Conference noted::sf

"Beast books," which sort of has been touched on elsewhere (above) covers
a wide variety of types in the SF genre.  What's "Best?"  One person's
best is another person's "You're kidding!"

Some older books I thoroughly enjoyed and will commend to your arrention:

	THE CRYSTAL HORDE, THE FORBIDDEN GARDEN both by "John Taine" (ET Bell)

	The Lensman series, especially from GALACTIC PATROL on, by Doc Smith

	THE BLACK FLAME, THE NEW ADAM, A MARTIAN ODYSSEY, and THE RED PERI
		(the last two are collections of shorts) by Stanley G. Weinbaum

	VENUS EQUILATERAL, TROUBLED STAR, and PATTERN FOR CONQUEST by 
                                                             George O. Smith

	GATHER, DARKNESS and CONJURE WIFE by Fritz Leiber

	THE FACE IN THE ABYSS, THE MOON POOL, THE METAL MONSTER, and
         CREEP, SHADOW, CREEP, by A. Merritt

	DREAM-QUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH and AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS by
                                                               H. P. Lovecraft

	SLAN by A. E. van Vogt  (I also like the Nulll-A stuff, but it's
                              an acquired taste)

	TIME AND AGAIN, THE COSMIC ENGINEERS, and CITY by Clifford D. Simak

	MINIONS OF THE MOON by William Grey Beyer

	A FALL OF MOONDUST by Arthur C. Clarke

	THE INCREDIBLE PLANET and THE CLOAK OF AESIR by John W. Campbell, Jr.

	MISSION OF GRAVITY and NEEDLE by Hal Clement

	THE DOOR INTO SUMMER and WALDO AND MAGIC, INC. by Robert A. Heinlein

	THE INCOMPLETE ENCHANTER, THE CASTLE OF IRON, and THE WALL OF SERPENTS
                                by L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt

	THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO and THE GHOSTS OF MANACLE by Charles G. Finney

	and on the lighter side,

	LANCELOT BIGGS, SPACEMAN by Nelson Bond

	THE GLORIOUS POOL, SKIN AND BONES, THE STRAY LAMB, NIGHT LIFE OF THE
       GODS, and [the non-SF/F but very good] RAIN IN THE DOORWAY 
                                                    by Thorne Smith

	ROBOTS HAVE NO TAILS and A GNOME THERE WAS by Lewis Padgett [Kuttner]

	THE MISLAID CHARM by Alexander Phillips

I hope you'll encounter some of these; a few are rare, some have been reissued
in paperback.  

Steve Kallis, Jr.

O Joy -- someone else who's read and enjoyed "Lancelot Biggs, Spaceman."

Steve, was "The Castle of Iron" another in the Incompleat Enchanter series?
I've got the other two but don't remember hearing about that one.  BTW,
DeCamp has written some *wonderful* historical fiction, including:

An Elephant For Aristotle
The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate

and others whose titles escape me.  Sadly, they are all long out of print.

JP

RE: .1

It's the same thing with worst books.  Someone's worst may be someone elses
best.  I enjoyed DHALGREN, there aren't too many people I've seen that say the
same.  We can at least get ideas from here, it's certainly can't be the 
the readers bible.  If you go to the bookstore, and you have no idea what to
get, at least you can pick up a mentioned book and read the description.
I wopuld have never read anything by Zelazny if I hadn't been pointed in that
direction, and he's now my favorite author.  

- Rob

BTW, you have quite a list.  I'm still looking for something to read, I
dumped the Silmarillion.  Have to check into some of those.

re: .2

	The three books mentioned by Pratt & deCamp, INCOMPLETE ENCHANTER, 
CASTLE OF IRON, and WALL OF SERPENTS are the *full* series of stories about
Harold Shea, the somewhat do-it-yourself magician.  Only CASTLE OF IRON
was a single story:  INCOMPLETE ENCHANTER was actually two novellas, back-
to-back: the first, where Shea goes to the ancient Norse world just before
Ragnarok; the second, where he goes to the world of THE FAIRIE QUEEN and
meets Belphebe.  CASTLE OF IRON is where Chalmers inadvertently transports
Belphebe to the world of ORLANDO FURIOSO, where she has an identity crisis
and Shea has to re-court her.  WALL OF SERPENTS consists of two back-to-
back novellas; one where Shea goes to the Finnish world to try to rescue
people stranded in another world and gets involved with their early mytho-
logical magicians, primarily Lemenkannen [sp?]; the final one was in early
Irish myth.  If memory serves, the first two stories comprising INCOMPLETE
appeared in _Unknown Worlds_, CASTLE was only in book form, and the last
two appeared in _Fantasy Fiction_ and _Galaxy_ reespectively.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

