While I love Amber a great deal, and it would (potentially) be cool to see it on the big screen, I think a better choice for adapting Zelazny's work would be Lord of Light (with Mohinder from Heroes portraying one of Sam's incarnations).

What's wrong with Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, again ?

i would definitely want to see Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga on film or TV.

space alternative to harry potter. just much much better.

Don't forget Harry Turtledove's "The Guns of the South"

Snow Crash is one of my favorite books and I would love to see a movie of it. I remember someone once wrote a list of problems making a movie of it and one was that many directors would try to make it look like The Matrix because it is a book about hackers and cyberspace and that would really ruin it.

I would like to see that opening scene where Hiro is racing to get the pizza delivered on time and ends up crashing his truck in an empty swimming pool.

How about Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun? It would be incredibly hard to pull off, but if done right it would be the best thing ever.

Making Snow Crash into a movie is by far the worst idea ever. I LOVED the book but it is not a good book to make into a live action movie. Animation would work much , much better.

I have been waiting a long time for Joel Silver to get Richard Morgans's "Altered Carbon" up on the screen.

How can you mention a Larry Niven work with mentioning RINGWORLD. 200 year old hero, hot babe, 7 ft tall lion partner and insane three legged alien. Come on!

"Hiro Protagonist". Not exactly subtle. Of course, that'll soon be beat by Twilight's more retarded "Isabella 'Bella' Swan" since we all know ageless vampires go for the "hot girls who are awkward and don't realize how hot they are" type.

I Still would like to see "Childhoods End" as long as Michael Bay/Will Smith/Spielberg are nowhere near it.

I wholeheartedly agree with Stranger in a Strange Land, the only book on the list I've read.

Oh, and thanks for the added side-effect of a list of epic books I should be seeking out. :D

Starship Troopers ruled because it, in my opinion, was actually better than the weak and overrated Heinlein source material. Never liked Heinlein, read most of his stuff to see what everyone else was saying, but it's ponderous and poorly written. He was the Robert Jordan of Scifi to me.
How about Armor by John Steakley? Or most of Cordwainer Smith's stuff? That would blow some minds. Bring me the Instrumentality.

It is in my most esteemed opinion, that I, John Carter of Virginia and of Barsoom, with the beautiful Dejah Thoris a Princess of Mars, believe that a motion picture based on my life on Barsoom would benefit humanity greatly if they accept my stories as the truth.

Pixar - John Carter of Mars Film:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carter_of_Mars_(film)

To JayWicky:

For the record, I love Verhoeven's Starship Troopers on its own merits, but as an adaptation of the source material it is an epic, utter embarassment of a failure.

I've always maintained that Snowcrash would make an excellent anime series. Sort of in the same vein as Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.

@jangles, you are thinking of the cracked article
http://www.cracked.com/article_15631_10-best-sci-fi-films-never-made.html

It's a sci-fi kids book, but seeing Daniel Pinkwater's "Fat Men from Space" would be wonderful.

A LONESOME NIGHT IN OCTOBER!!!!!!!!!!!!

No mention of Stephen King's Dark Tower series?

Although, to be fair, I think it wouldn't work as a movie series, but would definitely work as a TV series... as long as it was done right...

No mention of Stephen King's Dark Tower series?

Although, to be fair, I think it wouldn't work as a movie series, but would definitely work as a TV series... as long as it was done right...

Ender's Game?

Odd that one of the most cinematic of Philip K Dick's novels has never been cinematicized: "Clans of the Alphane Moon".

What about E.E. (Doc) Smith's Lensman series or Douglas Adams "Starship Titanic?"

If Salvatore is not on the list, then its worthless

I think that they should do the G.O.D. series from Jack Chalker, and get josh wheadon to direct it
that would be really really good

I thought for sure the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant would be on this list!

Catherine Asaro's Skolian Empire books would all translate well. Multi-million ship space wars, romance, cyborgs, burning planets, sadistic slavers with red eyes. What not to like?

Isaac Asimov, Foundation Series?
A. Clarke, Rama series?

Never heard of Snow Crash before, gonna have to check that one out.

Cheers.

I would love to see something done from the Sword of Truth series from Terry Goodkind...

How about the "RAMA" series?
I understand "When Worlds Collide" is being remade and due
out in 2010. It should be followed with "After Worlds
Collide". Ben Bova's "Mars" series.

I'm with Matt on Heinlein. He swings wildly between pompous pseudo-intellectual (Stranger) and fascist (Troopers). But The Moon is a Harsh Mistress could be a blast in the right hands. If This Goes On (AKA Revolt in 2100), though not very profound, could make an interesting yarn with clear morals for today. Coventry, merely a short story, could be expanded profitably as well. Almost anything by Niven would work well.

I second "Ender's Game." And thanks for reminding powers that be that there are numerous novels that would make great movies. More imagination and less remakes would be be appreciated.

An oldie but goodie - a true classic - Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination" would make a wonderful movie. Bester was a writer in many fields including TV and movies and I always thought this book was written with "visuals" and characterizations such that Bester was thinking "screenplay" as he wrote this ground-breaking novel.

No mention of Stephen King's Dark Tower series?

http://www.slashfilm.com/2007/02/26/stephen-king-confirms-the-dark-tower-movie/

No mention of Asimov's Foundation? It would make a great flick, and three books means a trilogy.

How about Samuael Delaney's "Dalgren"

Problem with these is they require massive budgets and, as shown by any sci-fi movie to recently come out, sci-fi movies don't have built-in money makers. I have no idea why this is, but people just seem to shy away from sci-fi and fantasy (with the obvious exceptions). Also I'd like to see a Conan movie do justice to a character far more nuanced than an Austrian bodybuilder's acting "talent" can deliver.

A lot of good choices here, but I would like to put in a plug for a Peter Jackson-type big screen treatment of Fritz Leiber's "Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser" series. If the Tolkien epic and the Star Wars franchise can succeed that well, the two charming Sword & Sorcery rogues of Lankhmar ought to go over well (if they get a good script and good production).

How about Piers Anthony's Xanth or Adept series?

I have no complaints about anything on this list, but it always kills me that people never consider Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steel Rat" series for adaptation. It would be perfect. Get Robert Rodriguez to direct John Leguizamo in the lead, and you've got a sure-fire hit franchise on your hands.

The reason these books won't be made into movies is that unless you have a very, very dedicated director (as Peter Jackson was with the Lord of the Rings saga), there's no way chopping those books into 2 hour movies would work. Oh, there'd be a movie, but anyone who liked the books would scream about the desecration. Remember, they'd have to bring these complex books down to Joe Sixpack level. Or possibly, in trying to do too much, they'd end up at WTF level.

After all, many say Dune would be great for a movie, and look what they did to that.

I absolutely LOVED David Eddings Belgariad and Mallorean Series. A total of 10 novels detailing the same characters makes them so familiar you can't wait to read the next page. Condensed into a few movies it would be an awesome adventure, IF the special Effects were not skimped on!

i would also add william gibson's 'neuromancer' as an amazing book that would lend itself well to the sci-fi film pantheon. plenty of action, as well as thought-provoking ideas, plus film technology today would be able to re-create the images he writes about so fluently--in the right hands.
thanks for this list!

What about Lord Valentine's Castle by Silverberg? Steven Brust's The Phoenix Guards, or the Vlad Taltos series?
Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin?

There are so many good ones out there just begging to be translated to the big screen...

A number of years ago there was a reissue of "Stranger in a Strange Land" that included all the things that Heinlein's editors had cut out. He claimed the editors butchered the story. I found the story much improved by the butchering.

Agree with Eddings, but not the Belgariad/Mallorean -- what about the Elenium instead? Adrian Paul would make an interesting Sparhawk, though maybe not grizzled enough.

"Ender's Gmae" could make a good film. RA Salvatore? Are you kidding me? There is nothing original in his works, it is strictly formula. Gather band of heroes, go on quest, overcome difficulties, complete quest. Ok he has created some good characters but nothing he has done would make a really great film. On the other hand, if what you want is a simplistic action film that will appear to the majority of the public, Salvatore is PERFECT. As far a a book that could make a really GOOD film with more depth than a plastic soapdish, how about "The Left Hand of Darkness"? It would be hard to make a film as meaningful as it should be, but I think with the right director is could work. I miss Kubrick!

Neuromancer is a good choice, as is Snow Crash, but I think Stephenson's best work that would translate over would be The Diamond Age: A Young Girl's Illustrated Primer. I took a cyberpunk class that focused on almost all of these books and Diamond Age was the best, by far.

Piers Anthony, Incarnations of Immortality.

In book one, On A Pale Horse, science and magic are on an even keel and the protagonist, Zane, kills Death and becomes the Grim Reaper. Later there's romance and fighting Satan and some other cool stuff. The series is great and the first book is spectacular.

And to echo someone else's thoughts - thanks for the list of books I need to check out.

Ender's Game is being made into a movie, just taking awhile. I'm sorry I introduced my wife to his books, she is such a Card dork now. Everybody knows that Asimov is the true dorks dork.

Starship troopers was such a departure from the theme of the book that it was unrecognizable. Verhoeven should stay away from Scifi. He did a nice job with "The Black Notebook" (Dutch film).

