Best Science Fiction Readings

[Jupiter]

All is in the title. Not talking of StyleForum here.

Personally I finished Echopraxia by Peter Watts, certainly one of the best current authors. Absolutely fascinating. Sort of a sequel of Blindsight.

 

[Lord Buckley]

Anything by Philip K. Dick, but especially The Man In The High Castle.

I quite enjoyed the Dune books too for a time in the 80s. Tried all the Asimov stuff and other SF writers, but most of it I found boring.

 

[Jupiter]

Anything by Philip K. Dick, but especially The Man In The High Castle.

I quite enjoyed the Dune books too for a time in the 80s. Tried all the Asimov stuff and other SF writers, but most of it I found boring.

K. Dick is an absolute reference. Herbert too (the first volumes of Dune, the next - God Emperor of Dune, Heretics of Dune - are weaker).

Amongst the contemporary authors I would put the focus on Watts (Blindsight, Starfish trilogy) and John C. Wright's The Golden Age: thrilling trilogy which stages an ultraliberal utopia in a type II human civilization (on Kardashev scale). I read a lot of SF and these two, Watts and Wright, are the only authors capable to renew the genre and to develop a true disruptive, revolutionary approach. That being said, Blindsight or the Golden Age are very challenging readings, sometimes very though and abstruse but once you're in it worth it.

In a more classic vision, Dan Simmon's Hyperion is very good.

 

[viaattovannucci]

Anything and everything by Stanislaw Lem, starting with Solaris.

 

[Jupiter]

Anything and everything by Stanislaw Lem, starting with Solaris.

We approve this. Good adaptation of the novel by Tarkovski. The Soderbergh movie is crappy.

 

[Monkeyface]

All is in the title. Not talking of StyleForum here.

Personally I finished Echopraxia by Peter Watts, certainly one of the best current authors. Absolutely fascinating. Sort of a sequel of Blindsight.

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I read those two a few months ago. I love the concept of bicameralism, and the way he thinks about multiple personality disorders. Imagine if one could have multiple "cores" like a computer that process information simultaneously.

I can recommend Peter F Hamilton, specifically the Night's Dawn Trilogy. I'm a fan of Iain M Banks and Stephen Baxter as well, and of course all of Asimov's books and short stories, even the black widowers series, which is not SF.

William Gibson is a must read as a founder of the cyberpunk genre.

If you like time travel paradoxes then you'll enjoy Blake Crouch's Dark Matter.

 

[Jupiter]

I read those two a few months ago. I love the concept of bicameralism, and the way he thinks about multiple personality disorders. Imagine if one could have multiple "cores" like a computer that process information simultaneously.

I can recommend Peter F Hamilton, specifically the Night's Dawn Trilogy. I'm a fan of Iain M Banks and Stephen Baxter as well, and of course all of Asimov's books and short stories, even the black widowers series, which is not SF.

William Gibson is a must read as a founder of the cyberpunk genre.

If you like time travel paradoxes then you'll enjoy Blake Crouch's Dark Matter.

A reader of Watts? Interesting to know (personally I read him in French and I thought he was a very confidential author in the Canadian/US area). Lot of ideas in Watts novels and fascinating pictures of aliens entities never seen anywhere else. His idea of the Paradise (a virtual world for dead people) is very well staged, reminding some Greg Egan's universes (the idea has been exploited recently in the season 3 of Black Mirror).

I tried Hamilton: surely a lot of interesting intuitions but the style is too heavy and mediocre for me, not mentioning his capacity to write huge book (a US pathology). Concerning Baxter I stopped at The Time Ships which is a very good revival of the Wells matrix. His following work is less seductive I think.

Quoting the cyberpunk roots, we must mention Bruce Sterling work and The Schismatrix which is an extraordinary novel. Surely one of the main inspiration of Peter Watts.

In the recommendation list I'd add two novels of Ian McDonald, also in my top 5 of contemporary SF authors: Rivers of God (depicting India in a near future, excellent) and The Dervish House (on Turkey in, also, a near future). Impressive anticipation work by McDonald. With McDonald we're in the true literature.

 

[Monkeyface]

A reader of Watts? Interesting to know (personally I read him in French and I thought he was a very confidential author in the Canadian/US area). Lot of ideas in Watts novels and fascinating pictures of aliens entities never seen anywhere else. His idea of the Paradise (a virtual world for dead people) is very well staged, reminding some Greg Egan's universes (the idea has been exploited recently in the season 3 of Black Mirror).

