Hard Science Fiction Recommendations

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I just came across this revitalized thread... and I remember that at the time, people were looking for me. And I never came back to this thread when I re-opened my books site. So: Here I am, and I do have a few hard SF books in my collection.

Alas, Factory Orbit (which was mentioned a few times here) is not presently for sale, but its unofficial sequel--Verdant Skies--is available. The "hardness" of my other novels, Chasing the Light and Worldfarm One, may be debatable, but I assure you they are serious SF.

My backlist is going back up, but I've had a lot of projects in the meantime, including a TV script project, and the Verdant Skies sequel, that have drawn out the process.

[fantasyfan]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

A collection of Godwin's stuff is also available through Baen's Webscriptions: http://www.webscription.net//p-76-th...equations.aspx

This includes:
The Survivors
The Harvest
Brain Teaser
Mother Of Invention
—And Devious The Line Of Duty
Empathy
No Species Alone
The Gulf Between
The Cold Equations

It used to be part of the Baen Free Library, but no longer appears in that listing.
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Dennis

That's a great recommendation. At only four dollars it's an excellent value. I just downloaded it and the formatting appears excellent.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by fantasyfan

Tom Godwin is a Golden Age science fiction writer, five of whose stories are available for download from the Project Gutenberg Science Fiction bookshelf.

Should have known someone would go and Godwin the thread.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by fantasyfan

That's a great recommendation. At only four dollars it's an excellent value. I just downloaded it and the formatting appears excellent.

You're welcome.

Baen generally does good formatting. The only quirk I saw was a John Ringo book offered on one of the bound in CDs. A quick back in forth with John in email, with a chime in by former Baen webmaster Arnold Bailey confirmed my suspicions: the final manuscript was not ready when the CD had to go to production, so what was included on the CD was an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy - essentially, uncorrected galley proofs). Personally, I was tickled to read John's notes to himself and questions to his editor scattered through the manuscript, so I wasn't bothered. It was simply the first time I'd seen that occur on a CD.

Godwin is normally remembered for "The Cold Equations", which has a lot of impact if you don't examine the premise too closely. If you do, it becomes what the late Damon Knight once referred to as a story with a Second Order Idiot Plot, which only works because everyone in the story is an idiot.

Eric Flint did a fair bit of editing on "The Gulf Between" for the volume, for reasons he explains. For those interested in what he changed, he also made the original unedited copy available through the Free Library, and you can get that here: http://www.webscription.net//p-307-o...n-stories.aspx
______
Dennis

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ardeegee

Should have known someone would go and Godwin the thread.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And for those who don't know what's so funny, see Goodwin's Law.

[kennyc]

Maybe some recommendations in this Cephalopod:

http://www.wardshelley.com/paintings.../histSciFi.jpg

[CHunter_Author]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Examples?

Two books I can think of off the top of my head are, "The Bradbury Report" Steven Polansky and "The Road" by Cormac Macarthy

[kennyc]

Love The Road, never heard of the other one, but I'm afraid I still don't understand why you said,

"I believe the best Sci-Fi book is one that doesn't try to be sci-fi."

I wouldn't even classify The Road as Sci Fi particularly myself. What would you say makes it Sci Fi?

Just checked The Bradbury Report" Steven Polansky ... looks interesting...sounds more Sci Fi than The Road.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by CHunter_Author

Two books I can think of off the top of my head are, "The Bradbury Report" Steven Polansky and "The Road" by Cormac Macarthy

These look like examples of books that aren't labelled as SF, which is a rather different thing.

The Road is dystopian and post-apocalypse, but the precise nature of the apocalypse is never stated. We are simply presented with a father and son seeking a place where survival is possible in a ruined world. The thing that separates it from SF as traditionally presented is that we don't know what caused the disaster - we simply see the aftermath.

The Bradbury Report is arguably SF, but not apparently labelled as such to reach a wider audience. (The author is a college teacher whose other writing credits are all literary, like the New Yorker.) It's also an old theme in SF: the first exploration I can recall of this particular idea was Michael G. Coney's "Friends Come In Boxes" from the 70's, with a risk-taking protagonist whose friend is also his legally designated source of spare parts.

The publisher of The Bradbury Report is Weinstein Books, an imprint started by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2007. The Weinsteins were formerly the founders of the Miramax film production company, acquired by Disney in 1993. Weinstein Books aims for bestsellers, so not calling The Bradbury Report SF in unsurprising. A film deal for this down the road would also not be a great surprise.

Whether it's any good as SF is another question, as SF is expected to at least try to get the science right, and the underlying premise in The Bradbury Report is open to large questions.
______
Dennis

[kennyc]

Just ran across this (not totally Hard SF) the Locus 2010 Recommended Reading List:

http://www.locusmag.com/Magazine/201...edReading.html

[CHunter_Author]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Love The Road, never heard of the other one, but I'm afraid I still don't understand why you said,

"I believe the best Sci-Fi book is one that doesn't try to be sci-fi."

I wouldn't even classify The Road as Sci Fi particularly myself. What would you say makes it Sci Fi?

Just checked The Bradbury Report" Steven Polansky ... looks interesting...sounds more Sci Fi than The Road.

I consider the "The Road" science fiction because whether the world was bombarded with nukes, asteroids, or whatever other event that could cause such devastation, something in the scientific realm was the culprit. Couple that with the fact that the book is a work of fiction (Thank Goodness!) It equals something belonging in that genre.

I chose "The Bradbury Report" because of its style. The narrator was an old man dealing with a very strange circumstance. He happened to live in the future. He happened to live under a government that carried out such a draconian institution. But his focus was on the human aspect: his relationship with the old friend, and the observations of his double. I hardly noticed the science fiction at all.

What I'm trying to get at is, science fiction, to me, is best when the human element is front and center. When it dominates over the bells and whistles, the gadgets, and technical terms of typical sci-fi. A good story with good characters transcend any genre.

[speedlever]

I'm not sure you would put it in the category of SF, but I find Flatland, by Edwin Abbott an interesting read.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by CHunter_Author

...
...A good story with good characters transcend any genre.

True, but that is always the case and really is not what you said initially nor does it apply exclusively to SF.

There are krap stories in any genre, including literary or mainstream.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by speedlever

I'm not sure you would put it in the category of SF, but I find Flatland, by Edwin Abbott an interesting read.

Certainly as much (moreso) than The Road and a wonderful story!