Science Fiction recommendations

by JeffT 38 Replies latest social entertainment

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  blondie

  Ray Bradbury Stories Come to Life in 'The Bradbury Chronicles' Miniseries

  • November 12, 2009
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  • By: Bryan Enk
  • Comments (0)

  PRINT | EMAIL More Variety reports acclaimed fantasy author Ray Bradbury will team up with White Oak Films to produce a six-hour television miniseries, 'The Bradbury Chronicles.' Following in the footsteps of TNT's successful 'Nightmares and Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King,' 'The Bradbury Chronicles' will be small screen adaptations of six of Bradbury's short stories.
  
  Born on August 22, 1920, Ray Bradbury is one of the most popular and acclaimed authors of contemporary science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror (or, as some like to call it, "speculative fiction"). Some of Bradbury's most famous works include 'Fahrenheit 451,' 'Something Wicked This Way Comes,' 'The Illustrated Man' and 'The Martian Chronicles,' all of which have been adapted for film or television. From 1985 to 1992, Bradbury hosted an anthology television series, 'The Ray Bradbury Theater,' for which he adapted 65 of his own works. One of his most recent feature film adaptations was 'The Sound of Thunder,' released by Warner Bros. in 2005. 'The Shawshank Redemption' director Frank Darabont currently has a new adaptation of 'Fahrenheit 451' in development.
  
  The six short stories that will be adapted for 'The Bradbury Chronicles' have not been announced. For all of you Bradbury fans - what would be your choices? 'Kaleidoscope' has had so many "homages" (or rather, "rip-offs") that it's about time it got a legitimate adaptation. 'A Piece of Wood' and 'The Small Assassin' were both recently adapted as short films, so those are probably out. What do you think? 'Dandelion Wine?'
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  GentlyFeral

  JeffT,

  She's working on The Moon is a Harsh Mistress now.

  I was just about to recommend that book! Also, try Variable Star, started by Heinlein and finished by Spider Robinson. I think it may be a hair's-breadth better than anything Heinlein wrote by himself. Some other favorites:

  • Steel Beach, John Varley
  • Tom o' Bedlam, Robert Silverberg
  • The Stone that Never Came Down, John Brunner (last read it about 30 years ago; may be as dated as Stand on Zanzibar)
  • Anything by Howard Waldrop (not a hard-science writer; he likes to take cultural references and mutate them real good; start with his short story, "The Ugly Chickens")

  Speaking of Spider Robinson : If you don't insist on hard science stories, you'll probably enjoy his Callahan's Saloon series. Also, try Telempath.

  g ently f eral
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  Mad Sweeney

  If we're talking Heinlein I've got to go with Stranger in a Strange Land.

  Another couple authors not yet mentioned are Alfred Bester and E.E. "Doc" Smith. Bester is good solid SF from the golden age and Smith is classic space opera.

  I just finished a great piece of SF, The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Bawled like a baby.
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  SacrificialLoon

  Stephen Baxter's 'Xeelee Sequence' books are good.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeelee_Sequence

  Douglas Adam's Hitchhiker series is required reading.
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  Old Goat

  I've been an Asimov fan since the early 1950's. I like many of the golden age of SF writers.

  Ann McCaffrey is good. I like the Pern series best I think, and after that the Rowan series.

  David Eddings keeps me entertained. Anything by A. C. Crispin is good. (Full disclosure: Ann's a friend. Her books are good, friendship aside.)

  I discovered Rachael de Vienne by reading the truthhistory blog. She co-wrote the Nelson Barbour biography I've recommended on this board. She writes fantasy fiction too, and I fell in love with her book, Pixie Warrior. I bought the audio version from audible.com. I'd have chosen a different reader, but it was well worth it. I also bought the ebook version.

  Reading her book led me to her publisher's web site, and I've read a number of their books. The quality seems quite high on average.

  I enjoyed all the Artamis Fowel books. Yes, I know they're Young Adult fiction, but they're still fun.

  I should plug my own books, but then I'd generate more problems for myself than I wish. If you read YA books, you may find one -- or one can hope you do. My non-Witness dad introduced me to Science Fiction and Fantasy. I have most of his books and re-read them. Between his library and mine and what my wife has added there must be four or five hundred SF and Fantasy books on our shelves.

  Guess you can tell that I never paid all that much attention to Watchtower advice not to read either genre.
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  Mad Sweeney

  I read more Fantasy than SF, personally. In fact, my screen name here is from Gaiman's "American Gods" if anyone was wondering.
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  Billy the Ex-Bethelite

  C.T.Russell's "Studies in the Scriptures" is the most bizarre sci-fi I've encountered. And anything by Johnnie Walker makes CTR's fiction much more engaging.

  Some time ago, I became fascinated by the science fiction stories... well, actually "math fiction" of the writer Larsinger58. Recently, however, I find it repetitive and far-fetched even for fiction.
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  RickyCisco

  I recommend R. Scott Bakkers Prince of Nothing Trilogy. It's a very philosophical, intellectual realistic fantasy set in another world embarking on a Holy War.

  Heres a blurb -

  The Prince of Nothing is a series of three fantasy novels by the Canadian author R. Scott Bakker , first published in 2004, part of a wider series known as "The Second Apocalypse". This trilogy details the emergence of Anasûrimbor Kellhus, a brilliant monastic warrior, as he takes control of a holy war and the hearts and minds of its leaders. Kellhus exhibits incredible powers of prediction and persuasion, which are derived from deep knowledge of rationality , cognitive biases , and causality , as discovered by the Dûnyain, a secret monastic sect. As Kellhus goes from military leader to divine prophet, Drusas Achamian, the sorcerer who mentored Kellhus, comes to realize that his student may well be the harbinger of the Second Apocalypse.

  The key feature distinguishing the Prince of Nothing series from its contemporaries is the importance of philosophy to the work. The plot, characters, setting, and metaphysics of the Prince of Nothing are intertwined with philosophical positions unique to the series.

  Bakker has mentioned that this series was primarily influenced by the works of Tolkien and Frank Herbert . [1]
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  White Dove

  Stephen King and Ann Rice are good authors. Stephen King's novels are sometimes about aliens.
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  Aeiouy

  My favorite series of all time is by Kevin J Anderson. The series is called Saga of Seven Suns. The first 150 pages of the first book are awful but necessary. After that, it's an amazing series.

  My other favorite Scifi is by Ted Dekker. He has some religious overtones that I don't particulary like, but the story is amazing. It's a trilogy, First book is called Black, next ones are Red and White. It's about a man who is shot by the mob in the back of the head and killed, and suddenly wakes up like he was dreaming. He goes about his day, and when he falls back asleep, he wakes up right after he was shot in the head. Good stuff.

  Aeiouy