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Charles Sheffield was very very far from a rightwing milsf type. You're safe.
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May 3, 2012 13:39
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Slo-Tek posted:I know it isn't sci-fi, but I can't help but think that anybody who is even considering reading Harrington should just read Hornblower. And then go on to Patrick O'Brian.
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May 4, 2012 06:01
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Miss-Bomarc posted:Baen had been giving away free books for a while, it wasn't just Eric Flint. The whole "Baen Free Library" thing was Flint's baby to begin with, though. See the announcement from 2000: http://www.baen.com/library/home.htm Lots of good stuff there. Lots of poo poo also, but hey.
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May 10, 2012 11:18
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Sjonkel posted:Sci-fi/Space opera is pretty new to me, so can anyone recommend any books or series/authors that can match Bujold? Unfortunately I cannot think of anyone who does exactly what Bujold does as well as she does it. If anyone else has any tips I'd be all ears, too.
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Jul 9, 2012 12:50
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branedotorg posted:I really enjoyee the Hammer and Cross series, one of the few done well norse mythology books. Really? I found it was an incredible blend of pseudo-Norse D&D mythology (priests of particular gods all lined up with their different holy symbols and whatnot) with impossibly modern ways of thought among the good guys (20th century rationalist atheism WITH sexual liberation and equal rights for the women) on one hand, and "all monotheism is completely stupid and evil and Christianity especially so" on the other. And I AM a rationalist atheist who has played a lot of D&D and favours sexual liberation and equal rights and doesn't much care for monotheism so you'd think I'd be right there in the choir being preached to, but Harrison was just laying it on much too thick. I've read and liked a lot of Harrison, mind you, and even this series would have been quite enjoyable if I could have ignored the stuff I just complained about, but meh.
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Aug 21, 2012 09:52
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General Battuta posted:You should definitely do this. Cherryh takes a lot of effort to get into, but she was ahead of the curve in terms of writing political conflicts with no clear good or bad guys. Yeah, Cherryh should be counted among the greats, IMO. Even if she has a tendency to write books centered around protagonists who are stressed-out, tired, beat up and way the hell over their heads in a pile of poo poo where they don't even know what's going on (seriously, there's a limit to how many books like that I can read in a row).
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Aug 23, 2012 06:17
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Hondo82 posted:A lot of people here enjoyed Leviathan Wakes and its sequel Caliban's War. Leviathan Wakes is a bit of a mix of detective/scifi horror and very enjoyable, you won't get bored a bit. Well not more than a bit; one of the main character's idealism can be cringe-inducing in his stupidity but it's a minor complaint for me. Yeah, these are way cool, I'm about 2/3 of the way through the second book now and am pretty sure I'll be picking up the third as soon as it's published. quote:Old Man's War is on my list to read as well, heard a lot of recommendations for it. It's neat and the sequels are even neater. It goes places you might not think it would go.
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Aug 28, 2012 18:52
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onefish posted:I just actually reread a sci-fi book, which I almost never do -- GRAND CENTRAL ARENA, by Ryk Spoor. Reread because the author has started posting snippets and deleted scenes from the sequel (which is coming out, at least as an e-ARC, in a bit over a month), and I wanted a refresher, but also because it was such a fun world. This is one of those books I've liked more the further away from it I get. It's pulpy, but there's actually not that much *good* pulp like it out there. Oh sweet, you just reminded me that there's more of his books conveniently available on the Kindle now and I still haven't read the sequels to Boundary. Spoor was also always one of the highest-quality posters on rec.arts.sf.written back in the day and I was and remain very happy to see him getting published.
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Jun 19, 2013 13:03
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coyo7e posted:Covers like this are pretty much why I avoid most women sci-fi/fantasy authors out of habit - somewhere in my subconscious I just assume that it's going to end up being My Little Pony or something, since the few women fantasy authors I checked out as a kid, seemed to mostly be about misunderstood young tomboys who really liked to brush their horse/dragon's mane. This is horrifyingly funny to anyone who's at all familiar with CJ Cherryh's work because it's basically way the hell over the event horizon from that stereotype.
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Sep 27, 2013 05:50
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Chairman Capone posted:Awesome. That sounds like just the sort of thing I'm looking for. I'll definitely get it, thanks for the info. I enjoyed that series too, but thought it suffered a bit from simply having too much stuff shoved in there. Would have been well served by a tighter focus.
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Oct 9, 2013 05:44
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Miss-Bomarc posted:It's resoundingly okay. Go ahead and finish it, but it does not really deliver on the promise of its beginning. Yeah. Read it a good while ago and the main thing I remember is that orbital mechanics do not work that way.
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Oct 21, 2013 10:28
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About 80% through it now and still liking it. I'm hoping for the return of foul-mouthed UN grandma in future volumes, though. And/or other more interesting characters; the authors have proved they can do some good ones.
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Nov 1, 2013 06:35
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General Battuta posted:Scott Westerfeld's Succession is earnest and socially progressive, though, alas, not too quirky. I'd still recommend it. Yeah, this is pretty drat good. Just a heads up: It's originally a two-volume series, The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds but there's also a UK edition which collects both and is also just titled The Risen Empire (I have a copy of this). Just to prevent any confusion.
