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Science Fiction ANYONE?

(16 Posts)
chazwin Sun 07-Feb-21 13:32:04

I've always loved science fiction since 1974 when I read Asimov for the first time.
I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find good SF these days. Mostly because I have already sampled and selected the best of the classic writers. Many of the new books coming on to kindle are shoot-em-ups and are not intellectually challenging. I wonder if there are any SF lovers on the Forum with recommendations?

Blinko Sun 07-Feb-21 13:42:16

You could try 'The Girl with all the Gifts' by M.R. Carey. It's a post apocalyptic horror story. If you like that kind of thing. I didn't, tbh, but my son recommended it. Fat lot he knows...

yggdrasil Sun 07-Feb-21 14:09:51

Have you read Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St Mary's?
I have loved it for longer than you, I started with Alfred Bester, and my uncle's Analog/Astounding magazines.
I am still re-reading books from my bookshelf. My collection dates back almost that far, despite assorted moves and cutbacks.
I could recommend more but it depends on what you call the classic writers. And what you think is counts as best.

Dragonella Sun 07-Feb-21 14:22:17

I prefer the old ones, too. Have you read Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin?

Redshirts by John Scalzi - an enjoyable Star Trek parody.

EllanVannin Sun 07-Feb-21 14:35:28

Arthur C Clarke ?

Grandmabatty Tue 09-Feb-21 16:10:27

I love science fiction but I read and reread the classics. Asimov, Clarke, Bradbury, Wyndham and Dick. Stephen King writes some, as well as horror and Ian Banks wrote some excellent sci fi.

EkwaNimitee Sun 14-Feb-21 08:32:00

Have you tried Cixin Liu? Chinese sci-fi is apparently on the up and his books are now being translated. I was deeply impressed by his “Three Body Problem”, a long trilogy. I thought he was definitely on a par with Asimov and Co. Lots of science esp. quantum physics in there so it can be hard going. There’s also a book of short stories “The Wandering Earth” which may be an easier entry and others are gradually coming along. I get them from Amazon on to my Kindle so I don’t know whether you could get them from a bookstore or library.
Kim Stanley Robinson is another you might try. Best known for his “Mars Trilogy “ which I have yet to start,

GrandmaTee Tue 02-Mar-21 18:00:39

Just lost a very lengthy post! Anyway: my best read in 2019 was Sea of Rust by C Robert Cargill. Also try Robert Harris, The Second Sleep.

Truffle1 Wed 03-Mar-21 13:31:59

Have you tried Peter Hamilton? He has written some wonderful sagas - Dreaming Void is one - and then there is Hugh Howey with the amazing Wool Trilogy which is definitely on the re-read list. Oh - and another series of books: War Eternal by MR Forbes.
Interesting to read the other suggestions too, more for me to look for - thanks guys! grin

annodomini Wed 03-Mar-21 13:55:14

A newish writer is Becky Chambers whose Wayfarer series is quite 'different'. It's less about conflict than about relationships between species. So far there are four books and I'm hoping for more. The first one is entitled The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet.

LCoy Wed 03-Mar-21 17:42:56

Love towards Science Fiction started from the works of Asimov, Philip Dick, and Arthur Clarke. Among the recent ones though, Nnedi Okorafor's Binti series and Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries have been enjoyable.

joannapiano Wed 03-Mar-21 18:26:53

I enjoy Science Fiction, too. Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro, the Nobel prize winner, is very good. He has a new novel out this week, Klara and the Sun, about a robot, which I am looking forward to.

Ladyleftfieldlover Wed 03-Mar-21 18:33:41

Love science fiction. I think the book which affected me most and which I reread recently, is Childhoods End by Arthur C Clarke. I read Blue Ticket by Sophie McIntosh just last week. I would describe it as sci fi, but some would say it is dystopian too.

Franbern Sun 14-Mar-21 09:39:35

I started my love affair with Sci Fi back in the 1950's. Small newsagent opposite to where I worked used to have collections of those magazines (Astounding, etc. - all those with such lurid covers). For one shilling I could have one of these, and then change it back out for another one for a further six pennies.

Now I wish I had kept them, what a wonderful collection that would have been! In fact, one of the short stories in one of those still gives me nightmares!!!!

But, they introduced me to the genre, and I have never, ever left it. My children were introduced, gently, via such books as Narnia, etc. I was given the Hobbit when I was first pregnant in the sixties, and a few years later when I had my twins (Nos 4 & 5), I spent a wonderful year, reading this whilst feeding them (night-time feeds only). I lived in Middle Earth for most of that year.

Think I prefer Fantasy to SciFi.

I do not like those sort of scenarios which are too apocalyptic,

Still love the whole of the Asimov collection, and have re-read them all in the order where he tries to make out they are all one continuous story.

I do prefer series of stories, Robyn Hobb - is brilliant and her books are one of my favourite re-reads. Also the PERN series (Anne McAffrey) - but not very happy with the later ones written by Todd McAffrey.

My favourite book of all time is TIGANA by Guy Gabriel Kay. Something about this story just gets to me, no matter how many times I read it. Do enjoy all of Guy Gabriel Kays books, but Tigana is my favourite

I am still an avid watcher of Star Trek on Tv. All but the original series. Even my Alex answers to the name of 'Computer'!!

I am not a science person, and do realise that my love of Fantasy is just pure escapism on my part, but nothing wrong with that.

Greyduster Sun 14-Mar-21 09:48:10

I am reading “The Three Body Problem” at the moment and, unexpectedly, it is beginning to engage me. I used to read a lot of science fiction in my teens - Ray Bradbury, Fred Hoyle, John Wyndham, et al.

Littleannie Sun 14-Mar-21 10:11:09

The best SF book ever written is Earth Abides by George R Stewart. It's still available on Amazon.
A plague kills most of the world. But it's not the usual end of the world story, where the survivors all get guns and shoot each other. It's a more gentle story of a group of survivors and how they manage as first the electricity, then the water, cut off. Through the years there are births and deaths. The hero, Ish, tries to teach the children to read, but all they want to do is play. As the years go on, he realises that they can't survive by scavenging from food shops forever. He makes a bow and arrow, and makes a game of shooting with the children. The day a boy comes home with a rabbit, he realises his tribe will survive. The story covers many years until Ish is an old man.
I first read this wonderful book 50 years ago. My copy was read so many times it fell apart, and I bought a new copy. I still read it once a year.