For anyone (like me) who likes their sci-fi fun and a bit cheesy I have a few recs:
Dream Park - Larry Niven & Steven Barnes: A group of pretend adventurers suit up for a campaign called "The South Seas Treasure Game." As in the early Role Playing Games, there are Dungeon Masters, warriors, magicians, and thieves. The difference? At Dream Park, a futuristic fantasy theme park full of holographic attractions and the latest in VR technology, they play in an artificial enclosure that has been enhanced with special effects, holograms, actors, and a clever storyline. The players get as close as possible to truly living their adventure. All's fun and games until a Park security guard is murdered, a valuable research property is stolen, and all evidence points to someone inside the game. The park's head of security, Alex Griffin, joins the game to find the killer, but finds new meaning in the games he helps keep alive.
The Long Run - Daniel Keys Moran: Years after the massacre of the Castanaveras genies, Peaceforcer Elite Commander Mohammed Vance still searches for the survivors. Now the gene-altered children have come of age. Denice – the world’s most powerful telepath – and Trent the Uncatchable – hacker, thief, and revolutionary – are about to come out of hiding. The world will never be the same. (It's book 2 in the series, but I'd recommend this as a stand-alone, or starting here.)
Of these I've only read The Worm Ouroboros, and I cannot recommend it enough. The structure is a bit weird at first—you gotta get past the first chapter—but after that it settles and is astounding. If you have any passing interest in Lord of the Rings, you'll likely love it.
In the side panels are users/readers who drew up their own maps on what they think the Nightscape is.
It has all the romantic mystery of a fantasy tale, whilst still being firmly grounded in reality.
I remember when London's Shard was going up, and I'd see it lit up slightly at night, glowing and ominous and thinking, "this is it: this is the last holdout of humanity."
I'd like to recommend one as well: The City & the City, by China Miéville. A delightful, unique experience! Fresh and original, “fantasy science fiction”. Not a big fan of detective stories and noir, but this is something else.
If you like these books -- early classics of the genres -- it's going to be well worth your time to check out Fantasy Masterworks collection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_Masterworks). It's a set of reissued sci-fi and fantasy novels, chosen by the British publisher Millennium for their quality and influence on later writers.
3/5 of the books in the linked article are included.
It's not perfect-- it's missing War for the Oaks, for example, and doesn't have any Iain M Banks. But there's an awful lot of good material in there.
The SF masterworks sister project has a Banks book, and the link in the wiki article to that list also has a quote from him praising their other choices as
> "amazing" and "genuinely the best novels from sixty years of SF".
A E Van Vogt can hardly be called unheard of, the null A series is quite a cult classic. But yeah, the Space Beagle is not his most well-known work.
It always surprises me (although it shouldn't) how many underrated gems there are still in the world. And new ones are produced every day.
E.G: I still think QTMN will deserve a place as a classic sci-fi author among the great ones, for "there is no antimemetics division" alone. And yet despite a solid fan following, it has never exploded in popularity. It is 10 times better than the 3 body problems, which comparatively had stratospheric success.
In movies, "Amelie" has been a planetary success, but from the same author, the excellent "The city of the lost children" is practically unknown.
Even last month, a tv show named "Nero" came out on Netflix, and while not revolutionary, is clearly above most of the crap that regularly comes out. Yet, nobody talks about it.
City Of the Lost Children is an absolute classic, good point.
However, I think there’s something to be said - sci-fi people of the 70’s all knew AE Van Vogt. This list was, for me delightful, because it reminded me of books I once owned, long ago, indeed many in this list .. back when books were how you encountered these materials. Real books were how we read, back then.
The need to know things has been radically compartmentalized by the mega-computer we’ve allowed to take over our planet, meanwhile, apropos cruel mistresses ..
I've read 3 out of those 5 books, and I see our preferences differ. For instance, I've a few books from Van Vogt, and I can't imagine I could like anything he wrote.
- "A voyage to Arcturus" tried hard at being strange and philosophical, but it seemed shallow and I did not feel interested.
- "The worm Ouroboros" was better, with a very unusual epic style, both in writing style and in the story. But some points made me cringe, e.g. the focus on nobles and the despise of common people, even heroic characters. Then it got repetitive, with a final trick that felt like a mockery of the whole story.
