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50 Comments
- LexWalk, on 01/20/2009, -0/+25Dang - I've fallen so far behind the reading curve. Digg reading takes up so much life.
- raywatson, on 01/20/2009, -0/+15Great find! More great books to read.
- santiago1, on 01/20/2009, -0/+8 I seriously doubt it. I've been an avid Science Fiction reader since I was a kid (35+) years ago and am just finishing up one of the recent "Year's Best" collections. Most of the stories in it I just passed up after reading the first few paragraphs. Many were trying too hard to be on the cutting edge (whatever that is) or even flagrantly implementing modernistic themes, such as homosexuality, the war in Iraq, the failed presidency, etc. which isn't so bad, but they used it more as a model for selling the story, or to make themselves seem open and accommodating, rather than blending it into the story seamlessly so that it doesn't distract from the main plot of the story.
I miss the carefree, aggressive and wild days of Harlan Ellison.... - rodrigo74, on 01/21/2009, -1/+7I considered ordering EiE at Amazon but I just can't see myself giving even more money to that crazy homophobic right wing mormon that is OSC.
So I'll skip. And it's probably too childish a book, anyway. - Danoz, on 01/21/2009, -0/+6Not enough love for Peter F Hamilton in that article. And the 2008 release for Hamilton wasn't Dreaming Void, it was Temporal void.
- Jordan117, on 01/21/2009, -0/+5I highly recommend "The Gone-Away World" by Nick Harkaway. It's the dude's first novel, but you can hardly tell.
Basically, the military invents a new class of WMDs called "Go Away Bombs" -- bombs which destroy the information content of all matter in its blast radius, effectively making the victims "go away". Unfortunately these bombs create an unexpected fallout -- clouds of unreal matter that take the form of the unconscious thoughts of human beings. So, when the world is inevitably caught in a "Go-Away War", the aftermath is a nightmare wasteland of monsters and zombies and impossible things made real.
There's more to it than that, the life story of the main character and his best friend and their attempt to save the world's last bastion of reality. But I thought it was a really good read overall. Harkaway writes like Dickens did, lots of longwinded descriptions and tangents and asides, but in a funny and readable way. I'm surprised it didn't make this article, though. - KMye, on 01/21/2009, -0/+4I feel like the issue discussed in the beginning of the article - that sci-fi has been tending to move towards the near term and harder sci-fi - is a direct result of intelligent writers coming to terms with the fact that it's incredibly difficult to write a popular, engaging, human story beyond Singularity. Stories that have humans traveling to distant stars, rather than human-created non-biological intelligences, or at the very least some combination of the two, should these days be considered more in the fantasy genre than sci-fi.
Back when Heinlein, Clarke, etc. were writing, it was a lot more plausible it would be natural humans doing the traveling, or existing in the future at all... - ssquared22, on 01/21/2009, -0/+4Dugg for the Anathem preview image
- Pixelante, on 01/21/2009, -0/+4Yes, little kid, and you shouldn't get too near to them. They actually require brainpower to work and the effort would explode your precious little head.
- inactive, on 01/21/2009, -0/+4Sounds cool, thanks for the heads up!
- ccbbb23, on 01/21/2009, -0/+4I am so relieved that SciFi made it through and beyond the known world trend. So many publishers seemed to take the easy route and force their writers and new writers to write in existing universes: Star Wars, Star Trek, et al. It seemed that my book stores, crappy Generica producing stores, would only carry new titles from existing worlds.
Luckily I had Amazon or online stores.
Luckily too, I had lists like these and the Hugos, the Nebulas, and the Campbell awards to give me starting points. These lists at least try to nominate everything good that year, and they never seemed to be influenced by what the publishers think is good. That McCleod, Stross, Shirley, some of Stephenson, Chabon, Mieville, and many, many others got published is still a mystery to me: a very positive, hope affirming mystery.
More singularities please.
c
ps. And more poli-sci-fi, bio-sci-fi, eco-sci-fi, econ-sci-fi, comp-sci-sci-fi, please. - VarelseSoul, on 01/21/2009, -2/+5No Ender in Exile by OSC? Shame.
- LilRabbitFooFoo, on 01/21/2009, -0/+3Skip Snow Crash. It's obnoxious drivel and is quite dated/doesn't hold up now.
Read anything by Asimov, Heinlein, Bradbury, Clarke, and Dune by Frank Herbert. Most "modern" sci-fi is just pop fluff wanna-be's of these golden greats. - Dublo7, on 01/21/2009, -0/+3Anathem was phenomenal.
- ManWithNoThumbz, on 01/21/2009, -0/+3I truly feel sorry for you (I do!). That the magic of a good read is lost on even a single soul is a tragedy.
- MeatyVitamin, on 01/21/2009, -0/+3I was pumped to see a Dune book cross the list with Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson's Paul of Dune.
I don't care what year it is, if you haven't read Dune by Frank Herbert its about time you do. Dune is to the science fiction genre what Lord of the Rings is to the fantasy genre. Except Dune doesn't get a flashy movie, but it is still phenomenal. Same goes with the rest of the Dune series.*
*(IMO Frank Herbert's work is quite a bit better than that of Brian and Kevin) - dvsbastard, on 01/21/2009, -0/+2I love books... I just wish I could find more time to read.. :(
- ManWithNoThumbz, on 01/21/2009, -0/+2Oh so true. Frank was the visionary.
- newerakb, on 01/21/2009, -0/+2Because it's written by Neal Stephenson.
