Favorite Sci-Fi authors - Page 1

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite Sci-Fi authors (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 8/19/2019 3:28:09 PM EDT

Since Fantasy has been done, list your favorite Sci-Fi authors.

John Scalzi - Old Mans War, The Interdependency, etc - Good author, just a bit of a SJW bent sometimes that makes me frown when reading, but not enough for me to stop reading. Military sci-fi in Old Man's War, just sci-fi in his other stuff.
Marko Kloos - Straight up military sci-fi. Excellent books. (Frontlines, Palladium Wars)
Timohty Zhan - Cobra, Quadrail, Icarus Hunt, etc)
Pierce Brown - Probably one of my favorite series, Red Rising.
James SA Cory - GRRM's assistant + another guy outshining GRRM. The Expanse. Not much of a fan of the TV series, but the books are great.
Richard K Morgan - Takeshi Kovacs, 13 - great stuff. Again, the show pales in comparison.
Ernest Cline - Ready Player One
Hugh Howey - Wool, Molly Fyde - Wool is classic. A modern classic.
Dani and Eytan Kollin - The Unincorporated Man series
Joe Halderman - the Forever War
Sara King - The Zero series (although it starts to get cheesey in the add-on books)
Rachel Bach - Paradox series
Dennis E Taylor - The Bobiverse - sounds dumb, but it's actually great
John Steakley - Armor
Heinlen - I mean, come on.

Posted: 8/19/2019 4:04:43 PM EDT

[#1]

ROGER ZELAZNY
Phip K Dick
David Drake
Piers Anthony
Friz Lieber

Posted: 8/19/2019 4:10:09 PM EDT

[#2]

Been working my way through the "zones of thought" books by Vernor Vinge.

Plus, T Zhan is also know for some very cool Star Wars books

Posted: 8/19/2019 4:21:23 PM EDT

[#3]

Heinlein, Niven, Zelazsny, Pohl, Asimov, Pournelle, Stirling, Vinge, Wells, Weber, Chalker, Tolkein, Silverberg.

ETA: +Dick, Drake, Morgan, Cheryh, Lackey, Williamson, Stephenson, Gibson, Sterling, Pratchett, Anthony

ETA2: ++Gaiman

ETA3: +Lem, Burroughs, Bujold, Farmer, Flint, Card, Crichton, Foster, Donaldson, Forstchen, Verne, Bradley, Adams, Bear, Anderson, Aspirin, Hamilton

Posted: 8/19/2019 4:56:09 PM EDT

[#4]

Quote History

Quoted:
Heinlein, Niven, Zelazsny, Pohl, Asimov, Pournelle, Stirling, Vinge, Wells, Weber, Chalker, Tolkein, Silverberg.

ETA: +Dick, Drake, Morgan, Cheryh, Lackey, Williamson, Stephenson, Gibson, Sterling, Pratchett, Anthony

ETA2: ++Gaiman

View Quote

mmm, forgot Williamson. Father of Cyberpunk.

Stephenson isn't one of my favs. He has some good stuff (Snow Crash) and some impenetrable gibberish.

Posted: 8/19/2019 6:23:37 PM EDT

[#5]

He's not as well-known (other than from his TV show, Rocket City Rednecks), but Travis Taylor has some reasonable books that are based on plausible science, both on his own and with John Ringo.

Chuck Gannon has an interesting series that I've been reading.

Posted: 8/21/2019 12:33:09 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
James SA Cory - GRRM's assistant + another guy outshining GRRM. The Expanse. Not much of a fan of the TV series, but the books are great.

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Lulz. It's "Corey".

James S. A. Corey is the pen name used by collaborators Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, authors of the science fiction series The Expanse. The first and last name are taken from Abraham's and Franck's middle names, respectively, and S. A. are the initials of Abraham's daughter.

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Looks like Franck is the "GRRM's assistant" one.

Also, IIRC they're friends with Walter Jon Williams, who is quite possibly our greatest living author.

Posted: 8/21/2019 12:36:12 PM EDT

[#7]

Surprised that no one has mentioned Becky Chambers, one of this year's Hugo winners. Her "Wayfarers" series is extremely comfy.

Martha Wells' "Murderbot Diaries" also won a Hugo and is a lot of fun; there's a fifth book coming out late next year. A security cyborg hacks its governor module so that it no longer has to obey orders, and promptly starts watching soap operas.

Robert Kroese will be considered one of our finest authors in another couple of decades.

Walter Jon Williams already is.

Also quite enamored of the writing of E William Brown. The second book in his "Perilous Waif" series is supposed to be released "real soon now". The appendix to PW gave a good explanation of why and how he did his worldbuilding. After thinking about it a good long while, I disagree with his reasoning on AI; I think we will be able to build serious genius-level AI in only a few more generations.