- "The dying Earth" was a good book, but it is far from my favorites. I prefer continuous novels to collections of short stories, even when they share a common setting. The book sometimes felt like a poetic tale, with nature and nostalgia as strong themes, though it was also quite brutal.
Since anonymous suggestions aren't very useful without any context, I'll match little-known books with famous books:
- If you thought that "1984" had good ideas, but also many stupid parts that spoiled the whole book, then try two older books. "We", by Zamiatin, is a bit old and naive but enjoyable. It was a source of inspiration for "Brave new world" and "1984". The Swede "Kollocain" (1940), by Karin Boye, is excellent, and much more subtle than the latter.
- If you like collections of related short stories, like "The dying Earth", then "The carpet makers" (1995) by Andreas Eschbach is a must. I remember the joy when I finally had a global understanding of the whole situation.
- If you wish for bizarre fantasy, not the epic Tolkien style, not even the dark saga of Ouroboros, but something more gothic and unsettling, then Mervyn Peake's "Titus groans" is perfect.
- I think "Brain twister" (1961) is the only funny book I've read in SF-Fantasy-supernatural.
I really enjoy lists like this. These days, recommendation systems tend to push the most popular and addictive content, which makes it harder to stumble upon hidden gems.
But I’ve found that older or more obscure novels often carry a different kind of imagination. They’re not following formulas and they’re not tied to movies or franchises. It feels like reading someone’s raw creative mind before it got polished or filtered.
I’m also curious if anyone has a book that barely anyone talks about, but left a lasting impact on you. I’d love to add it to my list.
Agree. That is why when it comes to movies I still rent discs at a local video store. The owner, Colin, is the ultimate movie recommendation master. The algorithm just can’t compete. If you live in San Francisco, the store is called Video Wave.
Judging from your comment, you may find it intriguing to take a peek at the authors and books listed in Appendix N (Inspirational and Educational Reading[0]) from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide (1979). If you have any interest in the fantasy roleplaying sphere, this list should be all the more interesting.
On your latter question, I don't see much discussion surrounding The Magus by John Fowles (1965), which is one of my favorite fiction novels of all time.
Blown / Image of The Beast by Philip Jose Farmer
More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer
Norstrillia by Cordwainer Smith
1. Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky brothers, loose basis of Tarkovsky's Stalker movie.
2. XX by Rian Hughes -- hugely under-rated book. Starts with a signal from outer space and goes quite far, and also has a book-within-a-book. Nearly 1000 pages but found it very engaging.
Currently trying to read Stanlislaw Lem's His Master's Voice which has a similar theme of a possible signal from an alien intelligence.
I'm familiar with all these titles. Three of them: The Worm Ouroborous, The Night Land, and A Voyage To Arcturus, were republished in the late '60s and early '70s in an effort to follow up on the popularity of LOTR. It took a few years for the modern fantasy market to ramp up, and books like these helped calm the hordes screaming for more. I never made it through any of them. I wish he'd mentioned the Gormenghast novels -- those I enjoyed, especially the first.
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[ 2.2 ms ] story [ 71.3 ms ] threadI need to read the new Peter Hamilton book (book 2 due out soon). And I am ashamed to admit I haven't read any Greg Egan yet, need to get on that :)
Dream Park - Larry Niven & Steven Barnes: A group of pretend adventurers suit up for a campaign called "The South Seas Treasure Game." As in the early Role Playing Games, there are Dungeon Masters, warriors, magicians, and thieves. The difference? At Dream Park, a futuristic fantasy theme park full of holographic attractions and the latest in VR technology, they play in an artificial enclosure that has been enhanced with special effects, holograms, actors, and a clever storyline. The players get as close as possible to truly living their adventure. All's fun and games until a Park security guard is murdered, a valuable research property is stolen, and all evidence points to someone inside the game. The park's head of security, Alex Griffin, joins the game to find the killer, but finds new meaning in the games he helps keep alive.
The Long Run - Daniel Keys Moran: Years after the massacre of the Castanaveras genies, Peaceforcer Elite Commander Mohammed Vance still searches for the survivors. Now the gene-altered children have come of age. Denice – the world’s most powerful telepath – and Trent the Uncatchable – hacker, thief, and revolutionary – are about to come out of hiding. The world will never be the same. (It's book 2 in the series, but I'd recommend this as a stand-alone, or starting here.)