Give me "Rama" or "Ringworld" dammit! Or how about we finish up the 2001 series with 2061 and 3001?

Also, can we just agree as a society not to use Will Smith in anymore movies . . . period! What a way to mess up Asimov.

I've heard rumblings about Ender's Game for a decade now (think it's pretty much a dead project), and obviously finding child actors able to pull it off would be difficult.

Snow Crash would be almost impossible, but I would still love to see it. The only problem I can see with Stranger in a Strange Land is the dated idea of a "martian", but I'm sure this could be overcome with some simple tweaking of the concept.

What about Raymond Feist? Faerie Tale would be an awesome movie and his Rift War Saga would make for a great big screen trilogy. I agree that the Eddings books would make great movies as well. I'd especially like to see the Redemption of Antalus (sp?) turned into a movie.

The budgetary exceptions cited wouldn't need to apply for all of these works adapted for film. Snowcrash in particular would be possible with a small cast (with only a few crowd scenes, mostly on the raft), and any large scenes could be created using existing technology at WETA (Lord of the Rings& King Kong paid for the gear) rather than re-inventing the wheel for postproduction. Obviously filmmaking is going to need a new kind of wheel to make big films work in the coming economy, but given the Blade Runner bleakness (US is a hollow shell and real-estate for foreign holdings of mainland Asia, etc. - the internet is a Sim-world that attracts more people and prestige than real life will ever do again - hey, Hiro's the man of the future, and we need him now.
Mixed race, information age champion with a fair grasp of his limitations and willing to work with just about anyone... sound like anyone?
The only problem is making it without too much studio micromanaging. I see a Sin City style adaptation. Stranger could also be handled that way - let the story be partly managed by comic book filters that help it with both image and (VO) exposition.
Lastly - Recommend a great book that took 15 years to finish - with lots of insights to a fave film: The Making of Blade Runner by Paul M.Sammon. Worth the trouble to find.

Don't forget
Faffhrd and the Gray Mouser series from Fritz Leiber

Completely agree with stranger in a strange land that book is amazing. You're right to say that it is not the classic epic voyage like most sci-fi but is rather a character study. Alas you did not mention the two best sci-fi books I've ever read; "The Sparrow" and "Children of God" both by Mary Doria Russel. Amazing books written by an anthropologist about how misunderstandings of alien culture can have disastorous and far reaching affects.

I would rather see a movie made from Diamond Age or Cryptonomicron then Snow Crash.

Other books that deserve mention-
Greg Bear's EON.
Dune. Lynch's perversion doesn't count.
The Foundation.

I also would like to see a good "Ender's Game" movie. I hear they are working on one but now a days thats not saying much. Im actually kind of surprised that this hasnt been made already. My second request is for Del Toro to make his Mountains of Madness screenplay he wrote based on the book by lovecraft. (if you consider lovecraft scifi)

I also would like to see a good "Ender's Game" movie. I hear they are working on one but now a days thats not saying much. Im actually kind of surprised that this hasnt been made already. My second request is for Del Toro to make his Mountains of Madness screenplay he wrote based on the book by lovecraft. (if you consider lovecraft scifi)

i don't understand how childhood's end didn't make it on the list.

I think Frank M> Robinson's The Dark Beyond the Stars would make a great film adaptation. I also agree with Ringworld.

There has sort have been an Elric movie: 1973's "The Final Programme" is based on Moorcock's "Jerry Cornelius" series, and Jerry is one of the 'eternal champion' incarnations, along with Elric.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would be a fun movie. I would also imagine that you could make the Lazarus Long themes into a series of movies... why not just Time Enough for Love?
I agree strongly that Starship Troopers was not faithful to Heinlein... or was it? Some people read Heinlein and see fascism ...others see a free spirit. Hard to say.

Agree on Stainless Steel Rat. Good call on casting, too.

Where on this list are Startide Rising and Neuromancer? I think you need separate lists for SciFi and Fantasy. In which case, let's see that Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser movie.

Oh -- Pliocene Exile. SciFi AND Fantasy.

James P Hogan's Giants trilogy would be awesome as movies!!!

What about the Raymond Feist series, Magician, Magician's Apprentice....GREAT BOOKS, would make phenomenal movies

What about the Raymond Feist series, Magician, Magician's Apprentice....GREAT BOOKS, would make phenomenal movies

What about the Raymond Feist series, Magician, Magician's Apprentice....GREAT BOOKS, would make phenomenal movies

George RR Martin's book series A Song of Ice and Fire deserves to be mentioned.

What about the Incarnations of Immortality series of books by Piers Anthony? They are about mortals who are made the "Incarnations" of Death, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil and Good. There are some new books in the series since I read it, but the ones I read would make a nice series of movies. According to Wiki, Dead Like Me on Showtime was loosely based on "On a Pale Horse", which had death driving a white Corvette when he finds out that he has the option.

ENDER'S (fucking) GAME

How can anyone miss that!

I'd love to see Phillip High's- Come, hunt an Earthman.
Also, McCammon's- The Wolf's Hour. A Russian werewolf employed by the British as a secret agent against the NAZIs in WWII. Awesome stuff!

Ever since I first read "The Witches of Karres" by James Schmitz many years ago I thought it would make a sweet movie.

To be honest, I thought Verhoeven's all-gay interpretation of Starship Troopers was fine, as far as it went.

My vote is for any CJ Cherryh... Foreigner series, Alliance-Union universe (Merchanter's Luck, Rimrunners) and Martha Wells's Ile-Rien stories (The Death of the Necromancer)

Ender's Game, according to IMDB is still in what could be referred to as "developmental hell". The brilliant balance of Card's work must translate perfectly. However it must be said that sociopathic children is probably a difficult sell to producers and the reason for the delay.
Niven's "Footfall" would also be a good choice, the CGI is good these days so the armies of elephant creatures would seem real and the struggle to free mankind from enslavement would translate well onto the screen.
Someone mentioned Harry Harrison - also would be fantastic. It could go the dark route or slightly funny, as either read would work. I have always thought Angelina Jolie world make a perfect Angelique...but I'm not the casting director...but we could hope.

Ringworld - Larry Niven
Footfall - Larry Niven
Cities in Flight - James Blish
Fuzzies - H. Beam Piper
First Lensmen - e.e. Doc Smith
Past Through Tomorrow - Robert Heinlein as a massive series of movies.

Again, for all the film genius-type people reading this comment thread:

ENDER'S GAME.

MAKE IT A MOVIE NOW.

Stranger in A Strange Land was indeed ground breaking, but nothing matches Time Enough for Love as being Heinleins' best work. (IMHO, after that Heinlein became cynical--all his later works were too dark for words (Job, etc..) However, why has there never been a true movie work of Madelyn L'Engles "Wrinkle in Time". The first SF work I remember reading (and reading, and reading, and reading). A true rendering of this classic work would be well worth seeing on the screen.

What about "Old Man's War" by Scalzi? Great story IMHO.

A list like this really needs Iain M. Banks included somewhere. Just about any Culture novel by him would make a knock-out sci-fi flick.

Ender's Game!
Ender's Game!
Ender's Game!

Towing Jehovah by James Morrow would make an amazing movie, and I'd bet the controversy it would be sure to generate would guarantee a big box office return too.

The premise: God dies and an Exxon Valdez-type tanker captain is hired to tow his two mile long dead body to a tomb in the Arctic.

Some personal favs:
Godstalk by P. C. Hodgell
Emergence by David R. Palmer.

Both would make wonderful movies.

On the lighter side, Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

A couple of things, Starship Troopers is a great book. The movie was a little of a letdown not to mention the sequels. The problem with it is that to make it correctly it would easily cost $300,000,000, possibly more. The special effect that would be required to make it as it is in the book would take several years to complete. Second, I think that the Incarnations of Immortality series would make a couple of great movies. Piers Anthony did a grand job of story and character development. The only issue that I foresee with this set is that the original series was only 5 books that could be made into three or four movies with interwoven actors playing the parts. But eventually someone would want to make the last two books and they cover a time frame that crosses the other five books. This would cause actors to be in it for the long haul, as well the director and distributors. The Simple scope of that would surpass LOTR. It Boggles the Mind.

I agreed with almost all the books offered up by other posters. However, I have to disagree with Dalgren. I read this book many, many years ago, and I remember it as the worst book I ever read. I regretted finishing it.

Wouldn't it be great if one of the pay channels would create a sci-fi miniseries on Friday nights and feature many of these novels? Somebody with a budget.

Any of the 'world' series...

Ringworld
Dayworld
World of Tiers

And puhlease - someone try Riverworld again!

What's wrong with Starship Troopers the movie?

Read the book. The movie is only remotely like the author's work. Totally ignores the social commentary, and was a sort of comic book pablum for childlike minds. R.A. had a LOT to say about society in that book. It was ignored in the movie. If Heinlein had been buried, instead of cremated, he would have been doing about 7000 R.P.M. in his coffin. He, in his own words, wanted people to THINK.

The movie was like a Hoover suckulamator.

What about Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series - relatively cheap to do, almost no special effects, about the most expensive item is a paddlewheel boat. And the story wouldn't be hard to condense in to a two hour movie.

