not the movie) and Tactics of Mistake were the best SF I ever read.

The Foundation series and Dune series would be next.

Another vote for Heinlein. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress was my first read of his, and still favorite.

IMHO, Starship Toopers, (the book, not the movie) and Tactics of Mistake were the best SF I ever read.

The Foundation series and Dune series would be next.

That's the big problem with watching the movie first, you hardly ever get around to reading the book. Where as if you like the book you will always watch the movie.

That's the big problem with watching the movie first, you hardly ever get around to reading the book. Where as if you like the book you will always watch the movie.

I'd say that's because the movie stints your imagination by already having drawn out the majority of the book according to the director's imagination. Plus you know what's going to happen long before it happens so it feels like quite a waste of time especially if the book isn't too good to begin with.

When you read the book first you already have your own thoughts of the characters. Seeing the movie is just like seeing someone else's take on the book. On top of that you usually get the cool eye candy to go along with it. And if it doesn't hold your attention that long - well it'll be over in a few hours or less anyways.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
That's an excellent book...actually, I have yet to read anything by Haldeman I didn't like.

So many to choose from.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy) comes to mind. It's a hilarious mix of SciFi and comedy. You may have seen the movie, but it doesn't hold a candle to the book. There were several books originally, but you can now purchase them all in one.

One of my more recent favorites is Pandora's Star (http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/index.php?page=Pandora_s_Star) by Peter Hamilton. Classic space opera.

Anything by Larry Niven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Niven) is good. I especially recommend Ring World (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringworld), Lucifer's Hammer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer%27s_Hammer) and The Mote in God's Eye. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mote_in_God's_Eye)

If you like military SciFi, the Honor Harrington series by David Weber is excellent. The first book of that series is called On Basilisk Station (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Basilisk_Station). My first exposure to David Weber was Mutineer's Moon (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1107296.Mutineers_Moon), which was also a great read.

So many to choose from.

[/URL] comes to mind. It's a hilarious mix of SciFi and comedy. You may have seen the movie, but it doesn't hold a candle to the book. There were several books originally, but you can now purchase them all in one.

One of my more recent favorites is [URL="http://www.peterfhamilton.co.uk/index.php?page=Pandora_s_Star"]Pandora's Star (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy) by Peter Hamilton. Classic space opera.

Anything by Larry Niven is good. I especially recommend Ring World, Lucifer's Hammer and The Mote in God's Eye.

If you like military SciFi, the Honor Harrington series by David Weber is excellent. The first book of that series is called On Basilek Station. My first exposure to David Weber was Mutineer's Moon, which was also excellent.

That was a great write up for Pandora's Star, now I really want to read the book.

It is AD 2380, and humanity has colonized over six hundred planets, all interlinked by wormholes. With Earth at its center, the Inter solar Commonwealth has grown into a quiet, wealthy society, where rejuvenation allows its citizens to live for centuries.

When astronomer Dudley Bose observes a star over a thousand light years away vanish, imprisoned inside a force field of immense size, the Commonwealth is anxious to discover what actually happened. As conventional wormholes can't reach that far, they must build the first faster-than-light starship. Captained by Wilson Kime, an ex-NASA astronaut a little too eager to relive his old glory days, the Second Chance sets off on its historic voyage of discovery.

But someone or something out there must have had a very good reason for sealing off an entire star system. And if the Second Chance finds a way in, what might be let out?

That was a great write up for Pandora's Star, now I really want to read the book.

That is an excellent book. One of my favorites. It's full of fascinating ideas and concepts against the backdrop of an exciting story.

I've also added links for the other books I listed..

"Dune" - (and the entire Dune Chronicles) Frank Herbert
"Bloom" - Wil McCarthy
"Seeker" - Jack McDevit
"3001" - Arthur C. Clarke

~String

That is an excellent book. One of my favorites. It's full of fascinating ideas and concepts against the backdrop of an exciting story.

