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Set in a world very much like our own, School for Psychics is the first book in a stay-up-all night series. Paperback , pages. School for Psychics 1. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about School for Psychics , please sign up. I just received this in the mail, unsolicited. I have a Netgalley account though. I even thought it was a mistake by the publisher since i listed "Physics" as one of my interests.

Is it a fantasy YA book? Should i read it, since i am an adult who hasnt read a YA since the s? Deborah I was invited to review it, too, and couldn't tell whether it was YA or not. Looking at Sharon's review, I would guess so, but I may still read it; YA …more I was invited to review it, too, and couldn't tell whether it was YA or not. Looking at Sharon's review, I would guess so, but I may still read it; YA has come a long way since the s. Lauren I just received an advanced copy in the mail, it just says that "K.

Archer is a pseudonym". See all 5 questions about School for Psychics…. Lists with This Book. Feb 15, Will Byrnes rated it liked it Shelves: Welcome to the troposphere. Seems she owes a Russian mobster two fifty large and he means to collect, even if it means going after her parents. Teddy is trying to do what she does best, reading gamblers en route to relieving them of their cash at the tables.

But even that is a challenge, as she has been banned from every casino on the strip. Heavily disguised, she challenges the odds Welcome to the troposphere. Heavily disguised, she challenges the odds of being found out and is about to rake in a nice haul when her special talent goes all fuzzy, just about the time the dreaded Sergei and his enforcers show up. Luckily, there is a guardian angel looking over her shoulder, in the form of an NFL-large well-dressed man.

He can make it all go away, see that mom and dad get to live out their lives with all their limbs still attached and that her owings are taken care of. But she will have to agree to sign up for a special school. Seems her gambling table bent was assisted by more than a garden variety ability to read people.

Even though she was not aware of it, her particular talent was more on the psychic end of the gift spectrum. And her natural abilities might come in handy to the national security sorts who run The Whitfield Institute for Law Enforcement Training and Development. X marks the spot for this special school - image from Marvel Teddy had thought those fits she had been having were epilepsy. Nah, psychic power manifesting. But manageable with the right pharmaceuticals. Now she finds herself on a small island with a nice collection of her ability-rich peeps and has to face up to the challenge of toughing it out or bailing and going back to her somewhat desperate existence.

She picks up a few pals. Lucas can manipulate fire, which is an eye-roller, given that he is portrayed as a hottie. Jillian can communicate with animals, which is pretty cool. Deanna Troi was not available for the gig?

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Ok, ok, Troi was not a hacker. Looking to save a few bucks on casting by joining talents? As far as I know this sort of thing originated in war stories, maybe as far back as Homer. An ethnically diverse set of guys until recently, almost always guys, but more gender balanced now meets in boot camp, then bond by facing a common enemy in the camp itself and then in actual combat. These would be people in their late teens or early twenties. The all-time killer in the category, for me, anyway, is the Harry Potter series.

If we include graphic categories, the X-men, in sundry variations would be a perfect fit as well. I recognize that this may be a distinction without a difference. Boot Camp Bonding will do for now, in this case, for the psychically skilled. Of course, of course, it could also be Very Special Ed where peculiar horses learn to talk?

More on this later. Sky High School - image from Disney Generically, these days, young people with that special je ne sais quois are thrown together in a training camp, form alliances, make friends, enemies, frenemies, hone their talents, and are sent out to do battle against The Bad in the name of The Good. There is always a tough-as-nails DI sort, who seems a horror but has their best interests at heart. A powerful head honcho trying to mold the team into a fighting force.

See Dumbledore, Professor X, and if the setting is an actual, military boot camp, the kindly general so-and-so, the one with a wiser, more global perspective. In this case headmaster Clint Corbett. The formation of us-vs-them teams in camp. Gryffindor vs Slytherin, the cools vs the nerds, the elders vs the youngers Check. In addition to the BCB forms, toss in a few more. Teddy is an orphan. She was raised by foster parents who are very loving. But her real parents bought the farm, supposedly, in an auto mishap. Well, maybe, maybe not. So, of course, once doubt sets in, she has to investigate.

There is also a force of similar talent in opposition, and up to no good. If this was any more formulaic it would have been in an algebra textbook. It also spews loose ends like an upended barrel of yarn balls in a houseful of cats. Ok safe to go back to the review now. Scrub that image from your mind. Of course, such things are the ties that bind readers to volume 2, so, perhaps, forgivable, as this is an intro to a three-part series.

My favorite academy — with really nasty hall monitors — image from list Rowling gave us amazing texture, literary grounding, and well-realized characters, Archer gives us mostly cardboard cutouts, so there is that. Again, though, there is time in a series to spread out character development, so fingers are crossed on that one. And it had nothing much to say about the world other than the same-ole-same-ole of how bad militaristic sorts seek to exploit special talents for dark ends, which are, of course, used to justify any means necessary.

Admittedly, though, the author s? There is more sex in this than in the Potter books, owing, I expect to the targeting of a reader demo a bit older than typical Potter readers. It is sort of YA, but if so, at the upper age range for that. The sex scenes are not graphic. The rights have indeed been purchased and are under development by the CW or CBS or some combination. The book very much had the feel of something that was written for TV, as if a teleplay had been novelized. Psychics , maybe? And maybe something entirely other. In fact, School for Psychics looks like it may have been put together by Watson after having been fed a few hundred pertinent novels.

But is it readable, enjoyable, worth the time? Strangely, given all the snark above, if you can keep your eyelids properly moisturized, what with all the eye-rolling, and if you do not mind the formulaic construction, it is actually a fun read. Writers use tropes to write books for a reason. Readers keep reading them. Teddy is written well enough to gain your interest in her learning to harness the power within, in finding out what happened to her parents, and in her survival.

There are enough twists that are not entirely obvious to matter. And what is that yellow house Teddy keeps seeing in her dreams? There is some creativity in the skill sets attributed to at least some of the characters. And the action keeps moving along quickly. If you are looking for a pure entertainment, unencumbered by broader content, I see in my crystal ball that the School for Psychics is in your future. View all 29 comments. Hey, it's another school for magically-gifted youngsters! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature: Her plan is working like a dream … until her talent suddenly abandons her in the middle of a crucial hand and she loses everything.

Teddy is mysteriously saved by a stranger, an NFL linebacker-sized man who springs several surprises on her: He knows who she is and how much money she owes, and to whom. Her ability to read other gamblers is actually a psychic ability. And he will pay back all her debts if she will come to the Whitfield Institute for Law Enforcement Training and Development, which is secretly a school for training psychically-gifted young adults.

Unfortunately School for Psychics never really engaged me, for numerous reasons. The characters are mostly one-dimensional and familiar types. School for Psychics has a New Adult vibe with no interest in a committed relationship, Teddy hops into bed with a couple of different guys but the students at the Whitfield Institute act more like teenagers.

It irritated me as a reader when Teddy and her friends made several poor decisions. I skimmed through most of what was supposed to be a climactic scene, mentally rolling my eyes at the characters. Reportedly the television rights to it have been purchased and the CW is now developing a drama based on this novel. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. View all 12 comments. Feb 11, Debra rated it liked it Shelves: She is in disguise as she has been banned from most casinos.

