Name suggestions for a fantasy sci fi fantasy book?

Answer 1

There are so many Sci Fi and Fantasy novels and anthologies out there, it's almost hard to know where to start. Okay, at the beginning. Pick up anything by Jules Verne. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a good place to start, and I believe there are several online sites where it can be downloaded legally for free--it is in the public domain now. Try the UPenn project Online Books, http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/. There are hundreds of public domain novels available, just follow the links. You will want to read the works of Ray Bradbury as well. Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Illustrated Man are both excellent. Of course you have to read his classic, Fahrenheit 451. Since you will be reading Bradbury's Fahrenheit, you will also want to read 1984 by George Orwell.This is also a public doman work, so you can find it online complete at (http://www.george-orwell.org/1984/index.html). You might want to take a look also at his Animal Farm while you are there. Any reader of fantasy has to read Tolkien's The Hobbit, and his Lord of the Rings trilogy. Read the books, don't watch the movies--it's not that the movies are bad, loved them, there's just nothing like the books. Another fantasy staple is Terry Brooks' Shannara series. Start with The Sword of Shannara, then The Elfstones of Shannara, and finally The Wishsong of Shannara. There are other novels and stories in the series, but these three are the first. Finally, and I use that very loosely, read everything by Anne McCaffrey. Few authors develop characters who are more alive than Lady Anne. Start with The Dragonriders of Pern and keep going. Pernreads like fantasy but you'll learn quickly it is Sci Fi. It actually crosses both boundaries. She also has several hard Sci Fi novels: The Ship Who Sang, The City Who Fought; Crystal Singer, Killashandra, and Crystal Line; Sassinak; Powers That Be, Power Lines, Power Play; Freedom's Landing, Freedom's Choice, Freedom's Challenge, and Freedom's Ransom. Larry Niven's Known Space series is a must, as is pretty much anything by Allen Dean Foster, Frederick Pohl, Doug Adams, Peirs Anthony, Poul Anderson, Issac and Janet (the Azimovs), Robert Asprin, Margaret Atwood, Greg Benford, Terry Bisson (the short story "They're Made Out of Meat"), Ben Bova, and no list would be complete without Robert Heinlein. Best suggestion, go to a used book store and shop covers. The best artists of the '80's did cover art for fantasy and Sci Fi novels.