A reader needs some help
Friday, April 8th, 2011 04:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rolanniAs I prove every year with my Books Read list, writers -- or at least this writer -- have no time to read. You guys, though, read lots (*is jealous*), and are therefore in a unique position to help out a fellow reader.
The situation: Said reader has read and approves of Fledgling and Saltation; they have dabbled in Vorkosigan territory, but ultimately found that Miles didn't quite hit the spot ("slightly too Carl Hiaasen"). Their usual sort of pleasure reading tends in the direction of British and Scandinavian murder mysteries.
What science fiction titles, bearing in mind the above criteria, would you recommend to this reader?
I'm thinking maybe![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
autopope's Laundry novels, and possibly CJ Cherryh's Foreigner novels, but after that, I'm stumped.
So -- go for it, Hive Mind. And thank you very much.
The situation: Said reader has read and approves of Fledgling and Saltation; they have dabbled in Vorkosigan territory, but ultimately found that Miles didn't quite hit the spot ("slightly too Carl Hiaasen"). Their usual sort of pleasure reading tends in the direction of British and Scandinavian murder mysteries.
What science fiction titles, bearing in mind the above criteria, would you recommend to this reader?
I'm thinking maybe
autopope's Laundry novels, and possibly CJ Cherryh's Foreigner novels, but after that, I'm stumped. So -- go for it, Hive Mind. And thank you very much.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 08:37 pm (UTC)Reader Help
Date: 2011-04-08 09:29 pm (UTC)I've read a lot more but there's a lot of hard SF in my list. However, thinking mysteries with an SF bent there's Kristine Katherine Rusch "Retrieval Artist" series set on the moon.
reading recommendation
Date: 2011-04-08 10:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 10:12 pm (UTC)Depending on the particular tone of the Brit/Scandinavian leaning, possibly Alastair Reynolds -- I liked The Prefect, as a for-instance. I would tend, barring other referents, to lean away from recommending the military SF of Weber, Moon, and David Drake; I like a lot of that, but nothing in the described tastes suggests that this reader is a candidate for strongly focused mil-SF. (Moon's Remnant Population and/or Speed of Dark, perhaps.)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 01:49 am (UTC)If the reader is looking for younger and more "coming of age" challenge rather than anything deeper, there is the old Lightwing by Tara K. Harper. Or if we are really going light, how about the first of the Starbridge series by A.C.Crispin, or Hellspark by Janet Kagan.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 10:35 pm (UTC)Hmm, thinking of Celtic Fantasy and murder mysteries, Ellis Peters' Cadfael series.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 07:54 pm (UTC)And the world revolves around the sun.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 10:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 10:45 pm (UTC)A few possibilities
Date: 2011-04-08 11:29 pm (UTC)1. Coming of age theme
2. Rich, well realized world
3. Action theme
4. Not military fiction
5. No fantasy
A first suggestion is the Telzy Amberton or Trigger Argee stories of James Schmitz. These for a rich world, the coming of age theme, and a lot of action.
Emma Bull's Bone Dance might suit, although it's a bit cyber, likewise Pat Cadigan's Synners or Melissa Scott's Trouble and Her Friends. These all have really rich varied world views.
F.M. Busby's Rissa and Tregare series (Look for the Rissa Kerguelen omnibus) is probably on track, but may be a bit military for taste.
Debra Doyle's Mageworld series might suit quite well.
Anne McCaffrey's Crystal Singer, is worth a try for this.
Andre Norton's Zero Stone, might also work.
If the prose is the thing, Corwainer Smith's Norstrilia is certainly worth a try.
Timothy Zahn's Night Train to Rigel is fun and fits some of the criteria.
This is not my recommended reading list by a long shot, but from the limited information we've got I think that at least one of these will hit. Most of them have continuing tales as well.
Re: A few possibilities
Date: 2011-04-09 03:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-08 11:43 pm (UTC)Mindstar Rising (1993), ISBN 0-330-32376-8
A Quantum Murder (1994), ISBN 0-330-33045-4
The Nano Flower (1995), ISBN 0-330-33044-6
SF mysteries by Peter Hamilton and they are great.
