Fantasy...Sci-fi....what?

Well David Eddings obviously because I'm in them
Raymond E Feist
Maggie Furey
Melanie Rawn
Robert Jordan
Terry Goodkind
terry Brooks
Stephen Donaldson
Tad Williams
Neil Gaiman

Will keep thinking

Was just going to suggest the Shannara books, although more Fantasy than sience. Waiting impatiently for Gypsy Morph now!
Also along the fantasy lines, Ratmond E Feist or David Eddings.

Sorry only just seen this thread. Terry Brooks Shannara series. There are loads of books:
Recommended reading order

Terry Pratchett goes without saying, obviously!

Roadside Picnic looks interesting.

terry pratchett

if you dont read terry you are braincell deficient

forgot this one - amazed to see it has its own Wikipedia entry, and rightly so. It is the source for one of my fave movies, Tarkovsky's "Stalker" ,which makes me fill up just thinking about it. This is top notch stuff:

Roadside Picnio by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky

and and and

if you are still in an Eastern European mood, have a look at Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. Again a Tarkovsky movie, again, its a two hanky pic for me
If you get to like Lem, the Pirx the Pilot stories are great, I like "Fiasco".

Don't forget these were written when USSR & Poland were communist countries and authors were not permitted to say things about freedom openly. These books are therefore fantastic if you love layer upon layer of meaning and are totally rewarding to read.

Also "Fahrenheit 451" by Ray Bradbury is one of those classics that always has relevance and is YET ANOTHER ONE THAT MAKES ME CRY.

OK I'm feebleminded, I admit it!

I'm a huge fan of Sheri Tepper, she's a visionary and writes really well and creates other worlds so thoroughly. www.herebedragons.co.uk/hell/st.htm

I love Marge Piercey's 'Woman on the edge of Time

www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/p/marge-piercy/
I'm reading the 2nd of Kate Ellott's Crossroads trilogy at the moment

www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/e/kate-elliott/

CoteDAzure... only thing I can think of is a short story called Contagion, its in an anthology called Women of Wonder. The red hair rang a bell. I think the author of the story was Katherine Maclean.The anthology was edited by Pamela Sargent.

ooh yes Lapin the Glass Books that was a great read

there is a follow up?

I did think they had deliberately designed the cover of End of Mr Y to look a leedle bit like Glass Books to tempt us in

Since there are quite a few sci-fi fans gathered on this thread, maybe someone can help me find an old book I borrowed from school library (20 yrs ago?) and can't remember the name of.

It has to do with the conflict of two races. Both human. One is telepathic and has red hair.

Anyone?

Another vote for Neil Gaiman, which is sort of fantastic urban rather than fantasy if that makes sense. I particularly enjoyed "Anansi Boys and "American Gods".

I didn't think much of "The End Of Mr Y" - thought it was all trying to be a bit too clever for its own good.

Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series is fantasy rather than his usual horror and would keep you going for a while as it's 7 books.

Anne McCaffrey and now her son Todd are two of my favourites. I started on her Pern series with the Harper Hall stories in my teens then went onto her Tower series, then read the Crystal singer trilogy.
Trudi Canavan is a fairly easy read.
I went back to Ursula leGuin and found her to be quite different to how I remembered

I recently went through some of the recent winners of the Arthur C Clarke award, as a good starting point for modern sci-fi.

Air, by Geoff Ryman was really good, about a remote village coming to grips with new technology, told from the viewpoint of an illiterate woman.

Perdido Street Station by China Mieville is more on the fantasy side. Can't describe it but intelligent, scary, inventive and well worth a read.

Agree with Cote Neal Stephenson is god. The Diamond Age, Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon are all fabulous, as is the Baroque Trilogy, though don't know if that's strictly sci-fi.

Some classics worth a read for me: The Man In The High Castle by Philip K Dick, a what if scenario had the Germans and Japanese won the 2nd World War; Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner, a brilliant portrayal of an overpopulated future earth running out of resources; More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon.

Ursula K. Le Guin crosses both sci-fi and fantasy camps, I read loads of her stuff as a teenager and keep meaning to go back to it.

Yes Cote it is!

Mark Chadbourn is good for earth based fantasy - v good on mythology and legend with some hard edges.

James Whites Sector General is good - imagine a hospital dealing with space casualties from across the galaxy.

They tell you NOT to judge by the cover, but they put a lot of effort into designing them, so tis wrong ot just ignore....

No. Is it good?

Oh- I had forgotten Dan Simmons- yes- Hyperion is really good.
Cote have you read 'Fire Upon the Deep' by Vernor Vinge?

Ooh - kind of fantasy but modern wizard in Chicago - The Dresden Files (do NOT watch tv show). Books are really good, well written & exciting

Alistair Reynolds...has he been mentioned yet?

Revelation Space etc etc (can't remember his stuff without googling and am short of time!)

Loved all of his stuff, and Iain Banks.

If you didn't fancy "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", try this one which was a lot more fun. In fact, all of John Scalzi's novels are a good time.

Chukky- If you didn't fancy Ender's Game, give Ender's Shadow a whack. Orson Scott Card is really a good author and deserves a second look. It's the same story as EG only from the perspective of Bean. It's a bit less "Boy's Own", as are the other books in the series, for that matter.

Thanks that's fab - always on the lookout for SF recommendations it's so hard to find things you like.

Eg A bloke at work recommended Polity Agent (Neal Asher) and Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) but I didn't get on with them at all, just boy's adventures but with spaceships whizzing around.

Have added Stranger in a Strange Land and Cryptonomicon to wish list on amazon. Will go and have a look at Dune in the bookshop maybe I should give it another go!

Incidentally the worst SF book I ever read was called Mars by Ben Bova. Avoid like the plague is my advise!!!

Flamesparrow... so you were seduced by a fancy cover!
Dean has the butt! and the twinkle in his eye!