Great Sci-Fi Novels - Page 2

Michael Swanwick has some interesting ideas and a great sense of humor. Stick with the short stories, though.

Glad to see Wolfe getting his mentions.

Not a novel, but I'd really recommend "The Hard SF Renaissance," edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, which is a pretty big collection of short Hard SF stories. I'm not sci-fi "fan" by any means (like it, but tend to be reading stuff like Rousseau and Tolstoy these days), but this book is doing a pretty good job of taking me through the gamut of Hard SF subgenres and names that are out there. There are also a lot of really helpful editorial notes concerning these authors and their respective places in the SF "canon," as well as the dialogues that are happening between different "schools" of SF. Also, it's a great book to have while you're busy with other books, due to the length and variety of the stories.

Been going through it really slowly (all I can really say right now is that the military themed stuff really bores me to tears), but I think I can recommend it well enough on the basis that it provides some degree of familiarity with a vast genre to someone who hasn't really delved into this stuff before, allowing the SF newbie to get a sense of what subgenres and authors he or she may gravitate towards.

It focus mainly on really modern stuff, though (90s up to now), so it's not too enlightening concerning the classics of the genre, but "The Hard SF Renaissance" is a pretty good guide to some absolute gems.

Welcome back?

Either way, nice list. I've read a modest portion of those, but lots of new things on their to pique my interest. Appreciated!

(Have you read Banks' "Matter" by the way? Does it holds its own with the rest of the Culture novels? I own it, but haven't gotten around to reading it yet... too many books to get through!)

Yes. Thank you. Although it's likely to be on a (very) part-time basis as I'm up to the eyeballs in work.

Yes. It's not up there with The Player of Games, Use of Weapons or Consider Phlebas - I'd say it hovers at the level of Look to Windward. On the positive side it's a complex, well-written piece (as you'd expect from Banks) which further explores the political, moral & ethical contradiction that is Contact: Special Circumstances. There's plenty of (usually lethal) SC tech and one or two interesting revelations.

The downside for me was the odd pacing (especially in the first half of the book) and a few threadbare characters.

Use of Weapons is the book I came in here to recommend. Absolutely mind-fuckingly awesome from start to finish.

Authors not yet mentioned with some recommendations:

Greg Egan (Axiomatic, havent read his other stuff yet)
Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon, the first of his Takeshi Kovacs novels)
Michael Marshall Smith (first 3 novels)
Kim Stanley Robinson (Mars trilogy, uh which I still havent read...)

Jerry Pournelle's books on the rise of the Co-Dominium are excellent reads, as well as the Sparta series he wrote with S.M. Stirling, which lead directly to the founding of the First Empire. All excellent tie-ins to The Mote In God's Eye, and The Gripping Hand

Props to William Gibson, but he kind of lost me after Virtual Light... although if you are a fan of alternate history novels, read The Difference Engine.

Fuck that. ALL Richard Morgan's books are worth reading. The Kovacs books are all great, Black Man is also worth the read and so is Market Forces. One of my favorite new author in the field for me. The idea of downloaded minds and the implication of it is by itself a great subject, and the way he applied it a bit differently throughout his 3 Takeshi Kovacs books is sublime.

I love how these book threads always pop up right when I'm looking for something new to read. I'm gonna get this one this weekend.

I'm convinced Banks's Consider Phlebas would make one hell of a movie. Horza's escape from the Vavatch Orbital is a potentially mind-blowing FX ride, not to mention the catastrophic destruction of the megaship. There's plenty of emotional pull and the ultimate tragedy is truly heart-breaking.

If I were to write the screenplay I'd have to ramp up Perosteck Balveda's involvement (the best-of-enemies relationship that exists between her and Horza is right at the heart of the story). I'd probably cut the Temple of Light sequence and perhaps even the Eaters (the film would be too long, otherwise).

Kinda a Sci-Fi novel: 'Replay' by Ken Grimwood. What would you do with your life if, when you died, you went back to your childhood and relived everything with your future memories intact? Would you use your knowledge of future events to change the world or profit financially? What if you ran into another individual who was replaying their life too? What if the life/replay cycle kept repeating?

Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow is worthy of inclusion amongst these fine recommendations.I find Sci-fi becomes even more interesting when it has strong religious overtones and Russell does a grand job. I've yet to get around to the sequel.

