SciFi and Fantasy eBook Club discussion

Just curious. For me I benchmark everything on Lord of the Rings for description and Dune for dialogue (I have no idea why but the people seem remarkably intellectual in that one)

Not knocking Lord of the Rings or Dune (both great works that I love)
But I'd suggest The Complete Lyonesseas a fantasy series well worth reading

While this was many moons ago, the fantasy series that I read the most of was the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley Marion Zimmer Bradley. I did burn out on them at one point, but then read many of MZBs other books.
Not sure if I would enjoy the books now or not. I am almost afraid to start re-reading any of them.

Man do I only get to pick one each, and do they have to be books, can one be comic book, it says book in it. This is a hard question, especially if I only get one each.
Fantasy - the Middle Earth stories
Science Fiction - The Green Lantern

I would say it can change at any time to any story, and there are so many more to read.

My favorite fantasy series is Gotrek and Felix by William King.

Lots of action and great descriptions.

Jim wrote: "Not knocking Lord of the Rings or Dune (both great works that I love)
But I'd suggest The Complete Lyonesseas a fantasy series well worth reading"

Is it one of the worlds that makes you feel that it's living?

Suzi wrote: "While this was many moons ago, the fantasy series that I read the most of was the Darkover series by Marion Zimmer Bradley Marion Zimmer Bradley. I did burn out on them at one poin..."

What make's you not sure if you'll enjoy them now?

Rok wrote: "Man do I only get to pick one each, and do they have to be books, can one be comic book, it says book in it. This is a hard question, especially if I only get one each.
Fantasy - the Middle Earth s..."

Certainly it can change. I always find elements of each book that I like to incorporate in my writing, such as Isaac Asimov's simplicity or Ben Bova's historical acumen. But still overall I find Dune and LoTR have the bulk of elements I tend to aspire to.

Jevon wrote: "My favorite fantasy series is Gotrek and Felix by William King.

Lots of action and great descriptions."

I'll check it out. Usually not a fan of game/movie inspired books, but I suppose I owe them another shot...not that I've immersed myself heavily in them.

S. wrote: "
Is it one of the worlds that makes you feel that it's living? ..."

Yes. It's one of those places where the stories come crawling out even when the writer isn't looking for them :-)

I'm not much of one for series.

And I'd beg to differ on Tolkien's work being a series. LotR was ONE book published as a trilogy. That's not a series. It's simply a dashed big book that couldn't feasibly have been marketed at the time as one giant tome.

I also don't consider it a proper sequel to The Hobbit, because it's a High Fantasy meant for a more mature audience. The Hobbit is quite clearly a YA work closer related to fairytales than to, say, the Norse epics Tolkien loved so much.

Dune, I liked. But not the series.

I suppose one of the few proper(ish) series I've read is the Hyperion Cantos. That was awesome. So if you consider it a series, I'll go with that.

Otherwise...um...not a fan of much fantasy...I suppose that only leaves Simon Morden's Petrovitch Trilogy; Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The Retrieval Artist series; and Rudy Rucker's Ware Tetralogy.

Morden's books are rollicking fun. Rusch's are great SF Detective books. But Rucker's Ware books are just too strange and perverted not to give the nod to.

I'll go with the Ware Tetralogy. Hyperion Cantos is better, though.

I most recently read Buroker's steampunk series The Emperor's Edge. Cracks me up and keeps me paying attention.

Rok wrote: "Man do I only get to pick one each, and do they have to be books, can one be comic book, it says book in it. This is a hard question, especially if I only get one each.
Fantasy - the Middle Earth s..."

I love Green Lantern for sci fi and for fantasy, I will have to go with Harry Potter.

I have many favorites (such as The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dresden Files - just to name a few), but my absolute favorite Fantasy series has to be The Wheel of Time.

Gianluca wrote: "I have many favorites (such as The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dresden Files - just to name a few), but my absolute favorite Fantasy series has to be The Wheel of..."

I read the first book and found it fairly slow-paced. Does it pick up in the following ones?

I was going to say The Lord of the Rings but I suppose Micah has a point about that being one long book rather than a true series. It's hard to pick another fantasy series out from the crowd, as there are a number I really like. I suppose if I have to pick one, it might be The Dresden Files, although the Jane Yellowrock series might be a close second.

For sci-fi it's even tougher. I like the early books of the Honor Hartington series, although the latter books in the series did become a bit repetitive. Someone mentioned the Fine series but while I consider the original book an outstanding classic of the genre, the sequels ranged from just adequate to dreadful.

Dune not Fine. Stupid autocorrect. :-(

S. wrote: "Gianluca wrote: "I have many favorites (such as The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dresden Files - just to name a few), but my absolute favorite Fantasy series has t..."

To be honest, when I first read The Eye of the World I didn't love it either. I thought it was a bit too slow and that it borrowed too much from The Lord of the Rings. I fell in love with the series around the end of book 2, which has an epic ending (like most of the books in the series). After that I enjoyed every book (even the first one once I re-read it, and by the way I was totally wrong about it being similar to The Lord of the Rings).
But to answer your question, I think the first book is one of the slowest but the are a couple of novels in the middle where the story really drags.
Overall there's a lot going on in terms of story and characters after the first book, and I mean a lot. This is probably the biggest series I've ever read so you'll need patience if you want to get through it, but it's well worth it in my opinion.

Hell I will even have to toss in His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. It's fantasy and steampunk. How could I forget about those.