	Having read all the Zelazny "Amber" novels I wouldn't include
the latest one _Trumps_0f_Doom_ in a "Best Book" list.  It's a real
dog.  However, the 1st five are one of my all-time favorite series
only behind "Dune" and "Foundation".

Mike

As far as best books or series go, has anyone read the "Pleioscene" sp?
novels by Julian May? I have a friend whos read them and claims they are
some of the all-time best he's ever read. I haven't read them yet, are
they that good???

Mike

Note #38 and subsequent replies contain a fantastic compendium of "best" SF
titles.  Someone on the SF-LOVERS distribution is presently conducting a
"canonical SF" poll.  I'll try to remember to put a summary of the results
here the next time he posts it.

In re .6:

I found the first book of the Saga of Pliocene Exile, _The_Many-Colored_
_Land_, superb.  I felt that the series went downhill from there, but
many others disagree with me, so don't take that as gospel.

					  -  o
					 - -/-->
					-  @~\_

					Roger

You beat me to it, Roger (about Note #38).

re: .2

Both THE INCOMPLETE ENCHANTER and CASTLE OF IRON were issued together in
one volume --- THE COMPLEAT ENCHANTER (which is obviously a misnomer, since
it didn't include WALL OF SERPENTS).

re:.1

RAIN IN THE DOORWAY is not sf/f?? Every reference book I own seems to list
it as such. I have the (relatively) recent Del Rey edition, but I haven't
read it yet.
	Trust you to pick the classics.

--- jerry

re: .8
RAIN IN THE DOORWAY (one of my favorite) concerns a man who somehow becomes
a partner in a department store.  There's nothing paranormal, either scien-
tific or fantastic, save perhaps the sexual situations (for the time: tame,
but _very_ funny today).  By contrast:

SKIN AND BOKES concerns a man who periodically turns into a skeleton.
(that's SKIN AND BONES; sorry)

NIGHT LIFE OF THE GODS concerns a man who learns a method of turning
people into stone, a woodnymph who can animate stone objects, and the
(temporary) impact of some of the Olympian gods on New York and environs.

THE STRAY LAMB concerns a man who periodically turns into different animals.

Allthe above Thorne Smith books are very funny and abound in logic that
rivals Lewis Carroll's best.  His most famous, TOPPER, isn't half as
good as the above.  But alas, how many know of Thorne Smith nowadays?
However, it's *their* loss.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

I vote for Gene Wolfe's _Book_of_the_New_Sun_ series.  Very well written.
One of the few series in which the quality of the last book is as good as
the first.

			Barbara b.

One of most very favorites (most have already appeared in this Note,
especially Zelazny - is _Trumps_ really available?  How 'bout a review?) is
_Against the Fall of Night_ by Arthur C. Clarke.  Most of Clarke's stuff
ranks high on my list, except for 2010, which was a letdown for me. 

As an aside, Against the Fall of Night originally was a novel called _City
Against the Stars_, which I think I like better (I'll have to go back and
re-read them both to decide again).  The first time I saw the City story,
it was part of a 2-story paperback (no, _not_ a 2 *storey* paperback) -- 
you know, the kind that has a front cover on both sides.  The second title
was _Lion of Commarre_  (I think, this is going back a ways).  I recall
that I liked this one, but I'm darned if I can remember anything about it! 

Can anyone refresh my memory? 


Cheers

Ian S.
WRU #378

RE: .11

Yes, Trumps of Doom is out.  It has been for about a month and a half I'd say.
Cover price is $14.95 for hardcover though.  I hear it's nowhere near as good
as the others, but nobody has bought it that I know yet, so I'm still waiting
to read it.

