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

[Lefty]

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

[Lefty]

P.s. I read the Peace & War trilogy by Joe Haldeman a few years back and thought it was great. Tried a few by Iain Banks and couldn't get into them...

[jmorgan]

Peter f Hamilton and "the great north road" or his book, "Pandoras star". Latter will lead you down several books.
Also hi Greg Mandel trilogy.
Then Alastair Reynolds, revelation space.

And of course more Arthur C Clarke.

Scifi trhead running here
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[judas]

Try Eon (and its sequel Eternity) by Greg Bear. Starts off very similar to Rendezvous with Rama (ie unknown asteroid sized object heading into the solar system) but takes the story in a very different direction.

[lunarscope]

judas said:

Try Eon (and its sequel Eternity) by Greg Bear. Starts off very similar to Rendezvous with Rama (ie unknown asteroid sized object heading into the solar system) but takes the story in a very different direction.

I'd recommend any Greg Bear book but "Eon" especially.

[Lefty]

Thanks a lot, some good ideas there I hope, will give those a go.

Found 2001 on the bookshelf the other night, had no idea we had it! Never been read by the look of it.

[mikees]

Forever war - classic and great

[SWAT78]

Maybe Ender's Game? I loved it, although would struggle to recommend any of the sequels.

Dune also a favorite of mine, although may stretch the plausibility and near future requirements...

[jmorgan]

Dune is a bit deep if you want to get into it. Cracking plot though, if you can immerse yourself in it and imagine the setting. It is one of my all time SciFi favourites.

I found it hard though to go through the books his son did to finish the series, I could see the plot but the style was just not there.

[Lefty]

Loved The Forever War when I read it. Just finished 2001 too, really enjoyed it. I'll have a look at Dune, cheers!

[SWAT78]

Warning on Dune, even though it was my recommendation - you may hate it if you're not a sci-fi fan. For me it was something I was barely aware of beforehand, and reading it was like discovering Star Wars for the first time but as an adult rather than a young child.

The first couple of chapters may be a slog, but definitely worth persisting with if my first paragraph hasn't discouraged you...

[menguin]

Earth Abides by George R Stewart. I loved it as a child - tells the tale of a post apocalyptic world where a group of people try to rebuild.

[Mr E]

menguin said:

Earth Abides by George R Stewart. I loved it as a child - tells the tale of a post apocalyptic world where a group of people try to rebuild.

Dine is one of my very favorite things, but is almost through sci-fi and out the other side.

I find the very best science fiction takes a society you think you know, and changes one thing to see what happens.

Perhaps try some short stories rather than full blown novels?

[frisbee]

William Gibson, his sprawl trilogy - Neuromancer,Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive. Extremely readable.

[grumbledoak]

I think William Gibson - at least the cyberpunk stuff - would be a bit much for a non-fan. Ditto Peter F Hamilton's enormous wandering space operas, though I think the Greg Mandel books would be good.

Otherwise try some older stuff - I've done some "missed classics" recently including Eon and The Forever War already mentioned. Alfred Bester's books are very good - The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination are among the very origins of the genre; they are very human stories in societies only one step removed from our own. Vernor Vinge's The Peace War and it's sequel are also fantastic in the same way.

[g3org3y]

How 'spacey' did you want your sci-fi?

Worth checking out the work of Philip K Dick.

I've also enjoyed the work of John Wyndham, The Kraken Wakes especially.

[TorqueDirty]

+1 for the Kraken Wakes. Excellent of slightly old fashioned read, along with Chocky and the The Midwich Cuckooss also by John Wyndham.

Couple more, which are not your typical Sci-Fi:-

Sphere by Michael Chrighton is a good yarn

and

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut is another slightly Sci-Fi book that everyone should read I think.

and last but by no means least:-

Imajica by Clive Barker. This is full on Sci-Fi and a million miles away from what I normally read. HOever it is long so I picked it up in an airport years ago as I was heading off on some globe-trotting. Effin brilliant. Really draws you in.

TD

[timbo999]

Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven
The Furies by Keith Roberts
The Day of the Triffids by John Windham

All great non-space based SF - perhaps a bit dated now, however I'm old (and I like end of the world stories as you can tell!)

All of them also have some car related content...

[timbo999]

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!

[judas]

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.