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A lot of sci-fi is allegorical. It often tackles issues which would cause controversy if addressed on the nose. It's only a few days ago that fifteen thousand people saw fit to complain about a dance act that most of them probably hadn't even seen, FFS.
Aliens turn up, we treat them like shit, there's a big fight. Now cross out "extraterrestrial aliens" and put in "brown people"...
District 9 and (the film version of) Starship Troopers are a couple of the less subtle examples off the top of my head.
Just wanted to say thanks to whoever it was that recommended Joe Abercrombie. I’ve just finished the last book in The First Law Trilogy and have downloaded the three stand alone novels and the first book in the new trilogy.
Damn, beat me to Joe abercrombie, just read his latest, I'd forgotten how good they are. Very easy to read quickly!
If you tend towards the post-apocalyptic, 'Afterlight' by Alex Scarrow is an easy read, with commentary on consumerism and notions of what constitutes community; some uncomfortable predictions in light of how segments of the population are currently behaving.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned this author, Charlie Jane Anders; she’s written two books that I’ve bought, ‘All The Birds In The Sky’, and ‘The City In The Middle Of The Night’.
The first one is a mixture of fantasy and SF, being about a witch and a techno-geek trying to save the world from ecological disaster.
The second is more SF, set on a colony planet which is tidally locked, so with permanent night and day on opposite sides, with a liveable twilight zone.
Of course, there’s a lot more to them than that, but I don’t want to give too much away; the second book didn’t go exactly where I thought it would go, which made it more interesting.
Very well worth checking out, I’m looking forward to what she does next.
Anyone mentioned Cory Doctorow? Read a few of his recently Homeland and walkaway
Both a bit black but good reads
Just like to mention NK Jemison, 'The Broken Earth' series and 'The Inheritance' series.
I really enjoyed them, found them to be well written and engaging IMHO.
Also really enjoyed William Gibson's 'Blue Ant' series probably not SF but very entertaining nonetheless.
Some REALLY good suggestions in the list so worth digging through it.
After a few trips to the local charity shops and an hour in that awesome 2nd hand bookshop in Inverness, I've put together a little starter pack to get me going. Books
Started off with a book written by a mate, Frequency War by Kevin J Dougan. Self published I believe and printed by amazon. Was a good place to start, quite easy going and quick to get through.
Next up was a World out of Time by Larry Niven and currently half way through Consider Phlebas... Which I'm really enjoying.Think I'll be heading towards more fantasy next.
The replies have been awesome, this list should last me years!
Looks like a good start!
Beware starting the Thomas Covensnt books though! It’s a long journey....hard going at times but ultimately worthwhile...
Joe Haldeman - Peace and War
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/879803.Peace_and_War
An excellent trilogy. A real spectrum of ideas and what's going to happen to us.
a World out of Time by Larry Niven
Love that book, read it countless times, amazed my paperback copy is still in one piece! Pretty sure I bought it in the 70’s. It’s interesting to look back at SF novels from around that time, and compare them to novels published now, which always seem to be about four times thicker.
And that’s just Volume One...
I’ve been dipping in and out of this thread for a while as I’ve started reading a lot more rather than watching TV mainly to help with stress/depression etc.
Reading Tj’s thread above about creating species and how to write about drive technology....this is one of the prime reasons I absolutely love the warhammer Horus Heresy books.
The concept of travel through the immaterial and the darkness that dwells within which strives to corrupt mankind.
It’s just such an amazing concept and it plays so well to the overall story.
I spent probably 30mins waxing lyrical with the local warhammer store manager about the books as we’re on similar books. So of the stories have had me shouting out load at what happens. I’ve even come to hate mankind in these stories which is no mean feat.
I’m on to “Mechanicum” which is all about a subset of mankind which almost sees flesh as a weakness and they replace many body parts/organs with mechanical devices.
Beware starting the Thomas Covensnt books though! It’s a long journey….hard going at times but ultimately worthwhile…
I'd say beware of starting them, because there shit, but each to their own
A lot of good choices above, some of which I will echo.
Iain Banks - Use of weapons
Aaron Dembski-Bowden - Night Lords trilogy and the First Heretic.
Peter Watts - Blindsight
Hannu Rajiniemi - the Quantum thief
Paulo Balcigalupi - the Windup girl.
Charles Stross - Iron sunrise and Glasshouse. I'd also read his shirt story collection, Wireless, which is great.
Horus Heresy is a big investment. Some books are pretty standalone, some are essential to the sequence. In addition to the First Heretic, I'd go Betrayer also by ADB. The last 3 books from the Siege of Terra have been peerless. Saturnine is legitimate as war stories go.
My brain then spilled out more.
Raft and Exultant by Steven Baxter
If we are opening the post apocalyptic door...
The Road - Cormac McCarthy. Stone. Cold. Terror. Can't read now I've got kids.
I'm just reading Day Of The Triffids- in an excellent ancient Penguin edition that was printed in the 60s and cost 20p, but which I paid £2 for in a charity book sale for some reason. Anyway, it's bloody brilliant- so far ahead of it's time, there's so much sheer smartness happening which looking back from 2020 at the fictional near-future he created has aged ridiculously well. But most of all it's the way it just sets out how pretty much all zombie/apocalypse films would go in the future: Disaster happens, monsters abound, but it's the people you need to watch for. And it's subtle about it, like, just quietly mentions that one group of survivors has way more women than men and lets you draw your own conclusions.
I like old scifi but it's usually... well, old.
Like I said on page 1:
Don’t forget John Wyndham
That was aaaaages ago though! I can deal with scifi from the 50s but not STW posts from September
The Patrick Rothfuss 'Kingkiller chronicles' are absolutely brilliant books but I no longer think he'll ever finish them.
Another favourite of mine is Walter Moers, particularly 'The thirteen and a half lives of Captain Bluebear' and 'Rumo' Dont make the mistake of thinking they are Kids books and remember while you read that they were written in German and Translated.
'Sci fi and fantasy' by Matt and Dido
Well, this has been a rather opportune thread! I'm heading into hospital soon for a wee stay, and yesterday my lab sent me a £100 Amazon gift card as a get well soon present. I've downloaded a few of the above newer authors (I'm pretty well versed in classic Sci-Fi), onto my Kindle Fire, and hopefully they'll keep me entertained.
Might have a look for a couple of graphic novels as well. I'm thinking that if I'm feeling too poop to read, I can still look at pretty pictures. I've just spotted a Dune graphic novel (obviously a tie-in with the new movie), that'll be getting bought. Any thoughts or ideas on anything else along those lines?
Cheers
Beagy
The Patrick Rothfuss ‘Kingkiller chronicles’ are absolutely brilliant books but I no longer think he’ll ever finish them.
The second one was far from brilliant - Took the Mary Sue premise to absurd lengths IMO. If this is what he is trying to do and he does produce book 3, Kvothe turns around and says it was all a joke, then I'll take my hat off to the guy as that would take massive balls. His fans would hunt him down with pitchforks.
I don't think it's anything like that, though, and he's just got lost with the story he wanted to tell / possibly just had the one book in him.
No one has mentioned Lois McMaster Bujold, an excellent author; all her novels are good but the Vorkosigan series is excellent. Start with 'Shards of Honour'. Hard SciFi but with great human stories.
Been mentioned a few times already but I've recently come across Adrian Tchaikovsky. Children of Time was great, and I'm halfway through Children of Ruin which I ordered immediately afterwards!
Also China Mieville is definitely worth a read- The Scar and Perdido Street Station have been mentioned already, but I thought Railsea was brilliant too.