Science Fiction

[Clockwork Cupcake]

46and2 said:

Have you read the classics?

Orwell, Huxley, Dick, Asimov etc? They are mostly standalones I think. All of the culture novels are technically standalone.

I was just about to say something similar. Although Iain M Banks' culture novels are set in the same universe, and sometimes make passing reference to events in other books (more as Easter Eggs than anything vital), they are pretty much standalone.

Also Larry Niven's "Known Space" books. Although, having said that, some of Niven's books are sequels, but an awful lot are not and they are a rich trove to dive into if you have not read them.

[DodgyGeezer]

some of the older authors (for example Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steel Rat" or "Deathworld") wrote, by modern standards, very short novels so although they are part of a (short!) series in actual terms of pages read it's likely no longer than a standalone novel

[Clockwork Cupcake]

DodgyGeezer said:

some of the older authors (for example Harry Harrison's "Stainless Steel Rat" or "Deathworld") wrote, by modern standards, very short novels so although they are part of a (short!) series in actual terms of pages read it's likely no longer than a standalone novel

Very fair point. I would doubt if an anthology of either series would be thicker than a modern book.

[plasticpig]

Drawweight said:

Is it just me that would prefer a stand alone book rather than a series?

I’ve just read The Painted Man by Peter V Brett which enjoyed. I just came upon it by chance and read it and it wasn’t till the end that I realised there were 4 more books.

There’s just something that holds me back from reading a series of books that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s just that I have a short attention span.

I’ve tried with several series’s and I just run out of steam part way through.

So if anyone can recommend some stand alone science fiction that’d be great.

As mentioned a lot of classic ScFi is stand alone but for more modern stuff:

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Fallen Dragon. Perter F Hamilton
The Octagonal Raven, L.E. Modesitt Jr.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

plasticpig said:

As mentioned a lot of classic ScFi is stand alone but for more modern stuff:

Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
Fallen Dragon. Perter F Hamilton
The Octagonal Raven, L.E. Modesitt Jr.

This is going to make you feel old, but Snow Crash was published almost 30 years ago.

Still a great book, and pretty much invented the Metaverse. Linden Lab deny that Second Life was modelled on it, but we all know it was.

In keeping with a lot of Neal Stephenson's work, it ends rather abruptly with a rather too convenient Deus ex machina, which disappoints. But otherwise is a great book.

[hairykrishna]

I enjoyed the new Stephenson, Termination Shock. My favourite of his is still Anathem.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

hairykrishna said:

I enjoyed the new Stephenson, Termination Shock. My favourite of his is still Anathem.

Interesting. I actually own Anathem in paperback but have never read it due to the crushing disappointment of Seveneves. So it has sat on the bookshelf, unread, ever since.

edit: I should add that I have read most of Neal Stephenson's books, including Cryptonomicon. But Seveneves was an absolute low point for me.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Tuesday 18th January 17:12

[jimmyjimjim]

Drawweight said:

Is it just me that would prefer a stand alone book rather than a series?

I’ve just read The Painted Man by Peter V Brett which enjoyed. I just came upon it by chance and read it and it wasn’t till the end that I realised there were 4 more books.

There’s just something that holds me back from reading a series of books that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s just that I have a short attention span.

I’ve tried with several series’s and I just run out of steam part way through.

So if anyone can recommend some stand alone science fiction that’d be great.

Oddly enough, I enjoyed that book, but can't face the rest of the series.

[havoc]

Anathem is worthwhile.

I agree above that he has a problem with endings, but the level of detail and immersion in the topic in his novels (for me at least), is wonderful stuff. Cryptonomicon is also good.


I'm currently reading this...successor to Wool...which I read about 3 years ago so have forgotten a few details which may be being cross-referenced here or useful to know.


Dystopian post-apocalypse stuff (without the zombies...well, not visible anthropomorphic ones anyway), but all the more human because of it.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

havoc said:

Anathem is worthwhile.

I agree above that he has a problem with endings, but the level of detail and immersion in the topic in his novels (for me at least), is wonderful stuff. Cryptonomicon is also good.

Yes, I enjoyed Cryptonomicon.

My biggest issue with Seveneves is he goes into excruciating and excessive detail on things that don't matter and glosses over stuff that he can't be arsed to flesh out. Which includes character development. And there is also a whole load of fail with regards to "show, don't tell" (as in, he tells). It's by far his laziest and most self-indulgent book and it has rather put me off him, despite having read most of his previous works.

Maybe I will give Anathem a go, though.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Tuesday 18th January 17:46

[hairykrishna]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Interesting. I actually own Anathem in paperback but have never read it due to the crushing disappointment of Seveneves. So it has sat on the bookshelf, unread, ever since.

edit: I should add that I have read most of Neal Stephenson's books, including Cryptonomicon. But Seveneves was an absolute low point for me.

Seveneves is...not my favourite. I thought the second half could have been a decent book on its own but it ends just as it's getting interesting. I've read most of his books, I think Fall; or, Dodge in Hell is my least favourite.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

hairykrishna said:

Seveneves is...not my favourite.

