Hard sci-fi novels?

Fenster

I'm looking in vain for more hard sci-fi to devour before the next Peter Hamilton and Alastair Reynolds novels come out. I just reread all of the Reynolds Inhibitor novels and novellas, so those are out.

I've also gone through the Mars, Dune and Night's Dawn books recently as well, so I need something new.

Manach

You could try some books by Walter Jon Williams, whose style seems to be cyber-punk, "Hardwired" but his lattest book "The Praxis" is more akin to the Space Operas of David Weber.

Stark

The Hyperion series by Dan Simmons is very good.

superfly

i'll second that, they are very good books

ixoy

I recommend Greg Bear's "asteroid" trilogy - Eon/Eternity/Legacy. Really enjoyed them. Darwin's Radio is also good (haven't got around to Darwin's Children yet).

moridin

The Gap series, Stephen Donaldson. About as Hard as you can get.

Fenster

Hmm. I've read all those. Believe me when I say I've read everything. Still though, its been a while since I've read the Gap series. Time to dust them off.

CathyMoran

How about going back to the classics such as HG Wells? Hadelman's Forever War etc...John Wyndham (Day of the Triffids etc)...have been reading science fiction since I was 7, so I have read extensively...what sub genre are you interested in?

Fenster

Hard sci-fi and believable fantasty (stuff like Robin Hobb's novels).

I've read or re-read all of those in the past year so I'm after the more obscure works.

CathyMoran

This is probably a weak one - the final one of the Dune prequels will be out late August/early September, is called The Battle of Corrin...the other two were OK, so have no reason to doubt this one...my best friend reads really obscure ones, so will try him as this is bugging me.

LoLth

not sci-fi but you say you like believable fantasy...

song of ice and fire series by george rr martin. (sorry if you already read it)
The books are very down to earth (as in very little, if any, magic)

moridin

LoLth wrote:

not sci-fi but you say you like believable fantasy...

song of ice and fire series by george rr martin. (sorry if you already read it)
The books are very down to earth (as in very little, if any, magic)

... and the books in the Malazan book of the Fallen series - Steven Erikson.

ixoy

When you say hard sci-fi whaddya mean? I took it to mean sci-fi that sticks to scientific principles quite rigidly (generally written by someone with a Physics Masters or somewhat) rather than the more space operatic works of Peter F. Hamilton (whom I greatly enjoy)? Anyhow, any point in asking have you checked out Neal Stephenson? Cryptonomicon is great, Snow Crash is good, and I'm enjoying The Diamond Age currently.

Fenster

moridin wrote:

... and the books in the Malazan book of the Fallen series - Steven Erikson.

Gardens of the Moon was great as it was merely a matter of opinion as to who the good or bad guys were. He abandoned that in the rest and made it clear who was good and who was bad, which sorta took away from it.

Oh, and anything by Kevin J. Anderson is good for toilet paper and not much else. To call them "novels" is to sully the word.

Penny Arcande summed it up best.

Fenster

ixoy wrote:

When you say hard sci-fi whaddya mean? I took it to mean sci-fi that sticks to scientific principles quite rigidly (generally written by someone with a Physics Masters or somewhat) rather than the more space operatic works of Peter F. Hamilton (whom I greatly enjoy)? Anyhow, any point in asking have you checked out Neal Stephenson? Cryptonomicon is great, Snow Crash is good, and I'm enjoying The Diamond Age currently.

I ready Cryptonomicon while on holidays. I sorta lost interest in it in the last 50 pages as he spent more time in (admittedly amusing) side-stories than the main plot. The axe-wielding dwarf at the hobbit dinner party was great.

David Stewart

The master of the hard SF novel in my view was the late Robert L. Forward. His first novel, IIRC, was Dragon's Egg about a civilization that springs up on a Neutron Star. The follow up Starquake, was just as good. His other great one was Rocheworld, AKA Flight of the Dragon Fly about a mission by laser propelled light sail to Barnards Star. He also wrote Timemaster which involved negative matter (not anti-matter) and time travel.

His science was always spot on. In fact I remember articles based on the science of his novels appearing in New Scientist but his characterisation left something to be desired.

Another writer you might like is Richard Morgan. Morgan sprang out of nowhere with a fantastic debut novel Altered Carbon which recently won the 2004 Philip K. Dick Award. The follow up is Broken Angels.

