Something to focus on . . .

Ravenous

As well as the Matheson, I'll second Quarky's suggestion for Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon.  An old classic that's sometimes hard to get through, but amazingly imaginative.

(I personally don't like his Last and First Men... too repetitive for my tastes and some appalling dated stereotypes in the early chapters. But that's just my opinion.)

crunchman

Don't know much of the recent stuff but Harry Harrison, Jack Vance and Alan Dean Foster are worth a look.

If you like EE Doc Smith then David Weber might be worth a look.  It's not particularly visionary but his earlier stuff is a good read.  His later stuff is bloated.

Paul_C

fretmeister said:

I recommend ignoring any of them that haven't had a film version made.

Clearly they must be appalling.

Starship Troopers ?

Paul_C

crunchman said:

Don't know much of the recent stuff but Harry Harrison, Jack Vance and Alan Dean Foster are worth a look.

If you like EE Doc Smith then David Weber might be worth a look.  It's not particularly visionary but his earlier stuff is a good read.  His later stuff is bloated.

I've just read a Harry Harrison (Planet Of No Return) which was ok if a little lightweight, I've got a collection of his stories on my Kindle too.

I've also got one by Jack Vance (Lyonesse) but none of his Sci-Fi, and Alan Dean Foster (Splinter of the Mind's Eye - a Star Wars novelization) which I liked, so they'll both have to be checked out.

fretmeister

Paul_C said:

fretmeister said:

I recommend ignoring any of them that haven't had a film version made.

Clearly they must be appalling.

Starship Troopers ?

An excellent film.

Clearly just improving on the book, By re-writing 99% of it.

Paul_C

ok, here we go with the list I've assembled so far:

Joe Haldeman - The Forever War
William Gibson - I've read a few but ages ago so I'll start again, with Neuromancer
Alfred Bester - The Demolished Man / The Stars My Destination
Ursula Le Guin - The Dispossessed / Left Hand Of Darkness
Frederick Pohl - Gateway / The Space Merchants
Gregory Benford - Timescape
Larry Niven - lots to explore, I'll start with the other Ringworld books
Samuel R Delany - Nova / Dahlgren (not an easy read apparently, but I'll give it a go)
Daniel Keyes - Flowers For Algernon
Robert A Heinlein - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress / Stranger In A Strange Land
Brian Aldiss - the Helliconia books
Joanna Russ - The Female Man
Christopher Priest - Inverted World (next up to read on my Kindle) / The Affirmation
Philip K Dick - The Man in the High Castle / The Divine Invasion (I have the the other two in the trilogy)
Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light / Isle of the Dead
Greg Bear - Blood Music
Robert Silverberg - Dying Inside / the Majipoor series
J G Ballard - The Drowned World / The Atrocity Exhibition
Bruce Sterling + William Gibson - The Difference Engine
Kurt Vonnegut - Cat's Cradle / The Sirens of Titan
David Brin - the Uplift Series
Stephen R Donaldson - The Gap Cycle
Poul Anderson - I've read Tau Zero but nothing else, not decided what else to read yet
Vernor Vinge - Rainbow's End / The Children of the Sky
C J Cherryh - Downbelow Station
Octavia E Butler - Lilith's Brood
Charles Stross - Accelerando
Robert L Forward - Dragon's Egg
Greg Egan - Diaspora
Stephen Baxter - Manifold:Time / Proxima / Diaspora
Jim Munroe - Everyone In Silico
Robert Charles Wilson - Spin
Peter Watts - Blindsight / Echopraxia
Margaret Atwood - The Handmaid's Tale
Kathleen Ann Goonan - Queen City Jazz
Walter M Miller - Canticle For Leibowitz
Pat Cadigan - Synners
Jack Vance - Tales of the Dying Earth / Big Planet
Keith Roberts - Pavane
Carl Sagan - Contact
James Tiptree Jr. - Her Smoke Rose Up Forever
Sue Harrison - Cry Of The Wind
Philip Jose Farmer - The Fabulous Riverboat / To Your Scattered Bodies Go
John Scalzi - Old Man's War
Fritz Leiber - The Wanderer
Clifford D Simak - City
Hal Clement - Mission Of Gravity
Nancy Kress - Beggars In Spain
Lois McMaster Bujold - Vorkosigan Series
Connie Willis - Oxford Time Travel Series
Bruce Sterling - Schismatrix Plus
Olaf Stapledon - Last and First Men / Star Maker
Karen Joy Fowler - Sarah Candy
Arkady Strugatsky - Roadside Picnic
Claire North - The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August
Jeff Vandermeer - Annihilation (I have this on my Kindle, the first of four)
James S A Corey - I've read Leviathan Wakes, I'll read the others in the series
Madeleine L'Engle - A Wrinkle In Time
Theodore Sturgeon - More Than Human
Frank Herbert - The Dosadi Experiment
Audrey Niffenegger - The Time Traveler's Wife (which I have but haven't read yet)
A E Van Vogt - World Of Null-a
Edmund Cooper - Seahorse in the Sky
James Gunn - The Magicians
Cixin Liu - The Three-body Problem (I have it on Kindle, not read yet)
James L Cambias - A Darkling Sea
M R Carey - The Girl With All The Gifts
Adam Roberts - Jack Glass: The Story of a Murderer
Mary Doria Russel - The Sparrow
Paul McAuley - Fairyland
Alasdair Gray - Lanark
Barrington J Bayley - Collision Course
C L Moore - Best of her short stories
Algis Budrys - Who?
Ernest Cline - Ready Player One
Joan D Vinge - Outcasts of Heaven's Belt (Vernor's ex-wife)
Michael Swanwick - Vacuum Flowers
John Varley - Steel Beach
Michael Marshall Smith - Only Forward

and no doubt many more, but it's somewhere to start

Ravenous

I forgot to say - a short story that is worth reading on the internet.  It's not in print any more, but the text is available on line.