She doesn't count cards or cheat, but she does have an ability to "read" people. She knows what they are going to do and can make her moves accordingly. She owes a lot of money and needs to make it back so that she can pay off her debts and start over. What Teddy sees as an "ability" is proof that she is "psychic". She is approached at the casino and offered a chance to wor 2. She is approached at the casino and offered a chance to work on her skills and to learn more about her abilities.

At a school for psychics of course. There she meets others with various abilities and they all must pass the test to study at the school. Teddy seems to digress a little in age for me. At the beginning of the book she comes off as older and more mature. Yes, she is playing a role at the casino, but still her thoughts and mannerisms make her appear older. When she gets to the school, she suddenly feels like a teenager who can't decide what "hot" guy she wants to be with or what she is going to do. She, and the other students do get to learn new skills and perfect the one skills they already possess to help their government.

Plus, Teddy finds out some secrets about her past which also add to the intrigue and story-line. Also, this book has mystery, romance, the element of who can I trust, secrets, etc. Sounds like an interesting premise but it fell flat for me. Was this the case of "it's not you - it's me" I just had a hard time getting into this book.

I think there are parts of this book that many will like but this just wasn't really my cup of tea. See more of my reviews at www. View all 10 comments. Teddy our main character has a gift of being able to "read" people. She is offered a place in School of Psychics with others like herself that have different special abilities.

I did not like Teddy whatsoever But, haha I guess we al Ok But, haha I guess we all know one or two people that act like children lol: I thought the book would have picked up speed when Teddy arrived at this school but it fell extremely flat for me: I was so bored and had to put it down multiple times to finish this one.

I'm not really into fantasy novels and unfortunately this one just wasn't for me. View all 15 comments. School for Psychics by K. Archer is the first book in the new School for Psychics urban fantasy series. The main character in this series is Teddy Cannon, a twenty something college dropout who has gotten herself deeply in debt in her hometown of Las Vegas. You see Teddy has a sense for people and a weird habit of being able to read them so in order to pay off her massive debt School for Psychics by K.

The biggest problem I see this one having and what will probably be repeated in many reviews is that this is supposed to be an adult main character, in her 20s, but other than gambling in a casino in the beginning of the book it really felt like I was following a young teen. As soon as Teddy hit the school in the book it was like she and everyone around her went back to high school instead of an undercover training program. It was secrets parties, cute boys and breaking all the rules…typical YA filler material.

I received an advance copy from the publisher via Edelweiss. For more reviews please visit https: View all 4 comments. Jan 30, Sherwood Smith added it Shelves: I inhaled this book, ignoring chores and work. Stories about psychics that are written in first person sardonic are almost always going to draw me in, especially if the main character is a mess trying to be a better person, and so it is with year-old Teddy Cannon, who we begin with in her hometown Las Vegas. She's dressed in a fat suit, as she has been blackballed from all the casinos, but she desperately needs money as she owes a quarter million to a loan shark.

But she gets made by. Go to the school and have her debts cancelled and her parents' retirement fund restored, or be left on her own to deal with it? Except that it is for Teddy--which shows how serious are her trust issues, in spite of truly awesome adoptive parents. Teddy has always been able to sense when people lie, which contributes to those trust issues. But she takes the offer, and goes to the school, which is located on an island in San Francisco Bay.

She expects at any time to be booted out, which extends to her extra helping of attitude. She likes to hook up with hot guys, but wants no part of relationships; she has a tough time making friends, she doesn't trust the instructors as far as she can spit into a wind.

She not only has to learn all the nifty stuff taught at the school, she has to learn to have friends, and how to trust your team--which, for her, is harder than the killer obstacle courses, grueling forensics classes, and so forth. Then things start getting odd. I also roll my eyes at love triangles. But Archer sold me on the government aspect of this story because it, like the psychic abilities, made sense. Archer draws from human nature in building the history of the government stuff.

Equally, I liked the way that Archer drew on our own human senses in developing the psychic talents. I really liked the way Archer develops the characters. Kate and Jillian were my favorites. There are plenty of hot guys, and though Teddy is drawn to two, her own issues get in the way of the usual Angsty Love Triangle road I've seen in too many novels, especially YAs.

I don't know that I'd call this YA. It feels like one, though the characters are in their twenties. They are in school, with stringent rules. There are adult relationships, though not on page. There is adult language. I would have loved it as a teen, and I thoroughly enjoyed it as an old bat. In fact, I want the next one NOW. Copy provided by NetGalley View all 7 comments.

Apr 07, Britany rated it liked it Shelves: I am fascinated by any book with "powers" featured in the plotline. Growing up, I loved the idea of harnessing a secret power just like Samantha from Bewitched! School for Psychics is about an elite, most secretive school on Angel Island helping psychics learn their respective gifts. The first book in a new series, this one left us on part of a cliffhanger, so that you are encouraged to pick up the next book to find out what happens next.

Teddy Cannon is our protagonist, she's discovered reading I am fascinated by any book with "powers" featured in the plotline. Teddy Cannon is our protagonist, she's discovered reading cards at a Poker table in a Vegas casino and we follow her as she comes to terms with her birth parents and their history, along with all her new friends at school. They all have different psychic abilities and it was super interesting to learn more about the differences. I didn't want to pick it back up again, wasn't interested in the plot or the characters, frankly I was just bored.

It was a riveting race to the end and I had to know how it would end. Not sure yet if I'll pick up the next book in the series. I think there were just too many side characters that I had a hard time keeping them all straight.

• The best science fiction books?
• School for Psychics (School for Psychics, #1) by K.C. Archer!
• Langage et stratégie de communication (Questions contemporaines) (French Edition);

View all 5 comments. Apr 02, Sarah Joint rated it liked it. I am conflicted about this one. It really grabbed my interest when I glanced at the blurb, which was surprising because I don't read a lot of books like it. It's a fantasy about people with special abilities, so I thought it could go one of two ways: It is about characters in their early twenties, but they aren't very mature.

They really re I am conflicted about this one. They really read more like horomone-ridden teenagers. Is it a YA? There is a little bit more sexy time than is common in YA, but it's not graphic. I found it to be a bit of a guilty pleasure. I enjoyed it even though I had problems with it, so I'm going with a three star rating. Teddy has made a lot of bad decisions in her life, but she's probably at her lowest point. She's secretly stolen money from her loving parents to fund one last gambling run to pay off her HUGE debt to a very scary man.

She's been banned from every casino in Las Vegas, so she's gotta do this in a disguise. Things seem to be going well Then things go fuzzy and she loses everything. Fearing for her own safety and that of her parents, a weird opportunity presents itself: Clint says that ability to read when people are lying she's been using can be much much more: He is trying to recruit her to a school for people with similar gifts where they're trained and tested and eventually go on to do very important work.

We're talking saving lives here. He's willing to bail her out of the huge hole she's dug herself into if she agrees. What choice does she have? From there, we're introduced to lots of new characters. They all have some kind of ability to hone at the school. There's one that can communicate with animals, one who gets messages from the dead, an empath hacker I was both rolling my eyes and amused by that one. Was it supposed to be tongue-in-cheek? Turns out her tenure at this school is not so much guaranteed, and Teddy will have to work hard to keep her place.

