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/lit/ - Literature

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6822359 No.6822359 [Reply] [Original]

what's some top-tier science fiction /lit/?

>> No.6822374

>>6822359
Neuromancer. I think.

>> No.6822393

The Stars My Destination, The Demolished Man, Naked Lunch, Dune, Gateway, Gravity's Rainbow (no, really), The Book of the New Sun, Dhalgren, Harlan Ellison's short stories, Cordwainer Smith's short stories + Nostrilia

Gibson's alright but he's derivative and everything after the Sprawl trilogy is kinda bleh. Philip K. Dick has a few good books before it gets oppressively schizophrenic...

>> No.6822413

Just started reading an Alastair Reynolds, how long until I stop wanting to kill his characters?

>> No.6822419

>>6822359
Nice picture, makes me miss Barcelona.

>> No.6822444

Also, Rendezvous at Rama, Foundation, The Night-Lands, and The Player of Games. Iain M. Banks is great fun but also 100% fantasy. Maybe The Illuminatus! Trilogy if you're interested in 60s counterculture-type insanity.

Stephen Baxter and Poul Anderson do some cool hard SF if you're into that sorta thing.

Vinge & Banks are the place to be if you like the singularity fantasy. Read Schismatrix if you like your posthumanity on the crunchier side. Stand on Zanzibar if you like a few unnervingly close to our own.

Theodore Sturgeon and C.M. Kornbluth wrote some genius short stories.

Big SF names to avoid: Heinlein (thanks for 'grok,' the rest of it is pulpy author-wank tripe), Niven (a bit of a misogynist, really), and Orson Scott Card (well documented).

>> No.6822683

I was wondering if I should read Gibson's new book, The Peripheral?

>> No.6822847

>>6822359

Top tier:
Solaris
A Canticle for Leibowitz
The Book of the New Sun
Aniara

Also very good:
The Book of the Short Sun
The Slynx
The Carpet Makers
Dune
Stations of the Tide
Fourth Mansions
The Dying Earth
Roadside Picnic
The Lathe of Heaven
The Demolished Man

>> No.6822876
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6822876

Based Scaruffi brings objective judgement upon all forms of art, including SF.

>> No.6823074
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6823074

Roadside Picnic is the greatest piece of genre fiction.

>> No.6823083

>>6823074
yeah i agree with this.

>> No.6823091

>>6822393
>Philip K. Dick has a few good books before it gets oppressively schizophrenic...
That is the best Dick.

>> No.6823814

>>6822359
>>6822374
Definitely read Neuromancer, I found it to be a great read. It's also pretty awesome that it's all about the internet and cyberspace and computer hackers and it came out before the internet was a thing.

>> No.6824085

Is Childhoods End any good? Thinking about picking it up.

>> No.6824102

>>6824085
It makes its way onto a lot of "best sci-fi" lists, personally I think it's terrible.

>> No.6824109

>>6822444
>mah misogyny
Yeah, they all sucked at writing females. That doesn't make their stuff terrible.

Op, what interests you about science fiction? The genre is so big and encompassing that it's hard to recommend something out of the blue. These are the SF books I see talked about on /lit/ the most:
Dune
The Book of the New Sun
All of Philip K Dick
Neuromancer
Hyperion Cantos
Brave New World

>> No.6824113

>>6824085
One of Clark's worst imo.

>> No.6824116
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6824116

>>6822393
>Philip K. Dick has a few good books before it gets oppressively schizophrenic...

His scifi before is great, but when it gets overrun by his schizophrenia is where it becomes truly GOAT. Pic related is one of my favorite books, like, top 5 status.

>> No.6824119
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6824119

>> No.6824123

>>6824119
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj5IV23g-fE

>> No.6824124

>>6822847
>The Lathe of Heaven

never seen this mentioned by someone else before, seconding as a great science fiction book. I'm usually hesitant to every bring it up because it's Le Guin.

>> No.6824128

>>6824123
lol hemad

>> No.6824130

Personal favorite list:
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Frankenstein - Mary Shelley
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court - Mark Twain
The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - PKD
Ancillary Justice - Ann Leckie

>> No.6824157

>>6824130
>Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
>Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
Ugh, why? Also, Flow My Tears < Man in the High Castle.

>> No.6824160

>>6824157
VALIS > Man in the High Castle > Flow my Tears, noob

>> No.6824163

>>6824160
Nah, but thanks for playing. I bet you think Ubik is good, too.

>> No.6824176

>>6824163
it is, so is A Scanner Darkly and DADoES, all of which are better than MitHC and FMTtPS.

Man in the High Castle has a shit-tier ending and half of the book is purely pointless, just random story with no impact or relevance to the points that the book is making. Flow my Tears has a shit-tier epilogue and is a boring mess.

Ubik, VALIS, Androids and Scanner all have great stories, great character development and are gripping and immersive the entire way through. Flow my Tears is popular because of accessibility, and Man in the High Castle is only popular because of what it's plot is and the fact that it has a huge swastika on the cover. The books aren't remotely PKD's best.

>> No.6824184

>>6822847
>A Canticle for Leibowitz
seconding this, I just finished it a few hours ago. Great read.

>> No.6824188

>>6824184

Did you struggle with the latin or was i the only one, i had to look that shit up every few seconds.