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  Agree on your 1st choice. : terath
  • i second this agreement, amazing writer : Dravenport
  • oh wtf ... Revelation Space isn't available on Kindle? fail ... : homeboyJim
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  I'm enjoying this book Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton. The shack recommended him. It was really slow... : Goncyn
  • also I should probably read more of Alistair Reynolds's books. I read his first one. It was good, but I f... : Goncyn
  • I really liked Fallen Dragon. : MacemanInTW
  • Wait until you get through that and Judas Star and into the next Commonwealth trilogy. I think his writin... : EruditeCaveman
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    wait till you read the rest of them in that universe... damn good stuff.... i started reading his other u... : ssj4megaman
    • yes! The Night's Dawn trilogy is some good shit. : thechunder
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  richard k morgan is now writing for video games so yes, homoerotic fantasty : spiderfill
  • lead writer for Crysis 2?? I didn't know that. :D now i'm even more pumped for that : smax
• John Ringo David Weber Eric Flint Tad Williams C.S. Freidman : YerMothah
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  Ian MacDonald, hands down. Brasyl, River of Gods, and The Dervish House are three of my favourite books,... : duffman03
  • McDonald I mean. Fuck. : duffman03
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    Holy shit, have you read Terminal Cafe? It's fucking AWESOME. : Visceral Monkey
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      I haven't, but I've liked every McDonald book so far, I'm sure it's going to be awesome. Lucky for me Am... : duffman03
      • I love that book. I think of it every Nov 1'st for reasons in the book :) : Visceral Monkey
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  Has Vernor Vinge announced anything new? I have no idea how I'd rank my favourite sci-fi authors, but he... : gigaduck
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    A sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep is within a few months : smax
    • *expected : smax
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      That's awesome! I'll have to re-read it though because all I remember are the awesome aliens, not what w... : gigaduck
      • lol me too. Awesome aliens were indeed awesome though! : bolange
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  Neal Stephenson is my favorite; no idea who else I would rank up there. : sgtsanity
  • fuck i can't believe i forgot about NS. Anathem was my favorite book of the decade. : smax
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    I've never read any of his books. Where to start? : Dave-A
    • Snow Crash!! : smax
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      Snow Crash was his first one, and is pretty hilarious as an over-the-top version of cyberpunk that simult : sgtsanity
      • Thanks, good sir. I will indeed pick up the cryptonomiconadingdong. : Dave-A
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        Snow Crash isn't the best piece of literature ever, but it is definitely one of the most "fun" books I've... : smax
        • Yea. It's so crazy. The beginning will always be laughter inducing for me, when somebody brings it up,... : famine101
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      start and end with Cryptonomicon. : DonkeyPopsicle
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        do not end there. The Baroque Cycle trilogy and Anathem were great. I particularly liked Anathem. I read... : Cheeziologist
        • I quite reading The Baroque Cycle partway through the second books because Eliza is obnoxious and insuffe... : DonkeyPopsicle
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          The Baroque Cycle is great, but getting through it is a HUGE investment in time so be forewarned. : smax
          • Sounds like my kind of series. I've read all 21 Master and Commander books. I love me some epic shit. : riptyde
        • I loved Cryptonomicon and Snow Crash, but I couldn't stand Anathem. I couldn't even finish it. : riptyde
        • IMO Anathem was probably his most mature work so far. Very good stuff. : Hiro
    • Rainbow's End is a really well done near-future sci fi by Vinge. : thechunder
    • Snow Crash is his best. : thetangent
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    Richard K. Morgan's "Takeshi Kovacs" series (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies), as well as Nea... : Ride-My-Rocket
    • I love the Kovacs series. Something about having protagonist that is a borderline-psychotic killing mach... : smax
  • Stephenson is so cheesy but i still read all of his books. : father_crown
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  I've been reading through these: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_Cantos : MacemanInTW
