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Any good Sci-Fi books I can put on my X-Mas list?

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Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (Stephen R. Donaldson)

Theres another series, im waiting on the next book, but do you think I can remember the damn author?!
 
Kadarin said:
To clarify, it's Walter Jon Williams. I liked Dread Empire's Fall.

Be sure to check out his other work, including the outstanding Aristoi, along with the much older Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind.
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Ack - thanks for the correction. I just looked up his name real quick between work meetings today

I really liked his Implied Spaces. They used universes as weapons! :awe:
 
Alright - now that I have some times at home:

Glen Cook - The dragon never sleeps
Kevin J Anderson - The Saga of Seven Suns
Pretty much anything by Charles Sheffield
It's an older series but the Hope series by David Feintuch
Steve White also has some excellent stuff. He has collaborated with David Weber on quite a few books as well
 
the Bolo series is quite good as well.

I have a 3 book series called The Future at War. A collection of short stories featuring humans fighting each other and aliens.

Rama is always a good read.
 
DaveSimmons said:
I'll second Scalzi's Old Man's War and the first few Weber / Harrington books if you like military SF.

Some good "hard SF":
Stephen Baxter - Manifold: Time
Robert L. Forward - Dragon's Egg
L. E. Modesitt, Jr. - Adiamante
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That's an odd recommendation for Baxter, I think his entire Xeelee saga is much better than Manifold: Time.
 
angminas said:
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny has a fascinating concept behind it which you will enjoy more if you don't read about the book first. I really liked discovering the world he created.
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Lord of Light takes a little while to get rolling and you won't have much idea what is going on in the beginning, but stick with it and it turns into an absolutely fantastic read.
 
Thanks for the military book suggestions, I haven't really read many of them, but from what some of you have listed I now have a starting point 🙂

SphinxnihpS said:
You think Michael Chrichton is "good"? I have nothing for you.
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lol

So some of his stories stretch reality a wee bit. I'm in it for the entertainment so I've enjoyed most of his work.

angminas said:
You might try I, Robot before getting into the Foundation series. It's a short story collection which will introduce you to Asimov's style while engaging your brain.
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Thanks, I always wanted to pick up Asimov's books, but never knew where to start.
 
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Nightfall by Asimov is good reading too

Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series

Another vote for anything by Niven/Pournelle
 
christopher Stasheff - Starship Troupers series, that is if you can find them, out of print.

Ive read the first in the series and it was a real page turner, hard to put down. It's about a company of actors trying to produce plays and take them to the colonies and the government is doing everything to prevent it. very entertaining.

there are three in the series:
A Company of Stars
We Open on Venus
A Slight Detour.
 
Another recommendation for Armor by John Steakley. It's one of the best SciFi books I've ever read. Dang... Now I want to read it again.

Dave
 
Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy series is good. Maybe not the latest instalment "And Another Thing" though.
 
Axon said:
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. The quintessential military sci-fi novel and wildly superior to the film (except you don't get any Denise Richards, which I guess is the only drawback).
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I second this.

The book is much more psychological than a bunch of guys shooting badly color mapped bug like critters.

I would also recommend Ben Bova and Kim Stanley Robertson. Ben has done a bunch, but I started on "Mars". Oddly enough Kim has a Mars trilogy (Red, Green and Blue mars) that is heavy sci-fi, plausable, and rife with political dealings.

Fantasy is a tough one, as I have not read much sword and sorcery that has not been fluff. Some humor can be found in Christopher Moore. Mostly strait laced, but then he adds a bit of the supernatural into his story and throws it all at the wall to see what colors come out: http://www.chrismoore.com/

There are more, but I have to look a bit....
 
Snow Crash - Already mentioned
Takeshi Kovacs series (Woken Furies, et al) - Interesting take on immortality where your entire mind is in a stack of silicon and can be freely swapped to other bodies. For example, they have faster than light communication but not travel, so instead of traveling from one planet to another, they simply download your consciousness into a new body.
Forever War - A war that takes place over centuries due to lack of faster-than-light space travel, and how Earth changes every time the protagonist come back from a fight.
Honor Harrington series - Already mentioned
Cryptonomicon - Already mentioned
Mars seris - Already mentioned
Jupiter - Nice book about politics of discovering an alien race, enclosed space pshycology
Starfist Series - Already mentioned
Warhammer 40k - Already mentioned
Footfall - Some near-future hard core sci-fi as to what would happen if we were invaded
Prince Roger series (March Upcountry, etc) - Popcorn sci-fi really, but the main character goes through a significant change through the books. It has a bit more of a draw due to heavy focus on said character and his personality changes/"growing up".
Tau Zero - Bunch of colonists traveling in an enclosed ship at near the speed of light can't slow down when they need to, so millions of years pass in the normal universe while they slingshot out of the galaxy. Big on psychological interpersonal relationships.
 
Kami, the Takeshi series sounds familiar... I think someone else might have done that but I forget who (Piers Anthony maybe?).
 
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