Check out Baen Books' catalog - they frequently have teaser chapters and indeed entire free books to sample. Travis Taylor does excellent science, and doesn't dumb down the vocabulary too much. I like Zahn's people and his gadgetry, and his plots work.
I just read the first three books in C.J. Cherryh's Chanur series. Well-written, with interesting aliens. It's a good one. Heinlein is always a good one: Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Friday...just about anything, really.
M
A saga that I have really enjoyed to read is the Seafort Saga. Written by David Feintuch (i think i have the ei around the right way). The first book is called Midshipman's Hope, I highly recommend it. If you enjoy it, there are 6 more following it.
Neal Stephenson has been mentioned already but I'll mention him again because he's awesome. My screen name is from the first book of his History of the World trilogy.
William Gibson is also pretty amazing. Nueromancer is a good one to start with. I believe he was the first to ever use the term cyberspace.
The most recent thing I've read that's relevant to this thread is Deep Six by Jack McDevitt. No dictionary needed, but some great characters and the science aspects, while basic, are still pretty neat. It's even got a map!
As reccomended by Lukc, the Dan Simmons' books are awesome. Hyperion / Endymion, that's my Sci-fi bible.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven is an excellent work of "Hard" Sci-Fi that incorporates quite a few concepts together; religion, xenophobia, warfare, classes.
Depends on what type or era you're interested in. Having grown up in the 60s and 70s I have always had a preference for the modern masters; Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, P.K. Dick, Niven and Bradbury. Some of my favorites are 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress' and 'Starship Troopers' by Heinlein but forget that movie its about social ethic and civic responsibility. '2001', 'Rendezvous with Rama' or almost anything by Clarke or Asimov is a good read. The first two in Niven's 'Ringworld' series are good but the last was a bit too odd.
Enjoy I know I did.
An interesting sci-fi-so-far-out-there-it-seems-to-start-as-fantasy read is the Jacob's Ladder Trilogy by Elizabeth Bear (Dust, Chill and Grail). I found them last year and enjoyed each book more than the previous one.
(As a caution there are some less then mainstream concepts on gender roles and sexuality in the books that some may not appreciate.)
-Rob A>
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If I may add a vote for my favorite sci-fi series: The Vorkosigan saga books by Lois McMaster Bujold. A believable and relatable setting, engaging stories and fantastically written characters.
And for those not so much into sci-fi... she did a number of great fantasy novels as well.
My first thought is that you NEED to read Dune. It's exactly what you're looking for. My next thought is to try to convince you the check out my book, but I've got nothing on Frank Herbert so read Dune.
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