SciFi discussion - Science Fiction

I just finished reading the book "Holywood Science" that looks at various Sci-Fi movies from the 1950s, '60s, '70s and '80 to determine how good the science was/wasn't. Many movies seemed to get things basically right but other went over-the-top.

Hi everyone,

I just joined Elsmar and scanned this thread. Here is a sci-fi suggestion that seems to have been overlooked. Read this a long time ago but it sure stuck as being one of the best ever:

Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos

This is a series of books that won the Hugo award.

Cheers,
Candu_88

I didn't go back to read all of the posts so if this repeats some of it....sry

I prefer fantasy or heroic fantasy (like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings) than sci-fi (which I like to compare to Star Wars type). It makes me mad that they get lumped in together because they are at opposite ends one is technology and the other is "myth" (for lack of a better word).

Stephen R. Donaldson, Raymond E Feist, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, and of course Tolkien are my favs. I have 1st edition hadback copies of all but Tolkien who wrote and printed before I became a fantasy geek.

Tolkien is a hard read but worth every bit if allow yoursef to get involved in the story. Brooks is the easiest read and very entertaining. I'm surprised he hasn't had a movie from his books.

Jordan died this year and didn't finish his story....he drug it out too long....I'm thinking he did hoping to prolong his death from disease. But it is such a fantastic story it is irritating to not see it end.

Goodkind just finished his series...something along the lines of 7 to 10 books.

There are several other authors that I read and collect that are in this genre and I am always looking for other writers.

IMHO...I haven't found a writer I like who won a Hugo....maybe it's just me.

Anyhow....if you are as interested in these books as I am....contact me...I'm always willing to get knee deep in a fantasy book discussion.

Candu_88 said:

Dan Simmons - Hyperion Cantos

Click to expand...

I'll second this recommendation. Amazing series of books.

Also, I just recently signed up for a linkedin-type site for books:

https://www.goodreads.com

Only a few months till the release of ST XI

Unfortunately, it has been published that ST: The Experience at the LV Hilton is susposedly going to SHUT DOWN in September!

palmer said:

Stephen R. Donaldson, Raymond E Feist, Robert Jordan, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, and of course Tolkien are my favs. I have 1st edition hadback copies of all but Tolkien who wrote and printed before I became a fantasy geek.

Tolkien is a hard read but worth every bit if allow yoursef to get involved in the story. Brooks is the easiest read and very entertaining. I'm surprised he hasn't had a movie from his books.

Click to expand...

Feist is probably my favorite author. When his books were being released in the U.K. before the U.S. I was ordering them off of Amazon.UK since I wasn't willing to wait another 2-3 months. While his last book was good, it seemed it a little rushed.

Some of the other series I've enjoyed:

The Elric Saga by Michael Moorecock
Conan (Robert E. Howard only. His short stories were also great.)
The Belgariad by Eddings
Thieve's World
Gord the Rogue series by Gary Gygax
Saberhagen's Book of Swords
R.A. Salvatore has a number of good books revolving around his character Drizz't.
Dragonlance Series


It is hard to find an author that can be consistent over several books.

Wayne

If you like Feist you'll love Terry Brooks. His first, The Sword of Shannara was written in 1976 and is a little slow to read. Every thing after that....awesome. He also wrote a series called Knight of the Word which involves our century but he is concluding the series with Shannara and tying them together....It has been incredible...IMHO.

His Shannara series are 3 or 4 books long and jump generations each series.

You'll love Terry Goodkind too.

There was a 3 book series called The Deeds of Paksinarian by a woman writer that was very, very good.

I read Eddings 1st 4 or 5 books and just couldn't stick with them. I don't have a good reason why.

I have not been able to read Salvatore either. My wife says I'm a fantasy book snob

Another series I like is The Green Rider by Kirstain Britain(sp?)

There are a couple of author's that are on the edge of my genre of fantasy that I would reccomend as well:

David McFarland the Earth King series

John Marco which is close to a realistic world and it's development w/o any scifi or fantasy. Strange concept of a world....

I've been a ST fan since the original series came out.
Steven Kings Gunslinger series I really enjoyed, very different from his other genre. The other series I liked was the Star Child Trilogy. I can't remember the author but I named one of the family pets after the lead character - Quadmonium Aristotle.