Sci-fi...do you read it?

So I was wondering; since we're all here at a sci-fi rp site, do you also read sci-fi literature? If so, let's hear about it...mainly because I'd like to read another series. But besides that, I'd like to see where everyone's background ideas come from.

Personally, I like David Weber. His Mutineer's Moon and Honor Harrington series are my favorite.

Iain M. Bank - The Culture.

Yes, although I don't seem to have much time for it.

Sci-fi books I've read so far:

Norby the Robot series, by Issac Asimov and Janet Asimov
(back when I was a kid)
Nightfall, by Issac Asimov and Robert Silverberg

Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Martian Chronicles, by Rad Bradbury
(and various short story collections by same author)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglass Adams
(as well as The Restaurant at the End of the Universe and Life, the Universe and Everything)

Pyramids (Discworld 4), by Terry Pratchett

Various other sci-fi themed short story collections.

Probably forgot one or two...

Sci-fi books on my desk right now:

Downbelow Station, by C. J. Cherryh
(currently reading)

Mostly Harmless, by Douglass Adams

The Sentinel, by Arthur C. Clarke

Future plans:

The Foundation, by Issac Asimov

The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula K. Le Guin
(by recommendation from Seki )

A Planet Called Treason, by Orson Scott Card

Anything by Joan D. Vinge. Brilliant author that blends modern language and issues with sci-fi worlds.

Sci-Fi...Does the Darkover stuff count as Sci-Fi? ^_^; Or maybe shade's children? Most of the stuff I read is Fantasy.

True night series, Sharra's exile and song, Sword of truth series, Drow trilogy, all the fun junk! ^_^;

OMG!!!!

A fellow Weber fan in out midst! Both Mutineer's Moon and Honor Harrington series are some of the best displays of literature I've read for the science fiction genre. Honor Harrington is my favorite though with a combination of political intrigue, military strategy/story, and intriguing worlds.

Mmm... authors I read that I remember the names...

Terry Brook, Terry Goodkind, Margaret Wes, Tracy Hickman, R.A. Salvatore, Paul Kid, Elaine Cunningham, Anne McCaffrey, Jack McKinney, David Eddings, Micheal A. Stackpole.

Books that I read:

• The Dragonlance series (I have a lot of them. Loads of them. They fill a whole bookshelf. The Dragonlance series introduced me to reading books)
• Forgotten realm books (most of everything related to elves: that means most Drizzt books, the Starlight and Shadows trilogy, the Song and Sword Trilogy. I've gone over the Spellfire trilogy, the Avatar trilogy, the Phlan trilogy and the War of the Spider Queen series)
• The Justicar Trilogy for the Greyhawk books (I love Paul Kid! But I love Escalla even more)
• The Darksword duology
• The Death Gate Cycle series
• Battletech books (about as much as I could find, I bought. Read through most of the Stackpole written books, from the 4th succession war to the Davion civil war. read most of the Jade Falcon trilogy along with any books concerning that particular storyline)
• The Belgariad and the Malloreon series
• The Shannara series (the Shannara, the Heritage of Shannara, the Voyage of the Jerle Shannara and the High Druid of Shannara arcs)
• Most of the Dragon of Pern series (my favorite was the Harper Hall trilogy - Menolly was cool)
• Jack McKinney's Robotech books. All of them.
• The Tree of Swords and Jewels duology.

I'm probably forgetting a lot. I remember being big on reading about greek mythology when I was in high school - that was before I really started reading, though.

I just started the Sword of Truth series.

*looks up at his bookshelf*

Everything that Alastair Reynolds has written (though I'm missing one book :/).
Elizabeth Moon's Serrano Legacy and Vatta's War series.
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons.
Time Future by Maxine McArthur (Time Past too, but I didn't like that near as much).
The X-Wing series, by a bunch of different artists I can't remember.
Adiamante by L.E. Modesitt.

Those'd probably be a selection of my top picks though I'm sure I'm forgetting some good books that I don't actually own.

X-Wing's not bad. Michael A. Stackpole is a fair author.

Yangfan, get Downbelow Station off your desk and into your head. That is possibly the single best sci-fi I have ever read, and near the top as far as books in general.

Ursula LeGuin is incredible, but... Cherryh transcends SEX in how great she is.

Anyway. Currently reading 40,000 in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh.

What Ive read so far?

A lot of LeGuin, Cherryh, Bradbury. A bit of Paula Volsky.

Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville. GODDAMN AWESOME author.

The Company Novels, by Kage Baker. Wierd shit involving time travel and immortality. Highly reccomended.