Second ed
Date: 2011-04-09 03:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 08:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 11:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 12:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 12:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 12:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 04:05 am (UTC)Help for a reader
Date: 2011-04-09 01:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 02:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 06:39 am (UTC)http://mescott.livejournal.com/3800.html
(new novella and novel, plus new editions of the 2 existing books)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 02:46 am (UTC)all except Bellwhether (weather? ... the lead sheep) are slightly demented time travel
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 11:46 pm (UTC)Note that Willis has two modes: the first two mentioned above are somewhat manic and highly comedic, and the latter two are heartwrenching.
Happy novels
Date: 2011-04-09 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 04:27 am (UTC)Six gentlemen meet and dine. The single guest always ends up providing a mystery, which our protagonists discuss. The solution is always provided by Henry, the waiter. It’s the mystery in a civil environment.
Raymond
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 04:37 am (UTC)Six gentlemen meet and dine. The single guest always ends up providing a mystery, which our protagonists discuss. The solution is always provided by Henry, the waiter. It’s the mystery in a civil environment.
Raymond
Advise to Reader
Date: 2011-04-09 07:31 am (UTC)I think that's a lot for a while.
C.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 01:00 pm (UTC)Recommended books
Date: 2011-04-09 01:10 pm (UTC)I also liked Ian R. MacLeod's "The Light Ages", which is a bit of a cross-over between alternate history (Victorian England) and F/SF.
Enjoy!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 03:02 pm (UTC)Tricia
English Mystery
Date: 2011-04-09 03:47 pm (UTC)Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
Weed that Strings the Hangman' Bag
Red Herring without Mustard
Protagonist invokes Edward Gorey images
no subject
Date: 2011-04-09 07:02 pm (UTC)Ecolitan Operation,
Ecologic Succession,
Ecologic Envoy,
and Ecolitan Enigma
all by LE Modesitt Some of them are in omnibus editions...2 in one, I think Operation+Succession are called
Empire & Ecolitan.
Good SF spy stories.
Lauretta@ConstellationBooks
Since no one else has mentioned it yet...
Date: 2011-04-10 05:34 am (UTC)_Night Lamp_, by Jack Vance. A good litmus test; if you like that one, there's a lot more Vance where that came from.
_Sewer, Gas, and Electric_, by Matt Ruff.
I'll second the recommendation of Bujold's "5 Gods" books, if fantasy is acceptable. No Miles-like characters in sight.
Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos novels.
The "Anthony Villiers" trio by Alexei Panshin
_Metropolitan_ and _City on Fire_ by Walter Jon Williams
The Drake Maijstral novels by Walter Jon Williams
_Swordspoint_ by Ellen Kushner
(Those last few all have the "mannered speculative fiction" vibe that I crave, and that Liaden Universe (tm) books provide.)
Two good books
Date: 2011-04-10 06:40 am (UTC)The Moreau Factor by Jack L. Chalker
Flesh and Silver by Stephen L Burns
Both are built around mysteries, have character centered plots, great world building, and are set in the not too distant future, with technology that is definately possible.
I would also recommend Catherine Asaro's Skolian series. It's science fiction as well, but the human culture is definately foreign. There are free chapters of some of her books available on Baen's e-book website.
Enjoy!
Annemarie
no subject
Date: 2011-04-10 07:15 am (UTC)Here, a link is quicker.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-10 04:35 pm (UTC)Seemingly fantasy, but actually science fiction of the best worldbuilding kind, with a grand mystery at the heart of it, how did the world as it presently exists to our protagonists come to be...
1. Steerswoman's Road (omnibus edition of the first two novels "The Steerswoman" and "The Outskirter's Secret")
2. The Lost Steersman
3. The Language of Power
Projected seven(?) book series, author hard at work on next books.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 02:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 06:47 pm (UTC)A very out-of-print mix of fantasy and mystery is Robert Randisi's Once Upon A Murder.
Making notes of books to find for myself...