As if learning how to use her powers, getting in the best shape of her life, and memorizing police procedure isn't enough to manage, strange things stranger things? Missing students and lots of secrets, the school may not be what it seems. You know, the guy who recruited her? Who was super important at the school? I know she was wary and upset with him, but if she was that determined to succeed, she wouldn't have dreamed of missing classes repeatedly.

What was up with that, Teddy? My review is honest and unbiased. Sep 19, Mel Epic Reading rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a difficult book to review if only because a lot of people are going to be put off by the topic in general. Do we really need another book about kids that go to a magical school no one knows about?

The answer here, for me, is yes! Archer has done a beautiful job of writing a fast-paced, interesting and well put together novel in School for Psychics. It would be unfair to say that this isn't original because Archer's school is very different from those I've read about in t This is a difficult book to review if only because a lot of people are going to be put off by the topic in general.

It would be unfair to say that this isn't original because Archer's school is very different from those I've read about in the past. Additionally Archer has a way of drawing the reader in. I didn't want to put this book down! Romance One of the best written awkward teenage romances I've read in awhile. I love how you think maybe it will be one way, and then it's not. It's not insta-love; it's insta-lust at times; but that is real and does happen. There are both sweet and awkward moments between our lead gal and the primary love interest.

Just like in real life. Lead Gal is a "Bad Girl" I love our lead gal and her genuine bad girl status that is established right away in Chapter one. She has an authenticity that spoke to me. I was, personally, far from the best teenager lol. I got in trouble, a lot, not just from my parents; but from law enforcement and at school. So I connected with our lead gal. I also sympathized with her as it was clear that many of the things happening to her were, perhaps, not all her fault. Many were just a 'side effect' of her psychic ability being erratic. I think for many teens, whether it's psychic ability or hormones, it's difficult to really figure out the world around you.

This confusion with the world, inability to trust anyone and difficulty fitting in is all brilliantly portrayed by Archer in School for Psychics. It doesn't matter 'triggers' or 'creates' the feelings you have be it ESP or not because at the end of the day these feelings manifest in the same way. Archer does a great job of correlating this urban fantasy book with real life situations. Overall School for Psychics is a clear example of why you can't judge a book by it's troupe. Just because you've read something similar before doesn't mean that the book in front of you isn't just as good, or even better, than the five books you read this year with a similar theme.

And let's face it, we all love the kids going to a special school troupe. I think it's often because we wish we were special enough to be pulled from our current existence into a magical world where we are important. Let's face it, it's all about standing out in some way, shape or form and feeling critical to events and people around you. Archer captures all this and more in her characters and intricate plot. I just need the second book now! For this and more of my reviews please visit my blog at: Epic Reading Please note: This is an honest and unbiased review.

Jun 07, Cyndi rated it it was amazing. At the school she meets others with a variety of psychic traits. She also learns to accept friendships and work with a team. This is a great book with well developed characters and an exciting story line. I don't have to be psychic to hear you groaning about yet another book set in a school for extraordinarily talented young people. Yes, it is an overused plot device As evidence, the fabulously successful Harry Potter series. In this first offering in a proposed new series being written by author K.

Archer and who the heck IS K. Teddy has a severe gambling problem and is hugely in debt to a scary Russian loan shark AND she has been banned from most of the casinos. She can 'read' other players, knowing when they are faking a good hand. After a night of soul-searching, Teddy is on the plane to SF the next morning and takes a ferry to the school on Angel Island, where she meets a band of fellow 'misfits.

Teddy lives up to her last name, being a bit of a 'loose cannon. The twelve remaining first-year students are divided into two groups: While visiting the inmate at San Quentin prison, Teddy has an unexpected connection with another prisoner who gives her some unsettling personal information and sends her life in a different and possibly dangerous direction.

With this turn of events, the book becomes a real page turner. Knowing there is a series in the works, I was worried there might be a cliffhanger-type ending. Well, there are some ends left dangling and there's a bit of a final teaser, but this first book does reach a satisfying conclusion. Teddy is an interesting, resourceful character who does grow as a person and learns from her mistakes.

The 'bad guy' was fairly easy to spot, even for a non-psychic. The plot falls somewhere between ya and adult fiction, with the writing style leaning towards ya and the subject matter occasionally verging into adult territory with some sexuality. I will look forward to reading more of this series. View all 6 comments. Jan 28, AnisaAnne rated it really liked it. You can also read my reviews on WP: Teddy can play poker.

And she is in debt. She is desperate to get out of trouble. If she could just play one more time. But this last time at the Bellagio will come with more than she bargained for. Teddy Cannon is a self-assured, witty, twentysomething, with special talents. She can read people. Her gut taught her to trust her instincts at an early age. Not just in the sense of non-verbal and social psycho You can also read my reviews on WP: Not just in the sense of non-verbal and social psychological cues, but in the sense that she knew what they were thinking.

An unexpected meeting will Clint will change her future. He is a recruiter for the Whittmore Institue, a school for Law Enforcement Training and Development who will use their talents to secure the future of the nation. The narrative hinges around a year old that is navigating her way through her extraordinary psychic abilities at a special college.

As she hones in on her telepathic ability, she forges out great friendships with the other first years. Her classmates are all unique with distinct personalities and abilities. Two groups emerge from the first year. The Misfits, Teddy's group and the Alphas with extraordinary abilities. Her group the Misfits and the Alphas are pitted in a competition which fuels the rivalry of the teams.

However, it is Teddy who puts herself in grave danger when she discovers she can see into other's past and uncovers information about her deceased parents. She has a target on her back and she is not sure who she can trust. Shevik's present and past are explored: Back on Urras, Shevik begins to realise he is becoming a small pawn in a powerful government's game and has to reconcile himself with the fact that he may never have been able to go home in the first place and may never go home now.

At its centre is Shevik: It remains one of the best characters I can remember in any book - at the end the final twist of the twin narratives meets into one of the best endings I have read in any book. It's a different kind of science fiction that allows the reader to be an active creator of the "other timely" world introduced by Koontz. It's not about zombies or aliens or space but it does represent something maybe even more bone-chilling: The epic scope of the book, showing the terrifying yet exciting possibilities of the human race as an multi planetary starship faring bunch of brilliently flawed individuals, and organsiations.

A really rare find these days as I think it is out of print. Witty and engaging, it draws parralels with life on earth in a profound and imaginative alien galaxy. First published in , the book documents the many highs and lows of man's struggle for survival. The book contains the first mention of genetic engineering in a sci fi novel, a compelling and truly eye-opening read. So maybe it is the outer fringes of SF where myth and fantasy meets "steam punk" but it does have futuristic dimensions albeit in a retro kinda way.

It is the way the characters seem unbelievable yet real which gets me in all of his books by the way and sucks me in to a reading time vortex - as all good books should. Bradbury's Mars keeps shifting its identity, becoming a symbol of the dreams and fears of America itself. No attempt is made at scientific accuracy this Mars is hot, for example , and the stories reflect the Cold War era in which they were written. Bradbury could overwrite, but he keeps this tendency under control here, and the book has a haunting resonance. It has the fastest start I can recollect any book having, The Affront are hilarious and the Culture ships superb.

I also appreciate that the nature of the excession is never defined. Hard sci-fi at its best. The attention to detail and depth of knowledge of the author make this a compelling and inspirational book to read. This is a strange, compelling and beautifully written story. I'd defy anyone from the most hard-nosed SF aficionado on up not to enjoy reading it. If can get into the language, you'll enter a plausible yet mythical world where you'll get your first knowin from the eyes of a dog and learn the secrets of the master chaynjis. Can't believe that none of these magnificent books were chosen.

