Best Sci-fi novel (1 Viewer)

[Combat]

Thats Sci-fi not Sy Fy. Without getting into a big debate on what constitutes "science fiction" - the poll is suggestive only.

 

[lancer]

There are many worthy of the "best" title. I nominate, hands down, best ever, Frank Herbert's "Dune". The three original Dune novels (Dune, Dune Messiah, Children of Dune) are unrivaled in depth and scope. I have read these books on order of 2 dozen times and I still get something out of them that makes me keep returning time and again. Just superb. -- lancer

 

[DMNamiot]

Hi there,

I was sort of surprised you left out War of the Worlds. The book and the radio show are amazing. I also have enjoyed many of the works of Robert Heinlen whose books are just amazing! Unfortunately they made a horrid movie of his Star Ship Troopers. The movie was a far cry from the book. If you get the chance read some of his books. HG Wells books are also great and were a great deal of fun to read.

Dave

 

[pugio]

From my childhood- Any book in the John Carter of Mars series by E R Burroughs. The greatest quote in any SF book.... "Stay my chieftain, I love you" (A Princess of Mars)

 

[Spitfrnd]

Great subject and one of my favorite genres but there are so many classics to chose from I could not begin to pick just one. You have several of them listed but there are a number of my favorites missing. My top 27 but not in any particular order would be something like this:

Frank Herbert Dune 1965
Isaac Asimov Foundation 1951
George Orwell 1984 1949
Robert A Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land 1961
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 1954
Arthur C Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
Isaac Asimov I, Robot 1950
Orson Scott Card Ender's Game 1985
Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968
Robert A Heinlein Starship Troopers 1959
Larry Niven Ringworld 1970
Aldous Huxley Brave New World 1932
Arthur C Clarke Rendezvous With Rama 1973
H G Wells The Time Machine 1895
Robert A Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966
Arthur C Clarke Childhood's End 1954
H G Wells The War of the Worlds 1898
Michael Crichton Jurassic Park 1990
L Ron Hubbard Battlefield Earth 1982
Harry Harrison The Stainless Steel Rat 1961
Michael Crichton The Andromeda Strain 1969
Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles 1950
Frederik Pohl Gateway 1977
Ursula K Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven 1971
Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars 1912
Kurt Vonnegut The Sirens of Titan 1950
Kim Stanley Robinson Red Mars 1992

 

[lancer]

Spitfrnd, great list. I have read 2/3 of them but I see the one you listed first (not in order, or is it?) and I couldn't agree more. How can a reader not enjoy a genre that allows the writer to do anything, as long as the writer is good? -- Al

 

[Spitfrnd]

Spitfrnd, great list. I have read 2/3 of them but I see the one you listed first (not in order, or is it?) and I couldn't agree more. How can a reader not enjoy a genre that allows the writer to do anything, as long as the writer is good? -- Al

Very true. Even Star Trek did that by presenting thorny social issues that the Networks would have banned from a contemporary or historical program. Yes Dune is in fact one of my most favorites.

 

[fmethorst]

Great subject and one of my favorite genres but there are so many classics to chose from I could not begin to pick just one. You have several of them listed but there are a number of my favorites missing. My top 27 but not in any particular order would be something like this:

Frank Herbert Dune 1965
Isaac Asimov Foundation 1951
George Orwell 1984 1949
Robert A Heinlein Stranger in a Strange Land 1961
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451 1954
Arthur C Clarke 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968
Isaac Asimov I, Robot 1950
Orson Scott Card Ender's Game 1985
Philip K Dick Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? 1968
Robert A Heinlein Starship Troopers 1959
Larry Niven Ringworld 1970
Aldous Huxley Brave New World 1932
Arthur C Clarke Rendezvous With Rama 1973
H G Wells The Time Machine 1895
Robert A Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress 1966
Arthur C Clarke Childhood's End 1954
H G Wells The War of the Worlds 1898
Michael Crichton Jurassic Park 1990
L Ron Hubbard Battlefield Earth 1982
Harry Harrison The Stainless Steel Rat 1961
Michael Crichton The Andromeda Strain 1969
Ray Bradbury The Martian Chronicles 1950
Frederik Pohl Gateway 1977
Ursula K Le Guin The Lathe of Heaven 1971
Edgar Rice Burroughs A Princess of Mars 1912
Kurt Vonnegut The Sirens of Titan 1950
Kim Stanley Robinson Red Mars 1992

This is an awesome list. I simply can't choose. I always have trouble when someone asks for my "favorites" regardless of topic since this in constant flux. I really enjoy the Dune series including the prequels/sequels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. It is such a rich universe covering such a long time span. I think the only imagined world that outdoes it are the fantasy works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Larry Niven is one of my all time favorite Sci-Fi authors with classic short stories like "Neutron Star".

I think an honorable mention has to go to Douglas Adams for "A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" I don't think it gets much better than some of the things that come out of the depressed robot Marvin's "mouth"

 

[redhugh]

To Your Scattered Bodies Go (1971) by Philip José Farmer. was a great read and I thought quite original.
They did a cheap film on it called riverworld which I turned off after 10 minutes

 

[Eazy]

I like 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman.
It's about a war between earth and an alien race that takes place over vast distances and times. By the time a soldier returns from a tour many years will have passed on earth.
Events will have moved on and in fact the war may be over by the time the soldiers arrive on their mission though they won't even know it.

