Please recommend some new SF

[Thorntangle]

I've read a lot of the books recommended including Herbert, Vinge, Gibson, Brin, Robinson, Niven/Niven & Pournelle, Turtledove.

I could never get into Hamilton or Benford and I can't remember why, so I may try them again.

Some have been on my radar like McMullen and Lethem.

And some I've known about, but I'm ashamed to say I haven't read them for whatever reason, primarily Gene Wolf. A guest reviewer was gushing about Wolf in the Washington Post Book World section not too long ago. He essentially said he would stack him up against the best writers in any genre. So he made the list.

 

[Celebrim]

I could never get into Hamilton or Benford or Bear either, though I have a close friend who is very much a fan of all three (and whose judgement I largely trust) so I'm sure that they have thier fine qualities.

There are a number of qualities that define a really top notch writer. You need mastery of the language. You need imagination. You need a good sense of story.

To me, and this is very subjective, Hamilton and Benford fall into a class of writers that don't have the right mixture of talents. I respect Hamilton's imagination, but not his skill as a writer or story teller. I respect Benford's strength of story (and his knowledge of science), but not his qualities as a writer or his imagination. I feel Bear has a little of all three, but is not particularly outstanding in either.

By contrast, a writer like say, Bujold, you don't have the most beautiful and rich language, but to make up for this she offers reasonable imagination and one of the best (if not the best) senses of storytelling in the business.

I can take two out of three, but one out of three just doesn't hold my attention.

Of course, when you have all three, it is a truly beautiful thing.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Consider trying the following by Timothy Zahn:

The Blackcollar (outstanding! Earth is conquered by aliens, but a few special soldiers start fighting a guerilla war years later)
The Backlash Mission (sequel to Blackcollar)
Triplet (a good mix of SF and fantasy - could be the basis for a campaign)
Cascade Point (outstanding anthology of his short stories)
Time Bomb (another good anthology)

If you've heard of the old boardgame Starfire, a couple of the designers have written some books based on the game:

Insurrection (civil war in a future interstellar federation)
Crusade (great character - Ivan Antonov, "Ivan the Terrible")
In Death Ground (war against a hive race, book 1)
The Shiva Option (book 2)

 

[Gizzard]

I'll second a few things and recommend a few things:

Mieville: Definitely read "Perdido Street Station". Maybe once every year or two you come across someone whos talent just amazes you. The last time I felt this strongly about a book, it was George Martin and the Storm of Swords series.

Vinge: "Fire Upon the Deep" is strong, though I liked "Deepness in the Sky" less. If I remember correctly, Vinge writes rarely and there was a substantial gap between the two.

Lethem: "Gun With Occassional Music" mixes cyber-punk with good old film noir. Lethem takes the standard hardboiled detective and transplants him into a future where some animals have been enhanced to near human levels of intelligence. Its funny in a pointed way; the humor is very dry, but if you've ever seen one of the old detective movies you'll appreciate it.

Connie Willis: Willis is very funny and more a social commentator than a pure SF writer. Try "Remake", the technology that she postulated there has been coming into use over the last couple of years so its topical.

Robert Charles Wilson: His books are always somehow apocalyptic, but "Darwinia" and "Chronoliths" are both good reading.

 

[Mirth]

Since no one else has said it yet, I'll recommend my favorites - Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game and Speaker For The Dead. Scott was the first person to win both the Hugo & Nebula awards two years in a row (for those two books) and is a really nice guy to boot.

I'd also highly recommend Joe Haldeman's Forever War. There is a sequel that I haven't read, but is supposed to be really good as well.

 

[Mistwell]

I like the classics too like Arthur C. Clarke and Larry Niven. Mote in the God's Eye and Rendezvous with Rama are 2 of my favorite sci fi books.

You might try Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove for something different too.

Mike

Funny, I believe the Niven books you like are also his collaberations with Jerry Pournelle.

 

[Mistwell]

Connie Willis: Willis is very funny and more a social commentator than a pure SF writer. Try "Remake", the technology that she postulated there has been coming into use over the last couple of years so its topical.

Funny? Yes, some of her work is funny, like "To Say Nothing Of The Dog", which was VERY funny. However, other stuff she does is EXTREMELY depressing, like Doomsday Book, based out of the same time-travel lab as To Say Nothing Of The Dog ironically. I cried during that book...very very good.

I would second the David Brin suggestions, and Fred Saberhagen's Berserker books.

 

[Richards]

I highly recommend James Alan Gardner. His novels (Expendable, Commitment Hour, Vigilant, Hunted, Ascending) are all set in the same universe, but other than making sure you read Expendable first, you can really pretty much read them in any order. I really like his universe: there's a Star Trek-like Federation ("The League of Peoples," I think), but they're being observed by an unseen, superadvanced race that oversees all sentient life in the Galaxy. They pretty much let everyone do what they want, with one exception: if you kill another sentient being, you will die if you leave your solar system. They'll see to it, your body just shuts down for no know reason if you leave your system. So go ahead, be a murderer if you want, just don't spread your disease to other worlds. This one simple little fact puts a whole new spin on the culture of the sentient species: lots of harmless stun attacks, very little lethality.

The other main idea is the Explorer Corps. Humanity needs a group of "Star Trek red shirts" to go down and check out the new planets (humanity is expanding to other systems in a big way), but the psychologists have learned that when good-looking and well-loved crewmembers get killed checking out new worlds it can be a real bummer for the rest of the crew. The solution? Draft all of the non-perfect people into the Explorer Corps. If an Explorer with a malformed arm, a missing jaw, or just a really bad skin condition gets killed, the good-looking crew doesn't seem to get as bummed out. Expendable is the story of Festiva Ramos, a young woman whose only deformity is a purple birthmark covering one of her cheeks. Easily correctible, but if they go around correcting defects like that, where would they get their Explorers? All in all, this is an excellent series. I'm already looking forward to Gardner's next book.

Johnathan

 

[EarthsShadow]

As far as Hamilton goes, he is one of my favorite authors and his Reality Dysfunction series is one of the best stories I have ever read. Another good author I don't think was mentioned was Poul Anderson. He's pretty good also.

 

[Buttercup]

Some really good suggestions here.

I want to second the recommendations for CS Friedman, Connie Willis and Vernor Vinge. And also for Card's Ender's Game. I actually just finished rereading that one for about the 5th time, and it still has the power to move me deeply. The numerous sequels are interesting, but IMO, Ender's Game stands alone.

Someone mentioned Lois Bujold. I absolutely love her work. If you want character driven stories, you won't find a better option. She is one of those authors whose character's become so real that you forget, during the book, that you're reading fiction. And her take on the 'flawed hero' archetype is a tad uncommon.

I notice that no one has mentioned Melissa Scott. If you like books about AI, dystopian futures, space travel, and complex-feeling cultures, you really should try several of hers. Dreamships and Dreaming Metal are companions, though each stands on its own. Trouble & Her Friends, well, I want that one to be made into a big budget, fx heavy movie. Several other of her titles really grabbed me too.