Some better than others, but all full of wonderful prose, deep imagination, gripping stories and interesting characters. One of the few books I've read in one sitting. Set in a wonderfully imagined dystopic America, it's very bleak but also savagely funny, always brilliant, and ultimately heartbreaking. This book is a positive, hopeful contemplation of mankind's possible next step. How we might evolve into something better than we are now.

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The first hint of this next evolutionary step is not evidenced by those we conventionally think of as brighter, stronger or more beautiful, but by the supposed freaks and invalids that just might come together in some way to become, collectively, something Ringworld is SF on a grand scale in many respects.

Set far into the future, it is scientifically well researched and utterly believable, with "alien" characters that are lifelike and convincing: A fantastic novel, one of many well-written books by Larry Niven. Excellent book using Sci-fi construct of time dilation to show futility of war. Written after he server in Vietnam. The sheer scope of the imagination: The gradual unfolding of the driving force of the novel: My son and I discussed it for days.

Farmer is woefully under-rated, and really only known for his Riverworld series, but the World of Tiers is, I think, his masterwork. It contains so much of why I read SF - it has terrific characters, it's overflowing with ideas, it has marvellous set pieces and it engenders a sense of awe and wonder at the possibilities of our universe or, rather, the multiverse. If I had the money I'd personally bankroll a film of the books, now that we have the technology to do justice to them. It has a breadth, wit and complexity that ensnared me from the first line.

Banks has the ability to create fullt formed world's that are totally believable.

An utterly wonderful read. Reads like an allegorical account of the Chernobyl disaster, fifteen years before it happened. The love affair between Lazarus Long and Dora Brandon - but much more. Although not usually classified as Science Fiction, Carter's early novel certainly echoes the themes and styles of the genre. After all, what could be more sci-fi than a plot in which our hero must struggle against a mad scientist, in order to restore a world of order and 'reality'?

The surrealist form of the novel and it's passionate portrayal of female sexuality which is quite unusual for a genre largely dominated by men makes it, for me, all the more interesting. But, first and foremost, it is Carter's unforgettable language that puts the Infernal Desire Machines A book about an unbelievably old man and the wisdom that he has learned throughout the years. Shows the way we grapple with the big questions. Not without problems, but has incredibly high peaks.

The story of an alien who comes to earth to in a quest to save his planet, not ours but is destroyed when he becomes all-too-human. The style is nicely understated, the plot, tech and characters believable and the story is full of gentle ironies. Gripping story,fascinating,immaculately drawn characters living in believable world s. This book,and it's sequel,"Fall of Hyperion",are masterworks,in my opinion. I was so caught up in these books that they seemed more real than fiction to me,and this feeling holds up with repeated readings. The story got it all: Compared to his earlier novel "Snow Crash", Stephenson move further away from "Neuromancer" and into the future.

And that's where I like my Sci-Fi: To my mind, Dick is the greatest writer of the 20th Century full stop. Never afraid to tackle the big questions, eg what does it mean to be human? Or, as in this case, what exactly is the nature of reality? Banks' love of the genre shines out of every word. He has all the usual suspects in the Space Opera toy box, but he shows them to us through the eyes of a spoilt man-child who wants to play with them as much as we do. And finally we get the twist, probably Banks' finest, that makes us immediately turn back to page 1 and read it all again in a completely different context.

A bonkers, mad book, the story of Dr Frankenstein taken to a grey-goo-fuelled extreme. As the character's life disintegrates under the power of his creation, the narrative expands and fragments. The structure mimics the plot, sliding deliriously out of control until the reader ends up somewhere quite other than where they expected to. People need to be reminded of its existence; 'Dune,' 'Left Hand Painted with a broader brush than LeGuin's with whose work this one is often compared, it scores through the thought given to its societies and the extraordinary fairness with which it examines the personalities of some truly loathesome characters, particularly the brute like, emotionally retarded Saba and the self loathing vampire beureaucrat Tanuojin, the latter finally emerging as one of the most tragic and pitiable characters in Twentieth Century fiction.

From what I've read of her historical fiction, it's also a tragedy that she's not produced more SF, which she would appear to do far better. This book has so much soul in it. I return to it constantly as a benchmark of how good a book can be when it presumes it has intelligent and sensitive readers. This book also has one of the most pervasive scents, and evocative moods I have read in sci-fi. I'm not a mad fan of gleaming rocket ships.

Not a pill-for-lunch or a personal-jet pack in sight. What happens in this book could happen to any of us today. The ending is set far in the future, but the book is reassuring about man's ability to adapt now, today, to a new life anywhere on earth in this case, at the bottom of the ocean. I found it compeletly believable and beautiful in its detail.

The ultimate in political intrigue and dystopian commentary, all wrapped up in Banks' wonderfully realised Culture. Ostensibly about a man invited to play in a tournament of glorified intergalactic Risk, and yet the depth of the social observations, set alongside the super-cool tech, and written with razor-sharp wit, makes it so much more than this. If you only ever read one Iain M.

Banks book then it should be this one; and if you ever read this one you'll certainly want to read the rest. Extra terrestrial humanoid lands on earth, is captured and kept in an institute where he develops friendship with one of the doctors. Book is written in the form of journal entries and newspaper articles as we see a naive outsider's look at our culture and how his attitudes and preconceptions change as he is influenced by ours.

A mightily written account of an outsider attempting to come to terms with his new surroundings. Actually there are three books in the trilogy and they effortlessly combine technology, the spirit of pioneers, rebellion, and political and philosophical issues that arise when mankind invades and irrevocably alters an environment. The whole series is so believable that it drags you in and makes you want to explore the character of each hero and anti-hero as they come in and out of focus as events unfold.

And a satire of the class system too! Just exciting, if counterintuitive, science and a fantastic journey of discovery for the team sent up there to check that mysterious object Rama out. This book is too good not to imagine hope? Herbert managed to create a genuinely 'alternative' and unique view of the far, far future, a consistent universe which didn't rely on the common tropes of science fiction. There's also a great adventure story in there too.

I loved it the first time I read it when I was about 12, and loved it the last time I read it, aged Azimov - the man who invented the word 'robotics'. He also gives us the three laws of robotics. His robot stories are a huge influence on the way modern sci-fi sees artifical intellegence. It is a very convincing insight into how the world will be in the near future combined with a grand space opera style plot about danger from outer space. A typical good versus evil, post-apocalyptic novel. The world finally succumbed to nuclear war. As a result of this final act of paranoid hatred between humans, the ultimate in evil is created.

It's very hard to choose one particular book from Ian M Banks' Culture series because those I have read have all been outstanding. Excession stands out in my memory because of the intensity of the story and the amazing concepts that fill Bank's universe such as the Culture's Minds and the artificially intelligent space ships. Incorporates everything from tarzan to sherlock holmes to dracula to wonder woman, all within a world in which our understanding of the physical universe, macro and micro alike, get both explained and questioned in equal measures.

Truly visionary and splendidly realised. As with all of his first books, Egan pushes his brilliant ideas to the limit of imagination and then pushes them again in mind boggoling areas and then does it again and again. The stories are also well constructed and engrossing. The best hard science fiction in my opinion.

