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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsSci-fi/fantasy BOOK recommendations, please.
A few years ago, there was so much near-future, drug-using dystopia sci-fi that I lost my taste for it, and I have gone through a phase of just reading old, tried-and-true stuff like Isaac Asimov and Octavia Butler.
However, I hear that there is some REALLY good stuff right now that I should look at.
I enjoy other-world, other-culture, space opera, werewolf/vampire/magic/superpowers (not too heavy on the romance), feminist themes, to name a few. I have read pretty much every major sci-fi author from 1950-1980.
What's out there?
Oh, and I have tried "Good Reads" and "If You Like This" and they often came back with nothing, or something I tried but didn't like.
Last question: if you have read Samuel Delany, if you could, please recommend one of his books that is not "thick". I think I tried Dhalgren and it was too complicated.
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)dawg day
(7,947 posts)Made me cry, thinking of how stressed my mother must have been when I was a kid.
https://whatever.scalzi.com/2005/09/03/being-poor/
OregonBlue
(7,755 posts)Terry_M
(745 posts)Peter Hamilton. Night's dawn trilogy would tick off the other culture, space opera bits as well as a bit of that supernatural stuff.
Though the size of the books might seem off-putting (series with 3 books that are about 1k pages a piece....) it's quite gripping, interesting, and hard to put down (I got sucked in unable to put the books down for hours at a time).
qwlauren35
(6,152 posts)in the second book of the series I was reading, the women were getting farm bred, and I found it hard to stomach. I'm also about 1/10th through Reality Dysfunction. Each story is good, but I keep waiting for something to tie it together.
So, it's on my shelf with the "started, not finished, might come back to it" books.
Gothmog
(145,805 posts)Last edited Sat Jul 11, 2020, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)
There is a new one coming out this week
Link to tweet
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,064 posts)He edited a series for 35 years of lengths from short-short to novella, but now he is deceased. Get any one, at random if you like. It's a great way to get introduced to the new greats (1984-2018). His taste in Science Fiction is exquisite.
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection (2018)
Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005) (Anthology from previous Year's Best Science Fiction editions)
Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Year's Best Short Science Fiction Novels (2007) (Anthology from previous Year's Best Science Fiction editions)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year%27s_Best_Science_Fiction:_Thirty-Fifth_Annual_Collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Year%27s_Best_Science_Fiction
That said I would love to hear any recommendations others can recommend for novels in the same time frame as the OP indicates (1981-present).
qwlauren35
(6,152 posts)Best of the Best and Very Best of the Best. Should keep me awake for a while! Thanks!
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...are cool, too. As is, as sort of bookends, *Adventures in Time and Space*, the definitive anthology of Campbellian "Modern" SF, and the book that made me fall in love with SF...and the late (damn!) Harlan Ellison's two *Dangerous Visions* books, from 1967 and 1972, just chock full of great stuff...
electric_blue68
(14,999 posts)....read it just about all through. Then I xeroxed some of the first pages where, (you know bc you've seen it) it gives you a quick story synopsis and some author's history so you can find other short and long form stories by then. I think I picked 8 - 10 authors out.
dawg day
(7,947 posts)Near future. Earth's rotation is slowing down. ("Winter is coming.... but only to half of the globe!"
The Last Day by Andrew Hunter Murray
I ordered it, but haven't had time to start it yet.
https://www.amazon.com/Last-Day-Andrew-Hunter-Murray/dp/1524745812
sarge43
(28,946 posts)The City and the Stars, Arthur C Clarke
Lochloosa
(16,081 posts)sarge43
(28,946 posts)One of the giants.
byronius
(7,407 posts)Buckeye_Democrat
(14,859 posts)royable
(1,266 posts)Book 1: The Name of the Wind
Book 2: The Wise Man's Fear
Book 3: The Doors of Stone (may be published in 2020 or 2021?)
and a fascinating extra to be read after book 2, The Slow Regard of Silent Things.
Meticulously written fantasy by Patrick Rothfuss, sucks you right in within a few pages.
OregonBlue
(7,755 posts)Glorfindel
(9,741 posts)I'd highly recommend them to anyone who loves the genre.
royable
(1,266 posts)I first read it when I was about 8 (I was an advanced reader) and must have read it 30 times since then. It never gets old (pun intended).
on edit:
Ah, I see sarge43's recommendation of The City and the Stars, which is a complete rewrite of Clarke's earlier Against the Fall of Night.
