Need a Book Group Book - Sci-Fi/Fantasy?!

[DuchessOfAvon]

Jeepers. We have decided this year that we each have to select from a different genre and I have drawn Sci-Fi/Fantasy. I have no idea where to start.

Any tips?

I liked Cecila Dart-Thornton's books. They're full of British and Irish folklore and stuff, as well as the more epic fantasy type story. It's all quite romantic (in the medieval sense of the word). You could try 'The Ill-Made Mute'.

Day of the Triffids is excellent and very readable. Don't like sci fi as a rule, but it's awesome.

Brave New World is also superb.

For fantasy what about Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

www.neilgaiman.com/works/Books/Neverwhere/

Aberytwyth, Mon Amour" for sci fi/humour fusion, or Asimov short stories.

Duchess, my book group is thinking of choosing by genre after our current selections have all been read, can I ask what your other genres are?

A fantastic new book that I have just read is Nick Harkaway's "Gone Away World" - absolutely brilliant.

Also:
American Gods by Neil Gaiman,
Babylon Babies by Maurice Dantec
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas

All contemporary fantasy/sci-fi

Brave New World and Stranger In A Strange World are excellent suggestions. They are among the ten sci-fi books that have defined the genre.

To those two, I would add Dune. Forget the movie. The book is absolutely amazing. It has been selected the Best Sci-Fi book of all time in pretty much every poll on the subject.

motherpi - I agree with your DH. Hyperion is indeed brilliant.

These are all "old school" sci-fi - space ships, alien races, etc. For something a bit more modern (computers, information age, hacking, etc) Neal Stephenson is... GOD. No really. His Snow Crash and Diamond Age are quite incredibly brilliant. Cryptonomicon is my favourite but would be too much for a book club choice.

In comparison to the above, Iain Banks books are rather shallow, simplistic, and not really credible. And they are all the same. Player Of Games was OK, although nothing to rave about. The Go games in Shibumi were more engaging and intellectual, I thought.

The Sparrow was one of very few sf books that I was completely unable to finish - it is beautifully written but gruesome and incredibly intense. It is a book that I often see recommended but I would not treat it as a light read.

McKinley writes beautifully, and I, too love the Blue Sword. She has also written a very well reviewed Vampire book called Sunshine.

Shards of Honour, by Lois McMsster Bujold is about the collision of a militaristic very masculine culture with that of a very liberal one. It is a love story and is the first of a longish series starring the protagonists son, Miles, who suffers teratogenic damage in utero and how he copes and excels in this very hierarchical society. Thought provoking and often very funny.

Connie Willis wrote The Doomsday book, in which a young history post grad is sent back to the time of the Plague. Willis writes intersting and innovative stories all of which are worth a try. She too can be very funny.

Oh, and beware of the later Heinlein. He has a very odd attitude to women and sex which is probably very much of its time (late 60s) and which i find completely off putting.

All you lovely people have been carrying on without me - I apologise for being rude and neglecting my own thread.

I was coming on to announce that I was on the point of plumping for the Tom Holt Portable Door - mainly because the member of the group with a brand-new-born is listening to it on audio book and I thought that it would help get her back into the swing of things.

But now I am being drawn to Connie & Cecila. Aaargh!

Lilibet - Off the top of my head we have:
Short Stories
Biography
Published in the last three years
Pre-1914
Post-1914
Childrens
Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Poetry
Non-Fiction
Historical
Romance
Gui lty Pleasures
Prizewinners
Crime

They aren't intended to do anything more than stretch us a bit - and I didn't author the categories so I can't explain the 1914 split! We all agreed to exclude Horror as none of us wanted to go there.

ooh lots of good suggestions here

For a good meaty book club discussion I would go for either

iRobot - Asimov
BraveNew World - Huxley
Midwich Cuckoos - Wyndham

iRobot isn't very long

(this is always a bit of a decider at my book club)

dman damn,

should be I, Robot.

what am I thinking of

THis is a great thread, I loved many of the authors and am thinking I need to check Neal Stephenson out.
Two hot- the latest Jo Abercrombie was poor. I slogged through it, don;t bother, it is nowhere the quality of the trilogy.

