# Recommend Me Some Good New SF&F **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 29, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550 "2013-10-29T13:14:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/81 "2013-11-13T05:59:54Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > For sci-fi/fantasy mix, try Jack L. Chalker - almost anything he wrote. All of the “Well World” series, the “Four Lords of the Diamond” series (I bought the original covers for those - they hang in my office), The Dancing Gods series, the Quintara Marathon… all great. > > Chalker does have a little fetish though - almost every book deals with some kind of body transformation. But that doesn’t detract from and often enhances the plot. My wife got into Chalker at one point, I tried Rissa Kilgallen or whatever the hell her name was, just couldn’t get into it. There are a lot of good writers I don’t like, however. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/82 "2013-11-13T06:04:31Z")
> [@TheSeaOtter](#): > > I suggest trying out Max Gladstone’s _Craft_ cycle. There are currently two books, _Three Parts Dead_ and _Two Serpents Rise_. The author frequently cites Zelazny as his single greatest influence, and the setting definitely transforms some classic fantasy tropes, with it’s ‘religion as economics/law’ thing. They also definitely qualify as ‘new’ books, released ‘last year’ and ‘last Tuesday’, respectively. Sampled Three Parts Dead, it was a fun ride. A nice startling beginning and the plot rolled briskly along from there. Intriguing treatment of magic, not enough yet to know if it’ll be interesting throughout, but it’ll be on my list for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/83 "2013-11-13T06:06:20Z")
> [@Galwegian](#): > > Has anyone mentioned Gary Gibson’s Shoal series yet? Great space opera with a truly psychotic alien species. Hell YES, I sampled the book and I thought it was a great read. The Shoal is a great alien species, the human society was fun and interesting, and there’s clearly going to be some interesting conflicts. On the list for sure. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/84 "2013-11-13T06:16:51Z")
Checked out “Singulairity Sky.” I did not like the 1984ish planet it is set on, but I liked the Festival and the sense that a bunch of fascists are about to get thoroughly fucked over. On my list, but prolly not with the frontrunners. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/85 "2013-11-13T06:20:19Z")
Checked out the first book in Glen Cook’s Black Company series, found it good solid fantasy with, as stated, some non-standard approaches to fantasy tropes implied. I like the characters and I’m interested enough to want to see how the fantasy tropes are played with. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/86 "2013-11-13T06:23:14Z")
Checked out House of Blades, another solid fantasy novel. Not sure how original the take on standard fantasy tropes will be, but like the Black Company there is enough there to make me want to check it out. My holidays are gonna involve a lot of reading, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/87 "2013-11-13T06:24:51Z")
BTW, “checked out” means I just read the Amazon preview, money’s tight and won’t be buying any books for another couple of weeks. But it’s kind of fun. I wonder if this is why women enjoy shopping. Nah, they never shop for interesting things … ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/88 "2013-11-13T10:22:23Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Checked out Startide Rising, it definitely has the huge galactic empires/weird alien races thing going, and I like the uplifted dolphins. My Christmas gift list will be LOOOONG this year. Heh. Cool. I think you’ll like the uplifted Chimps in “Uplift War” as well - it also has quite a bit of story seen from an alien race’s perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/89 "2013-11-13T11:15:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > fforde’s **Shades of Grey** is one of the wildest science fiction novel of the past ten years. It really stretches the imagination; in fact, you don’t realize until halfway through that it _is_ science fiction. (The title is unfortunate, alas, and may be the reason the sequel hasn’t appeared.) Hellz yes. The Thursday Next books are pretty damn clever (the two Nursery Crime ones are probably the worst of the Bookworld series) but **Shades of Grey** is a whole other prospect. It’s not as funny as the TN books but there’s definitely a streak of whimsy in it, and it takes a long time to figure out what the hell is going on and how the world works. My reactions were thus: First read through: “What the hell was that all about?” Second read through: “Ohhhhhh. I get it now.” Third read through: “This is brilliant! Where’s the damn sequel?” Note that \*\*SoG \*\*is the first of what I believe is going to be a trilogy, so even by the end of the book there’s still a lot of story to be told. However, I suspect the author is focusing more of his attention on the TN books which are more popular and accessible, hence the delay in getting the other series written. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/90 "2013-11-13T13:41:44Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > The Reality Dysfunction. Read most of it, but baled when it became clear that there was a thinly-disguised or maybe just plain Out There supernatural element that was central to the plot. Something about the dead coming back to life or something. Threw me right off the book, and Hamilton. Naw, nothing supernatural about it at all. Like Simmons’s _Endymion_, it posits a universe where souls are real, but there’s nothing supernatural about it (in the RD universe, that is.) ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/91 "2013-11-13T15:34:54Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Naw, nothing supernatural about it at all. Like Simmons’s _Endymion_, it posits a universe where souls are real, but there’s nothing supernatural about it (in the RD universe, that is.) Nothing supernatural about souls? Really? Or do you mean that in the books souls are not treated as a supernatural phenomenon? I regard souls as a purely supernatural phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/92 "2013-11-13T15:52:01Z")