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A brilliant look at religion, politics, race and power. I've re-read it 5 times and every time I discover whole concepts not seen before. Because you'll never read anything like it again. It's original, beautifully written, imaginative and highly thoughtful. Really outstanding and the reason I became an SF fan in the first place. A great story with all of the needed ingredients of action, intrigue, suspense and science.

This is my favourite Iain M Banks book by light years. I love his "Culture" series of novels, but "The Algebraist" story is his most complete. A complex and exciting novel based in A. Cruel warlords, invasion forces, friendships lost and remade, beautifully described worlds and a compelling detective story all go to make this book a must read for any science fiction fan. Although I'd concur with the greatness of Neuromancer, Pavane and its sister novel Kiteworld are an exciting mix of historical and futuristic thinking from a, now, relatively unsung British writer.

Perhaps it doesn't have the global ambition of the Gibson novels but it creates a logical coherent vision of an alternative Britain that is very intriguing. Having no Kurt Vonnegut on the list would be a glaring omission so why not this chilling end of the world classic. The meaning and future of human life, intelligent life in the universe, and everything. Before there was Cyberpunk, there was Shockwave Rider. Before there was an internet, there was Shockwave Rider. Back in the 70s, this was the book that told us the direction. When everyone was still going on about space travel, this told us what was really going to change our world.

As far as I am concerned, Neuromancer which i also like is simply fan fiction for this vision. The scale and detail of this book are without compare. Realistic enough to keep you grounded yet the descriptions and scope of events are so vast that you're hooked and kept interested through the 3 books. This is a very accessible novel that I would recommend to someone who has little experience with the genre. The story is somewhat conventional beginning, middle, end but manages to include a considerable amount of discovery and mystery.

If defines what something truly 'alien' is - not some dude with two arms, two legs, one head and a load of prosthetic makeup, but alien. EE Doc Smith's Lensman series of novels is fantastic. Don't read them out of sequence or you will get confused. Not a classic as such. However a brilliantly formulated and pieced together epic, which is assured to keep you engrossed for a couple of months at least.

It has everything - Banks' Culture novels all share a great setting, but out of all of them The Player of Games just delivers that bit extra in character, adventure, epic grandeur, and a sophisticated plot that resonates on so many levels. Sci-Fi sometimes takes itself too seriously - this five some of the laughs back. Immense in scale, it crafts a entire universe of it's own and then populates it with figures and races over millions of years. It mixes philosophy, Islam, Zen, lesbianism, Cloning into a series of amazing books that stretch our minds and challenge our perceptions of reality and our perceptions of self.

A compelling glance into the future for our technological, alienated, schizoid species. If you think that cyberpunk was invented in the s, then you really need to read this book. Combines both a vicious, futuristic war yarn and the bleeding edge of trippy, Burroughs-style SF.

Abraham Lincoln is revived as an android as part of a crazy scheme to re-enact the US Civil War for entertainment only to be hijacked by big business and a darkly disturbed creator - All contribute to this tale in which the author explores his familiar themes of the nature of reality and what makes us truly human. Fantastic series of books. It does what Asimov tried to do but never quite succeeded, despite his many achievements: The humans end up being almost the rather indulged and very much patronised pets of the AIs.

Speaking of pets, David Brin's Startide Rising deserves a mention. And, for the entire body of his work up to the moment, the great Greg Egan: Better than the first volume, Hyperion, this book has a great, dramatic story, fine characters, plenty of time-twisting and some wonderful ideas about AIs, human evolution, religion and What It All Means.

It's not gruesome and funny like Iain M Banks I would nominate all the Culture novels as second choice but it is epic, thought-provoking and a little bit scary the Shrike. Few authors can tell a story from the view of a non human character as convincingly as C. Her worlds are well developed and it is fun to read her books. Mr Banks' science fiction is always absolutely brilliant.

The scope and size of the settings in which the plot is set is so much more than other writers. I enjoy them all, Surface Detail, being the latest developed The Culture concept further, full of dark humour and brain expanding vastness of it all. Consider Phlebas is sf at it's best. Awesome in it's scope, speculative in it's ideas, plausible and at the same time beyond what we have thought before.

Huge things in space, sentient machines, a fantastic society and a main character that is on the wrong side in a conflict makes great reading and hopefully some thinking from the reader. Absolutely terrifying, yet zany, satire of Soviet life. Written in this under-appreciated gem is the grand-daddy of all dystopia. It looks at the mechanation and production line culture that was due to rise.

Fordism and a Benefactor scream 'Brave New World' and '' in equally delightful prescient horrors. Space rather than science fiction, this is a penetrating look at humanity through an alien's eye. Lessing is prescient about so much and pulls no punches in her analysis of the human condition. An endlessly fascinating, worlds-within-worlds exploration. Original, thought-provoking and well plotted, not ruined by exposition. It illustrates the utter futility of projects like SETI - even if we did receive a message from the stars, could we ever agree what it meant.

And imagine the religious upheaval it would cause if there was any claim that there is no God. I picked it up by accident from the library and just though, "oh well, I'll read it anyway? It's hero, takeshi kovacs is very much a person who just seems to caught up in incredibly volatile and deadly situations, and he comes through them purely cos he's prepared to do whatever is necessary to survive in an outrageously coldblooded manner while still retaining enough depth of character and humanity to be sympathetic.

I've read everything that Morgan's written since - several times - and I can't recommend this book highly enough. A book that feels just as relevant now than it did in the 70s. Great plot, satisfactory presentation of inner agonies of the individuals, solid characters, irony, suspense. A s masterpiece of black humor that, although dated in the way it tackles sexuality and the place of women in society, stands as a good reflection on utopia, pacifism and personal responsibility.

Once read, never forgotten. Well written and plotted - lots of strands - androids, repressed memories, ambiguous aliens, action sequences with sudden unexpected abilities, with in depth character development, and open ended. Would make a great blockbuster film! Seventies utopian and dystopian ideas. Aged a bit, but deals with a lot of issues that never occurred to the boys.

The author has given himself permission to let his imagination wander. We all need to give ourselves permission to let our imagination wander. That's the nub of it. Suppose we do get off this rock and into inter-stellar space e. What if we did find an inhabited world, because we were following the signals received by SETI, say. Would we even recognize the aliens as living creatures when we encountered them?

The sheer amount of cock, even for the sci-fi genre, is spafftacular. I watched the film first, which didn't have nearly as much cock. By God, I love the cock in the book. First it's very funny, the author has a real eye for an unexpected gag. But it's also got a serious side. It's a mix of science fiction and fantasy about a world that is like the real world except that all religions and superstations are true. Four people go on a quest to find the soul of a dead magician that has been trapped on a computer.

The characters are warm and believable book is quite thought provoking. It keeps you completely off balance the whole way through. Just when you think you know what is going on something shifts and you find out that nothing is what you thought it was. I like that especially as I realized at the end that one of the main themes is how apparently orderly systems arise out of chaotic situations.

I always think it's the sign of a good book that however many times I read it I always find something new to think about and to laugh at. Well, it's a trilogy not a single book and, next only to Olaf Stapledon's works, the most satisfying and simply enjoyable SF I have read. What I like about it is that it mixes science fiction with a good old-fashioned adventure story involving likable people.

