Whenever I write about ebooks, folks leave comments praising Baen Books and their new-media publishing savvy. That’s definitely a company I wouldn’t mind supporting with my reading dollars. However…
Except for my five-year cycle of re-reading all of Robert Heinlein’s juvies and most of his grown-up stuff*, I don’t read much science fiction. And I don’t read fantasy at all. So how about some recommendations, folks? Which beloved dog-earred paperback would you loan to a guy who enjoys Heinlein, some Arthur C. Clarke, and the occasional hit of John Scalzi?
*One go-around with I Will Fear No Evil when I was young and foolish was quite enough, and Farnham’s Freehold might be the single-most depressing bit of speculative fiction not written in Russian.
These aren’t sci-fi, per se, but they are entertaining:
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess;
1984 by George Orwell;
Lord of the Flies by William Golding;
All of the 11 Stainless Steel Rat novels by Harry Harrison.
The Mote in God’s Eye by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, one of the best sci-fi works on first contact between the Empire of Man and an alien race, a classic work of hard sci-fi from two of the best in the business.
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266614005&sr=8-1
Jerry Pournelle. Mote in God’s Eye and the follow-up Gripping Hand. Heck, almost anything else he’s written either alone or with a co-author. Great at hard science sf and also some fantasy-type stuff. He was an engineer first, worked on the Apollo program, so he knows his science.
John
Stephen Baxter is following in Clarke’s footsteps, he actually worked with Clarke on a couple of books before he passed away. More hard science, no fancy “warp drives” that stretch the limits of suspense of disbelief.
Gregory Benford worked on the Second Foundation, which wasn’t bad.
Finally, I’d recommend Jack McDevitt. Similar in style to Scalzi, just a fun read.
John Ringo – try him out at the Baen Free Library and see if you like him. You’ll be glad you did.
David Weber if you like Space Opera writ large.
Michael Z. Williamson – read Freehold for an excelent libertarian sci-fi book.
Yep, all of them at the Baen Free Library and all led me to purchase books by each of the authors (the Free library works!)
Well, I recommend giving David Webber’s “Honor Harrington” series a chance. It’s pure space opera, but that’s a lot of its charm.
Mostly its heros are conservatives and its villians are “People’s Republic” types, but lots of space battles full of broadsides to the “Peeps.”
Much more a nod to C.S. Forrester than Patrick O’Neal.
Michael Z. Williamson’s _Freehold_. Just about anything by Lois McMaster Bujold. Ringo’s _Through the Looking Glass_ is fun, as are the sequels he co-wrote with Travis Taylor. Eric Flint’s alternate-history novel _1632_ is clean pro-American fun, although the many sequels tend to wander a bit.
The Ender series by Orson Scott Card. Also, the Dune series.
both are simply stunning.
oooooo…forgot one.
The Ring trilogy (Black, Red and White) by Ted Dekker. You won’t regret this one.
Anything Asimov ever wrote is good but his non-fiction is even better.
A bit farther out is Frank Herbert and the Dune Trilogy. You have to sorta’ ignore the futuristic otherworldly landscape and look for the personalities and philosophy. Actually, the original book “Dune” outshines the others.
Looks like several people beat me to this already. It’s hard to go wrong with Weber, Ringo, Williamson, or Bujold, all of whom have several books available at the Baen Free Library. I’ll also toss in a plug for Niven and Pournelle’s “Fallen Angels”, which is a very interesting read the current fuss over global warming. Besides the Free Library, Baen has included CDs with several titles that include their entire catalog for particular authors. They’ve even encouraged people to put the entire contents of the CDs online, and you can browse them at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/ .
From the Baen catalog…
Anything in the Vorkosigan saga by Bujold. It starts with Shards of Honor/Barrayar – usually available together as one volume in “Cordelia’s Honor.” If you can’t find that, try “Young Miles.” (YM is where most people start anyway.) If you pick a volume, there is usually a chronology in the back – which titles come in what order.
David Weber’s Honor Harrington Series is a SciFi retelling of Horatio Hornblower. It started with “On Basilisk Station” though that isn’t the best of the bunch. And he did go back and add Ms Midshipwoman Harrington as a novella. The later books got pretty bogged down in politics. (I mean if I want politics, I’ll read Vodkapundit!) On B. Station, is followed by “The Short Victorious War,” “The Honor of the Queen” and I think “Field of Dishonor.” Don’t start with field. The others may be tough to find, though your library may have them. (Most have been reissued recently… so maybe you will find them)
The Hammer’s Slammers series by David Drake (start with Hammer’s Slammers Vol 1) is notable for being one of the few military sci-fi series written by a veteran of combat. (In David Drake’s case – Vietnam).
