Hard Science Fiction Recommendations

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

True, but in the case of Robert J. Sawyer, the same Tor books that may or may not have been geo-restricted in the Sony store (it's been awhile, and I don't remember whether I ran into that for him or another author), are available to Canadians via the Kindle and Kobo stores (the latter of which is notorious for hiding from browsing potential customers all books which are not available for their IP-determined countries).

Well, Sawyer is Canadian, and lives in Toronto. I'd be rather surprised if his books weren't available in Canada...

Also, Tor is currently his sole English-language publisher outside of the occasional special editions via Red Deer Press in Alberta and he's a pretty e-book savvy guy (owns a number of the older e-readers and writes about e-book issues fairly often on his blog), so the overlapping titles, at least, should definitely be available to Canadians.

You would think so.

As for the four promo stories from Tor.com that I mentioned, those are also freely available to Canadians via Kobo and Kindle stores again, whereas at Sony they're US-only, even though Sony also normally sells other stuff to Canada, so it seems more an issue with the vendor than the rights (and Tor.com has been effectively distributing them worldwide via their website anyway).

I suspect you're right, and Sony is simply in error. I've no idea how to get it corrected, however.

Possibly that might explain the paucity of the E-Reads titles that they carry compared to what Fictionwise still lists. Maybe Webscriptions is only selling the ones that come with unrestricted worldwide rights so that they don't end up inadvertently disappointing international readers.

If I were them, I think that's what I'd do, simply to reduce the effort required on my end. If you don't have to bother with hairy server side code to determine where the customer is based on the IP address they have, life becomes easier. You just sell them an ebook.

In any case, I just hope more publishers adopt a Baen-like model when it comes to e-books. Or more authors a Cory Doctorow-esque attitude towards e-publicity.

I've spoken to Cory about it. He has no better idea how it will all fall out than anyone else. He's experimenting. He's making a decent middle class living, which is all he really wants to do, and Tor is cooperative.
______
Dennis

[PhilK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If we're going for the "writer of the most beautiful prose" award, my money would be on Ray Bradbury.

Found him hit or miss myself.
Actually, Harry Turtledove, who resurrected the alternate history genre, is like this too.
Found his writing over the last few years to be mediocre.
His early stuff like "Guns of the South" or the WONDERFUL "Videssos" series was superb*.
He's never got close to that level since, and his writing seems to be on an ever steepening slide to coincide strangely with his success.

*Based entirely on Byzantium, the Greek speaking Eastern Roman Empire - this series got me fascinated in the history of Byzantium - JJ Norwich's trilogy History of Byzantium is a MUST read ! - and most of his Videssos tales have their equivalent, no matter how incredible and unlikely, in Byzantine history. The emperors are as interesting as Caligula Nero et al

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by PhilK

Reading some Philip K Dick and Aldiss was an ordeal, and tedious. I did finish the books and never picked another Aldiss, and read only a couple of P.K.D

There's an irony in there somewhere, wityh your name n all

[crich70]

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet but "The Sands of Mars" by Arthur C. Clarke is a good one. "The City at Worlds End" by Edmond Hamilton is another one and it is an ebook.
http://manybooks.net/titles/hamilton...worldsend.html
The science is a bit out of date but it's still a good read.

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by crich70

I don't know if anyone has mentioned it yet but "The Sands of Mars" by Arthur C. Clarke is a good one. "The City at Worlds End" by Edmond Hamilton is another one and it is an ebook.
http://manybooks.net/titles/hamilton...worldsend.html
The science is a bit out of date but it's still a good read.

Oh I read Sands of Mars for thr first time a while ago-yea its a good un (major Clarke fan here)

[ardeegee]

A heads-up that the new Iain Banks Culture novel Surface Detail has been released.

[Cyclops]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

A heads-up that the new Iain Banks Culture novel Surface Detail has been released.

Cool! I've only read Consider Phlebas-need to get a move on!

[nyrath]

Originally Posted by Cyclops

Cool! I've only read Consider Phlebas-need to get a move on!

Welcome to the Culture, the Galactic Civilization That Iain M. Banks Built

[Penforhire]

Thanks for the link! I hadn't read any of his essays outside of the books.

[ardeegee]

I finished Surface Detail today, and I have to say, McDonald's writing really went to hell with this book.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

I finished Surface Detail today, and I have to say, McDonald's writing really went to hell with this book.

Iain Banks uses a ghost-writer?

[Penforhire]

Well, you know a Mind told him what to write...

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by Penforhire

Well, you know a Mind told him what to write...

No, if a mind told me, I would have called him something like "Suspicious Paucity of Gravitas."

I must have had this guy on my mind for some reason.

[drofgnal]

I don't know if it qualifies as hard Scifi, but yesterday I started Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Nice read, somewhat humorous. I'm really enjoying it a lot.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

I don't know if it qualifies as hard Scifi, but yesterday I started Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Nice read, somewhat humorous. I'm really enjoying it a lot.

This was just selected for the book club read this month. Join us for the discussion in a few weeks.