What about Philip Jose Farmer's Riverworld series - relatively cheap to do, almost no special effects, about the most expensive item is a paddlewheel boat. And the story wouldn't be hard to condense in to a two hour movie.

I agree strongly with seveal of the "other" suggestions made.
Ender's Game,Thomas Covenant,Stainless Steel Rat,Ringworld
But how about:
Protector- Larry Niven
Any of the robot stories by Asimov such as "Caves of Steel" or "Robots of Dawn". Hopefully not butchered like "I Robot"

Great list, but you missed Dan Simmons "Hyperion" Series. This would be great to see, but is one of those stories that needs a truly visionary director. If you liked anyhting on this list, and haven't checked out these books, go buy them now!

Legend.

To Ronbo:
They did Riverworld...Not well, but they did it

Did anyone mention the Uplift Trilogy? No? Then I will.

I thiink Tad Williams series ( Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn) begging with The Dragonbone Chair is a great read and would make a wonderful movie series

Where's NEUROMANCER from William Gibson?

Re comments by J. Stahl.
I kind of saw the STroopers movie as a look at modern fascism... kind of technofascism. That kind of jingoism would thrive in a world battling bugs. I thought that the bugs were well portrayed, and the battle scenes were good. I agree that the style was weird and it did not fit the book, per se, but really, it could have been a lot worse. I would just recommend to anyone that they read the book BEFORE seeing the movie, but really, doing both is not bad.

Now, your "social commentary" comments are intriguing. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would be a fun little movie. Actually, the timing of the themes might be really good. Sentient computers leading a revolution... seems like it has been done, but not really... know what I mean?

I agree with Eddings' Belgariad/Mallorean series. I put them waay over Haryy Potter. And then there is Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind, an epic fantasy now 11 books long. Book 6 is the last good one, though.

And, Where the heck is Piers Anthony?! His Incarnations of immortality, 7 books of it, are woven together so skillfully you dont even realize that each book is jsut part of a bigger whole! Plus, well, his Xanth stuff, I woudl like to see of CG deals with all the puns that go on.

absolutely c.j. cherryh's foreigner series. but how come no one mentioned ursula k. leguin's earthsea trilogy, or the dispossessed?!?!?!

"Riftwar Saga" by Raymond E. Feist? Some incredible battle scenes in that series. And another vote for "Ender's Game."

Matt is obviously not very well-read. The two authors that he mentions (Robert A. Heinlien and Robert Jordan) are wordsmiths. Both had EXTENSIVE military careers and write some of the best battle scenes EVER! Starship Troopers (the movie) SUCKED! The screenwriter absolutly RUINED the entire plot of the book. The book was about Mankind's struggle to resist an attack by an overwhelmingly advanced alien race. It profiled one man's attempt to come to terms with his own beleifs and weakness. My main complaint with the movie: WHERE IN THE HELL IS THE MOBILE INFANTRY'S POWERED ARMOR? You know, the suit that was blatantly stolen by the HALO video game series(SPARTAN). The plot of the movie? still unsure, I think it was "how much blood and guts can we wedge into a 110 min BOMB".Favorite line (book): I'm a 30 second bomb, I'm a 30 second bomb, 29, 28, 27..... Robert Jordan's "Eye of the Universe" series was pure magic. Maybe Matt should wait a few years, `til he has the maturity required to enjoy a well turned phrase, and an ACTUAL PLOT!

Neuromancer > other scifi books > a tree stump > snow crash

The Riverworld story WAS done up as a made for TV movie, it bombed.

The best chance in todays market would be Leguin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" It's theme on the nature of human sexuality would be a natural in todays state of affairs.And no, there is no sex involved, sorry.
Another couple good picks would be Zelazny's "Jack of Shadows" or "Roadmarks", both fun reads and easy to adapt.

A couple of epic series I would love to see in serial movie format would be the "Sten" series by Chris Bunch and Allan Cole, and "The Tyrant" series by Piers Anthony. C'mon! You know it'd be awesome!

I shudder to think of half these books in the hands of Hollywood screen"writers".
I would prefer books that had less literary merit be made into movies. For example, John Ringo's Posleen War series.
Not great books, but would be fun as hell to watch on the big screen.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

(Stranger in a Strange Land)is another one that would take the right director, but as long as it isn’t Paul Verhoeven, I’d be okay with almost anyone.

You do realize what you have done by saying that, right? We will get our wish. The movie will be made... but Uwe Boll will direct it.

At that point, a little part of all of us will die.

Bah and humbug! You are [almost]all wrong. In order:
Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. Humour and originality beyond compare.
Michael Moorcock: Dancers at the End of Time (INCLUDES Elric if you think about it).
Brian Aldiss: Hothouse (NOT Helliconia, life is too short).
Can't remember who right now: Imperium (alt-Earth series).
Ursula K Le Guin: The wizard ones - EarthSea?
Lloyd Alexander: The Black Cauldron. A proper, non-Disney/live action version. For story telling, as opposed to OCD-levels of detail, this beats the hell out of Tolkien in my view.
Finally I agree with some of the posts above, Robert Heinlein leaves me cold (have you READ 'Job, a Comedy of Justice'?) and Gene Wolfe's New Urth series would be excellent.

What about John Normans Gor? Its wonderfully wicked and better than Conan. Also the Shanarra series. I liked Stranger in a strange land but I think A Tunnel in Time has a better chance of a movie.

I would like to see some david drake thrown in the mix. bring some terry pratchett out there too.

Moorcock's Dancers at The End of Time series would make a fantastic movie. The technology is now available to do it well but it would require massive amounts of CGI & artistic talent.

Rather than Stranger in a Strange Land, I'd rather see them film Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. Revolution, sedition, a sentient computer, giant rocks slamming into earth, invasions in moon-gravity, cloak-and-dagger plotting.

Stephenson is also fantastic, but IMHO Anathem would be easier to make into a decent film than Snow Crash. (I considered Cryptonomicon but handling the twin storylines, not to mention all the cryptological explanation, would be nigh-impossible.)

Last but not least, it's a sign that God exists that Ender's Game is, reportedly, finally being made into a film. Now hopefully they don't screw it up.

@Al, I did consider Discworld (and Strata! My favourite bat-shoot crazy Martian ever in that one) but with the recent release of Hogfather and the other new one by Sky Movies (part of NewsCorp)here in Europe that itch is somewhat scratched...Good call though - I went through a Piers Anthony phase when I was younger but the reliance on puns began to do my head in - I think TP is the better of the two for (mostly) humourous fantasy. Oh and while I am considering him: Good Omens (with Neil Gaiman).

Lots of good comments here. I'm glad to see I'm not the only one anxious for Ender's Game/Ender's Shadow to be made into a movie, as it is in my mind perhaps the best military/science fiction book and series ever, and I've read quite a bit in both genres. I also strongly approve of the Riftwar Saga by Raymond Feist, though it really is too bad how the books get increasingly crappy after the series moves past "Riftwar".

Here's the one I'm really surpised no one else has mentioned... "The Icarus Hunt" by Timothy Zahn. Zahn is famous for his excellent Star Wars books (which would all make better Star Wars movies than the prequels) but "The Icarus Hunt" is set in his own sci-fi universe, and is absolutely thrilling. A modern classic of sci-fi in my opinion.

Let's not be too hard on directors who've blown it....Some can get better.
You want proof? Watch "Bad Taste" by Peter Jackson, then tell me he hasn't risen far beyond his beginnings.

Domhnall
The Earthsea books are already being done.. have been done?. Have seen one movie covering part of the series... the others are probably all out there by now.

Modern or futuristic warfare and alienation anyone? Perhaps PTSD? How about THE FOREVER WAR. A great read that might be an interesting movie. Rambo in lipstick.

@Al- wups, meant @Kpede, sorry.

I wish Terry Goodkind didn't sell all of the non-book rights to his Sword of Truth series to Disney. The show, "The Legend of the Seeker," is a travesty compared to the book, "Wizard's First Rule." They should've made movies based on the series, without the dumbing-down that the show has.

Most novels are too long for anything less than a mini-series; novellas or short stories are a better match - remember how much had to be cut out of Dune to fit in the 4-6 hour versions, much less the 2-hour? Burroughs's Mars books may be short enough to be ok, if you can still credibly make that kind of pulp fiction into a movie today, and Mote in God's Eye could probably work fine. I have to agree with Ringworld and Ender's Game as suggestions. Amber had enough short content chunks, but nobody takes enough acid these days to really have an audience for it. Snow Crash would probably be ruined - some of the parts would work incredibly well, but the whole Sumerian bit would get lost.

Tuesday Nov 11

I wrote to George Lucas in the mid 80's about making a movie based on John Carter of Mars. He wrote back and said they were in negotiations with the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs. Never heard anything about it in the last 20 years.

Oh my gosh, where's Ender's Game?

Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth is being produced as a TV series by Disney/ABC

The Legend of the Seeker is a year-long adaption of Wizard's First Rule.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Seeker

Lots of great books mentioned here. I ran into Card a couple of months ago and nothing was mentioned about an Ender movie. It would be good though. How about Titan, Wizard and Deamon by John Varley? Three great books that would stand alone or be a trilogy. Greg Bears Eon? With what CGI can do now it is time for someone to do Ringworld and start a "Tales of Known Space" group of pictures. I read Dahlgren back in high school and that was a grand waste of time. I cannot imagine making a movie of that. I would rather see a Chiltons auto manual for an AMC Gremlin made into a musical. Almost any Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven would be good. Heinlein is great but if you cut all the sex with your rejuvinated mother and magic space ship what have you got.

Cat Skyfire said:

"The reason these books won't be made into movies is that unless you have a very, very dedicated director (as Peter Jackson was with the Lord of the Rings saga), there's no way chopping those books into 2 hour movies would work."

Yup. Another reason I'll (again) recommend Fafhrd & The Gray Mouser. Print and Film are quite different media, and both can be awesome. Realistically, a single film should be built around a short story at best, to get it all done properly in the time available. (And F&TGM had a lot of good short stories.) After seeing what J.M. Straczynski did with Babylon 5, I became convinced that a real *novel* should not be handled in anything shorter than one full TV season.

Thanks to everyone else for the other wonderful suggestions I'd forgotten about (like Slippery Jim diGriz, a/k/a The Stainless Steel Rat, among many others. James Hogan, too!)

I'm really liking what I've seen. Especially Moon is a Harsh Mistress - my favorite Heinlein novel.

However, I'm very surprised to see that For Love of Mother-Not is not on this particular list. As my favorite childhood sci-fi story, I think that it would make a wonderful film - most of the Flinx books would for that matter. I realize that it would probably require some knowledge of Alan Dean Foster's 'Commonwealth' universe, but if you did it right, that would probably not matter.

Ender's Game or Childhood's End or maybe Allen Dean Foster's
"The Damned" series would be interesting.

No mention of A Confederacy Of Dunces?

I agree with Man In The High Castle, as well as some other suggestions on here (Terry Pratchett, et al.)

I, for one, would like to see Spider Robinson's Callahan Chronicles adapted for the screen.

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have already
written the most cinematic tome I've ever
read. The Mote in God's Eye? Feh. Ringworld?
Meh. Footfall? Gimme a break.

For ripping-good suspense, action and stuff
blowing up real good, you just can't do any
better than Lucifer's Hammer. Unfortunately,
the so-so Deep Impact and the abysmal
Armageddon have already covered the same
territory, but in an inferior way.

Picture the giant wave from Deep Impact, except
with a surfer riding it - right into a building.
How about cannibalistic cults that spring up
after the impact? Check. A scientist burying
books in his septic tank for future generations?
Check and double-check.

The book is full of memorable scenes like that,
and builds steadily to one of the most gut-
wrenching but ultimately uplifting climaxes
you could imagine. It would probably make the
best disaster-genre film ever, but the fact
it was preceded by two lesser efforts probably
guarantees it'll never see the light of a
projector.

But that doesn't stop you from reading the book.
If you get the chance, take it.

I always thought Amber would make an incredible videogame if done properly (and I, admittedly, am not in the least bit sure what "properly" would entail). Being able to move through shadows (or reach through them, I suppose, depending on your character's origins), using Trumps, and just all around being a semi-immortal badass would be great fodder for an interactive adventure.

I think I remember hearing somewhere in the foggy recesses of my mind that there was, in fact, an old text-based adventure based on the Amber books a long time ago, but I have no idea if that is even true.

Raymond Feist's Faerie Tale. Absolutely! Fantasty, suspense, mild horror. Kids, trolls, fairies (evil and otherwise, sortof), modern day setting, not alot of major $pecial effect$, the kind of house (and situation) I could see myself and family moving into.

Huzzah for the shout-out to John Varley...Love that series!

Put me down for FUTURE WAR, A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOVITZ, THE LEGACY OF HEOROT, and GATEWAY.

And another vote for MOTE, CHILDHOOD'S, and FOUNDATION.

and yet, nobody has brought up the Master Harper - Pern Series. The Foundation Trilogy by Asimov should be on the list too.

Here are a couple of titles more than worthy of mention that got passed up.

1) Weber and White's Starfire Series - I'd start with "Insurrection" and the go straight to "In Death Ground" and finish with "The Shiva Option". (These would be the most epic space battles since "Star Wars" and "Galactica".)

2) War against the Chtorr by David Gerrold - start with "A Matter for Men" and make this a trilogy or better yet, a TV series. (That no one has mentioned this particular author or these books in such a long forum on good Sci-Fi is... disheartening.)

3) "Legacy of Heorot" by Niven - this gets overlooked but is a far easier story to make into an excellent 2hr movie. I can hear the complaints, though. "Can we change the damned title? No one will understand what the hell this is about otherwise!"

4) "DeepSix" by Jack McDevitt - A great yarn about rescuing a group of people stranded on a doomed planet. Easily told in two hours, this could be brilliant edge-of-the-seat fun.

I liked a lot of the suggestions by the forum members, unfortunately, I would almost be afraid of ANY of the titles we've all mentioned being made into movies. H'wood has a seriously bad reputation of really butchering original material to make the movie "watchable". "Starship Troopers" was great eye-candy, but the total removal of the actual book's plot was a crime. Same with "I, Robot". Again, watchable, but the movie had nothing to do with the book except for the inclusion of robots. There ought to be a law... :)

"Guns of the South", definitely. Great read, great use of mixing the real with the possible.

WTF? Where's Dhalgren?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhalgren

Anything by Philip Jose Farmer (Chose from over 75 novels and hundreds of short story ideas in his career)

Since Riverworld failed on TV, maybe try the World of Tiers series or:

The Green Odyssey
The Stone God Awakens
Wind Whales of Ishmael
Dare
Hadon of Opar Books

Any of his stories could utilize today's CG effects on film really well. He has some mainstream ideas that also wouldn't depend too much on fantasy/special effects.

Disagree with Ender's Game. The main characters are all seven year olds. It would end up looking hokey. (Great read though.)

Ringworld would have to be number 1. Or how about Dan Simmons' Hyperion?

Actually, I'm waiting for the Baroque Cycle trilogy, just so I can see a movie with Isaac Newton, et al.

It might be neat to see screen adaptations of these, but to be honest none of these books would work as a 2 hour movie so I don't really see why they desperately need movies unless "desperate" means "desperately crappy adaptations that lose 9/10 of the story and or plot."

Dragon's Egg - Robert L. Forward
The Gaean Trilogy - John Varley

Ben, you stole my comment! I just got done with my nth rereading of "Guns of the South" and DAAAYMN if it doesn't cry out to be made.

@bASS

Legacy of Heorot FTW!

It would make the best sci-fi action movie in the last 20 years.

When it came out I put it down and started writing a screenplay...oh, my misspent youth.

But imagine those battle scenes and the moment they realize just what is going wrong...?

Wow.

I think I will go and re-read my dog-eared copy now and dream a little, Niven/Pournelle style...

What about Hardwired by Walter Williams?
That should be do-able.

Skip: Dahlgren.
Everytime I read the book I keep trying to imagine it as a movie. It would be harder to do than Dune. Plus, the homosexual sex wouldn't play well in mainstream theaters.

Stranger In A Strange Land
The original Star Trek did an adaptation of SIASL. The episode was called 'Charlie X'. The storyline wasn't faithful to the book. But, yeah, SIASL would be a good movie. Especially now in this climate of Religious VS Atheist that's going on, now.

There are several Heinlein books that aren't the works of art that SIASL is, but would make ripping good movies. Tunnel In The Sky or Starbeast, for instance.

Oh, and, yeah, definitely Ender's Game.

I am more than a little curious as to why you would completly leave Terry Brooks out of that list as the Shannara Series. The Movie rights have been optioned but nothing is materializing yet. If they make a Shannara movie then there is hope they may start picking up the rest of these books for movies as well.

Wow only one mention of Tad Williams...so many of his books would be amazing in film

you're fucking kidding me?!?!?!
145 comments? Jesus Hector Christ!!

Lots of good suggestions already.

I'd second:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
Ringworld
Rama
Foundation
The Stainless Steel Rat (Please!)

And then I'd add the Bolo tales by Keith Laumer, if you haven't read The Complete Bolo, it's your loss.

The last thing we need is Hollywood F%#*ing up good books.

Verhoeven's Starship Troopers was a fun movie, but it most definitely was not Heinlein's Starship Troopers.

Anything by Jack McDevitt! Lucifer's Hammer would be fantastic. Several of Sheri Tepper's books. Asimov's robot books and/or Foundation series.

Cripes...its gonna cost me a fortune to buy some of the books I've missed. I'd vote for the Hyperion series, bring your checkbook. Gateway was a very good text/2D computer game some years ago but it would be great on the big screen. Ah...a reboot of Starship Troopers with power armor. Enders Game is looking great in the Marvel Comic which, truth be told, actually reads and looks like a treatment with a scene board. Ursula is still pissed about how the animation film screwed up her book so she's out. I'd have to agree with a lot of posters about Wizards First Rule. Might be better as a limited run TV series like The Lost Room though. The real problem is that all of the books in this forum have been optioned. Some for not a whole lot of money but the rights are for a whole lot of years. A producer can hang on to the property until hell freezes over. The Dinochrome Brigade, I'm there. But if its was my money on the producing side, Lord Fouls Bane and the rest of the Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever trilogy just to see Saltheart Foamfollower on screen.

