Science Fiction
Discussion
Zumbruk said:
RizzoTheRat said:
my current series (Rivers of London, not scifi but very good).
They are very good ... and I don't know what they are if they aren't SF! OK, they're urban fantasy, but that's a sub-genre of what, these days, seems to be called "Speculative" rather than "Science" Fiction. 
RizzoTheRat said:
Zumbruk said:
RizzoTheRat said:
my current series (Rivers of London, not scifi but very good).
They are very good ... and I don't know what they are if they aren't SF! OK, they're urban fantasy, but that's a sub-genre of what, these days, seems to be called "Speculative" rather than "Science" Fiction. 
Zumbruk said:
RizzoTheRat said:
Zumbruk said:
RizzoTheRat said:
my current series (Rivers of London, not scifi but very good).
They are very good ... and I don't know what they are if they aren't SF! OK, they're urban fantasy, but that's a sub-genre of what, these days, seems to be called "Speculative" rather than "Science" Fiction. Zumbruk said:
tertius said:
They (Rivers of London) are absolutely brilliant.
That they are.RizzoTheRat said:
Zumbruk said:
tertius said:
They (Rivers of London) are absolutely brilliant.
That they are.RizzoTheRat said:
I'm a bit annoyed that several books in he started doing a comic book series as well, so despite reading all the books so far there's several references to things I've not seen (eg haunted bmw's and foxes). Other than that I'm loving them.
The foxes pop up in several of the books. Haven't read the comics; I loathe them.Schmeeky said:
Andy Weir.. After his great success with The Martian, I thought Artemis was nowhere near the same league. However, I've just finished Project Hail Mary, and IMHO it's even better than the Martian. Lots of hardish SF and lots of Weir humour, it's now in my list of favourite SF books.
Completely agree, very good read indeed. LordGrover said:
Eyes of the Void - Adrian Tchaikovsky, expected 28 April.
Tchaikovsky is a funny one, enjoyed a few of the first books but sort of faded [for me!].hairykrishna said:
I liked all three in the Altered Carbon series although I agree the first one was the stand out. I think Thin Air was just as good.
Market Forces was very different, but I enjoyed it.
The AC series was brilliant I thought - it sorta crossed a few genres I enjoy and seemed to distil the best of them into one lump. Very clever world-build and stands a re-read or two.Market Forces was very different, but I enjoyed it.
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Maybe already rec'd but I thought Peter Watts did a great job with Blindsight, it "explores themes of identity, consciousness, free will, artificial intelligence, neurology and game theory as well as evolution and biology," so quite dense as you can imagine. Its follow up Echopraxia is a sidequel that explores similar themes under the surface of the story - maybe not quite as good as Blindsight but interesting nonetheless. [Both available together in the compendium Firefall ].
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Has anyone read any of Clifford Simak at all? I used to devour Asimov and Heinlein as a lad and would like to revisit that golden age without spoiling it!
andy_s said:
Has anyone read any of Clifford Simak at all? I used to devour Asimov and Heinlein as a lad and would like to revisit that golden age without spoiling it!
I remember enjoying it 'back in the day' but not read any for 30(?) years now. It could be an interesting walk into the golden age - or it could be really disappointing given how far/fast tech has moved...andy_s said:
Maybe already rec'd but I thought Peter Watts did a great job with Blindsight, it "explores themes of identity, consciousness, free will, artificial intelligence, neurology and game theory as well as evolution and biology," so quite dense as you can imagine. Its follow up Echopraxia is a sidequel that explores similar themes under the surface of the story - maybe not quite as good as Blindsight but interesting nonetheless. [Both available together in the compendium Firefall ].
I thought these were astonishingly good. Far and away the best "hard" SF I've read in years. "Echopraxia" is available as a free download if anyone wants to give it a go. Be warned, it's quite dense and scientific; I ended up keeping a web browser to hand to look stuff up, and I have degrees in biochemistry and computer science.andy_s said:
Has anyone read any of Clifford Simak at all? I used to devour Asimov and Heinlein as a lad and would like to revisit that golden age without spoiling it!
Apparently so! I recently re-read "Way Station" and enjoyed it, but I don't remember the others at all. [Googles] Hmmm. Looks like Stephen King ripped off "All flesh is grass" for "Under the dome".
ETA; The blue one in the middle with the broken spine is "Catface".
Edited by Zumbruk on Sunday 30th October 15:05
@DodgyGeezer [I used to use 'JuliasGeezer' on another site!] - yeah I get where you're coming from, I'll read it under the quilt by torchlight so the golden age feel remains!
@Zumbruk Haha - yes, I could have sold Peter Watts a bit better, my rankings are something like: Asimov - special place in heart, Richard Morgan then Watts - like yourself but without the brains I tried to keep up and probably missed bits but it actually led to deeper dives into cognition / consciousness [Metzinger, Clarke, McGilchrist, Seth etc etc]. That's always the sign of a good book to me. Have another star on me Mr Watts.
I'll get a cheapy Way Station and maybe one of the 'collected stories' - thanks for pointer. [Library books are great, I got a 1st edition McLuhan for next to nothing recently and quite enjoyed the pencilled notes and underscored words written by students long ago]
@Zumbruk Haha - yes, I could have sold Peter Watts a bit better, my rankings are something like: Asimov - special place in heart, Richard Morgan then Watts - like yourself but without the brains I tried to keep up and probably missed bits but it actually led to deeper dives into cognition / consciousness [Metzinger, Clarke, McGilchrist, Seth etc etc]. That's always the sign of a good book to me. Have another star on me Mr Watts.
I'll get a cheapy Way Station and maybe one of the 'collected stories' - thanks for pointer. [Library books are great, I got a 1st edition McLuhan for next to nothing recently and quite enjoyed the pencilled notes and underscored words written by students long ago]
p1doc said:
RizzoTheRat said:
I find Tchaikovsky a bit hit and miss. Enjoyed Children of Time, Loved Dogs of War and Bear Head, gave up part way through The Tiger And The Wolf
dogs of war is his best work i reckon cage of souls and spiderlight close secondsClockwork Cupcake said:
I've just had a notification from Amazon that "Children of Memory" by Adrian Tchaikovsky has been released.
This is a follow-up to Children of Time and Children of Ruin
Currently £9.99 on Kindle. Not sure about other formats.
Hardcover turned up yesterday - Had it on pre-order for months This is a follow-up to Children of Time and Children of Ruin
Currently £9.99 on Kindle. Not sure about other formats.
Treat for this weekend
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