And it is brilliantly conceived and told. A voyage into the science fiction future does not always have to be scientific. Banks excels in his nonchalant creativity, placing his main character, who is world class at his own past time of playing games, into the hands of 'special circumstances' an organisation run by super minds to put right the wrongs of the universe As an avid reader of what is know as 'the Culture series' I recommend 'Player' as the entry book to Banks's universe, this book, if you like it, will lead to all the others, 5 or 6 at the last count.

All different, but fascinating, exciting, sexy and above all optimistic about very advanced humanoid civilization, although the culture is categorically not simply us in the future. This trilogy has been the most influential of all science fiction books. Although they are three books, I see them as one long book, broken into three parts because of the nature in which they were purported to be written by a single divine force working through human agents.

So even the manner of the writing is surreal and cosmological. They are filled with dictates regarding proper conduct. The stories document the twisted behaviors of leaders, wars of conquest, socio-political struggles, and moral themes. Among the chief features is the sado-masochistic relationship that the god in these books has with his people. I found the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter to be exemplary of the kind of brutal gamesmanship between the two parties. Additionally, divine imperatives include the extermination of entire peoples and failures to carry these out to their fullest extent results in punishments.

Though often boring and filled with cryptic platitudes, these books are worth reading, if only to look into the psychological space that they have created in billions of fans all over the planet. This, with its three sequels, is a magnificent work of linguistic and mythic imagination, deeply resonant and rewarding. A brilliant fusion of a noir detective story set in a detailed and believable future world, its pace is relentless and like all good books leaves the reader wishing for more pages to turn. An excellent introduction to the pleasures of reading Gene Wolfe, before tackling The Shadow of the Torturer.

Well worth seeking out, since other writers are to Wolfe as ketchup is to bordelaise. I love the idea of maths as a predictive tool. Also the twist where one character is not what they seem. An early post-apocalyptic novel and an excellent comment on how quickly society can collapse. This series has everything: The Foundation series, most epsecially the first book in the series, has a beautiful vision of a galactic empire, doomed by probability to fail, and the preparations for what will replace it. It's stuck with me for years, and I still lend my copy to friends on a regular basis. This book was simply written with a theological angle, however just read literally it was very resonating for three connected ways of seeing things that are indelible to my reading and appreciation of this story: The translation of what the human says and how it is heard by the aliens.

A human seeing the appearance of two different aliens, before realizing they are actually humans. Earth is a silent planet in a Universe full of communication. There is another theory which states that this has already happened. It is quite simply the best book ever written. I grew up on this book, with my dad reading me excerpts for bedtime stories! Sit down with a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and enjoy! For those not in the know, it's like having your brains smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped round a large gold brick. I read this when I was in my early 20's when it was instrumental in my becoming a life long Sci-Fi fan.

I re-read it in my 50's and enjoyed it just as much. I introduced it to the book club I belong to and they enjoyed it despite the fact that they would not normally read Science Fiction. Read this a few years ago now and the images it created while reading it have since stuck in my mind.

Its a classic because it remains a terrifying novel to date. A book that simply defines everything that good sci-fi should be: Brave New World is, ahead of other classics such as , the one sci-fi novel that everyone can recognise in our own cultural infatuation with indulgence and social structure.

It is an epic that joins the distant past to the near future. It is hopeful, as expressed in the "Star Child" I cannot even think about that image without getting major goosebumps yet it contains a warning to mankind about its own folly. It is at least somewhat prescient in how HAL is portrayed. And it is a great story as well as a great film. It is exciting and even breathtaking.

Furthermore, the film made brilliant use of a classical score with Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra more goosebumps and Johann Strauss' The Blue Danube, both electrifying compositions. The spellbinding quality of Wolfe's prose by itself qualifies this as an all-time SF great, as a book we can all point to when someone accuses SF of not being literature. But there's so much more happening here. Twin alien worlds, decadent, decaying French colonies, and an aboriginal, shapeshifting race that seems to have vanished like a dream.

Three narrators, but somewhere in the twists and turns of their narratives, we lose them and find we're holding someone else's hand. I've read this book ten times now and I'm still finding new things to love about it. I read this when I was a young angst ridden sixteen year old and fell in love with it. It's a great little story of going back in a time machine to the days of christ in search of a meaning to life Excellent riff on the alien invasion sub-genre with aliens we never actually meet. Add political and social satire and a mildly unreliable narrator and you've got it made.

Foresaw the dangers of the polar cap melting as well! I love the multilayered approach and the phonetic spelling, and then the main protagonist is such a nice kid! One of the great space operas. Some critics have said it's too complicated. The richest most complete creation in the whole genre. Comparisons with the contemporary Vietnam War aside, the book was quite simply un-put-down-able! A great story of grunt soldiers training and fighting aliens over a possible misunderstanding with the added concept that the great distances they need to travel to the war zone means the Earth they know goes through changes they could not have foreseen.

My Psychic Life

This is one of those novels that non sci-fi fans can read without having to think that they are reading a sci-fi story. In other words it is happy to be called 'speculative fiction'. It is funny, witty, insightful, harrowing and shocking and utterly gripping from the start to the finish. This book displays the broad spectrum of humanity from our best to just how low and evil we can stoop.

It moves through time from the past to an awesomely realised post apocalyptic future and back again showing a playful and excellent grasps of multiple literary styles along the way. This was the book I gave my girlfriend who is not a fan of sci-fi as the one example of this genre that she agreed she would read, mainly just to keep me quiet.

Well written, extremely good plotting and characterisation, and has elements which stay with you for years after reading it which is the whole point, isn't it? A novel which focuses on how a military-run government would look. Also gives a good description of uber-cool space suits and fighting aliens. Really makes you think about how OUR world works by looking at another. Am almost completely realised universe, very smart and incisive.

I found the contrast between the connections of the culture through neural laces and the inhabitants of Yoleus to be very thought provoking, as it brought up a host of questions about the causes and effects of instant information through the internet. I first read this book as a pre teen and found it an atypical examination of prejudice and the fear that inspires it.

It is however, a very enjoyable, well written read. I have read it in every subsequent decade of my life and found no less enjoyable. I would recomend it for young and old alike. By far my favorite John Wyndham book. All books of the Robotic series together with the Foundation Series. Alternate history squared, Spinrad posits a world where Hitler went to the US in the late s and became a science fiction writer of the golden age. A spoiler proof story and not actually a very good one, but the shock is realizing how close so much SF comes to it.

Spinrad includes an academic article criticizing HItler on a literary basis to help you process the experience. It has everything, hard Sci-Fi ideas, fantasy politics, religion, philosophy, romance Sprawling SF on a vast scale, violent and hilarious in equal measure, Banks' Culture Novels are peerless, and this is one of his best. Even non-sf fans like this. Heinlein probably created more libertarians with this book than Hyeck! The first of Smiths books and the first one I had read, picked up at random from a newsagents.

From the first page you are hooked by the vivid imagery and shocking storyline. It was a lesson in how you can put wild imagination onto the page and let it run away with itself. Despite it's complex concepts the vivid imagery and flowing dialogue reall lets you enter the Culture world for the first time with a great understanidng for me the best Sci fi book ever written.