Nice list!

I would love to see some Edding's adapted to movie form. I grew up on that great stuff and it would make a smooth transition to film to boot.

Elric is a good choice as well, as is basically anything by Zelazny.

I think the Drizzt Do'Urden books would do well in the box office, as well. They aren't as classic as some mentioned on the list, but Forgotten Realms still has a huge pull with readers and could be adapted without a terrible amount of loss :)

i would love to see "The Postman" done right, maybe on the SciFi Channel. 4 hours seems about right. Also Jack Williamson's "The Humanoids."

JayWicky said: What's wrong with Verhoeven's Starship Troopers, again ?

Heinlein's book is about taking responsibility through (often military) service, and only allowing those willing to put their lives on the line for their society to be involved in government. Verhoeven's movie should have been called "Young NAZIs in Space." Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed the movie quite a bit... at least when I wasn't thinking of the connection to Heinlein. If they had named it something else, and changed the character names, I'd have no problem with it. It's a negation of Heinlein, though... It's like a movie "War and Peace," which is a story of a couple of good time charlies cutting up in Abu Ghraib prison - nothing but madcap action and hi jinx. To use one of my favorite phrases, if Heinlein were alive today, he'd be spinning in his grave.

And, Domhnall, lay off my boy Heinlein... 'Job, a Comedy of Justice' is the result of bad meds at the end of a long and productive life. It would be grotesquely unfair to judge his work by that.

On the Heinlein topic, I'd add "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" to the list as others have done. That one would actually pretty easy to do as a movie, hence inexpensive, as well as appropriate in our current rush to become a socialist state. And I have to give kudos to GreenTurtle for the comment on "Ringworld." That'd be friggin' EPIC. Niven's "Footfall" and "Lucifer's Hammer" would do well, except that "Lucifer's Hammer" would be seen as derivative of various "death from the sky" epics of late. I also concur with turnidoff's inclusion of "Childhood's End." I think short stories make better movies easier than long, complicated novels. It's apparently easier to expand a story with detail than to cut it down to fit a movie time frame.

JoJo suggested the Foundation series by Asimov. Wonderful stories, but it would make the LotR trilogy look like a short feature. It'd have to be four hours a night for a couple weeks. Yikes. (or horribly butchered, of course.)

Chris mentioned the "Sword of Truth" series. Good call. Another mind-bendingly long series though. It is currently being produced as a television series, and is actually kind of good, so far, if you can stand a drastically simplified plot. It's said it should run about a year at an hour a week, for the first book. That makes for a 12 year long series, I suspect... a good, long-term job for an actor...

IMHO, Ron Moses simply nailed the "Stainless Steel Rat" series. Rollicking good fun! (Always wanted to type that)

And, as for the several comments on "Dune," I have to agree. The Lynch version is only good for someone who has already read the book... preferably in the last week. However, there was a version produced by, I believe, the Sci-Fi channel, which did it justice... but was about six hours long.

lollercaust said: It might be neat to see screen adaptations of these, but to be honest none of these books would work as a 2 hour movie so I don't really see why they desperately need movies unless "desperate" means "desperately crappy adaptations that lose 9/10 of the story and or plot."

HA! What an optimist.

Those of you dissing Verhoeven's _Starship Troopers_ obviously didn't get the joke. It's a spoof of fascist propaganda, and it's just the skewering that Heinlein deserves. I love the movie.

How About some Stainless Steel Rat, or Bil the Galactic Hero?

Agreed on this list but two words for you:

Good. Omens.

Starship Troopers was an awesome movie in itself, in the context of Heinleins book it wasn't that great of an adaptation. :-) Wasn't Stranger in a Strange Land done as "The Man Who Fell To Earth" with David Bowie?

As much as I love SIASL, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress would make a MUCH better novel to film translation.

Hyperion, by Dan Simmons, and the rest of the series. It is rumored to be in the works, but no updates in years. And they're butchering it. The series is four books, which I swear would make four best selling movies

Sorry my nominations list is so long, but please bear with me, I winnowed the list down as much as I could!

anything by:

Emma Bull
Walter Jon Williams
Octavia Butler
Tanith Lee
Gordon Dickson
David Drake
Dave Freer
Allen Steele
Katherine Kerr
Andre Norton
James Schmitz
James Hogan
Richard MacEnroe (esp. "Skinner")
Keith Laumer
Doris Piserchia
Joanna Russ (esp. "The Female Man," that's a mind-bender!)
Joan D. Vinge
Elizabeth Moon
Dean Ing
Atanielle Annyn Noelle

singletons:

"Swordwoman," Robert Howard
"Slan," A.E. Van Vogt
"Blue Limbo," Terence Green
"Bladerunner," Alan Nourse
"Five To Twelve," Edmund Cooper
"Wildside," Steven Gould
"Jumper," Steven Gould, and this time stick to the original story!
"Fallen Angels," Niven,Pournelle, Flynn (the Greenies won't like it, cuz they're the bad guys)
"Red Tape War," Chalker, Resnick, Effinger (funny!!!)
"Fevre Dream," Geo. R. R. Martin (another take on vampires)
"The Armageddon Rag," Geo. R. R. Martin (this is more Dark Horror than fantasy)
"The Eternity Brigade," Stephen Goldin
"Nocturne for a Dangerous Man," Marc Matz
"Witch and Wombat" Carolyn Cushman
"Star Smashers of the Galaxy Rangers," Harry Harrison

series:

Hellflower, Eluki bes Shahar
Perelandra C.S. Lewis
Dilvish, Roger Zelazny
Kent Montana, Lionel Fenn
Honor Harrington, David Weber
Peace Company, Roland Green
Hawk and Fisher, Simon Green
War World, Jerry Pournelle
Santiago, Mike Resnick
Wild Cards, Geo. R. R. Martin
Borderlands, ed. by Terri Wildling
Man-Kzin Wars ed. by Larry Niven
Janna Brill and "Mama" Maxwell, Lee Killough
"The People," Zenna Henderson (ego-boo for teachers)
"Coyote Jones," Suzette Haden Elgin
Dracula, Fred Saberhagen
Berserker, Fred Saberhagen
Alien, Lynn Hightower
Thieves World, ed. Lynn Abbey and Rob Asprin
Lord Darcy, Randall Garrett
Garrett P.I., Glen Cook
Black Company, Glen Cook
Chicks In Chainmail, Esther Friesner
Northwest Smith, C.L. Moore
Myth, Robert Asprin (might be better as an anime)

Any one of the books/series by Guy Gavriel Kay would translate quite readily to the big screen, especially "The Lions of Al-Rassan" or "Tigana"

The Gap series by Donaldson should also be up for consideration.

The Real Story
Forbidden Knowledge
A Dark and Hungry God Arises
Chaos and Order
This Day All Gods Die

How can you not win with those titles?

How 'bout Timothy Zahn's Cobra series?
Or Eric Flint's ring of fire series?
And can't forget John Ringo's Posleen War series!!

a wrinkle in time

I always thought Larry Niven's "Integral Trees"/"Smoke Ring" story would make for a great movie, and even got the chance to tell him on a call-in radio show. Possibly best as a CGI animation since it might be difficult to find so many long-limbed people with finger-like toes.....

What, no Gaiman?

Agree with Stranger in a Strange Land. Don't understand why the following wern't included:
Asimov's classic - The Foundation Trilogy
early 60's classic - The Mind Thing
late 60's classic - Mind Swap
80's classic - Neuromancer

Also what's wrong with Starship Troopers????

I'd like to see Battlefield Earth by Hubbard redone more along the lines of the book.

I totally agree with anything by David Eddings done as a movie. Well, at least the Belgariad or Mallorean. Wouldn't mind the Elenium or Tamuli series either.

What i'd love to see most is Virtual Light, Idoru, and All Tomorrows Parties by William Gibson. Those were fantastic and I think would make the transition to screen very easily.

I can only add a couple
- The Books of the Lost Swords and the Berserker series by Fred Saberhagen, as miniseries'.
- The Weapons Shops of Isher by A.E. van Vogt. Good luck with that.
- Jack of Shadows by Roger Zelazny as a movie.
- Neverwhen by Neil Gamon as a movie. Mind the gap.

What a great thread! My pick - though it will never ever get made in this country - A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski. It's got war, humor, well drawn characters, an entire planet of naked women where most of the action takes place, and my fave - Quakers in space. They even get to win.

For all you who (like me) will skip paying rent this month, instead going on a book-buying spree when you get done reading this thread, may I remind you that Alibris is the best place to buy cheap used books? They use the inventory databases of used bookstores all over the country, so if you buy a bunch of books you might get several packages arriving over several days, but otherwise they're great.

It is said that TOTAL RECALL was adapted from Martian Time Slip by PK Dick, but that cannot be true. If anyone has read Martian Time Slip, it might be good enough for the sci fi channel. You could shoot it in Arizona in about two weeks.
I really liked that book, as I liked many other books of PKDick's, when he kind of got into the interesting and darker aspects of schizophrenia and drugs.
PK Dick lived in Santa Ana CA about the same time I did. I could have met him, but just never knew.