I've also added links for the other books I listed..

It seems we share a common taste in SciFi and of all your recomendations the only one I haven't read yet was Pandora's Star. So thank you for that.

"Dune" - (and the entire Dune Chronicles) Frank Herbert
"Bloom" - Wil McCarthy
"Seeker" - Jack McDevit
"3001" - Arthur C. Clarke

~String
Of course, Dune. I cant believe nobody has mentioned it already. But would you recommend skipping 2001 and all the other novels in the series and jumping straight to 3001?

Regarding Jack McDevit, I've read The Engines of God and most it's sequels, but never read Seeker. I'll check it out.


It seems we share a common taste in SciFi and of all your recomendations the only one I haven't read yet was Pandora's Star. So thank you for that.
Have you read Old Man's War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Man's_War)?

Iain M Banks: The Player of Games, and Use of Weapons are works of sublime genius. Not exactly space-opera though.

And the Sten Chronicles (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sten_Chronicles) are good if you like a military-esque story... 8 books by Allan Cole and the late Chris Bunch.

Also, in the vein of Hornblower... the Seafort Saga (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seafort_Saga) (Midshipman's Hope, Challenger's Hope etc) by David Feintuch are good light reading.


But if you're looking for a standout book that had me reading it almost in a single sitting: "Ender's Game (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game)" by Orson Scott Card. Spellbinding.

But would you recommend skipping 2001 and all the other novels in the series and jumping straight to 3001?

No. I just loved 3001. It wasn't action packed. . . but I loved it nonetheless. I loved Clarke's view of a utopian future.

~String

Just insta-Kindled "Pandora's Star" on your testimony, Mad.

I've been looking for a good Scifi book and I hope this is it.

Though, I hated everything Niven (another writer you liked) ever wrote.

~String

Just insta-Kindled "Pandora's Star" on your testimony, Mad.

I've been looking for a good Scifi book and I hope this is it.

Though, I hated everything Niven (another writer you liked) ever wrote.

~String
Hope you like it. It's one of my favorites. If you do, although it's definitely a complete story all by itself, it is also part a a series called The commonwealth saga.

Ever read any F Paul Wilson? I like two of his books. One is Black Wind (http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/books/related/wilson/index.htm). The other is The LaNague Chronicles (http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/399109.Lanague_Chronicles).

Why does that not sound right? XD

I read most of Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke as a kid. A lot of good stuff there. In his later years, Clarke took to writing in collaboration with others, and the results weren't as good. As well as writing SciFi, both Clarke and Asimov wrote a lot of science non-fiction for general readers - that is also well worth reading. Both of these guys inspired my interest in science.

Off the top of my head, the best current SF authors are British.

Peter F. Hamilton's first series consisting of The Reality Disfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist and The Naked God is great space opera, albeit with a bit too much fixation on the sex lives and interests of the various characters. Hamilton's next series has been mentioned previously in this thread.

Iain M. Bank's Culture novels are all good fun, though more cerebral than Hamilton's. Banks is the thinking person's SF writer. His Culture takes the idea of a libertarian, technologically advanced society to its logical conclusion. The vast majority of humans in the Culture do nothing except amuse themselves. The society is overseen by AIs, and protected by them where necessary. The novels themselves usually involve some type of AI-led intervention by the Culture in the affairs of some less advanced society - technically a no-no as the Culture supposedly follows something like the "Prime Directive" of Star Trek. But when there are Special Circumstances...

If you want to start at the start with Banks, try Consider Phlebas.Excession is another one that sticks in the mind, as is The Player of Games.

Charles Stross.

http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm

My favorite scifi book of all time has got to be "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Verner Vinge. The universe he creates is so complex and deep, and sucks you in completely.

I agree with a lot of the other suggestions including the Foundation series, Dune, and some of the Heinlein books. I should check out Pandora's Star.

