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I'm reading Ash on thread recommendation and because I recently listened to a podcast about the period. That helped to some extent until it didn't I wonder why I never heard about Mary Gentle before? Im not yet half-way through and the translator's emails are getting increasingly irritating, but otherwise it is pretty great. Is her other stuff worth a go? Edit: I read the Luminous Dead and felt that was sort of the point? Her mumy issues are very much upfront? genericnick fucked around with this message at 21:40 on Aug 20, 2019 |
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Aug 20, 2019 21:32
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. CJ Cherryh's Heavy Time + Hellburner are local to Sol System, I think. It's been a while.
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Aug 20, 2019 21:49
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Hungry posted:I haven't tried The Expanse because the TV show was awful, but ... maybe? It's at least worth giving the first a try.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:01
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The Expanse show is better than the book (I've only read the first) imo, I don't like either too much though. What didn't you like about the show? how about something old school - AE Van Vogt's Empire of the Atom and its sequel The Wizard of Linn. fun books where a space wizard rules the solar system and fights barbarians from Europa and stuff like that.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:15
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. I'm on book 6 of the expanse right now and I'm enjoying them. They aren't revelatory or anything. It's mainly inside the solar system but there is alien poo poo e: haven't watched the show
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Aug 20, 2019 22:22
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^^^ 'sup Babylon's Ashes buddy  Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. I've also thought about digging into Paul McAuley's The Quiet War series, which, as far as I can see, is also set only in the solar system. Anyone have any comments about that series? Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus contains both the original novel and the short stories set in the Shapers/Mechanists universe.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:23
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StrixNebulosa posted:CJ Cherryh's Heavy Time + Hellburner are local to Sol System, I think. It's been a while. Confirm.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:32
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Fart of Presto posted:I've also thought about digging into Paul McAuley's The Quiet War series, which, as far as I can see, is also set only in the solar system. Anyone have any comments about that series? I want a battle of McAuley describing Vaccuum Organisms over and over against the Lost Fleet guy explaining battlecruisers over and over. I don't want to be there, or have to listen to it or anything, I just want it to happen.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:40
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Some of Niven's best short stories are purely within the solar system. The Red Mars series qualifies, although it's mostly planet bound. Most of Heinlein's juveniles (Citizen of the Galaxy being an obvious exception). Most of his short fiction too, I can't recommend The Green Hills of Earth enough as a collection of excellent SF shorts. Venus Equilateral is about the staff of a comm relay station solving the solar system's problems by being smart at them really hard. They end up with a post-scarcity society somehow. These are Golden Age stories, so mostly just be happy there even are woman as characters.O'Neil should be the next classic author Baen reprints. Stanley Weinbaum is best known for A Martian Odyssey, but any anthology with that and his other stories is a treasure trove of classic planetary romances. Isaac Asimov's Lucky Starr books were favorites when I was a kid, but I have no idea how well they held up.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:47
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Ceebees posted:I want a battle of McAuley describing Vaccuum Organisms over and over against the Lost Fleet guy explaining battlecruisers over and over. I don't want to be there, or have to listen to it or anything, I just want it to happen. what are battlecruisers
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Aug 20, 2019 22:54
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. Perhaps Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald? It's not exceptionally good or anything, but at least it is better than The Expanse.
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Aug 20, 2019 22:57
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Thanks for all the suggestions, I'll try out some of those.
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Aug 20, 2019 23:26
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. Check out Paul McAuley's Quiet War series, which takes in/is limited to the solar system. The first Quiet War book is 90% world-building though, with molecule deep characters/characterizations. The standalone side stories of the Quiet War are infinitely better than the 1st Quiet War book imo.
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Aug 20, 2019 23:27
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The_White_Crane posted:Because the Hugos are currently heavily skewed towards a certain set of modern, liberal, mostly female authors as the pendulum swings away from the previous set of old-fashioned, conservative, mostly male authors, and Catherynne Valente is a part of the in-group. you put it very well. I haven't enjoyed a lot of the modern scifi but as a middle aged, middle class white guy i've had a good go. and the ones i've liked, i've loved.
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Aug 20, 2019 23:40
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Kestral posted:I've been tearing through Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade and enjoying it a great deal - how does the rest of her work stack up? her bel dame apocrypha series is pretty good, if you like the idea of scifi action adventure body horror stories set in a sort of middle eastern matriarchal society on a cancer ridden planet where the various societies are locked in a WWI style trench war and technology is mostly organic based on insects. the planet is under interdiction and it's hinted that the rest of the universe is dying. protagonist is a rogue bounty hunter who drinks too much. World Breakers didn't grab me but i did read the first one years ago. The geek feminist revolution wasn't really my thing, although i read a couple of the essays.