Posted: 8/21/2019 1:05:27 PM EDT

[#8]

Terry Brooks

These 3 had me hooked...
The Sword of Shannara
The Elfstones of Shannara
The Wishsong of Shannara

Posted: 8/21/2019 1:50:48 PM EDT

[#9]

I’m listening to Marko Kloos’s Frontlines series on my commute.
I also like John Ringo’s Posleen War series.

Posted: 8/23/2019 12:35:56 PM EDT

[#10]

PKD
I. Asimov
F. Herbert
R. Heinlein
V. Vinge
L. Niven
G. Wolfe
A.C. Clarke
D. Simmons

Posted: 8/23/2019 12:54:01 PM EDT

[#11]

Isaac Asimov
Robert Heinlein
David Weber
John Ringo
Orson Scott Card

Posted: 8/23/2019 1:13:57 PM EDT

[#12]

Too many to list. Definitely my favorite genre.

Posted: 8/23/2019 1:39:30 PM EDT

[#13]

William Gibson - Neuromancer, among many others

Neil Stephenson - Snowcrash + others

Posted: 9/27/2019 11:54:09 PM EDT

[#14]

The Mercenary - Jerry Pournelle. Everyone should read these. Retief - Keith Lamaur the original comedy sci-fi
David Webbers The Stars at War I & II. Finest space armada writing ever.
H Beam Piper
MR Forbes

Posted: 9/28/2019 12:26:14 AM EDT

[#15]

Asimov, et al.

Posted: 9/28/2019 10:23:09 PM EDT

[#16]

Besides what's already listed:

James P. Hogan
Douglas Adams
Grant Naylor
E. E. 'Doc' Smith

Posted: 9/28/2019 10:27:59 PM EDT

[#17]

Marko has talent for story telling

The expanse series is awesome

Posted: 9/28/2019 10:46:54 PM EDT

[#18]

Richard K Morgan The Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies.

Posted: 9/29/2019 10:17:32 AM EDT

[#19]

Brian Niemeier author of the Soul Cycle series and Combat Frame XSeed

Nick Cole co-writer of Galaxy's Edge and Soda Pop Soldier

John C. Wright author of Superluminary and The Count to the Eschaton Sequence

Yakov Merkin author of Galaxy Ascendent

Jon Del Arroz author of The Stars Entwined, Justified, and the Rislandia series

B.V. Larson author of Starship Liberator, Undying Mercenaries, Rebel Fleet, etc

Richard Fox author of Ember War and Exiled Fleet

Scott Bartlett author of After the Galaxy, Spacers, Ixan Prophecies, etc

Posted: 10/1/2019 11:42:40 AM EDT

[#20]

Quote History

Quoted:
Richard K Morgan The Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies.

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Did you like the show on Netflix? I watched one episode and didn't want to go on. They changed so much it was basically "inspired" by the books, but completely different.

Posted: 10/1/2019 11:57:20 AM EDT

[#21]

Quote History

Quoted:
Did you like the show on Netflix? I watched one episode and didn't want to go on. They changed so much it was basically "inspired" by the books, but completely different.

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Quoted:

Quoted:
Richard K Morgan The Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies.

Did you like the show on Netflix? I watched one episode and didn't want to go on. They changed so much it was basically "inspired" by the books, but completely different.

I did watch the entire Netflix series and enjoyed it but it had been about two years since I had read or listened to the originals. I thought it was good and the basic story arc of Altered Carbon survives relatively intact but they changes so many of the supporting characters I am not sure how they will possibly use the stories from Broken Angel and especially Woken Furies in the next season. They basically combined Virginia Vidaura and Nadia Makita into the same character and that did not outright brake the Altered Carbon story arc too badly but it utterly destroys the story arc of Woken Furies and many of the underlying libertarian leaning politics in the series in general.

Posted: 10/1/2019 12:31:15 PM EDT

[#22]

I'm two books into a six-part series called The 28th Gate. It's starting to get good

Christopher C. Dimond

Posted: 10/1/2019 1:02:13 PM EDT

[#23]

Frank Robinson (I met him, and he was a great guy, no longer with us though). I did acquire an original manuscript of his...still on typing paper as submitted to his publisher. It is in a box that is about a ream of paper.

Posted: 10/1/2019 1:46:23 PM EDT

[#24]

Quote History

Quoted:
Did you like the show on Netflix? I watched one episode and didn't want to go on. They changed so much it was basically "inspired" by the books, but completely different.

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Quote History

Quoted:

Quoted:
Richard K Morgan The Takeshi Kovacs trilogy, Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, and Woken Furies.

Did you like the show on Netflix? I watched one episode and didn't want to go on. They changed so much it was basically "inspired" by the books, but completely different.

