Modern British SF writers. Who do you prefer?

[bluestreak]

Iain M Banks, because he's the only one of those I have read. I haven't read any of Ballard's sci-fi, but I am assured it's very good. If anyone makes satisfactory cases for these others I might well check 'em out.

 

[kyser_soze]

the middle class are the new proletariat!


fuck me I was guffawing regularly during that particular offering

Thing is, that was the premise that got me to read it, only to find that it was Cocaine Nights/Super Cannes re-written yet again.

Plus I will never forgive him for promising so much in the title Cocaine Nights, and delivering so little, even if one of the female characters comes out with the frankest line ever;

'Do you want to bugger me? I wouldn't mind.'

 

[DotCommunist]

He's far from my favourite writer but he's a fuck sight better than most of the other turgid shit that passes for SF these days.

Ballard sacrifices the ideas for his booker pleasing prose. Plenty of quality SF authors don't feel the need, they just articulate such ideas in a minimal and winning style. The guy who did Motherless Brooklyn springs to mind

 

[El Jefe]

The guy who did Motherless Brooklyn springs to mind

You think Lethem has a minimal writing style?

 

[Pingu]

define modern

from what date?

some who started writing in the 60s are still writing today, do they count?

 

[kyser_soze]

I always work on the basis that modern SF started with Neuromancer and take it from there...

 

[DotCommunist]

You think Lethem has a minimal writing style?

for SF? fuck yes. Totally contary to the genre, and thats why it works tbh. Did he explain things intensly in Girl In Landscape? not at all. His minimalism when it comes to explanation works in a way that Ballards over-attention to characters internal monolouges does not

 

[marty21]

michael marshal smith

 

[DotCommunist]

the differences and similarities between fantasy and sci-fi is a whole different thread

Know your genre fiction man

Sci fi is not an extension of folk/fairy stories and shares few tropes.

 

[kyser_soze]

Yeah, China is Mr Jungian archetype and creatures of myth rewritten - in some ways he's the fantasy version of Neal Stephenson who has done similar things with his SF (Snow Crash and Diamond Age especially)

 

[joevsimp]

I really don't read enough SF do I. The most modern I think I've read is HG Wells

 

[DotCommunist]

Yeah, China is Mr Jungian archetype and creatures of myth rewritten - in some ways he's the fantasy version of Neal Stephenson who has done similar things with his SF (Snow Crash and Diamond Age especially)

If you read his interviews etc, he loves d&d style bestiaries, rpg's and all of fantasy in it's grossest forms.

Un Lun Dun is a fucking great kids fantasy story. I love his bit about conductors for a sly bit of moralising

'they ended up in ulundun because people who never travelled by bus saw a way to save money'

 

[QueenOfGoths]

I can't fucking stand Ballard. I've read Crash, Cocaine Nights, Super Cannes and the one about a m/c terrorist cell operating out of Chelsea Harbour and I don't fucking care about his expositions on bourgeoise morality and hypocrisy.

I couldn't get through the Chelsea Harbour one - gave up on it after a few chapters and I'm not keen on "Cocaine Nights" however I do really like some of his earlier stuff especially "The Drowned World" and "The Day of Creation"

 

[Idris2002]

Where the hell are Charlie Stross and Ken Macleod on this poll?

Also, have a look at John Scalzi, he's a yank but his stuff is really rather good.

 

[DotCommunist]

Richard Morgan for me - I really like his Takeshi Kovacs books.

Otherwise Alastair Reynolds

If Andy McNab had a modicum of writing skill and a sci fi bent he'd be Richard Morgan.

I ent knocking it-pulp has its place.

Kovacs is a fucking awesome legend of a charcter tho.

 

[DotCommunist]

Where the hell are Charlie Stross and Ken Macleod on this poll?

Also, have a look at John Scalzi, he's a yank but his stuff is really rather good.

I mentioned charles 'best in short sf' stross.

Ken is ok, but again better as a short story writer. His Archimbolo inspired short is fucking excellent, as is the one where his chief character is in communication with the spirit of Daventry

 

[Orang Utan]

michael marshal smith

I read one of his books and it was incredibly badly written

 

[Crispy]

title edited

 

[marty21]

I read one of his books and it was incredibly badly written

i've enjoyed all of his books, not all are sci fi, he writes detective fiction as well

 

[Stigmata]

Cyberpunk's a load of old shite really isn't it

 

[kyser_soze]

Ah yeah, someone else to think about: John Courtney Grimwood.

The Lucifer's Dragon/reMix/Red Robe trilogy constantly veers close to parody but never quite falls over the edge, and the Arabesk trilogy is simple an awesome piece of writing where the SF elements blend seemlessly into the overarching political detective story. Haven't read his later stuff (for shame) but he's a decent enough writer...

 

[ChrisC]

ChrisC - do you read any non-SF?

Horror, Borderline Horror/Fantasy such as Clive Barker. Some mundane books like Dan Brown and Iain Banks. But mostly SF yeah.

 

[ChrisC]

title edited

Thanks Crispy.

 

[MikeMcc]

I like Stephen Baxter. I really find it difficult to settle down to an Iain Banks novel, Baxter does some excellent apocalyptic fic that really keeps the story going at a fair old rate. His Moonseed novel is brilliant, I like how I can relate to the people and locations involved.

 

[DotCommunist]

Cyberpunk's a load of old shite really isn't it

No! I still have a place in my bookcase for Gibson

 

[Stigmata]

I read Burning Chrome. I expect it was deliberately soulless and nihilistic, but it's still a bit of a turnoff.

 

[DotCommunist]

I like Stephen Baxter. I really find it difficult to settle down to an Iain Banks novel, Baxter does some excellent apocalyptic fic that really keeps the story going at a fair old rate. His Moonseed novel is brilliant, I like how I can relate to the people and locations involved.

Baxter is good for a while but I find his style too dry.


Loving this at the mo, Rifters cycle, all readable online
http://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

 

[ChrisC]

I loved Stephen Baxter's Manifold and Xeelee sequences.