If you like Heinlein, then you might want to try Drake’s “Hammer’s Slammers.” Col A. Hammer is commander of an armored mercenary company. (Though the stories usually focus on the non-coms, or more junior officers) The Honor Harrington series is also pure hard science fiction. Both these guys concentrate – a lot – on the hardware. Lois McMaster Bujold covers the hardware, but is more interested in the people. The Vorkosigan series is one of my favorite pieces of Science Fiction.
If you want some fantasy from the Baen catalog, try “Oath of Swords,” “The War God’s Own” and “Windrider’s Oath” by David Weber. Not the greatest. Not the worst. “In Fury Born” also by Weber is an interesting mix of fantasy and sci-fi. A bit long, but that’s Weber.
That reminds me I should dig out the Moon is a harsh mistress, it’s been a while.
Just checked and saw Elizabeth Moon is also published by Baen.
“The Deed of Paksinarion” is worthwhile as fantasy.
The Serrano Chronicles are interesting, but not great. I would start in the middle at “Once a Hero,” but there may be too much focus on the romantic aspects than the space war being fought for your taste.
One other jumps to mind, one of the founders of the Space Opera genre – H. Beam Piper. His entire works are available on Kindle for $.99 cents. Space Vikings is a classic as are his Terro-Human History, Paratime and Fuzzy series.
http://www.amazon.com/Works-Beam-Piper-books-ebook/dp/B002KMJHYQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266616508&sr=8-1
REPLAY, by Ken Grimwood. What if you could live your life over and over and over….what better fantasy than that? One of my all time re-read books.
MWSlover beat me to it. Piper is definitely worth your time. I’d almost buy a Kindle just for him if I didn’t already have pretty much all of his work in standard book format on my shelf.
I got the chronology wrong:
Honor Harrington
1. On Basilisk Station
2. The Honor of the Queen
3. The Short Victorious War
4. Field of Dishonor
I seldom read fiction any more. However…
Heinlein’s talent died half-way through __Stranger In A Strange Land__, and emerged from the grave long enough to write __Friday__, then died for good. Alas. Excepting __Friday__, everything after the middle of __Stranger..__ is self-indulgent waste paper, imho. While Heinlein was not the most poetic writer, he could plot a story. “All You Zombies” is the time-travel story to end all time-travel stories (it’s on the net). Sometimes sentiment was enough to carry the story, as in “The Man Who Traveled in Elephants”.
I cannot concur with the endorsement of __Ender__,__Dune__, or anything Asimov (he’s a great science explicator, and a wretched fiction writer), although some people whose judgment I otherwise respect like the __Ender__ books. I tried the first, and it was more than enough.
How ’bout Ursula le Guin, __The Word for World is Forest__? How ’bout Doris Lessing’s, __Canopus in Argos__ series?
I’m a big fan of David Weber, in large part because you can get just about any of his books for free(see http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/20-TorchCD/TorchCD/ – it includes everything he’s ever written except his three Safehold books that weren’t published by Baen and his two latest Honorverse books that were finished after that CD went to press), and therefore cheapass me has read them all. He’s a fairly mediocre writer in the purest sense, but he’s a great storyteller and world-builder, which IMO makes up for it easily. If you want a really huge series, the Honor Harrington books(16 novels and 4 anthologies) are good, if you want something more manageable, the Empire of Man(4 novels) or Hell’s Gate(2 novels) books are a good place to start.
John Ringo (http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/18-EyeoftheStormCD/EyeoftheStormCD/) is decent, but a bit prone to being crazy. If you ever want to feel like a raving socialist, read The Last Centurion. If you merely want to feel like you’re watching a train wreck, try Ghost(let’s put it this way: the book features the protagonist murdering Bashar Assad – by name – with his own chemical weapons, then holding off a battallion of Syrian commandoes with nothing but a few naked women for support. In the first half-dozen chapters). The Aldenata series is fairly good, the Empire of Man series he co-wrote with Weber is also quite good, and I haven’t read his other stuff.
I can’t say I read too much else that’s proper scifi, so I’m not really long on recommendations here. Most of the stuff I’d think of uses sci-fi as the excuse for a much more premodern plot(the 1634 and Belisarius series by Eric Flint are good examples – http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/13-TheBalticWarCD/TheBalticWarCD/). Still, that’s my two cents.
The Honor Harrington books, as noted above, are also well worth the time, assuming you like space opera. They must be read in proper order though.