First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...from 1968. It's like an old Planet Story yarn, turned on its head, and really is a lot of fun. As for current writers--David Brin is excellent. Harry Turtledove, if you like alternative history. Lois McMaster Bujold writes excellent, sophisticated space opera. And Robert A Heinlein, of all folks, has a new novel--a variant of *The Number of the Beast* he wrote simultaneously, but this one is more old-fashioned Heinleinesque, mostly taking place on Barsoom and the universe of the Lensman, and is a real gas. It's called *The Pursuit of the Pankera*.
Bernardo de La Paz
(49,064 posts)First Speaker
(4,858 posts)...and I do believe it's time for me to re-read *Moon is a Harsh Mistress* again...
Jirel
(2,028 posts)OMG, downloading that right now!
Buckeye_Democrat
(14,859 posts)... if there's some writers you tend to like?
JackintheGreen
(2,036 posts)KB Wagers trilogy starting with Behind the Throne is fun
KJ Parker writes some of my favorite fantasy (but I second Name of the Wind)
Kameron Hurley, The Light Brigade
Meghan oKeefe, Velocity Weapon
Ian Tregillis, The Mechanical
Martha Wells Murderbot series is excellent (4 novellas and a novel)
Mur Lafferty, Six Wakes
Tamsyn Muir, Gideon the Ninth
This is just what Ive read this year worth recommending
Lochloosa
(16,081 posts)Futuristic.
Lochloosa
(16,081 posts)OregonBlue
(7,755 posts)You have probably read many of these but some of my favorites are Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn Series) but all his others too,
David Eddings Mallorion and Belgariad series, Raymond Feist, everything he has ever written, L.E. Modesitt Recluse series, Glen Cook, Black Company and Dread Empire series, Joe Abercrombie, First law series. So many greats fantasy writers, so little time.
ms liberty
(8,620 posts)LiberalArkie
(15,733 posts)Jirel
(2,028 posts)The Kencyrath series by P.C. Hodges.
The Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch.
Jim Butchers Harry Dresden series, assuming you havent read it by now.
Various series by Joe Abercrombie (but only if you are ok with really gritty, nasty people and battles).
Virtually anything by Neal Stephenson except Fall (his most recent) or the interminably boring Baroque Cycle; best are Zodiac, Snow Crash, and Seveneves.
lapfog_1
(29,239 posts)Stand on Zanzibar
Shockwave Rider
The Sheep Look Up
Of course when they were written in the 1960s and early 1970s they were considered "dystopian future"... but since we are living it now you could consider it "current history".
JackintheGreen
(2,036 posts)Nac Mac Feegle
(972 posts)Everything by Terry Pratchett.
Iain M. Banks; Culture novels
Spider Robinson
I'll come up more when I'm not being constantly interrupted.
eppur_se_muova
(36,317 posts)Read the whole "Culture" series if you can. Not all of them are great, but his worst was better than many authors' best. And any of the first three will get you pretty well hooked.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alastair_Reynolds#Bibliography
I read "Chasm City" after the first book of the Revelation Space trilogy -- IMHO, it made it a tetralogy.
"House of Suns" is also a mind-blowing look into a possible far future, when the definition of "human" has been stretched beyond recognition.
John Barnes' "Thousand Cultures series" (I haven't read too many of his other books -- I did read the "Century Next Door" series, but was not as uniformly pleased with it.)
Wolf Frankula
(3,604 posts)One of my favorites.
Wolf
DanieRains
(4,619 posts)There has never been a rape on Nuala. Stay out of the hot zones.
vercetti2021
(10,156 posts)I'm currently working on a graphic novel series myself. And I just got done with season one. I'd happily email you a pdf version if you're interested. Mine takes place in another world. Multiverse.
PufPuf23
(8,847 posts)Fortune was an English occultist and wrote many non-fiction books. The non-fiction books are dry and not to my interests aside from history of occultism but found her novels compelling (first read them in 1990s).
Here are links to the novels and Amazon reviews. As one can see, the books have endured in popularity but Fortune is a lesser known author perhaps to be compared to her contemporary HP Lovecraft (and in my opinion better). Easy fast reads too.
The Sea Priestess
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Priestess-Dion-Fortune/dp/1578632900/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Goat Foot God
https://www.amazon.com/Goat-Foot-God-Dion-Fortune/dp/0877285004/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
The Winged Bull
https://www.amazon.com/Winged-Bull-Dion-Fortune-dp-0898042216/dp/0898042216/ref=mt_other?_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid=
Moon Magic
https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Magic-Dion-Fortune/dp/1578632897/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Demon Lover
https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Lover-Dion-Fortune/dp/157863492X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
yellowdogintexas
(22,288 posts)When asked about the authors he liked to read, George R R Martin put her at the top of his list.