Best of the 'culture' novels. Games at multiple levels, very black and very entertaining. There was just something about this book and all the thought that author Clarke put into it that made it stand out for me. There was no wild imaginings just simple and logical prediction.

The only thing that was a little hard to believe was the physical size of Rama. Given the cost and complexity of building the ISS, one has to wonder how long and how much it took to be built and sent on it's way. A super read though. Bill is a pal of mine for starters. He was working on this book years before I met him. He let me read his rough draft when it was done and after that, I hope he will write more. I've downloaded his ebook and it's even better finished. He said that it's the kind of story he wantes to read about.

He's shared it with some other people I work with and everybody loves it. I think he had his brother make a video, but I'm not sure. He was talking about it. Bill can draw, too. I'm friends with him on facebook, and his characters are really cool so now you can actually see what his characters look like as he sees them.

I would recommend this book even if Bill wasn't my friend, it's that good. I thought it was too obvious, but apparently not, based upon the comments below. Dune, along with Stranger in a Strange Land, catapulted sci fi out of the "golden age", and re-defined the genre. These two books are to sci-fi what the Beatles were to rock. Everything after was different. This novel is set in a post environmental holocaust future with both a dystopia and a Utopia.

It presents beautifully drawn characters in a technological wonderland with a hellishly corporate backdrop. The novel revolves around Shira and her quest to be reunited with her son - taken from her by the company she used to work for. In her quest she is joined by a wonderful cyborg named Yod and the novel tells of their relationship and brings into question what it is to be human. The story is interspersed with the tale of the Golem in Prague which brings the questions around what is life into a longer history and gives it weight.

As a science fiction novel it is so frighteningly possible - and in the not very distant future - but its real power is that we can already see how close we are to becoming a world in which corporations control private lives. There's some really wonderful moments like when Shira and co hack into the company's computer system using their minds, but flying in the shapes of birds, and when Shira is trying to teach Yod to understand the beauty of roses.

I don't want to give anything else away as there are also unseen twists. Plus there are kittens! Too dense, too pretentious, no likable characters and then for the last quarter Suddenly transformed to profound, disturbing, beautiful and lyrical. As someone else on this thread says, "Quite unlike anything else i've read".

Start with the creation of a mind then follow it on a post-human diaspora through the multiverse. Over 2 generations ahead of its time - Still a contemporary science fiction novel of the highest quality - the central tenet still stands the ravages of time as a truly inspiring and though provoking possibility. Not sure if it's SF, biography, satire, or a combination of all these and more, but it's a genius little book which I read over 20 years ago for the first time; I re-read it ocassionally, and it's still fresh to me.

An amazing series detailing the interactions between a number of species includinfg humans on a grandiose scale. A must read for any true lover of SF.

When the author tries to explain what a twelve dimensional planet might look like in an alternative universe it boggles my poor little four dimensional mind, but in that giddy, vertigionous way Stephen Hawking sometimes managed in a Brief History of Time. Except theres no spaceships, aliens, virtual realities in Hawkings book, which makes this book quite a lot better.

Diapsora is a novel of big ideas. From the birth of a gender neutral new mind in a virtual reality where most of humanity live in the near future AD to exploration of the galaxy and on to other universes of increasing multidimensional complexity to the ultimate fate of our species and others, all in a pursuit of a mystery - how does the universe hmm, multiverse really work? How can we survive its indifferent violence? And where are the mysterious species who left microscopic clues behind in the structure of an alien planet warning of galaxy wide catastrophe? As the book progresses the relative importance of these questions and answers change.

What happens when the answers are complete? It does take a while to get going particularly if you're not familiar with 'hard sci-fi' but there are no 'cheats' used in traditional sci fi. No transporters, FTL travel and the intelligent aliens are so utterly unlike the 'human' heroes they need several layers of 'relay-team' interpreters even to communicate. I look forward to the day mind wipes become more widely available so I can read it again for the first time. Like the best science fiction, it portrayed a plausible world growing out of our present - and the central figure is a believable human being doing currently-unbelievable things who grows, over the course of the book.

And totally gratuitously, it led to a number of sequels as rich and believable, in their way, as the first in the series was itself. Larry Niven is mainly know for his Ringworld series books. Generally his books are set in "known space" - a universe not too distant in the future - or close parallels to this creation. In "World of Ptavvs", Larry brings an alien known in "known space" as being extinct for millions of years to the present day. The alien a Slaver had been in stasis and is unintentionally released and then sets about trying to enslave the earth.

Fortunately Larry Greenberg, who had been trying to reach the alien telepathically whilst in stasis, is here to save the day. Without giving too much away, humans are related to the Slaver race, meaning of course that the World of the Ptavvs is earth. Some Slavers that have lost all their family rather than committing suicide will decide to protect the whole Slaver species. If only Larry knew someone like that to protect earth from this Slaver What I like about the book is that the complete story spans from years into past and future.

Space Opera it is not as the books are far too easy to read a couple hours to read this book but none-the-less Larry Niven creates a rich and compelling universe. It is prescient in its understanding of memes, no one else has come close. Not neccesarily the best SF book ever-that would in my opinion be one of Iain M.

Banks's 'Culture' novels-but quite possibly the weirdest. If you thought the end of Herbert's Dune series was getting a bit strange, it has nothing on this-truly out there WTF! By the way, are we including the Gormenghast trilogy in this? It's a beautiful balance of drama, speculation, humor, and the PKD's own special brand of paranoia. Well written, wll thought out, great plot develpoment, and all around awesome!!!! This book so beautifully demonstrates the point that what falls between two opposing, hard-held points of view is truth. Not science fiction by the contemporary definition.

This novel deals with what has been coined "inner space" rather than the more outer-space oriented, Le Guinesque fantasies. JG Ballard was a prominent figure of the new wave of science fiction: This was a time when events of the so-called real world began to seem stranger than fiction. As a result, novelists of this era began to write about dystopian near-futures rather than settings vastly remote in time and distance.

High Rise deals with the effects of the man-made, physical landscape, in this case an east London aparment block - on the physcology of the tenants. The rigidly defined social structure, too-easy access to amenities and desire of the tenants to resign from their lives as mindless functionaries, sets in motion a descent into a microcosmic catastrophe.

Ballard's ruthless imagination is on show here in all its glory. This book changed my life. Strictly not Sci-Fi, but a theological meditation on perception, sanity and counterculture. One of my favourite books, up there with Camus and Satre in my opinion. The protaginist is a man undergoing a nervous breakdown who interprets his psychosis as religious revelations. Astoundingly well-written, profound and funny. Refutes the view of science fiction as 'Cowboys and Indians in Space. The author is a bit of a nutter, but the Mission Earth books are an excellent read.

And, the hero grows up a little. Eurasia including Britain has been conquered by Bolshevism. All because Adolf Hitler emigrated to New York in to become a science-fiction writer. That's the framing story. LOTS tells of a mythologized Germany "Heldon" in a future post-nuclear world that rose up to defeat the evil mutant forces of Zind and their humanity-destroying rulers the Dominators. The only reason it's not more popular is because it's too real in many respects.

It lacks that warm and fuzzy Hollywood-like ending needed for today's pop culture. Still, it's a brilliant series of books. I recommend them all. Like all great science fiction Shikasta and its four companion volumes has a serious philosphical core; It is beautifully written, and is a cracking read. It is plausible and utopic, offering a glimpse of a future of equality and sexual freedom with humankind and nature in balance, while pointing at the frailties of current reality and pertinently criticising organised religion, ideology, and colonialism.

