SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

hey there... i'm new into reading(although i'm 21) but i left reading after i was 14 (till then i read a lot of goosebumps and hardy boys)
now..sci-fi and apocalyptic stuff interests me... i hope to read some good apocalyptic and sci-fi novels about zombies,alien invasions(and wars), novels about wars in galaxies, great horror novels like IT and some other good thrillers. please please suggest some.. thanks :)
cheers!!

Hi Tapanjeet umm well there is Strange Angels thats about zombies and werewolves and stuff lik that or maybe u would like The Host i haven't read it but i no its about aliens and everyone says its a good book! I hope i hav helped and soz i didn't make alot of suggestions im more into vampire books and stuff like that :P

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein is a pretty good "classic" sci-fi novel about fighting aliens in space, and it has a political bent! It was a movie, too.

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War
Feed

Two good zombie books.

Old Man's War

The start of an excellent series about humans and other species fighting for colonizable planets.

Shards of Honor, Barrayar, The Warrior's Apprentice

Love and war, but not the way you'd expect them. The first three books of a series.

Jennifer Government
Snow Crash

Some fun dystopia-ish books.

@Raynieday - Thanks for the suggestions. I will surely check them out!! 'Host' looks interesting but if I'm not wrong, it sounds like the movie Invasion.
@Adam- Thanks mate. But will it be any fun cause I've already seen the movie atleast 5-6 times(I know you can't compare a book and a movie but still).. And any other books?? Alien invasion or we invading another planet etc etc :D
@Nikki- Hey. These books look interesting esp. the Vorkosigan Saga. I'm gonna buy these ASAP... thanks :))

If you want old school, try I Am Legend

Tapanjeet wrote: "hey there... i'm new into reading(although i'm 21) but i left reading after i was 14 (till then i read a lot of goosebumps and hardy boys)
now..sci-fi and apocalyptic stuff interests me... i hope ..."

Hi,
Glad your back reading. here are a few humble suggestions.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Icew... this is in the fantasy fiction group but in the story you will find one of the best Characters around.
2. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65... this one is about apocalyptic future and what can happen if we let our food to get genetically patented and other stuff. great story.
3. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40... and I would be remiss if i didn't add a classic, I loved this series as a kid and still pick up a copy once in awhile just for kicks.
good luck and good reading from seattle,
Steven

Tapanjeet,

Welcome! The best post-apocalyptic book I've read in a long while is THE ROAD, by Cormac McCarthy. It is a tale concerning a man and his son trying to survive while keeping their humanity intact in the years after society has collapsed. McCarthy is an American author who has made quite a name for himself in literary circles -- he is probably best known for his "border trilogy" (three books about the American southwest) and for his story NO TIME FOR OLD MEN which was made into a movie by the same title.

Thomas C. Stone

Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. Won the Hugo--science fiction's Oscar.

Prisoners in a future Lunar penal colony rebel against Earth.

Second, Isaac Asimov wrote over 400 books (not all sf) but he is a great influence in the field. Pick up a book of his story stories --any one--to see what you think of him.

Hello Steven,
Thanks a lot for these suggestions.
The Windup Girl looks very interesting. It is surely going in my 'to-read' list along with A Princess of Mars.
I had a question regarding The Icewind Dale Trilogy. Does The Icewind Dale Trilogy come first or the Dark Elf Trilogy?
Regards,
Tapanjeet (India).

The Dark Elf Trilogy is set earlier than the Icewind Dale Trilogy, but the Icewind Dale Trilogy was written first. Personally, I think the Dark Elf Trilogy is the best set of books Salvatore has written, so I recommend you start there (with the understanding that it will go downhill) but I know a lot of people disagree with me. ;)

@Thomas
First of all thank you!!
I've recently read that book after seeing the movie last year and I think it was pretty good and scary in a way(how humanity can be lost in such circumstances). Another recent novel read by me is Stephen King's Carrie. But thanks for the valuable suggestions anyway. :)

@Mary
Thanks. Hey I've got a question. I see a lot of Isaac Asimov's work in my library but I don't know where to start. Are they all like continuations and series or separate stories each?
I will surely check out the other novel you've suggested. :)

@Phoenixfalls
Thanks for the info. Dark Elf Trilogy it is then :).


P.S- Thank you all for the support.. I've just started reading another novel a few hours ago and I'm loving it. I'm so happy that I'm slowly but surely coming back to reading. :))

Re: Asimov
I always think the best place to start is with I, Robot, which is a collection of short stories. It pretty much stands on its own. However, later in life Asimov started linking a lot of his series together into one vast universe, which I, Robot is very near the beginning of. In chronological order, that universe would go:

I, Robot

Elijah Bailey/R. Daneel Olivaw mystery novels
The Caves of Steel
The Naked Sun
The Robots of Dawn
Robots and Empire)

Empire novels
The Stars, Like Dust
The Currents of Space
Pebble in the Sky)

Foundation novels
Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Foundation's Edge
Foundation and Earth

However, this is nowhere near the publication order for these titles, so reading by internal chronology can be a bit jarring, as Asimov's skill varied over time. So you can read in that order, but I recommend instead reading the individual series closer to publication order.

So if you want vast, big idea science fiction, start with the original Foundation trilogy first, then reading the sequels, then the prequels, which would be this order:

Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation
Foundation's Edge
Foundation and Earth
Prelude to Foundation
Forward the Foundation

Alternately, if you like mystery novels, you could just start with the Elijah Bailey/R. Daneel Olivaw mystery novels, in the order I mentioned above (though the fourth one isn't much of a mystery; it's mainly just a novel written to tie the vaster universe together, so if you only want the mysteries you can skip it).

But I'd say definitely start with I, Robot. ;)

Wow!! Thanks a lot..
This is surely gonna help. I had heard about I,Robot but I thought it wouldn't be so much fun after watching the movie. But I guess it'll be awesome if you are so highly recommending it. :)
Also , thanks for the list and explanation of where to start Isaac Asimov's novels.
I'm gonna save this for when I go and buy Issac Asimov's work and the first one is gonna be Foundation series.
Thanks again. :))

I, Robot is nothing like the movie. There was very little way for it to be. . . it's just a collection of Asimov's robot short stories, linked by a thin framing story. But the stories are really beautiful, and introduce you to concepts that had a major effect on the field.

Which is not to say Foundation isn't a great place to start too! Just don't discount I, Robot because of that awful movie. . . :)

One of my favorite post-apocalyptic books is Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt

Here is a whole list of post apocalyptic books
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18...

Pat wrote: "Here is a whole list of post apocalyptic books
http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/18..."

Oh crap. My to read list just got bigger.

(and I added one to that list ...

One Second After - William Fortschen

I read it last year and really enjoyed it.

Some of my favorite post-apocalyptic books are...

The Stand and The Road

the Road is pretty cool it set after an unknown disaster has wiped out most of humanity, the story follows the journey of a father and son through the wastelands of a dying world

both are great reads