Science Fiction

[chunkymonkey71]

I'm looking for something new to read. Really liked "Communion" by Whitley Streiber and "Contact" by Carl Sagan.

Can anyone recommend something similar to these?

[arfur]

Evan Currie can be a good read, as can Elizabeth Moon.

My Kindle list is over 100 books from the Kindle store now, mainly Sci-Fi/High Tech.

[plasticpig]

Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin & John Barnes. Very good read and goes into quite a bit of detail on the engineering required for long range space missions from someone who actually knows his stuff.

[chunkymonkey71]

plasticpig said:

Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin & John Barnes. Very good read and goes into quite a bit of detail on the engineering required for long range space missions from someone who actually knows his stuff.

Bought it today on Amazon! Looking forward to a good read.

[nick heppinstall]

Fade Out by patrick Tilley

[Eric Mc]

I'm still a fan of classic writers such as Arthur C Clarke.

I find Stephen Baxter's work quite close to Clarke in some ways although he has a generally pessismistic outlook about things.
He's a good old fashioned "nuts and bolts" style of SF writer.

[LordGrover]

Not familiar with the two mentioned so can't help in that respect.
Like EricMc though, I still have time for Arthur C Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, etc. - I even fondly remember L Ron Hubbard () - not read any in a a while though.

[nick heppinstall]

chunkymonkey71 said:

I'm looking for something new to read. Really liked "Communion" by Whitley Streiber and "Contact" by Carl Sagan.

Can anyone recommend something similar to these?

Fade Out is very much in the vein of Contact.

[chunkymonkey71]

chunkymonkey71 said:

plasticpig said:

Encounter With Tiber by Buzz Aldrin & John Barnes. Very good read and goes into quite a bit of detail on the engineering required for long range space missions from someone who actually knows his stuff.

Bought it today on Amazon! Looking forward to a good read.

Copy came today and I was about to read it when I noticed that ITS BEEN SIGNED BY BUZZ ALDRIN!!!

[judas]

A few more to look at:

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C Clarke
Eon - Greg Bear
Engines of God - Jack McDevitt

[chunkymonkey71]

I really want to read Encounter with Tiber now, but if its a genuine Buzz Aldrin signature then I'm not daring to damage it.

Just trying to find out how to get the signature verified.

[cerbfan]

Personally love anything by Peter Hamilton, cannot go wrong with the Nightsdawn Trilogy or the Commonwealth Saga followed by the Void Trilogy. Probably the ultimate in Space Opera.

[Halmyre]

Eric Mc said:

I'm still a fan of classic writers such as Arthur C Clarke.

I find Stephen Baxter's work quite close to Clarke in some ways although he has a generally pessismistic outlook about things.
He's a good old fashioned "nuts and bolts" style of SF writer.

That's the impression I get about Baxter as well - he's never going to write advertising slogans for Orange. Strange then that he's collaborated with Terry Pratchett on a novel.

[plasticpig]

chunkymonkey71 said:

Copy came today and I was about to read it when I noticed that ITS BEEN SIGNED BY BUZZ ALDRIN!!!

Good find! It's doesn't make it particularly valuable though unless it's a hardback first edition. AbeBooks list signed hard back editions starting at £20.
Always nice to have a signed copy though.

[Mannginger]

If you've not read The Culture series by Iain M Banks then stop what you're doing now, order them online and enjoy a simply superb Sci-fi series by an incredible author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture#Novels

[Leithen]

Mannginger said:

If you've not read The Culture series by Iain M Banks then stop what you're doing now, order them online and enjoy a simply superb Sci-fi series by an incredible author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture#Novels

+1

[tertius]

Leithen said:

Mannginger said:

If you've not read The Culture series by Iain M Banks then stop what you're doing now, order them online and enjoy a simply superb Sci-fi series by an incredible author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Culture#Novels

+1

They are a decent read but every last one has a deus ex machina style conclusion which I find rather tiresome.

[Brigand]

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is a good book, as is it's sequel Forever Free.

The Forever War is a great book that takes into account time dilation when it comes to long-range space travel, which makes for some interesting battles. Cruisers travelling at almost the speed of light trying to attack each other, where you spend weeks waiting for a missile to catch up to the enemy ship and hit; or spending several months out battling on a planet only to return home to find ten years have passed on Earth.

The sequel Forever Free is a continuation of the original story, but isn't quite as good. There is a third novel by the author called Forever Peace which seems to take place in the same universe as the other two, but is a very different story, interesting but not as gripping as the first novel.

[tertius]

Brigand said:

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman is a good book, as is it's sequel Forever Free.

Big plus one for The Forever War, very good indeed. Didn't find the sequels anywhere near as good.

[Brigand]

tertius said:

Big plus one for The Forever War, very good indeed. Didn't find the sequels anywhere near as good.

It's being made into a movie by Ridley Scott apparently. I'd like to think it would stick close to the book but we know it probably wont, and after Prometheus I've lost faith in Scott. We can hope though!