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My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

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Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#141

Post by vidarh »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #137
vidarh wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The Cyberiad" by Lem is full of "medieval dragon witch ghost magic spirit quest" stories, but most of the characters in it are robots, and they travel through space. "Inversions" by Banks is "just" a medieval quest story with magic unless you know The Culture stories, in which case is a interstellar politics story with high tech. So even those categorisations aren't that straightforward (I would put both in the SF c…

I'm good with a few weird edge cases. Just let me find the majority of sci fi books without having to trudge through vast numbers of definitively fantasy books!

The thing is, it's not a "few weird edge cases". But this seems like an odd "problem" to me anyway - I must admit I've never been in the situation of having to trudge through vast numbers of definitively fantasy books to find SF books anywhere...

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#142

Post by zwilliamson »

Raphell wrote: post #105

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 fi…

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.

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#143

Post by finalarbiter »

Raphell wrote: post #105

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 fi…

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.

[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.

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#144

Post by mitthrowaway2 »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #119
ck425 wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is once you look at the definitions it's actually quite hard to exactly define what's Fantasy vs Sci-fi. It's more a venn diagram, than strictly separate genres and everyone has their own definition of which is which. So when someone likes one but not the other, it's hard to discuss books because what one person considers sci-fi, another may consider fantasy pretending to be sci-fi, thus the complaints of…

There are definitely things that blur the line and cross genres, or things that may meet one person's definition but not another's. I do agree it would be impossible to provide an entirely objective division that everyone would go along with. Even so, I'd love it if all the "medieval dragon witch ghost magic spirit quest" stories could be placed on a different shelf of the bookshop to the "black hole generation ship…

The Pern novels by Anne McCaffrey feature noble warriors riding genetically-engineered telepathic fire-breathing dragons in a feudal society protecting an alien planet's human space colony from toxic spores. Which shelf do I put them on?

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#145

Post by MattPalmer1086 »

vidarh wrote: post #141
MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm good with a few weird edge cases. Just let me find the majority of sci fi books without having to trudge through vast numbers of definitively fantasy books!

The thing is, it's not a "few weird edge cases". But this seems like an odd "problem" to me anyway - I must admit I've never been in the situation of having to trudge through vast numbers of definitively fantasy books to find SF books anywhere...

The majority are really not that hard to categorise.

In the UK at least, fantasy and sci fi occupy the same shelving. Takes me ages pulling books out of the shelf, and immediately rejecting because they are fantasy.

The majority of the books are fantasy, not sci fi. Fantasy seems to have a much bigger audience in the UK anyway.

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#146

Post by sherr »

noir_lord wrote: post #71
auntienomen wrote: post #47

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 miss…

Missing Iain M Banks is a weird omission indeed - perhaps they couldn't get the reprint rights.

Iain M Banks is science-fiction rather than fantasy, so I would not expect him in a "Fantasy Masterworks" series. The two genres have some over-lap but are distinct.

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#147

Post by robotguy »

bwb wrote: post #2

Anyone got some favs to share? I 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 :)

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.)

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#148

Post by vidarh »

MattPalmer1086 wrote: post #145
vidarh wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing is, it's not a "few weird edge cases". But this seems like an odd "problem" to me anyway - I must admit I've never been in the situation of having to trudge through vast numbers of definitively fantasy books to find SF books anywhere...

The majority are really not that hard to categorise. In the UK at least, fantasy and sci fi occupy the same shelving. Takes me ages pulling books out of the shelf, and immediately rejecting because they are fantasy. The majority of the books are fantasy, not sci fi. Fantasy seems to have a much bigger audience in the UK anyway.

I'm in the UK. We must frequent different places, because I've never had that problem.

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#149

Post by dayjaby »

Raphell wrote: post #105

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 fi…

I just read "THE MEMOIRS OF THE CONQUISTADOR BERNAL DIAZ DEL CASTILLO WRITTEN BY HIMSELF"

It's not fiction but it feels like a time warp into a world unimaginable.

Re: My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

#150

Post by AlwaysRock »

krapp wrote: post #130
noir_lord wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are different if you like sci-fi and dislike fantasy which OP apparently does as do I, on the grand scheme of things not a big deal but it does get in the way when specifically looking for new sci-fi to read.

To be fair, that's a subjective difference in opinion, not an objective difference in type. Many people like "hard" sci-fi but not "soft" sci-fi, but that doesn't make them fundamentally distinct genres. By the numbers, Star Wars is far more grounded as science fiction that Star Trek, but people will insist the former is at best merely "science fantasy." It's really all just vibes.

> By the numbers, Star Wars is far more grounded as science fiction that Star Trek, but people will insist the former is at best merely "science fantasy." It's really all just vibes.

The best rage bait I've seen in years.

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