- Rob

I like the idea of trying to list obscure favorites rather than "best"
books. As previously mentioned, one person's best is another's can't
get through. For instance, I've been confounded a number of times by
jerry's mentioning that he can't get through *STARSHIP TROOPERS*. I
can more easily understand the citing of *DHALGREN* as a strange and
terrible book, even though to my mind its one of the best ever written.

Anyway, my personal nominee is *THE GIRL, THE GOLD WATCH & EVERYTHING*
by John D. McDonald. I'm convinced that if it had been published under
"SF" rather than as a mainstream, it would have garnered Nebulas, Hugos,
et al.

Fred Bals

Here is my list:

 The Mote In God's Eye - Niven & Pournell
 Glory Road- R.A. Heinlien
 The Riddle Master of Hed, Harpist in the Wind & the other book form this
  trilogy- Patricia McKillip
 Dune
 The Gateway Trilogy- Fredrick Poul
 Floating Worlds- unknown author (I'd like to find a copy of this anybody?)
 The Game Players of Zan- M.A. Foster
 Titan, wizard, & demon - John Varley
 Foundation trilogy 
 Stranger in a strange land- R.A. Heinlien
 Ringworld & the Ringworld Engineers - Niven

Good reading!

dave

RE:.14 _Floating_Worlds_ is by Cecelia (sp?) Holland who has written some
fantastic historical novels as well, all the titles have slipped my mind. 
                                                 
Tamzen

RE: .11

I agree with you on "The City and The Stars" being on the list. You've got the sequence of the books backwards though. The copy of 
"The City and The Stars" that I have has a short foreword by the author who says that he wanted to rewrite "Against the Fall of 
Night" because it had many of the mistakes of a first novel. It took me a long time after that to find the first book. Clark
really did a much better job on the second time around but both are worth reading.

Dan Eaton

re: .11

See note 195 for a review of "Trumps of Doom".

-b

Here's another of my favorite things:

"Flowers for Algernon" by somebody-or-other

This is about Charlie, a mentally retarded man who becomes a genius after an
experimental brain treatment.  It soon becomes obvious that the treatment is
not permanent and only works once.  The story deals with his frantic efforts
to discover a way to retain even a normal intelligence, while his IQ gradually
slips away...  Algernon is the name of a lab rat whom Charlie befriends, and
who dies after having the same operation. 

"Charlie" is a TV movie based very closely on the story.  HIGHLY recommended.
Cliff Robertson plays the lead role extremely well.


Another one:

"The Cold Equations" by a-different-somebody-or-other

(I'm sorry about forgetting author's names, but all my books are at home.)

This is a short story which deals with a stowaway on a spaceship.  To say 
more would be a spoiler.


And one more:

"Best of all possible worlds", edited by Spider Robinson

This is a collection of Robinson's favorite stories, with a difference.  For
each of Robinson's favorites, that story's author has chosen one of *his*
favorite stories for inclusion in the anthology.  One of the stories is an 
excerpt from William Goldman's "The Princess Bride" which is not science 
fiction but was so enjoyable that I nagged the bookstore into ordering it 
special.  I was not disappointed; it is one of the few stories I have read 
which really IS a 'romp'.


Ian Skeoch

Trumps of Doom was Great!  I just got a copy from a friend, and although
something seems to be missing (Corwin), it is still a great book.  I hope
Zelazny has everything already figured out, with so many things going on,
he may have a hard time closing up loose ends eventually. Man, things get
complicated. I'm going to have to read this a dozen more times or so to catch 
up with the reast of the Amber series. 

- Rob

re:.18

"Flowers for Algernon" (short story) and FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON (novel)
were by Daniel Keyes. I think that the short story is terrific, but the
novel is poor (too much padding). The movie CHARLY was based on the
novel, but that didn't hurt it any. A great movie.
	Incidentally, Robertson starred in an adaptation of the short
story called "The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon" on one of the various
anthology tv series in the early 60's.

"The Cold Equations" is by Tom Godwin.

