A lot of the people on this board seem very knowledgeable about science fiction, so I thought I’d ask this here. I’m looking for recommendations of a certain type of science fiction. I think it’s what used to be called “soft” s.f., books which focus on the psychology of people when faced with technology, apocalyptic disasters, etc, rather than being about scientific speculation or abstract political theorizing. Books which use science and the extreme situations it creates as a backdrop for human drama.
I like some science fiction, but I prefer books that are based around strongly-defined characters (not just brave heroes or the anonymous trendies of William Gibson books) going through extreme circumstances. In s.f., I’ve found a few authors who I really like: e.g. Robert Silverberg, whose stories are always about complex fully-realised human beings in bizarre straits, and most of J. G. Ballard, particularly those stories that focus on psychology and social collapse (High-Rise, etc.), although he’s less interested in conventional novelistic character construction.
I also like more mainstream books with fantastical qualities like Douglas Coupland’s Girlfriend in a Coma and Thomas Pynchon, but nothing in the line of twee mysticism, magic realism, or faeries. A somewhat hard and pessimistic tone would be good, and no Ayn Rand style philosophy. “Hard” science fiction like Asimov, Arthur C Clarke or Greg Bear which focuses purely on technology doesn’t interest; I’m equally unkeen on thrillers and adventure stories.
Can anyone suggest either recent or more classic books or authors that might fit with the above interests - psychologically complex, intelligent, literate (not always the same thing) and maybe even moving?