I tried Hamilton: surely a lot of interesting intuitions but the style is too heavy and mediocre for me, not mentioning his capacity to write huge book (a US pathology). Concerning Baxter I stopped at The Time Ships which is a very good revival of the Wells matrix. His following work is less seductive I think.

Quoting the cyberpunk roots, we must mention Bruce Sterling work and The Schismatrix which is an extraordinary novel. Surely one of the main inspiration of Peter Watts.

In the recommendation list I'd add two novels of Ian McDonald, also in my top 5 of contemporary SF authors: Rivers of God (depicting India in a near future, excellent) and The Dervish House (on Turkey in, also, a near future). Impressive anticipation work by McDonald. With McDonald we're in the true literature.

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Thanks, I'll add them to my list. Currently reading Mona Lisa Overdrive by Gibson.

 

[Lord Buckley]

What do you guys think about J.G. Ballard?

What about William Burroughs, would you class his literature as science fiction?

 

[Grand Potentate]

In a more classic vision, Dan Simmon's Hyperion is very good.

paging John Lee Pettimore III

he and i have a running dispute over Simmons. i think he's crap and have found all his books to be unenjoyable.

 

[Jupiter]

paging John Lee Pettimore III

he and i have a running dispute over Simmons. i think he's crap and have found all his books to be unenjoyable.

Too hard jugement on Simmons I think. He is certainly not a masterwriter but he is quite a good maker and, above all, a good recycler. I loved particularly The Terror on the destiny of the Franklin expedition. Top novel. In fact I read Hyperion 15 years ago and it's certain the charm wouldn't be the same now. Never finished the following cycle, Endymion. The presence of the Vatican in the 8th millenium killed the interest. Certainly my pagan bias.

 

[Grand Potentate]

Too hard jugement on Simmons I think. He is certainly not a masterwriter but he is quite a good maker and, above all, a good recycler. I loved particularly The Terror on the destiny of the Franklin expedition. Top novel. In fact I read Hyperion 15 years ago and it's certain the charm wouldn't be the same now. Never finished the following cycle, Endymion. The presence of the Vatican in the 8th millenium killed the interest. Certainly my pagan bias.

i hated terror even more than hyperion.

 

[Jupiter]

i hated terror even more than hyperion.

So the debate is solved: you're the problem, not Simmons.

 

[Lord Buckley]

All very good, any takers on my previous questions?

 

[Grand Potentate]

So the debate is solved: you're the problem, not Simmons.

no disagreement

 

[Grand Potentate]

All very good, any takers on my previous questions?

i'm not familiar with either. any recommendations?

 

[Lord Buckley]

With Ballard, there is the non-SF of The Empire Of The Sun which is excellent. But I also liked The Crystal World. Haven't read anything else I am afraid.

Burroughs is voodoo alchemy and time travelling homunculus delight, he made the step beyond SF, in attempting to make the jump into hyper space in real time. I don't believe that any SF author attempted that before, or indeed, after. He was doing it in real time, for real.

 

[Jupiter]

i'm not familiar with either. any recommendations?

As you I only read the Crystal World. Very good but a bit dull to my taste.

Burroughs? I remember having read the Naked Lunch but a very long time ago, before drugs erase all memories of my past. Henri Michaux, well known poet, as Antonin Artaud, was a precursor of this type of hyperspatial jump/existential breakdown of reality. Burroughs work can't be considered as science-fiction author. I'd rather put him in the fantastic literature. Maybe a future thread.

 

[John Lee Pettimore III]

Too hard jugement on Simmons I think. He is certainly not a masterwriter but he is quite a good maker and, above all, a good recycler. I loved particularly The Terror on the destiny of the Franklin expedition. Top novel. In fact I read Hyperion 15 years ago and it's certain the charm wouldn't be the same now. Never finished the following cycle, Endymion. The presence of the Vatican in the 8th millenium killed the interest. Certainly my pagan bias.

The Vatican are the bad guys, so I suggest you keep reading. Endymion isn't as enjoyable, but it's still really, really good sci-fi.

I did not like The Terror. I really respected the amount of research Simmons did for the book but it dragged so much. Same with Abominable.

FWIW, Dan Simmons' has a website, with discussion forums, and he personally responds to most posts. I certainly don't agree with him on everything, but he's brilliant.