They’re not treated as a supernatural phenomenon, i.e., it’s posited that in the RD universe that they are, in fact, a physical object (more like an energistic phenomenon) which can be manipulated. I don’t know, it’s no more difficult believing in that than it is to believe in FTL or superluminal communications or uplifting or whatever else we take for granted in order for our space operas to work. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/93 "2013-11-13T16:52:48Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > They’re not treated as a supernatural phenomenon, i.e., it’s posited that in the RD universe that they are, in fact, a physical object (more like an energistic phenomenon) which can be manipulated. > > I don’t know, it’s no more difficult believing in that than it is to believe in FTL or superluminal communications or uplifting or whatever else we take for granted in order for our space operas to work. 🙂 Actually, it IS more difficult to suspend my belief over supernatural elements than over things like FTL drives. Granted, we now know of no technology that allows FTL travel: that does not mean we won’t discover one in the future, though the chances of doing so look extremely low at present. Accepting supernatural elements however, brings SF right into the realm of fantasy. Even if treated as a non-supernatural element, it’s part of that whole culture of “woo” that includes ghosts, goblins and flying spaghetti monsters, and which generally does not go with science fiction. There are just too many people who blindly accept that whole culture of woo as a real thing to make me at all happy to find any of it in SF. Poisoning the wellsprings, indeed! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/94 "2013-11-13T17:07:21Z")
No big deal. Just don’t read the _Hyperion_ sequels then, because you’ll be presented with a Universe where souls are the very fabric of space-time. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/95 "2013-11-13T17:29:45Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > The Reality Dysfunction. Read most of it, but baled when it became clear that there was a thinly-disguised or maybe just plain Out There supernatural element that was central to the plot. Something about the dead coming back to life or something. Threw me right off the book, and Hamilton. I bailed from that book as well. However, I strongly recommend Fallen Dragon. If you like that, you’ll also likely enjoy Pandora’s Star / Judas Unchained. His latest “Great North Road” is also quite good. I read his books in that order (plus the Void trilogy, which I didn’t think held up as well), enjoyed all of them and then tried Reality Dysfunction and spit it out like bad milk. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/96 "2013-11-13T18:22:09Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > No big deal. Just don’t read the _Hyperion_ sequels then, because you’ll be presented with a Universe where souls are the very fabric of space-time. 😃 Hyperion had a lot of good reviews, so I tried it, thinking I would read it as fantasy. But I just didn’t like it. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/97 "2013-11-13T18:23:14Z")
> [@emarkp](#): > > I bailed from that book as well. However, I strongly recommend Fallen Dragon. If you like that, you’ll also likely enjoy Pandora’s Star / Judas Unchained. His latest “Great North Road” is also quite good. > > I read his books in that order (plus the Void trilogy, which I didn’t think held up as well), enjoyed all of them and then tried Reality Dysfunction and spit it out like bad milk. Ok, I’ll give the non-woo books a try. ---
**Author:** ![Kelevra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/97f17d/32.png) [@Kelevra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kelevra)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/98 "2013-11-15T14:29:58Z")
For fantasy have you read [Kushiel’s Dart](http://www.amazon.com/Kushiels-Dart-Jacqueline-Carey/dp/0765342987)by Jacqueline Carey? It’s an alternate history sort with a lot of court intrigue. The protagonist is a high class call girl. I found it pretty entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2013, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/99 "2013-11-15T22:34:07Z")
> [@Kelevra](#): > > For fantasy have you read [Kushiel’s Dart](http://www.amazon.com/Kushiels-Dart-Jacqueline-Carey/dp/0765342987)by Jacqueline Carey? It’s an alternate history sort with a lot of court intrigue. The protagonist is a high class call girl. I found it pretty entertaining. I have a copy sitting on my bookshelf right behind me. I gave it a hard run because I had heard it was kinky sexy as well as well-written. But they got to this REALLY long description of a royal party that struck me as really boring, the sort of event that’s dull to read about, not just attend, and I bogged down there. Did not seem to be my cuppa, despite all the good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550/100 "2013-11-19T02:40:47Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > Checked out The Quantum Thief, it was interesting but I found the advanced tech being indistinguishable from magic thing a little too pronounced in the preview. Maybe it settles down as the story progresses, but I got the imppression that the author could be using the advanced tech thing as an all-purpose bit of arm-waving, which makes stories less interesting to me. Gotta have limits that the protagonists need to deal with, or SEEM to need to deal with. I guess that is the hazard of writing about truly advanced tech. There are limits to the tech, and to the people who use the tech. The book actually takes a fairly long time to develop the plot; it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the plot of the _trilogy_ isn’t actually engaged until early in the 2nd book. Still, I totally understand that the writing style and the subject matter may not appeal to most people. Goon on you for giving it a shot, tho! Now, how about those Takeshi Kovacs stories? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-me-some-good-new-sf-f/672550.md?page=6)