Link to her web page w/ series in order
http://www.robinhobb.com/works.htm
They are all wonderful EXCEPT the Soldier Son trilogy. I hated it. If it had been my first experience with her books I would not have tried the others. I slugged through it hoping the Hobb I knew and loved would surface somewhere. Nope.
I have not read the last trilogy "Fitz and the Fool" yet. I have the first one on my Kindle; I think I am saving it.
My favorite was "The Liveship Traders" but I loved them all.
qwlauren35
(6,152 posts)I started with the Assassin series - which I could read again and be very happy - then the Fool series. I think I didn't like the ships as much. She has a dragon series out now and I can't stand it, have tried to read it twice. If someone would just tell me that it gets better after 100 pages, I would push through it. (The Dragon Keeper).
Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden (born March 5, 1952), better known by her pen names Robin Hobb and Megan Lindholm, is an American writer. She has written five series set in the Realm of the Elderlings, which started in 1995 with the publication of Assassin's Apprentice and ended with Assassin's Fate in 2017. Her books have sold over a million copies.
yellowdogintexas
(22,288 posts)It gets better.
Response to qwlauren35 (Original post)
geralmar This message was self-deleted by its author.
myccrider
(484 posts)Hi, old member here who hasnt posted for many, many years but have been an avid reader of the site, especially since 2016, for obvious reasons. (Just thought Id do a quick intro before jumping in cold.)
Here are some of my reading recs added to the many great ones others have given:
1) N.K. Jemisin, especially her remarkable Hugo juggernaut The Broken Earth trilogy. An amazingly original fantasy series that sequentially won the Hugo award for best novels in 2016, 2017 and 2018...a first in Hugo history.
Opening line. "LETS START WITH THE END of the world, why dont we? Get it over with and move on to more interesting things.
https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Earth-Trilogy-Season-Obelisk/dp/031652719X
2) The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. Low key sort-of steam punk fantasy about goblins, elves and the abused, reviled, unexpected half-breed who becomes the elven emperor after his father and half-brothers all die in a dirigible crash. Some have called it bureaucracy porn, I really enjoyed it.
https://www.amazon.com/Goblin-Emperor-Katherine-Addison-ebook/dp/B00FO6NPIO/ref=sr_1_2?crid=18JEN2F5U0AMH&dchild=1&keywords=the+goblin+emperor+by+katherine+addison&qid=1594583724&s=books&sprefix=the+goblin%2Cstripbooks%2C201&sr=1-2
3) The Expanse books by James S A Corey. Pure old fashioned space opera, the books behind the streaming Amazon series by the same name. There are 7 or 8 books, so far, and several short stories/novellas. As good as the Amazon series is, the books are better. Humanity has populated the solar system, there is a "cold war" between Earth and Mars with The Belt and the Outer Planets getting the short end of the economic stick. The story starts when a derelict ship, The Scapuli, is found that contains hints of secrets that may tip the military/political balance and change the course of human history.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25903323-the-expanse-boxed-set?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=6KIYnfoj40&rank=18
4) The Divine Cities trilogy by Robert Jackson Bennett. Great fantasy series, not about medieval knight tropes. A conquered people rebel by killing the gods of their conquerors. But they become what they rebelled against, oppressors, then find that maybe all the old gods arent actually dead.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39317803-the-divine-cities-trilogy?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=sTUVZ8bWVF&rank=4
5) The Imperial Radch trilogy by Ann Leckie. Space opera. Won Hugo, Nebula and other awards. Pronouns became part of the culture war in the SF community after this book was released. Youll see why if you read the story. ;-D
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34962215-the-imperial-radch-boxed-trilogy
6) The Red series by Linda Nagata. Near future military SF story about hi-tech soldiering, corporate corruption and artificial intelligence. Fast-paced, action packed story-telling with a flawed, but appealing, hero and a sadly believable future where war has become an openly for-profit business.
"Theres always got to be a war somewhere."
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17605440-the-red?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=1mnrFpcxtA&rank=1
7) The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley (her first book!). A steampunk/clockwork/alt history/mystery/love story/time warping kinda book. Just call it speculative fiction, it defies classification. People seem to love it or hate it. Im in the love-it column, obs. Set in 1880s London (mostly) it follows Thaniel, a clerk, who finds a gold watch on his nightstand one night after work that saves his life 6 months later. Solving the mystery of the watch and its maker leads him to a Japanese immigrant and clockmaker named Mori who has some unusual talents. And dont forget Katsu, the clockwork octopus! This is a long, slow, sumptuous read with flashbacks, alternative timelines and fascinating characters.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22929563-the-watchmaker-of-filigree-street?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=AzUntwKUj6&rank=2
8) Have never really clicked with most urban fantasy but I had read and liked some of Patricia Briggs earlier regular fantasies and so decided to try her first Mercy Thompson book Moon Called. Mercy is a half American Indian coyote shapeshifter who was raised by The Morocs werewolf pack. Now shes a VW mechanic who trained with and bought her garage from a secret Fae. Her adventures with the vampires, witches, werewolves and other assorted supernatural critters living secretly among the rest of human society is just good fun reading with over a dozen books so far in the series.
