Favorite Science Fiction Books

[aramis]

And returns things to the way they were in the 1930s-early 1960s, when the terms were used fairly interchangeably.

For example, I have a copy of the 1961 Ace printing of Andre Norton's Galactic Derelict (original publication 1959) that has at the top of the front cover the following blurb:

So, in 1961 a novel about a US time-travel team that goes back about 12,000 years, brings an intact alien starship back to our time (~1975 in the story), and end up making a voyage to 3 different alien worlds (using a hyper-drive) before finally getting back to Earth... this is described as a "Fantasy'!

Most librarians I've encountered are rejecting the change. Locally, only one branch of the public library has embraced it (and the assistant librarians of that branch deride that decision); the others still separate out Fantasy from Sci-Fi and both from Cyberpunk... because people want to be able to find stuff they like, and the distinction is often important.

Even the subgenres are important. I'll read space opera and military sci-fi (hardish or hard), but don't much care for modern cyberpunk. I like my fantasy either really gonzo & humourous, or of the "Snatched from Earth" variety.

 

[Marchand]

Dune, Frank Herbert
Foundation, Isaac Asimov
Redemption Ark, Alastair Reynolds
Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon
Player of Games, Iain M. Banks

- Edited to swap in PoG for another book which I won't name in case people think I'm trying to cheat and have 6.

 

[Marchand]

the others still separate out Fantasy from Sci-Fi and both from Cyberpunk...

So did they stop breaking out sub-genres in about 1986? The modern sub-genres I'm aware of are new space opera (Reynolds, Hamilton etc.) or transhumanist (the latter not my cup of nano-tea).

 

[Ref00000]

picks for top sci fi, do trilogies count as one?

The Stars My Destination.
A.Bester.

Nova
S.R.Delany

Anathem
N.Stephenson

The Sprawl Trilogy
W.Gibson

Voice of The Whirlwind
W.J.Williams

 

[Highorbit_drifter]

Stations of the Tide - Swanwick

Dune - Herbert

The Face - Vance

Fountains of Paradise - Clarke

Mote in God's Eye - Niven and Pournelle

Although it is hard to narrow it down to five

 

[Golan2072]

My Five:
1) Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy
2) Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos
3) Frank Herbert's Dune
4) Larry Niven's Ringworld
5) Arthur C. Clarke's Songs of a Distant Earth

 

[MichaelSTee]

I prefer reading a series, to reading a stand-alone book (although there are lots of great stand-alone books), so I will list favorite series that get me in the mood for space opera star-hopping, in no certain order:

Known Space (especially Ringworld and the recent Puppeteers books) by Niven
Mote in God's Eye, Gripping Hand, King David's Spaceship by Pournelle and Niven
The Chanur series by CJ Cherryh (always wondered about having the Kif in Traveller!)
Startide Rising, Uplift War by David Brin
Space Viking, and the Fuzzy series, by H Beam Piper

When I first discovered Traveller, I used it with those books above to fuel my imagination.

 

[Kilgs]

Only five... dang. How about authors?

Falkenberg's Legion/series (Pournelle and Niven)

Starship Troopers/Moon Is A Harsh Mistress (Heinlein)

The Heritage Trilogy (Ian Douglas)

The Praxis (Walter Jon Williams)

Star Viking/Fuzzy (H. B. Piper)

 

[BlackBat242]

The Chanur series by CJ Cherryh (always wondered about having the Kif in Traveller!)

As have I... I've not tried to write them up myself, I'd need to re-read the series again first.

 

[Ran Targas]

Like everyone else it seems, I count DUNE as one of my top five. The others are THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE, STARSHIP TROOPERS, A FIRE UPON THE DEEP, and ENDER'S GAME.

 

[Quint]

I'm cheating and listing a set of series...

Dune series by Frank Herbert

Tales of the Continuing Time series by Daniel Keys Moran

Vorkosigan series by Lois McMaster Bujold

Honor Harrington series by David Weber

Dumarest of Terra series by E.C. Tubb

 

[Timerover51]

While Fritz Leiber is probably better known for his Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series, which are one of my favorites, he also wrote some pretty good science fiction. Project Gutenberg has just posted one of the best short science fiction stories ever written, by Fritz.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51461/51461-h/51461-h.htm

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber

 

[Vargr Breath]

Hi
1. The Engines of God - Jack McDevitt
2. A Deepness in the Sky - Vernor Vinge
3. The Mote in Gods Eye - Larry Niven
4. Use of Weapons - Iain M Banks
5. Berserker - Fred Saberhagen

 

[creativehum]

Getting it down to five is... well, impossible. But given the rules, at the moment:

1. Dune -- Frank Herbert
2. Book of the New Sun (kind of a cheat, as it is four books, but they form a whole) -- Gene Wolfe
3. The War of the Worlds -- H. G. Wells
4. Beasts -- John Crowley
5. Millennium -- Ben Bova

 

[jcrocker]

Some authors seem to have just too many books to narrow it down to one.

Almost anything by Isaac Asimov.

The Uplift series by David Brin.

Almost anything by Arthur C. Clarke.

Several good Star Trek books by Diane Duane.

Almost anything by H. Beam Piper.

 

[nobby-w]

Frank Herbert: Dune. Not light reading by any means, but a very good story.
Joe Haldeman: The Forever War. Probably my all-time favourite sci-fi story.
Walter M Miller Jr: A Canticle for Leibowitz. Unique and deserving of its status as an all-time classic.
Niven & Pournelle: Footfall. Independence Day for grown-ups. The only serious attempt at combining hard sci-fi with the aliens-invade-earth theme and the best alien invasion novel I've ever read.
Robert Heinlein: Starship Troopers. Toss-up between that, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Stranger in a Strange Land. Had to pick one.

Honorable Mention - Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun. Closer to Fantasy than sci-fi and actually 4 volumes, but nonetheless very good indeed.

 

[creativehum]

Gene Wolfe: The Book of the New Sun. Closer to Fantasy than sci-fi and actually 4 volumes, but nonetheless very good indeed.

While the tropes of BotNS are often fantasy-like, Wolfe is really pushing Clarke's Law all the way to the limit. Everything in the books are notions from countless SF novels: advances in genetics, advances in physics, interstellar traveller, teleportation, interstellar civilization and politics, the rise and fall of civilizations, warfare with advanced weapons... but it is all done from the point-of-view of someone looking at ancient artifacts that are often unknown to him and without full understanding. Thus, a sense of wonder is born.

If anyone is looking for ideas about those higher Level Tech levels in Traveller, what Wolfe has created is a cool place to start. The feel runs completely counter to the more grounded, mundane, and conservative feel of the SF in Traveller... but I think that would be the point.

 

[robject]

The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt (have to re-mention it)
Also have to re-mention Canticle for Leibowitz.
Citizen of the Galaxy by Heinlein
Kalin by E.C. Tubb
Starhammer by Christopher Rowley


(Already mentioned by others: Mote, Solar Queen series, Cosmic Computer by Piper, Dune, Starship Troopers)

 

[JFGarber]

The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Pail of Air, by Fritz Leiber

Read that when I was a kid. Still remember it. Still gives me the creeps.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Citizen of the Galaxy by Heinlein

I've always wondered if George Lucas read this before writing Star Wars.