What's good in Sci-Fi Lately?

[Anarquistador]

So I got a nifty new Kindle Fire for Christmas (I'm being dragging kicking and screaming into the paperless society), and I would really like to fill it up with some good science fiction. But I haven't really read at lot of recent stuff; my tastes tend to run to the classics. Asimov, Clarke, etc. So does anyone know what's good in recent sci-fi? What are the recent trends in speculative fiction? What's a good thing to read?

Thanks in advance.

[InfiniteMonkey]

Some clarification ...

How are defining "recent"? The last 10 years? The last 20?

Of course, the big trend recently has been Steampunk. I'm more a dabbler there, and will let others fill in that.

I know there is much in the New Space Opera that's quite good (IMO), starting with:

Iain M. Banks (my favorite being The Algebraist)

James Allen Gardner and his League of Peoples series

Jack McDevitt, esp. the Academy series

John Scalzi, starting with Old Man's War.

[Anarquistador]

I would say, the last 10 to 15 years.

I do enjoy some good steampunk, but I wonder. Is there anything more...esoteric out there? Something with virtual reality and transhumanism? Is William Gibson still relevant?

[InfiniteMonkey]

I would say, the last 10 to 15 years.

I do enjoy some good steampunk, but I wonder. Is there anything more...esoteric out there? Something with virtual reality and transhumanism? Is William Gibson still relevant?

For me he was eclipsed by Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Which might be more than 15 years old.

John M. Harrison's Light might interest you. I wasn't crazy about it, but you might like it. Or the two Andrea Cort novels of Adam Troy-Castro, but that's more AI than VR

[Anarquistador]

Oh yes, I've heard good things about Snow Crash. It might be worth picking up.

I'm okay with AI and VR too. While I do like steampunk, the apparent trend bothers me a little. I mean, shouldn't Sci-Fi be about looking forward, not back? That's what I'm trying to find: speculations on our future.

[Talia]

I consider SteamPunk more as fantasy myself. Most of it that I've read has been quasi-alternate history, which definitely counts as fantasy in my book.

I second Jack McDevitt and Scalzi. Scalzi's stuff is a tremendous amount of fun; he's got a keen wit that shines through in his writing (though the 'Old Man's War' series is far from comedy).

If you're OK with stuff that bridges genres, let me recommend Tad Williams' 'Otherlands' series. It's largely set inside a massive virtual reality universe where thousands of people have created their own mini-universes based on whatever theme pleases them - which is where the fantasy elements come in, because the protagonists venture through areas that echo Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, ancient Egypt, all kinds of stuff. One of the main characters has progeria. Another is a psycho killer.  Seriously, I love this series to death.

[Fenrix]

I would say, the last 10 to 15 years.

I do enjoy some good steampunk, but I wonder. Is there anything more...esoteric out there? Something with virtual reality and transhumanism? Is William Gibson still relevant?

For me he was eclipsed by Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash. Which might be more than 15 years old.

John M. Harrison's Light might interest you. I wasn't crazy about it, but you might like it. Or the two Andrea Cort novels of Adam Troy-Castro, but that's more AI than VR

I second this. I don't spend much time with science fiction, but when I do it's Snow Crash.

[Darwinist]

I second Jack McDevitt and Scalzi. Scalzi's stuff is a tremendous amount of fun; he's got a keen wit that shines through in his writing (though the 'Old Man's War' series is far from comedy).

I would third the McDevitt series and throw in Steele's Coyote series.  I just rolled through that and thought it was really good.

[DKT]

I would say, the last 10 to 15 years.

I do enjoy some good steampunk, but I wonder. Is there anything more...esoteric out there? Something with virtual reality and transhumanism? Is William Gibson still relevant?

I haven't actually read it yet, but Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief might be your bag.

You may also want to try Charlie Stross, Cory Doctorow, Elizabeth Bear, and Richard K. Morgan.

Enjoy!

[Devoted135]

I would say, the last 10 to 15 years.

I do enjoy some good steampunk, but I wonder. Is there anything more...esoteric out there? Something with virtual reality and transhumanism? Is William Gibson still relevant?

According to my husband, transhumanism (post-humanism?) is one of Alasdair Reynolds' favorite themes. I'm currently reading Century Rain (more alt hist than scifi in this case) and loving it.

[Anarquistador]

My sole exposure to Cory Doctorow was the "Clockwork Fagin" episode of Escape Pod. Not exactly my cup of tea. But I'll see if I can find something he's written to my tastes.

[DKT]

My sole exposure to Cory Doctorow was the "Clockwork Fagin" episode of Escape Pod. Not exactly my cup of tea. But I'll see if I can find something he's written to my tastes.

I really enjoyed "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom," but it may not be everyone's cup of tea. His short story collection "Overclocked" was excellent, and I think a very good starting point. You should be able to find a lot of his eBooks for free, I think. (He's big on that.)

[InfiniteMonkey]

According to my husband, transhumanism (post-humanism?) is one of Alasdair Reynolds' favorite themes. I'm currently reading Century Rain (more alt hist than scifi in this case) and loving it.

Yeah, I was gonna mention Reynolds but didn't want to monopolize the thread. My book group read "House of Suns" and I read "Revelation Space" on my own. I liked the second better, but "House of Suns" wasn't bad, and I think it might fit a lot more with your (Anarquistador) tastes. Six million year old characters view a lot of Transhumanism in that book.

Also not crazy about Steampunk. While it can be fun, I think at bottom it's a negative critique of the failure of the Space Age and science in general. But that's beyond the scope of this thread.

And I second Dave's rec. of Stross and especially Morgan. Gotta love Takeshi Kovacs.