--- jerry

re:.18 & .20

I liked "Flowers for Algernon" also. I found the book much more powerful 
than the movie. The way the simplistic writing of a moron gradually 
transforms into the prose of a genius is impressive.


MartyJ

"Flowers for Algernon" and "The Cold Equations," both high on my lists of
good stories, are *really* both shorts-to-novellas.  This was, I thought,
to be about books, not individual stories.  I or Jerry could probably bore
you to tears with story titles (how many people today would recognize 
"The City of the Singing Flame" by Clark Ashton Smith (a _good_ read), or
"Derm Fool" by Theodore Sturgeon?) many of which would be more than hard
to find.  If we get off into individual story titles, I suggest we set up a
mechanism to enable other people to find the obscure ones.

Note my previous response was deliberately mentioning older works.  For
someone who's never read Thorne Smith, for instance, the joy is there -- plus
it will give the reader a greater insight to "Padgett"'s Gallagher stories.
And then there were the Thorne Smith imitators such as the Charles C. Meyers
"Toffee" stories that appeared in _Imagination_ magazine in the early-to-mid
1950s....

Steve Kallis, Jr.

Hello,

 I've been reading these notes for a couple of months now and decided it was 
time to jump in !

 My favorites:

  "Stranger in a Strange Land", "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" - Heinlein

 "Neuromancer" - William Gibson( I believe this is up for a Hugo this year...a 
                 tremendous novel.)

 "In the Drift" - M. Stanwick(?) - Post holocaust literature from the Ace 
                  Science Fiction Specials, great stuff.

 "The Lathe of Heaven" - Le Guin

 "Flowers for Algernon" - Keyes

  The Foundation Series and the Robot novels( particularly "The Robots of DAWN")
  - Asimov

  The Heechee saga - Pohl 

  The Amber series - Zelanzy

  DUNE, Destination Void, The White Plague - Herbert

  The Martian Chronicles, Something Wicked this Way Comes, and Dandelion Wine
  - Bradbury

  2001, Rendevous with Rama, and Childhoods End - Aurthur C. Clarke

  As far as Delaney goes, I enjoyed the "Einstien Intersection" tremendously but
have been plodding through "Dalhgren" on and off for over a year, you can keep 
it.

					John Mc

  

A few nights ago I leafed through my listings and jotted down titles that 
stood out as being memorable.  Unfortunately, I had written 80+ titles.  So 
I crossed out those which were specifically mentioned in the 23 Responses.  
Then I crossed out some more (ones which I felt may not appeal to the General 
S.F. Public and those I'm not ready to admit to) and wound up with these:

Bester,A.	The Demolished Man
Cherryh,C.J.	The Pride of Chanur		The sequel is so-so.
Farmer,P.J.	The Maker of Universes		"World of Tiers" #1.
   "		To Your Scattered Bodies Go	1st Riverworld book.
Finney,J.	Time and Again			A quiet but addictive
     						time travel story.
Garrett,R.	Too Many Magicians
Haldeman,J.	The Forever War			'Tho' I think it holds up
     						better as short stories.
Heinlein,R.	Farnham's Freehold
Leiber,F.	The Big Time
McCaffrey,A.	Dragonflight			1st Pern book.
Merrit,A.A.	The Ship of Ishtar
Mundy,T.	Jimgrim				He also wrote "King, of the
     						Kyber Rifles", also good.
Roberts,K.	Pavane
Simak,C.D.	All Flesh is Grass
Smith,E.E.	Grey Lensman
Spinrad,N.	Bug Jack Barron
Vance,J.	The Book of Dreams		5th "Demon Prince" novel.
Wells,H.G.	The Invisible Man
Wyndham,J.	The Day of the Triffids		Try to catch the BBC-TV
     						production on Cable!!
Zelazney,R.	This Immortal			

A lot of these are still available in the stores.  (I figure they MUST be
popular if they're reprinted!)  

     						Don

P.S. to Jerry:  So YOU'RE my competitor at The Book Bear.  I wondered why
     		there's usually slim pickins'....  Isaiah Thomas is good;
     		a lot of old p-backs.  And I'll try Bedford; thanks.

