Books

[mvb]

i would have to sent something back. Probably cost as much as the book itself

[Seul]

I ship for free so no need to ship anything back… But this might actually be easier:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Damned-Chuck-Palahniuk/dp/0224091158/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321018365&sr=1-1

[Steel]

I'm currently reading 'Wherever You Go, There You Are' by Jon Kabat-Zinn.  It's about mindfulness meditation - something that I really need to incorporate into my life and which I finally feel ready for.

Prior to that I (re) read 'The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People' by Stephen Covey, which is one of my 'life reference' books.

[LandoCal126 0]

Finishing up HST - Kingdom of Fear today. Going to start on the Steve Jobs Biography at some point this weekend.

[Megatron1505]

Just looking for my copy of "Underground" by Haruki Murakami to give it it's third read…..best book ever.

[michaeljcr]

I thought it was high time I read some Westerns, so I'm starting with this one:

[georgeel]

I'm up to page 251.

So?

Worth reading. I swear on all my denim.

[Lucifer]

@hectic:

Dude, post here: http://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=780.msg118626#msg118626

I would happily discuss authors with you.

Well, currently I'm reading up on Vernon Vinge, like him ok so far.

When it comes to sci-fi I like Simmons, Banks, Hamilton, Reynolds and the rest of the classics, right now I'm looking for a large series, not necessarily the same storyline, but the same universe, like Reynolds or Banks. Suggestions?

[hectic]

Space opera? New weird? Something else?

[hectic]

Richard Morgan. He has a core character called Takeshi Kovacs who spans several books.

[hectic]

Neal Asher too but pulpy/very prolific. Hard scifi

[Lucifer]

Ah, I forgot to mention Morgan, have read the Angels-trilogy, his other sci-fi AND his fantasy books, so far I've only read "parasite" by asher (that is one of his, right?), any other of his books you would recommend?

[hectic]

Not really an Asher fan TBH. There's a whole series about a war with these naughty alien crab things. My mate rates them

[hectic]

Check out Charles Stross too

[hectic]

Greg Egan is awesome

[Lucifer]

I read Diaspora, but found it to be a bit on the  math-heavy side, are his other books similar? The story was awesome though.

[hectic]

Quarantine is killer. Quantum heavy tho

[michaeljcr]

@Lucifer:

@hectic:

Dude, post here: http://www.ironheart.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=780.msg118626#msg118626

I would happily discuss authors with you.

Well, currently I'm reading up on Vernon Vinge, like him ok so far.

When it comes to sci-fi I like Simmons, Banks, Hamilton, Reynolds and the rest of the classics, right now I'm looking for a large series, not necessarily the same storyline, but the same universe, like Reynolds or Banks. Suggestions?

It’s hard to beat Simmons, Vinge, Banks, Reynolds and Hamilton!

Try Neal Asher, he’s good fun and very Banks/Hamilton, if a bit pulpier. Gridlinked (book one) isn't bad, but perhaps not the best, although they get really good fun after that. You can read The Skinner first if you like the sound of it, it's excellent and set in the same reality but following a different set of characters.

Michael Cobley’s series is also pretty good, and well worth a look.

If you want something a bit more action/adventure try Richard Morgan's Kovacs novels (Altered Carbon is the first), or John Scalzi's Old Man's War and the follow-ons are great. If you like the sound of full-on military space opera, read Joe Haldeman's Forever War and Heinlein's Starship Troopers for a great pro/anti-war debate or, for something on the pulp line, try the recently released in the UK, out for ages in the USA, Jack Campbell Lost Fleet series, or something by David Weber.

If you want to go old school, read these few if you haven’t already:

Dune
Eon by Greg Bear
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series
David Brin’s Uplift series (although the last one sucks, in my humble opinion, but the others are awesome).
Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead and Children of The Mind by Orson Scott Card
The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
Demon Princes books by Jack Vance
Books of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe
The Runestaff books by Michael Moorcock (a controversial choice perhaps, but more SF than Elric and well worth it).

If you want Near Future/cyberbunk/post-cyberpunk and bio-punk, read these:

Neuromancer by William Gibson
Virtual Light by Gibson
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
Crypotnomicon by Stephenson
Heavy Weather by Bruce Sterling
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley
River of Gods by Ian McDonald

If you want New Weird, or just plain weird, read these:

Perdido Street Station by China Mievillie
Kraken by China Mieville
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

Oh, read some Philip K. Dick, but choose wisely…

That should keep you going for a while...

[hectic]

A pro post by a pro

[michaeljcr]

Ops, missed some replies there while I was typing!

Re: Neal Asher, I'd say read The Skinner, it's my favourite of his and you don't need to read the following books if you don't want to. He is a bit derivative, and pulpy, but then everything is these days. I'd say he's more space opera than hard SF.

Re: Greg Egan - great writer, scares me when he puts graphs in the books though! He's hard SF and then some!

Try John c Wright's Golden Age series (US import only), they're great fun. Accelerando by Charles Stross is interesting, but structurally weak as it's a fix up from shorter work, if I remember correctly. I enjoy his Lovecraftien weird Bond style thrillers more than his straight SF.

Chris Wooding's latest series is good fun. Pulp adventure, but really well done and entertaining.