Farewell to the Master - by Harry Bates.

(It's the original core of The Day the Earth Stood Still - but very different to the movie.  It has some twists which make it well worth 2-3 hours of your time.)

Nitefly

Well that should keep you going until the weekend!

Seriously, there are some real classics there, many I'd forgotten.  Good luck!

Sporky

Paul_C said:

Greg Egan - Diaspora

I think that was my first read of his. Distress and Permutation City are a bit easier to get into; the Orthogonal Trilogy is the best of his work.

Paul_C

Sporky said:

Paul_C said:

Greg Egan - Diaspora

I think that was my first read of his. Distress and Permutation City are a bit easier to get into; the Orthogonal Trilogy is the best of his work.

noted

Philly_Q

Mammoth lists on here already so I hardly dare contribute, but I think you should try some Michael Moorcock and Lucius Shepard.  And John W. Campbell.

Paul_C

Philly_Q said:

Mammoth lists on here already so I hardly dare contribute, but I think you should try some Michael Moorcock and Lucius Shepard.  And John W. Campbell.

I'm sure you're right, I've read some Moorcock but I don't own any (correction: I have The Runestaff) - I shall look into them all.

Paul_C

I've double-checked my bookcases and looked through my Kindle to be sure of what I do and don't have, and ordered 7 books from Amazon (all but one s/h so the total for the books was £5 and the total inc. postage was £24 ) those here and those ordered have been crossed off.

With all the ones ordered added to the ones already here but unread, it should get me to Xmas and then if I have some cash to spend I can order a few more.

I'll have a look at the library too, but I do like to read good books at least twice so buying is preferred.

SteveRobinson

I don't read much sci-fi but recently I quite enjoyed William Gibson's "Pattern Recognition", Asimov's "Rendezvous with Rama" and I'm currently reading "The Tourist" (time travel paradox thing) by Robert Dickinson bought on the back of a Guardian review.

olafgarten

Forget Sci Fi, do something interesting like motorcross racing or go karting. 

Placidcasual79

Hey Andy - sorry to hear about your troubles bruv. Rough times. Cherish the time you spend with your little girl and try not to be bitter about her mum. I really feel for you mate.

Do you have a wall in your home that your little girl could decorate? Perhaps a small room/bathroom - cover a walk in slate and have coloured chalks or plain white paper that can be drawn or painted on...... your little girl will love it and it can be built up every time she visits.

Paul_C

So far I've acquired:

Proxima - Steven Baxter
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
Gateway - Frederick Pohl
Who? - Algis Budrys
Sarah Canary - Karen Joy Fowler
Schismatrix Plus - Bruce Sterling
Jack Glass - Adam Roberts
Accelerando - Charles Stross
Cat's Cradle and The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Downbelow Station - CJ Cherryh

plus a free download of a novella, Bloodchild by Octavia E Butler

I also found an unfinished book on my Kindle that I'm currently reaching the end of: Wool by Hugh Howey

So I've now got 19 to work through, which should keep me amused for a while.

Paul_C

I'm up to 34 Sci Fi books waiting to be read, despite having read quite a few already.

Paperbacks:

Proxima - Steven Baxter
The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
Gateway - Frederick Pohl
Sarah Canary - Karen Joy Fowler
Schismatrix Plus - Bruce Sterling
Accelerando - Charles Stross
The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
Downbelow Station - CJ Cherryh
Ready Player One - Ernest Cline
The Girl With All The Gifts - M R Carey
Echopraxia - Peter Watts
China Mountain Zhang - Maureen F. McHugh
By Light Alone - Adam Roberts (I'm really enjoying Jack Glass)
Doomsday Book - Connie Willis
The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August - Claire North
The Doubt Factory / The Water Knife - Paolo Bacigalupi

On Kindle:

Ancillary Mercy - Ann Leckie
Spin - Robert Charles Wilson
Big Planet / The Dying Earth - Jack Vance
City - Clifford D Simak
Best Of - C L Moore
Qubit - Finn Mack
We - Yevgeny Zamyatin
Stranger In A Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Star Maker / Last And First Men - William Olaf Stapledon
Master of Life - Robert Silverberg
Daddy's World / Voice of the Whirlwind - Walter John Williams
Anvil of Stars - Greg Bear
The Three-Body Problem - Cixin Liu
Dark Eden - Chris Beckett

Which will fill a fair bit of 2017

Paul_C

Update: My Sci-Fi "waiting to be read" list now stands at 135 - it's like the Yamaha bass collecting madness but in paperback and kindle form

Fortunately they're mostly £3 or less, but it's still got a little out of hand

57Deluxe

whoops - I think I have mis-clicked...