11-16-2008, 11:35 PM | #1 |
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Hard Science Fiction suggestions
I looked through and didn't see a topic for this - it's probably buried -but I need some new books - I totally don't like fantasy - I read Lord of the Rings simply because it's a classic and I should, but I don't like the genre at all. I also don't like ... war based? I don't know what you'd call it, but not an emphasis on military expansion - Semper Mars, -
I like more technology based sf and first contact - hate Darrel Bain, Archive was ok, didn't like Snow Crash by Stephenson, Hammerfall was ok, Resnick's Oracle was ok but wouldn't want to reread - I keep thinking I should like Resnick, but just can't find a click w/ him. So, what I do like - Asimov - not so much the Foundation series, but many of his others Gregory Benford - Sunborn is ok, Matter's End - really liked, Poul Anderson - most everything I've liked - Tau Zero, Fredrick Pohl - most everything Silverberg - liked most of them and have read them all Kim Robinson - all the Mars books, Red, Blue, etc - loved Hamilton -Night Dawn's Trilogy - would like to reread - but it's such a massive endeavor to get through it all and very bleak through most of it. Egan - Schild's Ladder - ok Heinlein - liked most of them - Red Planet but have read all his books Greg Bear - most all, Blood Music really, really loved - I've read Darwins Radio and Quantico and Moving Mars Contact - loved - need to find an e-book for it Neal - Denizen - better than ok, not great Gunn - The Listeners, really liked Paula King - A Whisper of Time - really liked So any suggestions - PS - I have a sony - so I can't get Amazon only books. I forgot about Ben Bova too - can't find many at sony or fw though Last edited by mgrunk; 11-19-2008 at 12:04 AM. |
11-16-2008, 11:48 PM | #2 |
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David Zindell's Neverness, and the trilogy A Requiem for Homo Sapiens (The Broken God, The Wild and War in Heaven, though I confess to not having yet read the last, to my continuing dismay at my own procrastination). I would rate Neverness as one of the best SF books I have read, and it is not necessary to continue with the trilogy (Neverness is self-contained)
Cheers, Marc |
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11-17-2008, 01:05 AM | #3 |
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Signal to Noise and A Signal Shattered by Eric S. Nylund might fit the bill.
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11-17-2008, 02:17 AM | #4 |
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Stephen Baxter 'The Time Ships'.
Written as sequel to commemorate the centenary of Wells' 'The Time Machine', it's actually better than the original. |
11-17-2008, 02:38 AM | #5 |
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I haven 't read Mike Brotherton - he has a blog at www.mikebrotherton.com - but he writes 'hard as nails' sf. His first novel can be downloaded free at his website as a promo for the new one.
You might want to try Iain Banks' Culture books, particularly 'use of weapons'. I'm not a huge fan of Bova, but I enjoyed 'Voyagers'. Robert Forward's Dragon's Egg is another 'hard as nails' novel. I don't like 'high fantasy' either, but I'd still recommend Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood, which is a science-fictional approach to mythology as a construct of the collective conscious of humanity but projected onto the real world. I don't know, by the way, if all of these are available as ebooks - you'll know once you input them at fictionwise, etc. But I also have a sony, and know for a fact several of Alistair Reynold's books are available there. If i were you, I'd check out Linda Nagata's 'Vast', which may or may not be an ebook. |
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11-17-2008, 02:51 AM | #6 |
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John Scalzi is the new Heinlein.
Check Ray Gun Revival, too. Some good reads there for fans of hard SF. |
11-17-2008, 03:47 AM | #7 |
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It would be really handy if people could link to the site that sells the books, as it's not always obvious. Fictionwise and Tor both have pages for each book they sell so it's an easy link to see a precis and review (often samples too).
thanks |
11-17-2008, 05:28 AM | #8 |
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Hal Clement's novels.
A very popular "hard" science fiction writer from the 1950s, who is very highly regarded. Don |
11-17-2008, 12:59 PM | #9 | |
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Quote:
I also second the Robert Forward suggestion. He writes books mainly about scientific expeditions to astronomically "interesting" regions. You might like Vernor Vinge as well, as long as you stay away from his near future stories. Pick something like A Deepness in the Sky and you should be happy. I'm suprised that you didn't mention Larry Niven. His Ringworld series should be up your alley, as should The Integral Trees and The Mote in God's Eye with Jerry Pournelle. Last edited by radius; 11-17-2008 at 01:02 PM. |
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11-17-2008, 03:40 PM | #10 | |
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Quote:
Thank you for reminding me. Don |
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11-17-2008, 04:32 PM | #11 |
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I forgot to mention Larry Niven - but I haven't read the Ringworld series - so now I have a nice list to start on. I've been reading quite a bit of mainstream - I realized last night, I just want to go back to my sf - it's my favorite genre and has been since I was a teenager
I've always felt like I was born about 200 years too early - and - couldn't get it together to get hired at NASA w/ my programming degree and will probably never have the money to actually make it on a space flight :-) |
11-18-2008, 06:17 AM | #12 |
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Elisabeth Bear (well, only the sf books of course)
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11-18-2008, 06:28 AM | #13 |
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Alastair Reynolds would fit your needs. Start with Revelation Space.
Linda Nagata also has a series that is (nano-) technology centric. It starts with The Bohr Maker. |
11-18-2008, 11:33 AM | #14 |
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Where might I find Revelation Space - Sony and Fictionwise only have the second book in the series?
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11-18-2008, 12:42 PM | #15 |
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Spider Robinson is pretty good.
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