A bit off topic. If it offends anyone let me know and I'll ask a mod to remove it.
I'm seeing a lot of "I'm not familiar with that". Here's a partial list of good authors. The first list is mine. The second is some descriptive back and forth with questions about some and links to their sites. The third is from another CDer.
A partial list. Some material may not be considered Sci-Fi but all are a good read. These are listed in no particular order and some may be hard to find.
Warren Norwood
Juanita Coulson
James P Hogan
Pohl Anderson
Fredrick Pohl
Chris Wooding The Braided Path Trilogy:
The Weavers of Saramyr
The Skein of Lament
The Ascendancy Veil
Lois Bujold McMaster
Isaac Asimov
Gordon R. Dickson
Orson Scott Card
C. J. Cherryh
Larry Niven
Arthur C. Clark
Anne McCaffery
Greg Bear
Phillip Jose Farmer
Gregory Benford
Roger Zelazny
Heinlein
Asimov
Harlan Ellison
Elizabeth Moon
David Weber
Eric Flint
Kristine Kathryn Rusch - The Retrieval Artist Series,
A.E. van Vogt
William Gibson
Jerry Pournelle
Sean Williams and Shane Dix - Evergence series
Kim Stanley Robinson
Steve White - The Shiva Option
Tmothy Zahn
Roger McBride Allen
C. S. Friedman
Karl Schroeder
Stephen Baxter
Roxann Dawson and Daniel Graham - Tenebrea series
Peter F. Hamilton - The Nano Flower
Verner Vinge
*******************************
My responses are in bold.
Warren Norwood I’m not familiar with this name. What has he written?
Warren Norwood - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Warren C Norwood
Plainly put; an entertaining author. Consider "Fize of the Gabriel Ratchets". Anyone who can come up with this title has to be good.
Juanita Coulson Ditto above (with appropriate gender changes of course)
Juanita Coulson
Juanita Coulson - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Children of the Stars series is what I've read of hers. It's been a while, but my memory says I enjoyed them.
Norwood and Coulson are two that no one has heard of except me it seems. Why I don't know. They really should be more widely read.
James P Hogan, Pohl Anderson, Fredrick Pohl. All three very good writers. I have multiple books by each
Might I assume one of them is The Gentle Giants of Ganymede?
Chris Wooding The Braided Path Trilogy:
The Weavers of Saramyr
The Skein of Lament
The Ascendancy Veil
Not familiar with the author. I’m also not a huge fan of “high fantasy”. Once I read Tolkien, the rest seemed derivative.
Try reading these. I rarely read fantasy and these had me completely hooked, as they did my wife.
Lois McMaster Bujold writes great stories. Also very interesting in person.
Isaac Asimov I think I’ve read most of his fiction. I also really enjoy his non-fiction
Gordon R. Dickson I think I read something by him when I was in high school. It didn’t much impress me then. Haven’t gone back to revisit his works
Childe Cycle is the series I remember the best.
Gordon R Dickson
Orson Scott Card I like the “Ender” books. Haven’t read his fantasy. Last few years his politics are bleeding into his fiction (e.g. Empire)
C. J. Cherryh Haven’t read her work. She too, is very interesting in person.
Well if you meet her again say hi for us. We think she's an amazing author.
The Compact Space Series is a great place to start. We don't buy books very often anymore and we own all of these and have read them more than once.
C J Cherryh
Larry Niven. I like his short work and most of collaborations with Jerry Pournelle. Didn’t really care for the Ringworld series.
Arthur C. Clarke I loved his work.
Anne McCaffery I read a couple of the “dragon” books. I couldn’t get past the impossibility of world ecosystem that was described there.
Try the Doona series or the Tower and Hive series instead.
Anne McCaffrey
Greg Bear I loved “Blood Music” “ Quantico” and “The Forge of God”
Phillip Jose Farmer Always good for stretching the mind. I found his intentional breaking of the rules of the day amusing (Again- I can’t think of the title but Doc Savage and Tarzan go to war with each other.)
Gregory Benford The name rings a bell, but I can’t think of anything of his I’ve read.
The Galactic Center series are a good read.
Gregory Benford
Roger Zelazny Another mind stretcher from the “new wave” of the early sixties.
Heinlein Of course! No list is complete without him. His work after his first stroke became rather pedantic, but still very readable (i.e. Friday, and later)
Agreed
Harlan Ellison Wrote beautifully in the fifties and early sixties. Has become more famous for throwing tantrums in public than for his work over the last 30 years. If you can find his non-fiction from the fifties, grab it with both hands.
