Paging darsy & hard sci-fi buffs

Given that I loved Accelerando, and much preferred Iron Sunrise over
Singularity Sky, where do the other Stross books fit in, IYHO?

I'm almost done with the "Collapsium qualrology" (first one was my fave so
far), and am saving the last 2 John Wright books for xmas.

Any other recommendations?

 

I haven't read any of his "Family Trade" fantasy novels - no interest
in them. The two "Laundry" books - "Atrocity Archives" and "Jennifer
Morgue" are good - funny spoof lovecraft spy yarns, but not even close
to being hard SF. "Glasshouse" is of a similar feel to "Accelerando",
but to me it felt like he was just cracking one out, rather than
having taken a bit of time over it. "Halting State" looks interesting,
but I've not read it yet. The short story collection "Toast" is a very
mixed bag.

don't expect any more after that - one of the biggest reading-related
disapointments I had in years was when I found he'd become a Christian
and started writing allegorical fantasy with no intention of doing
more SF.

Tony Ballantyne's: "Recursion"/"Capacity"/"Divergence" trilogy.
Ian MacDonald: "River of Gods" and "Brazyl"
Alastair Reynolds: "Pushing Ice"
Chris Moriarty: "Spin State"/"Spin Control"
Robert A. Metzger : "Picoverse"
Adam Roberts: "Gradisil"

You might like Gregory Benford's "Galactic Center" series, though
that's a mix of hard SF and space opera.

HTH.

 

Not read yet - added to list..

His writing style drives me up the wall. I started reading River of
Gods and managed to get about 1/2 of the way through before giving up.

Not read that one - all his others are excellent.

Not read yet - added to list..

Didn't like it. Got very very bored.. No real characterisation at all.
And precious little hard science - it reminds me of some of the 50's
pulp sci-fi.

They are good - all apart from the last one which all gets a bit
metaphysical.

Greg Egan "Distress" (which I've just finished) is quite good (but
again gets a bit metaphysical at the end - but then most of his books
do..)

Phil.

 

don't try "Brazyl" then - the style (in particular the use of local
cultural words and images that aren't explicitly explained) is even
more pronounced.

Heh - I meant to cut'n'paste "On", not "Gradisil", though I think
you're wrong - Robert's work can be very subtle - not much seems to be
going on unless you catch some of the little hints he's left around
that not everything is as it seems. But you're right in one respect,
"Gradisil" isn't /hard/ SF. "On" is.

well, yes.

I liked all his stuff up until "Schild's Ladder" which was very
flawed. He doesn't seem to have written anything after.

Some more:

Stephen Baxter's "Destiny's Children" series (and the greater "Xeelee
Sequence" novels too)
Robert Reed : "Marrow" (the sequel to this: "The Well of Stars" isn't
so good, but his other novel "Down the Bright Way" is good)
Ken McLeod: "Learning the World" (ISTR you're not a McLeod fan)

 

Ah - well (as everyone here can attest) I don't do subtle terribly
well. Subtle needs to be wearing flashing red LEDs for me to notice it.

I'll give it a try.

I've not read that one.

I've yet to read a bad book by Steven Baxter.

I am.

I've also been reading various MilScifi recently (Hammers Slammers et.
al) of varying quality - most of it trades quality for booms - the
bigger the better. Drake is reasonably good though as is Pournelle.
The early Honor Harrington books (David Weber) were an enjoyable
space opera/milsci read but the later ones have gone all American[1].

And I'm reading a lot of Warhammer (40K and Fantasy) novels at the
moment - again of mixed quality. The Ciaphas Cain series are very
enjoyable as are the Ravenor series but some of them are definately
written just to keep the franchise ticking over..

Phil.

 

Garn.

[1] As in ' more concerned with how the characters feel about it all
rather than blowing up the baddies in glorious technicolour'.

Phil

 

Are you referring to Wright or McCarthy?

And:

I get Amazon pushing McLeod in their recommendations, but a) he gets very
mixed reviews and b) Amazon recommendations are increasingly useless. So,
so far, I've not ventured there. Must add him to me woman's "look out for
in charity shops" list.

 

Wright[1]. McCarthy's actually formed a company and filed patents with
a view to try and get wellstone actually made (his non fiction book
"Hacking Matter" covers what's been done so far in this field).

heh.

[1] I find it a struggle to reconcile the themes in The Golden Age
with this nonsense:
http://johncwright.livejournal.com/59241.html

 

Read the first one, thought it was utter bilge.

There are very few American SF writers that are capable of writing
anything other than single layered pap.

 

AOL - I made the mistake of buying the first one as well and have been
given the rest of his books a wide berth.

You pay peanuts...

 

I've read a couple of his Star Wars novels and they were utter carp.

 

If you like stuff like that, I have a TV adaptation of Z For Zachariah
that's pretty fucking bleak.

 

I'm half-way through the series. It's pretty formulaic but reasonably
well written and doesn't tax your brain too much. Standard galactic
space-opera really.

 

Hehehe :0)

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066154/

IIRC, in the book, the main protagonist kisses two dead guys.

 

It could be, if you adapted it as a Torchwood episode.

 

Good idea... no point anyone else making the money from it. He should hurry
up and move onto the fax plates though.

Uh, blimey.

 

I've enjoyed the Collapsium books, but for me, the first one was the best
(I've not read the 4th yet though). The second one being my least
favourite.

Sounds like I should love it.

 

I disagree, but hey.

I thought Perdido Street Station was "OK" at best. There are lots of
similar, but much better writers.