Recommend me some Sci-Fi

[The_Meach]

I'm trying to get into fiction and thought sci-fi/fantasy might keep me interested.

I know next to nothing about written sci-fi (huge movie fan tho), so pretty much anything you recommend would be new to me.

A little about my reading tastes:

I tried Wheel of Time and couldn't get past Book I (if enuff of TNL demands I read it, I'll give Book II a shot).
I like Star Wars. I hate Star Trek.
I'll read classic stuff like Clarke/Asimov, but would prefer something more modern.
Fantasy/sci-fi doesn't matter to me.
More than anything, I'd like to get into a series that has a well-developed world. The best thing about SW is how cool and expansive the world is; it really seems to have depth.

Anyways, don't let the above stop you from recommending something. At this point I'll try anything.

[ChaoofNee]

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Well developed, expansive world? You got it.
It's a modern classic.
Every conversation is a linguistic fight scene.
Brilliant stuff. It jumps off the deep end starting with book 2, though.

[The_Meach]

I'll pick it up at the library today.

Anything else?

[Frogacuda]

It'll only take one sitting to read, but check out All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlen. I was just thinking about how awesome that was.

[M]

i've been reading some short stories by Philip K Dick. Pretty wild, but they're really great scifi stories and short too. I sometimes like short stories collections.

[Cowutopia]

Chao pretty much posted exactly what I was going to post.

Read Ender's Game too while you're at it.

[AaronChance]

Solar Lottery is good Dick to read if you don't mind he treats women like dirt. Neuromancer is the cyberpunk classic, and though the tech is out of date, the descriptions are still pretty amazing.

[Cowutopia]

Dune does jump off the deep end with book two but it's fun to read to the end of paul's cycle.

[Mr-K]

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Well developed, expansive world? You got it.
It's a modern classic.
Every conversation is a linguistic fight scene.
Brilliant stuff. It jumps off the deep end starting with book 2, though.

This.

I liked Dune Messiah too, I don't give a shit (His eyes melt and he becomes like... a god jedi or some shit, COME ON). Children of Dune is too much, I didn't even begin to bother after that.

I think I'm about to go on a sci-fi bender myself. I've got several books lined cached that I haven't gotten to, Neuromancer, I Robot, 2001, Ender's Game... there are a couple more that I can't think of. I think I'm going to do I Robot. I also want to read Who Goes There, which is the basis for The Thing.

[SpoDaddy]

i've been reading some short stories by Philip K Dick. Pretty wild, but they're really great scifi stories and short too. I sometimes like short stories collections.

Phillip K Dick wrote some really awesome stuff that was way before it's time. Lots of cool movies you've probably seen are based on his stories: Blade Runner, Minority Report, Total Recall, Screamers, Next (loosely based on The Golden Man, but the movie sucked), Paycheck (loosely based on the story, the movie sucked), A Scanner Darkly (I haven't seen the movie). If you liked Blade Runner, Minority Report, or Total Recall you'll probably enjoy Phillip K. Dick's writing.