Need a New Sci Fi Author

[Mentat]

Hello there, fellow bibliophiles

I'm looking for another science fiction author to fall in love with. My favorite is Ursula K Leguin, and I also love the Dune novels and many of Orson Scott Cards books. The thing is, I don't really like science fiction that focuses on the technology or spaceships. It's fine to have those elements, but not to center around them.

Classics that have fallen somewhat flat for me include the following: Ringworld (Niven), Rendezvous with Rama (Clarke), The Other End of Time (Pohl), Eon (Bear).... Having said that, I very much liked Darwin's Radio/Children, by Bear. I also enjoyed The Singers of Time, by Jack Williamson and Frederik Pohl.

I'm really not sure what it is that makes the difference. I know I love the Progenitor trope, but David Brin's "Uplift" series didn't do it for me. The "Culture" books by Banks had great potential... I mainly stopped reading because of the very vulgar writing style, but also because it was just much... I don't know... "grittier" than I wanted(?)

Can anyone suggest an author or series that I might enjoy diving into? My most recent sci-fi book that I really liked was "Promise of the Child", by Tom Toner, but the ending (the revelations of what's going on, and what one of the characters is) was downright stupid. I was very disappointed, since I adore the idea of the immortals and of the mix-breed humanoids and so much else that the book offered. It just lost me in the last quarter, somewhat.

Help!

[astrangerhere]

You should try Ann Leckie's Radch trilogy or Mur Lafferty's Six Wakes.

[GlenBarrington]

I pretty much like all the stuff you like, but I also like Ian Banks, so take all this with a grain of salt.

You might try Cristopher Nutall, both his Ark Royal series (It's a spaceship), and his Empire Corps (about what happens to a military unit stranded on a hostile planet after the empire it serves collapses) series are very good.


Kim Stanley Robinson - New York 2140 (good, not great, but enjoyable)

Don McQuinn - The MoonDark Saga books 1-3 (post-apocalyptic)

Joseph Lallo's Free-Wrench (steampunk)

John Scalzi- Old Man's War (Series)

[varlog]

Originally Posted by Mentat

...The "Culture" books by Banks had great potential... I mainly stopped reading because of the very vulgar writing style...

Would you give an example of what you mean by "very vulgar writing style"? I'm just curious - as not native to English. I like Banks unconditionally.

A very obvious proposition would be Expanse series by James S. A. Corey.

[curtw]

Is sounds like you're ready to graduate to Gene Wolfe. Ms. Le Guin had some very nice things to say about his writing, and I agree.

Ursula Le Guin, no slouch herself as a stylist and no stranger to the malignancy of literary labeling, has claimed him for the tribe of genre writers by saying, “Wolfe is our Melville.”

I guarantee you, if you pick up The Fifth Head of Cerberus, you will not be let down by "the revelations of what's going on, and what one of the characters is." As a matter of fact, figuring that out is one of the book's great challenges.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

I pretty much like all the stuff you like, but I also like Ian Banks, so take all this with a grain of salt.

I get it. It's Halloween time, so why not invoke the dark spirits who will no doubt appear to curse you?

[Mentat]

Originally Posted by astrangerhere

You should try Ann Leckie's Radch trilogy or Mur Lafferty's Six Wakes.

Thank you! I'll look into them.

[Mentat]

Originally Posted by curtw

I guarantee you, if you pick up The Fifth Head of Cerberus, you will not be let down by "the revelations of what's going on, and what one of the characters is." As a matter of fact, figuring that out is one of the book's great challenges.

Is that the book I should start with, or are there other great Wolfe books I should read first? Any series?

[crossi]

Have you read Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series? It's on sale today on Amazon.

[Mentat]

Originally Posted by crossi

Have you read Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series? It's on sale today on Amazon.

I haven't. I did read Wild Seed and thought it was really good. I'll have to check out some more of Butler's work.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by curtw

I get it. It's Halloween time, so why not invoke the dark spirits who will no doubt appear to curse you?

?????

[curtw]

Originally Posted by Mentat

Is that the book I should start with, or are there other great Wolfe books I should read first? Any series?

Yes, I wold recommend starting with that, because it's "bite-size" enough to decide if Wolfe is a good fit for you. Not only is it a stand-alone work, but it consists of three interconnected novellas (like Asimov's "The Gods Themselves") that can each be read in a couple of short settings.

After that, the New Sun series is widely acknowledged as his masterwork, but it's four extremely dense volumes, so if you're still on the fence, I'd recommend one of the short story collections, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories, or Endangered Species. The titular story of the first, "The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories," is an homage to Golden Age Sci-Fi like Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Wolfe can be VERY mysterious, he expects the reader to put in some work. If you finish The Fifth Head of Cerberus without realizing the name of the narrator of the first story, then even if you were entertained, you haven't caught on to everything he made available to the attentive reader.

[curtw]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

?????

There's somebody in the neighborhood who really likes to bash Banks.

[John F]

How about Richard K. Morgan, starting with Altered Carbon.

[Sonofrobot]

Gibson is another must read that I didn't see mentioned. Neuromancer is a good starting point and perhaps his most well-known/reviewed book. The Peripheral, which is his most recent novel is also very good. His stuff is more cyberpunk than hard scifi.