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Nov 22, 2013 07:44
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Decius posted:Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga would be my recommendation. An isolated, backwards, patriarchal and feudal society regains connections to the greater galactic society and the resulting growing pains shown through the lens of the Vorkosigan family (mainly through the extremely unconventional Miles of course). No AIs though. A very common recommendation and for good reason. Miles Vorkosigan can briefly be described as "Tyrion Lannister with much better parents, in space" (except it's more like the reverse since the first Vorkosigan books were published maybe a decade before AGOT). Edit: spelling Groke fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Nov 22, 2013 |
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Nov 22, 2013 11:26
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fookolt posted:I just don't get why there are so few lefty/progressive sci fi writers out there. Well, there's Eric Flint, for one. Also most of the current/recent generation of British writers that aren't named Peter F. Hamilton.
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Nov 23, 2013 15:11
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chimz posted:The Vorkosigan books make the most sense in (internal) chronological order as opposed to publication order. On the other hand, either of those orders works just fine. My personal recommendation would be to stick with internal chronology for the main Miles books (the most important thing, however, is that everything before Memory should be read before Memory, and everything after Memory should be read after Memory), and Do Whatever with the following: Falling Free can be read whenever or skipped altogether (it's a minor work but even minor Bujold is worth reading). Shards of Honor/Barrayar can either be read first or at basically any point (some rather amusing references in the post-Memory books will be missed if one hasn't read these yet). Ethan of Athos (being the side quest of a supporting character) can also be plopped in wherever and whenever (after you've got a few books in and know a little about the setting and stuff). That said, I didn't exactly follow this order myself and I suffered no harm: Started out with The Warrior's Apprentice way back around 1990 or 1991; thought it was a good little bit of fun light space opera; then some years later I randomly came across Mirror Dance in a bookstore and thought, hey, I've read this author before and another good little bit of fun light space opera would be cool right now. Yeeeeah. Then after that I backfilled on the ones that were out at that point in more or less random order (i.e. as I was able to find them (this was before the glorious age of online bookstores)) and kept up with the new ones as they were coming out.
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Jan 2, 2014 07:50
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Mister Kingdom posted:Just finished Barrayar. Much better than Shards. It's got some pure distilled awesome in it, for sure. There's a rather amusing reference in a much later book to going shopping with Cordelia.
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Feb 24, 2014 11:56
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The Lone Badger posted:What you'r reading right now started as Star Trek fanfic. If it's too egregious for you then skip ahead to the Miles stuff. Mind you, the second half (Barrayar) was written a few years later and the author's increased skills really show.
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May 10, 2014 19:44
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:I'm going to cheat. I normally wouldn't do this, but it's time you graduated to the big boy leagues. It's time you read the Aubrey / Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. I was going to post that, too. MilSF often steals a hell of a lot from Age of Sail naval action so you'll get that itch scratched good and proper. O'Brian's also got marvellous technobabble, it's just about early 19th century sail ships and cannons instead of nuclear torpedoes and whatnot. Finally he does a better job than the vast majority of SF authors when it comes to immersing the reader in an alien and interesting culture (and if you think the world 200 years ago wasn't alien to us... you're just plain wrong). Also he's funny as poo poo.
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Jul 2, 2014 09:20
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With the caveat that it's been 20 years since I read it, it's only a "series" in a pretty loose sense, i.e. the dude wrote some novels that share a future history and this is one of them. Actually, what the hell, I remember enjoying it back then and it's $1.99 today, I just bought it.
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Aug 7, 2014 11:13
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ulmont posted:And A Civil Campaign before that. And Barrayar, for a lot of it. Romance mixed with other items is pretty much Bujold's stock in trade. She does that thing rather well and Cordelia is a hell of a great character in any case; this is a guaranteed buy for me.
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Mar 23, 2015 12:25
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Kesper North posted:I'll definitely buy and most probably enjoy it, but I was kind of hoping for a By Vorrutyer novel. I just love the clever ones. I'm actually hoping for a whole bunch of side-quest adventures of supporting-cast characters. There are many good ones to choose from.
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Mar 23, 2015 14:05
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WarLocke posted:I think there's a whole sub-genre about this kind of stuff. That wikipedia page mentions a David Drake book with a similar idea. Weber's was just the one that popped into my head because it was the first one I read. Has anyone ever written a funnier twist on this than Poul Anderson's The High Crusade? It's only been, what, 55 years...
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Apr 26, 2015 19:39
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Kesper North posted:So it really is just what it looks like on the surface? Man... so lame. That's Piers Anthony for you.
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May 27, 2015 14:22
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Velius posted:Finished Nemesis Games. Kind of blitzed through since the building where I work was closed due to a power failure all afternoon. I thought it was very enjoyable. A ton of focus on the non-Holden characters Does it feature foul-mouthed UN grandma? This will sort of determine whether I read it right now or a bit later.
