Please recommend some new SF
- Thread starter Thorntangle
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howandwhy99
Adventurer
Hong, that was perfect! LOL
The last good SF/F I've read was Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz". If you like this, try some of Umberto Eco's novels, as well. He may not be 'pure' fantasy or science fiction, but he often writes towards the same time periods.
The last good SF/F I've read was Walter Miller's "A Canticle for Leibowitz". If you like this, try some of Umberto Eco's novels, as well. He may not be 'pure' fantasy or science fiction, but he often writes towards the same time periods.
I could kick myself...
...I forgot Samuel R. Delany, and he teaches here in Philly, and my friend the adjunct professor keeps running into him on the elevator at Temple...
Just about nobody writing SF cares about language as much as Delany.... his sentences dazzle {though his text for theory about text's sake might annoy some folks --particularly in his longer works. Both Nova and Babel are great short novels, so try them first.}
I get so caught up trying to push Delany's Dhalgren {which is about the finest example of how to write a long metafictional novel}, I forgot about him as a writer of 'hard' scifi.
Celebrim said:
...I forgot Samuel R. Delany, and he teaches here in Philly, and my friend the adjunct professor keeps running into him on the elevator at Temple...
Just about nobody writing SF cares about language as much as Delany.... his sentences dazzle {though his text for theory about text's sake might annoy some folks --particularly in his longer works. Both Nova and Babel are great short novels, so try them first.}
I get so caught up trying to push Delany's Dhalgren {which is about the finest example of how to write a long metafictional novel}, I forgot about him as a writer of 'hard' scifi.
s/LaSH
First Post
Personally, there are a few authors that will get me to check out a book in depth without a cursory examination:
Lois McMaster Bujold: A lot of people here mention her, and for good reason. It's hardly even sci-fi in parts - more romance or period political thriller. But I don't care, it's awesome. Miles Vorkosigan frequently makes me laugh aloud.
David Weber: Another favourite, this stuff is great. I'll never look at space combat the same way again - although you need a decent grasp of 'mechanical' physics to truly understand why all this stuff works. Bleek.
Oh, and he's done some fantasy too. The main character is a paladin with an arbalest - a small ballista - that he carries around with him.
David Feintuch: I haven't read much of the Midshipman's Hope series, but the super-Christian outlook of the main character makes for some interesting problems. The rest of it's pretty interesting, too. Military scifi of a kind, with a truly weird enemy.
I haven't read any of the Reality Dysfunction, but Hamilton's Mindstar Rising stuff is also cool. That's early to late 21st century corporate/scifi stuff, in which England has become a tropical swamp due to global warming.
And Zindell's Requiem For Homo Sapiens made a mark on me, too. Spaceship pilots fight with mathematics, there are Gods the size of solar systems, and cavemen.
That's all I can think of for now...
PS: Hong, have you tried Histories by Herodotus? It's not scifi, it's fantasy, but I thought I'd mention it. The Oracle (a recurring plot device) is often bailed out on technicalities that the author just seems to make up, but some of the creatures are pretty weird and the battle scenes are top-notch. And talk about world-building; half the book is devoted to setting the scene! Although, the author isn't too clear about some things, and I suspect large parts may have been cut and pasted from some kind of half-baked design document - there's one empire he mentions that 'might not even exist'. Also, characters are handled at arms length; you rarely see what they're thinking.
But Herodotus uses more footnotes than Pratchett, which must be good.
Overall, I enjoyed it despite the inconsistencies.
I'd give a review of Gibbon's Decline And Fall, but I haven't finished reading that yet. The foreshadowing's pretty heavy so far, though. I think the empire might fall, but that's just a guess.
Lois McMaster Bujold: A lot of people here mention her, and for good reason. It's hardly even sci-fi in parts - more romance or period political thriller. But I don't care, it's awesome. Miles Vorkosigan frequently makes me laugh aloud.
David Weber: Another favourite, this stuff is great. I'll never look at space combat the same way again - although you need a decent grasp of 'mechanical' physics to truly understand why all this stuff works. Bleek.
Oh, and he's done some fantasy too. The main character is a paladin with an arbalest - a small ballista - that he carries around with him.
David Feintuch: I haven't read much of the Midshipman's Hope series, but the super-Christian outlook of the main character makes for some interesting problems. The rest of it's pretty interesting, too. Military scifi of a kind, with a truly weird enemy.
I haven't read any of the Reality Dysfunction, but Hamilton's Mindstar Rising stuff is also cool. That's early to late 21st century corporate/scifi stuff, in which England has become a tropical swamp due to global warming.
And Zindell's Requiem For Homo Sapiens made a mark on me, too. Spaceship pilots fight with mathematics, there are Gods the size of solar systems, and cavemen.
That's all I can think of for now...
PS: Hong, have you tried Histories by Herodotus? It's not scifi, it's fantasy, but I thought I'd mention it. The Oracle (a recurring plot device) is often bailed out on technicalities that the author just seems to make up, but some of the creatures are pretty weird and the battle scenes are top-notch. And talk about world-building; half the book is devoted to setting the scene! Although, the author isn't too clear about some things, and I suspect large parts may have been cut and pasted from some kind of half-baked design document - there's one empire he mentions that 'might not even exist'. Also, characters are handled at arms length; you rarely see what they're thinking.
