Good hard sci fi
- Thread starter victor
- Start date
Balthamael
First time out of the vault
Alastair Reynolds fits nicely into the parametres given. Revelation Space and Chasm City in particular are excellent, rest of the novels set in that universe less so. Of Reynolds' other works, Pushing Ice is also very good.
quietfanatic
Ancient One
He probably remembers all too well. What is your reasoning Vox? I personally think it is science fiction, but 'less so' than many and not definitely. BNW was more concerned with satirising optimistic speculative science fiction and exploring worrying contemporary issues (e.g. arguments that technology, consumerism and new ideologies will fix everything). You can still argue either way as genre delineations are fairly arbitrary.
SpellCheck can be useful.
SpellCheck can be useful.
MutieChameleon
First time out of the vault
Damn, Huxley's already been mentioned. I'll throw out another one of his works though, since it wasn't named specifically. Ape and Essence, it's a bit short, but I found it worth my time. The Andromeda Strain is a classic, you might have already read it. Um, I've been meaning to finish reading A For Andromeda, but so far there's no physical alien presence. Has some neat scientific principles in it, you kind of have to read into it, but yeah.
<EDIT>The, um, "loveish" junk in there didn't detract from the stories, at least not personally. It might be different for you. Sorry.
<EDIT>The, um, "loveish" junk in there didn't detract from the stories, at least not personally. It might be different for you. Sorry.
E
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Please note that I am a bibliophile and was compelled to post here beyond my ability to control.
"Altered Carbon" and its sequels "Broken angels" and "woken Furies" by Richard Morgan
Very modern writing style.
"Reality disfunction" and it's sequels "Nuetronium alchemist" and "the naked God" by Peter F Hamilton. Other books by the Author are "Misspent Youth", "Pandora's Star", "Judas Unchained", "Fallen Dragon" and the mindstar trilogy
Very big stories and worlds, too big for some people
Funny Sci-Fi has Rob Grant, "Incompetence" I liked, the scene were the german police try to stop the car being "driven" by the dead french minister is pure hilarious class. The red dwarf books he co-wrote are good as well.
Soft Sci-Fi has Simon R Green's Deathstalker series.
"Chaga" by Ian Mcdonald is good, but personally I couldn't get in to the other books of his I tried.
"Gurps transhuman space" is a good hard Sci-fi setting
I could go on but I know I'm too frequently obsessed with books beyond any other normal persons level of interest.
As I'm a newbie I'll refrain from creating a fantasy or a fiction thread in the immediate future.
(poorly disguised subtle hint)
"Altered Carbon" and its sequels "Broken angels" and "woken Furies" by Richard Morgan
Very modern writing style.
"Reality disfunction" and it's sequels "Nuetronium alchemist" and "the naked God" by Peter F Hamilton. Other books by the Author are "Misspent Youth", "Pandora's Star", "Judas Unchained", "Fallen Dragon" and the mindstar trilogy
Very big stories and worlds, too big for some people
Funny Sci-Fi has Rob Grant, "Incompetence" I liked, the scene were the german police try to stop the car being "driven" by the dead french minister is pure hilarious class. The red dwarf books he co-wrote are good as well.
Soft Sci-Fi has Simon R Green's Deathstalker series.
"Chaga" by Ian Mcdonald is good, but personally I couldn't get in to the other books of his I tried.
"Gurps transhuman space" is a good hard Sci-fi setting
I could go on but I know I'm too frequently obsessed with books beyond any other normal persons level of interest.
As I'm a newbie I'll refrain from creating a fantasy or a fiction thread in the immediate future.
(poorly disguised subtle hint)
Philip K. Dick. Dr.Bloodmoney
Postnuclear California. One of the best Sci-Fi books I ever read, and definitely the best post-apoc setting EVAR.
Postnuclear California. One of the best Sci-Fi books I ever read, and definitely the best post-apoc setting EVAR.
The Vault Dweller
always looking for water.
Wooz said:
I like sci-fi, I love post-apoc, and I've grown up and lived in California. I have to get that book. Added to gift list.
,The Vault Dweller
Wooz said:
Owned it, love it, and generally agree. (Incidentally, I also fit all three of the criteria listed above by TVD.) Thought the ending was kind of disjointed, though.
On the subject of hard sci-fi, Overseer, I don't suppose there's any chance that you haven't read Carl Sagan's Contact, but if not, it fits most of the criteria you've put out. The story follows a scientist through her early career and into project leadership at SETI, where they intercept and painstakingly decode a signal that seems to be proof of extraterrestrial intelligence. It gets deeper than that, but the nature and pacing of the story are such that revealing anything else would spoil the lion's share of the book. I would be comfortable telling you that it incorporates mathematics, logic, space, acadamia, the biases and cults of personality inherent in scientific circles, the possibility of extraterrestrials, and the question of an "ultimate intelligence." Though it resembles 'soft' sci-fi in the focus it gives to the main character's life and thoughts, it definitely satisfies the "Hey, look! Science!" requirement missing in much of modern soft, and even hard, science fiction. Suffice it to say, it does make you think.
The story isn't completely free of romantic elements, but if memory serves, they either 1.)integrated naturally, or 2.) weren't given too much center-stage attention, or 3.)both.
As far as Orson Scott Card goes, Ender's Game is fine and dandy, but I'd go for the littler-know Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus.
I highly remoned "Armor" by John Stakely. Very action packed.
It's a little complicated but essentially it is about a guy who gets stuck in a long war between humanity and an alien race, and how he consistently survives horrific battles despite/ because of being completely fatalistic. I don't think I can be any more specific without giving away the plot twists.
It's a little complicated but essentially it is about a guy who gets stuck in a long war between humanity and an alien race, and how he consistently survives horrific battles despite/ because of being completely fatalistic. I don't think I can be any more specific without giving away the plot twists.
I agree with citizenkhan, Neuromancer is a good one. You can also check out "Pattern Recognition" which is one of his other books, and is much less fantasy, which is what I think you mean to avoid.
Another good one, and fairly new, is Michael Crichton's "State of Fear". Which can almost qualify as Sci-Fi, it doesn't really fit the mold but it is a lot of real science in a fictional story, thus fitting the definition.
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" is good, but you've probobly seen Blade Runner. I suggest reading it anyway.
Finally, (and I could go on... nerd much?) anything by Frank Herbert. Be careful, I mean FRANK. Not BRIAN.
Frank Herbert, the whole Dune series, but also the Dorsai series and a whole mess of short novels like the Great White Plague and some others that I can't name off the top of my head.
In fact, Definatly read Dune if you havn't, it's really great, you'll love it.
Another good one, and fairly new, is Michael Crichton's "State of Fear". Which can almost qualify as Sci-Fi, it doesn't really fit the mold but it is a lot of real science in a fictional story, thus fitting the definition.
"Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" is good, but you've probobly seen Blade Runner. I suggest reading it anyway.
Finally, (and I could go on... nerd much?) anything by Frank Herbert. Be careful, I mean FRANK. Not BRIAN.
Frank Herbert, the whole Dune series, but also the Dorsai series and a whole mess of short novels like the Great White Plague and some others that I can't name off the top of my head.
In fact, Definatly read Dune if you havn't, it's really great, you'll love it.