# good new scifi reads



## Spanky Longhorn (May 26, 2014)

We've had various threads asking for scifi recommendations, but not as far as I recall a 'permanent' thread we can refer to on a regular basis.

I've just read the first three books of the 'Planes-Runner' series by Ian McDonald - great YA alternate world stuff, complete with airships and cyborg Vs runaway nano tech battles in Abney Park Cemetery. 

Also not read Robert Rankin's The Educated Ape and Other Stories - not read any of his books for ages as I thought I'd kind of read them all - however this is a really entertaining romp through tesla punk Victorian England and beyond...


----------



## Awesome Wells (May 26, 2014)

I'm reading Leviathan Wakes which kicks off the Expanse series of rollicking space opera. It's pretty gritty and fun. Not snooty or mired in hard science (whcih will only confuse me because I'm a simpleton). As a bonus it's going to be a TV series too.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 29, 2014)

Elizabeth Bear: Hammered (wetwire trilogy book 1)


thats what I'm on at the mo. Cheesy title, but lizzy often does. Forget that though, this is good character driven stuff aet in 2060. A combat veteran woman with a cyborg arm just hiding out in the badlands of NA, corporate shennanigans, starcraft. 

its very interesting. Lizzy is one of my fave modern female sci fi writers. Fiercley inventive and captures the tempo of human conversations bang on.


----------



## yield (Jun 1, 2014)

I'd recommend anything by Iain M Banks, Ken Macleod, Ursula Le Guin and Adam Roberts.


Awesome Wells said:


> I'm reading Leviathan Wakes which kicks off the Expanse series of rollicking space opera. It's pretty gritty and fun. Not snooty or mired in hard science (whcih will only confuse me because I'm a simpleton). As a bonus it's going to be a TV series too.


I tried really hard to like Leviathan Wakes but like Neal Asher and Neil Hamilton it falls flat. Interesting plot but weak unsympathetic characters.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 1, 2014)

The characters are flat to be fair, but it's fun.

I like that it's not hard science. I just can't get on with page after page of physics lecture.

I've just started Consider Phlebas


----------



## yield (Jun 1, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> I've just started Consider Phlebas


I hope you like it. Excession and Use of Weapons are my favourites. The chairmaker!


----------



## strung out (Jun 1, 2014)

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes was an excellent read that I've just finished.

It's half urban fantasy, half alternate universe near future. It's really really excellent and has some great ideas. Basically criminals are bound to animals in a kind of 'familiar' symbiotic relationship as punishment for their crimes. Part of the effect this has is in giving these people certain special powers. Set in Joburg among the slums.


----------



## Supine (Jun 1, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> I'm reading Leviathan Wakes which kicks off the Expanse series of rollicking space opera. It's pretty gritty and fun. Not snooty or mired in hard science (whcih will only confuse me because I'm a simpleton). As a bonus it's going to be a TV series too.



Good series of books. Next one is released this month i believe


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 1, 2014)

I've just cracked and downloaded Neptune's Brood by Charlie Stross, his Saturn's Children the predecessor book is the one of his I've struggled the most with, the totally robotic world is just so outre, but I can't wait for his next Merchant Princes or Bob Howard so this will have to do.


----------



## yield (Jun 1, 2014)

I forgot to recommend Richard K. Morgan. The Takeshi Kovacs novels are excellent.

Although tangential Quellcrist Falconer is a great character.


> The human eye is a wonderful device. With a little effort, it can fail to see even the most glaring injustice.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 1, 2014)

yield said:


> I forgot to recommend Richard K. Morgan. The Takeshi Kovacs novels are excellent.
> 
> Although tangential Quellcrist Falconer is a great character.


I read the first book. It was enjoyable but the central tech (sleeving your consciousness in other bodies) was a @bit too dominant and yet the society around it didn't seem as changed by it as you'd expect. A good modern cyberpunk effort, but not the most amazing plot.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 1, 2014)

Woken Furies is the best takeshi novel. When he gets the ninja sleeve with the gecko palms


----------



## yield (Jun 1, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> I read the first book. It was enjoyable but the central tech (sleeving your consciousness in other bodies) was a @bit too dominant and yet the society around it didn't seem as changed by it as you'd expect. A good modern cyberpunk effort, but not the most amazing plot.


You should read the others after Altered Carbon as DotCom said. The non-Takeshi Kovacs Market Forces is great too.

I could see London getting like that. Unfortunately.


----------



## Brainaddict (Jun 1, 2014)

The Bone Season is sci-fi/fantasy crossover for teens. Not badly written at all: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17199504-the-bone-season


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 1, 2014)

as mentioned on another thread, the sequel to Blindsight by Peter Watts is out soon. I had read july but now it looks like september? dunno. 

Echopraxia



> It’s the eve of the twenty-second century: a world where the dearly departed send postcards back from Heaven and evangelicals make scientific breakthroughs by speaking in tongues; where genetically engineered vampires solve problems intractable to baseline humans and soldiers come with zombie switches that shut off self-awareness during combat. And it’s all under surveillance by an alien presence that refuses to show itself.
> 
> Daniel Bruks is a living fossil: a field biologist in a world where biology has turned computational, a cat’s-paw used by terrorists to kill thousands. Taking refuge in the Oregon desert, he’s turned his back on a humanity that shatters into strange new subspecies with every heartbeat. But he awakens one night to find himself at the center of a storm that will turn all of history inside-out.
> 
> ...


----------



## nessa239 (Jun 1, 2014)

'Valis' by Philip K Dick


----------



## yield (Jun 1, 2014)

nessa239 said:


> 'Valis' by Philip K Dick


That's a grand read. Also The Man in the High Castle, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Ubik & A Scanner Darkly.

I got into Philip K Dick around the time I was reading the Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson.

Far out maaan.


----------



## strung out (Jun 1, 2014)

Not really new sci-fi though, is it?


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 1, 2014)

Brainaddict said:


> The Bone Season is sci-fi/fantasy crossover for teens. Not badly written at all: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17199504-the-bone-season



looks good might have to line it up for holiday later this week


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 1, 2014)

Also recently read The Best of All Possible Worlds by the very entertaining and morish Karen Lord, a multi-cultural world, far far away - a meandering story but with in my view likable characters and unchallenging events... A good read for a weekend when you just want to chill out.


----------



## nessa239 (Jun 1, 2014)

strung out said:


> Not really new sci-fi though, is it?



i wasn't sure if the OP meant new as in newly published or just stuff they hadn't heard of before


----------



## yield (Jun 1, 2014)

strung out said:


> Not really new sci-fi though, is it?


Jules Verne is very... no you're right.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 1, 2014)

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett and his short story collection The Turing Test are rather good.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 1, 2014)

nessa239 said:


> i wasn't sure if the OP meant new as in newly published or just stuff they hadn't heard of before



While I wouldn't consider Phil new, if he's new to you that's good enough for this thread imo


----------



## strung out (Jun 1, 2014)

I think I've mentioned this on at least two other threads, but I'm determined to recommend as many female sci-fi authors as I can to try and redress the balance of other recommendations: Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie. It's really excellent space opera done in a very unusual style that challenges all kinds of issues regarding gender preconceptions, as well as being a very good read. It's won the BSFA award for best novel, the Arthur C Clarke award for best novel, the Nebula award for best novel, the Kitschies award for best novel, and will probably win the Hugo award for best novel.

As well as this, The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers is good (and a former Clarke award winner) telling the story of a near future where pregnancy means death for all women, and the story of a teenage girl's way of coping with life in this new world.

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm is a classic 70s story of a race of clones  and survival in a post-apocalyptic future.

In addition to this, the following I've not read but have received excellent reviews recently: God's War by Kameron Hurley, Glaze by Kim Curran, The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris (more fantasy I think).

Plenty of good books by men around at the moment too (of which I've read a few), but they get quite enough attention as it is, so I won't mention them here.


----------



## cesare (Jun 2, 2014)

Another couple of female sci-fi authors worth reading are Sherri Tepper and C.J. Cherryh


----------



## yield (Jun 2, 2014)

strung out said:


> I think I've mentioned this on at least two other threads, but I'm determined to recommend as many female sci-fi authors as I can to try and redress the balance of other recommendations: Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie. It's really excellent space opera done in a very unusual style that challenges all kinds of issues regarding gender preconceptions, as well as being a very good read. It's won the BSFA award for best novel, the Arthur C Clarke award for best novel, the Nebula award for best novel, the Kitschies award for best novel, and will probably win the Hugo award for best novel.
> 
> As well as this, The Testament of Jessie Lamb by Jane Rogers is good (and a former Clarke award winner) telling the story of a near future where pregnancy means death for all women, and the story of a teenage girl's way of coping with life in this new world.
> 
> ...


Thanks I'll look for those.

Three shorts stories in the Hainish cycle are in Worlds of Exile and Illusion Ursula K. Le Guin. Sci fi doesn't get better than that.

Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland is great too.


----------



## xenon (Jun 2, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> as mentioned on another thread, the sequel to Blindsight by Peter Watts is out soon. I had read july but now it looks like september? dunno.
> 
> Echopraxia



Blindside is a fucking excellent book. And legitimately free as a download. here.

Richard K Morgan, though. I reckon you need to read all three. I still really like altered Carbon highly derivative though it is. I know you've read them all but anyone new should start with Altered Carbon. Gibsonesk Cyber Punk, ultra violence nwoir.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 2, 2014)

I would like to read more of the Takeshi Kovacs stuff at some point, but i'm miore interested in quirkier stuff like the Quantum Thief, even though i don't pretend to understand it fully.

Has anyone read The Burning Dark by Adam Christopher?


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 2, 2014)

Not yet but I loved Empire State and The Age Atomic. quality trope play.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 2, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Not yet but I loved Empire State and The Age Atomic. quality trope play.


I have those on deck, looking forward to them. Like the look of Burning Dark, but the ebook is silly money (the publisher is Titan, so...)


----------



## strung out (Jun 2, 2014)

Got to say that the Age Atomic didn't really do it for me. It was well written, dark and pulpy, but I just don't think it was quite my thing. I can't put my finger on it though, so feel free to ignore.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 2, 2014)

Is Seven Wonders in the same setting?


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 3, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> Is Seven Wonders in the same setting?


No it's a sunny LA analogue with last team of supers. It is the same universe though (as New York not Empire City)


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 11, 2014)

Just finished Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins - can't believe I waited so long, excellent alternate soviet union with magic and crash landing aliens. Surprised none of the reviews I read seemed to pick up on the manga/anime influences...


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 11, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Just finished Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins - can't believe I waited so long, excellent alternate soviet union with magic and crash landing aliens. Surprised none of the reviews I read seemed to pick up on the manga/anime influences...


I've had my eye on that for a while, I brought it cheap on the kindle. It's in the queue!


----------



## oneunder (Jun 11, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> as mentioned on another thread, the sequel to Blindsight by Peter Watts is out soon. I had read july but now it looks like september? dunno.
> 
> Echopraxia


   reading blindsight at the moment..looking forward to the sequel.. cheers..any more recomendations?


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Jun 11, 2014)

I'm currently reading "Skin Games" by Jim Butcher.  Its the most recent in the Dresden Files series (came out last week).  Its different than his previous stuff.  Its basically his attempt at a caper movie like Ocean's 11 only they're trying to steal the holy grail.  It's not great art, but it passes for decent summer reading.


