Need new suggestions... here's what I've read...

[shadow9d9]

Here are the books I've read with my reviews from a 1-5 scale:

3 of Arthur C. Clarke's short stories Big Game hunter+ - 1.3
A Song of Fire and Ice Game of Thrones - 4.75
Dragonriders of Pern Dragonflight - 4.68
Vorkosigan Warrior's Apprentice- 4.5
Discworld- A Colour of Magic- 3.1
A Light Fantastic- 3.2
Equal Rites- 2.9
Mort -3.75
Guards! Guards! -3.95
Fahrenheit 451- 3.6
Stranger in a Strange Land- 2
Star Trek Unity- 2
Star Trek Avatar 1-2 -3.85
Star Trek A Stitch in Time a 4.25
Star Trek 34th rule- 3.8
Star Trek Abyss- 3.6
Star Trek Left Hand of Destiny 1-2 -3.2
Star Trek Legends of the Ferengi- 3.9
Star Trek Worlds Of Deep Space Nine Book 1 Cardassia- 2
Just a Geek- 4.2
The Hobbit- 2.5

And I already own but haven't read yet:
Deed of Paksenarrion
Watership Down
Chronicles of Narnia
Left Hand of Darkness

I am mainly looking for new authors to expand my horizens!

 

[sirmyk]

Another Star Trek book?

 

[abecedarian]

You might want to spend some time browsing the various threads in this forum. There's enough suggestions to keep you in books for a very long time. To get you started though, I'd recommend the Xanth series by Piers Anthony, just for fun.

 

[shadow9d9]

Oh, and I've gotten plenty more Star Trek books.. but I am looking to expand my sci fi/fantasy author exposure...

For example, I own all of discworld, vorkosigan, fire and ice, Dragonriders of Pern etc... I will get to them, but I also want to be exposed to some other fantastic authors if they are out there.

Also not interested in Wheel of Time or any books made by authors purposely dragging out their stories to milk their audience... Ender's game has been suggested, but the sequels are supposed to not be so great.. I am looking for consistently good writers.

 

[abecedarian]

Oh, and I've gotten plenty more Star Trek books.. but I am looking to expand my sci fi/fantasy author exposure...

For example, I own all of discworld, vorkosigan, fire and ice, Dragonriders of Pern etc... I will get to them, but I also want to be exposed to some other fantastic authors if they are out there.

Also not interested in Wheel of Time or any books made by authors purposely dragging out their stories to milk their audience... Ender's game has been suggested, but the sequels are supposed to not be so great.. I am looking for consistently good writers.

And Star Trek books aren't doing that? Or the Pern books, or any other series we can name? That's the way of modern publishing, from what I hear. Of course, I'm in America's Outback, and may not have the lastest news and sports..

 

[Minniemal]

I don't mean to be a complete smartass (I'm merely being a half-assed smartass ), but you might enjoy Sharyn McCrumb's Bimbos of the Death Sun and Zombies of the Gene Pool. (They're comic mysteries about people who read nothing but sci fi...)

 

[shadow9d9]

And Star Trek books aren't doing that? Or the Pern books, or any other series we can name? That's the way of modern publishing, from what I hear. Of course, I'm in America's Outback, and may not have the lastest news and sports..

Aye, the star trek books do this.. which is why I have them on indefinite hold for now... As for Pern, I own only the books until 1990...

Just looking for the best out there.

 

[Isabell]

Here's a question for you....

If you've rated the Star Trek Books so low, why waste time reading more then one?

 

[Spineshank]

Have you read Dune by Frank Herbert, i love that one.

 

[manatherindrell]

Of course if you liked discworld you have to read Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy.

Other books I would recomend are Firebird by Mercedes Lackey and Enchantment by Orson Scott Card. Both set in a russian fairytale setting. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper is great. Also the Pit Dragons Trilogy by Jane Yolen (Dragon's Blood, Heart's Blood, A Sending of Dragons) If you're up to a challenge try the Wheel of Time series at least read the first book, it's one of the best I've read.

Any of Isaac Asimovs short stories, especially Nightfall, Green Patches (Misbegotten Missionary), C-Chute (Greater Love), Pate de Foie Gras, The Up-to-Date Sorcerer, The Machine that Won the War, The Billiard Ball. Also a good short story by someone else is Flowers for Algernon.

Larry Niven also wrote some really good stories.

If you are looking into some fantasy or scifi for slightly younger readers; anything by Bruce Coville, especially things in the magic shop series The Monster's Ring; Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher; Jennifer Murdley's Toad; The Skull of Truth. Also I liked Dogsbody by Diana Wynne Jones and Dragon's Milk by Susan Fletcher.