 

[Spitfrnd]

I like 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman.
It's about a war between earth and an alien race that takes place over vast distances and times. By the time a soldier returns from a tour many years will have passed on earth.
Events will have moved on and in fact the war may be over by the time the soldiers arrive on their mission though they won't even know it.

I like that one too; the problem with any choices for this topic is that there are more.

A current fun SciFi series that I am enjoying a great deal is The Lost Fleet Series by John Hemry, a retired Naval officer who writes under the name of Jack Campbell. It is about a young naval officer who fights an incredible space battle against enormous odds and saves his convoy from an enemy sneak attack for the lost of his ship. He survives in an escape pod and enters survival sleep where he remains until rescued 100 years later by his sides fleet fighting the same war. In quick order he discovers he is a legendary hero, has been posthumously promoted to fleet captain and may soon have to take command of a strange fleet in deep trouble to avert a complete disaster. It is a well written space opera with nice pace and intelligent action. There are currently 5 books in the series with one on the way.
http://www.johnghemry.com/
Don't be dissuaded by the covers, they bear no relation to the books.

 

[Eazy]

I like that one too; the problem with any choices for this topic is that there are more.

A current fun SciFi series that I am enjoying a great deal is The Lost Fleet Series by John Hemry, a retired Naval officer who writes under the name of Jack Campbell. It is about a young naval officer who fights an incredible space battle against enormous odds and saves his convoy from an enemy sneak attack for the lost of his ship. He survives in an escape pod and enters survival sleep where he remains until rescued 100 years later by his sides fleet fighting the same war. In quick order he discovers he is a legendary hero, has been posthumously promoted to fleet captain and may soon have to take command of a strange fleet in deep trouble to avert a complete disaster. It is a well written space opera with nice pace and intelligent action. There are currently 5 books in the series with one on the way.
http://www.johnghemry.com/
Don't be dissuaded by the covers, they bear no relation to the books.

I like the sound of those books - i'll look them up. Cheers.

 

[theBaron]

I agree with the general opinion that the poll list is good but omits a lot, and I like Spitfrnd's list, I've read almost all of those.

Generally, I'd go by author, and say that my favorites are Bradbury, Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov and Dick, and Michael Crichton. I like the way Clarke and Crichton wrote plausible science fiction, that is, stories based on reasonable extrapolations of current knowledge.

I'd also include Vonnegut, not just for Sirens of Titan, but also for Slaughterhouse Five, Slapstick, his more recent Timequake, Cat's Cradle, and the remarkably prescient short story, "The Big Space F**k" (look it up, I'm not making that up). The story is set in an America in the near future-from his vantage point, the 1990's, I think-where profanity is so casual as to be meaningless, and society had become ridiculously litigious. Of course, Vonnegut contributed consciously to bringing the former about.

Another great story of Vonnegut's is "Harrison Bergeron", which predicts the politically correct society driven by group politics and the politics of victimhood that we have today. Great story, and not half as absurd as it sounds when you read it.

And one more favorite of mine, which I re-read often, is Walter Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz. It's premise is that in a second Dark Age, in the aftermath of the nuclear war that everyone feared after 1949, civilization is again kept alive by the Church, and the novel follows how we rise again, but still haven't learned the lessons. An excellent book, and it, too, deals with some of the issues facing us today (eg, state-sponsored euthanasia).

Prost!
Brad

 

[OzDigger]

I have read most of the books on the list and especially liked the Dune series. But what about more recent Sci Fi books, any recommendations there.


If you are into war style sci fi novels I recommend two novels by Eric Nyland based on the Halo games.

Halo: Fall of Reach http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_The_Fall_of_Reach

Halo: First Strike: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo:_First_Strike

 

[lancer]

There also some very good end of earth type titles. "I Am Legend", "Lucifer's Hammer", "When World's Collide", "Earth Abides", and "On the Beach" right off the top of my head. You all may laugh at me, but the "swords and sorcery" genre has some good stuff too, although it is not sci-fi, I suppose. R.E. Howard with his classic Conan is the best at it, IMHO. Many scoff at this genre but Howard has done some terrific work, Conan and non-Conan. Well worth investigating if you like adventure fiction. -- lancer

 

[Spitfrnd]

Two contemporary military science fiction writers are quite worth noting:
David Weber for the most excellent Honor Harrington series and Fred Saberhagen (1930-2007) for the Berserker series. Both do an entertaining and credible job of describing space engagements of the distant future. Of course Honor is a female but she makes Rambo seem like a ballerina. I have read both series a few times now.

 

[Louis Badolato]

Two contemporary military science fiction writers are quite worth noting:
David Weber for the most excellent Honor Harrington series and Fred Saberhagen (1930-2007) for the Berserker series. Both do an entertaining and credible job of describing space engagements of the distant future. Of course Honor is a female but she makes Rambo seem like a ballerina. I have read both series a few times now.

I completely agree on Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series. They were among my favorites as a teenager.

 

[Mardasson]

I like 'The Forever War' by Joe Haldeman.
It's about a war between earth and an alien race that takes place over vast distances and times. By the time a soldier returns from a tour many years will have passed on earth.
Events will have moved on and in fact the war may be over by the time the soldiers arrive on their mission though they won't even know it.

It is also my preferred sci-fi book !
I also enjoyed the comics version of it (available in French).
Michel