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Posted by denys envy on Jan-22-2009 14:41:

FAO: Sci-fi literature fans.

The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

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

quote:
The Book of the New Sun is a novel in four parts written (1980�83) by science fiction and fantasy author Gene Wolfe. It chronicles the journey and ascent to power of Severian, a disgraced journeyman torturer who rises to the position of Autarch, the one ruler of the free world. Severian, who claims that he has perfect memory, tells the story in first person; the books are presented by Wolfe as a translation of Severian's writings into contemporary English. The series takes place in the distant future, where the Sun has dimmed considerably and the Earth (referred to in the series as "Urth") is slowly cooling.

Just got through this last night. Probably the best piece of sci-fi I have ever read. It is fucking amazing and I highly recommend you go pick this up. There's four different parts, and it's a long piece, but SO worth the read.

Carry on.

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-22-2009 14:50:

general sci-fi: Dune, the prequel trilogy, and the genesis-prequel trilogy.

i'm more into dystopia though, and in that subgenre i'd recommend We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (obvious one), and hell, the genre starter - Thomas More's Utopia.

Posted by Yohan on Jan-22-2009 17:05:

meh on Dune prequels

never been too high on Keven J Anderson

Posted by Trouble on Jan-23-2009 00:22:

thanks for posting

just read something from alistair reynolds that will make me look for more of his stuff. he's a big sci fi fan, himself, and even some of his relatively simple plots have some cool sophistication.

Posted by Silky Johnson on Jan-23-2009 00:26:

Awesome. Will def add to my 'to read' list.

Posted by SYSTEM-J on Jan-23-2009 01:03:

Can't say it sounds any more interesting than any of the billions of other sci-fi/fantasy arcs with near-identical premises.

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-23-2009 01:08:

btw, isn't "ruler of the free world" kind of a contradiction in terms?

Posted by Trouble on Jan-23-2009 01:26:

quote:
Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Can't say it sounds any more interesting than any of the billions of other sci-fi/fantasy arcs with near-identical premises.

i don't mind terribly when some scifi has a lot of similarities to another. what i hate is bad scifi. for some reason it is usually either sublime or ridiculous.

Posted by Sunsnail on Jan-23-2009 02:43:

quote:
Originally posted by Psy-T
btw, isn't "ruler of the free world" kind of a contradiction in terms?

So are you saying anarchy is a necessity for freedom?

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-23-2009 04:48:

quote:
Originally posted by Sunsnail
So are you saying anarchy is a necessity for freedom?

not really, just pointing out a language quirk.

but if you wanna take things to their absolutes (with freedom in mind, what would be included under that absolute is debatable) it maye well be.

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-23-2009 04:50:

quote:
Originally posted by Sunsnail
So are you saying anarchy is a necessity for freedom?

not really, anarchy isn't the only alternative to monarchy, you know.

Posted by Sushipunk on Jan-23-2009 05:17:

quote:
Originally posted by Psy-T
not really, anarchy isn't the only alternative to monarchy, you know.

Semi-archy?

Posted by Joss Weatherby on Jan-23-2009 05:23:

I need to read more sci-fi, a co-worker is a walking encyclopedia of the stuff but I always forget to ask for reccomendations.

I really like Childhoods End.

If you have ever watched/read Akira or Evangelion, they both have a lot of inspiration off of this book.

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-23-2009 06:05:

quote:
Originally posted by Sushipunk
Semi-archy?

should correct myself first: autocracy rather than monarchy would be the correct name based on the information given.

but anyways, here's a handy list:

* Anarchy
* Aristocracy
* Authoritarianism
* Autocracy
* Communist state
* Corporatocracy
* Demarchy
* Democracy
** Direct
** Representative
* Despotism
* Dictatorship
** Military
* Feudalism
* Kritocracy
* Logocracy
* Meritocracy
* Minarchism/Night Watchman
* Monarchy
** Absolute
** Constitutional
* Noocracy
* Ochlocracy/Mobocracy
* Oligarchy
* Plutocracy
* Republic:
** Capitalist
** Constitutional
** Parliamentary
* Socialist state
* Sociocracy
* Technocracy
* Theocracy
* Theodemocracy
* Timocracy
* Totalitarianism
* Chiefdom

lifted from wiki.

Posted by pkcRAISTLIN on Jan-23-2009 06:38:

'the amtrak wars' - patrick tilley.

probably the best ive read. post-apocalyptic US.

i dont like much (written) scifi, but im wondering whether the stuff i read as a kid was published too long ago and i didnt appreciate it.

is there any series written recently that anyone would recommend?

-it cant go on for 20 books.
-it cant focus too much on the technology
-good people have to die
-a form of magic in the world would be nice.

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-23-2009 06:50:

quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
'the amtrak wars' - patrick tilley.

probably the best ive read. post-apocalyptic US.

i dont like much (written) scifi, but im wondering whether the stuff i read as a kid was published too long ago and i didnt appreciate it.

is there any series written recently that anyone would recommend?

-it cant go on for 20 books.
-it cant focus too much on the technology
-good people have to die
-a form of magic in the world would be nice.

well, Dune
don't recommend the sequels, but do recommend the prequels.

Posted by pkcRAISTLIN on Jan-23-2009 06:54:

quote:
Originally posted by Psy-T
well, Dune
don't recommend the sequels, but do recommend the prequels.

haha, ive read dune at least the first book. but like, ages ago. iron maiden wrote a song about the atreides, ha.

and dune wasn't written recently

Posted by Psy-T on Jan-23-2009 07:03:

quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
haha, ive read dune at least the first book. but like, ages ago. iron maiden wrote a song about the atreides, ha.

and dune wasn't written recently

the prequels were

Posted by Armitage on Jan-23-2009 08:36:

I'm a huge William Gibson fanboy. Spook Country was his best in a long time in my opinion.

Posted by Silky Johnson on Jan-23-2009 13:21:

I read 'The Dosadi Experiment', also by Frank Herbert and I really enjoyed it. There's another 1 or 2 books in that series I think, but they didn't get very good reviews. I may still read them, just to get the full scope of the story.

Posted by PETRAN on Jan-23-2009 13:50:

quote:
Originally posted by Joss Weatherby
I need to read more sci-fi, a co-worker is a walking encyclopedia of the stuff but I always forget to ask for reccomendations.

I really like Childhoods End.

If you have ever watched/read Akira or Evangelion, they both have a lot of inspiration off of this book.

Yeah, that was a good book by Arthur Clarke. I would say that "Independence Day" was also a kind of neo-b-movie version of that book (well substituting sophistication with...massive lasers...)

Isn't Philip K. Dick ,like ,the master of sci-fi? I haven't read much from him, but i love that guy, his plots are usually so fucked-up (lol). Has anyone read "VALIS"? They say its his masterpiece, i want to read it someday

Posted by denys envy on Jan-23-2009 14:19:

last year I read Dead's Head by David Gunn. Was full of awesome also.

Posted by SYSTEM-J on Jan-23-2009 14:54:

quote:
Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN
is there any series written recently that anyone would recommend?

I'll say the same thing I always say in these threads: Ian M Banks.

quote:
Originally posted by PETRAN
Isn't Philip K. Dick ,like ,the master of sci-fi?

Alongside Isaac Asimov and Arthur C Clarke I can't think of any bigger. Apart from HG Wells and Jules Vernes, obviously.

Posted by denys envy on Jan-23-2009 22:26:

Also, if you want something "original", check out the 'Mistborn' trilogyby Sanderson. Another good, fresh writer. 'Elantris' was also great by him.