----------



## strung out (Jun 11, 2014)

Only just finished reading the first one of the trilogy, but Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is absolutely fantastic. A real belter of a novel - I hear the other two are great too.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 12, 2014)

Yuwipi Woman said:


> I'm currently reading "Skin Games" by Jim Butcher.  Its the most recent in the Dresden Files series (came out last week).  Its different than his previous stuff.  Its basically his attempt at a caper movie like Ocean's 11 only they're trying to steal the holy grail.  It's not great art, but it passes for decent summer reading.


The Dresden Files are a great laugh


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Jun 12, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> The Dresden Files are a great laugh



Yep! 

Informative too!  I didn't realize that T-Rexes didn't corner well until I read the Dresden Files.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 12, 2014)

Shame about the TV show


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Jun 12, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> Shame about the TV show



Yeah, it didn't hit its stride until about eps 6.  By then, they'd cancelled it.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 12, 2014)

Nothing genre based gets a look in these days (with one notable exception to prove the rule, I guess).


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 18, 2014)

tempted by this for the cover art and name alone: Cibola Burn


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 18, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> tempted by this for the cover art and name alone: Cibola Burn



Indeed.

The first book in the series is pretty good (Leviathan Wakes).


----------



## rhod (Jun 19, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Neptune's Brood by Charlie Stross,



I've just finished this and can highly recommend it, too. The crypto-economic theme is an interesting spin on space opera, and I like the way that the author takes the piss out of most of the characters. Very funny in places.

The ending was a bit anti-climactic, but I'm assuming that the author has another instalment up his sleeve. I'm hoping for something along the lines of "Rise and fall of the communist squid"!


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 22, 2014)

Ken McLoed talking about Ian M Banks and sci fi in general



> With the Culture books he was trying to do something very different: to imagine a utopia that people would actually like to live in, his starting point very sensibly being to imagine one he'd like to live in himself. The external threats were his answer to the problem that no matter how exciting a utopia might be to live in, it would be very dull to write about (unless you basically wrote a novel about people's normal relationships within it, about love and heartbreak or whatever, in which case as Iain often pointed out, why not just write a mainstream novel?) I was a lot more interested in the science-fictional possibilities of near-future history than Iain was, especially as unlike him I was convinced that in historical materialism I had a handle on it. The collapse in the Fall Revolution isn't that of neoliberalism, it's that of the entirety of a global capitalism that for various reasons has no opposition growing inside it. So you have a transition that's more like the one from antiquity to feudalism than that from feudalism to capitalism. That rather gloomy speculation intrigued me from my late teens onward – from the moment I read the phrase “the common ruin of the contending classes” in the _Communist Manifesto_. I do try to bring a more hopeful perspective to what little actual political activity I now take part in, however.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 22, 2014)

Capital stuff, thank you Kimble.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 22, 2014)

I'm not really enjoying consider phlebas, perhaps the rest are better. I'm going to shelve it for now.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 22, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> Capital stuff, thank you Kimble.




a former denizen of this corner of the internet has a Culture/Banks facebook page and one of the contributors found this.

 I found Ken's views on scottish indy reff very odd He's a far left pro unionist- and how he squares that circle I don't know but its an entertaining read


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 22, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> I'm not really enjoying consider phlebas, perhaps the rest are better. I'm going to shelve it for now.




Try The State of The Art. it's got culture-focused shorts whereas CP takes an outsiders view of them


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 22, 2014)

I may return to it later, but ive plenty of other stuff that appeals more right now so i'm going to read Empire State.


----------



## Idaho (Jun 22, 2014)

It's a modern sf classic trilogy. Might reread. 





strung out said:


> Only just finished reading the first one of the trilogy, but Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood is absolutely fantastic. A real belter of a novel - I hear the other two are great too.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 22, 2014)

Maddadams didn't do it for me- Orynx n Crake proper proper did though. One of them ones where you wake up and make a cup of tea and as the kettle is brewing you think 'SHIT, need moar of me book'


----------



## Idaho (Jun 22, 2014)

I thought it was one book in 3 parts with all of it strong. What other recent near future dystopia comes close?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2014)

parable of the sower/parable of the talents. Butler.


----------



## Idaho (Jun 23, 2014)

I'll look out for it on audio book.


----------



## kropotkin (Jun 23, 2014)

I enjoyed lexicon by max Barry. About neurolinguistic hacking and zombification!


----------



## Idaho (Jun 23, 2014)

Anyone else read wool, shift and dust by Hugh Howey? Not bad. Some flaws, 7 out of 10.


----------



## Idaho (Jun 23, 2014)

Been around for a while - Far North by Marcel Theroux. Flipping great I thought.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 23, 2014)

Idaho said:


> Anyone else read wool, shift and dust by Hugh Howey? Not bad. Some flaws, 7 out of 10.




the ex bought me Wool, I thought it was good but wasn't encouraged enough to seek out the follow ons. I liked the internal silo politicking the factionalism between the various arms and levels- but the overall story arc was wrapped into the final three chapters. And I was turned right off by the reveal that the holocaust nuclear was caused by the fucking NWO


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 23, 2014)

Massive Fallout ripoff IMO


----------



## marty21 (Jun 23, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> I've just read the first three books of the 'Planes-Runner' series by Ian McDonald - great YA alternate world stuff, complete with airships and cyborg Vs runaway nano tech battles in Abney Park Cemetery.
> 
> ...


 
just about the finish the first of the Planes-Runner series - enjoying it - reminds me a lot of China Mieville


----------



## Awesome Wells (Jun 23, 2014)

There need to be more good superhero novels


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 23, 2014)

marty21 said:


> just about the finish the first of the Planes-Runner series - enjoying it - reminds me a lot of China Mieville



I see what you mean, the Teslapunk Hackney certainly

Just finished Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord, not really scifi more an African fable with fantastical elements, but it could be set on another planet, it's hard to tell.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 24, 2014)

'The Long Mars' Stephen Baxter and Terry Pratchett, so far it's the worst of both their styles, lots of telling not much showing, still an intriguing enough and likable enough premise to continue with, don't bother if you didn't like the first two though.


----------



## rhod (Jun 26, 2014)

kropotkin said:


> I enjoyed lexicon by max Barry. About neurolinguistic hacking and zombification!



His book "Syrup" is very funny. The film version is jaw-droppingly bad, though. I think Barry wrote the screenplay, too; which makes it even more puzzling. The plot just goes in a completely different direction.


----------



## kropotkin (Jun 26, 2014)

Idaho said:


> Anyone else read wool, shift and dust by Hugh Howey? Not bad. Some flaws, 7 out of 10.


Yeah,  I enjoyed those.  The prequel is probably the best actually


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jul 20, 2014)

Tigerman by Nick Harkaway of Gone Away World and Angelmaker fame. Great little story about what it means to be a father, and indeed how fathers need to be superheroes to their kids... Not sure if it's strictly scifi as much as magical realism, but it does have xenobiologists in


----------



## Artaxerxes (Jul 21, 2014)

Enjoyed this, low key dystopian novel A Calculated Life


----------



## yield (Jul 27, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Tigerman by Nick Harkaway of Gone Away World and Angelmaker fame. Great little story about what it means to be a father, and indeed how fathers need to be superheroes to their kids... Not sure if it's strictly scifi as much as magical realism, but it does have xenobiologists in


Nick used to post on barbelith as Nick or Dao Jones. Good interesting guy if a woolly liberal.


----------



## citydreams (Jul 29, 2014)

Been reading some great new sci-fi from Jeff VanderMeer in his Southern Reach trilogy.  It's defitniely a bit on the weird side, but the writing is as ethereal as the the subject matter and much more enjoyable I thought than Chris Beckett's Dark Eden.

Not as recent but, got a good kick out of reading Spin by Robert Wilson.  Lacked a bit of the polish but reckon it belongs up there with the SF Masterworks series.

Stone by Adam Roberts was a little bit slow, but good enough that I'm looking forward to reading Bete: "the animal rights movement injected domestic animals with artificial intelligences in bid to have the status of animals realigned by the international court of human rights".

Not sure about Ramez Naam's Crux & Nexus trilogy.  Light hearted, and the tech is near enough to make you wonder, but missing the humour of Scalzi and the edge of Morgan.

Just about to start reading The Windup Girl. It's 'cyberpunk without computers' according to Time Magazine.  So, gonna be a lot of sex n drugs then


----------



## marty21 (Jul 29, 2014)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> We've had various threads asking for scifi recommendations, but not as far as I recall a 'permanent' thread we can refer to on a regular basis.
> 
> I've just read the first three books of the 'Planes-Runner' series by Ian McDonald - great YA alternate world stuff, complete with airships and cyborg Vs runaway nano tech battles in Abney Park Cemetery.
> 
> .



read the Plane-Runner series - enjoyed them, a fantastic sci-fi romp - is there going to be be more?


----------



## 8den (Jul 29, 2014)

Hmmm I loathe conspiracy theorist bollocks and like Fallout. Will I hate Silo?


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jul 29, 2014)

marty21 said:


> read the Plane-Runner series - enjoyed them, a fantastic sci-fi romp - is there going to be be more?



Surely there must be, he hasn't finished the story it feels like it's just moving into the second act, also MacDonald knows how to write long.


----------



## strung out (Jul 29, 2014)

citydreams said:


> Been reading some great new sci-fi from Jeff VanderMeer in his Southern Reach trilogy.  It's defitniely a bit on the weird side, but the writing is as ethereal as the the subject matter and much more enjoyable I thought than Chris Beckett's Dark Eden.


Yes - I've only read the first of these, but it's absolutely fantastic, isn't it? Some of the best new stuff I've read in ages.

Edit: I'm going to hear Jeff VanderMeer in a talk in Bristol soon, with his wife. It should be excellent.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2014)

Heres a novella free to read at Tor.com

http://www.tor.com/stories/2014/05/unlocked-an-oral-history-of-hadens-syndrome-john-scalzi

It's the set up novella for Jon Scalzi's (redshirts, Old Mans war) latest 'Locked In'


review here


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2014)

on a side note I did lol at the fact that although nominated the Wheel of Time series failed to win at this years Hugo's. I think everyone including myself was just glad it was over. 14 odd doorstops and I read every one of them


----------



## yield (Aug 27, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> on a side note I did lol at the fact that although nominated the Wheel of Time series failed to win at this years Hugo's. I think everyone including myself was just glad it was over. 14 odd doorstops and I read every one of them


I gave up on Wheel of Time at book 6 Lord of Chaos.

Stupid Deus ex machina endings. Unsympathetic characters.

Pages and pages of filler. Braid tugging and costume. Waste of time.

Give me Steven Erikson, Stephen Donaldson or Tad Williams.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2014)

Eriksons currently doing the Kharakanas (sp) series about the origin story of the Tiste Andi, first children of mother dark. First ones a bit depressing tbh, they really do mope and theres no lol humans around to lighten the mood.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2014)

yield said:


> I gave up on Wheel of Time at book 6 Lord of Chaos.
> 
> Stupid Deus ex machina endings. Unsympathetic characters.
> 
> Pages and pages of filler. Braid tugging and costume. Waste of time.




and all the spanking


----------



## Orang Utan (Aug 27, 2014)

14 VOLUMES?  a 14 year old kid at my school is on volume 5 of that. We ran out of money for books halfway through last year and so I'm having to get them myself. I should never have agreed to it!