As much as i consider myself a little Dickhead, i've often found myself enjoying Dick's short stories more than his novels. Any of the omnibuses are a must read too.

Hominids by Robert Sawyer is interesting from a sociological perspective. Haven't read any of the follow-ups though.

Too much PKD can hurt your head. I''ve read just about all his stuff and for every good book he wrote there are at least two mediocre ones. He was undeniably a radical thinker - but I'm not a big fan of his writing per se, which at times approaches hackery. And let's not forget that for more than a few years he was bonkers, which reflects in his work.

IMO, his best books are:

Martian Time Slip.
Ubik.
The Three Stigmata of Eldritch.
The Man in a High Castle.

I have a personal attachment to A Scanner Darkly, but I wouldn't say it's anywhere near the above quality.

I know you kind of slagged on VALIS earlier, but I think the madness on display in that book is beautifully balanced by moments of heartbreaking lucidity, and a sense of despair at what he's become.

There are certainly some fascinating parts to VALIS, but I thought it was more of an incoherent mess than anything else. But I take your point.

Have you read What if our world is their heaven? by Gwen Lee & Doris Elaine Sauter? It contains the last recorded interviews with Phil Dick and provides an intriguing insight into his fractured mind. He's pretty lucid and every bit as radical (there's a lot of discussion about his involvement with Blade Runner). It's pretty obvious his health is failing and at times he almost seems resigned to oblivion.

Welcome back, Mr. Anderson. We've missed you.

The first book of Foundation is undeniably stiff. Things pick up with the introduction of the Mule in Foundation and Empire, and Second Foundation's Arkady Darrell is one of my favorite sci-fi characters. Or was, when I read the books in my teens. Judging by how wretched I found Piers Anthony to be upon revisitation I'm kind of scared to do the same with Asimov.

Your survey of Arthur C. Clarke cannot be complete without Childhood's End.

Leigh Brackett's The Long Tomorrow may be the greatest American sci-fi that nobody reads.

And yes, welcome back!

You're right. And I did enjoy the introduction of the Mule in the second book. The problem I had with the series was Asimov's trick of pulling the rug out from under my feet repeatedly. First it's the Foundation's role to save the universe ... but no because there's the Mule and so we need a second Foundation (rendering the first pretty much redundant and your investment in it a wild goose chase) ... and then there's some other problem so we'll pull the rug out again ... and so on and so on until Asimov decides he needs to tie Foundation up with his Robot series and all remaining believability dissolves like mist in the early morning sun.

I owned TLT and lent it out to a mate who wanted to read it. Never seen it since. Which is annoying because I've not read it.

Thankyou (and Overlord). It's good to be back. I had to quit because I entered teacher training and the workload made it impossible to contribute to message boards. Things have settled down a bit now so I've got some time on my hands (although not much)

Yeah I kinda worded that wrong. I meant Altered Carbon was the first of the series, but yeah he's a brilliant writer that brings together many cool concepts. He makes various technologies either a heaven or hell on Earth, depending on how its used. I am of course thinking of the virtual construct where you can either torture a dude or fuck a woman for a million years, but only an hour passes in the real world.

I think Joel Silver still has the rights to Altered Carbon.

I've read Altered Carbon, but not the sequels (I've got the second on the shelf). I agree that he does bring to the table some interesting concepts (sleeving being the most obvious). You can tell he's a big fan of Raymond Chandler and film noir in general. Indeed, minus the tech Altered Carbon reads like a Chandler novel – corrupt families, bent cops, femme fatales and all. There aren't many writers I can think of who have successfully merged this genre with SF. It makes it quite difficult to classify Morgan's work. I suppose most bookshops would file it under space opera. But it doesn't sit easily in that pigeon hole (if at all).

My main problem with Morgan is his why-choose-any-semblance-of-narrative-subtlety-when-you-can-just-have-a-good-bloodbath? approach. At times I wasn't sure whether I was supposed to be on some alien planet or standing in the middle of an abattoir. Of course, others will say that's exactly the point of reading him …

Morgan has a fantasy novel out now called The Steel Remains that seems to be getting as good a reception as his SF novels. And yes, it's apparently just as bloody and raw as his other books too.

Just picked up "The Steel Remains" but my wife is taking the first crack at it. I love all of Morgan's stuff, visceral bloodbaths and all.