Michael wrote: "Dune not Fine. Stupid autocorrect. :-("

I don't know, it takes a degree of warped genius to convert 'Dune' into 'Fine'

:-)

Fantasy: The Book of the New Sun
SciFi: The Book of the New Sun

Literature in general: The Book of the New Sun

Gene Wolfe is the yard stick by which I measure other writers.

Rok wrote: "Hell I will even have to toss in His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman. It's fantasy and steampunk. How could I forget about those."

I normally don't care for fantasy (which is strange since I co-wrote one, go figure) but I agree with Rok on this. I started off thinking that The Golden Compass was a fantasy and by the time I got through The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass I decided that the whole thing was science fiction. Might be why I like it.

As far as SF series, my "go to" series reads have been The Quadrail series by Timothy Zahn, the Thunder and Lightning series by John Varley, the Diving Universe series by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and the Alex Benedict stories by Jack McDevitt

Kenneth wrote: "Gene Wolfe is the yard stick by which I measure other writers. ."


Gene Wolfe appears to be 'marmite'. You either love him or hate him :-)
I'd recommend everybody read some of his work to see if they fall into the 'love him' category

He does seem that way. He asks a lot more of the reader than the average writer, and maybe that is the dividing point.

I keep meaning to re-read him but have never got round to it

It's hard to choose... but based purely on "How many times have you read them?" it would have to be Lois McMaster Bujold for both fantasy and sci-fi, since she handily writes both.

Her books have all made it into my audiobooks collection - which is only for books I "read" repeatedly.

And Terry Pratchett coming a very close second. Or joint first.

I'd go for Dune and the 1st Thomas Covenant chronicles.

I like Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber. It's a very fast read because its written so simply. I also like Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy. I liked the first books in the Dune series and the first two books in Niven's Ringworld stories but the quality dropped in the succeeding books.

Gianluca wrote: "I have many favorites (such as The Lord of the Rings, The Dark Tower, A Song of Ice and Fire, The Dresden Files - just to name a few), but my absolute favorite Fantasy series has to be The Wheel of..."

The Wheel of Time is my favorite also. I don't know if I'll ever have time to do a complete reread anymore, but I used to reread before every new book came out.

Dresden Files is my second favorite series.

My favorite series in SFF if anybody knows me will always be Drizzt no matter what.

My favorite fantasy series is the Westmark Trilogy by Lloyd Alexander. I'm always amazed by how he could shift from extremely lighthearted to dark and gritty so easily.

As for sci-fi, The Lunar Chronicles has probably been the only sci-fi series I've ever read (hoping to remedy that soon!) but I really enjoyed it as well :)

I always like Glen Cook's Black Company series. Especially the earlier books in the series. The later books are less interesting although longer.

I like too many to name them all. Bearing that in mind, I like Jack Vance's "Demon Princes" novels and his "Dying Earth" series. Orson Scott Card's "Ender" saga is great. The first couple of Xanth books by Piers Anthony were fine. The "Hyperion" books by Dan Simmons are a great read as well.

Sci-Fi:
John Bowers' "Fighter Queen" saga, "Nick Walker UF Marshal" series, and his "Starport" series.

Bruce Davis' "Profit" series.

Alan Dean Foster's "Flinx" series.

Fantasy:
Anne McCaffrey's "Pern" series, complete with dragons.

Kriss Erickson's "Land Behind the Veil" series.

Al "Tank" wrote: "Sci-Fi:
John Bowers' "Fighter Queen" saga, "Nick Walker UF Marshal" series, and his "Starport" series.

Bruce Davis' "Profit" series.

Alan Dean Foster's "Flinx" series.

Fantasy:
Anne McCaffrey's..."

Kind of funny, I'm actually acquainted with John Bowers through a forum, and I read his contributions to the email chains from time to time. Very intelligent guy. For some reason, I never actually added "Fighter Queen" to my reading list. I'll change that momentarily.

And I'm with you on McCaffrey's Pern. It got me started on a years-long fantasy binge, and I only just recently made an official pivot back to Sci Fi.

My favorite series at the moment is the John Scalzi's "Old Man's War" series, starting with the book of that name. Old Man's War. I didn't fully understand the term "character driven" until I got started with Scalzi.

Fantasy, I never found my stride with Tolkien myself, but Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" trilogy is hilariously irreverent and stupidly violent. I have a special place in my heart for both traits. The Blade Itself

Tom wrote: "Fantasy, I never found my stride with Tolkien myself"

I read the entire Bored of the Rings series (The Hobbit and the 3 main books) and then traded them off 'cause I'll never bother to read them again. Tolkien was entirely too wordy. If I'd been his editor, the books would have been MUCH shorter (and more fun to read).

Heinlein got me hooked on Science Fiction. A giant who hasn't been matched by anyone since (IMHO).

I'm a huge fan of Bob Mayer's Area 51 series. It had a great mix of scifi elements and the supernatural but also added enough realistic details to make the whole thing believable.

In SF, if two books can constitute a series, it would be Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and its sequel, Children of God. In fantasy, I'm currently more or less obsessed with (endlessly rereading) Naomi Novik's Temeraire series, starting with His Majesty's Dragon.

I have just reas The Sparrow!! breathtaking!!! I need a break before I read Children ofnGod though. Heavy stuff that is

I just find funny that no one here selected any of Asimov's series as a favorite sience-fiction.
For me the Foundation series is the best of the best!