Hard science fiction

[kennyc]

Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement is a classic!

[montsnmags]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Hi Marc,

Well obviously, the categories are a little fluid, but I think there are a few hallmarks of hard science-fiction.

1. The fewer departures from known physics, chemistry and biology the better; even better if the departures you do make are at plausible given current theories (i.e., FTL travel via worm-hole or similar).

2. The science is often a driving force of the stories. This is probably more true than item 1. Often authors will assume a certain basic world and then ask what if about it. Greg Bear's Darwin's Children series is about what happens if evolution happens fast. Jurassic Park (yes I think it is reasonably hard sci-fi, even if it is never included on the SF shelves) is about what might happen if you cloned dinosaurs, etc.

3. The solutions are often scientific too. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress maybe more adventure story than about science, but the idea of the Moon fighting the Earth by taking advantage of its position at the top of Earth's Gravity Well is a classic SF idea.

--
Bill

That, brill', Bill! Thanks for that.

So, although it takes it out to extremes, would the Revelation Space universe be considered a "hard SF" universe? It seems very focused on teasing out the scientific explanations for things beyond the particpants' current knowledge, while also placing them within a scientifically explainable (and very often explained) context/culture/technology. And if that does it, then I recommend it.

Cheers,
Marc

[bill_mchale]

Originally Posted by montsnmags

That, brill', Bill! Thanks for that.

So, although it takes it out to extremes, would the Revelation Space universe be considered a "hard SF" universe? It seems very focused on teasing out the scientific explanations for things beyond the particpants' current knowledge, while also placing them within a scientifically explainable (and very often explained) context/culture/technology. And if that does it, then I recommend it.

Cheers,
Marc

I haven't gotten around to Revelation Space yet, but the general buzz about it I have seen suggests that it does fall under the Hard Sci-Fi umbrella.

--
Bill

[RichL]

Another vote for Robinson's Mars series. Also Schild's Ladder by Greg Egan.

[TashaBrillo]

I'm not sure if this qualifies, but I found a strange fictional timeline. It offers a lot of scientific predictions, from artificial petroleum to inter-stellar colonization. Because of its niche, it offers little in character development and usual plot, since 150 years are covered in a 100 pages, but I sense a different kind of plot development. I found it very interesting and thought-provoking.

[URL="http://www.amazon.com/Antiquity-Book-Zero-tomorrow-ebook/dp/B005SMZLGS/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_3"]

[TashaBrillo]

http://www.amazon.com/Antiquity-Book...dp/B005SMZLGS/

couldn't get link to work

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Spacejock

I second Dragon's Egg, but it sounds like the OP is looking for recent publications?

What about Iain Banks?

Touche Simon though if a person hasn't heard of the book before then to them it is recent. Certainly Mr. Forward is more contemporary than some of the classic writers in the genre.

[Nancy Fulda]

Contact by Carl Sagan.

At the more recent end of the spectrum, maybe some of Robert J. Sawyer's stuff?

[b0rsuk]

Originally Posted by kacir

Rendezvous With Rama and Rama II by Arthur C. Clarke

I recommend against reading Rama II and latter. The book(s) are very different from the first one, and in my opinion not in a good way. Not surprising, as they were written decades later. The further you go, the less SF there is. Folks in my local fantasy/sf club hate the latter books too. I liked the first book very much though.

[owly]

Richard K. Morgan's books beginning with Altered Carbon, Kind of thriller/military http://www.richardkmorgan.com/

[bill_mchale]

Kind of interesting that this thread got revived the day after I finished the first Revelation Space novel .

I would say that novel kind of falls under a newish category -- Hard Space Opera. I think in several respects it falls just a bit short of what is required for true Hard Science Fiction... and it definitely is a Space Opera, but it plays much closer to real science than most Space Operas do. For example, while I really like David Brin's Uplift Universe, there is an awful lot in it that doesn't feel remotely plausible (the use of Psi for example); in contrast, while Revelation Space includes some really wild concepts... they don't feel nearly as implasuible. All in all, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

--
Bill

[cjr72]

Originally Posted by bill_mchale

Kind of interesting that this thread got revived the day after I finished the first Revelation Space novel .

I would say that novel kind of falls under a newish category -- Hard Space Opera. I think in several respects it falls just a bit short of what is required for true Hard Science Fiction... and it definitely is a Space Opera, but it plays much closer to real science than most Space Operas do. For example, while I really like David Brin's Uplift Universe, there is an awful lot in it that doesn't feel remotely plausible (the use of Psi for example); in contrast, while Revelation Space includes some really wild concepts... they don't feel nearly as implasuible. All in all, I enjoyed it quite a bit.

--
Bill

How's the dialogue between the characters? I read 'Pushing Ice' and I never went back to this author because I found the dialogue to be very stiff and unnatural. It very much took away from the otherwise decent story for me.

[morriss003]

Try Steven Baxter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Baxter