I'm glad someone mentioned Neal Asher. His "Polity" universe is well thought out and the Ian Cormac stories are pretty groovy. He's big into revulsion and body horror too. See "The Skinner" for the best example of this, and also probably his best novel.

And I just want to say again how gobsmackingly awesome Charles Stross's "Accelerando" is. Google it, I know he had posted it for free at one time, not sure if that's still the case. It's a multi-generational family saga disguised as a mindfuck about the Technological Singularity. Witty as hell, dense with information and ideas, just great.

Stross's other novels are good too, but "Accelerando" is still tops for me.

Great to see you Geoff! Welcome back indeed.

I'm about 3/4 way through Revelation Space by Alistair Reynolds and it is thoroughly enjoyable (and building to a great climax, it seems). Slow-starter though, it has tested my patience a couple of times. The tech is really clever, and his adoption of relativistic time-travel not only makes me sound like a giant nerd for typing that sentence, but makes it unique in sci-fi (at least that I've read).

Great to see you as well, Phil.

Reynolds, along with Peter F. Hamilton & (to a lesser extent) Richard Morgan all appear to be heavily influenced by Iain M. Banks but add to the mix their own distinctive style. Reynolds's stuff reeks of late Gothic - mad scientists, gloomy city streets, technology spiraling outside the boundaries of comprehension and control etc. It's pretty atmospheric stuff.

I've a few things to say about Revelation Space, but I'll leave all but one till you've finished:

Why does the ultra-suspicious Sajaki allow Volyova (a genuine sociopath) to have free reign of the ship whilst he's in reefersleep?

I adore Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion.

Stross' Bob Howard/Laundry books - The Atrocity Archives and The Jennifer Morgue - are magically delicious. A splendid blend of Lovecraft, spy thrillers (Len Deighton was a big influence), mathematics/physics/computer science, and British humour. Very highly recommended.

I'm finally reading Earth Abides by George Stewart, the classic end-of-civilization sf novel. Those who appreciated the recent World Without Us book (or Discovery Channel program) would like this.

Can it be no one has mentioned Clarke's Childhood's End in this thread yet?

And if you're looking for something epic, it's hard to go wrong with the early Niven/Pournelle collaborations like The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall and Lucifer's Hammer. If you even remotely liked Independence Day and Armageddon/Deep Impact, you have to read those last two.

I'll have to track down Use of Weapons.

I'm reading Stephenson's Snow Crash, and honestly, I'm halfway through, and it's boring as shit. I feel like nothing has happened that couldn't have been said in a chapter.

Banks' novels are being reissued here in the States in large paperback format with very nice covers. Well worth picking up a new copy. If you see "The Player of Games," I'd grab that one too.

All of the lefty Scottish/British writers have been kicking the collective asses of our homegrown authors for the last five or so years. MacLeod, Stross and Banks FTW.

Dickson - Childhood's End is my favorite Clarke. A bit dated, but man does it have some great ideas and set pieces.

A recommendation for you in particular, given where you live and work, is Cory Doctorow's "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom." Imagine if the old Chud Rep system was the only form of exchange in a post-scarcity, post-money economy. Your reputation, or "whuffie," is everything. That plays a huge role in the novel, which is about a dedicated (and slightly nuts) group of people keeping Disney World in perfect working order for no reason other than that they love the place. Complications ensue when someone wants to make changes to The Haunted Mansion instead of preserving it in its original state.

If you're not finding any of the writing or ideas interesting by that point, then I don't think Stephenson is for you. Potential minor spoiler: Has he even gotten into the Sumerian myth stuff yet where you are in the book? I found that stuff to be pretty cool. [End Spoiler] Snow Crash moves at a blistering pace compared to almost everything else he's written. The digressions into his pet obsessions only get more frequent and longer in Cryptonomicon and The Baroque Cycle.

If a quick progression of story events is your thing, Stephenson is not for you.

Anathem was really fun, by the way.

About 400 pages into Quicksilver, the first 800 page book of three, I asked the friend who'd put me onto them why a) there was no plot, b) nothing had really happened and c) why the fuck had he recommended these books as some of the best he'd ever read where in actual fact they were hopelessly self-indulgent, exquisitely boring and narratively impenetrable. He replied - and I kid you not - "but it REALLY comes together towards the end of book 3!!"

I put the book down and didn't open it again. Sorry Neal, you're just not for me champ.

Heh heh I've had exactly that thought on many, many occasions. I was actually hoping he offered some kind of explanation, but he obviously doesn't if you're still asking the question! Will let you know when I'm done!

