# Sci Fi and Fantasy and Space Opera, Oh My!



## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

I've been a big ole Sci-Fi and fantasy freak for as long as I can remember. Over the past few decades I've read everything from Hard Science epics (Stanley Kim Robinson, Greg Bear) to pulp fantasies (Piers Anthony, etc). I'm currently reading Charles Stross' Glasshouse:



(an author, BTW, I HIGHLY recommend - Start with The Atrocity Archives and work your way out from there)

I'm always on the lookout for interesting authors and well constructed stories. I can love an alt history or space opera as much as structured religion-based fantasy. So, I'm curious about suggestions for the next cool or funny or strange things to read. So, what have you got? Maybe I have and maybe I haven't read it - but what do you have that you love and want to pass on?


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm always looking for new, good sci-fi/fantasy books.

These are some notable ones I read not to long ago, not on kindle yet though.


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

I just finished this one up yesterday, great book, but I don't know if I'd recommend starting it yet till the author gets his act together and gets the rest of the series out, he's already over a year behind schedule on number 2.


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

I'm starting this one now, I have high hopes for it.


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## Forster (Mar 9, 2009)

Another very good series I finished recently.


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## WalterK (Mar 2, 2009)

As a fan of anthologies, I purchased this the other day (haven't started it yet however)...



- Walter.


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## WalterK (Mar 2, 2009)

Another one (not read by me) but based on the author's previous works which I have read, is the Dread Empire's Fall series by Walter Jon Wiliams -

  

- Walter.


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## harfner (Jul 5, 2009)

That looks kind of cool. I'll check these out.



Forster said:


> Another very good series I finished recently.


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## harfner (Jul 5, 2009)

If you like space opera, can I rec my own books?  DREAMER and NIGHTMARE are the first two in the Silent Empire series. I'm working on getting TRICKSTER and OFFSPRING up soon. Penguin published them in print, but I'm doing the Kindle stuff.


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

From the kindle discussion board over on Amazon, I just got turned onto giving Start Trek fiction a second try. (now that's some Space Opera)

Death in Winter

This is where it was suggested I start ... so I'll see how that goes ... Dread Empire's Fall looks interesting too. But I don't want to OD on the galactic shoot 'em ups.  of course, if I'm going to OD, there are worse ways to go.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Based on the authors you mentioned and in particular Charles Stross, I was going to recommend Steven Brust as someone you'd be likely to enjoy, in particular his "Vlad Taltos" series. Unfortunately, none of them appear to be available yet for Kindle. If you'd like to give him a try anyway, I'd suggest starting with _Jhereg_, an economical 3 books in one large paperback edition:


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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

NogDog, I've never read Steven Brust but I recently added 'To Reign in Hell' to my wishlist.



Now I'm thinking I need to move him off the wishlist (which is often an undecided list) and into my Kindle.


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## RangerXenos (Mar 18, 2009)

If you're a space opera fan you may have read these already, but if you haven't, go get the first book in Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series. You're in for a treat if you haven't read these, the series is WONDERFUL!


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## WalterK (Mar 2, 2009)

Unfortunately, not all of Iain M. Banks' "Culture" novels have made their way to Kindle, which means that going with the Kindle editions only creates gaps, but I think the following work can be read as an introduction without losing too much, and I certainly recommend the novel as an excellent SF work that has 'space opera' overtones.

(Link maker can't seem to find it)

*Use of Weapons* by Iain M. Banks.

- Walter.


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## RangerXenos (Mar 18, 2009)

If you're willing to read some of the Trek novels, I highly recommend anything by author Peter David.


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## RangerXenos (Mar 18, 2009)

My husband is almost finished with this series (I haven't read them yet), and really enjoyed it. Not on Kindle, though, at least not the first book.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Geoffrey said:


> NogDog, I've never read Steven Brust but I recently added 'To Reign in Hell' to my wishlist.
> 
> 
> 
> Now I'm thinking I need to move him off the wishlist (which is often an undecided list) and into my Kindle.


Strangely, I own that book but have never finished reading it after starting it twice. "Strangely" because I like everything else I've read by Brust and because its coauthor Roger Zelazny is one of my 2 favorite authors (the other being Terry Pratchett, and don't ask me which of them is my favorite). This book just never seemed to grab my attention and make me want to finish it.

So I guess what I'm saying is that if you don't take a shine to _To Reign in Hell_, don't use it as your only criteria on which to judge either of its authors.


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## Scheherazade (Apr 11, 2009)

I'll skip the usual Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde answers because I imagine you know about those already. This book isn't on Kindle yet (I keep clicking it!) but I loved it years ago when I read it:



You might also look into Brian Jacques. Unfortunately most of the initial books in his main series aren't Kindlized, but many of his newer ones are.


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## geoffthomas (Feb 27, 2009)

From our resident authors there are:
In Her Name by Mike Hicks

Wysard and Lord Brother by Carolyn Kephart

Elfhunter by C.S. Marks

Just sayin.....


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

David Weber's Honor Harrington Series (www.baen.com) is a must mention, of course!!