RE .11:  Ian, I looked through my ACE double list & couldn't find it (which
         doesn't mean it doesn't exist.)  Can you recall if it was ACE?
         Just curious, I'll add it to my list if it is.  This may be a job
         for Jerry....

							Don

re:.25 re:.11

I don't recall THE CITY AND THE STARS being published as part of a double.
I've only seen it on its own, except as a part of the hardcover omnibus,
FROM THE OCEAN, FROM THE STARS.
	Now AGAINST THE FALL OF NIGHT (the earlier version) has appeared
in book form as a double with THE LION OF COMARRE, in both hardcover (Har-
court, Brace, and World) and paperback (Harbrace Paperback Library). This
double doesn't have two covers, though, like the old Ace Doubles did.

re:.24

Actually, I've not been to the Book Bear in quite some time. Most of the
times I've been there, though, I've come away with quite a haul. I'm about
due for another trip there.

--- jerry

I remembered another "best book".  It was certainly one of the funniest.
It's called Full Moon, and it's about the life of Keith Moon, The Who's late
drummer.

...Rob...

Well, here's my 2_pennies worth.

RE: .2	'The Dragon of the Ishtar Gate', this is supprising reminicent of
	McCaffrey's 'Dragon' books.

RE: .6	Yes, I have read the 'Pleioscene' novels by Julien May.   The first
	two were very good, the rest were O.K.  The biggest problem with this
	series, is that there was a *LOT* of filling within the main story.
	This is O.K., but seemed to be excessive.  But overall I did enjoy
	them very much.

RE: .24	I think that it would be possible to include all of the 'Dragon'
	series on the list, and, in fact, most of McCaffrey's other books
	as well;  "The Ship Who (or That?) Sang" was very good.

I think that top of my 'Best Books' list is the series by Zena Henderson;

		PILGRIMAGE
		NO DIFFERENT FLESH

both books are of 'THE PEOPLE'.  I have read these books at least a dozen times
and recommend them to anyone and everyone.  Pilgrimage was for me a very
emotive book.  Others are;

Lensman Series		E.E. 'Doc' Smith	!UNADULTERATED SPACE OPERA
Foundation tril.	Who else?

re .4:
> ... if memory serves, the first two stories comprising INCOMPLETE
>appeared in _Unknown Worlds_< CASTLE was only in book form, and the last
>two appeared in _Fantasy Fiction_ and _Galaxy_ respectively.

Heckuva note responding to your own response, but I bwlieve memory
*didn't quite* serve:  If I can slash away the cloying and geld mists of
ancient past, to put it pulpily, I believe _Galaxy_ had a short-lived
fantasy companion called _Beyond_ [subtitled _Fantasy Fiction_] that was
to be to _Galaxy_ as _Unknown Worlds_ was to _Astounding/Analog_.  The
_Fantasy Fiction_ had a beautiful Hannes Bok cover on it (the story was
"The Wall of Serpents") and _Beyond_ had a fairly sloppily executed cover
of a female wraith of some sort, and contained _The Green Magician_.

Steve Kallis, Jr.

For SF, my all time favorite is Babel-17, which richly deserved all that
stuff it won.

I'm hard pressed to define this as science fiction, but is anyone as much of
a fanatic about Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Saint-Germain novels as I am?  I
suppose WaldenBooks would call them Gothic romances, but they have my all time
favorite treatment of vampires.

Dave Wall

I enjoy the Saint-Germain books and stories too; I'd call them historical
romances, though, rather than Gothics. The emphasis - and some of the best
features of each - seems to be on the descriptions of life in whatever
era the book is about. The Italian Renaissance one was fascinating!

Oddly enough, despite the fact that a vampire and his ghoul-henchman
(I've always been fond of a good henchman!) are the heroes of the stories,
I don't really consider the books to be fantasy - at least, not any more
than most romantic or historical fiction is "fantasy".

But they're enjoyable!
                      
-b

    The best SF book I have EVER read was:
    
    THE STARS MY DESTINATION
    
    by Alfred Bester.
    
    Next best was/is The Foundation Trilogy
    

How about CITIES IN FLIGHT, by James Blish?

    Re: .32  Better than THE DEMOLISHED MAN?  I may have to dig STARS
    out & read it.  
    