----------



## yield (Aug 27, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> Eriksons currently doing the Kharakanas (sp) series about the origin story of the Tiste Andi, first children of mother dark. First ones a bit depressing tbh, they really do mope and theres no lol humans around to lighten the mood.


I'll get around to his new series soon. I was hoping it would be good like in Toll the Hounds with Clip and Anomander Rakes children.

Still got a few of the Ian Esslemont books to read too.


DotCommunist said:


> and all the spanking


There was a lot of that. Robert Jordan broke a chair at a signing at the bookshop I worked. Massive portly chap. 

Ex military helicopter pilot if I remember correctly.


----------



## HAL9000 (Aug 27, 2014)

old stuff

Star tide rising by David Brin  (skip the first book, sun diver)

Excellent space opera with talking dolphins, a chimp, a few humans and a pseudo AI machine


Quarantine by Greg Egan

Apps for the brain and quantum weirdness


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2014)

yield said:


> I'll get around to his new series soon. I was hoping it would be good like in Toll the Hounds with Clip and Anomander Rakes children.
> 
> Still got a few of the Ian Esslemont books to read too.
> 
> ...



yep, graduate of (iirc) the Citidael Military College





> I was hoping it would be good like in Toll the Hounds with Clip and Anomander Rakes children.




its a lot like that. I found those bits hard going after a while, the extended existential despair of them all- imagine that for a whole book. More of a tragedy than anything. You'll like it if you rated those bits with clip and his chain/rings


----------



## yield (Aug 27, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> its a lot like that. I found those bits hard going after a while, the extended existential despair of them all- imagine that for a whole book. More of a tragedy than anything. You'll like it if you rated those bits with clip and his chain/rings


I only rated it because a lot of it was from Clip first person. He completely misunderstood Nimander and the other children and their reluctance to fight.


----------



## xenon (Aug 27, 2014)

The Martian, Andy Weir, published earlier this year.

Hard scifi. Manned mission to Mars gets into a bit of trouble in a sand storm on the surface. Believed dead, one of the crew is abandoned when the rest are forced to leave whilst they can. Coming round, he realises he's alive but how's he gonna keep it that way.

It's got loads of proper scientific detail as he tries to solve little problems like not starving or dying in vacuum. Some of the characters are a bit off the shelf and look like they were written for film. (It's going to be a film next year apparently.) The sciency bits are great and even though it's mostly one bloke stuck on a barren planet, there's loads of tension.


----------



## xenon (Aug 27, 2014)

strung out said:


> Yes - I've only read the first of these, but it's absolutely fantastic, isn't it? Some of the best new stuff I've read in ages.
> 
> Edit: I'm going to hear Jeff VanderMeer in a talk in Bristol soon, with his wife. It should be excellent.



Not read any of his stuff. Was he at the Festival of Ideas thing? I'd have probably gone anyway if I'd noticed. Saw Neal Stevenson at that a couple of years ago.


----------



## xenon (Aug 27, 2014)

I've still yet to start reading Dead house Gates speaking of Erikson. Probably a winter one that.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Aug 27, 2014)

HAL9000 said:


> old stuff
> 
> Star tide rising by David Brin  (skip the first book, sun diver)
> 
> ...


Brightness Reef by Brin is cracking, and in the Sundiver universe


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2014)

The idea that dolphins could speak or be 'uplifted' is total nonsense of course. Peter Watts is a sci fi author and cetacean scientist who posits the valid question of how the hell do you explain language to creatures that beam direct sonar images of the world into each others heads? There's no abstract of sign/symbol. It's immediate and understood.


----------



## yield (Aug 27, 2014)

xenon said:


> I've still yet to start reading Dead house Gates speaking of Erikson. Probably a winter one that.


I envy you reading it for the first time. The Chain of Dogs is one of my favourite scenes in Fantasy fiction. 

Can't say more without spoiling it.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Aug 27, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> The idea that dolphins could speak or be 'uplifted' is total nonsense of course. Peter Watts is a sci fi author and cetacean scientist who posits the valid question of how the hell do you explain language to creatures that beam direct sonar images of the world into each others heads? There's no abstract of sign/symbol. It's immediate and understood.


Yes it's the most nonsensical idea in Scifi ever


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 27, 2014)

whats the brin one where bird things take over and a human lad is with some trymbi female who grows boobs for him cos they are in forbidden love? that was quality brin


----------



## mentalchik (Aug 28, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> the ex bought me Wool, I thought it was good but wasn't encouraged enough to seek out the follow ons. I liked the internal silo politicking the factionalism between the various arms and levels- but the overall story arc was wrapped into the final three chapters. And I was turned right off by the reveal that the holocaust nuclear was caused by the fucking NWO



I'm just about to start reading that


----------



## HAL9000 (Aug 28, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> whats the brin one where bird things take over and a human lad is with some trymbi female who grows boobs for him cos they are in forbidden love? that was quality brin



*"The Uplift War*"

I thought it was excellent, rehash of the vietnam war with plenty of guerrilla warfare!


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Aug 28, 2014)

HAL9000 said:


> *"The Uplift War*"
> 
> I thought it was excellent, rehash of the vietnam war with plenty of guerrilla warfare!


sounds ace!


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Aug 29, 2014)

A new favourite of mine that most of you probably read years ago, and much more driven by character than most SF, is Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series. The earlier stuff is a little YA in nature, but the storytelling and complexity grows. Bujold is excellent at internal dialogue and motivation and deals handily with identity and genetics as drivers of plot. The books can be funny, and vary quite wildly in sub-genre: there's classic space-opera, but also detective fiction and political pot-boiler and what's basically a Regency romance in there too. Bujold writes lightly, but very very deftly.

There's some debate about what the reading order should be, but I recommend starting with the "Young Miles" stuff, following through in chronological rather than published order, and then going back to read about Miles' parents.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 29, 2014)

The conciet of having your sci fi hero a brittle boned physical wreck is one we all wish we'd thought of first. My fave is the one where he's under the prison dome as an infiltrator.


----------



## xenon (Aug 29, 2014)

yield said:


> I envy you reading it for the first time. The Chain of Dogs is one of my favourite scenes in Fantasy fiction.
> 
> Can't say more without spoiling it.




They appear in Gardens of the Moon a bit. Though it was a couple of years ago I read that now.. .But anyway, yeah, I'll not ask questions.


----------



## xenon (Aug 29, 2014)

Dam I keep meaning to get round to reading some Bujold. Didn't know where to start. Cheers.


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Aug 29, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> My fave is the one where he's under the prison dome as an infiltrator.



Yeah, that's a great story, and by the time it appears in the timeline it's entirely plausible that the hyperactive little git could do that by sheer force of personality alone.


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Aug 29, 2014)

xenon said:


> Dam I keep meaning to get round to reading some Bujold. Didn't know where to start. Cheers.



From the suggested reading orders here http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/the-vorkosigan-saga-reading-order.html I'd go with the "*Ideal reading order by omnibus" *one, but start with the Young Miles stuff, and I'd read "Labyrinth" the first time it appears in the reading order. At any rate, don't read anything post "Memory" before you've read "Memory". I'd leave the Cordelia's Honour stuff till the end, because if you like the Miles stuff, you'll like Cordelia, and then there's something else to read.


----------



## Chick Webb (Aug 30, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> I'm not really enjoying consider phlebas, perhaps the rest are better. I'm going to shelve it for now.


I wouldn't say I hated, but I didn't find it great.  I'm going to give some of the others in the series a chance at some point, but couldn't face them now even months later, still thinking about how annoying CP was.  I can totally understand how you'd need to abandon it.  I stuck it out, because it was my first Iain M Banks, and I kept expecting him to do something amazing, but he never did.   Oh, Horza! 

I want to give further recommends to Blindsight.


----------



## Chick Webb (Aug 30, 2014)

TheHoodedClaw said:


> Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series.


I've read a lot of these (not all) and they're really fun, inventive and entertaining, but her boner for aristocrats is a bit tiresome.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 30, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> 14 VOLUMES?  a 14 year old kid at my school is on volume 5 of that. We ran out of money for books halfway through last year and so I'm having to get them myself. I should never have agreed to it!


lol gutted

there really is no excuse for that longness, the final two are wrapped up by one Sanderson cos the OG died


----------



## ericjarvis (Aug 30, 2014)

I add my thorough recommendation for Bujold's Vorkosisaga. Another series that favours politics over violence is CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series.

I've just started reading Octavia Butler's books and thoroughly enjoyed Clay's Ark and Wild Seed, neither of which is generally reckoned to be amongst her best. Then there's Linda Nagata, who does nanotech space opera better than anyone else. The Bohr Maker is the book to start with.


----------



## SpookyFrank (Aug 30, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> There need to be more good superhero novels



I'm gonna write one as soon as I'm done with my post-apocalyptic Thomas Hardy pastiche.


----------



## xenon (Aug 30, 2014)

Who else does futuristic nwoire. Credible morally compromised characters, corrupt filthy politicc, sex, violence, fantastical backdrops,  grimey stinking streets, technology? Like Khassam City. James Ellroy, Raymond Chandller in space... Not really like that. That sounds sorta terrible. But YSWIM.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Aug 30, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> I'm gonna write one as soon as I'm done with my post-apocalyptic Thomas Hardy pastiche.


Far From the Mutant Crowds


----------



## Awesome Wells (Aug 30, 2014)

xenon said:


> Who else does futuristic nwoire. Credible morally compromised characters, corrupt filthy politicc, sex, violence, fantastical backdrops,  grimey stinking streets, technology? Like Khassam City. James Ellroy, Raymond Chandller in space... Not really like that. That sounds sorta terrible. But YSWIM.


Richard Morgan?


----------



## xenon (Aug 30, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> Richard Morgan?




Yeah. Have read and like the Takeshi Covach stuff... Dam if I could only write. I can almost taste the sort of thing I'm looking for.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2014)

oi Spanky Longhorn 

heres some newish bob howard/laundry stuff from stross

Equoid. I enjoyed it a lot. Stross does not fuck about. He knows what you want and injects it into your eyeballs much like the pilot from Andromeda who actually injects combat drugs into her eyeballs


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> as mentioned on another thread, the sequel to Blindsight by Peter Watts is out soon. I had read july but now it looks like september? dunno.
> 
> Echopraxia




I've got this on epub now so if anyone wants it, PM an email addy

tis good so far. Peter Watts is unfailingly harsh


----------



## snadge (Sep 3, 2014)

Children of the folded valley by Simon Dillon is free on Amazon ATM for kindle, science is off but it is quite an enjoyable read, purists will hate it though.


----------



## snadge (Sep 3, 2014)

I will also recommend Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos as I haven't seen that mentioned.

Alastair Reynolds stuff also, house of suns is the first one that I read.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 3, 2014)

snadge said:


> I will also recommend Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos as I haven't seen that mentioned.
> 
> Alastair Reynolds stuff also, house of suns is the first one that I read.


I prefer the Revelation Space sequence myself

And on Dan Simmons I'd go for Illium and Olympos

he also did a weird book called Drood which makes no actual sense by the third quarter.

Hyperion and its sequel are good books though. The Shrike is a genuinly scary menace. I'm just not sure resurrecting keats was worth the time. The concept of a crucifix parasite was cool tho.


