For anybody into Iain M Banks, The tenth volume of the Culture series ‘The Hydrogen Sonata’ will be out soon

ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!

@ WWJesusrides

@ 10 add the Morgan’s Kovac’s series to your list …and just finish the 2nd book of his A land fit for Heros series (again has continuation), as with the Kovac’s series I throughly enjoyed it but more fantasy than sci-fi (has sci-fi elements)

3 pages and no mention of Hyperion yet? Can’t remember what the sequel/conclusion was called, but consider them 1 book and dive in.

Anathem is my current fave. It’s made Reamde a bit of a disappointment tbh.

Only one mention of Michael Marshall Smith,. tsk,tsk,tsk….
Only Forward, Spares and One of Us are all utter classics. Sadly he appears to have burnt out his sci-Fi abilities with these three books, his recent crime stuff is lacking IMHO.

C J Cherryh (pronounced “Cherryh”).
Her merchanter/belter/thingy stuff is great; gritty, political, kinda ‘procedural’, believable.
Includes Heavy Time, Hell Burner, Cyteen, Downbelow Station, Tripoint.

So, I just bought Cryptonimicon, and a factual book about how belief shape our view of the world SOLELY so I could talk about it in STW arguments 🙂

I also thought Only Forward was one of the best books I’d ever read. Truly fantastic, although the first half of the book is where it’s at. Just magic.

klumpy – Member

C J Cherryh (pronounced “Cherryh”).
Her merchanter/belter/thingy stuff is great; gritty, political, kinda ‘procedural’, believable.
Includes Heavy Time, Hell Burner, Cyteen, Downbelow Station, Tripoint. Seconded – She’s put out some great SF books over the years, and for a prolific writer always maintains a decent quality threshold. V character-driven, kitchen-sink drama in many ways, just on space-ships.

Her fantasy is pretty good but I don’t think she’s ever written anything really amazing there. Not like Cyteen or DBStation are seen in SF. The Russian-themed ones are good (Rusalka etc) and the Morgaine books also.

For anybody into Iain M Banks, The tenth volume of the Culture series ‘The Hydrogen Sonata’ will be out soon

Faptastic

I guess this is Sci Fi, Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Poorly written but a proper Nerdfest for any child of the eighties, although with obvious American bias. A clunky, but enjoyable page turner.

Don’t really get the hullabaloo surrounding Michael Marshall Smith, I enjoyed “Only Forward” but didn’t find it particularly well written or compelling, maybe I’ll have to re-re-read it.

MMS can get a bit samey… Which is weird, because his settings and ideas are definately not samey, but somehow they all end up feeling the same. The Gap vs Jeamland, hard-boiled protagonist and his psycho mates… But they’re very good.

I enjoyed “Only Forward” but didn’t find it particularly well written

It depends what you take from books. To me, the portrayal of the places and the technology in the first part are just brilliant. The plot I thought was decent enough but standard fare really.

First Chapter of Hydrogen Sonata, new Culture Novel on line

Synopsis –

The Scavenger species are circling. It is, truly, the End Days for the Gzilt civilization.

An ancient people, organized on military principles and yet almost perversely peaceful, the Gzilt helped set up the Culture ten thousand years earlier and were very nearly one of its founding societies, deciding not to join only at the last moment. Now they’ve made the collective decision to follow the well-trodden path of millions of other civilizations; they are going to Sublime, elevating themselves to a new and almost infinitely more rich and complex existence.

Amid preparations though, the Regimental High Command is destroyed. Lieutenant Commander (reserve) Vyr Cossont appears to have been involved, and she is now wanted – dead, not alive. Aided only by an ancient, reconditioned android and a suspicious Culture avatar, Cossont must complete her last mission given to her by the High Command. She must find the oldest person in the Culture, a man over nine thousand years old, who might have some idea what really happened all that time ago. It seems that the final days of the Gzilt civilization are likely to prove its most perilous.

is it unwise to start reading at part 10 of the culture series or can you jump in any where?

Only one mention of Michael Marshall Smith,. tsk,tsk,tsk….
Only Forward,

My favourite book of any genre. He could write an entire series of books simply exploring the world he’d drawn up there.
That and Spares have almost a ‘cut and shut’ feel to them though – in each case, 2 full books’ worth of ideas shoehorned into one book.

I quite liked Larry Niven for sci fi. The Ringworld series is pretty good, plus the Mote trilogy(?); and his Inferno is another of my favourites, regularly reread.

Have just finished the first two Kovacs books, just started the third. Really enjoying them thanks for the suggestions.

is it unwise to start reading at part 10 of the culture series or can you jump in any where?

I’d say you can jump in anywhere. Anyone read the new one yet? Apparently it’s out in paperback at airports only at the moment. 😕

For anybody into Iain M Banks, The tenth volume of the Culture series ‘The Hydrogen Sonata’ will be out soon

is it unwise to start reading at part 10 of the culture series or can you jump in any where?
I’d say you can jump in anywhere. Anyone read the new one yet? Apparently it’s out in paperback at airports only at the moment.

If you mean Hydrogen Sonata, I saw it in Waterstones a week or so ago, maybe a couple of weeks. I’ve got the ebook, but I’m currently reading Kate Griffin’s latest in her Matthew Swift Urban Magic series, so it’s in a queue.
Recently found all of Zelazney’s Amber series as free downloads, and they’re all in iBooks waiting, along with several other Zelazny books, and I found the Hooded Swan series by Brian Stableford as well; not free, but very cheap. Sadly, will only open in Bluefire, because of Adobe’s poxy DRM.

In paperback? I know it’s out in hardback but I prefer paperbacks really. My gf saw it in an airport but didn’t have time to buy it – went in Waterstones in town and they said there are special airport editions.

Countzero, was that an apple-only thing for the Zelazny free-ness? The first 5 Amber books are bloomin brilliant.

dobo – Member
is it unwise to start reading at part 10 of the culture series or can you jump in any where?

Theoretically you could start anywhere. But I’d start with an earlier one first so you can find your feet. Maybe Use of Weapons or Player of Games

WUNUNDRED!!!

Consider Phlebeas or Player of Games are probably the best places to start with the Culture IMO… Use of Weapons would be fine too but doesn’t really show you as much Culture Stuff. Anything later will throw you in a bit, and tbh aren’t as good.

As brassneck says: Hyperion and The Fall Of Hyperion.

Brilliant, eye-opening books.