    And, you're one of the few people who can settle on *one* book as
    best.  Where do you buy your onion rings?
    
    							Don

Well, I did not see any point in repeating books that have already been
mentioned.  I think if someone tells me that they have just one favorite
book, then my option of them goes down a notch, because it usually means
that they only like one kind of flavor.

I will have to look and see if I have DEMOLISHED MAN, and if I read it, and
if I remember it.

Jim.

    	A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ by Walter M. Miller!
    
    	Larry
    

    A few other good books not mentioned here would be Lathe of Heaven
    by LeGuinn, Tiptree's Brightness(?) Falls from Above, Coil, and
    the Face in the Frost (author's forgotten). Also a strong second
    for The People books and the Girl the Gold Watch and Everything
    (I still alugh outloud at parts of it and I've read it several times.)

    If "Coil" is really "Coils," about a computer telepath, it was by
    Fred Saberhagen and Roger Zelazny.  "The Face in the Frost" is by
    John Bellairs, the People books are by Zenna Henderson, and "The
    Girl, the Gold Watch, and Everything," is by John D. MacDonald,
    better known for mystery and intrigue novels.
    
    Pedantically,
    
    Earl Wajenberg

    ok, ok, very sorry, I'm writing at work and my books are at home.
    Yes it should have been Coils - sloppy editing. Bonnie

    "Blue Adept" series by Piers Anthony.
    "Incarnation" series by Anthony.
    "The Lavolite World" by Philip Jose' Farmer (part of the Tiers series).
    "Dune" by Frank Herbert.
    "John Carter of Mars" by Edgar Rice Burroughs (you have to appreciate
    the man wrote this over 70 years ago).
    
    Mike_L who_admits_to_also_reading_the_Tarzan_series_by_Burroughs

	Ursula LeGuin
	  "The Left Hand of Darkness","The Dispossessed","City of Illusions"
	Frank Herbert
	  "Dune" (and maybe "Dune Messiah", but none of the others Dunies)
	Charles Harness
	  "The Paradox Men"
	Arthur C. Clarke
	  "The City and the Stars"
	Alfred Bester
	  "The Demolished Man","The Stars My Destination"
	Roger Zelazny
	  "Lord of Light"
	J. G. Ballard
	  "The Drowned World","The Crystal World"
	George Stewart
	  "Earth Abides" (mainstreamish)
	Walter M. Miller
	  "A Canticle for Leibowitz" (mainstreamish)
	John Brunner
	  "The Squares of the City"
	R. A. Lafferty
	  "Fourth Mansions"

classics all...ignores lots of good Philip K. Dick, some Fritz Leiber, and
even a pinch of A. E. Van Vogt (what the hell, "World of Null-A" was fun (if
adolescent--i only liked Heinlein's kids' books too))

    re .40:  THE LAVALITE WORLD (I felt) was the weakest book in the
    World of Tiers 'set'.  Did you pass the others over for TLW?  I
    thought the best were THE MAKER OF UNIVERSES (1) and A PRIVATE COSMOS
    (3), in that order.
    
    re .41:  Nice list!  (Herbert should have quit after DUNE, 'tho....)
    
    						Don

    re -1
    
    As a matter of fact, I happened to pick up "The Lavalite World" when
    I was at Annie's book swap a couple of weeks ago.  Now I'm trying
    to find the first four.
    
    Mike_L

    re -1
    
    As a matter of fact, I have the first one, (can't remember the title)
    and I'm looking for the LAST four.
    
    sm

    THE MAKER OF UNIVERSES
    THE GATES OF CREATION
    A PRIVATE COSMOS
    BEHIND THE WALLS OF TERRA
    THE LAVALITE WORLD
    
    Try Fabulous Fiction on Park Ave. in Worcester Ma.  Last time I
    was there he had 'em all.
              
    						Don

    The Fabulous Fiction in Worcester, huh?  Sounds like a book store
    that could have a large selection of SF.  I'm always looking for
    certain books but can never find them.
    If I can find the place in Worcester, I'll stop in.
    
