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posted by janrinok on Thursday August 23 2018, @11:45PM   Printer-friendly
from the best-page-turners dept.

In Science Fiction, some awards have become almost meaningless as they came to be dominated by interests other than the pure enjoyment of a truly good story. The Hugo Awards, for example, have descended into a left/right catfight. They have become as meaningless as a Nobel Peace Prize.

Some, like yours truly, have entirely stopped reading about awards after getting burned once too many times and rely almost entirely on word of mouth or serendipity to find new authors and worthwhile books.

Our recent discussion of "The winners of the 2018 Hugo Awards" brought the idea (from bzipitidoo) that perhaps Soylent News could do a better job of pointing out new works of Science Fiction that could be of interest to soylentils and janrinok supported the idea, going so far as offering a kidney to the best author. (I think he's British, so he might have meant a kidney pie. [Not true, but funny])

Mind you, we would need to separate Science Fiction from Sci-Fi, Fantasy and other genres that have been mishmashed into one by most publishers and awards organizations.

So what do you think? What is the best new author/book in Science Fiction?


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Friday August 24 2018, @01:16AM (13 children)

    by bzipitidoo (4388) on Friday August 24 2018, @01:16AM (#725514) Journal

    Okay, I haven't kept up much with SF literature since the 90s. I was really hoping for some recommendations from others!

    However, I can list a few of my favorites:

    Lord of Light, Doorways in the Sand, This Immortal, by Roger Zelazny.
    Foundation, Foundation's Edge, Foundation and Earth, by Isaac Asimov.
    Ringworld, by Larry Niven.
    The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, by Ursula LeGuin.
    Uplift War, David Brin.
    Mote in God's Eye, by Niven and Pournelle.
    All the Weyrs of Pern, by Anne McCaffrey
    The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe
    Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne
    Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle

    Yes, I know, the Pern stuff has time travel, and time travel is way, way overused. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells is a great story. After that, time travel was done to death. I found All the Weyrs of Pern an uplifting, feel good sort of story, and tried to ignore the time traveling it had.

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by qzm on Friday August 24 2018, @01:39AM (2 children)

    by qzm (3260) on Friday August 24 2018, @01:39AM (#725521)

    A few of the authors I have read in the last 12 months (some of which are also on your list).
    Listing books? thats a lot of work, I tend to read an authors complete works, or at least skim them.

    Ian M.Banks
    Frank Herbert
    James Corey
    Kim Stanley
    Neal Stephenson
    Stephen Baxter
    Gary Gibson
    David Brin
    Alastair Reynolds
    Peter Hamilton
    Larry Niven
    Neal Asher
    Joe Haldeman
    Stanislaw Lem
    Greg Benford
    Greg Egan

    I would however have to question if Arthur Conan Doyle belongs on a SciFi list..

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by pTamok on Friday August 24 2018, @07:00AM (1 child)

      by pTamok (3042) on Friday August 24 2018, @07:00AM (#725672)

      I would add Charles Stross [isfdb.org] and Ken MacLeod to that list, and note that it is Iain M. Banks [isfdb.org], and Peter F. Hamilton [isfdb.org]. You might also want to add in Harry Harrison [isfdb.org].

      If you are a completionist and read all their works, it'll take a while.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 24 2018, @01:43AM (6 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 24 2018, @01:43AM (#725522) Journal

    Do you have any interest in military stories? David Drake wrote the Hammer's Slammers series, and a fairly large number of other books. All of his writing is filled with violence, including senseless violence, so if that doesn't appeal don't bother. Tom Kratman writes in a similar manner, with the difference that he's a bit more political and current-issue minded.

    And, again, I'll mention Baen books. The Baen universe doesn't have much room for wishy-washy bullshit. You really can't go wrong by picking a book off of their site. Eric Flint, Mercedes Lackey, David Weber, John Ringo and Mike Massa - and more. https://www.baen.com/ [baen.com]

    Jim Baen passed away a few years ago. The most memorable thing about him, in my personal opinion, was his stance on piracy. Piracy is unimportant. The more people that "steal" his books, the better. If they are reading his books, they get hooked, and they keep coming back for more. In effect, "Pirate my books! I love it!"

    The Free Library makes it possible to meet many of these authors at no cost: https://www.baen.com/allbooks/category/index/id/2012 [baen.com]

    Coincidentally, I see Kratman's essay, 'Training for War' listed on that page. Kratman is anathema to the whole progressive/SJW movement. His ideas on training epitomize that.

    • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Friday August 24 2018, @03:43AM

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Friday August 24 2018, @03:43AM (#725594)

      I wasn't that keen on Hammer's Slammers, but have read a fair few of his other stuff, and they're always rollicking (that's a good thing).

      Flint's great, Lackey's great, Weber's great, Ringo's pretty good, and IMO Massa is a bit patchy.

      My library is full of Baen books.

