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MasterDRD wrote:It probably doesn't count as 'classic', but Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the greatest sci-fi novel ever written. Ever. Period.

Which goes to show that you don't read enough sci fi.

MasterDRD wrote:It probably doesn't count as 'classic', but Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the greatest sci-fi novel ever written. Ever. Period.

Enders Game was a masterpiece. Wouldn't call it the best ever but it does deserve mention in a thread about Scifi

Anne mc' caffrey

Julian May - Golden Torc series.

Heinlen - Starship Troopers etc

Harry Harrison - Deathworld series, Stainless Steel Rat

Larry Niven, Jerry Pournell - The Mote in Gods Eye

Asimov - Foundation etc etc

Frank Herbert ( I have the DUNE series Autographed!)

Alan Den Foster - Midworld, Icerigger etc

Years of reading(since '76) so a sci fi addict..

akira5665 wrote:Julian May - Golden Torc series.

Harry Harrison - Deathworld series, Stainless Steel Rat

Damn, How'd I forget those? Slippery Jim was my hero as a kid. I really, really wanted to grow up to be him.

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:I should reiterate. Not so much lack of imagination. I know what I'm trying to say in my head, but I can't seem to be able to put it downin writing.
Don't you hate when that happens?

Sense of wonder, perhaps?
I find that most recent scifi authors are too interested in showing off how clever they are and not enough in exploring, in just asking "what if?" and following that train of thought - but that, to me, is what scifi *is*.

In any case, Heinlein's compulsory reading, though I think his novels (especially the later ones) are slightly overrated, as they all make the same point. His short stories though, are pure and utter genius.
Niven's awesome, too. Protector is just awesome. The sheer scope of it is mindboggling (and Protectors are just scary).
Poul Anderson wrote some good sf too.

Bran Dawri wrote:

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:I should reiterate. Not so much lack of imagination. I know what I'm trying to say in my head, but I can't seem to be able to put it downin writing.
Don't you hate when that happens?

Sense of wonder, perhaps?
I find that most recent scifi authors are too interested in showing off how clever they are and not enough in exploring, in just asking "what if?" and following that train of thought - but that, to me, is what scifi *is*.

That's closer to what I was trying to get at, but it's still not quite what I'm trying to say.

loki old fart wrote:Anne mc' caffrey

Ah, yes. What was the one she did with a dinosaur planet? That was fething sweet! I actually read a big stack of her work around the age of 13, but I had far too much else going on in my life then to remember much of what I read.

Laughing Man wrote:

MasterDRD wrote:It probably doesn't count as 'classic', but Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is the greatest sci-fi novel ever written. Ever. Period.

Which goes to show that you don't read enough sci fi.

Or perhaps, it goes to show that you haven't read enough Ender's Game.

The definition of classic as a period moves on, of course.

The Golden Age was from the 30s to the 50s.

Cars and planes usually get called classic once they are over 25 years old.

Scarily for oldsters like me, that makes the advent of Cyberpunk part of the classic era.


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History of SF

1860s True SF invented by Jules Verne and WG Wells
20s Pulp fiction
30s to 50s The Golden Age. Many popular magazines.
60s-70s New Age. SF turns away from purely science based concerns and explores psychological and social issues.
80s Cyberpunk.
90s, 00s Renewal of traditional forms such as space opera, incorporating modern thinking about quantum physics and computer technology.

Agree with Killkrazy - "Classic" is a moving target. The 1980's don't seem old to me, until I realize they were almost 30 years ago....

Couple that haven't been mentioned yet:

Keith Laumer -"Bolo!:, The Timebender Series, and some pretty damn good fantasy too.

L. Ron Hubbard - Poltics, scientology, and a terrible movie aside, "Battlefield Earth" remains one of my all-time favorite reads. Can't think of any other book that weighs in at over 1000 pages that I've read 6 or 7 times.

Jeffrey Lord - The pen-name for two other authors (who I can never remeber), the Blade series is pure popcorn fluff, but it's a fantastic example of the old misogynistic novels of a day gone past. They're just a lot of fun to read.

William Gibson for sure - Neuromancer was great, but he's got quite a few other ones that are quite good.

Orson Scott Card - " Ender's Game" is a must read, and the 2nd in the series was readable, but the two after that I thought were terrible.

Larry Niven - "Lucifer's Hammer" might be the best end-of-the-world book there is. Not really sci-fi though.

Harry Harrison - 'Deathworld Trilogy" is fantastic if you can find a copy.

I'm sure there's others if I sat down and glanced through my library.

Seems like the "Red Planet" series was also pretty good. Trying to remember who did it though, seems like Bouroughs but it's been so long since I've read the series....

Disappointed that no-one has said Frederick Pohl, but delighted that I can get in there first. One of my all-time favourite authors.

Other than that, Asimov.

As for Arthur C. Clarke he's my favorite SF author. I suggest checking out 2001 (better than the film imo although they're pretty different...) and Rendezvous with Rama.

2001 never did it for me. Maybe I was just too put off by the film? Anyway, Childhoods End has always and will always be my favourite from Clarke, although Sands of Mars is a good story too (if a bit difficult to get into).

These are the ones I always re-read:

HG Wells- War of the Worlds

Joe Hadleman- The Forever War

Harry Harrison- The Stainles Steel Rat Series

Isaac Asimov- Foundation and any robot short stories

Edgar Rice Burroughs- Jon Carter of Mars series

Pohl Anderson- The High Crusade

Michael Moorcock- anything really...

Frank Herbert- Dune (just the original)

Douglas Adams- Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (all five parts)

Mick

Hey,

I remember a series by an author, whom I cannot recall his name, that is called "Gateway"? It is about humans finding a cache of alien spaceships and had all pre-programmed destinations.

I thought that idea was quite novel for its time.

inquisitor_bob wrote:I remember a series by an author, whom I cannot recall his name, that is called "Gateway"? It is about humans finding a cache of alien spaceships and had all pre-programmed destinations.

I'm sure I've read that one as well. People used to pick a ship, travel in it, see what riches they could discover, and come back? I'm sure that some of the ships went to places like black holes and death worlds, so it was quite risky.

Frazzled wrote:HG Wells, Orson Welles, Jules Verne, Plato, now thats classic!

Frazzled prefers authors who were publishing in his raucous teenage years.

Personally I love Henlein, if only to talk about Starship Troopers with people who haven't read the book but heard a synopsis and decided it was the work of the devil.


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Cane wrote:As for Arthur C. Clarke he's my favorite SF author. I suggest checking out 2001 (better than the film imo although they're pretty different...) and Rendezvous with Rama.

How can you read Sci-Fi and not have read those two? I thought the librarians made you read those before they let you check out any other sci-fi books.

inquisitor_bob, SilverMK2 - the Heechee sequence by Frederik Pohl, Gateway was one of the novels, probably the first, but can't recall off the top of my head.