And I do have complaints about Weber’s writing style. The farther you get into the Harrington novels the more time you will spend reading about things you already know as he spends much too much time rehashing what has happened previously. Sometimes he does it well, in a manner that meshes with the current story. Other times….Well, you learn when to skip ahead to get to the new stuff because it can get a bit heavy handed.
I tend to lay the blame for this at the feet of the publisher as it is an attempt to make it possible for someone not familiar with the series to pick up any one book and know what is going on.
That’s possible for the first two, maybe three sequels. After that? It’s a waste of time and paper. Either the reader is a fan and has already read the books previous or they shouldn’t be reading this particular book.
“Which beloved dog-earred paperback would you loan to a guy who enjoys Heinlein, some Arthur C. Clarke, and the occasional hit of John Scalzi?”
“Doorways in the Sand” by Roger Zelazny.
Actually, I may have to really lend this to you – it’s hard to find.
But with your drinking sensibilities, I think you’d find this book a riot. Not many books can claim that having the protagonist get drunk may save the Earth…
Just be sure to check out the whole Baen Free Library. You’ll be able to sample a bit of everyone:
http://www.baen.com/library/
“Monster Hunter International”, by Larry Correia. Monsters, guns, and wicked humor… what’s not to like? Any book that starts out, “On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window.”, has got to be a hit!
Following that, definitely the two “Mote” books by Niven and Pournell, and, along with Steven Barnes, their two-book offering of “The Legacy of Heorot” and “Beowulf’s Children”.
Anyone with your sense of humor would appreciate H.P. Lovecraft; all that Cthulu stuff is a scream. I think “Beyond the Mountains of Madness” is the classic.
Have you read any Neil Gaiman? “American Gods” and “Neverwhere” are both very good, or you could go all the way to graphic novel with “The Absolute Sandman”, well worth it!
Start with John Ringo. For a political blogger, I would suggest The Last Centurion. I disagree with #20 Alsadius about it making you feel like a socialist. It is a near future Military/Political/Climate Change novel that is written in the first person as a MilBlogger. Red meat.
1632 by Eric Flint and the following books are really excellent in a most unusual way; it contrasts middle America with 17th Century Europe brutally, and makes one appreciate America all the more. It’s not just the can-do spirit etc, it’s a number of tiny little things that are hard to notice when they’re so completely normal, and only in looking back can you realize they’re not normal at all, but EXTREMELY weird–thank heaven.
Try Donald Hamilton. He and Heinlein are two writers I find myself re-reading. Also try G I Basel’s Pak Six -this one’s a gem.
A bunch of people are telling you about good, readable, space opera and space action. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you want to go a bit deeper (but still keep the excitement level up), I would recommend Charles Stross (Iron Sunrise, Halting State, Glasshouse) and Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, possibly Anathem). Smarter than Scalzi (I don’t think he’d mind) and still badass fun.
Second the recommendations of Niven/Pournelle and Zelazny. And I need to re-read The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress as well.
There is a danger to this bleg as you don’t know which amongst us are pure plain bat**** crazy. That noted, if you’re wanting to try Baen (and you’re right about their “new media” savvy) AND liked Heinlein, John Ringo’s latest book “Live Free Or Die” is somewhat of a cross between “The Man Who Sold The Moon” and “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”.
The basic setup is the galactic aliens establish a trading post in Solar orbit, another group of aliens quickly establishes a “fort” to protect the natives from exploitation by other aliens and in exchange all Earth has to do is turn over all our valuables. Not all humans like rolling over and hoping to get our belly petted. Glenn Reynolds did an interview with Ringo last year: http://www.pjtv.com/video/InstaVision_With_Glenn_Reynolds/Author_John_Ringo%3A_The_Merger_of_SciFi_and_Military_Tech/2334/
Bujold’s Vorkosigan books are excellent. Weber’s Honor Harrington merit attention. David Drake has turned his hand to a series following the model of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey & Maturin: the Republic of Cinnabar Navy (RCN) series, available online at http://baencd.thefifthimperium.com/15-WhentheTideRisesCD/WhentheTideRisesCD/index.htm as is his superb Belisarius series, written with Eric Flint. Tom Kratman has written a series, starting with “A Desert Called Peace” explaining how the war on terrorism ought have been fought; as Lt.Col. and instructor in Law of War at the command college he writes with a certain authority.
Another one I’d recommend is Sarah A. Hoyt’s Darkship Thieves. It can be found in Baen’s webscriptions site at — http://www.webscription.net//p-1102-darkship-thieves.aspx
I’ll second the recommendation for Dave Weber’s Honor Harrington series as well.