    Mike_L (in_search_of_a_book_store_with_a_HUGE_selection_of_SF)

    Fabulous Fiction is fairly easy to find.  Follow Route 9 through
    Worcester until you hit Park Avenue.  Follow Park Avenue past
    Clark almost to Webster Square.  Fabulous Fiction is on the left,
    next to a place called T-Bird Pizza.
    
    The selection is colossal.  It isn't the friendlist place in the
    world, but the stuff is well displayed and well organized.
    
    Dave W.

    Bring cash--no checks, money orders, stamps, or etc.
    
    (The boss is one brick short of a full load.)
    
    						Don
    
    P.S.  Used books are .75 apiece.  Selection is muchly picked over;
          he keeps threatening to bring out a box of fresh used ones.
    

    ok here's 2 of my favorite that i didn't see mentioned
    "man in a high castle" by P.K.Dick and
    "Nostralia" by Cordwander Smith
    pete

    Hows about Brunner,
    
    "The sheep look up"
    "Stand on Zanzabar"
    
    "nova"   delany
    
    "inferno" niven & um...
    
    "Jack of shadows" Zelazny
    
    charlie.....

    
    
    I haven't seen some of my favourite books mentioned yet,
    
    Steven Donaldson's first trilogy (2nd one was ok, but not as good
    as the 1st)
    
    In my opinion this is almost as good as Tolkien ( sacrilige.....)

A. E Van Vogt:

The Silkie (my ALL TIME favorite)
The Voyage of the Space Beagle (also way up there)
Slan

Heinlein:

Starship Troopers (for some reason, 'Aliens' reminded me of this)

EE Smith:

The Lensman Series (there are 7 and I'm not sure I remember the titles
correctly; I'll try)

- Triplanetary
- First Lensman
- Gray Lensman
- Second Stage Lensman
- (?)
- Children of the Lens (?)
- Masters of the Vortex (?)

Humorous:

The Warlock in Spite of Himself - ?
(The 'AAA Interplanetary Ace Demolition' series of short stories; can't
recall author; VERY FUNNY)

Anthologies:

Tomorrow's Children (a number of REALLY GOOD short stories)
Strange Wine - Harlan Ellison

Ray Bradbury:

Dandelion Wine (arguably not SF)
Something Wicked This Way Comes

Alfred Bester:

The Stars My Destination

Fond Childhood Memories:

The Narnia Series - C.S. Lewis
- The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
- Voyage of the Dawn Treader, etc.

Short Stories:

Flowers for Algernon
Let's have a Little Talk (?not sure about the exact title or author?)
The Last Castle - Jack Vance (?)

Asimov:

Foundation series
I, Robot

    re:.52
    
    Gee, you mention that ALIENS reminded you of STARSHIP TROOPERS,
    but not that ALIEN reminded you of THE VOYAGE OF THE SPACE
    BEAGLE?
    
    (Van Vogt sued, and won, against the producers of ALIEN for
    similarities between ALIEN and one of the Space Beagle stories
    --- "Discord in Scarlet".
    
    --- jerry

    I've got my asbestos suit on.  (This is why I stopped going to cons.)

    THE RAINBOW CADENZA  by J. Neil Schulman
    
    TAU ZERO by Poul Anderson
    
    WELCOME CHAOS by Kate Wilhelm
    
    THE MOON IS A HARSH MISTRESS by R.A. Heinlein
    
    FOOTFALL by Jerry Pournelle & Larry Niven

    Just finished an oldie:
    
    THE SCIENCE FICTION OMNIBUS  Edited by Brian Aldiss
    
    Pub. in 1973 by Penguin Books Ltd. in Great Britain, it is 
    PENGUIN SCIENCE FICTION ('61), MORE P S F (63), and YET MORE P S F 
    ('64) rolled into one.   Thirty-six stories by the biggies
    and not-so-big-gies dating from '41 (Nightfall) to '61 (Clarke's
    Before Eden).  A lot here I missed thru the years.  About 3 or 4
    of these wind up in many anthologies, but 3/4 of them were new to
    me (having some already in various anthologies).  I enjoyed most
    of them, and savored them slowly by leaving the book in the car
    and reading it "waiting in the parking lot".  Rarely have I found
    a book of (SF) short stories that I stuck with to the end.
    