I see FOUNDATION a lot up there, I would take the trilogy and make it two movies. End the first movie right at the high point of the MULE drama. Hard to imagine it being three movies. Maybe make three movies out of the four books.

Dark Tower series from King could be a hell of a set of movies .. if handled by a director who really really groks the story, and with a good budget, done (visually) along the lines of LotR and the Harry Potter films. But it could be done horribly wrong very easily .. like just about every film adaptation of a Stephen King story I've seen. I'm not a huge King fan, but something about the Dark Tower just grabbed me.

Kevin J Anderson's 'Saga of the Seven Suns' could kick ass. Niven/Pournelle's Mote In Gods Eye would r0x0r my b0x0r, especially if followed up by The Gripping Hand.

Harry Harrison's "Deathworld" trilogy is hands down the best SF movie that's not been made into a movie. And it wouldn't be terribly hard or (relatively) expensive, as these things go. It must be optioned somewhere -- who's sitting on it?

OK. This is really stretching it, but if John Carter makes it, then here goes.

Magnus Robot Fighter.

Does anyone know what I am talking about without googling it? I know it is a comic book, but I think it counts as a John Carter type of thing. I used to read the originals... SIGH.

Probably anyone reading this could buy the rights to it, get Michael Bay to direct it, and make a gajillion dollars. Dont worry about messing up the original. It would be hard to do.

I want to see The Assassin series by Robin Hobb. It could be pulled off, and is a wonderful epic story...albeit in 9 parts. One of the best ever...

Deathstalker by Simon R. Green would be a good sci-fi movie/series.

Anything by John Ringo (Ghost might be too graphic though).

Mote In Gods Eye
World out of Time
Ring World
Protector
Riverworld series, and maybe some of PJF earlier works
Man In The High Castle
Voyage of the Space Beagle by A.E. Van Vogt
Nomad of Time series and The Dancers at the End of Time
by Michael Moorcock
Saga of Pliocene Exile and Galactic Milieu by Julian May

- Just the mention of Bill the Galactic Hero being made into a movie makes me grin. In the right hands, it would be a riot.

- Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat would be great as a series of movies. I liken diGriz to a combination of Indiana Jones and Simon Templar. Since he's a master of disguise, and often went to great lengths to change his appearance, I would suggest that more than one actor be chosen to play diGriz.

- Also, Harrison's Deathworld series would be great. And how about The Technicolor Time Machine?

- I would choose Terry Gilliam to do Man in the High Castle. Another of PKD's books that would be great is Radio Free Albemuth. Also, Time Out of Joint would be great.

- Someone mentioned A Canticle for Leibowitz. I would put that near the top of my list.

- Fredric Brown's Martians Go Home is ripe for a remake -- done properly, of course (as opposed to stupidly, like the 1991 adaptation).

- I vote against The Foundation series being made into a movie (notice I said "a movie"). It is far too immense. It would have to be broken up into a trilogy of trilogies, plus one or more mini-series and possibly some faux-documentaries covering Harry Seldon and the Encyclopedia project. For this reason, it probably will never be done.

- For Asimov, I would vote for Pebble in the Sky, The End of Eternity, and Caves of Steel (which should be a TV mini-series).

- For Clarke, I would vote for Childhood's End, and The City and the Stars.

- Heinlein (sigh) is a tough one. His later books are just... well... drivel. I would choose some of his early works, like Methuselah's Children, or Revolt in 2100, or even The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. I Will Fear No Evil (1970) was probably his last good novel, but Time Enough for Love (1973) borders on "drivel" -- that's when he lost my attention. After that, I couldn't read past the first chapter of any of his later books.

- Frank Herbert's Destination: Void would be great; with the option of continuing with the follow-up novels. Done properly, it could be a real mind-bender. Also, White Plague -- it wouldn't require an outlandish budget, either -- and, it would dovetail nicely with today's current events.

- Larry Niven's Crashlander, which is a novel created from related short stories, including Neutron Star.

- A.E. van Vogt's The Voyage of the Space Beagle, another novel created from related short stories.

- Silverberg's The Book of Skulls and Tom O'Bedlam. His Majipoor novels should be made into a cable TV series.

- E.R. Burroughs has a wealth of material that should be adapted to TV and film.

- Any H.P. Lovecraft [et al], especially (since we're talking sci-fi, here) the Cthulhu Mythos. I say "et al" because the Lovecraft universe includes books written by many other authors, including August Derleth, Lin Carter, John Campbell, etc. Might I suggest starting with The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath, or The Call of Cthulhu, or At the Mountains of Madness.

- Any of William Gibson's novels or short stories.

Cheers!

I almost forgot- Asimov's robot novels... preferably the detective series (Caves of Steel, etc).

@gerber:

Yes, I remember Magnus Robot Fighter from my childhood. I was a rabid reader of all the "graphic novels". In fact, MRF has been on my mind, quite a bit, since I've been on a robot kick, lately. I went back and read all of Asimov's robot works, and even read Karel Capek's R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). But, alas, I can't find any of the Magnus Robot Fighter series, anywhere. It's ripe not only for a film or TV adaptation, but also a re-release in book form.

Cheers!

Ok,,,,, How about

Way Station by Clifford Simak. Fantastic story, could be well adapted... Hell even Will Smith could play Enoch Wallace... lol

I'll see your Starship Troopers nomination, and raise you John Steakly's 'Armor'. It's really what starship troopers should have been. Intellectual and gripping in ways that a movie screen would be the perfect venue for. The adaptation of his book 'Vampire$' notwithstanding.

I hear that Joe Haldeman's "Forever War" has been picked up by a studio and may be made into a movie. If they nail that one it should be fantastic.

The Gaea series, "Titan", "Wizard", and "Demon" by John Varley would be nearly impossible to make, but it would be killer if they made that one into a trilogy.

Another difficult to film, but awesome book(s) would be Dan Simmon's "Hyperion" series. I would love to see that on the big screen someday.

I can't believe that nobody has mentioned Peter F. Hamilton
yet.

The Night's Dawn Trilogy would make a fantastic tale on the
big screen. Sentient trader starships, genetic engineering,
kids, heros and villians, the dead taking over bodies,
just-in-time escapes, it's real edge-of-your-seat over-the-
top space-opera stuff.

The Reality Disfunction
The Neutronium Alchemist
The Naked God

His Commonwealth stories would be a great tale as well.
Pandora's Star
Judas Unchained
The Dreaming Void (set 1500 years after Judas Unchained)
The Temporal Void (I'm just started to read)
The Evolutionary Void (PFH is yet to finish it)

Man-Kzin Wars
Stainless Steel Rat series

What about "Hyperion" by Dan Simmons? The Shrike would be cool to see on film.

@Warren,re: Job, yeah, ok, I can go with that, you shouldn't judge the man's entire opus from one item. Perhap's I just don't have an 'ear' attuned to his writing style...but horses for courses etc.I completely agree with many of the other posters though, this thread will inform my book buying for some time to come, particularly the items that appear to be recent (have gotten a bit fossilised in my buying habits of late, returning to the same authors I know I like). I am also intrigued to references to films I have never seen or heard of - EarthSea, Riverworld etc. - maybe never got a release in Europe? On that topic, anyone remeber the first LOTR film? Late 1970-something I think, my dad brought me. Animation mixed with live action footage (but distorted and hand coloured), scared the hell out of me...

I find your lack of Zindell disturbing.

Neverness series by David Zindell.

Needs to be a movie sooo bad.

I have to agree I love the Edding series, but I always thought they;d be better handled by the Sci-fi channel as a min-series. With the amount of character development and the humor in Eddings work it really deserves more than 2 hours.

I think they did a pretty good job on the couple of Dune series. Well much better than the movie although I must admit having seen the movie long before reading the book I thought as a movie it was good, as a interpretation of a great book it was horrible.

I will also agree with the one poster who wished for a more true interpretation of Battlefield Earth. I like John Travolta but how someone who pushed for the movie like he did could be proud of such a mockery of the written word I'll never know.

It is a fabulous book, full of action and social commentary. Yes you are forced to believe that one simple man learns in a startling short time how to defeat an entire interuniverse empire. But the societal commentary that explains why it happens is quite good.

Not a single Terry Brooks book or series mentioned?
What's up with that?

I completeley agree with Amber, Stranger in a Strange Land, Barsoom...but let me add - Wheel of time series, Rings of the Master series.... Ringworld series.... a REAL Dune adaptation.... The White Dragon from the Pern series.... Death Rides a Pale Horse.... The Steel, The Mist and the Blazing Sun.... The Berserker Wars.... The Dosadai Experiment.... Foundation and Empire....a REAL Kull adaption.... the Heechee Saga....the Changeling/Madwand....
SO many more that are better than the drivel Hollywood is putting out these days.

At one point in time Wendy Pini (if Elfquest fame) was trying to produce an Elric animated movie. She did it while she was in college and later published most of her work as a book, but never finished it as a movie. A pity, since her artwork for it was stunning.