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Sep 3, 2014)

I recently read Directive 51 by John Barnes.  Its a good story if you can get past the author's political bias.  Its about a group called Daybreak who develop biotes and nanocytes that destroy plastic and gasoline.  Then, for good measure they set off nukes in the atmosphere and create a world-wide EMP, sending everyone back to a pre-tech age.  I suspect the author is some sort of Mormon survivalist/right wing nut, so don't bother if you can't get past the politics.  It was good enough that I'm following with with the sequel, Daybreak Zero.


----------



## trabuquera (Sep 3, 2014)

Aha. I'm interested, YW. Barnes' Kaleidoscope Century was a hell of a read, but by the end I genuinely couldn't figure out if the rank misogyny throughout was the author's or the narrator's. Interesting to know you got a similar vibe from Directive 51 (which I haven't read.)


----------



## Yuwipi Woman (Sep 3, 2014)

trabuquera said:


> Aha. I'm interested, YW. Barnes' Kaleidoscope Century was a hell of a read, but by the end I genuinely couldn't figure out if the rank misogyny throughout was the author's or the narrator's. Interesting to know you got a similar vibe from Directive 51 (which I haven't read.)



Yes, I had a similar feeling.  I couldn't figure out if it was the author trying to do an Ayn Rand or if he was just very good at presenting the character's pov.  In Directive 51 he has at least one very competent female character, so it gives me hope that its the latter.


----------



## campanula (Sep 6, 2014)

cheers for the Peter Watts heads up - have been going through terminal sf boredom despite inheriting dead friends collection (which unfortunately seems to consist of every Ben Bova book ever written - tedious stuff).
Knocked off Joe Abercrombie's Half a King over a sleepless night - the usual arduous journey, picaresque allies kind of stuff but did at least keep me reading to the end.


----------



## strung out (Sep 16, 2014)

Everyone stop recommending middle aged white men


----------



## Chick Webb (Sep 16, 2014)

strung out said:


> Everyone stop recommending middle aged white men


 Are you being sarcastic, dude?

Kameron Hurley.


----------



## strung out (Sep 16, 2014)

Chick Webb said:


> Are you being sarcastic, dude?
> 
> Kameron Hurley.


Nope, not being sarcastic at all, it's just fucking depressing reading a request for new sci-fi and you get the same old white male recommendations.

And I recommended Kameron Hurley earlier in the thread  she's pretty great!


----------



## Chick Webb (Sep 16, 2014)

Mate* of mine made a graph of her scifi reads from one year and graphed the gender and ethnicity of all the authors.  The results were as you would expect, and as she expected too, but I'm pretty sure the point was to remind her to seek out more authors who weren't privileged white males as you say.  She'd have some good recommends.  I'll ask her, and report back.

*I've only met this person once off the internet, but I do consider her a mate.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2014)

23 of this months tipped sci fi & fantasy releases from io9



I can't reccomend Bone Clocks highly enough, its a real joy.

from the rest of the above list I am going to ge 'Upgraded' a shorts collection based on the theme: cyborg


----------



## Belushi (Sep 16, 2014)

I wonder if we'll reach the stage where middle aged straight white men claim to be young black genderqueer women in order to sell books


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 16, 2014)

DotCommunist said:


> 23 of this months tipped sci fi & fantasy releases from io9
> 
> 
> 
> ...



From thon link:
Atwood's first story collection in eight years includes tales of a woman mistaken for a vampire, a crime solved via a 1.8 million-year-old stromatolite in the Arctic, and an old lady who keeps seeing tiny people.

TL;DR - Margaret Atwood _is so tired of your bullshit._


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2014)

Idris2002 said:


> From thon link:
> Atwood's first story collection in eight years includes tales of a woman mistaken for a vampire, a crime solved via a 1.8 million-year-old stromatolite in the Arctic, and an old lady who keeps seeing tiny people.
> 
> TL;DR - Margaret Atwood _is so tired of your bullshit._




In atwood related news:  She's become part of the 'future library project'. 140 authors will once each per year contribute to a (unread by anyone except the author) time capsule of novels to be opened and housed in the future library in 2114

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/sep/05/margaret-atwood-new-work-unseen-century-future-library

I have to admit to being quite enthused by the idea


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2014)

Belushi said:


> I wonder if we'll reach the stage where middle aged straight white men claim to be young black genderqueer women in order to sell books




*stores plan away till he hits middle age*


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 16, 2014)

I'm reading The Bone Clocks, DotCommunist 
Interesting that you have called it scifi. 
I need to read the rest of it, clearly!


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading The Bone Clocks, DotCommunist
> Interesting that you have called it scifi.
> I need to read the rest of it, clearly!




It goes into near future but I mention it as the one from the list I linked to 'fantasy and sf' tips for this month like. I'm just starting 'Cloud Atlas' by the same author- I saw the film and its easily the best I've seen in years.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 16, 2014)

the film?  (not seen it myself, but it got a panning).

i'm about halfway through The Bone Clocks. I have managed to have avoid all plot details of the book and am glad i have not read any reviews, as i am loving how this all develops.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 16, 2014)

They just weren't ready for it. Cult classic within the decade.


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 16, 2014)

I avoided them cos I didn't want any spoilers


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 2, 2014)

some good lookers out this month. War Dogs looks particularly amazeballs.

Peter F Hamilton flogging that commonwealth dead horse AGAIN with a new two book story

http://io9.com/no-kidding-this-month-is-just-crushingly-incredible-w-1641358741


----------



## Awesome Wells (Oct 2, 2014)

Anyone read the Space Captain Smith books by someone who's name escapes me. Some sort of Flashman/SF pastiche.


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 2, 2014)

Are you a fan of King Crimson, Awesome Wells ?


----------



## Awesome Wells (Oct 2, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Are you a fan of King Crimson, Awesome Wells ?


Their first two albums are superb, as is their Discipline phase. Fripp is a genius guitarist (who along with Mrs Fripp appears on Mr and Mirs with Philip Schofield a few years back!)


----------



## Orang Utan (Oct 7, 2014)

The water's cut off. I'm desperate. Nothing to drink. Can't wash my clothes but I have WiFi.

Good premise for a YA dystopia? Walled city divided in two. One side has running water and scarce technological resources, the other side has wifi, but natural resources are scarce. One from one side meets one from other. Much hugging and learning.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Oct 14, 2014)

Turbulence and Resistance by Samit Basu he creates and destroys his own Indian and British Muslim led version of the Marvel Universe/Heroes over two books. It's witty and fun, and covers pretty much every trope super hero fans would want.


----------



## rich! (Oct 14, 2014)

Awesome Wells said:


> Anyone read the Space Captain Smith books by someone who's name escapes me. Some sort of Flashman/SF pastiche.



I really enjoyed the ones I've read. Toby Frost is the author. Definite Golden Age pastiche stuff.

On the gripping hand, the new Ann Leckie (Ancillary Sword) is pretty good, but not quite as fantastic as Ancillary Justice. It seems to have a bit of "middle book of trilogy" about it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 14, 2014)

I'm reading a new shorts collection (the usual names and faces plus a couple I haven't heard of) called 'The End is Nigh'

the theme of the collection is not post or actual apocalypse, its pre-apocalypse, the run up to doom. is good.


----------



## Awesome Wells (Oct 14, 2014)

rich! said:


> I really enjoyed the ones I've read. Toby Frost is the author. Definite Golden Age pastiche stuff.
> 
> On the gripping hand, the new Ann Leckie (Ancillary Sword) is pretty good, but not quite as fantastic as Ancillary Justice. It seems to have a bit of "middle book of trilogy" about it.


I have that on Kindle, yet to read.


----------



## rich! (Oct 14, 2014)

Did anyone else download (any of the) Campbellian Anthologies? Any new (<2 years) author working in the SF/Fantasy space. I read the 2014 one as far as F. Still got it clogging up all my e-readers. Several authors I wrote down the names of on scraps of paper to check out in a decade


----------



## Artaxerxes (Oct 15, 2014)

rich! said:


> Did anyone else download (any of the) Campbellian Anthologies? Any new (<2 years) author working in the SF/Fantasy space. I read the 2014 one as far as F. Still got it clogging up all my e-readers. Several authors I wrote down the names of on scraps of paper to check out in a decade



I'm about 95% complete on the one from April(?) some really good reads in there, I've bought maybe 3-4 books based on extracts and wished there were books from many more short story writers


----------



## hot air baboon (Oct 15, 2014)

strung out said:


> Everyone stop recommending middle aged white men



....recent guest I heard on the wireless the other day.  ( ..no idea if she's any good though....)



> ....science fiction writer Nnedi Okorafor....
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0270hy2


----------



## Awesome Wells (Oct 15, 2014)

strung out said:


> Everyone stop recommending middle aged white men


by all means recommend me some sci fi wuxia


----------



## rich! (Oct 15, 2014)

Artaxerxes said:


> I'm about 95% complete on the one from April(?) some really good reads in there, I've bought maybe 3-4 books based on extracts and wished there were books from many more short story writers



95%? wow. must go back to it. And work out a way to remember the authors I liked...


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 22, 2014)

dunno where else to plonk this:

on why he's written a post apocalypse novel



			
				peter heller said:
			
		

> We're in the middle of the Sixth Great Mass Extinction, this one caused by us. We're losing species at a rate comparable to the dinosaur extinction 65 million years ago. Two-thirds of flowering plants are endangered, 20% to 25% of all mammals. We've lost half our wildlife in the last forty years. Jesus. This is unequivocally the Story of Our Time. You don't need to know the stats to feel the accelerating losses. We all do, every day. We are overwhelmed, bewildered, unmoored. We have committed a crime as a species — no, a sin — for which we can never be redeemed. Literature, which is the canary in the coal mine of our inner landscape, has to respond. And of course the Apocalypse makes for the best stories — the higher the stakes the greater a poem or a novel can be.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 22, 2015)

Jeff Vandermeer 'southern reach' trilogy

is deliciously weird. Almost a lovecraftian influence there. But it is a strange space that wasn't what it used to e. A territory that exerts strange influences. Walled off and seen in passing by expeditions that come back. It's creepy SF


----------



## purves grundy (Feb 22, 2015)

citydreams said:


> Been reading some great new sci-fi from Jeff VanderMeer in his Southern Reach trilogy.



Just reading this now. Great stuff.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Feb 23, 2015)

Got it on my to read list. 

Just started reading The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - which is an enjoyable and surprisingly well written romp of alternative world librarian/detectives and international intrigue. 

More importantly I've got 'Something Coming Through' by Paul McAuley up next which is his latest and looks pretty good.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 23, 2015)

I ripped through Planesrunner trilogy. Didn't realise it was going to be YA but thats ok.

His style is normally very baroque and sort of...ethereal. And quite adult in places, but even toned down he's still built a great many worlds story. Including polari was a good little flourish


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 23, 2015)

e2a, first post on the thread- 'planesrunner, YA'

fuck my sieve brain


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 23, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> the film?  (not seen it myself, but it got a panning).
> 
> i'm about halfway through The Bone Clocks. I have managed to have avoid all plot details of the book and am glad i have not read any reviews, as i am loving how this all develops.


didn't realise the film was by the brothers who did the matrix trio

no wonder it got a panning, no one has really forgiven them for matrix 2&3

explains also why Jupiter Ascending is currently getting trashed in the critic section of the papers (it might be because it is genuinley shit though- judgement will wait till i see it)


----------



## Orang Utan (Feb 23, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> didn't realise the film was by the brothers who did the matrix trio


Siblings, not brothers.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 4, 2015)

Gavin Smith is quite good. British space opera\military sci fi. Pulpy in a good way and reminds me in a way of (in exuberance not style) early Neal Asher.

