In my search to find new, good sci-fi books I found a photo of the 2007 Hugo trophy and thought I'd post it. Might as well make this a thread about sci-fi books while we're at it. I just finished the Hyperion/Endymion series and loved it.
Truthfully I haven't done much reading lately. But I love a good hardcore sci-fi read. Last two good reads I had was over the summer. First one was Olaf Stapledon's Starmaker. Second was The Mote in God's eye by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven. Both great books.
Yeah, Tsuburaya played a big part at last year's WorldCon in Yokohama. They had a kaiju stage show and everything. Do a search for "worldcon ultraman" on Flickr to see some pictures. I just read Tool of the Trade by Joe Haldeman, an 80s spy thriller with a tiny science fiction macguffin that makes everything go. Lots of fun. I'm trying to read everything by Haldeman, eventually. Lucifer's Hammer and Footfall are two Niven/Pournelle collaborations that will never leave my shelf. Anyone ever read the Heechee books by Frederik Pohl? Those are fun.
i have to disagree! neuromancer is good but some of the others moreso, all tomorrow's parties and pattern recognition are two of my favourites.. idoru is up there too. Currently reading spook country but haven't really felt like reading much lately i don't really read much hard sci-fi - more into stuff like china mieville, steph swainston and justina robson, yeah
I'll probably get laughed at for this but... Star Wars books anyone? A lot of them are dreck, but I love Timothy Zahn and am making my way through his latest.
Huge Gene Wolfe fan (except his last book) but thats more fantasy with a sci-fi background. Cant find any books that interest me right now so I've gone back to two I havent read for over twenty years. Celine's Journey Into The Night and Death On The Installment Plan.
I read the Zahn Star Wars novels when they came out. Since it was the only Star Wars you could get back then, I enjoyed them for that, but felt that Zahn's plotting was very, "mechanical," for lack of a better word. We need to do this, so we need to go here to get this, and then go here to collect this person, etc. I know a lot of people liked them, though. Never read any of Salvatore or Luceno's Star Wars stuff, although I really enjoy Luceno's writing. el word, I have a book of short stories that has one by Zahn and one by Haldeman if you'd like it. Also, there's a story Haldeman did about a translator that I think you in particular would enjoy.
Never read Lucifer's Hammer. Going to have to check it out. I remember reading Footfall some time in the late 80's. Loved it. The most vivid memory I have of the story is near the end when they launch the ship and it's powered/pushed by nuclear bombs. Don't no why but that just really appealed to me back then.
I'd agree with this, though I think it's true of almost all of the Star Wars books, with maybe the exception of Matthew Stover's Shatterpoint, which was very dark, 'think-y' and introspective. I've only read Salvatore's novelizations, which I like. I also liked Luceno's Darth Maul book, though that was a guilty pleasure. I didn't particularly think it was very literary. That sounds cool. I haven't read any of Zahn's non-Star-Wars stuff or any of Haldeman's work. Then again, I hardly have the time to read anything with the baby. It may take me 6 months to get through the book I'm currently reading.
Ugh, I really disliked Stover's novelization of Episode 3. But of course, I have it, because there's a fine line between collecting and mental illness.
Most recent sci-fi: Counting Heads by David Marusek, really pretty neat post-cyberpunk novel, takes place in a "utopian" world a couple hundred years from now where nanotech pretty much allows you to live indefinitely, unless someone has a reason to seriously f--k with you... Before that: River of Gods by Ian McDonald, cyberpunk thriller set in India several decades from now, kind of classic "man vs. AI" sort of thing, but quite well-written and with some unique twists. Can you tell I like cyberpunk/post-cyberpunk? For the record I haven't read a Wiliam Gibson novel I haven't liked, even his two latest which take place now. I kind of like the fact that the world we now live in could pretty easily be the setting for a "cyberpunk" novel written a couple decades ago.