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    first two were great, i lost interest partway into Endymion :( : smax
    • Im about half way though the second book. Really liking it so far. : MacemanInTW
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  book marking this as only some of those are on my lists already : sixfoot6
  • Same here. Been looking for some sweet new books to read. : Cliffzorz
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  I could never finish Absolution Gap. I really stopped caring about the fate of the characters. : DonkeyPopsicle
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    and you dont like Snow Crash. pretty sure you are broken :( : smax
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      I liked all of Reynolds's other novels up to that point. Chasm City was the best of the bunch. : DonkeyPopsicle
      • i also highly recommend his non-Revelation Space books. House of Suns is awesome, and I'm currently read : smax
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    Reynolds is a terrible writer. His concepts are great, but he just sucks at every aspect of executing a s... : thechunder
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      damn i almost made a post that certainly would have permabanned me. i will just say that you are wro... : smax
      • you are also wrong! mexican standoff. : thechunder
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        Exhibit A: Pushing Ice. You cannot defend that pile! : thechunder
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          never read it actually! but I've read everything else according to wikipedia. currently reading Te : smax
          • ill always give his shit a try because i'm a sucker for his type of hard sci fi. i just find his characte... : thechunder
        • Haha, seriously. The rivalry between the two main characters was such a clusterfuck. Terminal World wa... : Arceihn
• the shackwiki needs a books page : homeboyJim
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  Isaac Asimov? : daVinci1980
  • People should read Nemesis before they get all hopped up on the Alpha Centauri game : On the Brane
  • Yessssss! : Dontdrop
  • Yessssss! : Dontdrop
• 1) Robert Heinlein 2) Neal Stephenson 3) William Gibson 4) Isaac Asimov 5) Larry Niven : Cheeziologist
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  Peter Watts - Blindsight READ IT NOW http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm Iain M. Banks is cool A... : Odoyle
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    Second Peter Watts. He's a sadist though. : Rodeoclash
    • Plz explain. We're all sadists in the Sylvia Plath sense. : Odoyle
• It changes, but currently I'm interested in 1) Karl Schroeder 2) Iain M. Banks All time favorites... : Visceral Monkey
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  Fucking kids these days. No Clarke, Asimov, Herbert, Heinlein, Niven, Bradbury, Anderson, Pohl, Del Ra... : watcherxp
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    Niven is my all time favorite. : Visceral Monkey
    • yeah n-space is way up there on my all-time favourite reads : nem00
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    But we all know about those guys. I like when people do lists with current writers as half the time I'... : Vincent Grayson
    • Yeah, but for the newbs, we gotta make sure they hit the masters first. : watcherxp
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  Philip K Dick? COME ON! : Albemuth
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    Post + Username! Also, yeah, Dick is my fave. And Kim Stanley Robinson. : father_crown
    • Haha yes! Also lulz @ "dick is my fave" : Odoyle
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    Seconding this PKD vote. Radio Free Albemuth is actually my next book to read! : Lexicon_Leidun
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      It's good, but read VALIS as well. They are two halves of the same coin. In fact, VALIS is my favorite Di... : Albemuth
      • Yeah, I've read Valis, it was good, certainly interesting. : Lexicon_Leidun
• Now y'all know I'm still rooted in the old school stuff, but as far as new-ish books: Larry Niven & Jerry... : AxeMan808
• also, just a reminder that a new Culture novel just came out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface_Detail : smax
• Neal Stephenson : DarthStank
• you have good taste. Add Richard Morgan to the list. Elizabeth Bear is pretty good too in this same vein.... : steelsamurai
• A friend of mine introduced me to Greg Egan, who I really like. He's not the best at crafting story (thou... : Vincent Grayson
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  1) Heinlein. As weird as his later stuff got, MiaHM, ST, and SiaSL are foundational, and his short stori... : mopic42
  • The Baroque Cycle is more sci-fi than 99% of this fantasy in space ridiculousness. : sgtsanity
• L.E. Modesitt jr. : retardhumper
