good new scifi reads

[Mation]

I just googled Children of Time and it appears to be a book about spiders...

Is this correct?

Er, yes. Sort of. I don't think this is the book for you, tbh!

 

[EastEnder]

Er, yes. Sort of. I don't think this is the book for you, tbh!

Good to know!

Why can't it ever be intelligent puppies or kittens or anything nice & fluffy that has fewer than 8 legs!!

 

[Mation]

Good to know!

Why can't it ever be intelligent puppies or kittens or anything nice & fluffy that has fewer than 8 legs!!

Here you go

 

[kropotkin]

Just want to recommend to everyone Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life, and others" which is a collection of short sci-fi stories by him. The title story is what Arrival was based on. Loads of great ideas.

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[Idaho]

Anyone else read this?

I really enjoyed it. Similar level of entertainment to world war z.

 

[D'wards]

Good to know!

Why can't it ever be intelligent puppies or kittens or anything nice & fluffy that has fewer than 8 legs!!

Well it does have ants in it too, but they are oversized and psychotic. And shoot flames at you

 

[DotCommunist]

I've just finished this today. Loved it. It is a magnificent book! Magnificently strange. I didn't like the way Dr Avrana Kern's character was written at first; thought it belaboured the point a bit and thought about abandoning the book. So glad I stuck with it.

I have campanula to thank for that story and its great. I say this as a spider h8er

 

[Mation]

Well it does have ants in it too, but they are oversized and psychotic. And shoot flames at you

Psychotic? I thought they were just antsy.

I'm hoping this spoiler code works, having not used it before (that I can remember):

Spoiler

I kept thinking that the author had the Chinese Room firmly in mind with the ants, and definitely so with Avrana Kern's end, but it's only just occurred to UK-centric me that Imperial C is not English (I didn't think very hard, tbh) and is in fact some version of Chinese.

I have campanula to thank for that story and its great. I say this as a spider h8er

Yeah. It was hard to judge, as someone who doesn't hold spiders dear while not being an arachnophobe, whether this would be received with interest or horror by someone who can't bear the real things. I suspect that most of the last part of the book would be difficult. (I'm trying hard to avoid spoilers!)

 

[kropotkin]

Anyone else read this?

I really enjoyed it. Similar level of entertainment to world war z.

Looked it up - sounds really good. On the list! Thanks

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[alfajobrob]

Here you go

Ta for sorting my Sunday evening viewing..its available on aarrghhbay btw.

 

[maomao]

Just want to recommend to everyone Ted Chiang's "Stories of Your Life, and others" which is a collection of short sci-fi stories by him. The title story is what Arrival was based on. Loads of great ideas.

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I'm not a short story fan but this is a truly excellent collection. And the source story for Arrival is far from the highlight. Can't recommend it highly enough. First time I've ever finished a pirated book and felt like I should send the author a tenner.

 

[kropotkin]

I felt similarly! And I agree that Stories of Your Life wasn't the best.

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[kropotkin]

For me a toss-up between Golem Victoriana, Tower of Babel-a-like and Muslamic Timetraveller Morality Play

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[maomao]

For me a toss-up between Golem Victoriana, Tower of Babel-a-like and Muslamic Timetraveller Morality Play

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Meh. Understand fucking rocked. That's a proper unfilmable story. And Hell is The Absence of God has had me on a constant lookout for angels.

 

[kropotkin]

Which one was Understand? The one with the mathematician? That was ace. As was the angel one. Essentially, this is an incredible collection of stories and Ted Chiang is a writer with more ideas than most.

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[Orang Utan]

Just finished Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself. Brilliant stuff. Blew my tiny mind.

 

[DotCommunist]

Just finished Adam Roberts' The Thing Itself. Brilliant stuff. Blew my tiny mind.

I'm hoping it'll give me enough superficial knowledge of Kant to sound wise on the mans work and be able to answer questions that might be likely to feature on The Chase

 

[hot air baboon]

Hired guns of sci-fi shaping our future

 

[Mordi]

For anyone else who missed it Peter Watts' book from last year "The Freeze Frame Revolution" is predictably excellent. I'm only about half way through now and I've been surprised at how many familiar concepts (dare I say cliches?) it touches on. It's told from a perspective that's certainly less jarring than a lot of his other books, but the plot development has gripped me entirely.

It appears to be running an arc on very similar grounds to Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series. But whereas those books were unwieldy giant tomes of exposition and uninteresting characters and ideas this is far more sharp and engaging.

 

[trabuquera]

Any urbz read The Traitor / The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson? Some good buzz on it elsewhere but I need to know if it's bosh before investing any time in it...

 

[Mordi]

Any urbz read The Traitor / The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson? Some good buzz on it elsewhere but I need to know if it's bosh before investing any time in it...

I've only read the first book. It suffers from the perennial fantasy problem of not having been edited to a third of the size. I was really engaged by the first quarter to a half and then got increasingly wound up as the convoluted scheming of the plot chugged along. The ending left me frustrated and angry, which I believe is the desired result.

 

[campanula]

I seem to have waded through an endless pile of shit, even stuff by usually reliable authors (Neal Asher's woeful 'The Soldier' and some utter, utter piffle from Alastair Reynolds). Wondering if it's just me.
Anyway, although I generally steer clear of books written by men called Greg, my local chazza has the full series of Greg Egan's Orthogonal series for a fiver...although I kind of went off convoluted physics after the unreadable Schild's Ladder - anyone read these. Currently back in the comforting? arms of Ian Macdonald with his Chaga books...but again, not really loving it.

Eyeing up K.S.Robinson's 'Red Moon'...but a bit skint so...

 

[DotCommunist]

I've read few new things this year but this from late last year was brilliant:
Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

not strictly sci fi but not trad fantasy either. Get it and read it thread

 

[campanula]

oooh, sounds up my street, Dotty. Cheers

ooops, forgetting quoting etiquette after my shortish Urban holiday - soz DotCommunist

 

[Idaho]

I've read few new things this year but this from late last year was brilliant:
Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko

not strictly sci fi but not trad fantasy either. Get it and read it thread

Just downloaded this off audible. I haven't had a decent immersive book for ages.

 

[DotCommunist]

Just downloaded this off audible. I haven't had a decent immersive book for ages.

I'm still waiting for the sequel to get an english translation, I haven't checked since before the rona so maybe its soonish.