Need More Sci Fi Book Suggestions

[Windy Wilson]

Heinlein's juvenile novels are in many respects better than his adult sci-fi. His short stories are particularly good, and not just his "future history".

Although I haven't read anything from her in years, Andre Norton had a good series started with "The Zero Stone" and its sequel, "Uncharted Skies", or "Across Uncharted Skies", IIRC.
Her time travel ones with future people traveling back to stone age Europe, to interact with "Beaker People" and others were good, but not, I think, as good as the Zero Stone.

[Weetabix]

Heinlein's juvenile novels are in many respects better than his adult sci-fi. His short stories are particularly good, and not just his "future history".

I agree. Seems like he became obsessed with incest in his later adult fiction. I didn't care for it myself.

[Jered]

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester.

The guy from Babylon 5?

[Vonz90]

Heinlein's juvenile novels are in many respects better than his adult sci-fi. His short stories are particularly good, and not just his "future history".

I agree. Seems like he became obsessed with incest in his later adult fiction. I didn't care for it myself.

I dunnoh, after reading several of his books based on the recommendation of others, and not liking any of them. I came to the conclusion that Heinlein just plain sucked.

If you must, pick any of his books and read that one, and then none of the others. They are all the feaking same anyway.

[Greg]

I dunnoh, after reading several of his books based on the recommendation of others, and not liking any of them. I came to the conclusion that Heinlein just plain sucked.

If you must, pick any of his books and read that one, and then none of the others. They are all the feaking same anyway.

That really makes me wonder exactly what you've read. Because some of his stuff is truly vile, I literally *could not* force myself to finish Farnham's Freehold,(aka Heinlein at his motherf*cking best!) while on the other hand some of his work is excellent.

Mind you, I'm not the biggest Heinlein fan- Dickson, Drake, Anderson, Asimov, Pournelle (as writer and anthologist), Niven all have more space on my bookshelf.

But I've gotten people to read SF who hadn't before just by lending them a collection that had a Heinlein story in it- when a friend of mind read "The Long Watch" he didn't want to give the book back.

[Denis]

Heinlein's juvenile novels are in many respects better than his adult sci-fi. His short stories are particularly good, and not just his "future history".

I agree. Seems like he became obsessed with incest in his later adult fiction. I didn't care for it myself.

Weet, you might like to reformulate your last. It parses a bit weird...

[Weetabix]

Heinlein's juvenile novels are in many respects better than his adult sci-fi. His short stories are particularly good, and not just his "future history".

I agree. Seems like he became obsessed with incest in his later adult fiction. I didn't care for it myself.

Weet, you might like to reformulate your last. It parses a bit weird...

Yikes.

Not sure what you think I said, but I was attempting ellipsis so as not to come across as too much of a parochial prude. His later novels (I'm trying to recall and using no google time) like Number of the Beast, Friday, Time Enough For Love, and others I can't remember had too much sex in them for me, and much of the sex that was in there went far beyond my personal pale. I think he was pursuing his mother in one, had a father and daughter offer themselves to each other in another, and IIRC in Time Enough For Love, didn't they clone Lazarus Long into women and have him impregnate them (or himself, depending on how you look at it?).

I hated all that. I was agreeing with Windy that the juvenile novels were, in many respects, better than the non-juvenile (best not say adult) novels. His "grown-up" sci fi from the 40's, 50's, and 60's was quite enjoyable. Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, the future history stories, etc., I enjoyed. And some of the other short stories - Magic, Inc; Waldo; Them, etc.

How's that parse?

[Greg]

Heinlein's juvenile novels are in many respects better than his adult sci-fi. His short stories are particularly good, and not just his "future history".

I agree. Seems like he became obsessed with incest in his later adult fiction. I didn't care for it myself.

Weet, you might like to reformulate your last. It parses a bit weird...

Ah, no Weet. The way you phrased it could suggest you tried more than the fiction. If you follow...

[MiddleAgedKen]

Here's an obscure one, available cheap (I think):

The Radio Planet, by Ralph Milne Farley. Actually third in his "Radio Man" series of pulp stories collected in novel form. I didn't read the first two, but the third has quite an interesting conceit (won't spoil unless asked nicely).

[Weetabix]

Ah, no Weet. The way you phrased it could suggest you tried more than the fiction. If you follow...

*picks self up from the floor*

Someone owes me a new desk chair. I just broke mine recoiling from my screen. Maybe I'm the guilty one for not remembering just how much nuance is lost when typing.

To move back on track, I found a bucket of old pulp sci fi magazines a long time ago and put it aside. They're the ones that were a bit bigger than a paperback but smaller than a conventional magazine these days. I may need to explore those with the names listed above in mind.