When "The skewering that Heinlein deserved" had to change so many major plot points, it should have become obvious that it was actually "The strawman that reading comprehension would have prevented".

Frank Herbert's White Plague has been mentioned once. It wouldn't be a huge budget, is timely to current mentality (a plague is released that only kills women. Social decay and slip into insanity by the author of the plague as he helps find a cure to his own disease). Not unlike Children of Men.
Now that LotR has made the technology possible, the Dragonriders books could be adapted. Though Eragon really soured the market for dragon movies.
What Tolkein fan would not love to see some chapters of Silmarillion turned into movies. "Flight of the Noldor" anybody? "Turin Turambar"? "Beren and Luthien" (Battle action, love story with strong female character, Sauron as a werewolf, and a loyal dog.)?

Sorry, like many here, I'm mixing SF with Fantasy...I'm giving a strong vote to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom series, but I would add his Carson Napier on Venus series to the list.

Here is several I'd like to add:

1) Keith Laumer's Retief books
2) Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser series
3) Glen Cook's Garrett Files (except the alien one, ugh)
4) Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden series (how about an actual interpetation, a stupid hockey stick, give me a freaking break...)
5) Karl Edward Wagner's Kane series (very dark, very cool)

Also, can someone please adapt anything by Robert E. Howard and stick to the book!...Conan hasn't been done yet, that original Arnold movie was terrible, nothing (except his name and country) was right, even the villian was from a completly different series by Howard (Kull).

I would hate to see any of these books make it to screen. Each and every one would end up horribly compromised/mangled beyond recognition.

I think it's worth noting that becoming a movie is not always the ultimate pinnacle of achievement for a story. Hollywood has a horrible track record of adapting good books (yes there are exceptions, but c'mon...)

Movies made out of mediocre novels are almost always better - they can transcend, and nobody cares much about the source material so the filmmakers can change things at will - think "Jaws" or "The Godfather" or just about everything that Hitchcock directed.

I'm more interested in Cameron's "Avatar" - it promises (I hope) to be hardcore SF written specifically for the screen. I'd love to see more of that, and have them leave these excellent novels alone.

Yo quiero que mirar un pelicula para "Forastero en Tierra Extranya!"

William R. Forstchen's Lost Regiment Series (Civil War soldiers vs. Klingonlike cannibalistic hordes on an alien planet).

Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever series (post-modern, anti-Tolkien epic fantasy).

I've waited 25+ years for a Pern movie. I think the technology is now up to creating believable dragons. And it would be possible to shoot the original novella without losing any of the material. (Remember that most movies encompass about 40-120 pages of a novel, unless it's inherently visual. What are you willing to give up?)

I agreed about several of the other suggestions, including Lord Darcy by Randall Garrett and Robin Hobb's Assassin series. I don't think either of them would be expensive (in terms of SFX etc.). Much as I love Asimov's Foundation, though, I think too much of it happens in the protagonists' heads for it to make a good transition to the screen.

Poul & Kornbluth's "Gladiator at Law" would adapt easily to the screen and could make a solid film brimming with social satire.

I second Bester's "Stars My Destination" - with Ron Perlman as Gully Foyle. I was under the impression that it was optioned back in the Seventies but went nowhere. Pity, or perhaps not.

Heinlen's "Double Star" & "Door into Summer", both solidly plotted with good characterization.

Oh by the way, starship troopers fans. You may not know this, but a six episode anime adaptation was made of the book in 1988 and released on laserdisc. It is much more faithful to the book than they movie, as they actually use the power armor (its anime, of course you have mecha!)
http://anime.fansub.tv/picture.php/1153/1/6/59/Starship_Troopers/

http://anime.fansub.tv/series.php/1153/Starship_Troopers/

also, this hasn't been mentioned yet, but one of the problems with hollywood sci-fi movies is the general perception that sci-fi = action. Star wars had a lot to do with this. If you look at the movies that were made previous to star wars, they weren't heavy on the action, but were much more the philosophical cult film(2001, planet of the apes, the day the earth stood still). Now, we have stuff like I, Robot, and I am Legend, where there are action scenes every half hour, lest the viewer get bored. This is the main reason why a lot of the novels mentioned wouldn't make a good movie, because the director would be pressured by the studio to make it an action movie, because casual viewers equate sci-fi with action. Its sad, but true.

Stve Perry's Matador series. Terrific action, great dialog, probably wouldn't be too cahllenging in the special effects dept.

Deathstalker by Simon R. Green would be a good sci-fi movie/series.

YES!! Get Michael Bay to do it with the same style he brought to Transformers and you have as guaranteed as massive hit as they get. Soon as I have half a billion in spare change to do it right, I'll finance it myself!

Excellent list. Was a big Eddings fan when i was young. Sad not to see the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan. That one has always been my favorite.

Think the Ender movies will ever get done?

area 51 series
robert doherty

How about a character piece in place of action and endless, pointless gee-whiz?

I nominate "Flowers for Algernon".

Mercedes Lackey also does both fantasy and sci-fi. This list includes both. Her 'Obsidian Tower Trilogy' would probably convert fairly well, or done as a series. Her short collected stories of Tarma and Kethry would be good for movies.

Dave Duncan's 'Kings Blades' would work also; I'm thinking "Gilded Chain", "Lord of the Fire Lands", and "Sky of Swords" mostly. Granted, they might be a bit to detailed to fit in two hours.

Another vote for the Borderlands series, and Wildcards. And for Feist's Faerie Tale.

This is such a lame list. It is the lamest of all lame lists. What about Ender's Game?? The only book on this list that I could see as a good movie would be "Snow Crash."

Almost anything by David Weber could be a great movie. He has a great sense of character development and humor. I especially nominate Path of the Fury, The Armageddon Troll, and the Honor Harrington series.

My vote would be for Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon.

Whenever I've read this, I think it should be a film.

-GReg

I mostly agree with the comments on here and the list... Amber would be the answer to my 20 year old dreams, but I don't know how it could really be done. I'd prefer Diamond Age to Snow Crash, but eh, they're both great. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, Stainless Steel Rat, Berserker, Bolo, all great.

Armor, in case you haven't read it, is probably the best action writing I've encountered, and I'd love to see it on the screen, but I don't know how they could make it work given the dual storylines. Still, it's a nice dream.

And Startide Rising... god that would rock, but it would be outrageously expensive unless the did it all animated.

Kudos to the original list writer, if only for starting a great conversation!

Heinlein fired his editor late in his career, and subsequently his work became poorly organized and harder to enjoy. Starship Troopers may have suffered from this condition; Stranger In A Strange Land did not.

Hyperion series? Illium series? How could either be completely overlooked in this post/thread. Compelling, well-written, exhaustively-researched bestsellers should get at least some mention.

My brother and I have fantasized for some 25+ years how, if we were stupid-rich, we would pay any amount necessary to see Piers Anthony's SOS THE ROPE brought to the big screen. Totally awesome, post-apocalyptic story.

The Repairmen Jack novels by F. Paul Wilson
Lady Slings the Booze by Spider Robinson

I agree with the others who have mentioned Niven's Ringworld, especially a Known Space movie franchise! Protector would be a good movie!

Cabal468 : The Man Who Fell To Earth
TMWFTE was a novel by Walter Tevis. SIASL was adapted very poorly in the original Star Trek series; the episode was Charlie X.

gerber : Total Recall
Total Recall was adapted from PK Dick's short story "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale". Dick's version ends shortly after the main character wraps a wet towel around his head. All of the movie after that scene is a complete departure from the story.

Domhnall : Riverworld
The adaptation was a movie on the Sci-Fi Channel. The movie was a pilot episode of a series that never materialized.

Just a Guy : Flowers For Algernon
This was made into a movie in 1968. It's called Charly and stars Cliff Robertson. The movie was okay... but it's look and feel is pretty dated.

badNflu3nce :
Yah, you're right. Everybody expects sci-fi to mean action. But then, the last "thinker" sci-fi I tried to watch was Solaris. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Interminable.

I like 2001, especially the last 3 hours. But even it has it's seemingly endless shots of people walking on the ceiling in zero gee or the shuttle's computer controlling the docking maneuver that clog up the first 8 hours of the movie.

To me the best pacing and mix of "think", suspense and action in sci-fi is the first Alien movie.

Harry Harrison isn't respected enough.
His "Rat" books would be good on the big
screen.
Let's see most anything by
Niven, save his "Mote in god's eye"
book, as there are so many other good
ones he wrote.

I'll second Alan Dean Foster's The Damned series.

Basic plot of the first book is that a race of mind controlling aliens are taking over the galaxy, and all the peaceful, pastoral over evolved aliens in their way are too far from their aboriginal roots to fight without passing out. Only a couple of races can actually fight with massive amounts of stimulants in their blood, and they are losing the war.

Then, a scouting mission to the far ends of the galaxy finds this planet inhabited by a race of warlike semi-intelligent apes. Yeah, us. And they ask us for help.

It's a really simple concept, but it works, and it works very well.

If folks are mentioning Larry Niven, how about his adaptation of Dante's "Inferno"? Get a good FX company working on it (but don't make the special effects the point of the movie) and you'd have an instant epic. Not to mention how much fun it would be to watch people soil themselves over Mussolini getting to go to Heaven. :)

Appologies if it was mentioned ...

