What are the Lindens' favorite SF novels?

Other than Snow Crash?

Instead of posting another bitchy question about some feature or other (honest, I think what you folks have done is amazing... if it wasn't I wouldn't care) I thought I'd ask what other books might have inspired (or are inspiring) Second Life.

This should be a fun one to answer. And educational for us all... I think SL feels more like Vinge's Other Plane than Stephenson's Metaverse, and I'm wondering what else has become part of LL's collective unconscious.

Fun! HAPPY YOU ASKED THIS ARGENT. WHAT A SURPRISE.

I read The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson before coming to Second Life. It's enormously influential to me, in part because of how it's intrinsically unique in expressing ideas about a society at large, while not losing the focus of key characters. Both cyberpunk technology and whimsical fantasy get their airtime, and the fact one scene takes place in Vancouver is pretty cool. I didn't read Snow Crash until I'd been in SL for a couple months. (Holy crap, nostalgia.)

This explains why I like looking for builds like they could be out of the neo-Victorian phyle, or even a Drummer cave would nice. (Wouldn't that be the best, uh, adult club EVAR?)

Speaking of Vancouver connections, I like the technical approach of William Gibson--who is pretty seminal--but find him to be pretty dry and not perky enough for my tastes.

In terms of brilliant narrative, while games and not novels, I'd highly, highly recommend at least learning the story of The Longest Journey and Dreamfall. Ragnar Tornquist is a freakin genius. Solivar Scarborough was nice enough to make some Zoe Castillo-style clothes for me too.

I'm a big Stephen King fan. He's prolly my fave author. Some are surprised I like his most terrifying works, but I'm all about learning emotions, and fear is a powerful one. He of course has done some sci-fi, like the terrifying short story "The Jaunt". The Stand is a a marvellous postapocalyptic masterpiece--again, with brilliant characterization. And lots of hope in the end, despite all the bad stuff that happens.

And who do I really want to read that I haven't done much of yet? Philip K. Dick, of course. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? being the basis for Blade Runner, and here in our very own Second Life, having Tyrell Corporation at Nexus Prime as a foundation which our future creativity is descended upon--that's refreshing. I also find the psychosociological aspects of "is it real?" works like A Scanner Darkly to be *tremendously* relevant to Second Life. Especially alts. It definitely influences the way I do my work and play.

I'm going to ask more Lindens what their faves are too... wowee...

His best Culture space opera: what happens when civilisations with far greater technologies suddenly arrive?

Galapagos - Kurt Vonnegut
The X President - Philip Baruth
V for Vendetta - Alan Moore (It may not be a novel but it fits
the criteria)
The Shifting Realities of Philip K Dick - By Mr. Dick - Selected Literary and Philisophical Writings (READ THIS!)
and of course...

Any of Dave Sim's Cerebus material. Preferably High Society.

I'm not a big fan of the term science fiction, I feel like so many great works of literature are misplaced in the science fiction section of bookstores when they, in truth, are not.
Philosophy is often wrapped up in Sci-fi, which is something sci-fi writers understand and the rest of the world has a hard time with, it seems.

Thanks for posting Argent, this is great. I hope to have some new reading material soon.


Adam

I agree with Babbage, 'Excession' by Banks is probably my favourite SF book to date - and one of the few that I have read more than once. I also love Alfred Bester, his 1050s novels 'Demolished Man' and 'The Stars My Destination' are both wonderful, an author way ahead of his time.

I'd also recommend Philip K Dick ('Now Wait For Last Year' was good).


Jack

Like Torley I loved Diamond Age (Neal Stephenson), and thought it better than Snow Crash. In the short story category a favorite is Vernor Vinge's "The Peddler's Apprentice", although True Names is right behind that. (The current book by Vinge that I'm reading, Rainbow's End, is something of a disappointment.) Another favorite novel is The Dispossed by Ursula Le Guin.

It'll make your brain go *boink*.

This novel is a pastiche of short stories, so the flow is a bit clunky, unlike his other novels which are quite slick.

Vernor Vinge's True Names is a must read, along with his newest, Rainbow's End.

Gibson roxXors. He mentioned SL in his blog the other day, so even better

Does steampunk count as sci-fi?
Perdido Street Station, by China Mieville will get you hooked on his work, dark gritty stuff.

OOO OOO Bruce Sterling's Distraction - soooo funny.

Hard question. I think Frank Herbert's Dune would be at the top of my list.

Oh, and Neal Stephenson of course. Snowcrash and Diamond Age.

I'm also a fan of Larry Niven's Known Space novels and stories: Ringworld, Protector, etc.

I'd have to choose Frank Norris' excellent McTeague, Murderous Dentist of Polk Street. I'm assuming that by 'SF' you meant San Francisco, right?

Hmm, it's not easy to pare down. I've been on a SF reading binge over the past few years especially.

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
Also like Torley, this is one of my favorites. I still think of KFC as the house of the venerable and inscrutable colonel. Better than Snow Crash.

The Difference Engine - Bruce Sterling/William Gibson
I haven't read this in years. Time to pull out the old beat-up paperback.

The Tripods Trilogy - John Christopher
I didn't read them until I was an "old adult", even though they're "young adult" fiction. A great read at any age.

Footfall - Larry Niven/Jerry Pournelle
Baby elephants! Niven + Pournelle make me happy. (Niven without Pournelle, less so. I guess I disagree with Stephen Linden on that count.)

Passage - Connie Willis
I just finished this, and I knew I was hooked it because the commute seemed too short when I had to stop reading and get off the train.

The Ware Trilogy - Rudy Rucker
I'm thankful to my friend Grover for introducing me to this series.

