The last good sci-fi book I read was Richard K. Morgan’s Woken Furies. I’m a big Kovacs fan so I was disappointed to hear that Morgan felt he had gone as far as he could with the character and that this was the end of his story. Better to go out on top I guess, but still… RIP Tak. *sniff
So now I need something to fill the void. Currently, I have the massive Judas Unchained by Peter Hamilton sitting on my coffee table. It could double as a boat anchor in a pinch. For some reason I just can’t get into reading it though. Anyone read it yet? I feel I probably should have waited for the paperback.
I also like Alastair Reynolds (although he lost his way halfway through his trilogy), and Neal Asher (hit or miss, but usually tells a good story.)
Your task is to recommend me some good sci-fi - it doesn’t even have to be particularly well written sci-fi as long as it’s a good read. Occasionally I will even sink to the very bottom - the kind of crap even the most hackneyed books on the shelf shy away from. I’ve read all 3 Halo books. Yes, the video game. But let’s not go that far…
And please no Neal Stephenson. His books always sound like something I’d like, but apart from Snow Crash, I can’t stand him. Ditto William Gibson.
So, read anything good lately?
Not lately, but I always like to recommend Mockingbird by Walter Tevis author of The Hustler, The Man Who Fell To Earth and The Color of Money. It is a great book, terrifically well written and far less known than it deserves to be.
Well, as a longtime reader I suggest the classics usualyy – Heinlein, Clark, Asimov. as for new stuff, right now I’m reading The Man-Kzin Wars X by Hal Colebach. I like the series, and note that XI has just come out in hardcover. I’m about to read Harry Turtledov’e Colonization series, the follow-up tio his World War series. (And I just finished re-reading L. Sprague de Camp’s Lestr Darkness Fall. Old stuff, but compelling – time traveller inadvertently finds himself stuck in the past and tries to prevent the Fall of the Roman Empire, written by someone who understands history and technology, and can really write. This copy was a 1996 reprint, but I haven’t seen it in a while.)
I strongly recommend Dan Simmons. I’ve liked everything of his that I’ve read, and I’m still catching up.
Yes, I enjoyed the 1st book quite a bit. I think Olympus really fell apart though which I mentioned in this thread.
Now that I think about it, he did the same thing with the Shrike series - Hyperion = awesome. Fall of Hyperion = meh. I still buy everything he writes though. I fall for his ruse everytime. :smack:
Some interesting books I haven’t heard of. Keep 'em coming. I’m taking notes.
And I’m hijaking my own thread here - anyone else a Morgan fan? I can’t believe how bummed out I am after finding out he’s written his last Kovacs novel. I need to commiserate. I’ve been trying to get a signed copy of Altered Carbon but I haven’t had any luck. I do have a signed copy of Market Forces but it’s just not the same.
Absolutely. It’s a fantastic work, from the very first page you’re hooked and the concepts and storyline are brilliant, especially the dual assassins. Sadly, apart from one other book which wasn’t up to the level of this, Hinz seems to have published nothing else. (I think he’s primarily a comics book author, but then so was Alfred Bester and look how he turned out!)
The Retief series of stories are particularly funny. Keith Laumer wrote in to the characters. the diplomats of the Vietnam and Cold War Era. He’s surrounded by bribes, subversion, bureaucratic waste, and inept superiors. He comes out on top time after time, all the while bucking the diplomatic protocols.
Abraham E. Merritt wrote many scifi novels about under ground civilizations, and other dimensions. His first was The Moon Pool. Give him a try, I bet you like him. Some religious societies formed in the 1900’s based on his books and the underground dewellers. Dwellers in the Mirage, The Metal Monster, and Face in the Abyss are some more of his writings. He ties much of the stories into myths and some real events in history. The books are in that 1900’s British explorer’s genera.
I love Retief, but you should start with the short story collections, and Retief’s War, the first novel. Laumer’s later novels for Baen were going through the motions.
Laumer by the way was an Air Force attache in Southeast Asia (Burma, I think) so he saw much of this first hand.
I love the hidden humor for the attentive reader. The not so subtle mocking of the enemy.
I gave the example I did so they can try it for free.
I have hundreds of scifi magazine with a lot of first drafts of the stories in many authors books. I think Dune was one of them, I can’t be sure though… I don’t have a index, so they’re a bit hard to find a specific story.
Wow, how’d you get Judas Unchained? Amazon says it won’t be released until February. It’s the sequel to Pandora’s Star, which I bought when it first came out but have been waiting for the sequel so I could read them back to back.
Since you have the new Hamilton book, I assume you’ve read his Night’s Dawn series.
I like Joe Haldeman’s older stuff - the Forever War books, for example.
I agree, along with the rest of the series, and most of the other books Steve Perry has written. I also agree with Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor’s recommendation for Zenna Henderson’s People books.
Some of my favorite Sci-fi :
The Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Sten series by Alan Cole and Chris Bunch Page
Just about everything written by David Weber
The Belisarius series by Eric Flint and David Drake 1632 and it’s sequals by Eric Flint Santiago by Mike Resnick
By Timothy Zahn : Spinneret, Cobra, Blackcollar, Warhorse and the Conquerer trilogy.
By Roger McBride Allen : The two Stolen Earth books, The Farside Cannon, Torch of Honor and it’s sequel.
By George R.R. Martin : Tuf Voyaging.
By Michael McCollum : Life Probe, Procyon’s Promise, Antares Dawn, Antares Passage. Wasp by Eric Frank Russell. Mirabile by Janet Kagan
By Alan Dean Foster : Cyber Way, his The Damned series and his Humanx Commonwealth books.
By Larry Niven : His Known Space books and Footfall.
By Harry Turtledove : A World of Difference.
H. Beam Piper’s Paratime books, Paratime and Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen. Also, his Fuzzy stories. As well, Great King’s War is a sequal to Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen by different authors.
Andre Norton’s Solar Queen books.
Keith Laumer’s Bolo short stories, and the Bolo series of story collections/novels inspired by him.
Most of James H. Schmitz’s work. Illegal Alien by Robert J. Sawyer.
By John E. Stith : Deep Quarry, Redshift Rendezvous, Manhattan Transfer, Reckoning Infinity, Memory Blank.
By James P. Hogan : His Giants series, Thrice Upon a Time, The Two Tomorrows, The Genesis Machine, Code of the Lifemaker.
By Greg Bear : Forge of God and it’s sequel.
By Lawrence Watt-Evans : Denner’s Wreck, Shining Steel, Nightside City.
