I need sf recommendations

Cafe Society
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Hi guys.

I’ve been reading lots science fiction lately but am having a hard time picking what to read, so I hoped the good people here on the dope could help me.

I’m not an expert or anything close to it, but over the years I’ve read a lot of science fiction and I think I’m familiar with the most well-known authors: Asimov (my idol since adolescence), Clarke, Bester, Heinlen (I loved him when younger but now have a very hard time reading him because of his politics), Niven, Sturgeon, etc… Other authors I like are Iain Banks, Peter F. Hamilton, Joe Haldeman, David Brin, Gregory Benford, Greg Bear, Samuel Delany, Vernor Vinge and Greg Egan.

I’ve recently read and enjoyed a lot: Blindsight by Peter Watts, Calculating God by Robert Sawyer, Permutation City by Greg Egan, The Golden Age by John C. Wright, Old Twentieth and A Separate Peace and Other Stories, both by Joe Haldeman and a couple of Miles Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold. Right now I’m reading China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh and loving it.

I haven’t liked so much Old Man’s War by John Scalzi, Heroes Die by Matthew Woodring Stover, Dauntless by Jack Campbell, Helix by Eric Brown and the Honor Harrington series (and yet I’m still hooked somehow. God, I wish David Weber either had a better editor or finished the series already). I’ve also read recently the Opiuchi Hotline, by John Varley. I loved the ideas but something in the tone of the book bugged me the whole time, even though I can’t put my finger on what it was exactly.

I tend to like hard sf more than other varieties but I’ll read anything if it’s good. Also, I’d like to read something relatively new, from the 80s or more recent, but I’m open to suggestions about older stuff. Shorter novels are preferred to long ones but that’s not a deal-breaker. The same applies to series: I’d rather read singletons than begin a series but if you think the series is good enough, please, feel free to say so. I’m also okay with short-story recommendations or short-story collections, though I like to read single author collections. I’m not a great fan of fantasy but if you think it’s amazing enough I might read it. I’m more of a social democrat, so fiction that preaches liberal/libertarian politics too much can bug me, but only if it’s excessive (I disagree with most of my favorite sf authors and that’s no biggie). Weird aliens and biological speculation interest me a lot and I can forgive lack of character development if the ideas are big enough.

The only thing left I think I can add is that the only Robert Silverberg I’ve read were a novella set in ancient rome and a short-story about a man who could see the future. I hear he’s good but he’s written so much I have no idea of where to start.

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Peter Watts put out a trilogy prior to Blindsight, which you might enjoy. Egan has short story collections too. For biological/alien interest, check out Octavia Butler’s series, published in omnibus form as Lilith’s Brood. Excellent.

You can’t go wrong with Neuromancer or Snow Crash, oldies but goodies!

Also, Iain M. Banks, start with Player of Games! His Culture books are standalones!

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I assume you have, but if not - you must read Haldeman’s “The Forever War.” It’s a classic - beautifully written novel about soldiers fighting a war against aliens for pretty pointless reasons, then returning home to find Earth culture has grown alien - even hostile. Haldeman was a Vietnam vet, and “The Forever War” works really well as an allegory of that experience. (I don’t know whether or not Haldeman has admitted that he intended it as such, but I’m of the view that the author is instantly abducted by aliens after setting down his pen.)

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I’ll also use this opportunity to ask if anybody can identify a short-story I read in the mid or late 90s.

The story’s set in the near future and revolves around a detective’s investigation of some sort of theft or industrial espionage if I remember correctly. It’s important that the detective is gay. There’s a scene with a street party or parade in which gay men wear Edgar Hoover masks and another in which the protagonist gets his gun from a safe that tests him to see if he’s neither drunk nor emotionally disturbed before allowing access to the weapon. In the end the hero realizesthat the technology he’s trying to recover (some sort of drug that protects the womb, I think) means that parents will get to choose not to have gay children anymore.

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Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons. 2-book series, pretty lengthy, very epic. There’s another 2-book series afterwards, but they’re a bit weaker and not really required reading, unless you really fell in love with the universe.

Also, if you, by virtue of some catastrophic quantum level failure, have still not read any of Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series, you should probably go ahead and do that, like, yesterday.

As mentioned above, William Gibson and Neal Stephenson are pretty safe bets.

[shill warning]
Since I’m drawing a blank due to massive cramming for an exam tomorrow morning, I’ll go a head and shill for a personal friend of mine who just self-published the first book of a planned trilogy: Exile Earth: Utopian Dawn by Jason Armond. It’s available as a cheap ($5) PDF download, trade-sized paperback, or hardcover. It’s pretty hard SF, far-future, space travelly, human ascensiony stuff, and he should be done with book 2 late this summer (hopefully).
[/shill warning]

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I really REALLY enjoyed The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Future North America, divided into 12 districts. Every year they pick one boy and one girl (under 18) to participate in the Hunger Games: a fight to the death in a huge arena. Its a series, and ive only read the first book… but I cant reccomend it enough. I absolutely LOVED this book.