Best of all, none of the books you’ll find on webscriptions.net have DRM. A definite plus in my book.
Darkship Theives by Sarah Hoyt! Actually, *anything* by Sarah Hoyt
But Darkship Theives, her newest, is very good science fiction.
I know you said you don’t like ‘fantasy’ – but she has a series of “urban” stories that get stuck in fantasy, but they’re not. They’re set in a fictitious Colorado college town that is a *lot* like Colorado Springs (Where Sarah Hoyt lives, oddly enough). Think the original Werewolf movie plot line – only instead of a wolf, you’ve got a girl who turns into a panther and a guy who turns into a dragon. And are trying to keep their humanity and sanity. I can’t recommend Draw One In The Dark and Gentleman Takes A Chance enough. And if you’ve ever been in a college town and hung out at the local diner – you’ll know *exactly* what she’s talking about
In fact, Sarah has a section of Baen’s online newgroup called “Sarah’s Diner” where fans hang out, and she drops in from time to time and chats and posts snippets of her various works in progress. You have to log in at http://bar.baen.com/ and then join Sarah’s Diner – but it’s a total blast and well worth the effort
Vodkapundit–I love your work, and I salute your liver. I’m publisher of Baen Books, and therefore inclined to like all the books we publish, and besides my readers are here before me. I think for you Ringo’s latest, LIVE FREE OR DIE, 1632 by Flint, Bujold’s WARRIOR’S APPRENTICE & Weber’s In Fury Born would work as a good introduction to what Baen does. Links are already up for free e-copies, but if you’d like paper, just email me and we’ll be happy to get them to you. Skol!
BTW, about I Will Fear No Evil: there’s a reason it is unreadable. As I heard the tale, while Heinlein was writing that he was dying of blood disease, and was appalled to learn the book had been published while he was being treated. I think the phrase that was quoted to me was “You PUBLISHED that???!!!!”
Enders Game, et al.. My all time favorite, top of the list, desert island series
Mistborn Trilogy
War of the Flowers
Ravenor Trilogy
Of course the Dune trilogy, but the first book is the absolute best. Of course, the jihad against the west has ruined a lot of my enjoyment, because he used so much of their mythos, but it’s still a stunning read
Artemis Fowl Series (for younger readers, but I love it)
Don’t want to get up to retrieve the authors, but the internet is a wonderful thing.
Sarah Hoyt, Darkship Thieves (Baen) – very Heinlein-esque, fast and funny
Rats Bats and Vats, Eric Flint and Dave Freer – probably the funniest take on military SF ever crammed between two covers.
If you like Darkship Thieves, you might want to check out her other works – she’s written fantasy, has historical mystery (starring the Three Musketeers plus one) under the name Sarah D’Almeida, and contemporary mystery (and funny as heck) under Elise Hyatt (Dipped, Stripped and Dead is published, A French Polished Murder is due out soonish)
For other ideas, why not browse the Baen Free Library – it’s very good at getting people hooked.
Gregory Benford, Against Infinity. Short book. Life on Ganymede. Very deep. Beautiful.
At Baen, just about anything by Poul Anderson (I’d especially recommend THE VAN RIJN METHOD, a collection that starts his multi-novel Polesotechnic League series).
All of Lois McMaster Bujold, starting with CORDELIA’S HONOR.
Chris Doley’s RESONANCE is very good, though I haven’t read SHIFT yet. I’ve read some of David Drake’s “Hammer’s Slammers” series, and some of his “Lt. Leary” series, and very much enjoyed both.
Eric Flint is the only commie in the world I have a good word for. I read everything he writes, and always enjoy it.
James H. Schmitz wrote some of the best sf of the 1950s and ’60s, and Baen put it back into print. Bless them for that. Start with TELZEY AMBERDON or THE HUB: DANGEROUS TERRITORY, which contains THE DEMON BREED, one of my all-time favorite sf novels.
David Weber, K. D. Wentworth, and Michael Z. Williamson are all also on my automatic read list. I have Weber’s latest novel open on the computer as I type this (MISSION OF HONOR, on sale in July). For Weber, start with ON BASILISK STATION, MUTINEER’S MOON, IN FURY BORN, or THE APOCALYPSE TROLL.
Tom Kratman’s books should only be read online. The pages drip blood, and they could stain your clothes. I’ve read and enjoyed everything he’s written except A STATE OF DISOBEDIENCE, which I haven’t gotten to yet.
Keith Laumer’s stories of the diplomat Retief, and the sentient supertanks called Bolos are very good.
