Best SF Novels Ever Written

[Pyrotex]

Then I take it that you understand the importance of Lime Jello?

:hihi: hunh?

[TheFaithfulStone]

Hey Pyro, did you hear that joke about the hipster?

 

No?

 

Pshht.

 

 

tfs

[Janus]

:hihi:

 

I see someone has been to the Sci-Fi cons :)

 

I've been known to filk in my time.

[IDMclean]

The Titan Trilogy by John Varley.

 

Character Play with Super computer/Intellegent habitat. Ring world.

 

Gaea is the Wheel, and the wheel turns round. Cirocco Jones and Gaby Plauget get marooned on an ancient alien lifeform calling itself Gaea. The trilogy follows thier adventures across this odd place/thing/being.

[Pyrotex]

The Titan Trilogy by John Varley....

ooooooooooooooooo :rolleyes: I like John Varley!

 

"Steel Beach" -- by John Varley

Mankind has lost the Earth to mysterious aliens who simply took it without firing a shot. The surviving humans live on various moon-bases and space stations in the solar system, but principally on the Moon, where this novel takes place. It opens with the line: "the penis is obsolete!"

 

This is a Heinleinesque world that could easily be a sequel to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Varley makes several obvious references to RAH. In this tale, there is a super-computer with a personality that controls most of the Lunar colony's utilities and functions, but it's not Mike; this one has emotional problems. The ever-growing society on the Moon is chaotic, super-high tech, a place where men can become women and vice versa with a simple operation in a beauty boutique, where dinosaurs are bred for meat, and no one ages if they don't want to. But it's not a happy place, for over their heads for all to see, is the Earth. And it belongs to someone (or something) else now.

[Kayra]

I hate to give ANY credit to Hubbard, but

 

"Battlefield Earth" was a book I reread untill it fell apart.

[Pyrotex]

I hate to give ANY credit to Hubbard, but "Battlefield Earth" was a book I reread untill it fell apart.

Then, by all means, DON'T give him any credit. I read it too. Once. The only RLH book I ever read, and I almost wish I hadn't. It was IMHO, one of the worst and most over-rated SF books ever.

 

Doc E. E. Smith wrote shoot-em-up, aliens and blaster-guns, destroy planets and save the galaxy Space Opera in the 1930's and IT WAS BAD. But it was infinitely better than "BFE". Johnny Goodboy has the education of our average third grader and no character, emotions or ambitions to speak of. He is a 2-D character--but all the other characters are 1-D. The aliens are nasty, ugly, and only conquer the galaxy because their mathematics is so arcanely, esoterically, twisted and complex (on purpose!) that they can't even TEACH the crap! But Johnny takes one glance and gets it.

 

clap. clap. clap. :cool: :rolleyes:

[Kayra]

He he

 

I agree on all fronts, but the book holds special meaning for me.

 

I guess that I should not have posted it here as one of the "Best SF Novels Ever Written" though.

[TheFaithfulStone]

Succinct review.

 

Is there a space octopus in BFE? I don't read anything by L. Ron Hubbard unless there's a space octopus in it.

 

TFS

[Kayra]

No space octopus, but they do like to stick a mechanical snake up their nose.. does that qualify?

 

 

Honestly though, do not bother. The book is 1,000 pages in paperback, and can get pretty slow at times.

[Pyrotex]

He he

I agree on all fronts, but the book holds special meaning for me.

I guess that I should not have posted it here as one of the "Best SF Novels Ever Written" though.

Well, to tell the truth, as gut-wrenchingly BAD as the book was, I could not stop reading it. I had to know how the wretched thing ended. Even such space/time-distortingly HORRIBLE "plot-tricks" as hiding in a lead coffin to survive a nuclear bomb detonation taking place only a few yards away, didn't stop me from reading on -- though I did lose my breakfast.

 

There should be a special thread for this book. But I don't know what to call it. My mama taught me to not talk like that. :cup:

[Tormod]

Among the best-ever books I have read I'd say almost anything by Stanislaw Lem. His writing was really different yet extraordinarily accessible. He wrote mostly about a crew of people, often stranded on some far away planet (with a mechanic working on their engines :confused: ) and the crew would explore the wicked life there. It often was more about humanity than aliens, which is true of the best SF IMHO.

[Pyrotex]

Among the best-ever books I have read I'd say almost anything by Stanislaw Lem. His writing was really different....

Your opinion is spot on. His book "Solaris" was one of the most emotionally wrenching, mind-blowing, intellect orgasming books I have ever read. His creativity is wayyyyyyyyy beyond the vast majority of SF writers.

[zadojla]

Like Turtle, I lost interest in SF decades ago, but I still read the occasional novel. I've read nearly every book already mentioned, and agree that they are all remarkable. We All Died at Breakaway Station was by Richard Meredeth. His book At the Narrow Passage was also good.

 

No one has yet mention John Brunner, The Sheep Look Up, Schockwave Rider, Stand on Zanzibar.

 

And what about David Brin, Startide Rising and Roger Zelazny(a very variable author), Lord of Light or Creatures of Light and Darkness?

[anglepose]

dum dum dum de de de dum dum dum de de de da da da du da daaaa du da daaa dooo dooo dooo do doo doooo do doo dooooo

 

STAR WARS

they are realy good sci fi novel and movies

 

but i prefer thrillers or horror like darren shan they are very good books

[Pyrotex]

:cup:

I forgot!!!

 

The Integral Trees by Larry Niven

A ship from Earth ("the State") comes upon a strange star. It is a neutron star with a ring of gas and debris in orbit. The gas contains a high percentage of oxygen, and chlorophyl is growing there. The radiance in the gas ring is just about what Earth receives from its Sun. The ship sends out scouting parties but they never come back. They love the zero-gee environment (and freedom from "the State"). But the ship is intelligent--and very patient.

[Nootropic]

Wow, I'm surprised no one ever mentioned Sagan (unless I happened to miss it). Contact is by far the best book I have ever read of any genre. It is the work of a genius, I say. I'm also partial to the Samaria Novels by Sharon Shinn are a fun read as well as Larry Niven's Ringworld. Spacecat was one of the first SF books I ever read, must say I enjoyed it.

 

Although they are not technically "books" per se, I thought the stories of the manga of RahXephon, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Megami Kouhosei were deeply imaginative.

 

Also, the Xenogears/Xenosaga stories from the videogames are, from what I've heard, based off some books? Never been able to find anything about them. But there is some good stuff in those plots.