For me in SciFi I’ve been trying to hit some classics so I’ve read ‘The Iron Dream’ by Norman Spinrad, ‘A Time of Changes’ by Robert Silverberg and also the (recent release) ‘Out of the Ruins’ anthology.
Of those three I enjoyed ‘The Iron Dream’ the most since I didn’t enjoy Silverberg’s potraryal of women (and it doesn’t seem to have literary intent like in ‘The Iron Dream’.) 'Out of the Ruins had some bangers but it was a fairly inconsistent collection for me that mostly hasn’t been memorable.
So, what are you currently reading or have recently read?
Currently on the 3rd book of The Three-Body Problem and holy shit, good stuff. Each book gets better and better.
For a good way gender (or lack thereof) and such is portrayed in a sci-fi/space soap, I’m a huge fan of Becky Chamber’s Wayfarers series. I need and want more!
I got through the first book in Three Body, but while I liked some of the philosophical and crazy-tech explorations, I really struggled with the writing/translation style. It was so stilted and awkward to read that it put me off trying to read the following volumes.
really? was it all the jumping around? anyway, 50% through the 3rd and I quite love it
Nope, it was really just the language and writing style. Actual plot was OK.
I’m super interested in both of these but I’m always a little scared to go for chonkers like ‘The Three-Body Problem’.
I have - for quite some time now - been working my way through the Virgin New Adventures series of Doctor Who novels. There are over 60 of them, and although I started at a reasonable pace, my available reading time diminished a lot due to changing circumstances - and I am also reading other non-SF things as well. As a result, I am not getting through them very quickly now.
This was the most recent phase of my “read/watch/listen to ALL the fiction in the expanded Whoniverse starting with the first Doctor” project. At this point, that project has reduced to “…and ending with the seventh: the end of Claasic Who”.
Anyway, the VNAs - published in the ‘wilderness years’ of the '90s - were basically the first occasion on which DW media could be free from any TV expectations, and were able to do their own thing much more. Some of these worked really well whilst others just didn’t. Death and Diplomacy, which is my current one, is one of the better ones, with some great character beats for the Doctor, but not outstanding.
I am heading towards the end of this series and will reconsider before embarking on to the Eighth Doctor Adventures. I have heard good things, but I have already listened to all of Big Finish’s Eighth Doctor material - and thoroughly enjoyed it - and I might just leave it there and get back to other SF altogether.
I recently finally got around to reading Anathem and was blown away, so much detail, so much going on. And from someone who reads alot of philosophy, that aspect felt like it was handled naturally in the book and not infodumped.
It’s a really special book. I’m not sure I buy into the many worlds interpretation but I loved how the book delved into it in a very original eay and avoided common tropes.
I’ve been reading The Blighted Stars, which I’m quite enjoying. Nothing too serious but a fun read.
I’ve been reading The Expanse series. I was meaning to get too it for a while but stumbled across the first book in a bookshop, so I grabbed it. Yeah, really good had to read the entire series so I’m making my way through it. I’m currently on book 4, so I haven’t quite overtaken where I left the Amazon series.
I lovveeed The Expanse and read through the whole things last year. I also ended up dropping the TV show after catching up in the books. The show is good but the books are fantastic.
Recently filled in one of the gaps in the Culture series by the late, great Iain M Banks (that I didn’t even realize I’d missed!). Surface Detail is another quality entry, dealing with virtual afterlives and presents a little more context of the Culture in a broader galactic context than we normally see it.
Had recently finished Permutation City by Greg Egan, which was excellent. Picked up a book that I had in my to-read pile for a while, expecting it to be a silly adventure story for a lightweight break. It was pitched to me as “cavemen vs dinosaurs.” West of Eden by Harry Herrison is… Not that. But I’m definitely enjoying the unexpected dive into genetic engineering worldbuilding, cross species linguistics, and genuinely interesting politics!
Recently finished Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky, which is the third in his series that started with Children of Time.
Children of Time immediately became my second favourite scifi book of all time, and possibly my favourite ever book ending, but I didn’t find the second installment really held up that well. Happy to report that Children of Memory, while not quite hitting those heady heights, was pretty good! A little repetitive in parts, but some very cool concepts.
I did start Children of Time but for some reason didn’t go past the first couple of chapters. Will have to give it another shot sometime.
Definitely worth a try! Hope you love it as much as I do.