But Herodotus uses more footnotes than Pratchett, which must be good.
Overall, I enjoyed it despite the inconsistencies.
I'd give a review of Gibbon's Decline And Fall, but I haven't finished reading that yet. The foreshadowing's pretty heavy so far, though. I think the empire might fall, but that's just a guess.
Pbartender
First Post
s/LaSH said:
I'vbe read most of these... You can think of them as Horatio Hornblower in Space. The first few books are pretty good, but once the aliens showed up, it started getting a little weird.
I've recently discovered that Baen Books is now keeping a library of whole novels you can download completely free. That means you can go there and sample some authors you've never tried, with only the risk of a little time...
Hooray for Baen Books!
Hooray for Baen Books!
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Undead Pete
First Post
Every time this topic comes up, I recommend the same author:
CHINA MIEVILLE!
He is friggin' revolutionary!
CHINA MIEVILLE!
He is friggin' revolutionary!
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Jack McDevitt - Eternity Road, The Engines of God both excellent books can not stress the quality of penmanship.
I personally like Philip K Dick's writing style, and the glimpse he gives of his inner soul is unique in written works such as Do androids dream of electric sheep , and his disquieting realization in works such as Minority report .
Algis Budry’s Rogue Moon Psychological novel about Earthers investigating a deadly alien maze on the Dark Side of the Moon. One of the first really modern, modern sci fi books.
Ursula K Le Guins the Left hand of Darkness A gender issues tale of an Earthman's journey through a world of hermaphrodites. Giant piece of narrative writing, and quite strange. Also the Dispossessed
Also such luminaries such as Theodore Sturgeon ( whose works include the Classic “More than Human” a story about Misfits and morons who come together telepathically to form a greater whole. It is a weird novel but worth the read. )
Also you should congest at least one book a month from one of the following; Gregory Benford, Dr. Ben Bova, Orson Scott Card, Andre Norton, Robert Silverberg, Robert Heinlein, Alfred Bester, Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Anthony Burgess ( Clock Work Orange), Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Thomas M. Disch, James H. Schmitz
I personally like Philip K Dick's writing style, and the glimpse he gives of his inner soul is unique in written works such as Do androids dream of electric sheep , and his disquieting realization in works such as Minority report .
Algis Budry’s Rogue Moon Psychological novel about Earthers investigating a deadly alien maze on the Dark Side of the Moon. One of the first really modern, modern sci fi books.
Ursula K Le Guins the Left hand of Darkness A gender issues tale of an Earthman's journey through a world of hermaphrodites. Giant piece of narrative writing, and quite strange. Also the Dispossessed
Also such luminaries such as Theodore Sturgeon ( whose works include the Classic “More than Human” a story about Misfits and morons who come together telepathically to form a greater whole. It is a weird novel but worth the read. )
Also you should congest at least one book a month from one of the following; Gregory Benford, Dr. Ben Bova, Orson Scott Card, Andre Norton, Robert Silverberg, Robert Heinlein, Alfred Bester, Brian Aldiss, J.G. Ballard, Anthony Burgess ( Clock Work Orange), Fritz Leiber, Poul Anderson, Thomas M. Disch, James H. Schmitz
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Lurks-no-More
First Post
Some Essential SF Suggestions:
Iain M. Banks -- the Culture series. Sentient starships with populations of billions, ringworlds and orbitals, multidimensional Reality of which our universe is just a tiny little part of, AI and altered people and altered ideals and an economy of plenty where everyone can have as much as they want, and more more MORE.
Vernor Vinge -- "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky"; marvellous stuff. And the scariest/most wonderful thing is, they describe a way the universe might work...
Cordwainer Smith -- Old, old stuff, but gorgeous. It doesn't read as anything else I've found. That's also where my username comes from (in a modified form, of course...).
Dan Simmons -- The Hyperion Cantos. IMO the first two books are essential, the other two very non-essential, but to each his own.
Iain M. Banks -- the Culture series. Sentient starships with populations of billions, ringworlds and orbitals, multidimensional Reality of which our universe is just a tiny little part of, AI and altered people and altered ideals and an economy of plenty where everyone can have as much as they want, and more more MORE.
Vernor Vinge -- "A Fire Upon the Deep" and "A Deepness in the Sky"; marvellous stuff. And the scariest/most wonderful thing is, they describe a way the universe might work...
Cordwainer Smith -- Old, old stuff, but gorgeous. It doesn't read as anything else I've found. That's also where my username comes from (in a modified form, of course...).
Dan Simmons -- The Hyperion Cantos. IMO the first two books are essential, the other two very non-essential, but to each his own.
s/LaSH
First Post
Umbran said:I've recently discovered that Baen Books is now keeping a library of whole novels you can download completely free. That means you can go there and sample some authors you've never tried, with only the risk of a little time...
Hooray for Baen Books!
I second that! Everybody should see this site; there's some great tasters for great series out there. (The fact that they can release entire books as samplers indicates something about the amount of material they have in shops.)
