I think that is a reasonable summation of much of Robinson’s work - here for the big ideas. I still enjoy them though. Favourites being the Years of Rice and Salt, and Shaman (very diffferent!). Still have his latest Ministry of the Future to read.
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Oooh, I am going to a local second-hand bookstore on Friday to try and track down a copy of Aurora! I’ll add the other two as well (I have $300 in credit at the store).
Any other really good sci-fi (Ideally Scazli-esque) that I should add to the list? My favourites are The Expanse, Red Shirts, Old Man’s War, The Forever War, Uplift War, Long Way to a Small Angry Planet, Robot and Monk, Ancillary Justice, and Murder Bot.
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New York 2140 is my favorite. But Ministry is a close runner up. Definitely will have a look at Aurora.
Murderbot is on humblebundle right now.
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Arkady Martine, A Memory Called Empire and A Desolation Called Peace.
Kate Elliott, Unconquerable Sun and Furious Heaven.
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Great recommendations, already read.
I will definitely add Kate Elliott, thank you!
Be warned they’re the first two of a trilogy. Last one has been delayed, currently expected next year.
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Robinson’s Mars trilogy are his foundational texts, a plausible look at Mars colonisation over decades as it appeared in the late 80s, early 90s. Not read since then and be warned it includes equations.
More soap opera - y (and don’t get Charles Stross started on the science) are Ian McDonald’s Luna trilogy (they make an interesting companion with Robinson’s own Red Moon - I read them all about the same time. Interestingly optioned for telly but have seen no sign of it!
For a more pulpy old school vibe, I have been enjoying Suzanne Palmer’s Finder books.
(Presuming you have read Stross and Banks)
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Banks, yes (Player of Games, Weapons of War, The Algabraist), Stross… did he do A Fire Upon the Deep?
That may have been Vinge… so no Stross.
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That was Vinge - try Accelerando for his hard sf; his Laundry files are easy to recommend if you are ready for Cthulhu meets the British establishment but I know tastes vary.
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I was really impressed by Accelerando, must read it again.
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Hmmm, it appears Scott Lynch’s Gentlemen Bastards series has been reprinted recently. I wonder if the fourth book may be forthcoming…
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I kinda gave up on this. Not completely like ASOIAF - that series is dead to me
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He’s at least submitted a draft of the Thorn of Emberlain but that was the last I heard.
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I totally forgot that there might have been more story there. I enjoyed Gentleman Bastards but it might also be just too late now for it to continue. My tastes may have changed in similar ways as with that other series @lalunaverde mentioned.
As for ASoIaF… yeah … I don’t wait anylonger. My tastes have changed from thinking “cool finally some serious fantasy that isn’t afraid to kill some characters” (opinion ca. early 00s) to “I am not in this for being tortured me as a reader” (opinion ca. now).
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Despite the size of the store, their sci-fi offerings (a mere two dozen full bookshelves, plus overflow in numerous places) were humble.
Only 1 Kim Stanley Roberston, one Stross, no Palmer, McDonald…
Here is what I grabbed:
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I stopped caring about ASoIaF after reading the fifth book (so, what, 20 years ago now? I kid, I kid, I think anyway) and struggling MIGHTILY to finish it in about 18 months, only managing it because I’d promised my sister I’d lend it to her during the Holidays and forcing myself to power through during a 6-hour marathon. I have no memory of it.
If book 6 ever comes out, I’ll do what I did for books 11 and 12 of The Wheel of Time, and read the synopsis on Wikipedia.
And to think, I devoured the first 3 books in around 2 weeks when I was at Uni. The series went flying off a cliff after that.
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Everything I am reading is annotated and I am reading all the annotations but it wouldn’t seem that way at first
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So did I when I discovered them. And it was special. Those were great books. Those are great books. And my memory of reading the books at the time still is special.
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Hope you enjoy! Big fan of Gibson as well! Ask my how my work book club went when I recommended The Peripheral.
Actually don’t, it didn’t go well …
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