Sci-fi...for a non sci-fi guy

[bloomen]

Coyote by Allen Steele and its sequels are a great series about colonising a planet that's not heavy on the space opera.

[Einion Yrth]

You say you've never been into Sci Fi, fine, but what do you read? If you have a tendency to "literature" you might like to give Russel Hoban's "Riddley Walker" a try. Also I note that despite others recommending John Wyndham none of them has suggested "The Chrysalids" which is in my opinion, his best.

[Dr Jekyll]

If you like Arthur C Clarke you'll like Stephen Baxter novels. Generally pretty plausible and near future (or slightly alternative present) with very good science.

[Hugo a Gogo]

Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon, and the rest of his sci-fi stuff

his gay swords n sorcery fantasy stuff, not so much

[colin_p]

The Culture novels by Ian M Banks are very good. Massive scale and very well imagined universes.

[Harji]

Lefty said:

I've never been interested in this genre But I picked up Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke at the weekend and really enjoyed it. Any suggestions for similar books/series/authors which are based on near-future, relatively plausible story lines?

Cheers
Lefty

Great book, one of my favourites other are

Roadside Picnic by Strugatsky Brothers
'Flow my tears, the Policeman Said', a good entry into the world of Philip K Dick
The sequal to Rama is good

Some Ian M Banks favourites :-

The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
The State of the Art

Enjoy!

PS for bog reading, enjoyable but not taxing the Ben Bova novels are good like 'Moon' and 'Mars'.

Edited by Harji on Sunday 8th May 03:29

[jbudgie]

judas said:

timbo999 said:

There is a sequel to Rendezvous with Rama (Rama Revealed), I have read it but don't remember it, so its possibly not much cop!

As i recall, it's ok but not great. The further sequels get steadily worse to the point where I distinctly remember giving up in disgust halfway through the last one.

Spot on with this comment--the first one is by far the best.

[Derek Smith]

Einion Yrth said:

Also I note that despite others recommending John Wyndham none of them has suggested "The Chrysalids" which is in my opinion, his best.

I'll add my vote to The Chryslids.

[anonymous-user]

Derek Smith said:

Einion Yrth said:

Also I note that despite others recommending John Wyndham none of them has suggested "The Chrysalids" which is in my opinion, his best.

I'll add my vote to The Chryslids.

Agreed - great read.

[bloomen]

Am I allowed to say that Philip K Dick's novels are something of a grind? I don't think I've ever been truly gripped by one. You can kind of sniff the pace that he was writing them at. On the other hand his short story collections are superb.

[robsa]

The stars my destination by Alfred Bester, deffo. Dead easy to read and really good. Also try "I, Robot" by Aasimov - lots of his robot short stories, again easy to read and excellent.

[timbob]

Near future and plausible... 2 books by Stephen Baxter fill this criteria really well and are two of my favourite SF books - Voyage and Titan.

[Zigster]

Michael Marshall Smith - Spares, Only Forward, One Of Us

Jeff Noon - Vurt, Pollen, Nymphomation

Both authors (those books at least) do a slightly cyber-punk take on the near future - not space opera more like a near future dystopia - which makes them perhaps more accessible to someone who doesn't normally read sci-fi.

[irocfan]

Maybe try some classic sci-fi authors like Clifford D Simak https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clifford_D._Simak or (naturally) Asimov

[Foliage]

Everyone has to read hitchhiker guide to the galaxy

[Ozzie Dave]

What about 'Trigger' or Richter by A.C.Clarke & S.Baxter,

[seyre1972]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Neal Stephenson.

[ian2144]

I've read Hunter's Run and the Martian ( before the film) which I enjoyed. Tried to get into Dune, a bit heavy going for me.
What next ?

[essayer]

Have a look at The Stainless Steel Rat series, by Harry Harrison.
Very light sci-fi, immensely readable

[irocfan]

Good shout on the Stainless Steel Rat - Death World is also quite light reading...

there is also a LOT of Mil-Fi at the moment (aka "Marines in space" style novels), some are actually quite good others TBH are errrrmmmmm 'less so'