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

[missingvolume.livejournal.com]

I really liked the The New Space Opera anthology that came out a few years ago. I liked most of the stories and it gives a good jumping off point into reading somebody new or a new series you hadn't read. But I have noticed that I have been reading a lot more fantasy as well. Granted right now I am reading the new Laurie King book.

[ramblin-phyl.livejournal.com]

When you need a touch of space opera, "Space Grunts" edited by Dayton Ward from Flying Pen Press is due out May 18. I have a story in there along with some other names you might know.

I enjoyed Song in Stone when I blurbed it for Walt. Too bad the imprint died.

[lagilman]

Thirteenth Child was quite wonderful.

Mostly I'm reading mysteries right now (re-reading In the Electric Mists with Confederate Dead while waiting for the new Laurie King to arrive). I got turned off SF that was too antagonistic to the human race (I love Peter Watt's ideas and style, but can he please give me characters I can empathize with?). Short SF is pleasing me more than long-form, these days. Also, there is much fantasy that is structured like SF, to pick up some of that slack ('hard fantasy,' where the internal logic of magic is well-integrated not only to the worldbuilding, but also into the characters' awareness and actions).

When in doubt, I fall back on Joe Haldeman's books. Can't go wrong, there.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

I think you make a really good point here. I have drifted away from SF of late and have been reading more "hard fantasy", to borrow your term. DH says he just likes a good story when I tease him about reading romances and that's true for me too.

I also notice that writers that used to be writing SF have now drifted towards "hard fantasy":)

[(Anonymous)]

Yes, the fantasy has kinda taken over, hasn't it?
These are some of the relatively new SF that came into the shop. OK, SF, not Fantasy:

Duplicate Effort by Kristin Kathryn Rusch
Close Encounters by Katherine Allred
Hunter's Run by George RR Martin, G. Dozois and D. Abraham
Fast Forward 2, edited by Lou Anders
Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait, by KA Bedford
Scout Squad: Going Native, by Mark O. Chapman
(I have copies if you can't find it anywhere else)

Escapement (Jay Lake) and Zoe's Tale (John Scalzi) are both out in Mass Market paperback.

Lauretta@ConstellationBooks
PS I, personally, am working through Scout Squad and have just finished Little Fuzzy for the book club. This is in between everything else I'm reading for the shop.

[(Anonymous)]

Oops, that's should be Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
Kristine not Kristin. I looked at it afterwards and thought something didn't look right but I'd already hit post.

Reading

[(Anonymous)]

I've just finished Conspirator and now have to wait for Deceiver, the next in Cherryh's Foreigner universe. I'm not finding too much to read in SF at the moment and I'm not a great fan of Fantasy. One author I emailed mentioned that fantasy sells right now and that is what she is being encouraged to write.

I'm back to reading mysteries; my current favourite is Cara Black's Aimee Leduc series set in Paris.

reaading

[(Anonymous)]

I hadn't noticed that the next in the Retrieval Artist series is out (Duplicate Effort). Need to get that one.

[jelazakazone.livejournal.com]

Oh. I take it back. I have been reading Wen Spencer. But you probably already know about her:)

[mardott.livejournal.com]

I'm more behind on my reading than I've ever been in my life. With that caveat, I'm currently on Julie Czerneda's Rider's of the Storm. I've liked every single thing I've read by her, because the worlds and characters are (like your books) places I'd like to live, and people I'd like to know.

I've got Zoe's Tale lined up next - remember, I'm playing catch up - should've read it a long time ago. But I just now finished Ghost Brigades. This series is the first I've read of John Scalzi's books, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover they were less about war, and more about characters.

I can't get into war books, not even if the war's in space.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Well, there's these space operas by some authors you might know -- Lee and Miller? They're pretty good *g*. But actually new SF I like is pretty thin on the ground. I like Tanya Huff's military SF (a new book in the 'Valor' series soon), and Elizabeth Moon's; Peter F. Hamilton's earlier work I liked but his recent ones are just too darned long. The same with Neil Stephenson. There's a new Larry Niven series in his "Known Space" universe, I have the first and it's not at all bad, the second is due soon.

But mostly for SF I've been rereading -- Heinlein, Fred Pohl, Poul Anderson, Patrick Moore...

Recent SF I have read

[(Anonymous)]

Recently, I have read C.J. Cherryh's "Regenesis", a compilation of C.L. Moore's Northwest Smith short stories called "Northwest of Earth", and I JUST received David Drake's "In the Stormy Red Sky" (the latest Lt. Leary book), and have read a little bit more than half of it since yesterday afternoon.

[elektra.livejournal.com]

Try Endless Blue by Wen Spencer. Most of the other SF I've read recently has been mentioned already.

Books...

[(Anonymous)]

Tanya Huff has a new book in the Valor series? I thought it finished with Valor's Trial. Confederation of Valor is an omnibus of the first 2 books. This would be really good.

In a similar vein is Kristine Smith's Jani Killian series.

I'm going to re-read Julian May, I believe. Not her fantasy series but the others.

[(Anonymous)]

Any and all Terry Pratchett. Devour a new one to find out what happens, let it sit as long as self-control will allow, then reread to find out WHY it happened...
Alex Beldsoe's "Sword-Edged Blonde" - solid, likable main character, not overwhelmingly bloody and discouraging, and has touches of the everyday(hero removes the Model Name & Logo from a sword so it won't stand out).

Cathy C

Re: Books...

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Ah, Valor's Trial is coming out new in softcover. I don't buy hardcovers very often.

Do you call the Many-Coloured Land series SF or Fantasy? Technically they are the former, but they feel more like Fantasy to me. (On the other hand Roger Zelazny's Amber series is actually F but feels like SF to me.)

[reedrover]

New? Not so much. Older? The Price of the Stars trilogy is one of my go-to sets. Don't stray past the first three, though. And I just "lost" (loaned and never got back) another copy of The Path of the Fury.

Or you could go back to urban fantasy and get hooked on Jim Butcher.

[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.

Re: Books...

[(Anonymous)]

I call the Pliocene Exiles saga fantasy more than SF. I wasn't all that keen on it; don't think I finished it. And I don't buy hardbacks either. Valor's Trial was a case where I absolutely HAD to read it so I went to the library. In fact I find I'm doing that more and more and becoming a little more discriminating in what I actually buy. The library now has an excellent online system which I use extensively. I always found it difficult to traipse down there and look for what I wanted only to find it wasn't there and I'd have to wait. Now, I just reserve it online, they email me and off I go.

Re: Recent SF I have read

[(Anonymous)]

I also gobbled up Regenesis as soon as it hit the library shelf.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Just can't read Pratchett. Yes, I have tried. Several times.

Alex Beldsoe's "Sword-Edged Blonde" - solid, likable main character, not overwhelmingly bloody and discouraging, and has touches of the everyday(hero removes the Model Name & Logo from a sword so it won't stand out).

This sounds like fantasy, though, not SF?

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

You cannot possibly be as far behind in reading as I am. I make no pretense of catching up, ever. I keep meaning to grab one of John's books, which! I'm obviously not going to do unless I stick them in the wish list to remind myself.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Ah, hadn't seen that one. I like Wen's stuff.

Thanks!

[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.