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Old-school scifan looking for new authors.

I like Banks but find him perhaps inconsistent... I've had problems with the "culture" series. Loved "Feersum Endjun".
Can't agree otherwise with tsarbomba.... Greg Bear is consistently good, so much so that I've re-read several of his novels several times. The duo Forge of God and Anvil Of Stars is superb. So is Queen of Angels.
Charles Stross has written some very clever stuff.... His "Bond meets Cthulu" stories like The Atrocity Archives are both clever and funny...
I've just finished The Half-Made World by newcomer Felix Gilman, again, very clever with a well-imagined "alternate" 1800s America.
There are more....
 
Another current "hard" sci-fi author (although not space opera) is Greg Egan.

You could also try Neal Stevenson's Anathem. Again, not space opera, but explores a variety of scientific and philosophical ideas (and does eventually include spacecraft etc.).
 
Vernor Vinge isn't new, either, but A Fire Upon The Deep is a hell of a book.
 
Bikewer said:
Charles Stross has written some very clever stuff.... His "Bond meets Cthulu" stories like The Atrocity Archives are both clever and funny...
I've just finished The Half-Made World by newcomer Felix Gilman, again, very clever with a well-imagined "alternate" 1800s America.
There are more....
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I've recently read Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief. Pretty good, especially for a first novel. Actually, pretty good whenever in the author's career it was written
 
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Count me in as an old school fan. I've literally worn out some of my Heinlein and "Doc" Smith paperbacks.

I like John Scalzi's Old Man's War series except for The Sagan Diary.
Not new but Robert L. Forward's Dragon's Egg and Starquake were very good.
 
Mojo said:
I've recently read Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief. Pretty good, especially for a first novel. Actually, pretty good whenever in the author's career it was written
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Had this recommended to me by several folks (and internet sites "we have recommendations for you") but I found it quite underwhelming.
 
Zax63 said:
Count me in as an old school fan. I've literally worn out some of my Heinlein and "Doc" Smith paperbacks.
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First Heinlein, 1964. First "Doc" Smith, 1966. Doc Savage somewhere in there.

I like John Scalzi's Old Man's War series except for The Sagan Diary.
Not new but Robert L. Forward's Dragon's Egg and Starquake were very good.
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Thanks!
 
Pope130 said:
H. Beam Piper. All his work was good, so you can't go wrong. I'd start with the Paratime stories (they're collected as "The Complete Paratime"), or "Space Viking". "First Cycle" and "The Cosmic Computor" are excellant as well.

Robert
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Fuzzies!!!! And did Space Viking start at a wedding or similar festivity? I seem to recall the very basics of the story but it's been awhile. But I do remember Fuzzies!!
 
Pick up the new issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine at the Barnes and Noble magazine stand. Full of long and short stories, plus book reviews. I also enjoy Robert Silverbergs's monthly editorial. Back in the day Asimov wrote great entertaining essays.
 
Lois McMaster Bujold, I greatly enjoy her Miles Vorkosigan stories/novels.
 
Second Bujold, and her humor is priceless.

Re: Kindle - See if you can check one out from the local library. I know they sometimes have some of the new gadgets to lend so people can try them out.

My roommate got a Kindle for Christmas. She never thought she could deal with a book on a computer screen. She LOVES it. It also made her packing for a two-week trip to Florida much easier (and lighter - she usually takes at least a dozen books with her and piles of magazines because she reads so fast).
 
Niggle said:
Second Bujold, and her humor is priceless.

Re: Kindle - See if you can check one out from the local library. I know they sometimes have some of the new gadgets to lend so people can try them out.

My roommate got a Kindle for Christmas. She never thought she could deal with a book on a computer screen. She LOVES it. It also made her packing for a two-week trip to Florida much easier (and lighter - she usually takes at least a dozen books with her and piles of magazines because she reads so fast).
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I have no problem with books on screen, check my sig. I just don't see the point in 1/3 of a computer.
 
Mark6 said:
Alastair Reynolds.

He does exactly that, and cites Niven and Greg Benford as his inspiration.
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*rootle round various Gardner Dozois collections*
Ah - "Zima Blue". That was a brilliant story. Right, the next Amazon indulgence shall include some Reynolds. (just had me one, including G.G. Kay's Under Heaven and Ian McDonald's River of Gods... some digestion time is needed)
 
fuelair said:
Fuzzies!!!! And did Space Viking start at a wedding or similar festivity? I seem to recall the very basics of the story but it's been awhile. But I do remember Fuzzies!!
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Yes. The opening is the marriage of Lady Elaine Karvall to Baron Lucas Trask of Traskon.

I'm a big fan of Fuzzies too! The ones I suggested I thought would be a better entry for a hard science fan, but really, any of his work is great. "First Cycle" is a good choice for this forum. It deals with the interaction when a profoundly rational, evidence based, atheistic society contacts a stagnant, centrally directed, communist theocracy.
 
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