He's got something new out this month but I'm on 'War in Heaven' (sequel to 'Veteran). Heavily modified far future ex SAS mercs fighting a nameless enemy, corporations being evil, drugs, sex and spaceships.


----------



## weltweit (Mar 4, 2015)

I have just read a couple of Rachael Bach, about the adventures of a mercenary woman in the future. Have read two of a trilogy and am now on the third. I like her style.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2015)

http://io9.com/the-hugo-awards-were-always-political-now-theyre-only-1695721604



I normally use the yearly awards to sort wheat/chaff as well. Not this year then


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 7, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> http://io9.com/the-hugo-awards-were-always-political-now-theyre-only-1695721604
> 
> 
> 
> I normally use the yearly awards to sort wheat/chaff as well. Not this year then



Look up that Vox Day cunt. There's someone who deserves a trip to the firing squad, blindfold and last cigarette included.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2015)

Theodore Beale. What a great human being.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2015)

Idris2002 said:


> Look up that Vox Day cunt. There's someone who deserves a trip to the firing squad, blindfold and last cigarette included.





> Ironically, in light of the strong correlation between female education and demographic decline, a purely empirical perspective on Malala Yousafzai, the poster girl for global female education, may indicate that the Taliban's attempt to silence her was perfectly rational and scientifically justifiable.



salt mines


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 7, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> salt mines



Why should ordinary decent criminals have to mine salt next to this guy, though?


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Apr 7, 2015)

yeah he should just be keelhauled on a star destroyer


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2015)

its the asumption that last years winners won because of who they are rather than what they wrote thats a bit 

Leckie cleared up in award season for one reason: Ancillary Sword.


----------



## Idris2002 (Apr 7, 2015)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> yeah he should just be keelhauled on a star destroyer



Keelhauled by _space pirates._

I am intrigued by your ideas and interested in subscribing to your newsletter.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 7, 2015)

I note the competition he's trying to piss on has him thrice nominated.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 26, 2015)

Jon Scalzis just been given a massive wedge of a book deal. 3.4 mill usd for 13 books. If I got that sort of advance I would fill my bath with pink notes and lie among the £50's, masturbating:

http://io9.com/john-scalzi-signs-a-massive-10-year-13-book-publishing-1706919623


----------



## DotCommunist (May 28, 2015)

good podcast here- Strahan and guests discuss all sorts with all sorts, the one linked to is scalzi on the show:

http://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/e/episode-228-john-scalzi-and-alisa-krasnostein/

in another the failures of a slate system for voting are discussed* with a depth I've not seen outside of critiques of Democratic Centralism 


*in light of this Hugos cultural mraists fiasco


----------



## rich! (May 29, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> http://io9.com/the-hugo-awards-were-always-political-now-theyre-only-1695721604
> 
> 
> 
> I normally use the yearly awards to sort wheat/chaff as well. Not this year then


I took the plunge and registered for a Supporting Membership of Sasquan, so received the Hugo Voters Pack.

Both Goblin Emperor and Three Body Problem are excellent, though only one is really SF.

The new Kevin Anderson was good if you liked the Seven Suns stuff.

Will let you know what else I find.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 6, 2015)

cheers rich  I'll be giving the kevin anderson a miss, he is persona non grata to me after those awful Dune prequels.

Heres an interesting collection out soon:
Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology


----------



## snadge (Jun 6, 2015)

rich! said:


> The new Kevin Anderson was good if you liked the Seven Suns stuff.



Does Anyone like his writing, I found Seven Suns to be predictably boring, only read 3 books of the series but came to the conclusion that those 3 books repeated backstories and plot lines SO much they could have been condensed into a short story.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 8, 2015)

mentalchik 









reviews suggest a return to form and, at around 200 pages, quite a tight novel for Reynolds, who as you know normally tells his stories in chunkier books


----------



## Impossible Girl (Jun 8, 2015)

Thanks for this thread. I shall catch up some readings


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 10, 2015)

Yet more fucking bullshit from pondlife and appeasers of pondlife


----------



## rich! (Jun 10, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> Yet more fucking bullshit from pondlife and appeasers of pondlife



yeah, that's just depressing.


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jun 10, 2015)

slow bullets is a great name


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2015)

depending on how much you care for military sf- this looks fucking ace. The authors work for some Washington DC military think tank as well, so realism is the key here:










> There’s a telling scene when one American insurgent talks about how she essentially got her military-grade hardware from a hunting store, and much of the technology that’s used isn’t too far from the end consumer. This is a telling point, especially in a day and age when you can pick up a drone off the shelf at your local store. More importantly, they take to heart the lessons learned in Iraq and Afghanistan when it came to how effective insurgents were against their better-equipped counterparts.


----------



## ringo (Jun 29, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> Leckie cleared up in award season for one reason: Ancillary Sword.



Bought Ancillary Sword for my dad for Fathers Day after checking this thread - possibly the first sci-fi book I've bought him he's actually liked, nice one.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 29, 2015)

ringo said:


> Bought Ancillary Sword for my dad for Fathers Day after checking this thread - possibly the first sci-fi book I've bought him he's actually liked, nice one.


I'm glad he enjoyed it- she just scored a Locus award for it as well, so thats one in the eye for all these hitherto unrecognized fans of sci fi proclaiming everything is shit cos of women.

Some of the gender nominative stuff reminded me of Le Guin, the starship angle reminded me of Ian M Banks. Lots of very very good influences in her work- and not just that she nods to them. She tells a new story wwith those elements and brings in her own.


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 29, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm glad he enjoyed it- she just scored a Locus award for it as well, so thats one in the eye for all these hitherto unrecognized fans of sci fi proclaiming everything is shit cos of women.
> 
> Some of the gender nominative stuff reminded me of Le Guin, the starship angle reminded me of Ian M Banks. Lots of very very good influences in her work- and not just that she nods to them. She tells a new story wwith those elements and brings in her own.



The gender stuff genuinely suprised me, so hats off.


----------



## ringo (Jun 29, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm glad he enjoyed it- she just scored a Locus award for it as well, so thats one in the eye for all these hitherto unrecognized fans of sci fi proclaiming everything is shit cos of women.
> 
> Some of the gender nominative stuff reminded me of Le Guin, the starship angle reminded me of Ian M Banks. Lots of very very good influences in her work- and not just that she nods to them. She tells a new story wwith those elements and brings in her own.



He said to me he was a bit surprised it was good because it was by a woman  He's only just got into it, is he going to get a shock to his Daily Mail brain?


----------



## zxspectrum (Jul 1, 2015)

Would love to read something that blended space opera with Wuxia.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2015)

zxspectrum said:


> Would love to read something that blended space opera with Wuxia.


ever read any Eric Van Lustbader?


----------



## zxspectrum (Jul 1, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> ever read any Eric Van Lustbader?


nope.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 1, 2015)

zxspectrum said:


> nope.


its not quite what you are looking for, its certainly not space opera-its thrillers with an edge of chi mystiscism and so on. Good reads, if a bit pulpy, but I like pulpy.


----------



## zxspectrum (Jul 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> its not quite what you are looking for, its certainly not space opera-its thrillers with an edge of chi mystiscism and so on. Good reads, if a bit pulpy, but I like pulpy.


Thanks.

All i know is he wrote sexy ninja books that we talked about but never read as kids in school. Like all those war novels by Clive Cussler with Russian swear words.

I'm really keen to know if there is something that draws on wuxia specifically - chinese mythology, as opposed to Japan.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 2, 2015)

Spanky Longhorn said:


> Got it on my to read list.
> 
> Just started reading The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman - which is an enjoyable and surprisingly well written romp of alternative world librarian/detectives and international intrigue.
> 
> More importantly I've got 'Something Coming Through' by Paul McAuley up next which is his latest and looks pretty good.




just read he did an 8th doctor Who novella as well- Eye of the Tyger

must seek out copy


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 5, 2015)

anyone read anything by Jo Walton?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 5, 2015)

nope but being published by Tor is a sign of quality imho. Kings Peace I recall a buzz around but I never bothered


----------



## Spanky Longhorn (Jul 7, 2015)

Been reading Glorious Angels by Justina Robson, interesting ideas - not fantastically well written, and derailed by toe curling graphic sex scenes which I only came across after reading the blurb and suggesting it to my mum, hopefully she will have forgotten to buy it... It's like Mirror Empire crossed with Confluence with added teenage girls being consensually double penetrated by athletic military types.


----------



## zxspectrum (Jul 7, 2015)

Mirror mpire, by Kameron Hurley? That's on my watch list. What's the dp situation like there?


----------



## prunus (Jul 7, 2015)

Can't see that anyone's mentioned it yet, so: The Quantum Thief by Hanuu Rajaniemi (first of a trilogy). Excellent far future human society hard science scifi. And has one of my favourite opening lines from a book.

This puts is better than I can (no spoilers): http://www.johnxero.com/spacetimein.../review-the-quantum-thief-by-hannu-rajaniemi/

To me it's like a cross between Iain M Banks and China Mieville, which is high praise indeed.


----------



## zxspectrum (Jul 7, 2015)

prunus said:


> Can't see that anyone's mentioned it yet, so: The Quantum Theif by Hanuu Rajaniemi (first of a trilogy). Excellent far future human society hard science scifi. And has one of my favourite opening lines from a book.
> 
> This puts is better than I can (no spoilers): http://www.johnxero.com/spacetimein.../review-the-quantum-thief-by-hannu-rajaniemi/
> 
> To me it's like a cross between Iain M Banks and China Mieville, which is high praise indeed.


I've read it, and the Fractal Prince, and just started Causal Angel.

It is quite incredible...and wholly impenetrable! 

No exposition of any kind.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jul 7, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> nope but being published by Tor is a sign of quality imho. Kings Peace I recall a buzz around but I never bothered


I'm reading Among Others. So far, it's a memoir about a lonely disabled teenage girl finding solace in SF. But there are fairies. Great writing so far though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jul 21, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> I'm reading Among Others. So far, it's a memoir about a lonely disabled teenage girl finding solace in SF. But there are fairies. Great writing so far though.


Think I'll seek out a copy, sounds up my street. I don't mind fairies either. When it comes to SF\fantasy you have to take the view that its OK so long as its written well and works in context. Thats how star wars gets away with space wizards and their magic lazer swords


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 12, 2015)

Three Moments of an Explosion

China Meivilles new short story collection- looks good. Bit of a swizz including two of the shorts already published in 'Looking for Jake' mind.


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2015)

Epic news! Adam Roberts has a new one coing out and its a take on The Thing 










> Adam Roberts turns his attention to answering the Fermi Paradox with a taut and claustrophobic tale that echoes John Carpenters’ _The Thing_. Two men while away the days in an Antarctic research station. Tensions between them build as they argue over a love-letter one of them has received. One is practical and open. The other surly, superior and obsessed with reading one book – by the philosopher Kant. As a storm brews and they lose contact with the outside world they debate Kant, reality and the emptiness of the universe. The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone.


http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/2015/08/coming-soon-thing-adam-roberts-new-take-thing/


----------



## Idris2002 (Aug 27, 2015)

"The come to hate each other, and they learn that they are not alone."