David Weber's Honor Harrington series would make several exellent movies. 12 books (so far) dedicated to one star empire trying to take over or blow up another. And I would love to have a "treecat" companion besides.

whoever suggested Dan Simmons was right...nothing more evil than space catholics...cept maybe...

I'd like to go against the grain here and nominate M. John Harrison's Light. The perfect hundred million dollar SF art film.

Heinlein books IMHO that would make good movies or miniseries, and they're all among his earlier works:
Citizen Of The Galaxy
Podkayne of Mars
Between Planets
Tunnel In The Sky
Of them all, I'd be the most inclined to go with Tunnel In The Sky and Between Planets, in that order.

I agree with David Eddings as a mini-series, probably on the SciFi Channel. If you mention Harry Turtledove (Guns of the South), I would trump that with a 'Band of Brothers' or HBO's 'Rome' style treatment for his massive "The Great War: American Front" trilogy (Ameican Front, Walk in Hell, and Breakthoughs). For those who don't know this series, it starts in the book "How Few Remain" in a North America where the South won the American Civil War. The "American Front" series has large amounts of both action and personality, as well as a body count higher than a Sam Pekinpah film. Maybe it would be best on the History Channel or HBO, due to the historical content and massive bodycount (almost all of the characters from the start of the books don't even survive the end of the first book).

I would second a vote for "Pliocene" novels by Julian May. The Many Coloured Land, The Golden Torc, The Adversary, The Non-born King. This story would be visually stunning but VERY filmable compared to others on the discussion.

I would second a vote and love to see The Dosadai Experiment by Herbert; also very filmable. I'm also willing to see any other versions of Dune they care to attempt.

Please bring John Carter to the screen; perhaps for the 100th anniversary of the story's first publication!!! Generations have waited for it.

Others:

Homecoming novels by Orson Scott Card

For action, try

Hammers Slammers
Dorsai
Sten

I totally agree with the Elric series by Michael Moorcock. I've fantasized about Elric from the beginning, the descriptions of him and his body, not to mention the sword he got from the quivering caves (or something similar, it's been a while). I know someone who named their son Elric because they too were big fans....Elric the Albino Emporer...yummmmmm

I like books.

- Wolfe's Book of the New Sun (directed by Guillermo del Torro).

- Martin's Tuf Voyaging.

I second (third? nth?) the votes for the Vorkosigan Saga and the Stainless Steel Rat, as well as Lackey's Obsidian Trilogy.

I'd also like to see her SERRAted Edge/Diana Tregarde Mysteries as a miniseries or something. Urban fantasy is severely underrepresented.

okay, maybe someone mentioned this already and maybe not but i would love to see a movie (or movies) made of steven brust's jhereg series...

What a lot of posts! I was 2/3 through before I saw the first mention of Fred Saberhagen, and that was the Swords books. Nothing at all wrong with those, but I think his EMPIRE OF THE EAST would make the best film, as it builds the world and sets up the entire series.

I'd also cast another vote (and what else are these posts but votes for our favorites?) for LEGEND OF HERIOT, which is a real favorite of mine.

There were several mentions of the Pern books. McCaffery has steadfastly refused to entertain any movie offers for her work.

Man, they some for real nerds up in here!

The first novel about Elric should be an easy adapdation into film, as the story isn't that complex, and the character of Elric is a simple love/hate-stuff. Somebody said that Conan is a brainless muscleman; well, Schwarzenegger is a brainless muscleman (yeah, the governor of California), but Conan by Robert E. Howard isn't. He's an intelligent man, and an evolving character in Howards' stories, from humble beginnings to kingship. The movies and later books by other authors have portrayed him as a mindless bodybuilder, which maybe true for the actor, but not the character.

Ok let's start with E.E. Doc Smith and do

1) The Lensman series
Short enough books to be made into 4 movies possibly combining as (Triplanetary & First Lensman) (Galactic Patrol & Gray Lensman) Second Stage Lensmen and Children of the Lens
2) The Skylark Series
3) Subspace Explorers/Encounters
4) The Family D'Alembert Series

Then move on to Philip Jose Farmer with
1) The World of Tiers
The visuals would be awesome
2) Riverworld (done well)
The cast would be huge and would include, well..... YOU and everyone else lol.

Wander over to Heinlein with
1) The Door into Summer
2) The Number of the Beast
This one would make movies of several of the previously mentioned books as it journeys to many universes based on many other authors books including John Carter of Mars.

and pop into some of these
1) The End of Eternity by Asimov
2) Thrice Upon a Time or The Proteus Operation by James P. Hogan
3) The Timewars Series by Simon Hawke
4) The Axis Trilogy by Sara Douglass
Ok a bit too big of an epic but...
5) The Four Lords of the Diamond by Jack L Chalker
Think of the money you can save by having the same scenes at the beginning of all 4 movies lol.
6) Cities in Flight by James Blish
7) The Subtle Knife
Since they made The Golden Compass please do the best book in the series

Enjoy the future...

@John: Man, I check back here to see what other people thought were good ideas, and see your critique of me. Funny quote from you:

"Robert Jordan's "Eye of the Universe" series was pure magic."

I think you need some adult literacy classes :) Jordan wasn't quite the hack Heinlein was, (yes, I also know Heinlein went to the Naval Academy, it sure didn't inform his military writing at all), but I am sure they are both boring each other eternally sometime now, just as they bored me way back when, most of the years their young-adult writing level applied to me, LOL.

Nthing Ender's Game

What about John Varley's Titan series? Titan (which is
awesome), Demon (which is kinda lame), and Wizard (which
is awesome).

I can see Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. I can't see Stranger. I would LOVE to see Lucifer's Hammer and Legacy of Heorot. No thanks on Ender (love the story, but I agree about 7-year-old kids).

I'd like to see Shockwave Rider (Bruner).

I can see Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. I can't see Stranger. I would LOVE to see Lucifer's Hammer and Legacy of Heorot. No thanks on Ender (love the story, but I agree about 7-year-old kids).

I'd like to see Shockwave Rider (Bruner).

Ender's Game has to be the most over-rated sci-fi book of all time. And you could probably delete the "sci-fi" part of that without altering it's truth. Rather disturbingly, I've seen people claim to identify with the character. Talk about delusions of grandeur.

My suggestions"
"Hard Boiled Wonderland" or
A Fire Upon The Deep".

Feel free to go dif Johnny.

I guess I am a little late to this conversation, but if it's still going, I would love to add Chalker's 'Midnight at the Well of Souls'. I heard rumors of it a couple of years ago being a possibility with I think Phil Hoffman or Paul Giamatti as Nathan Brazil. I guess that could work with the right director and writer behind it.

I would suggest Stephen Donaldson's Ur series of Thomas Covenant

Hi,

I think Stanislaw Lem's or Brothers Strugatsky's books are great but I guess still difficult to film. I would definitely recommend "Fiasco" or "The Roadside Picnic". Check my blog at http://bestscifibook.blogspot.com/

Zbynek

I would love to see War Agaist the Chtorr made into a movie, probably a series of movies. I would also like to see Into the Out Of by Alan Dean Foster. I keep thinking that someone should make Alas, Babylon into a movie, but it would have to be updated. If someone could make A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke into a decent movie without turning it into a typical disaster movie I would love to see it.

I agree with Raymond E. Feists Faerie Tale, just because I think it would adapt really well.

Ender's game would be fabulous. The trouble with that one would be that you would need a director who cared more about character development and less about explosions.

Snowcrash. . .I loved the book, but it would be too complicated to make into a movie,and it would hit a really marginal audience. Zodiac, however, would be freaking awesome, and it would be aimed at a totally different crowd. I only wish that Quicksilver was possible.

Heinlein would be great!

Nice list of books.

I’d like to mention that you passed over the single greatest book of all time…
LUCIFER’S HAMMER by Niven and Pournelle. Why is this book so fantastic? Because its about a comet that hits the earth.. but it doesn’t end there like Deep Impact or Armageddon. No… the majority of the book deals with the aftermath, where saltwater rain (from ocean strikes) rains down everywhere for MONTHS and there’s solid cloud cover for MONTHS and everyone is starving to death and freezing to death and all the plants are dying, and there’s floods and a goodly chunk of humanity meets a miserable doom. Its about the freaking CANNIBALS who will hunt you down not to steal your food, but to make food out of you! At the end of the book is an entire CANNIBAL ARMY (now you gotta love any book with a freaking cannibal army in it) bent on wiping out the only vestige of civilization in the area, the Stronghold. The brutality and realism of this book really changed the whole way I looked at the world. I’m always thinking to myself “After the comet hits, where will I go, how will I eat, WHO will I eat? (cause I’ve already decided to go cannibal, since that seemed to be the easiest way to get fresh meat) what kind of clothes and supplies should I have ready? Would a sword or a gun be easier to maintain and more efficient? … etc…. Makes you look at the lawyers and accountants of society and nod your head “Yep.. no useful skills. Back to the road with you.” And the climactic final battle between the cannibal army and the stronghold is one of the most dramatic and desperate and surprising in any book you may ever read.