Introduce me to hard science fiction please!

Fieldfare · 28/05/13 - 22:35

I would like to read some of this genre, anyone got some tips where to start? I lean towards more the more modern end (not too interested in The Time Machine etc).

What about Steampunk novels, is it worth going there?

I like post-apocalypse stuff such as The Road or the Carhullan Army if that helps, actually any recommendations for this genre too would be welcome too!

ironjade · 28/05/13 - 22:56

Kim Stanley Robinson's Red, Green and Blue Mars trilogy should keep you entertained for a while.

mimik1uk · 28/05/13 - 23:05

try Michael marshall smith

books called spares or only forward

Fieldfare · 28/05/13 - 23:06

Thanks readers, writing these down!

Ethel_Fred · 29/05/13 - 00:13

Most of Stephen Baxter's work.

Steampunk isn't hard SF

Fieldfare · 29/05/13 - 00:23

Thanks EF. Yes I realise Steampunk isn't hard SF, I was listening to a radio programme about Steampunk novels (Cherie something-or-other) which then went on to talk about SF but I couldn't listen to that bit.

Ethel_Fred · 29/05/13 - 02:07

Fieldfare wrote: »

Thanks EF. Yes I realise Steampunk isn't hard SF, I was listening to a radio programme about Steampunk novels (Cherie something-or-other) which then went on to talk about SF but I couldn't listen to that bit.

Cherie Priest.

Oddly enough Baxter has written Steampunk wth the likes of Anti-Ice, he also has written about an Alien invasion in the early 18th century

Cellar_Door · 29/05/13 - 02:32

http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9951.best_hard_science_fiction

Don't know if this will help.

stoatie · 29/05/13 - 04:22

Ken MacLeod and Alastair Reynolds have never done me wrong.

burton07 · 30/05/13 - 02:03

Try China Mieville.

Ethel_Fred · 30/05/13 - 02:09

burton07 wrote: »

Try China Mieville.

Hard SF??

The Prumeister · 30/05/13 - 16:13

Philip K Dick.

stoatie · 30/05/13 - 16:31

burton07 wrote: »

Try China Mieville.

Awesome, but not hard SF. The closest he comes to hard SF is having relativistic space travel in Embassytown, to be honest.

Conall Cearnach · 30/05/13 - 19:56

Ethel_Fred wrote: »

Hard SF??

I'm assuming the OP means hard as in realistic type science fiction like Arthur C Clarke as opposed to fantasy type like Star Wars or Star Trek.

stoatie · 30/05/13 - 21:36

Conall Cearnach wrote: »

I'm assuming the OP means hard as in realistic type science fiction like Arthur C Clarke as opposed to fantasy type like Star Wars or Star Trek.

Yeah, which is a category Mieville really, really doesn't fall into.

Fieldfare · 31/05/13 - 03:04

Great stuff, cheers. Am taking a whirl round the library/bookshop tomorrow to see what I can get from this list then it's a week in the Highlands with a stack of books, biscuits and gin! Will let you know how I get on

PS yes, Cellar_Door, that was the programme, must pay more attention when the radio's on!

gemma-the-husky · 31/05/13 - 06:15

a second for Philip Dick.

so many of his books have been filmed

Ubik is one of my favourites, and that hasn't been filmed yet
A Maze of Death will also make a great film

Total Recall was from a brilliant short story of his (We Can Remember It For You Wholsesale)
as was The Adjustment Bureau.

there are so many great Sf authors, but try these also, from a few years ago

Larry Niven
James Tiptree Jr (if by hard, you mean a complex read, it doesn't come harder)
Robert Heinlein

and a few of one offs

Shockwave rider (Brunner)
Forever War (Haldemann)
Bug Jack Barron (Spinrad)
STAN (Aldiss - short stories)
900 Grandmothers (Lafferty, finest short stories you will ever read)

Shrike · 31/05/13 - 21:23

If the OP hasn't actually tried some of the classic SF perhaps they should. The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, 1984 and Brave New World are all excellent novels imho. Some of the 'science stuff' we now know to be wrong but they work well as they don't overly rely on the mechanics of how future/alien tech works, rather how the characters deal with them.

ironjade · 31/05/13 - 23:16

Another vote for James Tiptree. Her (yes, really!) short stories and her novel "Up the Walls of the World" are terrific.

acker · 31/05/13 - 23:28

gemma-the-husky wrote: »

a second for Philip Dick.

so many of his books have been filmed

Ubik is one of my favourites, and that hasn't been filmed yet
A Maze of Death will also make a great film

Total Recall was from a brilliant short story of his (We Can Remember It For You Wholsesale)
as was The Adjustment Bureau.

there are so many great Sf authors, but try these also, from a few years ago

Larry Niven
James Tiptree Jr (if by hard, you mean a complex read, it doesn't come harder)
Robert Heinlein

and a few of one offs

Shockwave rider (Brunner)
Forever War (Haldemann)
Bug Jack Barron (Spinrad)
STAN (Aldiss - short stories)
900 Grandmothers (Lafferty, finest short stories you will ever read)

I really dont like the films myself but another one for Philip K Dick here.even his " minor " characters were brilliant. I have never read a bad Philip K Dick book and Robert Heinleins , " Stranger In A Strange Land " ....thats me that is.

stoatie · 02/06/13 - 19:55

acker wrote: »

I really dont like the films myself but another one for Philip K Dick here.even his " minor " characters were brilliant. I have never read a bad Philip K Dick book and Robert Heinleins , " Stranger In A Strange Land " ....thats me that is.

PKD's one of my favourite writers, but again, he's not exactly hard sf.

Eddie Badger · 03/06/13 - 01:03

Gregory Benford is a writer I used to enjoy reading http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Benford

moonlily · 03/06/13 - 16:51

John Wyndham is well worth a read, not sure if it counts as hard scifi- I don't really know what that means. Also Margaret Atwood- The Handmaidens Tale, Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood.

theARE · 04/06/13 - 18:00

Another vote for Alastair Reynolds and Kim Stanley Robinson

For Reynolds' "Revelation Space" series is particularly good
and like others have said KSR's Mars Trilogy

I usually end up re-reading the Mars Trilogy once a year.

If you like a bit of Noir and Military stuff against a scifi background, then I'd also recommend the Kovacs novels by Richard Morgan - starting with Altered Carbon.

Like others have said - China Mieville is very very good and very very different. With the possible exception of Embassy Town it's not SciFi - in fact it's not anything that can easily be put in a box (other than the self made "New Weird" box)

Peter F Hamilton is great if you want galaxy spanning stuff and the Hyperion / Endymion series by Dan Simmons is a SciFi master piece.

So yeah - read all those and come back in a few years and let us know how it went

-Sid- · 04/06/13 - 21:21

Check out Scott Sigler - a brilliant hard science horror writer.

Imaginative stories, plenty of suspense and gore, three dimensional characters - all of this while still retaining the "science" aspect of science fiction.

stoatie · 04/06/13 - 22:36

-Sid- wrote: »

Check out Scott Sigler - a brilliant hard science horror writer.

Imaginative stories, plenty of suspense and gore, three dimensional characters - all of this while still retaining the "science" aspect of science fiction.

Hard SF and horror? Where do I sign???

Hey there!

Quick Links

Introduce me to hard science fiction please!

Comments