Finished The Stars my Destination the other day. Thanks Repo Man it was quite nice, and actually ended with what I thought was a clear message to the reader.

:edit: I believe I will move onto Pandora's Star next, or A Fire Upon the Deep. :edit:

Here's a link to show you more Sci Fi books that are available today. I've not read them all but they all look interesting. :)

http://books.google.com/ebooks?as_brr=5&q=best+science+fiction+books&as_sub=&oq=science+fiction+books

Hey it's me apoloto!
So, I would like to know what kind of Scifi books you would recommend:confused:, because I am a huge fan of the genre. Now, first of all, don't post any of the books listed, because I have already read them:

Jurassic Park
The Andromeda Strain
The Lost World
Timeline
The Time Quartet (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, & Many Waters)
Double Helix
The Maze Runner
The Hunger Games
The Giver

I hope that you recommend some really good reads!

Well, I'm writing a sci-fi book right now! But I can hardly recommend it, seeing as it is not yet complete!

The Old Man and the Wasteland

99 cents on Amazon for kindle! What a great post-apocalyptic novel. Takes place in the American southwest after terrorists blow up almost all major American cities with nukes.

The Old Man and the Wasteland

99 cents on Amazon for kindle! What a great post-apocalyptic novel. Takes place in the American southwest after terrorists blow up almost all major American cities with nukes.

Also post-apocalyptic A Boy and His Dog is quite entertaining.

Synopsis: Based on the novella by Harlan Ellison, A Boy and His Dog is set in a post-apocalyptic future where canned goods are used as currency and where entertainment often consists of old porn reels. Vic (Don Johnson) is a violent, illiterate scavenger, principally interested in getting laid. He communicates telepathically with his deceptively cute-looking dog Blood (voiced by Tim McIntire); Vic finds food for Blood, while Blood sniffs out girls for Vic. One of these girls is the sexy Quilla June (Susanne Benton), who, unbeknownst to Vic is a spy for an underground society, headed by a Mr. Craddock (Jason Robards Jr.). This subterranean civilization needs a human "sperm bank" to stay alive, and the oversexed Vic fills the bill. Produced by character actor Alvy Moore (Mr. Kimball of TV's Green Acres), A Boy and His Dog was written and directed by another veteran actor, L.Q. Jones

Also post-apocalyptic A Boy and His Dog is quite entertaining.

Why does that sound like a porno?

Why does that sound like a porno?

It's not. But a dog like that would be worth more than it's weight in gold.:D

I've got to add another one to this, Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

All three of his Takeshi Kovacs books (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies are worth it.
Black Man isn't so good, Market Forces even worse, but his new fantasy series (only The Steel Remains out so far) is pretty good.

All three of his Takeshi Kovacs books (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies are worth it.
Black Man isn't so good, Market Forces even worse, but his new fantasy series (only The Steel Remains out so far) is pretty good.

hmmm... tried to buy his books ( the ones you recommend ) all sold out

hard and soft

try later

the Dune series by Frank Herbert

Wow this is the only thread I have that isn't dead yet lol

I once had a book list but lost it :L

'The Dispossessed' by Ursula Le Guin
'Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley
'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress' by Robert a. Heinlein
'The Land of Laughs' by Johnathan Carroll

Reading 'The Land of Laughs' right now and thoroughly enjoying it. Johnathan Carroll's descriptions are succulent and full of substance. His writing is like a modern Borges.

Hey it's me apoloto!
So, I would like to know what kind of Scifi books you would recommend

I hope that you recommend some really good reads!

I think some of these have been mentioned, but...

Dune - Frank Herbert
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire - Isaac Asimov
The End of Eternity - Isaac Asimov
Gateway - Frederik Pohl
Beyond the Blue Event Horizon - Frederik Pohl
Something Wicked This Way Comes - Ray Bradbury
A Canticle for Leibowitz - William Miller
Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein

So many others...