 

[Jupiter]

The Vatican are the bad guys, so I suggest you keep reading. Endymion isn't as enjoyable, but it's still really, really good sci-fi.

I did not like The Terror. I really respected the amount of research Simmons did for the book but it dragged so much. Same with Abominable.

FWIW, Dan Simmons' has a website, with discussion forums, and he personally responds to most posts. I certainly don't agree with him on everything, but he's brilliant.

Simmons is a uneven writer (Flashback was a major failure) but I maintain Terror is a well crafted and mastered novel. Too long of course but that's a US editorial pathology (S. King's being the master of huge dragging books: very good start, mediocre and dragging midpart and grotesque end, I speak of his last 20 years production). Drood, excepted some interesting parts, really really drags too much. My souvenir of The Song of Kali is very distant but I think he was at his best at this time. I remember Endymion. No, sorry, the survival of the Vatican in a type I civilization is really too much for me. It could have been worst: Simmons could have staged the Caliphate.

I saw you read Peter Watts Echopraxia as our friend Monkeyface . For me he is currently the best in SF. He doesn't masterize everything but he is the one who shows the most fascinating intuitions. It's difficult to understand Echopraxia if you didn't read Blindsight.

Do you know John C. Wright Golden Age? If not I think it'll gain your curiosity. A - totally confidential - space-opera masterpiece.

Last recommendation: Zig Zag of the spanish author José Carlos Somoza. Very good novel exploiting the string theory.

 

[John Lee Pettimore III]

Simmons is a uneven writer (Flashback was a major failure) but I maintain Terror is a well crafted and mastered novel. Too long of course but that's a US editorial pathology (S. King's being the master of huge dragging books: very good start, mediocre and dragging midpart and grotesque end, I speak of his last 20 years production). Drood, excepted some interesting parts, really really drags too much. My souvenir of The Song of Kali is very distant but I think he was at his best at this time. I remember Endymion. No, sorry, the survival of the Vatican in a type I civilization is really too much for me. It could have been worst: Simmons could have staged the Caliphate.

I saw you read Peter Watts Echopraxia as our friend Monkeyface . For me he is currently the best in SF. He doesn't masterize everything but he is the one who shows the most fascinating intuitions. It's difficult to understand Echopraxia if you didn't read Blindsight.

Do you know John C. Wright Golden Age? If not I think it'll gain your curiosity. A - totally confidential - space-opera masterpiece.

Last recommendation: Zig Zag of the spanish author José Carlos Somoza. Very good novel exploiting the string theory.

View attachment 22504

Finally, another Peter Watts fan! He's incredible. I love Echopraxia and Blindsight. So creative. The Rifters series is pretty good too.

I'll check out Somoza and Wright. As far as fiction goes, I'm currently on a short story general anthology/drama kick, but I'm winding that down, so I'll get those two next.

 

[John Lee Pettimore III]

And are your main problems with Flashback ideological? Or did you not like the actual story?

 

[Jupiter]

And are your main problems with Flashback ideological? Or did you not like the actual story?

No ideological problem. The frame and the background are very good: a clever mix of Igor Panarin's theory on the ethnocultural implosion of the USA (no science fiction here), of Huntington's analysis and of the Man in the High Castle. Flashback had a great potential but the narrative and the plot are poorly crafted. It reminded me Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon. Some very good ideas but a flat narrative. Simmons, as I said previously, is a brillant recycler but not a true creator (contrary to Watts whose vision is disruptive).

Go read John C. Wright Golden Age. If you enjoyed Watts you'll love it. INCREDIBLE! (sorry too much Trump's influence).

 

[Monkeyface]

No ideological problem. The frame and the background are very good: a clever mix of Igor Panarin's theory on the ethnocultural implosion of the USA (no science fiction here), of Huntington's analysis and of the Man in the High Castle. Flashback had a great potential but the narrative and the plot are poorly crafted. It reminded me Richard Morgan's Altered Carbone. Some very good ideas but a flat narrative. Simmons, as I said previously, is a brillant recycler but not a true creator (contrary to Watts whose vision is disruptive).

Go read John C. Wright Golden Age. If you enjoyed Watts you'll love it. INCREDIBLE! (sorry too much Trump's influence).

Btw, we completed glossed over Watts' treatment of Vampires, their origin and more importantly their non-linear thought process.