And if you like military SF there's always David Weber's Honor Harrington series and Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan novels.

My current reading matter is Singularity Sky by former struggling British writer Charles Stross. I say former because Singularity Sky was nominated for a Hugo this year (as was one of his short stories) making him a 'rising star of British SF'

ixoy

Fenster wrote:

Oh, and anything by Kevin J. Anderson is good for toilet paper and not much else. To call them "novels" is to sully the word.

Penny Arcande summed it up best.

LMAO! Excellent! I despise Kevin J. Anderson. He really does rape franchises, a whoring writer with zero talent. I first encountered him, alas, reading an X-Files novel years ago and wanted to set the man alight. The Dune prequels? Penny Arcade have covered that.
*spit* and *spit* again. As for fantasy - ever read "The Barbed Coil" by J.V. Jones? It's well researched, a one-off novel so you don't need to get involved in a trilogy, and it's a satisfying read.

Fenster

Indeed I've read all of Richard Mogan's novels and they sit proudly on my bookshelves.

Stewart: I flicked through those novels. They plot can be dire and the science cheesy, but I can't for the life of me read a book with 2D characters.

To quote JMS (paraphrased, I forget the exact quote): "You can have all the special effects in the world, the finest script writers and the best production values, but none of it matters a damm if the actors can't convince you its real."

EDIT: For now I've dug up the Gap novels for some heavy slogging.

EDIT #2: Yeah, I've all of J.V. Jones' works. I'm waiting for A Sword of Red Ice, whenever she decides to release it.

ykt0di9url7bc3

ixoy wrote:

I recommend Greg Bear's "asteroid" trilogy - Eon/Eternity/Legacy. Really enjoyed them. Darwin's Radio is also good (haven't got around to Darwin's Children yet).

Greg Bear's stuff is hit or miss... freinds have recoomended, others slated...

personally, parts were good but overall not something I'd recomend...

NeoSlicerZ

Ilium by Simmons is a very very good book imo. Gotta get me his Hyperion series too *looks mournfully at wallet*

Fenster

Illium was fun, but I wouldn't call it "hard" sci-fi..or fantasy, depending on how you look at it.

I mean, its hard to take a novel seriously when it features a time-travelling geek scientist who takes over the body of Paris in order to have a one-night stand with Helen of Troy. That and he mugs Achilles with a cattle prod.

Sooner or Later

As several people have said above I'd recommend Dan Simmons Hyperion series and Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon . Morgan does have two other novels in print Broken Angels and Market Forces but they are not quite up to the same high standard. Iain Banks Culture novels are good, but maybe not "hard" sci-fi. Neal Stephenson is also worth a look, both the sci-fi stuff and the current trilogy of prequels to Cryptonomicon which are more of a historical fiction/fantasy kind of effort.

smartcard

LoLth wrote:

not sci-fi but you say you like believable fantasy...

song of ice and fire series by george rr martin. (sorry if you already read it)
The books are very down to earth (as in very little, if any, magic)

Yeah if you liked JV Jones' books you should like A Song of Ice and Fire.

Fenster

I assumed that George Martin was a given with everyone so I didn't mention him...

Steven999

Fenster wrote:

I assumed that George Martin was a given with everyone so I didn't mention him...

I like the way this guy thinks .

Fenster

Two books I forgot to mention: The Sparrow and Children of God by Mary Doira Russell. They're basically about first contact with aliens. Great novels.

Sooner or Later

I forgot to mention Neal Asher's Polity novels, Skinner , Gridlinked and Line of Polity .

hostyle

Neverness and the following trilogy A Requiem to Homo Sapiens by David Zindell - though I'm not quite sure what "hard" sci-fi is ...

Boro

Anything by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Classic sci-fi. A Mote in Gods Eye is a great series of books - definitely worth reading. Lucifers Hammer is an excellent dooms day book also.

cerebus

Nobody seems to have mentioned William Gibson yet, so if you haven't checked out Neuromancer and its sequels I would recommend them.

mcgovern

Anything by Verner Vinge (he of the singularity fame) or Alastair Reynolds.
I liked Count Zero by William Gibson, haven't read any of his others.
I also like Greg Bear.
Stephen Baxters "Space" and "Time" were very good, wasnt so impressed with Voyage or Flux though.