I would suggest the world war/colonization books by harry turtledove. sorta alternate history but really sci-fi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar

All of these are very fine science fiction, but let's not forget the granddaddy of them all: Herbert George Wells. Given his era, it's amazing that anyone could have anticipated so much. Where are the likes of H.G. Wells today? I think it's barely possible for one person to know/keep up with all the aspects of modern science well enough for such a genius to exist.

A few years back I read of the discovery of a previously unknown H.G. Wells novel, but haven't heard anything since. The hero lived in the distant future world of the 1960s :eek:. It was an impersonal world of over urbanization, monstrously tall buildings, prohibitively expensive self-propelled horseless carriages. The hero was a down and out 'poet' wandering bleakly through this brave new world. I tell you, the man was a prophet! (Does anyone have more info on this novel, please?)

Incidentally, below are photos of H.G. and his great grandson Simon Wells who directed the 2002 film The Time Machine It amazes me how much people resemble their ancestors. Even I, when I see photos of my ancestors from the 19th century, people I don't even know the names of, I think "Oh! Oh!" Somehow they are as familiar as my own brothers and sisters. It's amazing! But, I suppose to be expected.



http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JwellsH.jpghttp://www.superiorpics.com/hs/simon_wells/main1.jpg

I would suggest the world war/colonization books by harry turtledove. sorta alternate history but really sci-fi.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldwar
I loved those, but don't forget his earlier novel, The guns of the south.


http://library.risingshadow.net/images/books/5933.jpg

Racist time travelers give the South machine guns during the US civil war.

That looks interesting Mad! Those bastards!

I'm reading Hellstrom's Hive, by Frank Herbert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellstrom%27s_Hive

Calculating God, by Robert Sawyer

http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/3-2.jpg?w=239&h=350

The novel opens as a vaguely spider-like alien — a Forhilnor named Hollus — lands in the courtyard of the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto. Hollus promptly scuttles up to the information desk and asks to speak to a paleontologist.

http://www.bewilderingstories.com/issue78/calculating_god_review.html

http://www.luxurylaunches.com/entry_images/0611/30/First-edition-Charles-Darwin-book-1.jpg

http://www.luxurylaunches.com/entry_images/0611/30/First-edition-Charles-Darwin-book-1.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6i5WK8lXsGs/TN2fJ73H_nI/AAAAAAAAAN0/3fG7r0K5Mdc/s400/holy-bible.jpg

http://www.judgingabookbyitscover.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land-bookcover.jpg

Uh, John Ringo has a really good trilogy if you're into aliens and sci-fi warfare: Live Free Or Die, Citadel, and The Hot Gate.

All of these are very fine science fiction, but let's not forget the granddaddy of them all: Herbert George Wells. Given his era, it's amazing that anyone could have anticipated so much. Where are the likes of H.G. Wells today? I think it's barely possible for one person to know/keep up with all the aspects of modern science well enough for such a genius to exist.

A few years back I read of the discovery of a previously unknown H.G. Wells novel, but haven't heard anything since. The hero lived in the distant future world of the 1960s :eek:. It was an impersonal world of over urbanization, monstrously tall buildings, prohibitively expensive self-propelled horseless carriages. The hero was a down and out 'poet' wandering bleakly through this brave new world. I tell you, the man was a prophet! (Does anyone have more info on this novel, please?)

Incidentally, below are photos of H.G. and his great grandson Simon Wells who directed the 2002 film The Time Machine It amazes me how much people resemble their ancestors. Even I, when I see photos of my ancestors from the 19th century, people I don't even know the names of, I think "Oh! Oh!" Somehow they are as familiar as my own brothers and sisters. It's amazing! But, I suppose to be expected.



http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JwellsH.jpghttp://www.superiorpics.com/hs/simon_wells/main1.jpg

Hey. Sorry. I'm just quoting my own post again because I can't edit it anymore. It seems the copyright holders pulled the photo of Simon Wells that I had here so you could compare him to his great grandfather. No matter. If you look at this link, you can see what I mean:
http://www.superiorpics.com/simon_wells/
Um...now the image is back again. I don't get it..

