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[Cthulhu]

My last few weeks of class before summer are coming up and I want to load up on reading material at hte local cheap-as-free bookstore.  I picked up the obligatory Literary stuff (Heart of Darkness, The Trial, and The Old Man and the Sea) and I'm going back tomorrow to look through the guilty pleasure section.

So, I'm asking you guys for suggestions on fantasy or sci-fi books I should pick up, preferably on the cheap side (That is, trade paperback.  No giant hardbacks or vintage stuff, that shit's expensive.) 

Notes: 

I already bought both of the store's Ringworld novels and I'm considering Man-Kzin Wars 2.  They don't have Rendezvous with Rama.  They have a shitload of Piers Anthony stuff but I'd rather not.  The only Terry Pratchett they have is Wyrd Sisters.  No Gor, to my crushing disappointment.

[intelligentmoron]

Look into the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, i just love that golden age science fiction.

[OREOSOME]

Dune. The spice must flow!

[ChairmanPoo]

Some suggestions:

- The First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie
- Prince of Nothing series  Scott R. Bakker
- The Broken Empire series - Mark Lawrence

(warning: all three are leaning on the "grimdark" side of Fantasy. Would be hard pressed to point out which is the darkest.)

[nenjin]

The Earthsea Trilogy (A Wizard of Earthsea, Tombs of Atuan, the Farthest Shore) - Ursula Leguinn (small books, quick reads.)

The Time Quintlet Series (A Wrinkle In Time, A Wind In The Door, Many Waters, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, An Acceptable Time) by Madeleine L'Engle. Also pretty slim books.

Elric of Melniboné/The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock. (Tons of books, some of them quite meaty.)

There's a good chance you've read these, but, a theme running through all these suggestions is they are not your average fantasy/sci-fi novels. They don't use what I like to think of as "conversational" prose that typifies a lot of modern fantasy. They all deal in some very meta concepts and they each approach their worlds almost from a philosophical standpoint. Earthsea deals heavily with the nature of magic and handles it in a very non "gamey" way. People don't throw fireballs and shit. A Wrinkle In Time...I'm not as familiar with because I read it so long ago and not as often as others...but it's out there, in a good way. The Elric Saga is grittier, by far, and of a much darker nature than the other two. It also deals with a lot of meta concepts, where the lines of traditional storytelling start getting kind of blurry.

Most of this stuff is from the mid 70s to mid 80s. So, good luck.

[Simmura McCrea]

For Sci-fi, anything by Iain M Banks.
Fantasy-wise, try David Eddings, but check wikipedia first to make sure you're not getting book 2 of a sequel trilogy or something.

- The First Law Trilogy - Joe Abercrombie

This too. And all the books that come after them.

[Remuthra]

Sci-fi: Ender's Game for classic science fiction. You can try Hitchiker's Guide to the galaxy if you want something less serious.
Fantasy: I recommend the Ranger's Apprentice series. As an alternative, try Perseus Jackson and the Olympians, or the Septimus Heap series, or the Inheritance Cycle.

[Cthulhu]

I'll look for Elric and Earthsea.  I think I've seen some Earthsea books on their fantasy shelf.  My big problem is that while it's easy to orient yourself in the literary fiction section and find good books, the fantasy section I'm totally rudderless.  I have no idea what's good and what's bad.  The classics are just stuck in with factory pulp and I can't tell the difference.

[sjm9876]

Anything by Olaf Stapledon. may be a bit boring though unless you have the right mindset.
Otherwise, try the FAYZ novels (michael grant. First one is Gone) techniquely classed as teen but i really enjoyed them.

oh, and Game of thrones for fantasy. if you ndon't mind a wait of a decade between each book anyway.

[Maldevious]

If you can find either the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson or the Hyperion Cantos (Dan Simmons), those would be my recommendations for sci-fi.

Also, check out The Years of Rice and Salt by Robinson. It's historical fiction that segues into science fiction or fantasy in some ways. Good book.

[Hortun]

Dune. The spice must flow!

Quoted for emphasis. Dune is pretty fantastic, and I don't often have a lot of interest in sci-fi.

[Cthulhu]

I just got back, it didn't go great.  Literally nothing except the third Earthsea book was there.  No Elric, no Song of Ice and Fire, nothing.  I ended up blind-buying Song of Kali, some horror novel by Dan Simmons, and Everything's Eventual by Stephen King.

[Starver]

Darn, just managed to lose my original post.

However, reading what you just said, I shall now say "Get another shop".

In brief, what I had originally written down included Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, Cryptonomic, Diamond Age, etc).  "The Difference Engine" (Sterling? Gibson?  Both of them?  Wiki it, to make sure) is an exemplar of its kind.  I was also seconding KSR's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy.  Though none of them recent, Asimov and Clarke (you already mentioned the lack of Rama-ishness, however) are always good.  Either full stories of collections.  More modernly, again, Stephen Baxter.  Oh dear, quite a lot of A, B and C names come to mind.  Probably because of my tendency to read through the library SF/Fantasy section in alphabetical order, three or four decades ago.

Oh, and do try Wyrd Sisters, if that's the only Pratchett they have (another good sign that it's not a good source for books is if they don't have most of the dozens of Discworlds/etc that he has written...).  It 'starts' (almost, there's Equal Rites before it, but there are character differences in the still-developing world being represented) the "Witches" arc of the Discworld books, which you can follow if you get the taste.  But if you can find Guards! Guards! to start with, that might be a better introductory one (unless and until you become a 'purist' and start with Colour of Magic/The Light Fantastic, as first two books, Equal Rites being the third).  Google for "Discworld Reading Guide" for some (not necessarily up-to-date, but still quite populous) visual explanations of the various arc connections.

There are also non-Discworld books you might like from the hand of the aforementioned author.  Might I suggest Nation? 
Good Omens (Pratchett and Gaiman, for the latter of which I'd suggest Neverwhere in one its various formats, text-only or graphical novel) is also good, and should be available.


Sorry, writing too much.  And reading too little.  Just today I got the latest Science Of Discworld, which I really need to get back to reading.  Coincidentally, I also got Ringworld (as a birthday present) and I'm wondering whether to risk its spine by re-reading it, having never had hands on a non-library copy before, and that way too long ago.

[nenjin]

Dune. The spice must flow!

Quoted for emphasis. Dune is pretty fantastic, and I don't often have a lot of interest in sci-fi.

The first book is great. I have a progressively harder time with the series after that, it just gets too loopy.

[Heron TSG]

Look into the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, i just love that golden age science fiction.

I thought of this as soon as I saw the thread. Read it, it's amazing. Also, there's another series that starts with The Caves of Steel. The first one is the best detective novel I have ever read, and the ones following are great sci-fi in the same vein. (They're set in the same universe as I, Robot and Foundation.)