I like Fiction, Action, Adventure, and alternate settings (I guess you might call them "fantasy settings", but not with unicorns, elves, etc. - I mean fantasy settings as in underground caves holding civilizations, transporting into the future, survival after the end of the world, etc.)

If anyone has read James Rollins "Subterranean", "Amazonia", or "Ice Hunt" - that's the kind of stuff I really like.

Also what I mean - A lesser known author, Patrick Lee, writes stuff like this too. I liked his book "The Breach" and I'm currently reading his "Ghost Country" (second in The Breach series), which has grabbed ahold of me tightly, even though I'm less than 1/4 of the way in.

If anyone has read any of these books I've listed above, or understands what I like to read from my description, ... any suggestions? Authors? Specific titles?

Thanks in advance.

It does not fit what you described; a book I loved is The Thorn Birds.

Jeanette Isabelle

If you like military hard sci-fi,try "On Basilisk Station" by David Weber. IIRC you can download it free in several formats from the [url=www.baen.com]Baen website[/url]. E-books from Baen were DRM free the last time I bought from them.

P.S. "On Basilisk Station" is the first book in the series.

The Foundation series by Iisacc Isomov

Both UTAlumnus and wildman800 are clearly erudite, intelligent and wise people, because they agree with me. Even if you don't think you like military scifi _On Basilisk Station_ is outstanding and you can't beat the price for the ebook. The Foundation series is a classic. _Ringworld_ by Larry Niven, _A Mote In God's Eye_ by Niven and Pournelle, and _Monster Hunter International_ by Larry Correia should also be considered.

Thanks for the tips. I haven't read any of those, so now I have a good list to investigate. I recognized a few of those by name, but hadn't read them yet.

I had never heard of the "Military Hard Sci-Fi" genre before, but found that Basilisk title as a free Kindle book on Amazon, so I downloaded it. I haven't used my kindle for a while. I got disillusioned when the Kindle books cost MORE than a mass market paperback (and I usually buy used there days, which is even cheaper!) But for free, this eBook is a good buy, so I charged up the dead Kindle battery (and the thing still works!)

haertig: It's one of my favorite series of all time. I'll be interested to find out what you think of it.

I've read the Isaac Asimov's Foundation & Robot series', as well as Ringworld, A Mote in God's Eye and more than a few others. Now I'll need to get a copy of "On Basilisk Station", Thanks.

I read one of Larry Niven's books recently (published in 1985). "Lucifer's Hammer". It was slow at first, I was doubting it would be very good, but after the comet hit early on in the book, it really picked up into a first rate book after that. It might have even been recommended to me by someone here at ETS. I know in the past I have asked for book recommendations, or maybe it was somebody else's thread that I just participated in. Can't remember. But I've picked up several good book suggestions from folks here.

Clive Cussler Dirk Pitt adventure, The current one is Odessa Sea

If you like David Weber's work, Check out his collaboration series with John Ringo. Ringo also has several series and trilogies/quadrilogies.

Loosely related to finding new books to read, I have another question.

Does anybody else sometimes start a series, stall in the middle and then want to go back to it later? Many years later? And then, how do you refresh your mind on what's happened in the previous books?

Case in point: I struggled with Clan of the Cave Bear through several starts and stops, then one time I got excited about it and read it through. Then burned through the next two, Valley of Horses and The Mammoth Hunters. Then stalled again about 10% of the way through Plains of Passage. Now there are even two more after Plains. But the last time I touched Plains was well over a decade ago. Maybe two decades.

Is there like a "Cliff Notes for Novels" site somewhere that I might be able to re-learn what's happened in the series up to the point where I stopped, so I can pick it up again without re-reading from the beginning? Some summaries, but more detailed than what you get in the sales blurbs for the books on Amazon?

p.s. - I did look at the Cliff Notes website, but searching for these books didn't turn up anything. There are book plot summaries on Wikipedia, but I was hoping for a little more detail than those provide.

Because I am a former Air Force guy, I would suggest Dale Brown - "Flight of the Old Dog" and his subsequent books.

I don't usually have that problem but with the David Weber series it's grown to the point that I start with the original "On Basilisk Station" when a new book comes out.

+1

H. Beam Piper Paratime/Lord Kalvan of otherwhen
RH Heinlein Tunnel in the sky, Glory Road, anything you can find, including the "Heinlein Juveniles".

Oddly enough, western novels by Donald Hamilton, Loren Estleman, or Louis L'Amour hit the same notes for me: solid science, natural history, cultural history, interesting weapons and compelling landscapes.
Sidenote: none of these authors had a character pick up a revolver that turns into a semi-auto later in the paragraph. Some authors do that. Makes me crazy.

That was my favorite as a kid!

Farnham's Freehold.