The rest of the universe hates them too?


----------



## snadge (Aug 29, 2015)

Just finished The three body problem and The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, enjoyed immensly.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2015)

just picked up Stross' latest Laudry one 'The Annihilation Score'


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> cheers rich  I'll be giving the kevin anderson a miss, he is persona non grata to me after those awful Dune prequels.
> 
> Heres an interesting collection out soon:
> Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology


Review here


> Forty years ago, in her essay "American SF and the Other," Le Guin wryly observed: "The women's movement has made most of us conscious of the fact that SF has either totally ignored women, or presented them as squeaking dolls subject to instant rape by monsters — or old-maid scientists desexed by hypertrophy of the intellectual organs — or, at best, loyal little wives or mistresses of accomplished heroes."
> 
> There are no squeaking dolls or loyal little wives here, no old maid scientists — and if there were, woe betide anyone who took them at face value.


----------



## moon (Sep 8, 2015)

Why not play 'Mass Effect' instead of reading a book? It's like an interactive book, movie, game hybrid


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 8, 2015)

moon said:


> Why not play 'Mass Effect' instead of reading a book? It's like an interactive book, movie, game hybrid



I hate games with long stories that have massive cutscenes with exposition. I just want to know who to kill. If I wanted a proper story, I'd pick up a book!


----------



## moon (Sep 8, 2015)

Orang Utan aww that's unfortunate.. mass effect is a proper story btw..


----------



## Orang Utan (Sep 8, 2015)

moon said:


> Orang Utan aww that's unfortunate.. mass effect is a proper story btw..


i'm sure it is, i just get impatient with games.


----------



## DangDarn (Sep 8, 2015)

zxspectrum said:


> I've read it, and the Fractal Prince, and just started Causal Angel.
> 
> It is quite incredible...and wholly impenetrable!
> 
> No exposition of any kind.



I'm late but yep, hell of a book and series. Just throws you in the deep end with some crazy stuff, future dilemna prisons and sentient starships. This and Ancillary Justice are a few of my recent science fiction favorites, but I'm on the lookout for more. 

Anyone have recs on some more stuff like this?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 20, 2015)

Ian Mcdonalds new one is out. Luna: New Moon. 

Ian McDonald's New Moon

polougish/short here (quite good, made me want the full novel)
The Fifth Dragon


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 20, 2015)

And here's a nice blog post from Anne Leckie about writing for audience. Which puts the boot in on recent events also:
What the Reader Wants - Ann Leckie


----------



## mango5 (Oct 21, 2015)

Maybe not new to everyone but I picked up a few new to me cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk books from this article Who Owns Cyberpunk? by James Patrick Kelly especially the female writers


----------



## snadge (Oct 31, 2015)

My sweet Satan by Peter Cawdron really liked this.

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, couldn't put this one down.


----------



## ringo (Nov 2, 2015)

mango5 said:


> Maybe not new to everyone but I picked up a few new to me cyberpunk and post-cyberpunk books from this article Who Owns Cyberpunk? by James Patrick Kelly especially the female writers



Thanks, I ordered a copy of Mirrorshades off the back of this article.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 2, 2015)

Just started reading Michel Faber's The Book Of New Strange Things - beautifully written and compelling


----------



## iona (Nov 2, 2015)

I have a spare copy of Mirrorshades, in case anyone else was thinking of ordering it.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 2, 2015)

I keep meaning to buy three body problem as I've never read any chinese sci fi. hopefully it'll be on epub cheap.


----------



## DownwardDog (Nov 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> Jon Scalzis just been given a massive wedge of a book deal. 3.4 mill usd for 13 books. If I got that sort of advance I would fill my bath with pink notes and lie among the £50's, masturbating:
> 
> John Scalzi Signs A Massive 10-Year, 13-Book Publishing Deal



He's going to pay a lot of tax on it and the have to give some combination of 15-30% of what's left to his agent. And 13 books is a Stakhanovite amount of work if he gives the slightest shit about the quality of the output. So it's not a huge amount of money spread over 10 years. You wouldn't write SF for the money, that's for sure. You've got to be in it for the love of the game...


----------



## 5t3IIa (Nov 2, 2015)

I havent read thread so dont suppose I'm first person to mention The Martian ...?

It's not fantastically written - it's like a first draft/outline. But I can see how someone was gripped and had a moment "MATT DAMON MATT DAMON OMG THIS WILL BE THE MAKING OF ME (.)Y(.) OMG" when they read it.

Anyone read it? Seen the film?


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I keep meaning to buy three body problem as I've never read any chinese sci fi. hopefully it'll be on epub cheap.


Interesting aside on Chinese SciFi in this recent Neil Gaiman lecture:
Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 2, 2015)

m8 reccomended the film to me in strong terms on the phone last night (its fucking amazing he said). And he is normally a bit meh about sci fi. So it must be doing something right


----------



## 5t3IIa (Nov 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> m8 reccomended the film to me in strong terms on the phone last night (its fucking amazing he said). And he is normally a bit meh about sci fi. So it must be doing something right


The Martian? I would also strongly recommend it, but ensure you didn't think it was because I thought it was good literature.

It's also one of those books that loses some important formatting on kindle, I think. Not that I've seen a paperback irl but i will compare next time I'm passing a physical emporium. Some books aren't  served at all well by their e-version


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 2, 2015)

Orang Utan said:


> Interesting aside on Chinese SciFi in this recent Neil Gaiman lecture:
> Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming


interesting, this is also an odd nugget of china SF info which also involves translation stuff. as a monolingual translation is like voodoo to me

The "Heroic Translators" Who Reinvented Classic Science Fiction In China


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 2, 2015)

5t3IIa said:


> The Martian? I would also strongly recommend it, but ensure you didn't think it was because I thought it was good literature.
> 
> It's also one of those books that loses some important formatting on kindle, I think. Not that I've seen a paperback irl but i will compare next time I'm passing a physical emporium. Some books aren't  served at all well by their e-version


I'm unsure as to wether I like matt damon these days but i'll watch anything with a spaceship in it so torrentbay awaits


----------



## 5t3IIa (Nov 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I'm unsure as to wether I like matt damon these days but i'll watch anything with a spaceship in it so torrentbay awaits


He was pretty good in Interstellar  Sinister, and what one might think he is really like  I have it and can bung it to you on usb if you've not seen?


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 2, 2015)

5t3IIa said:


> He was pretty good in Interstellar  Sinister, and what one might think he is really like  I have it and can bung it to you on usb if you've not seen?


I would be obliged  you'll no doubt still have my details from sending letters to my dead macaque lol


----------



## 5t3IIa (Nov 2, 2015)

DotCommunist said:


> I would be obliged  you'll no doubt still have my details from sending letters to my dead macaque lol


Moi? Who would do such a thing.


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 12, 2015)

Locus Online Reviews » Paul Di Filippo reviews Clifford D. Simak


----------



## DotCommunist (Nov 15, 2015)

interesting piece here on the dystopia/utopia divide in SF

Farewell to Dystopian Lit, Here Come the New Utopians


----------



## snadge (Dec 27, 2015)

Beacon 23 by Hugh Howey, brilliant.


----------



## ringo (Jan 7, 2016)

Thread delivers again - ordered Wool, The Martian & Beacon 23 for my Dad's birthday, he should like one of them. Cheers for the recommendations


----------



## mango5 (Jan 27, 2016)

strung out said:


> I think I've mentioned this on at least two other threads, but I'm determined to recommend as many female sci-fi authors as I can to ....


You might want to check out Herland on the radio tomorrow morning www.bsfa.co.uk/women-who-changed-sci-fi-on-bbc-radio-4s-herland


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 27, 2016)

theres also SF Mistressworks

commenters on there helped me find the author and title of a book I'd loved and forgotten all names. near a decade it took to find, because I'm a div. Escape Plans, Gwyneth Jones.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 27, 2016)

mango5 said:


> You might want to check out Herland on the radio tomorrow morning www.bsfa.co.uk/women-who-changed-sci-fi-on-bbc-radio-4s-herland


I'll get that on the iplayer in the evening. I've been reading a piece by blogger, author, gloomy futurist and journo annalee niewitz and wondering when there will ever be a full length story cos the skills all there but it seems she's more interested in the non fic atm


----------



## DotCommunist (Jan 31, 2016)

journal from the museum of SF looks good. Especially the paulo and Herbert essays

[MJOSF] Vol. 1, No. 1: Full PDF Download | Louzon | MOSF Journal of Science Fiction

contents:

Letter from the Editor ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 1 Reflecting on Science Fiction …………………………………………………………………………………………………… 2 Biogenetics, The Nation, and Globalization in Paolo Bacigalupi’s Critical Dystopias Derrick King …….………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 4 Gods of War Toke While Riding a Vimana: Hindu Gods in Three Indian Science Fiction Novels Sami Ahmad Khan ...………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 17 Loving the Other in Science Fiction by Women Karma Waltonen ..…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 33 Paul’s Empire: Imperialism and Assemblage Theory in Frank Herbert’s Dune Amanda Rudd ..………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….. 45


----------



## ringo (Feb 11, 2016)

Enjoying Richard K Morgan's Woken Furies at the mo, thought I'd check some more Cyberpunk classics, not that I've read Mirrorshades yet. Came across this list of genre best:
Best Cyberpunk Books | Best Science Fiction Books | BestScienceFictionBooks.com


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 11, 2016)

ringo said:


> Enjoying Richard K Morgan's Woken Furies at the mo, thought I'd check some more Cyberpunk classics, not that I've read Mirrorshades yet. Came across this list of genre best:
> Best Cyberpunk Books | Best Science Fiction Books | BestScienceFictionBooks.com


interesting to see Perdido Street Station in there as cyberpunk! not what I'd call it. Decent list though, Bester is old school, won the first ever hugo award. Demolished man is better than stars my destination imo. Snow Crash is a belter and nueromncer is good but aged well it has not. I was trying to think of a decent Gibson film adapt and all I've got is Jonny Mnemonic which was cack. Entertaining cack.


----------



## ringo (Feb 11, 2016)

I've read everything by Gibson, his latest three have been as good as his early stuff imo. Neuromancer is the book that got me interested in computers in '88, so I have that to blame for choosing my job since leaving archaeology. A blessing and a curse.

Also read Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age, although his Quicksilver proved too long and boring for me and I was relieved when I dropped it in a puddle and took the opportunity to bin it. 

Apart from the Altered Carbon the rest is new to me so will have a gander.


----------



## ringo (Feb 11, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> interesting to see Perdido Street Station in there as cyberpunk! not what I'd call it.


I really enjoyed The City And The City, will have a go anyway.


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 11, 2016)

ringo said:


> I really enjoyed The City And The City, will have a go anyway.


its more industrial revolution era fantasy. Well worth the time (although as an acomplished novel C&tc is probably his best so far. The bas-lag books are sprawling weird and great but no way near as tight as c&tc)


----------



## sparkybird (Feb 11, 2016)

I'm always really amazed (although why shouldn't I be) that tastes in books are so widely varied. I read The City and the City based on a review and just didn't get on with it at all. If it's his best one, then I don't think I'll be reading any more.

BTW I'm not a scifi reader, but do like to try new things to keep out of a reading rut.

I did recently read the Death of Grass which I thought was AMAZING! IS that scifi? (I realise its far from new!)


