

What are your favorite sci-fi and fantasy books? - rayalez


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andrewflnr
Blindsight by Peter Watts. It's a masterpiece of hard SciFi, but not for the
faint of heart. It will mess with your mind, on top of the generally scary
subject matter.

~~~
pkinsky
It's also Creative Commons licensed on his website, despite some commercial
success:
[http://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm](http://rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm)

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ilzmastr
Childhoods end - Humanity takes the next step in evolution

Anhilliation - Fish out of water like story of exploring a mysterious,
horrific, environment (2 sequels drag on for too much after this one though)

Many Ray Bradbury stories (Martian chronicles, and the Everyman collection
contain the best ones)

Infinite Jest (Alternate American future of a culture of addiction and
depravity, partly mediated by technology)

The Circle (haven't read, but like the author, life inside the biggest tech
company of the future)

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Zekio
[http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Rising-Force-Book-
ebook/dp/B00B7...](http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Rising-Force-Book-
ebook/dp/B00B795UUS/ref=sr_1_7?s=digital-
text&ie=UTF8&qid=1422222164&sr=1-7&keywords=Joshua+Dalzelle) Omega force book
series is my favorites, and the new series the same author is making
[http://www.amazon.com/Warship-Black-Fleet-Trilogy-Book-
ebook...](http://www.amazon.com/Warship-Black-Fleet-Trilogy-Book-
ebook/dp/B00RS8FT2G/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-
text&ie=UTF8&qid=1422222164&sr=1-3&keywords=Joshua+Dalzelle) both book series
are great, second series only have 1 book, and both are sci-fi. :)

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dwarman
Stand on Zanzibar, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, Childhood's End, A Cantilce for
St Leibowitz, The Stars My Destination, Midnight At The Well of Souls, Nine
Princes in Amber, Halting State, Strnger In A Strange Land, The Moon Is A
Harsh Mistress.

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huxley
For Fantasy I loved the Thieves' World shared universe. The first 4 books were
my favourites.

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves'_World](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thieves'_World)

While some of his work hasn't aged well, I am still quite fond of several of
Michael Moorcock's Elric novels and the first Corum trilogy.

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melniboné](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elric_of_Melniboné)

[http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corum_Jhaelen_Irsei](http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corum_Jhaelen_Irsei)

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DanBC
Anything by Greg Egan; some of the things by Adam Roberts; i like William
Gibson (the modern books too); I also really like Bruce Sterling.

HN has a lot of these style threads and you're going to get some good
recommendations if you search for them.

~~~
inetsee
I recently read William Gibson's "The Peripheral" and I really liked it. I
think it's one of his best.

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parisidau
Discworld: Going Postal, Making Money, and Raising Steam (3 books total)

The Lies of Locke Lamora (and sequels, 3 books total so far)

The Name of the Wind (and sequels, 3 books total so far)

Ancillary Justice (and sequel, 2 books total so far)

All of Iain M. Banks Culture series

Old Man's War (and sequels)

~~~
nayshins
Second all of these choices, and I will add Hyperion and its sequels to the
list.

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coralreef
Just read 'The Martian'. I wouldn't even call it science fiction, its just
science. A fictional but technical and realistic how-to guide on surviving
Mars.

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poopchute
\- Brave New World (dystopia/utopia, short read)

\- Pandora's Star (futuristic (2380), humans are immortal through rejuvenation
and are colonizing new worlds using worm hole tech(I think they have 50 or so
worlds), long read - lots of sequels if you enjoy the universe)

\- Ender's game (futuristic, the movie cuts off 1/2 the book that revolves
around Ender's 2 siblings, both also are geniuses, short read - lots of
sequels if you enjoy the universe)

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iambot
Diamond age: a young ladies illustrated primer. Anathem. Halting state.
Accelerando. Rant: an oral biography of buster casey. Enders game. The laundry
files.

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Mankhool
I just read these and am waiting for the third.
[http://www.wolfhoundcentury.com/](http://www.wolfhoundcentury.com/) Peter
isn't on Twitter, but he responds to email through his site. I hope there is a
major motion picture in the works as he has created a very cool world.

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Sailfish
It's easier to list some of my favorite authors than list their individual
novels. Fantasy: Brandon Sanderson, Anthony Ryan, Kevin J. Anderson SciFi:
Alastair Reynolds, Peter F. Hamilton, early Richard Morgan Military SciFi: B.
V. Larson, Dave Duncan, Evan Currie, Jerry Pournelle, John Ringo, Eric Nylund

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eswat
Theatre of the Gods by Matt Suddain is an epic read. Ender’s Game by Orson
Scott Card is one of the few books I’ll reread every few years. Both are sci-
fi.

And, while not technically a book but a manga, Appleseed by Masamune Shirow is
another collection I reread every few years (precursor to Ghost in the Shell).

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Amat
Iain M. Banks "The Culture" series. I only just found out about these books
this summer and have not been able to put them down. Currently on book 9 of 10
and could not recommend them enough. I just can't get enough of the universe
that Mr. Banks has created.

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huxley
Ted Chiang is my favourite short fiction author, he doesn't write a lot but
what he publishes is first notch.

Podcast of his short story Exhalation:

[https://archive.org/details/ExhalationByTedChiang](https://archive.org/details/ExhalationByTedChiang)

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fendale
I really enjoyed the Honor Harrington series by David Webber. I've also read
most of the Safehold series, also by Webber, which has been excellent so far.

Currently half way through the Lost Fleet Series, which is pretty good too.

Quite different from the 3 series above, the Rho Agenda was very good.

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Tycho
Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, Dune, Foundation series, Martian Chronicles &
Illustrated Man, Ender's Game, Accelerando, Hyperion, The Forever War, Player
of Games, Snow Crash

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jinpa_zangpo
Not much fantasy here yet, so Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun tetralogy,
republished as two books: Shadow & Claw and Sword & Citadel.

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theonekeith
Favorite fantasy book far and away is "The Way of Kings" (a random Sanderson),
favorite sci-fi book is Snowcrash (Neal Stephenson)

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britknight
All-time favorite: _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson Recent favorite: _The
Name of the Wind_ by Patrick Rothfuss

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user_235711
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement

The Song and the Pendant by Magnus Von Black

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mattdw
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Any of Ursula K Le Guin's books, but particularly The Left Hand of Tomorrow.

Ancillary Justice.

Anything by Peter Watts or Iain M Banks.

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jdmoreira
If you like short stories I recommend Nine Tomorrows by Issac Asimov & The
Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury

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conorgil145
Old Man's War series by John Scalzi

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misiogames
The Hyperion series by Dan Simmons, nice mixture of sci-fi topics.

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axelerator
Deamon by Daniel Suarez

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jeeva
Daemon, and the follow up Freedom(tm) are a few fantastic books. Don't be
fooled by the start - it seems like a bit of a clichéd cop procedural, but
rapidly evolves to an interesting glance at near-future sci-fi and augmented
reality.

...plus it's pretty darned cool.

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padseeker
Dune - IM not-so HO its the best sci fi novel ever.

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relaunched
Kevin Hearne - Iron Druid Chronicles