Elizabeth Moon I’ve only read one or two of her books. We had a long talk about being teachers in the Rio Grande Valley at Armadillocon one year.
David Weber I haven’t read anything by him. Friends speak highly of the “Honor Harrington” books
As do I. I have read a lot of these.
Eric Flint I like the “Ring of Fire” series. I haven’t read much else by him
Kristine Kathryn Rusch -
The Retrieval Artist Series, Again, the name rings a bell, but I can’t think of anything I’ve read by her
That series is a great read!
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/r/...kathryn-rusch/
A.E. van Vogt I know I’ve read him. Unfortunately I can’t think of anything he’s written.
William Gibson I loved his early works. “Idoru” failed the 100 page test (If I’m not hooked into a book by page 100, I put it aside for later. If it fails the test twice it goes to the used book store.) I also really liked “Spook Country”.
Jerry Pournelle Loved most of his collaborations with Niven. Also really enjoyed the works about Mercenary (Prince of Sparta et.al.)
Sean Williams and Shane Dix -
Evergence series Doesn’t ring a bell
Worth a read. Might pass that 100 page test.
Shane Dix
Kim Stanley Robinson I liked the “California” series. I haven’t read his “Mars” books. Years of Rice and Salt is waiting for a second chance at the 100 page test.
Steve White - The Shiva Option Doesn’t ring a bell
Part of the Starfire series
Steve White
Timothy Zahn I read “Cobra”. I seem to remember liking it.
Roger McBride Allen Again, the name rings a bell, but I can’t think of anything I’ve read by him
I believe the Hunted Earth series is what I remember most.
http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/a/...acbride-allen/
C. S. Friedman Again, the name rings a bell, but I can’t think of anything I’ve read by him
The Coldfire series - Fantasy, but I found it to be a good read.
C S Friedman
Karl Schroeder Doesn’t ring a bell
I can't for the life of me remember what I read of his that impressed me enough to add to this list!
Stephen Baxter Doesn’t ring a bell
The Manifold series
The Time Odyssey series
The Destiny's Children series
The Time's Tapestry series
Start with The Manifold series
Stephen Baxter
Roxann Dawson and Daniel Graham - Tenebrea series Doesn’t ring a bell
Good reads!
Roxann Dawson
********************************
John Scalzi – I’ve liked everything he’s written, including his blog “Whatever”. You’d like “The Old Man’s War” “The Ghost Brigades” “The Last Colony” and “Zoe’s Tale”
Bruce Sterling – A close friend of William Gibson’s. His later fiction is much better developed than his early work. Start with “Islands in the Net”
Walter Jon Williams – His early work is uneven, but when he hits his stride, he’s phenomenal. I particularly liked “Hardwired” and “Aristoi”. His most recent work “This is not a Game” is more mystery than SF, but excellent nonetheless.
George RR Martin – I like his early work – Fever Dream, Dying of the Light, The Armageddon Rag. I haven’t read his high fantasy,(Game of Thrones etc.) My son really likes them. He also edited the “Wild Card” shared world novels. I generally avoid series novels, but I really liked that series.
Other authors that I like include:
Jim Butcher – I like the “Dresden File” books. I haven’t read the “Furies” books yet, even though my daughter speaks highly of them.
Christopher Moore – As if Jonathan Swift had been reincarnated in Northern California in the 1980s. How can you not like a book titled “The Lust Lizard of Melancholy Cove”?
Gregory Keyes – I liked the “Age of Unreason” books. I haven’t read the rest of his work.
Charles Stross – I’ve liked everything he’s written except “Saturn’s Children”.
S.M. Stirling – When he writes “Boy’s Adventure” stories (E.g. “Conquistador” or “The Peshawar Lancers”) he does a great job of narrative. He does have a very lackadaisical attitude towards science and consistency in applying conditions in his work that drives me nuts.
Spider Robinson- His early works are better than his later ones. The “Callahan” books are fun reads, just literary popcorn.
If you want try something different:
Thomas Sniegoski – “A Kiss before the Apocalypse” - Raymond Chandler channeled by a fallen angel.
F. Paul Wilson – He’s written a long series of books on “The Secret History of the World”. His “Repairman Jack” books are the most recent incarnation. He’s also written some decent technothrillers.
Nancy Collins – Wrote vampire/splatterpunk novels in the 1980s . “Sunglasses after Dark” is the first of a number of books about a semi-undead vampire hunter.
Harry Turtledove – His early works are much better than his later. Like Spider Robinson, he found a formula that worked, and worked it for all it’s worth. If you can find “Agent of Byzantium” read it. “Guns of the South” is a great piece of alternate history.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
