Tumbleweed on 9/2/2006 at 13:48
HTML:
<ignatios> Alternatively, should I read the Dune, Dark Tower, or Foundation trilogy next?
<Tumbleweed> Dune.
<Tumbleweed> Dune Dune Duney Dune
<Tumbleweed> JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONE
<Tumbleweed> (Dune)
<ignatios> So far, Dune leads with 7 votes
Naartjie on 9/2/2006 at 14:35
Quote:
Originally posted by Subjective Effect:Hit me up with it's top 5 sci-fi and fantasy choices please. I want to see if I'll like it.
It's not that easy to pick out a top 5 as apart from the fact that Moorcock doesn't attempt to do this himself, the book is a collection of essays on different aspects of the genre and as such so many names are dropped that to valuate them as such is a bit of a false exercise. Suffice to say that if your interest in epic fantasy extends beyond just enjoying the books, you won't get a better introduction to its origins nor a better guided tour around some of the best on offer :)
Having said that, since reading W & WR I've gone on to enjoy
A Journey to Arcturus by Robert Lindsay,
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake (which had somehow bypassed me) as well as a few others, and am currently eyeing up the
Conan chronicles by Robert E Howard.
davpod on 9/2/2006 at 18:02
Something I haven't seen mentioned here, but which I loved reading when I was younger are the Chung Kuo series of books by David Wingrove. If you like your sci-fi epic, overblown, violent, frequently tasteless, and set in a future Earth where China rules all, then I guess you'll like these.
There are eight books in all and, although it kind of loses its way a bit (okay a LOT) towards the end of the series, it's a great ride while it lasts. Kind of difficult to get hold of in the US so I hear though.
Naartjie on 9/2/2006 at 18:07
One more point about the above - If you're a fan of either Tolkien and/or C.S. Lewis beware that both come in for a fairly serious critical mauling in W & WR. Despite liking both men on a personal basis, Moorcock categorically does not admire them as authors and doesn't pull any punches in saying so!
Moghedian on 9/2/2006 at 23:03
Cuckoo's Egg by C.J. Cherryh was an excellent book. It starts off sort of as a fantasy novel, then goes sci fi.
Scots Taffer on 9/2/2006 at 23:47
The Dark Tower series looks interesting but self-indulgent, and the first book was written really, really poorly so I think I'll never get around to that one.
Aerothorn on 10/2/2006 at 05:12
I am shock and horrified that Snow Crash was only mentioned once in this thread. Suffice it to say that I'm about to reread it, and I NEVER re-read books - I think the last book I re-read was The Phantom Tollbooth about 6 years ago. I brought it in to read an excerpt in Creative Writing class for books with excellent writing. The great thing about it is it is just FUN - it's the kind of book that you'd think the critics would hate because it's just too damn fun to be good literature. But then it was one of the few sci-fi books (and one of the most recent books) on Time's Top 100 Novels list.
Apart from that, I second The Forever War - it's really a timeless book (though I know a friend of mine did find the homosexuality part of it dated, I didn't) and just a lot of fun.
For 'literary fiction', try Never Let Me Go - it is sci-fi, but from a more down to earth perspective. If you do read it, don't look it up; every review spoils 'the secret' and it's more fun if you figure it out yourself.
The Diamond Age is good if you're looking for a lot of food for thought.
This Is The Way the World Ends by James Morrow is quite good post-apocalyptic fiction.
Aja on 10/2/2006 at 05:36
That link isn't from amazon itself, it's for the amazon marketplace.
ignatios on 10/2/2006 at 13:00
So? Order it anyway you big baby
Dia on 10/2/2006 at 14:19
-C.J. Cherryh's 'Foreigner' series; her best to date (also 'Downbelow Station)
-Mark Tiedeman's 'Mirage' series (reminiscent of Asimov)
-Anything by Asimov
-Arthur C. Clark's 'Rama' series
-Jack McDevitt (anything by him!)
-Alan Dean Foster
-Ben Bova
-David Brin
-Frank Herbert
-Brian Herbert
-Dan Simmons
-William C. Dietz
-Verner Vinge's 'Zones of Thought' series