9) Lois McMaster Bujold is, of course, a famous Grand Master SF/fantasy writer. All her books/series are wonderful and highly recommended. The last few years shes been writing a novella series set in her The Five Gods fantasy world (Paladin of Souls). Its about a young man named Penric and his demon Desdemona. Well worth the read if you havent already.
10) Wen Spencer. Her writing is often SF/fantasy blends where there are fantastic elements that are nominally explained as ultimately based in science. Her longest series so far is the Elfhome books - 4 books so far with probably at least 2 more to finish the story plus a short story/novella book and some other shorter stories set in this world. Her writing is fast paced, easy reading, often humorous, with a Mary Sueish heroine, but still good fun, imo (one of my guilty pleasures). Elfhome is about parallel worlds that are nearly identical to Earth with significant differences in flora, fauna and physics - like magic, elves, dragons, Trex analogs, walking carnivorous trees and orc-like creatures exist on different worlds. The city of Pittsburgh is suddenly transported to Elfhome when the Chinese start up their interstellar gate in orbit. First book in the series is Tinker.
https://www.amazon.com/Tinker-Elfhome-Book-Wen-Spencer-ebook/dp/B00AP9CJXC/ref=sr_1_2?crid=25NZXQ1GHQJGV&dchild=1&keywords=tinker+wen+spencer&qid=1594594225&s=books&sprefix=tinker+wen%2Cstripbooks%2C198&sr=1-2
Hope you find some enjoyable reading!
qwlauren35
(6,152 posts)Ironically, one of my girlfriends chided me for not knowing NK Jemisin so I ordered her trilogy. It came today.
I ate up everything Bujold wrote.
I ate up the entire Mercy Thompson series, but it has gotten stale.
I so, so, so appreciate that your list is a mix of male and female writers, white and people of color.
I am very excited.
myccrider
(484 posts)Ive also been falling back onto rereading old favorites a lot the last few years. I think the election of the Orange One sent me into a bit of a depression and my brain didnt/doesnt much want to deal with new stimuli.
Know what you mean about the Mercy Thompson series. I think any long running series runs the risk of getting stale. Cherryhs Foreigner series has gotten that way for me. I still buy and read each one, though. I think its the sunk cost fallacy at work. I also keep hoping the magic will come back.
Did you try the offshoot of the Thompson series called Alpha and Omega about the Marroks son Charles and his new mate? A slightly different take on the same world.
If I was forced to pick just one fave author, it would probably be Bujold. Shes never written anything that I DNFd. Almost everything shes written is among my top list of favorite stories/series.
Jemisin just started a new fantasy series. I bounced off the first chapter and put it aside to try again later. That isnt necessarily a critique of the work. Its just part of whats been happening to my reading recently.
Someone else mentioned Martha Wells and PC Hodgell. I heartily second those recs. Wells Murderbot series is a good space opera about a cranky AI robot who hacked its governor, doesnt much like people and just wants to watch its serials but keeps getting sucked into dangerous situations trying to save/help the few humans it does like/trust. Her Raksura fantasy series explores the fascinating Three Worlds through the adventures of the shape-changing, scaled, flying, female dominant, bi-sexual Raksura. The world/society feels like a cross between the Lord of the Rings films and the bar scene from Star Wars - ancient relics of older civs and many strange intelligent species all over the place - except there are no human beings to be found in these stories.
Hodgell has been working on the same fantasy series, The Kencyrath Chronicles, since the 80s, and theres only nine books! But I fell in love with the story and heroine in God Stalk when it first came out and have eagerly awaited each new book, no matter how long it took. I still have those first two paperbacks published in the 80s. (Most of the delay was that the first book didnt make a splash and she toiled in obscurity, struggling to get each new book published. Baen picked her up a few years back and shes suddenly much more productive.) The author has upped the pace recently, thankfully, releasing a new book every couple of years. I think the climax is coming soon, hopefully before Hodgell retires. The plot is hard to pare down, so try this link: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath
miyazaki
(2,256 posts)Ftw, a book that both disturbs and fascinates with a strong feminine theme.
Response to qwlauren35 (Original post)
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DFW
(54,480 posts)Especially the last story, "Lost Legacy."