Moving Mars - Greg Bear
Only one Greg Bear book? Alas I will choose only one, and this is my favorite.

Bones of the Earth - Michael Swanwick
Time travel! Dinosaurs! What else could I ask for?

The Dune series is still near and dear to my heart, as is anything by Thomas Pynchon (Crying of Lot 49 especially) - altho not sure folks consider that SF or not.

I love William Gibson and remember reading Neuromancer for the first time and thinking "woah, I know kung-fu".

I'm ashamed to admit I'm actually working my way through Snow Crash right now - and wish I had read it sooner!

wilder

Oh geez... so many good SF books. Here's some of my faves, in no specific order:

Jeff Noon's Vurt (and the sequel Pollen)

Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle

Neil Gaiman's American Gods (really more fantasy... but I digress)

Snowcrash and Diamond Age are great, but I still think Cryptonomicon is Neal's greatest work.

William Gibson's Idoru...

My favorite SF novel is still 'Neuromancer' by William Gibson : early cyberpunk, prose that in some places approaches poetry, and a more subtle treatment of the singularity than some of the others mentioned here.

Besides most of the usual SF material I have a passion for space opera and alternate worlds, stuff by Jack Vance in particular.

I'm a big fan of Keith Laumer's work, Retief's War, Dinosaur Beach, Bolo etc.

I couldn't agree more. And, finally a thread I can participate in that's not about broken finanical data on the website I've liked most of the Vinge I've read, particularly True Names and A Fire Upon the Deep.

I like just about everthing Card has written... I even have an autographed copy of Ender's Game from when I was an aspiring SF writer myself. (That was before I became a DJ which was before I was a columnist for the web's first weekly features magazine which was before...)

I chose my Linden name from Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, not from the Matrix, though I don't mind the confusion -- though, of course, both drew their name from the Greek god of sleep.

I also like David Brin's Uplift series (sundiver,Startide Rising and The Uplift War -- OK, it was only a trilogy when I read them, and I've not gone back to catch up.)

I suppose that Stephenson goes without saying, 'round here. I also re-read Gibson's Neuromancer recently and was pleased at how well it still works for me, although I enjoyed the notes in the 20th anniversary edition about how young readers now ask about some of the things that didn't hold up -- "Were cell phones not allowed in Chiba City?"

OK, and it's Fantasy rather than SF, but Piers Anthony is a "guilty pleasure" of mine, esp. Apprentice Adept, oh and Zelazny's Nine Princes in Amber was a quick read for me. And now I've spent way too much time on this. Back to work, you!

Cheers,
Morpheus

[update]
This thread continued a little bit internally, and someone mentioned Heinlein and I was immediately embarrased that I'd not done so here as well. Heinlein was the author who got me into SF in the first place and bridged me out of the children's section in the library into the regular adult section of the library. -- Just last week! (j/k)

Asimov was also mentioned and while I recognize his importance, he's never really done much for me. Bradbury on the other hand, I remember being good, though it's been a long time since I read any of his work, so I probably wouldn't list them among favorite.
[/update]

It's been a long time since I read fiction, lately preferring semi-dry Sci-Fact books like Sarah Blaffer Hrdy's "Mother Nature", but when I was reading Sci-Fi I loved the Ringworld series, and Asimov shorts.

Hmmm...it's been a while since I picked up a good sci-fi novel (been too busy trying to read the non fiction recommendations in the office...ie. Guns, Germs & Steel by Jared Diamond), but the novels that I've read more than once that I still love are:

- Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park"
- Marion Zimmer Bradley's "Mists Of Avalon"

...and being an old comic geek, miscellaneous graphic novels that, like Adam stated, don't quite qualify as "novels" ROFL!!! Dinosaurs, beautiful faeries & sorceresses, and comic books...what's not to like?!

Ooo lookie. My very firstest orange font forum posting!

I've been told my tastes tend towards the "softer" SF/F, but really, I think you just like what you like, and that's that. In addition to (what appears to be the standard) Gibson and Stephenson, I liked Stephen L. Burns' Flesh and Silver and Tanya Huff's Valor series. Elizabeth Moon's earlier Serrano/Suiza stuff is good, too.

I am also a fan of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's Liaden universe (and they're SL residents too, which I'm sure is indicative of something, but I can't figure out what!).

Christopher Stasheff's out-of-print series, Starship Troupers (no, that's not a typo... it's about an inter-galactic theatrical troupe), is fun. Does Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett) count as SF? Probably not, it's not very science-y, is it? But it's hilarious, so I'm going to include it anyhow.

Harmony

Ohh.. yes, that's one of my absolute FAVES, I've read it 3 or 4 times Although maybe more fantasy than SF!

I highly recommend Gibson's "Pattern Recognition".

Can I just say... BEST SL ANSWERS THREAD EVAR!!!

I think we set a record for number of Lindens posting in a single thread too.

I love this! *smiles*

"The Ware" series by Rudy Rucker is an all-time favorite. Rucker teaches Math at San Jose State here in the Bay Area -- lots of weird, wonderful techno-hippies in this area. Most of Rucker's books are worth reading, and having met him a few times I can say I'm proud to be a fan! Visit Rucker's website to learn more -- http://www.cs.sjsu.edu/faculty/rucker/ -- frankly I'm surprised he's not in SL (to my knowledge) given he coined the term "transreal."

Another favorite is John Shirley, particularly "Silicon Embrace". (Though "Three Ring Psychus" is also excellent). Shirley's a weird dude, too...I'm beginning to sense a theme here.

Michael Swanick's "The Vacuum Flowers" is off the beaten path and an interesting cyber-punk read.

So...when does someone ask us which FANTASY novels we read? There's as much fantasy in SL as there is science.