Awake in the Night
https://web.archive.org/web/20090524012412/http://www.thenig...
In the side panels are users/readers who drew up their own maps on what they think the Nightscape is.
It has all the romantic mystery of a fantasy tale, whilst still being firmly grounded in reality.
I remember when London's Shard was going up, and I'd see it lit up slightly at night, glowing and ominous and thinking, "this is it: this is the last holdout of humanity."
I have met very few people under 50 that have read the early Schekley short stories. That are probably one of the sci fi peaks.
But in cult and unknown works - Ticket to tranai. One of the best (anti) utopias written.
3/5 of the books in the linked article are included.
It's not perfect-- it's missing War for the Oaks, for example, and doesn't have any Iain M Banks. But there's an awful lot of good material in there.
> "amazing" and "genuinely the best novels from sixty years of SF".
It always surprises me (although it shouldn't) how many underrated gems there are still in the world. And new ones are produced every day.
E.G: I still think QTMN will deserve a place as a classic sci-fi author among the great ones, for "there is no antimemetics division" alone. And yet despite a solid fan following, it has never exploded in popularity. It is 10 times better than the 3 body problems, which comparatively had stratospheric success.
In movies, "Amelie" has been a planetary success, but from the same author, the excellent "The city of the lost children" is practically unknown.
Even last month, a tv show named "Nero" came out on Netflix, and while not revolutionary, is clearly above most of the crap that regularly comes out. Yet, nobody talks about it.
Popularity is a cruel mistress.
However, I think there’s something to be said - sci-fi people of the 70’s all knew AE Van Vogt. This list was, for me delightful, because it reminded me of books I once owned, long ago, indeed many in this list .. back when books were how you encountered these materials. Real books were how we read, back then.
The need to know things has been radically compartmentalized by the mega-computer we’ve allowed to take over our planet, meanwhile, apropos cruel mistresses ..
- "A voyage to Arcturus" tried hard at being strange and philosophical, but it seemed shallow and I did not feel interested.
- "The worm Ouroboros" was better, with a very unusual epic style, both in writing style and in the story. But some points made me cringe, e.g. the focus on nobles and the despise of common people, even heroic characters. Then it got repetitive, with a final trick that felt like a mockery of the whole story.
- "The dying Earth" was a good book, but it is far from my favorites. I prefer continuous novels to collections of short stories, even when they share a common setting. The book sometimes felt like a poetic tale, with nature and nostalgia as strong themes, though it was also quite brutal.
Since anonymous suggestions aren't very useful without any context, I'll match little-known books with famous books:
- If you thought that "1984" had good ideas, but also many stupid parts that spoiled the whole book, then try two older books. "We", by Zamiatin, is a bit old and naive but enjoyable. It was a source of inspiration for "Brave new world" and "1984". The Swede "Kollocain" (1940), by Karin Boye, is excellent, and much more subtle than the latter.
- If you like collections of related short stories, like "The dying Earth", then "The carpet makers" (1995) by Andreas Eschbach is a must. I remember the joy when I finally had a global understanding of the whole situation.
- If you wish for bizarre fantasy, not the epic Tolkien style, not even the dark saga of Ouroboros, but something more gothic and unsettling, then Mervyn Peake's "Titus groans" is perfect.
- I think "Brain twister" (1961) is the only funny book I've read in SF-Fantasy-supernatural.
Memoires of an imaginary friend
Dogs of war (Adrian Tchaikovsky one)
The devil's detective
Red rising
The painted man
Pretty much anything by Jack Vance is a win.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appendix_N
On your latter question, I don't see much discussion surrounding The Magus by John Fowles (1965), which is one of my favorite fiction novels of all time.
It's not fiction but it feels like a time warp into a world unimaginable.
1. Roadside Picnic, by the Strugatsky brothers, loose basis of Tarkovsky's Stalker movie.
2. XX by Rian Hughes -- hugely under-rated book. Starts with a signal from outer space and goes quite far, and also has a book-within-a-book. Nearly 1000 pages but found it very engaging.
Currently trying to read Stanlislaw Lem's His Master's Voice which has a similar theme of a possible signal from an alien intelligence.
I had not heard of XX before - will have to check it out, thanks.