    • (Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Friday August 24 2018, @05:12AM (4 children)

      by bzipitidoo (4388) on Friday August 24 2018, @05:12AM (#725638) Journal

      Does The Mote in God's Eye count as military? If you want more explicitly and wholly military SF, I've read Starship Troopers, Ender's Game, Stirling and Drake's The General series, Drake's The Voyage, A Hymn Before Battle (because it was in the Baen free library), and Saberhagen's Berserker, and I did find all of them at least somewhat enjoyable reads. I've been meaning to get around to The Forever War.

      As statements intended to warn readers of the horrors of war, they're fine. However, I find the premises implausible. The idea that we'll bump up against hostile space faring aliens, get into a fight that's dramatic and desperate, and yet we eventually manage to come out on top, strikes me as extremely improbable. Oh, and of course the aliens are the evil aggressors who deserve to lose. It's such an obvious sop to our wistful desire to feel that we're special. We are still very young. A 10k year old civilization with delusions of martial glory (that's us) would be at most a bothersome baby to a million year old alien civilization that could be at least a Type II. To a Type III civilization, we'd be less than a mosquito. The only fight that is likely to be close to equal is a fight with ourselves-- a rebellion or a civil war. Some of those stories are of course internecine fights.

      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by jmorris on Friday August 24 2018, @06:12AM (2 children)

        by jmorris (4844) on Friday August 24 2018, @06:12AM (#725662)

        However, I find the premises implausible.

        After mentioning _Mote in God's Eye_ you say that? Do you realize how HARD they worked to carefully rig the story to permit a first contact situation where humans could win and it not be ridiculous? They carefully had them locked into a star system where they couldn't discover the technology to escape from so it was plausible they could be an old race more advanced than us yet not have already spread across the galaxy. Then they rigged the plot in several other ways to make it possible to beat them but the final result was not certain even at the end of the book. They were explicitly aware of the problems with other first contact / war with aliens stories and wrote the book as an exploration of the problem.

        And you do know that Drake's The Voyage is just the Greek classics with the serial numbers lightly shaved off, right?

        • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 24 2018, @02:08PM (1 child)

          by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 24 2018, @02:08PM (#725804) Journal

          And you do know that Drake's The Voyage is just the Greek classics with the serial numbers lightly shaved off, right?

          Those of us who read the forwards, afterwards, prologues, commentaries, and assorted other addendums to books are well aware that Drake has re-written many famous stories, battles, and epics. ;^) The man is as honest as he is entertaining.

          • (Score: 1, Troll) by jmorris on Friday August 24 2018, @05:15PM

            by jmorris (4844) on Friday August 24 2018, @05:15PM (#725920)

            Point being that taking any broader message about conflict with aliens from that book is a real stretch since the aliens are also just Greek mythology with the serial numbers lightly sanded down. Fun read, not science fiction by any stretch.

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Friday August 24 2018, @02:05PM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 24 2018, @02:05PM (#725799) Journal

        Given your titles, it seems that like myself, you've read a heckuva lot of books that are dated now. Have you read Laumer's Bolo books? They are notable, in that, the aliens aren't exactly the evil aggressors. If I remember correctly, there are about a half dozen alien races. We kicked ass on a couple of them, we made peace with a couple - then we met an empire. They weren't bad guys, so much, as they were warriors, much as we are. They miscalculated, we miscalculated, each called the other's bluff, and it turned into lots and lots of shooting. The more shooting took place, the deeper the hatred. Eventually, each side goes for the "Armageddon option", and both civilizations are destroyed. The dark ages close in on both of us. Except - one set of refugees meets another set from the other side on one world, and come to an understanding. Another set of refugees ran long enough and far enough to escape the final collapse.

        The story is actually pretty plausible, if you only accept interstellar travel. :^)

        Of course, in the final analysis, we are both sides in the story . . .

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 24 2018, @05:13AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 24 2018, @05:13AM (#725639)

    Of all of the time travel fixes I know of, this was the best. Pity they had to destroy their only means of escape to do it, but hey, it's not like they were going to leave anyway.
    Real shame there are no more Pern books after Anne left us. Time for a series re-read I think. After I finish this Wheel of Time reread.

    • (Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Friday August 24 2018, @07:16PM (1 child)

      by hendrikboom (1125) Subscriber Badge on Friday August 24 2018, @07:16PM (#725986) Homepage Journal

      I liked the Wheel of Time. But ...
      By the third book so much had happened that I completely lost track of the plot and gave up.
      A volume-by-volume summary would be welcome; each summary to be read after the corresponding volume, and used for reference during the next.

      -- hendrik.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 02 2018, @12:51PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday September 02 2018, @12:51PM (#729487)

        Ah, do a read. Get an ebook. I read the first book as a comic in PDF.
        It's much better when read straight through. It gets bogged down in the 7th to 10th books Winter's heart et al. Still good though. I'd pay for the PDF versions if I could buy them for a reasonable price. The books themselves can be had for $5 each now so, awesome!