Lessing's imagination runs riot, and the fourth volume, although slim, has one of the finest takes on survival in a hostile environment I have ever read. One of the most compelling compendium of five book s. Fast paced, excellently written and many thought provoking ideas playing merry hell with history, time, space and logic. Not to mention a great cliffhanger ending. This is not a book, it is a short story, a very short story, but it was the inspiration for Clarke And Kubrick's collaborative epic It sums up humanities constant desire to discover 'someone else, out there.

We are so lonely, like a kid who has lost it's mom. So much SF is devoted to our quest for contact, but the original short sums up the anticipation so well. This collection of short stories is full of wit humour and dystopian futures. Book bindings that rewrite books, aliens infiltrating society as four foot high VW mechanics and faulty time travellers taking part in their own autopsy and ticker tape parade. This book is the most imaginative i have ever read and i'm overwhelmed by its brilliance whenever I read it. I have laughed, cried almost and felt almost every emotion in between and if one person reads it because of me i shall be happy.

Most people read the dystopia - Brave New World, but Island was a utopian dream - one of the first books that really affected me. Also anything by John Wyndham - many of his books successfully made it to films, Day of the Triffids and Village of the Damned. I also loved The Chrysalids - never understood why it didn't become a film.

But the sci-fi crown must go to Peter F Hamilton - he has the ability to create entire universes and includes the entire shebang of sci-fi within each series - aliens, technologies, societies, superhuman abilities, etc. I'd just like to put in a moan about the way bookshops display Sci-Fi - they integrate it into Fantasy. I've nothing against fairies, elves and goblins, but this genre tends to look backwards to times when knights were armed and everyone else was nervous.

Sci-fi generally looks forward to the future with technology or societies or takes alternative universes and extrapolates. So why do bookshops display them together? Do they have no concept of either genre? Moan of the day over. Serves up visual imagery of technological advances that we have now attained or on the way to achieving. Corporate pervasiveness in holographic advertising projected anywhere, futuristic ways of engaging with celebrity idols, cosmetic surgery making people look like an amalgamation of famous stars, old technology lying around in scrap heaps in amongst hi-tech wonderment.

And who could forget the way Razor girl introduces herself to Case after hes just had in effect an organ transplant? In mho, it marks the emergence of contemporary SF as Literature. And because Dan Simmons wrote such a beautiful novel back in , a generation of SF writers has emerged to compose a species of fiction unprecedented in the history of Literature, a species that thenceforth redefined the idea of the SF novel. That may be overstating the case, but the purity and overpowering poetical sensibility of Simmon's writing cannot be disputed. And in no way to diminish the achievements of Gene Wolfe and Robert Silverberg - the grandfathers of literary SF - but I thihnk that Simmons was the first novelist to deliberately embrace the so-called literary canon and weave it into a profound and beautiful SF tapestry.

But it is not simply a story well told, it is SF. And that means it is about ideas. They are, in point of fact, novels that provoke wonder - which is exactly what science fiction has always been about. Unknown to him or us early on in the story is that he is in fact helping the military intercept missiles fired at earth from rebels on a moon base.

Wry observations on the military and humanity from the returning soldiers isolated from society by the effects of relativity on time caused by near to light speed travel. A pacy read, sexy and like all good SF wrong on lots of details but contains many truths about mankind. In a near-future world where technological progress has been frozen by the all powerful peace authority, renegade scientists discover the secret of the bobbles used to cloak weapons, bases and even cities and turn the technology to their own advantage to bring down the peace authority.

At the local library when I was 17, I discovered the Uplift Saga. Starting with book 2. I loved its exploration of conciousness with the idea of spreading sapience to other animals on earth - dolphins and chimps. I found it very positive about humanity as alien hordes threatened to destroy human cultures or humanity itself.

I've not read many sci fi where despite flaws you get drawn into such a pro humanity narrative. The setting was enjoyable, marooned on a water world with a crew of dolphins. I can easily imagine from his writings that such a place must exist. I would recommend the rest of saga but for me startide rising stood out.

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It completely changed my view on life, the universe and everything - literally: Just absolutely, unequivocally a masterpiece of joyful reading. As madly inventive as anything Dick wrote. From memory it has space travel, timeslips, psychics AND anti-psychics, half dead souls feeding off one another's life force in vats, inexplicable kinks in the nature of reality - but it's also tightly, economically constructed, which some of his books aren't.

Plus it's hands down the scariest book I've ever read. Because it is one of the best novels I've read in the past four years, and I don't just mean SF. It doesn't really matter it is so on the button that you just know that this is how things will be. Cyberpunks lost in the cities of the future with exactly the same angst and doubts that we here on earth suffer today. Gibson is at the height of the game in SF I simple can't think of anyone, with the exception of Michael Faber and his Under the Skin that comes anywhere near.

In a world heating up and regressing back to an ancient state, a man who lives in the lagoons above a flooded London struggles with the dying remains of old-world society and instead of heading north to safety decides to head south, towards the heat and towards the primal chaos the world is descending into. Ballard's second novel and possibly the clearest examples of his highly metaphorical science fiction novels.

In The Drowned World we start see the J. Ballard use his objective, unemotional style that is a characteristic of his early short stories in a novel. Sci fi at its worst is nothing more than cheap thrills - an update on the penny dreadful. At its best it offers nothing less than new stages on which to explore the nature of humanity.

Le Guin's novel is at the best end of SF. It doesn't really matter that the setting is on some mythical planets; what is important is the people in the story, their struggles to make sense of life and society, their sufferings and their joys. It is a deeply human book. Le Guin has a gift for looking beneath surface inessentials, even those connected with gender, and seeing through to the real. Finally, although this obviously won't appeal to all, it is the most faithful and gripping account of the process of scientific discovery I have ever read.

A lovely, memorable book, not just a good SF book but a great novel as well. Frankenstein is the seminal novel that deals with the human condition versus the unknown. Shelley takes us on a finely detailed journey among science and what can be created from it even from back in the recesses of the imagination. I first read Frankenstein when I was Shelley created a story where I hadn't felt such flow of sympathy between the creator and the monster.

It compelled me to think of my own existence in an unsure world. What better way to start a SF journey such as with Frankenstein's monster's thirst for knowledge and acceptance in a society that only saw terror in the unknown. Russian precursor to Brave New World and , which are probably on everyone's list. His Master's Voice is one of the purest, most philosophical and accomplished SF novels I've ever read. I'd recommend people read this because it's either, as Theodore Sturgeon said, "a literary landmark" or, as P K Dick claimed, "trash".

Folk should read it and decide for themselves. A compelling, complex speculative fictional work. One of the best examples of its genre combining nuanced social commentary and interplay of dystopian and utopian imagination. Great ships, great robots and a knock-out plot from an author who takes general relativity seriously enough to work through its mind-scrambling implications.

It proclaims the glories of science, technology and industry while at the same time reminding us of the poignancy of our own personal fragilities. That, I think, is the real experience of us all in the 21st Century, sci-fi aside. This novel speaks with a poet's voice, as well. As relevant now as it was when written in the 's. The themes of genetic engineering and mutations in crops were way ahead of their time.