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  Peter F. Hamilton's epics really suit my taste. I'd give up a toe to see a epic trilogy set in the common... : thechunder
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    I tried to get into that series, but the whole thing with Al capone using his finger as a machine gun mad... : Visceral Monkey
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      thats the nights dawn trilogy. different universe. it definitely has some magic shit in it. commonwealth... : thechunder
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        Really? I read about 10 pages into "The Reality Dysfunction" and put it down. If I want Science Fantasy I... : locater16
        • ...that's still the Night's Dawn trilogy. Try his Greg Mandel books instead. : master_disaster_17
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  It is criminal that Iain M Banks is listed below Alastair Reynolds. I like Reynolds, but his books are no... : Arceihn
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    I dunno. Banks gives a "post scarcity" view of the galaxy. i don't think that means his fiction is mor... : smax
    • Why would his post-scarcity universe have anything to do with whether it was well-written? He's just bett... : Arceihn
    • The post scarcity is one thing I like about it to be honest. Also, while on the subject, I also view the ... : Visceral Monkey
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      Well, quite specifically, Banks has outright said he just makes shit up with the science etc., which I lo : node
      • Lastly, unlike many sci-fi writers (Stephenson and Reynolds especially), Banks has written some of the mo... : node
  • It's criminal that the most prolific scifi writer of all time, Isaac Asimov, is nowhere on the list. I... : daVinci1980
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  I can't believe there's no Stephen Baxter in this thread. : thetangent
  • His early stuff was so much like Niven that it was awesome. His later stuff is pretty much not so good. : Visceral Monkey
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    recommend any? : thechunder
    • RAFT http://www.amazon.com/Raft-Stephen-Baxter/dp/0586210911/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1288763120&sr=8-2 ... : Visceral Monkey
    • I'll second Raft. Ring I also really liked. The problem with Baxter is his characterisation is often p... : Arceihn
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      Everything from his Xeelee sequence: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xeelee_Sequence also, The Timeships : thetangent
      • Oh, and Vacuum Diagrams, which is a short story collection which is part of the Xeelee sequence. : thetangent
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  I really like John Scalzi. His Old Man's War trilogy is excellent, as is the stuff he's written outside t : coldfusioncs
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    second this Old man's war is a wonderful series : Gapyro
    • entertaining but not wonderful /monocle : smax
• have you read William Gibson's three most recent books? not dated at all! : CecilPhilpot
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  Any chance I could get you guys to recommend me something to read? my question is here: http://www.shackn... : MrBig0
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    Or specifically, I just need something that is not a really complex read for someone who doesn't have muc... : MrBig0
    • also, preferably something modern : MrBig0
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      Rainbow's End by Vinge is easy and fantastic. Actually, any of his books qualify. : Vantage
      • Thanks, I'll check it out! : MrBig0
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        Other must-reads: Ender's Game by Card Neverness by Zindell The Mote in God's Eye by Niven A Deepne... : Vantage
        • The Algebraist by Banks Adiamante by Modesitt Jr. Altered Carbon by Morgin The list goes on... : Vantage
        • good list! : smax
        • read these books and you will be a happy nerd : smax
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          Thanks, V Dawg. That list will keep me going for a while. : MrBig0
          • Deepness in the Sky is fantastically amazing. I've read over half the books on his list, and Deepness is ... : famine101
        • Dune is amazing but most people seem to be down on the sequels so I never read them Hyperion is quite po... : node
    • from the below recomendations Snow Crash, Adiamante, and Ender's Game meet your criteria. Good, but not c... : Old_Fart
    • If you want to go old school, Asimov's Caves of Steel is basically a normal detective story...with robots... : Conan
• Reynolds is brilliant, especially his crazy universe-threatening weapons and awesome pseudo-scientific de... : node
• New vote - Charles Stross. VERY, intentionally overtly British, but excellent fun as a result. Strange mi... : node