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)




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## Geoffrey (Jun 20, 2009)

Scheherazade said:


> I'll skip the usual Terry Pratchett and Jasper Fforde answers because I imagine you know about those already. This book isn't on Kindle yet (I keep clicking it!) but I loved it years ago when I read it:
> 
> 
> 
> You might also look into Brian Jacques. Unfortunately most of the initial books in his main series aren't Kindlized, but many of his newer ones are.


Weaveworld is a FANTASTIC book! I think I like your style ... and yeah, I know and loves me some Terry Pratchett; I think I have just about everything he's written in at least one format.


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## Rhiathame (Mar 12, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> David Weber's Honor Harrington Series (www.baen.com) is a must mention, of course!!


Of Course!

The Deed of Pakesnarrion also a must.


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## capnfrank (Jun 10, 2009)

I just read 1632, 1633, The Ring of Fire and The Granstville Gazette Vol 1, the first 4 in Eric Flint's alt-history series about a small West Virginia town transported into the middle of Germany during the 30 Year's War.
These 4 are free from the Baen Free Library at http://www.baen.com/library/
1632 direct link - http://www.webscription.net/p-379-1632.aspx

Frank


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## Kevis Hendrickson (Feb 28, 2009)

If I'm allowed to, I'd like to suggest my own book Rogue Hunter for consideration on this thread. It's a space opera written in the vein of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, and Star Wars. Hope you guys decide to check it out and download your free sample. 



If it's fantasy you want, please take a look at my very own The Legend of Witch Bane. Thanks everyone.


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## jason10mm (Apr 7, 2009)

Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" triology is space opera on a MASSIVE scale! I think you can get all three books (released as six door-stoppers in the US)  for $8 on amazon. Makes me suspicious as the individual books sell for $10-12 each or so, but then again, kindle pricing for the same titles is all over the place. Anyway, read the first one (Reality Dysfunction-Emergence) and if the "twist" at the end doesn't put you off (it will be hit or miss depending on how you like your sci-fi) then keep on rolling!

His subsequent works are all very good as well,  but focus more on planet-side characters and explorations of technology rather than the space opera stuff.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)




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## Kevis Hendrickson (Feb 28, 2009)

Leapfrog by Steve Hendry is an excellent science fiction novel. It's a hodgepodge of many styles of science fiction including military SF. It also has a pulp feel to it and loosely reminds me of Heinlein's Starship Troopers. I strongly recommend it to anyone looking for a great SF novel.


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## KrukVT (May 12, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> David Weber's Honor Harrington Series (www.baen.com) is a must mention, of course!!


Best of all you can get almost all of them as well as many other Baen titles for free here:
http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/


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## liannallama (May 29, 2009)

jason10mm said:


> Peter F. Hamilton's "Night's Dawn" triology is space opera on a MASSIVE scale! I think you can get all three books (released as six door-stoppers in the US) for $8 on amazon. Makes me suspicious as the individual books sell for $10-12 each or so, but then again, kindle pricing for the same titles is all over the place. Anyway, read the first one (Reality Dysfunction-Emergence) and if the "twist" at the end doesn't put you off (it will be hit or miss depending on how you like your sci-fi) then keep on rolling!
> 
> His subsequent works are all very good as well, but focus more on planet-side characters and explorations of technology rather than the space opera stuff.


You aren't kidding about door-stoppers! I bought Reality Dysfunction as a DTB and I couldn't even read it! No really--it was too hard to hold open with my hands and too heavy for serious reading! I felt like a medieval monk with a tome, LOL! But now that I have Kindle I will try again since I will be able to hold it one-handed, LOL!


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

RangerXenos said:


> If you're a space opera fan you may have read these already, but if you haven't, go get the first book in Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series. You're in for a treat if you haven't read these, the series is WONDERFUL!


I had read the first few in High School and never finished up. Now I got the Omnibus editions from www.baen.com (http://www.webscription.net/s-13-lois-mcmaster-bujold.aspx) and I'm loving it. I'm on Komarr now and I'm becoming sleep deprived!!


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## RangerXenos (Mar 18, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> I had read the first few in High School and never finished up. Now I got the Omnibus editions from www.baen.com (http://www.webscription.net/s-13-lois-mcmaster-bujold.aspx) and I'm loving it. I'm on Komarr now and I'm becoming sleep deprived!!


It all started innnocently enough in our house, a friend who works for her local library passed along a few discards to us. One was one of the Vorkosigan books, which my husband read, not realizing that it was a series. He whipped through them all, then I did. They are among my favorite SF books ever!


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Rhiathame said:


> The Deed of Pakesnarrion also a must.


The Deed of Paksennarion trilogy is available from Baen Books for $6.00. http://www.webscription.net/p-100-the-deed-of-paksenarrion.aspx

By the way, the new John Ringo Posleen War book, Eye of the Storm (out in hardback for $16.56) is available now from Baen (www.webscription.net) for $6.00 in Kindle format.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> David Weber's Honor Harrington Series (www.baen.com) is a must mention, of course!!