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Aug 20, 2019 23:53
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Currently reading The Luminous Dead, I think I saw it recommended in here. I might drop it. I like the concept, but the main characters strike me as insufferable adult children. They don't get much better, if at all, and their relationship is the actual core of the novel: the horrors of caving are there to punish them for their failure to make interpersonal connections, in the same way that an 80s slasher flick killer is there to punish teenagers for having sex. I didn't love it, frankly, and felt like it was a bait-and-switch from the way it was advertised.
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Aug 21, 2019 00:21
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. The TV show is great and the books are terrible, so maybe your taste is weird enough that you'll like the books if you hate the TV show?
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Aug 21, 2019 00:28
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dig this cover:
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Aug 21, 2019 00:51
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. The Eight Worlds series by John Varley (he of the centaur sex chart) is really good, where humanity's been kicked off Earth by the enigmatic Invaders and left to eke out survival on the other planets. He started writing them in the '70s and I remember The Ophiuchi Hotline being forgettable, but he has a decent collection of short stories called The Barbie Murders. Then he returned to it in the '90s, when he was a much improved writer, and Steel Beach is a cool but somewhat all-over-the-place book about a journalist on Luna, and The Golden Globe is about a conman and itinerant actor trying to get from Pluto to Luna in time to play King Lear while being pursued by a hitman. The latter is one of my top 5 sci-fi novels of all time. Not great literature or anything, just a really fun adventure with an absolutely charming narrator. You've also of course got Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312. Michael Swanwick's Vaccum Flowers is pretty decent. It's been years since I read Bloom by Will McCarthy but I remember liking it. And I have personally loved the first two books in Ian McDonald's Luna trilogy and am about to get started on the third and final one, though as mentioned above they're mostly planet(moon)bound.
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Aug 21, 2019 04:39
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Hungry posted:Does anybody have any decent recommendations for science fiction focused on or limited to the solar system? I've been reading a lot of space opera lately and I feel like I need something more local, but there's only so many times a human being can reread Blindsight. There is also the Owner series by Asher. Which however might offend your political sensibilities.
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Aug 21, 2019 05:56
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freebooter posted:You've also of course got Kim Stanley Robinson's 2312. Curious what you all think of this one. I've had it sitting on a shelf for a long time and maybe even read the first few chapters of it before getting distracted with something else.
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Aug 21, 2019 06:17
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Kestral posted:I've been tearing through Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade and enjoying it a great deal - how does the rest of her work stack up? It...varies. A lot of her work revolves around Organic technology/bugs and can be a bit over the top. Her Bel Dame Apocrypha is basically the Forever War in a Muslim-influenced world and the main characters are in the underbelly at the start. The first sentence sort of sells the setting "Nyx sold her womb somewhere between Punjai and Faleen, on the edge of the desert." It's a harsh world, and while that edge may cut it fits the setting. Overall the trilogy opens things up and goes more into the background of the world. Her other works I've read the Mirror Universe the first book of a trilogy, which is magic, and organics. Lastly, I've read the Star's are Legion, which is a failing constellation of World Ships that are...organic. It revolves around the various entities raiding each other for matter to harvest so that they can go on for a few more time units. Overall I like her work, Bel Dame was her start and it can be a bit rough, since then she seems to have hit a stride.
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Aug 21, 2019 06:34
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https://www.guernicamag.com/the-quiet-boy/ Apparently this has been turned into a movie called Antlers. Guillermo del Toro involved though, so the creature design is gonna be fantastic. New teaser got earlier today for it. Looks kinda batshit.
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Aug 21, 2019 07:11
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Inspector 34 posted:Curious what you all think of this one. I've had it sitting on a shelf for a long time and maybe even read the first few chapters of it before getting distracted with something else. It's not his best - kind of all over the shop and five years after reading it I don't remember much of it - but it fits the criteria, and I find even when KSR's not on his game he's still pretty good. Aurora, on the other hand, I think is one of the most important science fiction novels of the century so far.
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Aug 21, 2019 07:49
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KSR's Red Mars and the sequels are probably his best books that stay entirely in the Solar System, imo.
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Aug 21, 2019 08:53
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Quantum Thief / Fractal Prince / Causal Angel are solar system based  Calculating Stars read like a dime novel and I closed it at about 10% in. What did I miss out on?
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Aug 21, 2019 12:50
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Inspector 34 posted:Curious what you all think of this one. I've had it sitting on a shelf for a long time and maybe even read the first few chapters of it before getting distracted with something else. It's not too dissimilar to the Mars Trilogy, with an interesting take on some kinds of transhumanism. It's definitely not really classic sci-fi with a war over something or other. It's closer to a love story mixed with a murder mystery writ large.
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Aug 21, 2019 13:57
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NoNostalgia4Grover posted:Check out Paul McAuley's Quiet War series, which takes in/is limited to the solar system. The first Quiet War book is 90% world-building though, with molecule deep characters/characterizations.
