Exploring Top Books of Shelfari

Iain M. Banks is a true original, an author whose brilliant speculative fiction has transported us into worlds of unbounded imagination and inimitable revelatory power. Now he takes us on the ultimate trip: to the edge of possibility and to the heart of a cosmic puzzle.... Diplomat Byr Genar-Hofoen has been selected by the Culture to undertake a delicate and dangerous mission. The Department of Special... (more)

The Culture: Book 1

Consider Phlebas

by Iain Banks

The war raged across the galaxy. Billions had died, billions more were doomed. Moons, planets, the very stars themselves, faced destruction, cold-blooded, brutal, and worse, random. The Idirans fought for their Faith; the Culture for its moral right to exist. Principles were at stake. There could be no surrender. Within the cosmic conflict, an individual crusade. Deep within a fabled labyrinth on a barren world, a... (more)

Forge of God: Book 2

Anvil of Stars

by Greg Bear

Eighty-two mortal exiles ride through space in the Ship of the Law, a ship constructed from the fragments of Earth's corpse, determined to punish those responsible for their planet's destruction. Reprint.

Patternist: Book 4

Wild Seed

by Octavia E. Butler

Doro is an entity who changes bodies like clothes, killing his hosts by reflex--or design. He fears no one--until he meets Anyanwu. Anyanwu has also died many times. She can absorb bullets and make medicine with a kiss, give birth to tribes, nurture and heal, and savage anyone who threatens those she loves. She fears no one--until she meets Doro. From African jungles to the colonies of America, Doro and Anyanwu... (more)

Dandelion Wine: Book 1

Dandelion Wine

by Ray Bradbury

The summer of '28 was a vintage season for a growing boy. A summer of green apple trees, mowed lawns, and new sneakers. Of half-burnt firecrackers, of gathering dandelions, of Grandma's belly-busting dinner. It was a summer of sorrows and marvels and gold-fuzzed bees. A magical, timeless summer in the life of a twelve-year-old boy named Douglas Spaulding--remembered forever by the incomparable Ray Bradbury.

The Chronicles of Prydain: Book 5

The High King

by Lloyd Alexander

The Newbery-winning fantasy series now available in gorgeous new paperback editions! Since The Book of Three was first published in 1964, young readers have been enthralled by the adventures of Taran the Assistant Pig-Keeper and his quest to become a hero. Taran is joined by an engaging cast of characters that includes Eilonwy, the strong-willed and sharp-tongued princess; Fflewddur Fflam, the hyperbole-prone... (more)

Chthon

by Piers Anthony

Chthon was Piers Anthony’s first published novel in 1967, written over the course of seven years. He started it when he was in the US Army, so it has a long prison sequence that is reminiscent of that experience, being dark and grim. It features Aton Five, a space man who commits the crime of falling in love with the dangerous alluring Minionette and is therefore condemned to death in the subterranean prison of... (more)

Manifold: Book 2

Origin

by Stephen Baxter

“ONE OF THE BEST SF WRITERS IN THE BUSINESS . . . < Manifold: Origin is> filled with marvelous scientific speculations, strange events, novel concepts, and an awe-inspiring sense of the wonders of the universe.” –Science Fiction Chronicle In the year 2015, astronaut Reid Malenfant is flying over the African continent, intent on examining a mysterious glowing construct in Earth’s orbit. But when the very... (more)

The Way: Book 2

Eternity

by Greg Bear

Here is the powerful sequel to Eon, now with a dramatic new cover, coinciding with the Tor mass market release of Bear's latest novel, Moving Mars. At the close of Eon, Patricia Vasquez settled on an alternate Earth, Garry Lanier retired, and the Jarts and Naderites were caught in the Corridor. Now the fate of the universe is up for grabs. Reissue.

Queen of Angels

by Greg Bear

In a society enjoying peace, prosperity and technologically engineered mental health, Emanuel Goldsmith, a famous poet, commits gruesome murder. Three people investigate the crime--one a therapist who will enter Goldsmith's mind to search for answers. A mesmerizing work set in a tomorrow that is less than a century away. Reissue.

Stand on Zanzibar

by John Brunner

Brand new LEATHER BOUND book accented in 22kt gold.

Helliconia Trilogy: Book 1

Helliconia Spring

by Brian W. Aldiss

A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millennia of Earth time: cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter. Helliconia is emerging from its centuries-long winter. The tribes of the equatorial continent emerge from their hiding places and are again able to dispute possession of the planet with the ferocious phagors.... (more)

Helliconia Trilogy: Book 2

Helliconia Summer (Helliconia Trilogy)

by Brian W. Aldiss

A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millennia of Earth time: cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter. It is the summer of the Great Year on Helliconia. The humans are involved with their own affairs. Their old enemies, the phagors, are comparatively docile at this time of year, yet they can afford to wait, to... (more)

Helliconia Trilogy: Book 3

Helliconia Winter

by Brian W. Aldiss

A planet orbiting binary suns, Helliconia has a Great Year spanning three millennia of Earth time: cultures are born in spring, flourish in summer, then die with the onset of the generations-long winter. The centuries-long winter of the Great Year on Helliconia is upon us, and the Oligarch is taking harsh measures to ensure the survival of the people of the bleak Northern continent of Sibornal. Behind the... (more)

Eighty-Minute Hour: A Space OperaBrian W. Aldiss

Eighty-Minute Hour: A Space Opera

by Brian W. Aldiss

Brian Aldiss' highly inventive space opera is a mind-expanding range of songs and science that takes us, twisting and turning, through a cornucopia of intergalactic merriment and melodrama. Eccentric characters burst into full-throated song with each meandering plot.

The Jagged Orbit

by John Brunner

Matthew Flamen, the last of the networks' spoolpigeons, is desperate for a big story. He needs it to keep his audience - and his job. And there is no shortage of possibilities: the Gottschalk cartel is fomenting trouble among the knees in order to sell their latest armaments to the blanks; which ties in nicely with the fact that something big is brewing with the X Patriots; and it looks as if the inconceivable is... (more)

Cryptozoic

by Brian W. Aldiss

He roamed through the dim reaches of the remote past and like a phantom, the Dark Woman haunted him at every turn. Was she a hallucination produced by the stresses of his bizarre existence? Or was she a ghost from a future more distant than his own? Bush had been called into a totalitarian world, trained to kill, and then sent back in time – as an assassin. And still the Dark Woman pursued him, posing new... (more)

Trader To The Stars

by Poul Anderson

The Last Starship from EarthJohn Boyd

The Last Starship from Earth

by John Boyd

The Malacia Tapestry

by Brian W. Aldiss, Stephen Dixon

In the timeless city of Malacia, a place swathed in magic and on the brink of war, lives a young man named Perian de Chirolo – a free-spirit, a fearless lover – who embarks on a harrowing odyssey with dramatic consequences for himself and all Malacians. This is a gripping tale of wonder, lust and destiny.

Shelfari Book Activity

Tags: box four sci-fi a - k

by Iain Banks

by Iain Banks

by Greg Bear

by Octavia E. Butler

by Ray Bradbury

by Lloyd Alexander

by Piers Anthony

by Stephen Baxter

by Greg Bear

by Greg Bear

by John Brunner

by Brian W. Aldiss

by Brian W. Aldiss

by Brian W. Aldiss

by Brian W. Aldiss

by John Brunner

by Brian W. Aldiss

by Poul Anderson

by John Boyd

by Brian W. Aldiss, Stephen Dixon