![spaceStation](images/sstation.gif)
A reading list (by no
means exhaustive) of my SF favourites (I've begun adding new material
to the top of the list):
- Frederik Pohl's recent (1994) The Voices of Heaven and
without a doubt, his Heechee saga, beginning with Gateway;
- I enjoyed J. L. Chalker's first (of three books, in the The
Quintara Marathon series) Run to Chaos Keep; the plot
really degenerates in the 2nd and the 3rd book, but the technology,
the characters and the different races were really well crafted;
- Rick Cook's Wizardry
Compiled (fantasy), the sequel to Wizard's Bane; the
novel tells the adventures of a Silicon Valley hacker in a land where
"Magic is real, unless declared integer.";
- Isaac Asimov's Foundation series (it used to be called
the Foundation Trilogy but his additions soon obsoleted that usage;
his last book to be published was Forward the Foundation
(where the creator of The Foundation reminisces about the early days
of The Foundation); any of his uncountable science columns in the
magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction;
- Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space
Odyssey, 2010: Odyssey II, Rendevous with Rama (and the
subsequent sequels to a lesser extent), The Fountains of Paradise,
The Hammer of God, his early short-stories;
- Harlan Ellison's novels; his short-stories (Mephisto in
Onyx which appeared in a 1994 issue of OMNI magazine);
- Tolkein's Rings trilogy of course! (fantasy);
- Guy Gavriel Kay's Tigana, and the sequel to a lesser
extent (fantasy);
- Larry Niven's Ringworld series;
- Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and Wyrd Sisters series (fantasy);
- Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide trilogy [sic];
- John Wyndham's novels (particularily Day of the Triffids);
- Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland and Through the
Looking Glass;
- H.G. Well's War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, etc.
- C. J. Cherryh's Foreigner (I must admit that this is the
first book of hers that I've actually read completely-- and it was a
joy! My technique for choosing what book to read is to simply pick a
book off the shelf and begin reading it. If I feel interested, I take
it home, otherwise I re-shelve it);
- Nancy Kress' Alien Light (this is the first SF novel I
enjoyed that was written by a female author; the first novel I read
was Ursula K. LeGuin's Left Hand of Darkness. It scared the
living daylights out of me (but then, I read it at an impressionable
age)). Nancy Kress' latest (pub. 1994) Beggars in Spain has
an interesting premise: a society where some people do not need sleep
and the advantages this genetic gift affords them;
- William Gibson's Neuromancer, Count Zero, Mona Lisa
Overdrive, Burning Chrome, Virtual Light;
- John Brunner's Shockwave Rider, Stand On Zanzibar;
- Robert J. Sawyer's Far Seer, End of an Era;
- Brian Stableford's The Empire of Fear, Werewolves of
London (fantasy) (these are period pieces taking place in the
1700's. The dialog of that period is re-created exquisitely. The
Empire of Fear has an interesting premise for the existence of
vampires.);
- Vernor Vinge's True Names...and Other Dangers (a
collection of short-stories; of which the title one is the most
amazing thing you will read).
- The Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories, Tom Shippey,
ed. has a collection of very good SF; e.g. Rudyard Kipling's 1912
Easy as ABC, Brian Aldiss' 1958 story Who Can Replace a
Man?;
- If you can find it, The Omnibus of Science Fiction
(pub. 1980), Groff Conklin, ed. (Chatam River Press), also has an
excellent collection of short-stories, mostly from the 1950's,
including Alan E. Vogt's Recruiting Station.
- The Forever War, by Haldeman (who served in the Vietnam
war) also has an interesting premise, though it was just a bit
fanciful for me (you won't forget the 1 micro-ton tachyon grenades,
though).
Science Fiction Favourites / Luis Fernandes
Last Modified: Tue Jun 8 09:16:30 EDT 1999