What "new" SCI-FI would you recommend?

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by ShellShock

I'm going to tell you different, but it is up to you as to whether you agree. I have tried to learn French, Greek and Spanish in the past and have failed miserably. Now that is what I call different languages. English and American English don't come anywhere near. I am English and I read a lot of both American and British sci-fi, and language has never been an issue for me.

its usually easier for brits to read american than americans to read british because in america british TV and movies are so rare, but in GB, they are much more open to American programming.

I didn't say its impossible, but its usually not a painless experience and it takes some learning or practice. they are not the same at all. for almost 200 years our languages separated before modern media put the average american back into contact with the average brit. its different. its certainly the easiest langage to learn. but it is a different langague, just as much as english from 1500 is different from today.

I remember a comedian doing a skit something like this

British Man: do you want me to come knock you up in the morning?
American Woman: Ugh uh huh. only if you bring a rubber.

now the britsh man is like, why does she want be to bring an eraser when I pick her up tomorrow.

and the American is thinking, boy Brits are direct, and she thinks shes getting some protected sex tomorrow

[Timoleon]

Originally Posted by Moe The Cat

Richard K. Morgan's trilogy featuring Takeshi Kovacs.

Morgan is great! WARNING: Lots of profanity, though --- but it seems to flow nicely with the weave of the story, so that it's not too objectionable.

Re: The dearth of female SF authors. I really enjoyed reading Linda Nagata's novels. Give them a try!

Anything by Vernor Vinge is top of the line.

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by Timoleon

Morgan is great! WARNING: Lots of profanity, though --- but it seems to flow nicely with the weave of the story, so that it's not too objectionable.

I would like to meet a person who doesn't curse when they stub their toe.

my brother stubbed his toe a couple of weeks ago after fighting with his girlfriend and he threw his cellphone against the wall... now that Emphasis on profanity

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

Mark Van Name - One Jump Ahead (he's with Baen so e-files should be available.) I reviewed it at my blog a long while back and One Jump Ahead was on my best reads of 2008!!! Good stuff.

+MANY for that recommendation. There are now 3 books in that series (IIRC), all available DRM-free in multiple formats for cheap from Baen.

I'd also add to that recommendation the book Boundary by Flint and Spoor (also from Baen) -- a really dandy hard-SF book.

Xenophon

[Andybaby]

Okay. I just finished Times eye by Stephen Baxter and it was great, I actually read almost 85% of it before I stopped the last time, I started at around 65% this time, and it all came rushing back to me after about 2 years.

I came back to this thread to remember what was said, now I'm deciding between revelation space (boy that's a long book, I hate starting long books sometimes) and an Ursula K Le Guin book.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Andybaby

... it all came rushing back to me after about 2 years.

Isn't it funny how that happens.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by doreenjoy

One I don't recommend:
Perdido Street Station by China Mieville

And I have to neutralize that by strongly recommending Perdido Street Station. Along with Iron Council, The Scar, and The City and The City, all by Mieville. Mieville rocks the sick shizzle bomb, as kids today are wont to say.

Other recent-ish stuff-- Peter F. Hamilton. Read Pandora's Star and Judas Unchained, followed by a new trilogy based in the same universe (a thousand years later) The Temporal Void and The Dreaming Void (third book not out yet.) The best general comparison for the first two Hamilton books listed is Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos books.

Someone mentioned Stross. Recommended are Iron Sunrise and Singularity Sky. Especially Singularity Sky, post-human, post-singularity fiction being amongst my favorite. Speaking of post-human, Alastair Reynolds' series of books starting with Revelation Space are pretty good. As are Richard K. Morgan's three Takeshi Kovacs novels.

Also, Blindsight by Peter Watts. Some really interesting explorations of the nature of consciousness.

[ardeegee]

Originally Posted by BlackVoid

A few more:
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson

Did you know that there is a sequel (Axis)?

[ekaser]

I really wish people would resist the temptation to put 'cute' animations in their avatars. It makes reading (and paying attention to) what you write VERY difficult for the reader. It's cute the first time you see it. Every 'blink' of the animation is just a distraction and an irritation thereafter.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by ekaser

I really wish people would resist the temptation to put 'cute' animations in their avatars. It makes reading (and paying attention to) what you write VERY difficult for the reader. It's cute the first time you see it. Every 'blink' of the animation is just a distraction and an irritation thereafter.

I have to agree almost as bad as music automatically playing on a web page.

[ardeegee]

Didn't think of this before (and I see nobody else has mentioned it.) Ian McDonald. River of Gods, followed by Cyberabad Days.

[kennyc]

I'm about half-way through Margaret Atwood's "The Year of the Flood" and am loving it!

[deanstow]

I would highly recommend anything by Neal Stephenson or Peter F. Hamilton.

Anathem (Stephenson's latest) is perhaps the best novel I have ever read. It is a wonderful work of Science Fiction that sneaks up on you. There is not a wasted line in the book. Every (apparent) diversion of the story comes back as background material for something yet to come. IMHO it is a sad shame that Anathem did not win the Hugo award this year.

I enjoyed this book so much that the day after I finished reading it, I started listening to the audio book during my commute.

Stephenson may go down in history as an 'Important' author.

Also by Stepenson, in order of my appreciation:

• Snow Crash - Better than Neuromancer
• Diamond Age - Strange but compelling story
• Cryptomonicom - Several stories in parallel that tie nicely together at the end.

Peter F Hamilton tends toward Epic Science Fiction tales with the complexity of Dune. His imagination knows no bounds.

The Night's Dawn Trilogy (released as 6 books in England) is astounding. It is, however, quite depressing but the payoff at the end balances it out.

Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained are a two book series that again has some of the imagination and completeness of Dune. The characters are many and intriguing. Passages in these books that outline the ascent of an alien race from first cognitive awareness to today are absolutely the best I have ever seen. Better than Hal Clement. Better than Larry Niven.

Most recently, The Dreaming Void and the Temporal Void (with yet another book to come) are a very enjoyable series that takes place in the universe of Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained but thousands of years later. These are an interesting mix of SciFi / Fantasy with a parallel story that clearly will come together at the end.

Even though it is not Science Fiction, I would recommend the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. These are the continuing tales of a modern day wizard who works as a private investigator. Imagine 2 parts Harry Potter for adults, 2 part Sam Spade, and 1 part Loony Tunes and you will be just about there. If you saw the series on TV, be assured that the books are much better. There are currently 11 books and counting.

The first two are Storm Front and Fool Moon. You will likely want to read them in order.

Hope this is helpful.

Dean

[Andybaby]

Originally Posted by ekaser

I really wish people would resist the temptation to put 'cute' animations in their avatars. It makes reading (and paying attention to) what you write VERY difficult for the reader. It's cute the first time you see it. Every 'blink' of the animation is just a distraction and an irritation thereafter.

use adblock and block things you don't like. it makes the web alot more enjoyable

[kacir]

Originally Posted by ekaser

I really wish people would resist the temptation to put 'cute' animations in their avatars. It makes reading (and paying attention to) what you write VERY difficult for the reader. It's cute the first time you see it. Every 'blink' of the animation is just a distraction and an irritation thereafter.

If you use Mozilla firefox or Opera you can disable animations in animated gifs.

You can also install adblock plugin into Mozilla Firefox.
You can then right-click the image and add it to the adblock. Be careful and block only single image and not all images from server (which is a default action)

You can also use lots of interesting settings / third party tools for MS Internet Explorer. I just haven't used MSIE for browsing for a very, very long time. Last time I had to use MSIE I used Privoxy to block unwanted stuff.