There are a few authors I will add to the mix (accepting OP has made a choice, this is just sharing to all)
Juliet Marillier- she writes fantasy based on old folklore (mostly celtic, some nordic) First series (each is stand alone book but then she follows another character in next book) was based on Seven swans (Fionnuala) story.
Another interesting author Justina Robson- she does sci fiction fantasy- newest take on fairy land I have seen
Am reading a lot of the urban genre at the moment. Worth reading is Suzanne Mcleod(vampires) she shows promise. Worth a look Kat Richardson(ghost world) and a definite thumbs up for the Mike Carey series (posession! but not dark and deep)
I hope to hear more from others on their new finds so I can keep my reading list updated

Noooo! I HAVEN'T made a choice - everyone keeps adding more and more to the thread and now I am thoroughly confused. And you've just thrown three more names into the mix!

Slubber - have you recovered from the self-administered slapping. I got a bit worried about you.

I can add more to really confuse you! Don't go with Justina Robson for your book club as she is not truly standalone in each book. The others would work. I just thought you had so much choice you had picked. Sorry!

No-one mentioned Jeff Noon or Michael Marshall Smith?

And if it's sci fi comedy you're after - hitch-hikers guide to the galaxy has to be the obvious choice. I would be amazed to find anyone who hasn't read it though. But then a lot of my friends have never seen star wars so you never know...

I love that there is a whole sub-section of MN as obsessed with sci-fi/fantay as me!

Loads of great suggestions so far and lots that I will be checking out!

If you want some modern fantasy that comes away from the Tolkien model and is quite easy to read, I would recommend China Mieville's 'The Scar' or 'Perdido Street Station'. However they are not short reads so don't know how helpful this is!!

Second all the nominations for John Wyndham, The Chrysalids is my favourite. Brave New World also gets my vote.

How about Chris Fowler for Fantasy, I love Roofworld - similar to Gaiman's Neverwhere but with balls. Although I do love Neverwhere too.

There are some great teen-reads in SF/Fantasy, love Robert Westall's Futuretrack, could be discussion provoking?

Some great tips here,must get down to the library to request them!
My sci-fi faves are
Philip pullman,neil gaiman,terry pratchett,
Dean koontz 'odd thomas' series,Kelley armstrong, have to stick in harry potter and eoin colfers 'Artemis fowl' series. Also darren chan (vampires) and Derek landy (skulduggery pleasant). Anyone a fan of jonathon stroud? Love his Bartimaeus trilogy.
I'm waiting on the charlaine harris series at the moment (true blood is based on them).
Another one popular at the moment is flash forward by Robert J.Sawyer. The series just started in u.s.a.,i'm watching it online. Still haven't read the book though.
I wasn't pushed about eragon,must try reading it again soon, but have to say i've never read twilight! Am i the only one,lol?

Right - I have to nominate by the end of next week so I am down to a final four:

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
Magician - Raymond Feist
Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hobb
Storm Front - Jim Butcher

I liked mso any of the others thatyou reommended and am slowly amassing them for myself but its amazing how many of them aren't widely available from Amazon. Connie Willis, Diana Wynne Jones, many of the SHeri Tepper just aren't easy to get hold of.

So it looks like I'll be sticking a pin in the list next Thursday.

Thanks so much for all of your help.

Duchess - wow, this is still going on? I love that you're back.

I would vote for Magician from a traditional fantasty perspective and Lies as something more modern.

Assassin's apprentice is good, but I think it would be harder to get into as non fantasy people. Storm front, IMO, is not worth it.

Yeah - I felt I needed to do A Lot Of Research as its such an unknown area for me. Sad that you have knocked off Storm Front as we have several crime afficianados and I thought that angle might entice them in. (They have hated everything we've read for two years now.)

Down to a final two, then! They'd better like whatever I end up with - there has been so much effort in this!

Am so pleased you came back- I have read all of the books. Which did you choose? i just read second Scott Lynch one and also gave the first as gift to brother. He loved it and also his wife. She rang me (from Ireland) just to tell me she had nicked it off him and unputdownable. Then he rang on his mobile to tell me that he loved it and she had nicked it and was buried in it. Jim B is my big star at the moment. Please do come back and tell us and hopefully we will also hear of some gems from others

I went with Feist's Magician. My copy is stuck at the Post Office due to snow and post-Christmas indolence. I got put off the Scott Lynch by the tales of Corelli-type struggles in the early phases. Its on my To Read list though.

The choice was greeted by general indifference but they now have two months to read it. Its due for discussion in February and I'll update this thread with the general outcome.

I am aiming to have the longest-running thread in Fiction history!

Scott Lynch and Philip Rothfuss were both excellent, totally unputdownable. Red seas under red skies wasn't as good as Lies though.
Robin Hobb is great but only the farseer and liveship books. The most recent forest mage series was dire.