So, what's good to read in SF lately?

[rolanni]

I just had the occasion to review my wish list over on Amazon.com and notice something...peculiar. Excluding non-fiction, my book list is exclusively fantasy -- no, I'm wrong. Surely Palimpsest is science fiction. So, the Overwhelming Majority of my fictional wants is fantasy.

I can't help but think that there's something wrong with this. Back before I uttered the Fateful Phrase, "I can do better than this!" and so embarked upon my career as a writer, I was pretty much reading science fiction, having gotten there via a crooked path through mystery, classics, romance, and general literature. Granted, because I'm a natural mimic, I tend to stay away from reading SF when I'm writing SF, but I'm not even buying SF anymore (another exception -- the new Bren Cameron novel hit the mailbox this week). I have here in my TBR pile:

New Amsterdam, E. Bear (fantasy)
The Last Days of the Incas, K. MacQuarrie (non-fiction)
Nine Years Among the Indians, H. Lehmann (autobiography)
A Song in Stone, W. Hunt (fantasy)
The Animal Dialogues, C. Childs (non-fiction)
Thirteenth Child, P. Wrede (fantasy)
Conspirator, CJ Cherryh (sf)
The Source of the Nile, R. Burton (non-fiction)
The Kimono of the Geisha-Diva Ichimaru,Till, Warkentyne, Patt (non-fiction)

...and I'm currently reading Edison's Eve: A Magical History of the Quest for Mechanical Life by G. Wood (which by the way is fascinating) -- nonfiction.

I remember hitting a thick patch with SF a couple of years back, where I was reading books that people whose taste I trusted raved about -- and finding them (choose all that apply): (1) dull (2) incomprehensible (3) Inflated with a sense of their own Importance (4) lack sympathetic characters -- and I guess I found that my itch for exciting! character driven! stories! got scratched better elsewhere. But, surely, there's SF that's worth reading out there. Right?

What're you reading that's good in SF? And! Special Bonus Question: What makes it good?


edited to fix spelling

Comments

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I enjoy David Weber's "Honor Harrington" universe, but I do have to wade through the battle scenes occasionally. I think the short stories set in that universe are terrific. I enjoyed his "Path of the Fury" better, but that drifts into hard fantasy a bit. I'm enjoying the Safehold series, so far.

The story I'm reading right now, "Airman" by Eoin Colfer, isn't really science fiction, but it's good... sort of a fairy tale without the fantasy. It's got a princess and a commoner that grow up together, then face villains, trials and tribulations. It's primarily from the commoner's viewpoint. It might be considered "young adult," or even "young reader," but I DON'T care! :o)

edit: on my list of older books is C.S. Friedman's "This Alien Shore"... a very satisfying read.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Most of the better stuff lately seems to be YA. I don't care, either, (Greek Chorus whispers: That woman will read ANYthing)as long as it's a good story.

David Weber -- again I am a Philistine. Read one, was never motivated to read another. It's sad, really.

[grassrose.livejournal.com]

No worries - there's no accounting for preference. Me, I really, really wish I liked bell pepper, but I can't stand the stuff! :o)

I've been sponging up mostly fantasy lately.

YA

[nolaviz.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Seeing so many mentions of YA... Have you read Scott Westerfeld? He has some pretty neat social SF in the Uglies series, and his Risen Empire is a nice space-opera romp.

Re: YA

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

I've read some -- but he writes too fast for. I read Uglies, Pretties, Specials, but haven't seen the space operas.