Uh, John Ringo has a really good trilogy if you're into aliens and sci-fi warfare: Live Free Or Die, Citadel, and The Hot Gate.
I just read that. It was entertaining. I wonder how feasible "ballooning" an asteroid really is?

I strongly suggest The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God by Mary Doria Russell. I would love for them to be made into movies, but it wouldn't do them justice

I dont know how much is fiction vs. non-fiction...but the descriptions of alien worlds and culture by Lou Baldin is the most bizarre and thought provoking info I've ever encountered. Better than any sci-fi you will ever read.

http://ufo-forum.2292404.n4.nabble.com/file/n4401208/Sleeper_Quotes_by_Topic.pdf

http://ufolou.com

I don't know how much is fiction vs. non-fiction...but the descriptions of alien worlds and culture by Lou Baldin is the most bizarre and thought provoking info I've ever encountered. Better than any sci-fi you will ever read.

You can't be serious? I had a look at the PDF and it's absolute drivel. All I saw was the usual 'I was kidnapped by aliens' nonsense and drivel, drivel and more drivel. Also I think you're off the topic. The writer seems to believe his account is not fiction. This thread asks for science fiction recommendations Yes, good science fiction ought to be though provoking, and makes no pretension of being real even when it purports to predict. Let's stick with the topic please..

All I saw was the usual 'I was kidnapped by aliens' nonsense...
You probably didnt read more than the intro...the rest is over 90 pages.

Theres another compilation of his narratives over 500 pages.

If Baldin is making it up he's definitely the most imaginative sci-fi writer of all time.

I scanned it from beginning to end. I couldn't read very far into any section because it was such hackneyed drivel, and obviously written by an uneducated person. He's not imaginative at all, just regurgitative.

If Baldin is making it up he's definitely the most imaginative sci-fi writer of all time.

Oh, I don't know... I thought it was a toss up between Ron L. Hubbard and George Lucas. http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/65.gif



One created iconic and very profitable movie making ventures but failed at religion. The other created an asinine and very profitable religion but failed at movie making.

"Spin" by Robert Charles Wilson is an excellent work of science fiction. He tends to live on the "hard" side of the genre, which I know is important for a lot of readers. It's actually the first in the trilogy, but the books get less interesting as they go. I'm reading "Vortex," which is the final book, and it's a real slog. But Spin is absolutely tremendous.

Does "Spin", as a stand-alone story, have a decent enough payoff - or do you need to work your way through the trilogy to actually get to a satisfactory conclusion, even if the journey is a slog?

Does "Spin", as a stand-alone story, have a decent enough payoff - or do you need to work your way through the trilogy to actually get to a satisfactory conclusion, even if the journey is a slog?

Sorry it has taken so long to respond, I should have looked earlier. Because the human conflicts are all resolved by the end, Spin works perfectly well as a standalone novel. In fact, (mild spoiler ahead) you only encounter one character from Spin in the sequel, and only two from the sequel appear in the third. The series is really only connected by the central issue facing humanity.

It really is a tremendous book. Even if you don't plan on reading the rest, read that one. It has that sensawunda all great sci-fi stories need, and the kind of human drama you just don't find in genre fiction.

I finished reading "A Fire Upon the Deep." I would recommend it and I just wanted herbbread to know he had an inadvertent influence on my dog's name (Scriber Jaqueramaphan, a 7 month old border collie). Anyway, I also read "The Grand Design" which isn't science fiction but was interesting nonetheless.

Just finished "Vortex," and the second half of the book is much better than the first-half. The ending is particularly strong, leaving me to wonder where the hell his narrative voice was for the first 170 pages. I think maybe I'll give a try to "A Fire Upon the Deep" as ScribJellyDonut suggests above. Any other ideas?