Good Sci-Fi

[Andy01 (Andy)]

I loved "Stranger in a Strange Land", and "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" and many of the aforementioned others.

My mum got me into Heinlein & sci-fi as a 10 y/o kid when she brought home "Space Cadet". That was followed by "Farmer in the Sky", "Podkayne of Mars", "Red Planet", "Tunnel in the Sky", "Starman Jones" etc.

His fantasy novel "glory Road" was also very cool.

Trivia time - "The Puppet Masters" was also the basis for an episode of Star Trek TOS "Operation: Annihilate!"

[iasuka (Dmitry)]

Originally Posted by barx1963

There are more but ones to avoid are:
Time Enough for love
Friday
Stranger in a Strange Land

Interesting, I happen to quite like "Time Enough for Love" and "Stranger in a Strange Land".

At the same time it's perfectly understandable why many sci-fi fans don't like those books. Mostly because those are not really sci. Rather it's almost pure and deep philosophizing and libertarian moralizing in the guise of sci-fi. Almost like "War and Peace" in the future, you know. I'd still recommend those books for die-hard Heinlein fans though.

[iasuka (Dmitry)]

Originally Posted by barx1963

Ah ha! Another Sheckley fan!

Haha, thanks. I'm not really a die-hard fan, but I still like Shekley's twists a lot. I can easily remember the first time I read "Mindswap" being an early teenager. It was a mind-boggling experience. Really blew my head off.

Originally Posted by barx1963

I managed to track down a nearly perfect copy of his "Store of Infinity" collection from a 1960 imprint with "The Store of the Worlds" in it. Read it when I was a teenager and been looking for it ever since. One of the great SF short stories of all time.

Really nice.

[alocky (Andrew lockwood)]

Another heinlein that was a little different was the cat who walks through walls. That was quite funny and clever.
Not many votes for Philip Dick, considering how many of his books were the basis for some of the best sci-fi movies! I can't think of one of his I didn't like.
Then there's the stainless steel rat series ( Harry Harrison I think) - light but funny.
Cheers
Andrew.

[bert (Brett)]

If you like Peter F. Hamiltons work, Then you will like Alastair Reynolds also. They are my 2 favourites sci-fi authors.