What are some good science fiction novels for someone who is fairly new to the genre?

Sci-Fi books I read and liked well enough to recommend:

Anne McCaffrey Dragonriders of Pern series; Colonists from Earth set up on Pern and have no way back home when a rogue planet enters orbit and dropping life eating threadlike showers on them. Only Stone, Metal and Water are protection.

They alter the DNA of Indigenous flying fire lizards, who kill off the Thread with breaths of fire from phosphorous rocks they eat, into Dragons.

Darkover Series by Marion Zimmer Bradley- A lost Terran Colony ship crashes on a planet and it's surviors adapt and gain PSI powers while living low tech.

Roger Zelazny's Amber Series, and any of his short story collections.

Star Wars continuation series by a bunch of different authors like Timothy Zahn, Kevin J. Anderson as well as the originals by George Lucas (ghost written by Alan Dean Foster).

John Ringo Posleen series- Pacifist Aliens recruit Earth soldiers to fight a carnivorous horde of Galactic invaders (crocodilian Centaurlike beings) and provide hi-tech weaponry for the Starbound warriors and shortchange the rest of Earth.

John Scalzi Old Man's War and sequels- Similar theme as Ringo's Posleen series.

Orson Scott Card's Earth series, Ender's War and sequels.

David Drake, David Weber and Eric Flint write some good books too.

Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Poul Anderson, Philip Jose Farmer, and many more older authors had some good even great books, too. Harder for me to remember who wrote what on these with all the newer books I have read.

k here a list of a few sci fi and a few lesser known fantasy if you're interested in something not so overblown by the media:

*Otherland series by Tad Williams [first one is called Otherland, there are 4.(dont't get scared away by the size, its worth it) very well written virtual-reality-fantasy but has a lot more to it that you expect, theres a lot about africa and differnt cultres and imortality and potitics and deathe and overall excelent series. hes a surprisingly good writer. Also by him, an animal-fantasy called Tailchaser's Song, told from the point of view of a cat. also really interesting.]

*Battlefield Earth by ....cant remember [awesome book, horrible movie. never watch it. (also a huge book) basically humans live an a post-apacalyptic wold that has been taken over by aliens. the aliens think humans are extinct until one guy wanders away from his tribe and gets caught. crazy world-changing events occur, and evetually the humans basically have to rebuild society from the ground up. its a really intersting book.]

*if you want more descriptions...im getting tired of typing...message me or something and i can gie you a better list, i dont feel like typing it all here, but thoe both have books that are at least 800+pgs, so you should be set for a while.

here are the names of some other books

some lesser known really good fantasy:

book of words trilogy by j.v. jones

wayfarer redemption and axis trilogies by sara douglass

links to more info are below, but dont read too much if you dont want to spoil things.

Well! Read House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer! It's a great book, and one of the only sci-fi books that I have ever read in my life.

So Maximum Ride is all right? I've never wanted to read it, personally, but so many people love it...I don't know.

So you like fantasy as well? Awesome. Books like Artemis Fowl...? I hated that book. I read the first page and put it back. I couldn't stand it. I'm writing a novel right now, I'm going to get it published; you pretty much described it. Science fantasy (Nice name for it), superpower/alien/demon/magic stuff, things like that. In my novel they go to a different world that's overrun by demons and the kids find out that they're demons themselves and part of a prophecy in a different language. Would you read that? Just wondering.

It is by and large a YA (Young Adult) novel. It is learn through a standard age institution. If the booklet has a few extreme scenes, it is probably not suitable for small children. Also, in the event you come to be no longer getting an agent, a few publishing corporations will constitute you by myself. Just be certain they don't seem to be frauds earlier than running with them. Something you must is seem for dealers focusing on representing myth/technology-fiction books. That could be a well approach to getting an agent. Much much less hindrance. GOOD LUCK! -J

It's YA, but the Pendragon series by DJ MacHale was really good, I thought. Ten books in the series so nice and long, but I would say it's a mix between fantasy and sci fi. You might enjoy it. I really did, and I also loved the Maximum Ride and Uglies series.

Anything by Philip K. Dick. As a testament to his influence, most of his books have been made into major hit movies including: Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report. You can learn more at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K._Dick

http://www.philipkdick.com/films_intro.html