 

[shadow9d9]

Here's a question for you....

If you've rated the Star Trek Books so low, why waste time reading more then one?

Good question. The end of Star Trek on tv encouraged me to expand my horizens.. so I got into the 4400, Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica etc... since I was running out of tv shows to watch, I decided that some Deep Space Nine books would be the way to go next... At this point in my life I had only read 2-3 books really.. more into tv/movies/pc games, etc. So the Star Trek books brought me further interest in reading, and I used my friend's recommendations to get me this far.

 

[Ainulindale]

A Song of Fire and Ice Game of Thrones - 4.75

You might as well continue with the series, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. A Dance with Dragons comes next followed by two others.

If you like them you may also want to look into R. Scot Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy, that consists of The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet and the forthcoming (but I already read) TheThousandfold Thought.

Another epic fantasy I like is Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen
which consists of:

Gardens of the Moon
DeadHouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The BoneHunters (forthcoming February)
Dust of Dreams (forthcoming)
Hounds Toll (forthcoming)
Reapers Cale (forthcoming)
Crippled God (forthcoming)

These constitue the 3 best epic fantasy series by a wide margin IMHO

.

 

[abecedarian]

Since he's not paying me to say this, I can recommend Ainulindale's site and blog. Follow those links and if you can't find something great to read, I don't know what to tell you. Go look around there and on some of the great threads in this forum and make a list, then come back and tell us what strikes your fancy.

 

[Eboe]

Try a few of these as well

try some of these, I saw you had an eclectic group on your post so you might like some odd books here.

Bio of a Space tyrant by Piers Anthony,

Gordon dickson is good

Dune- any of them

The Kingdom Chronicles A V Wedhorn- A Kings Quest

The Warlock Series By Christopher Stasheff

Thats some good ones out right now that I like

 

[shadow9d9]

You might as well continue with the series, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows. A Dance with Dragons comes next followed by two others.

If you like them you may also want to look into R. Scot Bakker's Prince of Nothing trilogy, that consists of The Darkness that Comes Before, The Warrior Prophet and the forthcoming (but I already read) TheThousandfold Thought.

Another epic fantasy I like is Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen
which consists of:

Gardens of the Moon
DeadHouse Gates
Memories of Ice
House of Chains
Midnight Tides
The BoneHunters (forthcoming February)
Dust of Dreams (forthcoming)
Hounds Toll (forthcoming)
Reapers Cale (forthcoming)
Crippled God (forthcoming)

These constitue the 3 best epic fantasy series by a wide margin IMHO

.

I own everything up to feast for crows, and i own all vorkosigan, discworld, 8 Pern, etc.. and I will get to them all in time, since I know I liked the first ones in the series... so do not worry bout that... I will check out your recommendations. Thanks.

 

[shadow9d9]

What worries me about Prince of Nothing is your mention of his philosphical/religious views throughout his book. As Stranger in a Strange Land has brought to my attention... Nothing ruins a story for me more than when an author uses characters to simply preach his own religious/philosphical views. Is this the case?

Also on my owned but not read list is Illiyum.

 

[Ainulindale]

What worries me about Prince of Nothing is your mention of his philosphical/religious views throughout his book. As Stranger in a Strange Land has brought to my attention... Nothing ruins a story for me more than when an author uses characters to simply preach his own religious/philosphical views. Is this the case?

Don't confuse Scott with Terry Goodkind. Scott differs in that not only can he actually write, but he doesn't steal another author's beliefs as his own (like Goodkind does with Ayn Rand, in order to make him feel his books are something more than the fluff-fat fantasy that they are). Scott has a PHD in Philosophy and he doesn't aplly his own as muchas he simply applies existing philosophy and gifting his characters with a sesne of philosiphical content. I think a close analogy could be Fran kHebert' Dune. The philosophy is there, and it adds to the story without saturating it.

Regarding religous propaganda, there is none, exept in that the characters have various religons/belief structures (many different). It's not CS Lewis like sneering.

In Scott's world, both religon and philosophy exist, he 's not however trying - nor does it feel as if he is - to further any personal agenda.

 

[GOLLUM]

Since he's not paying me to say this, I can recommend Ainulindale's site and blog. Follow those links and if you can't find something great to read, I don't know what to tell you. Go look around there and on some of the great threads in this forum and make a list, then come back and tell us what strikes your fancy.

I'm not getting paid either..... but I'll second that recommendation of Ainulnidale's blog along with the majority of his other recommendations in the Fantasy genre. For me Bakker, Martin and Erikson are the modern kings of EPIC fantasy, end of story.