They really mangled the side characters and meta story. There are elements of the TV series that work, and many that do not. I’m glad I watched it, but in terms of the quality of the books it was “meh”.

The books are pretty good.

Posted: 10/1/2019 1:51:41 PM EDT

[#25]

Quote History

Quoted:
Frank Robinson (I met him, and he was a great guy, no longer with us though). I did acquire an original manuscript of his...still on typing paper as submitted to his publisher. It is in a box that is about a ream of paper.

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I used to work on sf/fantasy paper manuscripts. I copyedited some of the authors in this thread. Books typically ran 225-600 pages, double-spaced.

Was your copy marked up or clean? Were there differences in the text from the published book? I'd guess clean, with the marked-up copy that everyone touched through production squirrelled away in the publisher's file cabinets.

Posted: 10/1/2019 3:54:49 PM EDT

[#26]

Another interestIng read:

The Unincorporated Man, by Eytan and Dani Kollin

The sequels aren’t as interesting, but it’s a great concept.

Posted: 10/1/2019 11:43:24 PM EDT

[#27]

Quote History

Quoted:
Another interestIng read:

The Unincorporated Man, by Eytan and Dani Kollin

The sequels aren’t as interesting, but it’s a great concept.

View Quote

Ooh, yeah, I read that and at least one sequel. It was pretty good.

Posted: 10/2/2019 1:10:33 AM EDT

[#28]

Larry Correia
Rick Partlow
John Ringo
Michael Z Williamson
CJ Carella
BV Larson
Jay Allen
Nicholas Sansbury Smith
Evan Currie
Mark E Cooper
Marko Kloos
John Scalzi
Weston Ochse
Taylor Anderson

Posted: 10/4/2019 8:23:13 PM EDT

[#29]

I used to read a lot of sci fi, but it’s been a while. Most were forgettable.
David Brin was one of my favorite Sci-fi authors. Stuff like his uplift war stories.
Surprised no love here for his writings.

I’ve read a few Ben Bova books. I really liked his books about the first expeditions to Mars

Posted: 10/4/2019 10:08:06 PM EDT

[#30]

Quote History

Quoted:
I used to read a lot of sci fi, but it's been a while. Most were forgettable.
David Brin was one of my favorite Sci-fi authors. Stuff like his uplift war stories.
Surprised no love here for his writings.

I've read a few Ben Bova books. I really liked his books about the first expeditions to Mars

View Quote

Brin is an ass, that's why...

Posted: 10/4/2019 10:22:27 PM EDT

[#31]

Quote History

Quoted:

mmm, forgot Williamson. Father of Cyberpunk.

Stephenson isn't one of my favs. He has some good stuff (Snow Crash) and some impenetrable gibberish.

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I thought William Gibson was father of cyberpunk

What did Stephenson write that was impenetrable gibberish?

Posted: 10/4/2019 11:47:21 PM EDT

[#32]

Quote History

Quoted:
Brin is an ass, that's why...

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Quoted:

Quoted:
I used to read a lot of sci fi, but it's been a while. Most were forgettable.
David Brin was one of my favorite Sci-fi authors. Stuff like his uplift war stories.
Surprised no love here for his writings.

I've read a few Ben Bova books. I really liked his books about the first expeditions to Mars

Brin is an ass, that's why...

He may be a consummate dickhead, but he’s still a good author.

Posted: 10/6/2019 1:56:01 PM EDT

[#33]

Quote History

Quoted:

I thought William Gibson was father of cyberpunk

What did Stephenson write that was impenetrable gibberish?

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Correct, I don't know why I typed Williamson. I think my mind was saying William GIBSON and my fingers just got a garbled transmission.

Anathem. Cryptonomicon

Posted: 10/6/2019 5:20:49 PM EDT

[#34]

Quote History

Quoted:
Correct, I don't know why I typed Williamson. I think my mind was saying William GIBSON and my fingers just got a garbled transmission.

Anathem. Cryptonomicon

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Quoted:

Quoted:

I thought William Gibson was father of cyberpunk

What did Stephenson write that was impenetrable gibberish?

Correct, I don't know why I typed Williamson. I think my mind was saying William GIBSON and my fingers just got a garbled transmission.

Anathem. Cryptonomicon

Burning Chrome (short story) and neuromancer are 100x the book of those two.

Posted: 10/6/2019 9:29:31 PM EDT

[#35]

Quote History

Quoted:

Correct, I don't know why I typed Williamson. I think my mind was saying William GIBSON and my fingers just got a garbled transmission.

Anathem. Cryptonomicon

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Kind of figured that's what happened.

I dont consider anathem or cryptonomicon science fiction though, more historical fiction I guess kind of like the big u and zodiac from before Stephenson hit big with snow crash. I liked cryptonomicon for what it is.