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Jun 5, 2015 10:40
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Daktari posted:I've recently picked up the Vorkosigan saga, and blown through two pre-Miles books. I get a good feeling from these. Oh, to be able to read the Vorkosigan saga for the first time again. I envy you. (The series has been an abiding favourite of mine for, what, about twenty years now, just did my nth reread of the whole thing last year.)
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Jun 18, 2015 20:24
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loving browser double-posting on me? Ah well. Bujold is one of the greats of the field and there's nothing else like the Vorkosigan series, really. Books are notably not all the same, some have plenty of action with space warships and ultratech commando raids and whatnot, others are more investigation and so on, at least one is almost pure romantic comedy.
Groke fucked around with this message at 20:30 on Jun 18, 2015 |
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Jun 18, 2015 20:25
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chimz posted:I'd definitely recommend going in chronological rather than publication order, though you can hold off on the prequel 'Falling Free' until later. The really important part is to read Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance and Memory in that order; and not to read anything set after Memory before reading Memory. Also a good alternative to strict chronological order is to start with the first proper Miles book (The Warrior's Apprentice) rather than the pre-Miles duology (Shards of Honor and Barrayar; aka the "Cordelia's Honor" omnibus), and go back to read that at a later point (preferably before you get to A Civil Campaign, or you'll miss out on some loving hilarious references). The main argument for this is that the first half of said duology (Shards of Honor) is probably one of Bujold's weaker books, being an early work (and allegedly having started life in its first draft as Star Trek fanfic); the second half was written a few years later and shows a more seasoned author already. Also there's really nothing wrong with publication order either.
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Jul 6, 2015 07:52
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Used to have the Vorkosigan series on there too, but they took it down. (I'm not deleting the copy I saved, already had almost all of them in hardcopy so feel justified in keeping it for personal use.)
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Jul 6, 2015 23:43
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Arbite posted:Christ, really? It gets worse? And then it keeps getting worse. At least for the first several books (I dropped the series quite some time ago and can't say anything about the more recent books).
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Jul 7, 2015 15:35
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Darkrenown posted:I think I may well be the biggest Weber fan in the thread, but even I have absolutely no desire for more Hell’s Gate books. Those were awful. I made it less than halfway through the first. Life's too short.
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Jul 28, 2015 23:24
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Velius posted:While Hyperion was actually decent the Endymion books are atrocious and retroactively make the first two much worse. Also Dan Simmons has clearly been a victim of the brain eater for a good while now. EVIL MUSLIMS EVERYWHERE
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Aug 11, 2015 06:55
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Khizan posted:Falling Free is absolutely nothing at all like the rest of the Vorkosigan books; it's set in the same universe but that's the only connection. Shards and Barrayar are also most easily available as an omnibus volume these days, so it makes less sense to skip Barrayar (which was also written a few years later and shows a more practiced author). Basic recommendation: Start with either Shards/Barrayar, or The Warrior's Apprentice. In the latter case, you should backfill on Shards/Barrayar no later than before you get to A Civil Campaign (if for no other reason than getting a few references about stuff like "shopping with Cordelia"). After that, either publication order or internal chronology is fine. The most important points is that Brothers in Arms, Mirror Dance and Memory should go in that order, and Memory should be read before anything that comes after it. Oh yes, and Ethan of Athos is kinda optional, being the side-quest adventure of someone in the supporting cast.
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Nov 9, 2015 09:36
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mllaneza posted:Actually the series goes to awesome when Cordelia That's the "shopping" bit, yes.
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Nov 9, 2015 13:14
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Drifter posted:Read the omnibii in the order they have been given. Omnibuses. It's not actually a Latin noun of the second declension and even if it was it'd have to be "omnibius" to get that plural.
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Nov 11, 2015 06:24
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jng2058 posted:I had that reaction a few times too. It gets better as the series goes one, though. The Warrior's Apprentice basically serves a double purpose as being mostly light space-opera entertainment, and also setting up the scenario and stuff for later and more... complicated stories. The Vor Game is, I guess, more of the same. I originally read the series way out of order -- had first read TWA when a friend lent it to me, thought it was an okay bit of fun, then more or less forgot about it until a few years later when I randomly came across another book by the same author and thought, hey, time for another bit of lighthearted fun space opera. That was Mirror Dance, which is... not that.
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Dec 7, 2015 12:39
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Chairman Capone posted:It's always been so bizarre to me that Baen publishes Flint's stuff. Flint and Bujold; between them they make up for rather a lot of Ringo and such.
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Apr 3, 2016 07:40
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Khizan posted:I feel comfortable adding David Drake to that first list, too. Yes. Also Ryk Spoor (aka good old Sea Wasp from rec.arts.sf.written, I always liked his stuff).
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Apr 3, 2016 20:51
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Jack2142 posted:I still stand by Flint and Drake being the best of the Baen author cohorts. Bujold. Flint is good and I've been meaning to check out Drake as his reputation is fine, but there's only one Bujold. I also quite like Ryk Spoor.
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Jan 7, 2017 20:01
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Yah, Aubrey/Maturin would be my go-to recommendation as well. It's historical rather than SF but O'Brian makes a better job of portraying an alien world with weird cultures and obsessively detailed strange technology than most space opera writers.
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Apr 29, 2017 21:12
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