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Aug 21, 2019 14:12
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DACK FAYDEN posted:This made me think of Vinge's The Peace War, which is forgettable but sets up for the sequel Marooned in Realtime which is real drat good Agreed. Sadly the tie-in/bridging short story "The Ungoverned" that takes place in-between Peace War +Marooned in Realtime isn't included in the omnibus collection "Across Realtime". Each of those 3 stories has interesting things going down in them.
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Aug 21, 2019 14:53
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Koesj posted:Quantum Thief / Fractal Prince / Causal Angel are solar system based A book about misogyny/racism/ableism/mental health in a 1950s America forced by impending human extinction into rushing a space program before it was technologically feasible.
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Aug 21, 2019 14:56
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Kestral posted:I've been tearing through Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade and enjoying it a great deal - how does the rest of her work stack up? She's good, it's basically all body-horror inflected sci fi though.
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Aug 21, 2019 16:51
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pseudorandom name posted:A book about misogyny/racism/ableism/mental health in a 1950s America forced by impending human extinction into rushing a space program before it was technologically feasible. so it's a woke seven eves?
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Aug 21, 2019 23:06
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branedotorg posted:so it's a woke seven eves? No, because Seveneves is bad and The Lady Astronaut of Mars is good.
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Aug 21, 2019 23:22
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pseudorandom name posted:No, because Seveneves is bad and The Lady Astronaut of Mars is good. 
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Aug 22, 2019 03:16
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Kestral posted:I've been tearing through Kameron Hurley's Light Brigade and enjoying it a great deal - how does the rest of her work stack up? I thought Light Brigade was quite a bit better than her Bel Dame series (I've only read 2/3 though). They aren't bad, but Light Brigade is just very very good. Sort of a Martha Wells / Murderbot situation (her other work is good but just far below Murderbot).
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Aug 23, 2019 00:28
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been reading Robert E Howard stories with Kull and Soloman Kane and Conan. they're pretty fun and I enjoy the pulpy writing. Kane in particular is a great character. but oooo boy did Howard really love the idea of defined racial groups each with defined traits, all of whom naturally organized into their own ethno-kingdoms. 'The Hyborian Age' essay is amusing as an early example of pure world building. at the end it links Howard's made-up races to their real-world descendants which is funny insofar as the reality of European ancient history bears no resemblance whatsoever to any of his ideas.
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Aug 25, 2019 18:39
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pseudorandom name posted:because Seveneves is bad I just finished Seveneves and I have to agree. I wanted to like it, I really did. It was just so godawful slow until about 60% of 70% of the way through the book and I feel like the ending was an unsatisfying place to conclude the story.
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Aug 25, 2019 19:05
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my bony fealty posted:been reading Robert E Howard stories with Kull and Soloman Kane and Conan. they're pretty fun and I enjoy the pulpy writing. Kane in particular is a great character. but oooo boy did Howard really love the idea of defined racial groups each with defined traits, all of whom naturally organized into their own ethno-kingdoms. Howard was working with proto-conspiracy theories and fantastic literature available to a resident of rural Texas in the 1920s and 30s. Some of his ideas come off very strangely to us today as a result of that. Not even just the 'that's pretty loving racist' stuff, but his understanding of how civilizations rose and fell was based on works like Gibbons which was...very Victorian in its notions. The 'ethno-kingdoms' aspect was a part of the whole worldwide spat of nationalist movements that ascribed 'national character' to people who happened to be living in a geographic area. It wasn't even Howard himself being a nationalist, it was just pretty commonly accepted that was how things were done, and people could both celebrate the US being a melting pot and rail against them dirty foreigners polluting our shores in the same breath. I mean, they still do it I guess. I wish that Howard had lived to have a longer career, as I am curious where his mind would have gone as he got older.
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Aug 25, 2019 20:10
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Rereading Dune some 20+ years later. Good god this book is freaking awesome. I just love a book being so good that it just immerses you so absolutely. The world building is insane.
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Aug 25, 2019 23:45
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I just finished Rage of Dragons since I was in the mood for proper fantasy and wanted something semi recent and not from the usual suspects. It has a title so generic it sounds machine generated, but it was a decent book. I dug the African inspired mythos. The plot isn't amazing (it's a leveling up revenge thing) but the details are unique and the writing is good. Still in this mood from playing Kingmaker, I started reading The Emperor's Blades and I'm not sure about it. The world seems interesting enough, but the plot seems kinda dumb. The Emperor just sent all his kids off to wildly different places with no security or protection to get random schooling? They are so disparate it almost feels like a hokey P&P RPG background to explain why very different classes are together for the start of the adventure. "So you're all family but as teens you were sent to Monk school while you over there went to Ranger school.."
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Aug 26, 2019 04:49
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