I've re-scanned this thread, and (though I could of missed it), seen NO TALK of Tim Powers' 'The Anubis Gates'...
Also Gregory Benford's 'Timescape', which I think I've seen IN some off-hand mention.

I'm amazed I've seen no mention of these...Robert Forward's 'Dragon's Egg' and it's sequel 'Starquake'
...or anything from his 'Rocheworld' ('Flight of the Dragonfly') series.

Also, check out Frank Herbert's 'other' series set on the world of 'Pandora'..
I prefer these to his later 'Dune' books.

I wouldn't judge him solely by The Baroque Cycle. It defeated me too, but I love the rest of his stuff.

Mister Nobody, that's me.

Use of Weapons owes an awful lot to Conrad's Heart of Darkness (and Apocalypse Now for that matter) in its central question of - what happens when an individual abandons all semblance of morality and humanity to achieve a particular goal?

It's definitely one of Banks's strongest pieces of work because it ultimately demands that the reader re-examine his own moral investment in the story . Zakalwe is a beautifully written ass-kicker beginning to lose his edge whilst his Special Circumstances handlers remain oblivious to what they've got in their grip. Familiarity blinds objectivity.

I love the humour, especially the exchanges between the sadistically sarcastic drone Skaffen-Amtiskaw and Zakalwe/Diziet Sma. The 'hat' joke may well be the funniest Banks has written.

For anyone planning to read the book, be aware that the narrative structure is non-linear and can be somewhat disorientating at times. Stick with it and things will make sense (you may need to re-read bits from previous chapters).

Whilst the joke itself was old before Banks got to it, the way it's incorperated into the story works gang-busters!

About 10 years ago I wrote a review of Timescape in which I was less than impressed. I thought it took an interminable amount of time to get going and when it finally did it ended.

Since then I've re-read it and changed my opinion a bit. I still think some of the characters are hopeless stereotypes (Renfrew the typically idiosyncratic and reserved Englishman; Marjorie his twittering horticulturist wife; Greg Markham the ultra-confident American smoothie and Peterson, the string-pulling Machiavellian lothario who appears to be a compensatory fantasy for every egg-head who struggled to get a girl). But I've grown to appreciate its insight into the unglamorous realities of scientific discovery and university politics. Not to mention Benford’s ability to evoke fairly convincing imagery of humanity’s whimpering descent into oblivion.

Peterson's exit is particularly haunting. It's the strongest chapter in the book by far.

Welcome back buddy. I had to look through your profile and it wasn't such a surprise to find you at the literature corner...

I'm at the point where Da5id's mind is toasted. About 1/2 way through. it's gotten better, but this'll be my last book by Stephenson.

Thanks, FA. I am trying to get around the other forums, but I don't have the time I used to (too busy with the endless grind of marking and planning work for ungrateful teenagers). There are lots of fascinating discussions taking place that I really can't add anything to.

What are the other Rama books like?

Law of Diminishing Returns.

Clarke's health deteriorated in the early eighties and he was forced to collaborate with a number of inferior writers (Gentry Lee for the Rama sequels) in order to finish his works.

The second has some interesting moments. The rest are increasingly forgettable (in fact, I have forgotten pretty much everything in them).

3rd and fourth are not worth it. I lost his trail with them. He really is such arrogant that he pretends to give away the meaning of the entire universe...

It's pretty easy to see where the line of distinction between Clarke & Lee is with the introduction of (sssshhh ... 'SEX!') in the second novel. For Clarke, sex was a taboo subject (barring the occasional peck on the cheek between husband and wife). Throughout most of his novels you could be forgiven for thinking characters simply had no genitals.*

But then Clarke was a product of his time. British time. John Wyndham was the same.

* I'm surprised he signed off on these (pretty tame) romantic encounters. Or perhaps he thought he needed Lee to give him some relevance in an increasingly permissive society.

I'll offer Night Land by William Hope Hodgson, even though it's more supernatural fiction than sci-fi. The premise is set far in the future, after the sun and all the stars have gone out and Earth is under complete darkness, so much so that children are told comforting folktales about the long-gone light.

The Night Land is excellent but not an easy read due to the strange writing style he uses in it. Still, a crazy gem. Have you read Hodgson's 'House on the Borderland', JetManX? One of my favourite "way-out-there" tales.