Looking for some fun Sci-fi reading

[Yoda]

I just remembered something from High School, it won't help here but it's a funny story.

Our econ and us history teacher was this really weird guy. When he was a kid he shot himself in the shoulder w/ a shotgun, so he was always stretching out his arm in a weird way. He'd take a fucking student desk, and balance the fucking thing on top of another desk and kind of lean on it while he was talking. The funny thing was we never thought it was weird. Good ole HANS.

Well my good buddy was really chummy w/ him. He'd hang around after class shooting the shit. Well the teacher ended up lending him this incredible series of pornographic sci fi books. They were absolutely hilarious. They were about this swashbuckling hero that'd cruise the galaxy and fight bad aliens and make sex slaves out of women. God i can't for the life of me remember the titles but I'm going to try and find them for you because they sound like what the doctor ordered

[GrimReality]

Ender's Game was the first good one I read.

I did not like this book at all. I had all sorts of problems with it. I'll never understand the praise it gets.

And NO, Yoda, I don't need any Sci-fi porno. Besides, I'm sure I could find plenty just typing that into Google.
hmmm...

[Azrael]

Ender's Game was the first good one I read.

I did not like this book at all. I had all sorts of problems with it. I'll never understand the praise it gets.

There's something funny about that book.  First time I read it in high school I loved it.  Reread it a year or two ago and absolutely loathed it.  The Speaker for the Dead is 100x worse.  I think there's something fun for younger people who read it and get inside Ender's head, but it really does have tons of issues.

[Tooker]

I first read Ender's Game in junior high, and I thought it was the greatest thing I'd ever read.  And I'd already read a bunch of Asimov by that point.  I've read Ender's Game more times than I've read any other book, so I still have at least a nostalgic love for it... but even I have a hard time believing that even the most genius 8-year-olds ever would act that way. :) And like Azrael said, it doesn't hold the same appeal for me as a grownup that it did as a kid.

Sadly, Orson Scott Card has gone completely off the freaking rails since then.  Guy's way out on the right wing these days - like where normal conservative people say "wow - you're kind of nuts."

But while I'm talking about him, I have to recommend the Alvin Maker series.  I love that stuff.  It's not sci-fi - more like a fantasy set in the US in the early 1800s.

[Yoda]

I've never read Ender's Game... it's sort of coming of as a sci-fi Catcher in the Rye here. Something a semi-pissed off teenager would associate but most grown folk would laugh at.


http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/05/14/5-epic-science-fiction-book-series-to-read-this-summer/

[dyeager]

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny are some of my favorite. I don't know if they fall into the "fantasy" or "sci fi" category more because there are elements of both, but you can get all 10 books in the series for under $20. The books are more like novella length (120 pages each or so) but still a terrific value.

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Book-Amber-Complete-Chronicles/dp/0380809060

[Azrael]

I've never read Ender's Game... it's sort of coming of as a sci-fi Catcher in the Rye here. Something a semi-pissed off teenager would associate but most grown folk would laugh at.


http://www.geeksaresexy.net/2010/05/14/5-epic-science-fiction-book-series-to-read-this-summer/

Maybe pissed off teenager isn't the best audience.  I think Ender appeals to the outsider or the loner who has some kind of aspirations towards something grand.  That's what Ender symbolizes.  That's the problem though, Ender is freaking perfect.  He is just able to solve any problem you put in front of him, and do it more quick than you can snap your fingers.  And to top it off, at least in Ender's Game, he's 8 years old.

[Yoda]

[Tooker]

The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny are some of my favorite. I don't know if they fall into the "fantasy" or "sci fi" category more because there are elements of both, but you can get all 10 books in the series for under $20. The books are more like novella length (120 pages each or so) but still a terrific value.

http://www.amazon.com/Great-Book-Amber-Complete-Chronicles/dp/0380809060

Agreed - also a good series.

[GrimReality]

I thought about battlefield earth, as I recalled my older brother reading those back when I was in my teens. I recall them being copious in both quantity of books, and pages within those books. way too much for me to handle nowadays.

I looked up the Amber books, and they sound intriguing. Sure, it's 10 books, but they all fit in 1200 pages, so that's not bad at all.

Thanks for the suggestions so far, everyone!

[Yoda]

not sure if this helps, but on barnes and noble you can search by scifi topic, like ... well just look on the left

http://browse.barnesandnoble.com/browse/nav.asp?No=10&N=712209&Ne=712209&visgrp=fiction

[Yoda]

Have any of you fine feathered friends read Hyperion, Ringworld, or any of Ben Bova's books?

[Tooker]

I've read at least the first Hyperion book, and at least one Ringworld.  I think I have a bunch of Bova, but haven't read any. :)

Ringworld was pretty good.  Couldn't say much more than that.

Hyperion was creepy.  In my head, it's like The Canterbury Tales meets Saw.  When I think of it, I still get an uneasy feeling, even though I read it years ago and barely remember it.

[GrimReality]

I read, and loved, Hyperion, and it's sequel, The Fall of Hyperion. Highly recommended.

[Yoda]

I read, and loved, Hyperion, and it's sequel, The Fall of Hyperion. Highly recommended.

Excellent. I'm going finish his dark materials, then another WoT then maybe I'll do Hyperion.