    So if you see it in your local Annie's (etc.), or in hardcover (if
    it was pub. that way) I recommend you check it out.
    
                                                 Don

    anybody remember these?
    
    High Crusade , Three hearts and Three lions  Poul Anderson - Funny
    and original, both.
    
    I am ledgend    author unremembered   the definitive post-end of
    the world vampire novel
    
    Pebble in the Sky    by Dr. A    My first A. fond memory.
    
    Pellucidar and At The Earth's Core  ERB  7th grade and heaving bosoms

    Re .57:
    
    >High Crusade , Three hearts and Three lions  Poul Anderson - Funny
    >and original, both.
     
    One pure SF, the other fantasy.  Liked the first; the rationalizations
    of such things as the unluckiness of Fairy Gold in the second book,
    well, grated.

    >I am ledgend    author unremembered   the definitive post-end of
    >the world vampire novel
     
    Richard Matheson at the peak of his "Oh, my God!!!!" style.  The
    science stunk and the characters were kinda two-dimensional.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    re. 'Three Hearts And Three Lions' is an early work. His later
    works on the border between fantasy and SF are much smoother.
    
    Try 'The Queen of Air and Darkness' 
    

    (ref: I Am Legend)
    
    >Richard Matheson at the peak of his "Oh, my God!!!!" style.  The
    >science stunk and the characters were kinda two-dimensional.
    >
    >Steve Kallis, Jr.
    
    The "Oh my God!" style -- is that why they cast Charleton Heston
    as the lead in the film version of this book? (The Omega Man).
    
    Digression:
    
    I once had a SF trivia book -- one puzzle was "Quotes from Movies."
    One of the quotes was "Oh my God."
                                  
    The answer was: Charleton Heston in every film he's been in.
    
    					andrew

    I once or twice read a book called "blank_ STAR". It was in highschool,
    back when all such were carved on lead sheets, so I cannot remember
    the complete title or the author.  Anyway, its about an alien who
    takes human form for an unrembered reason; conquest? study? whatever...
    The alien enters into some sort of academic compitition that is
    used by the entire world to determine each human's intelligence,
    place in society and career choices. Object for the alien is to
    achieve the highest rating, a white star(?) Does anyone remember
    this book? Can you tell me if it was as good as I remember it to
    be from a perspective of 30 years? Who wrote it? Where may I aquire
    a copy
    
    thanx
    jj  

    Re .61 (jj):
    
    >The alien enters into some sort of academic compitition that is
    >used by the entire world to determine each human's intelligence,
    >place in society and career choices. Object for the alien is to
    >achieve the highest rating, a white star(?) Does anyone remember
    >this book?
     
    
    Just barely.  I believe it was written by J. T. MacIntosh or J.
    J. Ballard (leaning towards the former).  He started out as a "black
    star" (i.e., untested) and ended up taking up with a brilliant young,
    pretty, female White Star (naturally, he got his White Star very
    quickly).
    
    It couldn't have left too great an impression.  _Balroom in the
    Skies," a piece of real schlock, I remember better.  The only line
    from this one I can recall is, "The white stars, they were, well,
    the gods of the race."  Yawn.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    		BALLROOM IN THE SKIES, MacDonald, J.
                
    Very good, Mr. Kallis.  I couldn't even remember *that*.
                                      
    						Don

re: .60
    
>    The "Oh my God!" style -- is that why they cast Charleton Heston
>    as the lead in the film version of this book? (The Omega Man).
    
the better (film) version was the earlier Vincent Price one
								paul

    re:.63
    
    Not just "J. MacDonald" -- John D. MacDonald, author of the
    wonderful Travis McGee detective novels.
    
    --- jerry

    re. .62 and.63
    
    I'm confused. Are you saying that J Mcdonald is the author of the
    book i referred to in .60? and that it's name is "ballroom....."?

    re .65:  et. al.
    
    re .66:  Not neccessarily.  I don't remember anything about BALLROOM...
             except the author.  I have BALLROOM... and WINE OF THE
             DREAMERS; never got interested in the McGee stories.
    
    						Don