Recommend Good SciFi

[LDiCesare]

Lem is famous for having being inducted into the American association of Sci-Fi writers (even if he was part of the Eastern Block) but then causing a furor when he wrote that most American sci-fi, with a few exceptions, was utter crap

I didn't know that!
Lem is great because he wrote very different novels. From critics of unwritten books to meeting with aliens, through questions about the beginning of the universe, robot stories and funny robot stories...
Also, Robert E. Forward, with Dragon's Egg for instance, whose novels have strong scientific grounds.

[One_Brow]

Am I the only fan of Anne MCCaffrey's Pern novels? At times the later ones seem a little like soap opera, but the earliers ones were quite enjoyable.

[Lars-E]

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle...
Jules Verne (and his son)

[Rex Little]

An alternate history series no one's mentioned is S. M. Stirling's trilogy about the Draka, a group which arises in South Africa in the late 18th century and develops into a tyrannical super-race along the lines of what the Nazis wished they could have been. The books are Marching Through Georgia, Under the Yoke, and The Stone Dogs.

Harry Turtledove, as others have said, is of course the master of alternate history. His Worldwar series also brings in the alien invasion angle.

For time travel, I have to second Heinlein's The Door Into Summer and Asimov's The End of Eternity.

[Ironikinit]

Prob the easiest way to find something you're sure to like is to get a collection such as the previously mentioned Hartwell's "World's Best Science Fiction" or a similar anthology from the library. There's usually a commentary preceding the story which mentions the best of that author's novels. If you like the story, you might like the novel.

[Cavalcadeus]

Originally posted by Calc II
How does shadow puppet fit into the ender series? is it a sequel to children of the mind?

It is a sequel to Shadow of the Hegemon.

[Lorizael]

Great stuff here guys. Why did I ever stop reading. And then why did I start again. I'm reading too many things at the moment and couldn't possibly add any of this stuff to my reading list, at least not right now. I can't really suggest anything more, everyone here has said what I would have said.

But I can advertise myself! Read my book! Well... err... wait until it's finished of course, and then until it's published. And in order for it to be published, someone has to want to publish it. *sigh* whatever...