Hey All -
I've been working on a story and it seems like it might be shaping up to be sci-fi. Problem is, I've never really read a lot of sci-fi, so if that's the direction I want to take I'm going to need to do some reading. I need recommendations for good sci-fi. Can you good people help me out?
google the nebula and hugo awards - that'll do ya fine.
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson - A sci-fi cyberpunk masterpiece. Fun action, great writing, compelling characters, and a theme focusing on the power of words. Fucking awesome.
You should give specifics about your story.
Like the Bradley said. There are so many sub-genres, such as cyperpunk or space opera, and such a wide range to the details (hard or soft sci fi ... cue 70s porn music) that we'll need a little more direction. (Howie, my favoriate Stephenson is Cryptonomicon, though it's not really sci fi. Snow Crash was excellent.)
Lady Haz, I say write the story first and workshop it. In your summary, remind us that you're new to sci fi and we'll let you know if it's been overly done or what to read for similar things. If you try to get into sci fi right now, I'm afraid you'll bog down and not finish the story.
I think Cryptonomicon is a better book overall, but Snow Crash is the one I can read over and over again. It's so fun and smart. I also really liked Diamond Age and Reamde.
Fan of the golden age.
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick, Neuromancer by William Gibson, Arctic Rising, Crystal Rain, and Ragamuffin by Tobias S. Buckell, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi, Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, and pretty much any issues of F&SF, Analog, or Asimov's you can get your hands on. For short stories, Buckell's Tides from the New Worlds and Bacigalupi's Pump Six and Other Stories are great single-author collections that have really influenced and inspired me.
If you're looking for space opera Pandora's Star by Peter F. Hamilton is a winner. It has non-silly space travel with trains.
Hyperion and the follow up stories by Dan Simmons and Oryx and Crake/Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood redefined well written science fiction for me. I reread them quite often(just finished O&C again last week). A lot fo Philip K Dick's novels are great(your milage may vary), but I enjoyed his collections of short stories most of all.
However if you are looking for research or reference material for your own story then you may want to be more specific. Science fiction is a very broad catagory.