I've read quite a bit of scifi starting with Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and including William Gibson's entire catalog and snow crash stands above all others in my own book

Posted: 10/7/2019 6:08:13 AM EDT

[#36]

Walter Jon Williams
Larry Niven
Clifford D Simak
SM Stirling
Robert Heinlein

Posted: 10/12/2019 10:03:12 PM EDT

[#37]

The ones that come to mind most recently that stayed with me are written by Dan Simmons.

Posted: 10/15/2019 10:17:45 PM EDT

[#38]

Peter F Hamilton.

The Commonwealth Series is some of the most entertaining Sci Fi I have read. Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained were incredible.

NOT a fan of the Confederacy series, however.

Big fan of Larry Niven. I think most of his short stories, Known Space series, and Integral Trees (and the Smoke Ring ) are my favorites.

Charles Sheffield's stuff can be pretty darn good. Some, not so much. Wish he was still around.

Robert Silverberg is another favorite. His treatment of the Gilgamesh Epic was fantastic. My favorite short story, for some reason is "Hawksbill Station" or, as I like to call it, "Gulag Pre-Cambrian"

Posted: 10/24/2019 9:06:17 AM EDT

[#39]

Quote History

Quoted:
Peter F Hamilton.

The Commonwealth Series is some of the most entertaining Sci Fi I have read. Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained were incredible.

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I love Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, though I think there's a bit too much of an obsession with sex for most of the characters.
I mean, everyone likes sex, but a lot of the characters in those books seem absolutely consumed by it.

Posted: 10/24/2019 2:01:03 PM EDT

[#40]

Early on it was writers like Ray Bradbury and Philip K Dick. After college it was William Gibson and Bruce Sterling

Posted: 10/25/2019 10:34:46 PM EDT

[#41]

Quote History

Quoted:

I love Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, though I think there's a bit too much of an obsession with sex for most of the characters.
I mean, everyone likes sex, but a lot of the characters in those books seem absolutely consumed by it.

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The Confederacy series is even WORSE!!!!

If you go back and read the very first Commonwealth novel, Misspent Youth, the sexual obsession is, at least, explained as part of their rejuvenation process, which makes sense.

The Confederacy is just gross for the sake of it, in my opinion.

Posted: 11/1/2019 12:51:24 PM EDT

[#42]

Quote History

Quoted:

Did you like the show on Netflix? I watched one episode and didn't want to go on. They changed so much it was basically "inspired" by the books, but completely different.

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I liked the netflix show, but that's because I hadn't read the books. I started the first book, but it didn't grab me enough to binge it. Maybe I'll get back to it someday.

Posted: 6/1/2020 11:29:58 PM EDT

[#43]

The best opening line I've read is: "The Galaxy is a Dumpster Fire. A hot, stinking, dumpster fire." Ok, that's 2 opening lines but, they go so well together.

Posted: 6/7/2020 9:30:40 AM EDT

[#44]

I may have missed it, but surprised John Varley wasn’t mentioned.

Posted: 6/7/2020 11:33:12 AM EDT

[#45]

Quote History

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I may have missed it, but surprised John Varley wasn’t mentioned.

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He has been.

Posted: 7/6/2020 8:19:47 PM EDT

[#46]

Fritz Lieber was a great one.

Posted: 7/6/2020 8:30:07 PM EDT

[#47]

Ian Douglas, Star Carrier Series and a few others.

Posted: 7/6/2020 8:30:17 PM EDT

[#48]

Dan Abnett. Writes for the Warhammer universe.

The Eisenhorn books are outstanding, as are his other Black Library offerings.

Posted: 7/31/2020 11:45:52 PM EDT

[#49]

Most of the ones I like have already been listed, but Benjamin Wallace is one of my faves, his Post-Apocalyptic Nomadic Warrior series is hilarious .
Michael Crichton
David Drake
Timothy Zahn- if his Star Wars books had been what they based the sequel movies on, they would have beaten the original series.

Someone that was a bit of an also ran writer during the Golden Era of sci-fi (Heinlein, Asimov, etc.) was H Beam Piper, his Lone Star Planet is probably my favorite. He was a big gun nut too, wrote a noir detective novella called Murder in the Gun Room.

Posted: 4/5/2021 9:39:40 PM EDT

[#50]

Glen Cook, The Dragon Never Sleeps, SF, not a Fantasy book.

Obligated to mention Mickey Zucker Reichert, Three I Robot prequel novels. She was specifically chosen by Asimov’s widow and daughter. Pat Rogers advised throughout series on Police procedure.

I’m obligated because Author is my wife. She’s published a couple dozen fantasy novels as well.

[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Favorite Sci-Fi authors (Page 1 of 2)

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