----------



## iona (Feb 11, 2016)

I read that the other day sparkybird (and loved it too) and I'd definitely call it SF.


----------



## Teenage Cthulhu (Feb 12, 2016)

Only just discovered that Echopraxia by Peter Watts. The first book of the Firefall series is one of the best hard science fiction books I have read so I am looking forward to this, I don't know how I missed it.

Echopraxia: The Latest Attempt by Peter Watts to Stomp Your Assumptions to Death


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 12, 2016)

Teenage Cthulhu said:


> Only just discovered that Echopraxia by Peter Watts. The first book of the Firefall series is one of the best hard science fiction books I have read so I am looking forward to this, I don't know how I missed it.
> 
> Echopraxia: The Latest Attempt by Peter Watts to Stomp Your Assumptions to Death


I think I'd say that by a whisker its not quite as good as Blindsight, but that still puts it very high in my estimation. Just reading a watts short in an collection with my morning shit today as it happens. Usual themes, mind/body/tech. A walking tank commits a war crime- is it her or the machine parts responsible?
He's a bit irritable Watts. No lols in his work. I like that grimness though, that *almost* nihilism of his.


----------



## Teenage Cthulhu (Feb 12, 2016)

It's the nihilism I like. And the science of why vampires hate crucifixes, and the long almost essay like description of our reptilian brain.


----------



## DotCommunist (May 7, 2016)

came across an odd little Adam Roberts short the other day. Its not fun like most of his work, I remember a passage from 'On' where the kids are being eaten by giant insects. You know how horrible he can be

It was called 'trademark bugs'

its about as horrible as you expect from AR but with the same arched brow he manages so often. Its a good read if hugely inscensing


----------



## toggle (May 8, 2016)

ringo said:


> I've read everything by Gibson, his latest three have been as good as his early stuff imo. Neuromancer is the book that got me interested in computers in '88, so I have that to blame for choosing my job since leaving archaeology. A blessing and a curse.
> 
> Also read Stephenson's Snow Crash and Diamond Age, although his Quicksilver proved too long and boring for me and I was relieved when I dropped it in a puddle and took the opportunity to bin it.
> 
> Apart from the Altered Carbon the rest is new to me so will have a gander.



hmmmmmmmm. certainly read more than half of that lot. WJW hardwired does fit the genre, but ti's not his best.


----------



## CosmikRoger (Jun 19, 2016)

Can anyone recommend some utopian post singularity sci fi? À bit like Banks' culture if you know what I mean.
I'm not really into space opéras though, once characters start numbering in double figures I start losing track and interest.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2016)

CosmikRoger said:


> Can anyone recommend some utopian post singularity sci fi? À bit like Banks' culture if you know what I mean.
> I'm not really into space opéras though, once characters start numbering in double figures I start losing track and interest.


Anne Leckie. The 'Ancillary' trilogy. Its not quiet as utopian as you want though. Try maby Neal Asher and his Polity books.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2016)

oh and if you like it hard, go for Greg Egan. Can't even tell if its utopian, its so far away. But it is post singularity


----------



## Idris2002 (Jun 19, 2016)

CosmikRoger said:


> Can anyone recommend some utopian post singularity sci fi? À bit like Banks' culture if you know what I mean.
> I'm not really into space opéras though, once characters start numbering in double figures I start losing track and interest.


Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise should meet your needs. Both by Charlie Stross.

Though it may depend on your definition of utopian.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2016)

Ian McDonald (British author) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
deffo check this one out. He's not space opra but if he doesn't make you turn the pages and enjoy I'll eat my hat.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 19, 2016)

What's 'post-singularity'? (I'd look it up but I'm in a pub)


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> What's 'post-singularity'? (I'd look it up but I'm in a pub)


singularity- we reach AI. Humanity is grabbed by its bootstraps. By AI. We are recording human minds onto tech, and not just as records. They are living in the second life of an artificially constructed computer world. Body modding to insane degrees
Technological singularity - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

the funniest diss I've heard is 'the rapture of the nerds'

but as biotech and hardtech combine...maybe not my lifetime but there will be people with computers in thier heads. Its just going that way


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 19, 2016)

Ah, like in Altered Carbon


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Jun 19, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> What's 'post-singularity'? (I'd look it up but I'm in a pub)



The rate of technological change goes asymptotic, usually fuelled by some sort of AI breakthrough. We're nowhere near that though.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Ah, like in Altered Carbon


precisely so. Farewell to the flesh.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 19, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> precisely so. Farewell to the flesh.


Have you seen The Zero Theorem?


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 19, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> Have you seen The Zero Theorem?


No but I'll get it for tommorow nights watch cos I like the blurb. Sort of reminds me of an arthur c clarke story about the names of god

once the machine is finished, so are we.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 20, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> No but I'll get it for tommorow nights watch cos I like the blurb. Sort of reminds me of an arthur c clarke story about the names of god
> 
> once the machine is finished, so are we.


That's kinda what Pi (the Aronofsky film) is about and Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum covers it in detail too


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 20, 2016)

Orang Utan said:


> That's kinda what Pi (the Aronofsky film) is about and Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum covers it in detail too


focaults pendulum fucked me up for weeks. I looked up masonic imagry etc and once you see, you cannot unsee. Wheels within wheels and hidden truths OR ARE THEY. I recon that one goes best back to back with Illuminatus! for sheer conspiracy rabbitholes suff.


----------



## Orang Utan (Jun 20, 2016)

Laurie Penny has written an SF novella, which is listed in this bunch of debut SFF novels:
10 Science Fiction & Fantasy Debuts to Watch for in the Second Half of 2016
I nominate DotCommunist to read it so I don't have to.


----------



## DotCommunist (Jun 20, 2016)

I'd give it a square go you know  anyone that into general sci fi&fantasy plus writing for a living might have put something good out. No way I'm paying cash money for it though.


----------



## D'wards (Aug 26, 2016)

Has anyone read Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky? It just won the Arthur C Clarke award, and the premise on a theme that always interests me 

Arthur C Clarke award goes to Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel of 'universal scale'


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Has anyone read Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky? It just won the Arthur C Clarke award, and the premise on a theme that always interests me
> 
> Arthur C Clarke award goes to Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel of 'universal scale'


yes campanula sent it to me and it is indeed excellent. Sprawling space opera done with heart and style. I couldn't put it down, do make the time for it


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2016)

it totally deserves the award and has echos of brin's obsessions. And peter watts. But not so nihilist as he


----------



## D'wards (Aug 26, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> yes campanula sent it to me and it is indeed excellent. Sprawling space opera done with heart and style. I couldn't put it down, do make the time for it


Follow up question - i can get this for free from Mobilism, but he looks like a good guy from his photo. Just the sort who writes good sci fi. I can afford to buy analog copy  - will he miss my cut of his royalties?
(I'm not that ethical - i illegally stream series and films until the cows come home, but niggles me with books if the author isn't some sort of Stephen King character who lights cigars with $50 bills)


----------



## D'wards (Aug 26, 2016)

In other news Mobilism has Laurie Penny's book, obviously for free


----------



## DotCommunist (Aug 26, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Follow up question - i can get this for free from Mobilism, but he looks like a good guy from his photo. Just the sort who writes good sci fi. I can afford to buy analog copy  - will he miss my cut of his royalties?
> (I'm not that ethical - i illegally stream series and films until the cows come home, but niggles me with books if the author isn't some sort of Stephen King character who lights cigars with $50 bills)


that I wouldn't know, all my epubs were stolen from non legit sources. So I don't know how it all works to buy epub legit. but even if you just get a paperback, its one of those ones you can't put down imo.


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Aug 26, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Follow up question - i can get this for free from Mobilism, but he looks like a good guy from his photo. Just the sort who writes good sci fi. I can afford to buy analog copy  - will he miss my cut of his royalties?
> (I'm not that ethical - i illegally stream series and films until the cows come home, but niggles me with books if the author isn't some sort of Stephen King character who lights cigars with $50 bills)



According to his wiki bio he still works as a Legal Exec in Leeds, despite having a fair back catalogue of published work, so y'know...


----------



## D'wards (Aug 26, 2016)

TheHoodedClaw said:


> According to his wiki bio he still works as a Legal Exec in Leeds, despite having a fair back catalogue of published work, so y'know...


That's settled it - legal purchase ahoy


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

this looks interesting:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-unexpected-intersection-of-islam-and-scifi-1786107294


----------



## Idris2002 (Sep 5, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> this looks interesting:
> 
> http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-unexpected-intersection-of-islam-and-scifi-1786107294


That is interesting. After 9/11, some bullshitter spread the word that Al-Qaeda took their name from the Foundation in Asimov's famous series. Now apparently, though Al-Qaeda is usually translated as 'the base',it can also be translated as 'the foundation' - but there's no evidence at all that OBL was a killer geek as well as a killer.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 5, 2016)

I finished Central Station last night. Ultimately I didn't find the story that amazing, but the world that is created is absolutely fantastic, felt quite different to anything I'd read before and I'd would certainly recommend it. I'd certainly like to read more novels in the same universe.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Sep 5, 2016)

Started Infomocracy as well. Also very cutting edge and modern and promising so far. 

Basically I found a good torrent site for books and then googled the best Sci Fi of 2016.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 5, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> just picked up Stross' latest Laudry one 'The Annihilation Score'


Currently listening to the audio book of that  after his latest laundry files book "the nightmare stacks" got me hungry for more.

It looks like  his sci-fi stuff has come up on this thread a bunch of times  but  i've not  tried it yet.  what's the best to start with?


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 5, 2016)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> Currently listening to the audio book of that  after his latest laundry files book "the nightmare stacks" got me hungry for more.
> 
> It looks like  his sci-fi stuff has come up on this thread a bunch of times  but  i've not  tried it yet.  what's the best to start with?


Glasshouse is genuinly one of the best sci fi novels I have ever read.

Accelerando is hugely entertaining if not perfect- it is stitched together from a number of shorts.

All of the laudnry books are good. Really quite funny and the conciet is a good one. You might want to skip on the Merchant Princes stuff cos I liked them but not enough to reccomend. Equoid is a Laundry short

I like that one a lot.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 5, 2016)

Yeah I've read all the laundry stuff including the short stories.  When I get onto a series by an author I tend to binge them. My kindle purchase history shows a telling story.

Just did a big john scalzi binge.   Now in the midst of a cadfael binge.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 5, 2016)

In other news I was just lent  Ancillary Justice, The Windup Girl and Galileo's Dream.

Currently 10 pages into AJ  and liking it so far.


----------



## Brainaddict (Sep 5, 2016)

I can't find a recent good fantasy literature thread, so I'll stick this here (it's dystopian anyway so could be put in scifi): Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor Who Fears Death

I'm pretty hard to please with fantasy these days but this has been working for me. Good things:
1. Based in African rather than European mythology
2. Much better written than most fantasy
3. Better characterisation and focus on relationships than most fantasy
4. It still sort of has a classic hero/quest storyline despite being a bit slower to allow for character-building and so on

Highly recommended, and a worthy addition to the canon of feminist scifi/fantasy that in fact contains many of the best offerings of both those genres.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 5, 2016)

Plenty of fantasy stuff mentioned on the thread already. We must show solidarity here in the nerd ghetto.


----------



## marty21 (Sep 5, 2016)

I've read a lot of Vaughn Heppner this year , 5 of his 'lost' series. If you like Space Marines, he's worth a go.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 6, 2016)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> Currently 10 pages into AJ  and liking it so far.


