I have recently completed the Dune series (up though Sandworms of Dune) and I'm looking for something else.  Riverworld was another series I loved.  I lean towards the scifi/fantasy but I'm not a fanatic or anything, I just prefer the books I can lose myself in.

  Any suggestions?

I may get a reputation for one track recommendations, but judging from the series you say you enjoyed, you might like the Prince Roger books by David Weber and John Ringo.  (You're not a hard-core pacifist, are you?)   {Nah, not if you liked "Dune"} There are 4 books, "March Upcountry", " March to the Sea",  "March to the Stars" and "We Few". 

        " Would you like to know more?"

Dune and Riverworld are both great series.  Here are a few other suggestions for you...

The Pliocene Exile series by Julian May starts with the Many Colored Land (isbn 0345309898).  It is my favorite series--a good blend of SF and fantasy with great characters, psi powers, aliens... I can't recommend it highly enough.  There are 4 books, then 5 books in a prequel series. 

Then there is the Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons that starts with Hyperion (isbn 0385263481).  This is a classic 4 book SF series.  The first book, Hyperion, is a little like Canterbury Tales where you meet 7 pilgrims and each of them tells their story.  Each of the stories is..they are just jaw-dropping and include horror, tragedy, romance, action, war... The next 3 books continue on with these character's stories.

I also liked Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy (starts with the Reality Disfunction - isbn 0446605158) ,which is a hard SF/space opera with horror elements, and Tad William's Otherland series (starts with City of Golden Shadow - isbn 0886777631), which is a SF series that takes place for the most part in a virtual world.

You might want to check out the reviews for these books on Amazon.com also (especially the Hyperion Cantos and Many Colored Land since they don't have any reviews here on PBS). 

I am a Dune fanatic. I have all the books in hardcover (to keep) and paperback (to read). I read Dune atleast once a year. I even named my first born Paul lol. I was a little disappointed in the ending.

Right now I am tackling the Star Wars books. All of them. I've read about a hundred of them so far and have (I think) about 40 more to go. It has taken a little over a year to get this far and I took a short break from Star Wars to finish the Dune books.

Books you might want to consider are the Drizzt books from Forgotten Realms. If you would like a list just let me know.

There's also the Dragonlance Chronicles by Weis and Hickman

and of course The Elric Saga (part one and two) by Moorcock. These are the books that got me into reading.

If you like series, try Anne McCaffrey, she has written several series, covering different species and locations.

Kage Baker's "Company" books

Stephen Baxter’s “Manifold” series

Ben Bova’s “Grand Tour” books

Lois McMaster Bujold’s “Miles Vorkosigian” books

Orson Scott Card’s “Ender” series

Arthur C. Clarke’s “Rama” books

Julie Czerneda’s “Species Imperative” series

Gordon Dickson’s “Childe Cycle”

Kate Elliott’s “Jaran” series

And that takes me up to my “E” authors :-)

The Scalzi "Old Man's War" books - he finished writing the 4th just last night.  Fast reads - but fantastic.  I think OMW won the Hugo a little while back? 

ps - greetings from another Ron S.

Old Man's War was up for the Best Novel Hugo at World Con in Anaheim 2006, but lost to Spin by

Robert Charles Wilson.

Instead, Scalzi was awarded the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer for best new science

fiction writer. I have a picture of him in his tiara :-)

Thanks for the correction, Karen!

Scalzi is a great writer, and all around character - his blog "Whatever" is very popular, and I get most of my current sci-fi writing news from him.

I have not yet found anything that compares to the Dune Serries, but Enders Game comes VERY close, it will be a book I pull out to re-read in a few months, and probably every few years afterwards.  Thanks for the suggestions feel free to keep them coming!

I just finished reading Dune(first novel).  Wow, I really loved the story.  It grabbed a hold and wouldn't let go until the end.  I have just started Dune Messiah, what can I expect from the rest of the books?  Will they be as good as the first one?

Phil

I've never found anything quite as amazing as the Dune books.  The line "Dune is to Sci-Fi what Lord of the Rings is to Fantasy" has almost grown cliche, but is nonetheless accurate as far as I'm concerned.  The first book is capable of standing alone, whereas the other books seem much more dependant on each other, but I've always had a hard time ranking them.  The subsequent books are hard to compare to the first, they're much more extensions of the first novel.  Philip, I'm not sure if there's an easy way to describe what to expect.  It's definitely about the Atreides family line... the politics, mysticism and economics of the Bene Gesserit, Guild and others.  There's just so much depth, all I can really think about is the feeling of awe whilst reading (it's just so GOOD).  The continuity and complexity of the Duniverse is amazing. 

There's nothing quite like knowing that other people out there are as enthralled as I am, Frank Herbert was a genuine literary genius. 

Be careful, though, or you'll end up like me, with a $150 Dune Encyclopedia (it's out of print, or at least was when I bought it).  Nevermind the prop replica crysknife laying across the top my favorite set of the original six books!

Ya Hya Chouhada!!!

Yes I'm amazed at the depth of these characters, the societies they live in and their philosophies .   Very complex.

I have been listening to Dune Messiah on audiobook.  I'm enjoying it alot.  It also helps out with the pronunciations of some of the names and places.

I read the first book with the intention of trading it here after I was done but I'm thinking about keeping the set now.  Maybe for my son to read later on.  I do have an Easton Press version of the first novel that my wife gave me several years ago but I don't have any props like you've mentioned.  I'm not there yet I guess.

Do you suggest reading the books in publication order or chronological order?  I'm kind of a tradtionalist so I normally read books in publication order.

Thanks for the input,

Phil

I had typed a rather large post, I must have forgotten to hit "submit". 

Alot of what I had to say has been said already.  The Dune serries is amazing, after finishing the Ender Serries I'm back re-reading Dune.  I had picked it up just to skim through with no intention of re-reading the book or serries right then, however I quickly wound up re-reading it and I'm on to Children of Dune now. 

I missed some things the first time, plus I've read all of them, so It's nice to see the tales intertwine.

Am I the only one who things Frank Herbert's materials were discovered in acordance with some plan he had?  I mean, 10 years later and suddenly they're Brian gets the call.  What an amazing coincidence (if it was that), but it seems more likely to me that the Master writer found a plot idea too good to pass up.

I find that even though the more recent books are earlier in the Duniverse chronology that they still are placed in the context of the previously published works, where their stories are references to the "future" of the Duniverse.  That having been said, there's the problem of the last two novels occurring after the original six volumes.  If I had to suggest something, I'd go with the original six, the last two, then to the prequels in publishing order.  It's messy, but since sandworms and hunters comes right after chapterhouse, it's probably the easiest way of keeping the threads together. 

It did seem a little orderly, the way the new books happened.  I know Frank Herbert was planning on more books and movies when he died. Christopher Tolkien had done the same with notes left by J. R. R., so it wouldn't surprise me to think this was a failsafe to keep the series alive.

It takes a disease quality geekiness to get into prop replicas, unfortunately I think I caught it from the books themselves, so watch out!! lol

Hey James,

Thanks for the suggestion.  I'll probably do that because it seems like the most logical reading order even though it is not how I normally read series.

I finished Dune Messiah this weekend so it is on to Children of Dune now.

Phil