Diplomatic

hairykrishna said:

I thought the second half could have been a decent book on its own but it ends just as it's getting interesting.

I'd say more like last third than 2nd half. Clearly an extended setup for a sequel. It would have been far better done as totally standalone and cold, with the revelation that it was the Earth of Seveneves. Kind of like the reveal in the Asimov books that the Robots books and the Foundation books are in the same universe.

hairykrishna said:

I've read most of his books, I think Fall; or, Dodge in Hell is my least favourite.

Fortunately I have not read those. Sounds like I dodged a bullet.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Tuesday 18th January 19:17

[hairykrishna]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Fortunately I have not read those. Sounds like I dodged a bullet.

Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Tuesday 18th January 19:17

It's just the one book. It has a few of the same characters as Reamde, which was excellent, making it doubly annoying.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

hairykrishna said:

It's just the one book. It has a few of the same characters as Reamde, which was excellent, making it doubly annoying.

Oh!

Well, I have just called up his bibliography and I have read the following:

• Zodiac (1988)
• Snow Crash (1992)
• The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995)
• Cryptonomicon (1999)
• Quicksilver (2003), volume I: The Baroque Cycle
• The Confusion (2004), volume II: The Baroque Cycle
• Seveneves (2015)

Plus, owned but never read:

• The System of the World (2004), volume III: The Baroque Cycle
• Anathem (2008)

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson#Nove...

So it looks like I have read quite a few of his novels.

I didn't really get on with The Baroque Cycle

I thought that "The Diamond Age" was a lovely neo-Steampunk novel that had some clear links with Snow Crash, and also with William Gibson's "The Difference Engine".

[Baron Greenback]

Diamond age and Snow Crash are my favourite

[sociopath]

jimmyjimjim said:

Drawweight said:

Is it just me that would prefer a stand alone book rather than a series?

I’ve just read The Painted Man by Peter V Brett which enjoyed. I just came upon it by chance and read it and it wasn’t till the end that I realised there were 4 more books.

There’s just something that holds me back from reading a series of books that I can’t put my finger on. Maybe it’s just that I have a short attention span.

I’ve tried with several series’s and I just run out of steam part way through.

So if anyone can recommend some stand alone science fiction that’d be great.

Oddly enough, I enjoyed that book, but can't face the rest of the series.

Its good, but a slog to get through book 5.

[havoc]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

It would have been far better done as totally standalone and cold, with the revelation that it was the Earth of Seveneves. Kind of like the reveal in the Asimov books that the Robots books and the Foundation books are in the same universe.

On the spoiler topic, I remember as a kid reading Foundation & Earth, and the sheer joy at putting it all together, at the reveal by R. Daneel...almost certainly unplanned when the original series was written 70 7ears ago, so not a Deus Ex ending...more a very neat homage to a beloved character

[xeny]

Clockwork Cupcake said:

Oh!

Well, I have just called up his bibliography and I have read the following:

• Zodiac (1988)
• Snow Crash (1992)
• The Diamond Age: or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer (1995)
• Cryptonomicon (1999)
• Quicksilver (2003), volume I: The Baroque Cycle
• The Confusion (2004), volume II: The Baroque Cycle
• Seveneves (2015)

Plus, owned but never read:

• The System of the World (2004), volume III: The Baroque Cycle
• Anathem (2008)

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal_Stephenson#Nove...

So it looks like I have read quite a few of his novels.

I didn't really get on with The Baroque Cycle

I thought that "The Diamond Age" was a lovely neo-Steampunk novel that had some clear links with Snow Crash, and also with William Gibson's "The Difference Engine".

I've read Quicksilver and the first half of The Confusion before deciding it was too long for not enough enjoyment. The initial premise of Seveneves is so broken from a Physics PoV I can't read beyond that point (same problem with Red Mars).

Snow Crash for me was part of early adulthood, and although it is a while now since I read it, :The Big U: reminds me far too much of university. in both good and bad ways. Zodiac is a lot of fun and blissfully short, I've re-read it several times.

Anathem has a better enjoyment length ratio than the Baroque cycle books, but isn't as casual a read as Snow Crash. Of his other works it perhaps most closely resembles Cryptonomicon in character?

[hairykrishna]

I've tried to start the baroque cycle a few times and struggled. I've read all his other stuff.

[Clockwork Cupcake]

hairykrishna said:

I've tried to start the baroque cycle a few times and struggled. I've read all his other stuff.

In fairness, it is more fantasy than Sci-Fi because it is set in the past.

There were some interesting concepts but it just didn't capture me. So, yes, I am totally with you there.

By contrast, I found Iain "no M" Banks' fiction very accessible. The Wasp Factory (his first novel) is still amazing.

One author whose fantasy offerings I have not explored is Adrian Tchaikovsky. I love his sci-fi but I am wary of trying his fantasy, not least due to being stung by Neal Stephenson's aforementioned Baroque Cycle.