I must be forthing or fifthing this suggestion but I love the Honor Harrington Series. David Weber sets a pretty high standard. 
I also enjoy Elizabeth Moon's work including The Deed of Paksenarrion. In Space Opera I've read the Vatta's War series 
Trading in Danger  is the 1st of that series and they are all available for the Kindle.

She also wrote the Serrano books
The 1st is Hunting Party  unfortunatly none are on Kindle

Out of the Space Opera realm Remnant Population and The Speed of Dark were both good.


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## harfner (Jul 5, 2009)

THE SPEED OF DARK won a bazillion awards, and deserved every one.  Horrifyingly readable.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

imallbs said:


> I must be forthing or fifthing this suggestion but I love the Honor Harrington Series. David Weber sets a pretty high standard.
> I also enjoy Elizabeth Moon's work including The Deed of Paksenarrion. In Space Opera I've read the Vatta's War series
> Trading in Danger  is the 1st of that series and they are all available for the Kindle.
> 
> ...


you can get the Serrano books at www.baen.com in inexpensive omnibus editions!
(no....I don't work for baen.


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

It's been a while since this tread has been seen.  Too bad because there are some good suggestions here.  I'm looking to start a new sci fi series and have been thinking of Scalzi's Old Man's War.  Has anybody read it?  Has anybody liked it?


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

imallbs said:


> It's been a while since this tread has been seen. Too bad because there are some good suggestions here. I'm looking to start a new sci fi series and have been thinking of Scalzi's Old Man's War. Has anybody read it? Has anybody liked it?


I liked it. If you liked Heinlein's _Starship Troopers_ you'll probably like this.

Another "space opera" book I recently enjoyed was David Drake's _With the Lightnings_, which is available for free at the Baen Free Library. It's not as dark as his "Hammer's Slammers" novels. The sequel _Lt. Leary Commanding_ is also available there (and which I read in paperback).


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## 1131 (Dec 18, 2008)

Thanks for the recommendations.  I just picked up With the Lightnings at the Baen Free Library (I do like that place).  It downloaded right to Kindle for PC; how convenient is that!  I also picked up Old Man's War at Amazon.  I'm in the mood for a good adventure story and it looks like both of these will fit my mood.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

NogDog said:


> I liked it. If you liked Heinlein's _Starship Troopers_ you'll probably like this.
> 
> Another "space opera" book I recently enjoyed was David Drake's _With the Lightnings_, which is available for free at the Baen Free Library. It's not as dark as his "Hammer's Slammers" novels. The sequel _Lt. Leary Commanding_ is also available there (and which I read in paperback).


There are several more of these available through Baen, titles that come to mind include "Some Golden Harbor" and "When the Tide Rises" (yes, they are science fiction space operas, complete with blasters, faster-than-light travel, and all the rest).

I am very fond of Fred Saberhagen's "Dracula/Vlad Tepes" books. Dracula is a sympathetic character, and not at all like the angst-ridden vampires popular in some current series. There were about seven of these published on dead trees, the only ones available in ebook that I'm aware of are a double novel (An Old Friend of the Family and Thorn) available from Baen Books for only $4, and a single Kindle book. Baen calls their double book "The Vlad Tapes".

Here's a link to the Baen Books version, which fits easily on Kindle in Mobi format:

http://www.webscription.net/p-448-vlad-tapes.aspx

Trust me, you will cheer for Dracula all through the books! I'd recommend starting with this set (specifically, An Old Friend of the Family) if you want to read electronically, or if you're willing to find a DTB, "The Holmes Dracula File" is an even better place to start.

One of the later books in the series filtered onto the Kindle, wish the rest had made it! The title is "A Coldness in the Blood".











Just for good luck, here is a link to the DTB version of "The Holmes-Dracula File":

http://www.amazon.com/Holmes-Dracula-File-Fred-Saberhagen/dp/0812523849/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258958082&sr=8-3-catcorr

Plenty of copies available for about $2!


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## David Derrico (Nov 18, 2009)

Chad Winters (#102) said:


> David Weber's Honor Harrington Series (www.baen.com) is a must mention, of course!!


We must share similar reading tastes... I was a fan of the entire Honor Harrington series (10 or 11 books so far?), and I also just started on the "Lost Fleet" series you linked by Jack Campbell. I've read the first four of those. They have strong similarities-most obviously, the focus on the tactics and specifics of space combat. But I actually like them more for how they explore the morality of space combat and commanding armadas with such lethality, and how their characters are often forced to decide between what is right and what would be more tactically expedient.


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## R. M. Reed (Nov 11, 2009)

I read Peter F. Hamilton's huge Night's Dawn trilogy in ebook form long before the Kindle existed. I had the RCA ebook with an LCD screen. I never heard of it before I saw it in the RCA bookstore, and didn't know that there was a paper version.

It starts with a colony on a rather unpleasant planet, then something happens that changes human and alien civilizations on many planets. Before it ends it brings in Al Capone and other historical figures, it has space battles, great characters on planets and in space habitats, and though it ends with a alien-technology-ex-machina I thought it made sense because things had gotten so deep that there was no other way out.


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