So forth.

Abwehran Commander said:

My goodness!!!!

A fellow Weber fan in out midst! Both Mutineer's Moon and Honor Harrington series are some of the best displays of literature I've read for the science fiction genre. Honor Harrington is my favorite though with a combination of political intrigue, military strategy/story, and intriguing worlds.

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And many of his books have that "you know what the enemy is doing before the hero does" part in it. It makes for a brilliant story, but almost heartbreakingly so...to see the hero suffer.

In regards to other authors, I also like Robert A. Heinlein. I read his book Job: A Divine Comedy of Justice...amazing. Starship Troopers was better in book than in movie, even if said movie was bitchin' in it's day.

Also.

Anything by Sherri Tepper. I've read it all! The Gate to Women's Country was my favorite. Breed violence out of men, hee!

I've read the Hyperion books - in a single volume - primarily because Iain M. Banks said they were good, and indeed I did find them a very engrossing read with interesting characters.

Kotori:

R.A. Salvadore is very good - but I find his Drizzit work dry and repetative. Artemis Enteri is an amazing character though - The Servant of the Shard is one of my favourite books.

David Eddings is very good - especcially his Sparhawk books. Belgarath is another favourite - but his actuall first series I found somewhat lacking.

Robert A. Heinlein is also an amazing author - The Moon is a Harsh Misstress and Stranger in a Strange Land are gems.

I actually enjoy reading Elaine Cunningham a lot more than I do Salvatore. There was a point where I liked reading about Drizzt, but with the latest Hunter's Blades trilogy, it strikes me the ranger should just stop being so active in the hero business (he can adventure - I'd just like him to stop having to save kingdoms and such) and raise kids with the human woman he recently got involved with (whom he happened to see grow up, figures). I think I stuckaround to see how things had been turning out - and because Wulfgar's fall from grace along with the path to his 'redemption' revived some interest in the series.

The Hunter's Blade trilogy struck me as utterly pointless in that it resolved nothing. There was a war, people died and then returned to a status quo. All the characters whom have stat blocks in the game books survived, with the story contriving to make their survival cheap (I'm fairly certain Obould Many-Arrows should have died).

On the other hand, good characters died (Delly Curtie and Tarathiel). Its pretty much a fact that bad things can happen to good characters. We did get one good character coming up: Tarathiel's spouse, Innovindil. Not a human with pointed ears, but a believable character whom saw centuries of life. I especially appreciated her presence in the trilogy, since she was making something obvious to Drizzt that had been long in coming.

Elaine Cunningham has her flaws, being that her endings are somewhat stretched and pulled to an extreme. She writes good first and second books, but every ending book of a trilogy felt like she had run out of pages and had to rush things. Despite that, I'm fond of her stories.

One reason why I like Cunningham better than Salvatore could be due to her outlook on this question:

Q: Will Liriel Baenre ever meet Drizzt Do'Urden, R.A. Salvatore's signature character?

A: Gods above, I hope not!

Don't get me wrong -- I love Bob Salvatore's stories and Drizzt is a great character. But the only thing Drizzt and Liriel have in common is that they're both drow. They are SO different that any story about them would be dominated by the "enemies forced to make an alliance to meet a common goal" theme, which is one of the most frequently used notions in fantasy.

And who would write it? Neither author wants to write the other's characters, and a collaboration is not in the cards. Wizards of the Coast owns both Liriel and Drizzt, and I suppose they could assign such a story to a third writer, but I can't see why they'd want to. Let's face it, if RAS wants a drow companion for Drizzt, he's more than capable of creating his own.

Some time ago, I answered this question on a message board with the following hypothetical meeting:

Liriel: (Oo! Cute little drow toyboy! Thank you, Eilistraee, goddess of the butt-neckid moonlit dance.)

Drizzt: (Danger! Matron-in-the-making! Strengthen me, Mielikki, whose unicorn favors the chaste and virtuous.) ::draws his two scimitars::

Liriel: ::sniffs:: "Put away the cutlery, honey, and take a look at THESE twins..."

::At this inopportune moment, Catti-brie walks in; catfight ensues.::

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Which reminds me: I also read Elaine's Wizards & Counselor series. Puzzling that I forgot to mention it, as I think its one of her best written trilogies.

Twins, eh? Interesting...

I'm 1/4 of the way through Downbelow Station right now, Seki. I guess I just have good taste in sci-fi.

Okay. Okay. I picked it out of the the "one dollar bin" at the local library's bookstore.