good SF

[thekraut]

Ok, maybe this is not a literature question after all but it's about books so I thought..... And OK, maybe it's still not a good thing to start a sentence with OK but who gives a s**t, really? Question is: I've been through the Sheckley stuff, the Asimov-classics and all the Niven/Pournelle masterpieces twice now ('Lucifer's Hammer' being my favourite or favioret, whatever you prefer) and am now desperately looking for something comparable and a little bit more recent. any recommendations?

[woofgang]

Okay, its not recent but have you had a bash at the Dune series, I last read it as a kid and am bashing through it again. Try "the people" books by Zenna Henderson, the anthology is called "Ingathering" Anne McCaffery's Pern series is worth a look, also her "To ride a Unicorn" series about telepaths, and her "The Ship who" series about disabled people who put on space ships instead of wheelchairs. Lastly for a vintage laugh, take a look at the Gray Lensman books.

[LeMarchand]

I'd recommend: Peter F. Hamilton (especially the "Night's Dawn") trilogy, Stephen Baxter, Greg Bear (though he tends to have a problem with satisfactory endings IMHO), Michael Marshall Smith (especially "Spares" and "One of Us"). I'm sure there's more but lack of space means most of my collection is in storage :-(.

[birdy72]

If you haven't read Iain M. Banks already, his sci-fi books are brilliant - try Consider Phlebas, Player of Games, Inversions and Use of Weapons. Maybe also look into the books of Vernor Vinge and David Brin.

[woofgang]

Its not "to ride a unicorn", its "to ride pegasus"

[spiff]

Definitely the "nights's dawn" trilogy,also Peter F. Hamilton's recent book "Pandora's Star". "the saga of the seven suns" series by Kevin J. Anderson,and just about anything by Stephen Baxter.

[FTVS]

My two sci-fi favourites are: "Enders Game" by Orson Scott Card (and if you like that you could read the whole series) and The Gap Series by Stephen Donaldson

[JohnPPotts]

Personally I'm a fan of Lois McMaster Bujold's "Miles Vorkosigan" series about a sort of intergalactic (but midget) James Bond and am pretty keen on David Weber's "Honor Harrington" series (even if they are a bit of a rip off of C.S.Forester's "Hornblower" series) though they can be fairly variable. Both might be (somewhat condescendingly) described as Space Opera, to give an indication of the tone.

[brush]

Give Kim Stanley Robinson a go - "Escape from Kathmandu" is very entertaining and funny, particularly if you are a mountaineer, and "Antarctica" is an intriguing slant on future tourism.

[The Ponderer]

Robert Silverberg has written some gooduns too.

Tom O'Bedlam and Face Of The Waters in particular are good.