An author who's been featured on Escape Pod who distributes for free electronically under Creative Commons (though weirdly, not on Amazon) is Peter Watts. Lord knows he's not my cup of tea, but there's plenty of transhumanism in Starfish and Blindsight. I know the first one is on his website.

[DKT]

Yeah, I've been eyeing the bundle of Takeshi Kovacs novels over at Audible for a while now...must try and listen to the other stuff in my library first, though! (But wow, it'd be cool to revisit those someday soon...)

[eytanz]

Several people posted "this is my opinion about steampunk but I don't think it belongs in this thread" post, so I went ahead and split them out into a thread where the discussion can proceed without people feeling they are derailing.

Here's a link to the new thread: http://forum.escapeartists.net/index.php?topic=5865.0

[InfiniteMonkey]

Like time travel? If so, you might like the late Kage Baker's The Company series.

[Anarquistador]

Ooooh...no thank you. Time travel gives me a headache.

And so does reading about it.

[Longshoreman]

If you want something a little different, and have a lot of time (a lot of time), try Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. It's very long winded, and can be dull at times. It might remind you of the long, tedious bits of description on Lord Of The Rings, but if you can get around that and the few translation errors it's a fantastic story worth having a stab at

[Anarquistador]

There were tedious bits in Lord of the Rings?

[eytanz]

There were tedious bits in Lord of the Rings?

There were non-tedious bits in Lord of the Rings?

[Scattercat]

There were tedious bits in Lord of the Rings?

There were non-tedious bits in Lord of the Rings?

WE WILL FIGHT NOW

[Anarquistador]

Have at you, sir!

::throws gauntlet::

[childoftyranny]

Admittingly my own personal theory is that "The Two Towers" actually adds pages to the book while you read so you have to finish it by surprise.

Anywho, a series I recently finished that is definitely recent Sci-Fi was the Species Imperative trilogy from Julie E. Czerneda, I thought she did a really fantastic job dealing with alien races interacting and that's definitely the major reason I'd recommend the series.

[Anarquistador]

Ah, you kids today, with your short attention spans and your Facespaces. Why in MY day, we had one dialup internet number in the whole damn neighborhood. And sometimes you couldn't get on right away! You sometimes had to wait a whole fifteen minutes! And gifs were a big deal! Rassa frassa...

[robertcday]

What's a good thing to read?

Have you tried reading children's Sci-Fi? For instance, despite being 47 and having chewed my way through the classics, I just finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy and found myself riveted. At the same time as being easy reads, they really are un-putable-downable; heck, I even got my wife to read and enjoy them too! 

[stePH]

If you're OK with stuff that bridges genres, let me recommend Tad Williams' 'Otherlands' series. It's largely set inside a massive virtual reality universe where thousands of people have created their own mini-universes based on whatever theme pleases them - which is where the fantasy elements come in, because the protagonists venture through areas that echo Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, ancient Egypt, all kinds of stuff. One of the main characters has progeria. Another is a psycho killer.  Seriously, I love this series to death.

I liked the series overall, but felt cheated at the end; the inciting incidents at the beginning (like what was happening with the children) were not satisfactorily explained (if they were explained at all). I would have to re-read the series to be more clear on what I mean; my first and only read was like ten years ago. I do own all four volumes in hardcover though, and plan to reread, because it was a wild ride, and a damn sight better than The Lord of the Rings or The Dark Tower.

[Talia]

If you're OK with stuff that bridges genres, let me recommend Tad Williams' 'Otherlands' series. It's largely set inside a massive virtual reality universe where thousands of people have created their own mini-universes based on whatever theme pleases them - which is where the fantasy elements come in, because the protagonists venture through areas that echo Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, ancient Egypt, all kinds of stuff. One of the main characters has progeria. Another is a psycho killer.  Seriously, I love this series to death.

I liked the series overall, but felt cheated at the end; the inciting incidents at the beginning (like what was happening with the children) were not satisfactorily explained (if they were explained at all). I would have to re-read the series to be more clear on what I mean; my first and only read was like ten years ago. I do own all four volumes in hardcover though, and plan to reread, because it was a wild ride, and a damn sight better than The Lord of the Rings or The Dark Tower.

It's my understanding they're developing a MMPORG based on it. I just love that concept.

[eytanz]

If you're OK with stuff that bridges genres, let me recommend Tad Williams' 'Otherlands' series. It's largely set inside a massive virtual reality universe where thousands of people have created their own mini-universes based on whatever theme pleases them - which is where the fantasy elements come in, because the protagonists venture through areas that echo Alice in Wonderland, the Wizard of Oz, ancient Egypt, all kinds of stuff. One of the main characters has progeria. Another is a psycho killer.  Seriously, I love this series to death.

I liked the series overall, but felt cheated at the end; the inciting incidents at the beginning (like what was happening with the children) were not satisfactorily explained (if they were explained at all). I would have to re-read the series to be more clear on what I mean; my first and only read was like ten years ago. I do own all four volumes in hardcover though, and plan to reread, because it was a wild ride, and a damn sight better than The Lord of the Rings or The Dark Tower.

I think almost everything was explained - but the problem is that the explanations were either rushed through (like the one for the children; I remember having to re-read the final few chapters several times before I noticed the explanation), or based on people acting rather arbitrarily stupid that didn't mesh with their overall characterization.

[stePH]

I think almost everything was explained - but the problem is that the explanations were either rushed through (like the one for the children; I remember having to re-read the final few chapters several times before I noticed the explanation), or based on people acting rather arbitrarily stupid that didn't mesh with their overall characterization.

Hence the feeling that the author was cheating the reader; the resolutions didn't make sense in the context of the story.