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Thanks for the suggestions, guys.

wonderlust: I was aware of Watt’s trilogy, but I’m not sure I want to try it unless people say it’s good. I’ve also read lots of Egan’s short stories. In his site he has many available for free download and they’re (mostly) very good. I probably should have mentioned William Gibson in my first post. I loved Neuromancer and liked many of his other books. I’ll be sure to check out Octavia Butler, thank you very much. I tried reading Snow Crash a couple of times but couldn’t get into it. I did finish The Big U by Stephenson and didn’t like it too much, so maybe I just don’t like his style.

Mr. Excellent: I agree the The Forever War is a classic. I heard an interview of Haldeman in the web once and he discussed the novel and his experiences in Vietnam. I don’t remember how much he said that war had influenced the book, but he certainly recognizes the parallels.

Headrush042: I have and treasure all the Hitchhiker books and I’ll be sure to add Hyperion to my list, thanks. Your friend’s book sounds very interesting, but I try not to start a series before it’s finished. I’m still waiting for David Weber to kill off Honor Harrington so I can have some closure and move on with my life. I’ve come to loathe her character, but this far into the series I can’t stop reading it and have to wait for the next book.

RainGrowsBrite: The Hunger Game is on my list now.

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No one has mentioned Orson Scott Card yet, so I will. “Enders Game” started out as a short story that was expaded into a novel. Both are good. There are 3 more (now 4 more with the new book) in the series, but they dont need to be read at all. "Enders Games has a begining, middle and end all its own. And just to be amusing, he went back and rewrote the novel from another characters viewpoint a number of years later. “Enders Shadow” is a great piece of literary experimentation, and a very good novel as well.

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I highly recommend another forum, sffworld, as a great place to get ideas for sf reading. After a 15-year absence from sf reading, I got back on track (and a resulting huge library) from discussions there.

Feel free to take a look around at my library for ideas. Many user comments are available for each book.

Ah! The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell, a must-read for alien/biology lovers! But be sure to read its sequel for the full story and major reveals.

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I generally recommend Robert Charles Wilson to people looking for good SF.

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Suggestion: C. S. Friedman’s In Conquest Born and This Alien Shore. She has written other novels, some science fiction, some fantasy as well, but these two will give you and idea of how she writes.

C. J. Cherryh is one of the better authors of the 80s and 90s. Downbelow Station won a Hugo (as did Cyteen, which I personally am not so fond of), and the rest of the shorter novels set in that universe are a good read. She also has the relatively well-known Chanur novels, which are nominally from the same universe, but are only tangentially linked.

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A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky, Vernor Vinge - hard sci-fi/space opera, really big ideas
Spin, Robert Charles Wilson
Eifelheim, Michael Flynn - first contact in a medieval German village; alien biology

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David Zindell’s Neverness is exceptional and well worth picking up if you like hard SF with a mathmatical bent. He doesn’t seem to be that popular a writer for whatever reason - at least I don’t see his stuff getting recommended much on places like here, but Neverness is top drawer.

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Seconding Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon The Deep was the best book I’ve read in a long time. In fact, it’s the best book I’ve read since my next recommendation: Replay, by Ken Grimwood. That one isn’t hard Sci-Fi, but if you haven’t read it yet, check it out.

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It’s one man’s opinion, but **Jack Vance **is the finest writer sci-fi has produced.

It’s all there: characters, plotting, language, inventiveness.

He has a pulp writer’s sense of pacing and a poet’s grasp of phrasing.

And he’s written a lot. Most of it fantasy, but a lot of sci-fi too. Start with the Demon Princes series (there are omnibuses. “The Star King” is the first.

His words are like music to me. I will often read his sentences over and over. He’s that good.

As for Silverberg: Try “Kingdoms of the Wall” or “Face of the Waters” for recent works. A great older one is “Man in the Maze.” He’s almost always good

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Great help from you all. Thank you.

I have read Ender’s Game and all of the sequels and the two first of the parallel series, though I don’t know why I bothered. Ender’s Game is great, of course, but other than maybe Speaker for the Dead I didn’t like any of the others.

C. S. Friedman and C. J. Cherryh are now both on my list, as are Neverness, Spin, Eifelheim and the Robert Silverberg books mentioned. Replay’s premise seems wonderful and I think I’ll try it for my next read. I’ve already read A Fire Upon the Deep, as well as the prequel and loved both books. Right now I’m hoping fervently Vonge will write a sequel to Rainbow’s End. The Sparrow I remember hating. I really loathed that book but I can’t remember why. That’s weird because it’s just the kind of novel I usually like.

Thank you for the links, wonderlust, they seem most useful.

Has anybody any idea of what short-story I’m talking about? I’m going crazy traying to remember whom was it by.

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I’m gonna bump this thread just once in the hope someone can help identify the short-story I’m talking about.

Thanks in advance.

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I read it too. I can’t remember the title, but I’m almost positive it was by David Gerrold.