- ManWithNoThumbz, on 01/21/2009, -0/+2That would be Dune - Frank Herbert, actually. Here's my top 3 essential sci-fi novels:
1. The Past Through Tomorrow - Robert A. Heinlein.
2. Dune - Frank Herbert.
3. Foundation - Isaac Asimov. - inactive, on 01/21/2009, -1/+3For those starting off in the world of Sci-Fi, here's just 3 essential novels that will rock your world
1. The Stars my Destination - Alfred Bester
2. Snow Crash - Neal Stephensen
3. Dune - Frank Miller - AcidVision, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1dan abnett.
- okcoolok1234, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1I loved the Truth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNdUV1vysAc - Valyn, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1I LOVE the other ender books, but EiE was not all that stellar. Ienjoyed it myself, but it would have to be pretty crappy for me to not enjoy any book in the Enderverse...
- QEDemon, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1Ah, that's why people say Digg users have no life.
- LilRabbitFooFoo, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1The summary made me yawn out loud. Can you please elaborate on why it's great sci-fi?
- Stuntaneous, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1or a great place to start.
- rogersj3, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1I enjoyed EiE, but I was disappointed that I'd already read so many sections of the book in short story for on his website, Intergalactic Medicine Show. I'd hoped it would be entirely new...
- Nerys, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1Hmmm my complaint lately has been a nasty LACK of "real" science fiction lately.
I keep running out of books to read and I have zero interest in science fiction "fantasy" books for the most part. I want the HARD science fiction.
I will definitely be looking over this list carefully and checking some of them out. - tigertee, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1i dislike authors who try to be clever just to be clever! haha
manwithnothumbz i am reading up on your recommendation now. :) - ManWithNoThumbz, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1The Beast That Shouted Love at the Heart of the World = astounding, underrated literary accomplishment. Same goes for most everything Heinlein wrote.
- yeghia, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1so are youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu....
- lornefs, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1Horrible!
They have better actors at Best Buy trying to sell me extended warranties!! - yeghia, on 01/21/2009, -0/+11. ender's saga - card
2. foundation series - asimov
3. atlas shrugged/ 1984 - ayn rand, orwell
4. do andrids dream of electric sheep - philip k dick
5. worthing saga - card - newerakb, on 01/21/2009, -1/+2lies! Snow Crash holds up great. I read it last year for the first time, and spent the whole time amazed that he came up with all those ideas BEFORE Second Life came out.
I agree with the rest though. Modern Sci-Fi tends to just be rehashes of the greats, the same way virtually all Fantasy can be traced back to Tolkien.
Asimov's Foundation and Robot series' are what hooked me into sci-fi. - docimodo, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1People new to P F Hamilton should start with his first books in each 'universe'. The Void series is a sequel to a previous series and understanding the universe, characters and plot twists will be difficult without having read them all.
Seriously can't wait for a series or movie based on hamiltons work. I love the concept of the futures he has envisaged - rockgoddess99x, on 01/22/2009, -0/+1Also second Bradbury. "The Martian Chronicles" is a good starting point. A series of short vignettes that are quick and enjoyable to read.
- chubbstar, on 01/22/2009, -0/+1does Spook Country count?
- vertigo32, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1When it comes to flagrantly implemeting personal views into Sci-Fi novels, nobody comes close to Heinlein.
- richbleak, on 01/21/2009, -0/+11. Apparently identifying a joke when you see one requires more brainpower than I realized because two people failed to accomplish this task.
2. I completely reject the idea that reading requires any substantial brainpower. I know you must have to really stretch to find something to feed your ego with, but the ability to read shouldn't be a point of personal pride in modern society.
3. You are a douche. You are one of these people that have convinced themselves that reading works of fiction somehow sets them apart from people who seek recreation elsewhere.
I read just as much as you do except my reading is composed of disparate pieces of non-fiction. I read all day at work, why in the hell am I going to spend hours at night doing it in the attempt to imagine events unfolding when I can spend 1/10th of the time seeing them realized in full HD and surround sound? I have no gripe with people that enjoy a good read, but please don't fool yourself into thinking your entertainment preferences make you better or more intelligent than anyone else. - gambyt13, on 01/21/2009, -0/+1Waiting patiently for something in the league of Dan Simmons' "Ilium" and "Olympos" duet. I have had my fill of movies, microcode and pizza.
- ccbbb23, on 01/22/2009, -0/+1Snow Crash has a few early novel issues, but I cannot see how one can label it "dated" and then refer people to older works as easily labeled as "dated". Each of the writers you list and Stephenson have flaws in their early works. Stephenson does as well as many others with his topics: global networking & neuro- & socio- linguistics.
Wait, I missed the term "obnoxious drivel". What you wrote makes sense now. - rockgoddess99x, on 01/22/2009, -0/+1I second "The Stars My Destination". It's a great book based on "The Count of Monte Cristo" story by Dumas.
But, seriously, man. Frank HERBERT. - Awesometron9000, on 01/21/2009, -0/+0I just finished reading The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds (one story, two books...) by Scott Westerfeld, and it was incredibly good. Highly recommended to anyone interested in picking up some modern SF. I think it's of the "Space Opera" genre. Great read.
- britoca, on 01/21/2009, -1/+1books are sloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooow....
- Pixelante, on 01/22/2009, -0/+0TLDR.
- yocouchdigga, on 01/21/2009, -3/+3*****, I need a good sci-fi to read... heard Anathem was good.
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