Just finished Ancillary Justice. I did enjoy it. It had a nice mixture  of exploring concepts and world building. Also AI characters which i often like.


----------



## Sherman Tank (Sep 7, 2016)

I've just finished Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - Seveneves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's a brilliant 200 page novel with 600 pages of boring backstory beforehand. I skimmed a lot of the first two thirds, but enjoyed it none the less.


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Sep 8, 2016)

Sherman Tank said:


> I've just finished Seveneves by Neal Stephenson - Seveneves - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> 
> It's a brilliant 200 page novel with 600 pages of boring backstory beforehand.



I can never make up my mind whether I think Stephenson needs to be ferociously edited, or if I'm just content to go along for the ride.


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 8, 2016)

Now reading first uplift trilogy.


----------



## DotCommunist (Sep 8, 2016)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> Now reading first uplift trilogy.


if you have epub would you mail me? my brin stuff is lost in the mists of time. Socks and books, the casualties of moving house


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Sep 8, 2016)

DotCommunist said:


> if you have epub would you mail me? my brin stuff is lost in the mists of time. Socks and books, the casualties of moving house


I'll take a look. actuallt PM me a email as  i have  some other stuff too


----------



## snadge (Sep 9, 2016)

D'wards said:


> Has anyone read Children Of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky? It just won the Arthur C Clarke award, and the premise on a theme that always interests me
> 
> Arthur C Clarke award goes to Adrian Tchaikovsky's novel of 'universal scale'



Yeah it's a fabulous book, I actually recommended it earlier in this thread.


----------



## TheHoodedClaw (Sep 9, 2016)

snadge said:


> Yeah it's a fabulous book, I actually recommended it earlier in this thread.



It's very good. 



Spoiler



The arachnid society is really very well thought out.


----------



## D'wards (Nov 8, 2016)

Just over a third into Children of Time - I flipping love it. 

It has some very imaginative sci fi concepts in it, but is written in a rich and readable way


----------



## kropotkin (Nov 10, 2016)

I read it over the weekend on nights as a result of this thread : brilliant. Thanks so much for mentioning it. 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## Shippou-Sensei (Nov 10, 2016)

Shippou-Sensei said:


> Just finished Ancillary Justice. I did enjoy it. It had a nice mixture  of exploring concepts and world building. Also AI characters which i often like.



I read the other two books in the series. I enjoyed them a lot as I read them but they haven't stuck in my head the same way the first one has.  they are silver medals to the firsts gold.


----------



## Idaho (Nov 10, 2016)

Ancilliary Justice was Ok. 6 out of 10.


----------



## UnderAnOpenSky (Nov 10, 2016)

The Red Rising trilogy. Very action packed, quite silly (the space battles in particular), but rather entertaining!


----------



## Idaho (Nov 10, 2016)

TheHoodedClaw said:


> I can never make up my mind whether I think Stephenson needs to be ferociously edited, or if I'm just content to go along for the ride.


I like an immersive novel full of facts . So I love it . I strongly recommend Anathem . The digressions are more philosophical compared to the astro physics of seveneves . 
For something far out , I recommend The Three-Body Problem by Chinese writer Liu Cixin .


----------



## oneunder (Nov 10, 2016)

The Three-Body Problem was great, About to start the third.


----------



## Orang Utan (Nov 10, 2016)

oneunder said:


> The Three-Body Problem was great, About to start the third.


I've got that on my teetering unread pile. Is it heavy hard sci-fi in the vein of Kim Stanley Robinson or is it something else?


----------



## Mation (Apr 1, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Just over a third into Children of Time - I flipping love it.
> 
> It has some very imaginative sci fi concepts in it, but is written in a rich and readable way


I've just finished this today. Loved it. It is a _magnificent_ book! Magnificently _strange. _I didn't like the way Dr Avrana Kern's character was written at first; thought it belaboured the point a bit and I thought about abandoning the book. _So_ glad I stuck with it.


----------



## EastEnder (Apr 1, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Just over a third into Children of Time - I flipping love it.
> 
> It has some very imaginative sci fi concepts in it, but is written in a rich and readable way


I just googled Children of Time and it appears to be a book about spiders...

Is this correct?


----------



## Mation (Apr 1, 2017)

EastEnder said:


> I just googled Children of Time and it appears to be a book about spiders...
> 
> Is this correct?


Er, yes. Sort of. I don't think this is the book for you, tbh!


----------



## EastEnder (Apr 1, 2017)

Mation said:


> Er, yes. Sort of. I don't think this is the book for you, tbh!


Good to know! 

Why can't it ever be intelligent puppies or kittens or anything nice & fluffy that has fewer than 8 legs!!


----------



## Mation (Apr 1, 2017)

EastEnder said:


> Good to know!
> 
> Why can't it ever be intelligent puppies or kittens or anything nice & fluffy that has fewer than 8 legs!!


Here you go


----------



## kropotkin (Apr 1, 2017)

Just want to recommend to everyone Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life, and others" which is a collection of short sci-fi stories by him. The title story is what Arrival was based on. Loads of great ideas. 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## Idaho (Apr 1, 2017)

Anyone else read this? 





I really enjoyed it. Similar level of entertainment to world war z.


----------



## D'wards (Apr 1, 2017)

EastEnder said:


> Good to know!
> 
> Why can't it ever be intelligent puppies or kittens or anything nice & fluffy that has fewer than 8 legs!!


Well it does have ants in it too, but they are oversized and psychotic. And shoot flames at you


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 1, 2017)

Mation said:


> I've just finished this today. Loved it. It is a _magnificent_ book! Magnificently _strange. _I didn't like the way Dr Avrana Kern's character was written at first; thought it belaboured the point a bit and thought about abandoning the book. So glad I stuck with it.


I have campanula to thank for that story and its great. I say this as a spider h8er


----------



## Mation (Apr 2, 2017)

D'wards said:


> Well it does have ants in it too, but they are oversized and psychotic. And shoot flames at you


Psychotic?  I thought they were just antsy.

I'm hoping this spoiler code works, having not used it before (that I can remember):


Spoiler



I kept thinking that the author had the Chinese Room firmly in mind with the ants, and definitely so with Avrana Kern's end, but it's only just occurred to UK-centric me that Imperial C is not English (I didn't think very hard, tbh) and is in fact some version of Chinese.





DotCommunist said:


> I have campanula to thank for that story and its great. I say this as a spider h8er


Yeah. It was hard to judge, as someone who doesn't hold spiders dear while not being an arachnophobe, whether this would be received with interest or horror by someone who can't bear the real things. I suspect that most of the last part of the book would be difficult. (I'm trying hard to avoid spoilers!)


----------



## kropotkin (Apr 2, 2017)

Idaho said:


> Anyone else read this?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looked it up - sounds really good. On the list! Thanks 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## alfajobrob (Apr 2, 2017)

Mation said:


> Here you go



Ta for sorting my Sunday evening viewing..its available on aarrghhbay btw.


----------



## maomao (Apr 2, 2017)

kropotkin said:


> Just want to recommend to everyone Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life, and others" which is a collection of short sci-fi stories by him. The title story is what Arrival was based on. Loads of great ideas.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


I'm not a short story fan but this is a truly excellent collection. And the source story for Arrival is far from the highlight. Can't recommend it highly enough. First time I've ever finished a pirated book and felt like I should send the author a tenner.


----------



## kropotkin (Apr 2, 2017)

I felt similarly! And I agree that Stories of Your Life wasn't the best. 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## kropotkin (Apr 2, 2017)

For me a toss-up between Golem Victoriana, Tower of Babel-a-like and Muslamic Timetraveller Morality Play 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## maomao (Apr 2, 2017)

kropotkin said:


> For me a toss-up between Golem Victoriana, Tower of Babel-a-like and Muslamic Timetraveller Morality Play
> 
> Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


Meh. Understand fucking rocked. That's a proper unfilmable story. And Hell is The Absence of God has had me on a constant lookout for angels.


----------



## kropotkin (Apr 2, 2017)

Which one was Understand? The one with the mathematician? That was ace. As was the angel one. Essentially, this is an incredible collection of stories and Ted Chiang is a writer with more ideas than most. 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk


----------



## Orang Utan (Apr 2, 2017)

Just finished Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself. Brilliant stuff. Blew my tiny mind.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 3, 2017)

Orang Utan said:


> Just finished Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself. Brilliant stuff. Blew my tiny mind.


I'm hoping it'll give me enough superficial knowledge of Kant to sound wise on the mans work and be able to answer questions that might be likely to feature on The Chase


----------



## hot air baboon (Aug 3, 2017)

Hired guns of sci-fi shaping our future


----------



## Mordi (Feb 5, 2019)

For anyone else who missed it Peter Watts' book from last year "The Freeze Frame Revolution" is predictably excellent. I'm only about half way through now and I've been surprised at how many familiar concepts (dare I say cliches?) it touches on. It's told from a perspective that's certainly less jarring than a lot of his other books, but the plot development has gripped me entirely.

It appears to be running an arc on very similar grounds to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series. But whereas those books were unwieldy giant tomes of exposition and uninteresting characters and ideas this is far more sharp and engaging.


----------



## trabuquera (Feb 5, 2019)

Any urbz read The Traitor / The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson? Some good buzz on it elsewhere but I need to know if it's bosh before investing any time in it...


----------



## Mordi (Feb 5, 2019)

trabuquera said:


> Any urbz read The Traitor / The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson? Some good buzz on it elsewhere but I need to know if it's bosh before investing any time in it...



I've only read the first book. It suffers from the perennial fantasy problem of not having been edited to a third of the size. I was really engaged by the first quarter to a half and then got increasingly wound up as the convoluted scheming of the plot chugged along. The ending left me frustrated and angry, which I believe is the desired result.


----------



## campanula (Feb 6, 2019)

I seem to have waded through an endless pile of shit, even stuff by usually reliable authors (Neal Asher's woeful 'The Soldier' and some utter, utter piffle from Alastair Reynolds). Wondering if it's just me.
Anyway, although I generally steer clear of books written by men called Greg, my local chazza has the full series of Greg Egan's Orthogonal series for a fiver...although I kind of went off convoluted physics after the unreadable Schild's Ladder - anyone read these. Currently back in the comforting? arms of Ian Macdonald with his Chaga books...but again, not really loving it.

Eyeing up K.S.Robinson's 'Red Moon'...but a bit skint so...


----------



## DotCommunist (Feb 6, 2019)

I've read few new things this year but this from late last year was brilliant: 
Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

not strictly sci fi but not trad fantasy either. Get it and read it thread


----------



## campanula (Feb 6, 2019)

oooh, sounds up my street, Dotty. Cheers

ooops, forgetting quoting etiquette after my shortish Urban holiday - soz DotCommunist


----------



## Idaho (Oct 16, 2020)

DotCommunist said:


> I've read few new things this year but this from late last year was brilliant:
> Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
> 
> not strictly sci fi but not trad fantasy either. Get it and read it thread


Just downloaded this off audible. I haven't had a decent immersive book for ages.


----------



## DotCommunist (Oct 16, 2020)

Idaho said:


> Just downloaded this off audible. I haven't had a decent immersive book for ages.


I'm still waiting for the sequel to get an english translation, I haven't checked since before the rona so maybe its soonish.


----------