I hear very good things about Sharon Lee & Steve Miller’s “Liaden” series, though I haven’t tried one yet. I intend to, soon.
Baen is doing the universe a good turn by keeping Fred Pohl’s MARS PLUS in print.
Jerry Pournelle is one of my favorite authors, and he has a bunch of good stuff published by Baen. Try FALKENBURG’S LEGION and OATH OF FEALTY.
You should read everything written by John Ringo. Start with A HYMN BEFORE BATTLE, and read the rest from earlies to latest copyright date.
I wish you’d asked this before the Bash earlier this month. I had some stuff I could have loaned you.
There are quite a few good suggestions above, and its hard to figure out if you like the lighter, adventure style SF like the Williamson, Ringo, Bujold stuff mentioned above. Or if you like some sweeping hard SF epics, like Alastair Reynolds does. If the latter, then you might look for Alastair Reynolds’ “Revelation Space”.
Another Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle collaboration is “Lucifer’s Hammer”. I think it’s absolutely the best pre/post-appocalypse novel I’ve ever read. I dig it out and re-read it every year or two and I’ve lost track of how many copies I’ve simply given away to friends.
I have been reading sci\fi, horror, and fantasy for many years. Authors like Lord Dunsany, Clark Aston Smith, H.P. Lovecraft, and of coarse Robert E. Howard. But if you are looking for a current (breathing) writer the first name that I can think of is R.A.Salvatore. You wont go wrong..I promise
Besides do you think I could lie????
Where’s the scotch anyway?
If you talk Baen, I just buy ‘em all. For favorites:
Anything by (in no particular order): Anvil, Bujold, Ringo, Drake, Flint, Weber, Freer, Pournelle (Both “Mote” and “Gripping Hand” are available as eBooks!), Hoyt, and Van Name. Correia’s “Monster Hunter International” was an awesome debut and he’s gone on my “must buy” list. And Michael Z. Williamson’s “Contact With Chaos” is one of the neatest first-contact stories ever told.
One note about “Last Centurion”: It’s the ONLY book I’ve ever read with what amounts to a hundred-odd page infodump to open the story and *I couldn’t put the book down* while reading it. It made me think about trust, what it is, what makes it possible, where it comes from… And I ended up reading the book twice and was enthralled the second time.
Upcoming stuff I’m waiting for: Much Fall of Blood, Threshold, Mission of Honor, Children No More, Do Unto Others, What Distant Deeps, Monster Hunter Vendetta, Cryoburn.
And Baen has done the universe a service by making A. Bertram Chandler’s Grimesverse available again as eBooks, and likewise republishing all of Christopher Anvil’s stories and parables, ditto for Howard Myers’ stories.
The only non-Baen author who consistently matches the quality of this crew is Scalzi.
SARAH A HOYT – ‘nough said.
Damn your eyes, St. Onge! You took what’s left of all the good suggestions!
Assuming the referenced works are available as ebooks:
For me, what comes to mind first are Poul Anderson & Gordon Dickson. Anderson was a founding member of SCA, and is still one of the few truly good fantasy writers, but you’ll probably prefer his Polesotechnic League series featuring Nicholas Van Rijn and David Falkyn, which was later connected to his Dominic Flandry series describing a Terran Empire, thus creating one of the more detailed future histories of SF.
Dickson was especially well known for his more serious Dorsai series, although he did collaborate with Anderson on the Hoka series, wherein both writers mercilessly skewered all sorts of SF sacred cows, including their own works. Bad puns and absurdity abound.
Larry Niven’s solo work is good, if you enjoy old-school “hard” SF. Beowulf Shaeffer wanders in and out through his “Known Space” universe.
I suspect Stephen would enjoy anything by H. Beam Piper, as he is an excellent story-teller, not to mention his habit of using independent protagonists. To quote Wiki:
Zelazny is a good choice, although he tends to blur the line between fantasy and SF in some of his works. Certainly Creatures of Light and Darkness, and Lord of Light are powerful works, not to mention A Rose for Ecclesiastes. They’re possibly some of the best-written works in modern SF. Someone mentioned his Doorways in the Sand, but they didn’t cite his My Name Is Legion series, which tells several stories of a man who managed to opt out of a global/universal ID system where literally everyone in the world is registered. He now has the ability to become anyone he wants, as he has unique access to the system, allowing him to alter the database as he sees fit.
Harry Turtledove’s Videssos series (the original cycle published as the Videssos cycle) -while superficially fantasy- can be easily read as an alternate history of “what if” a Roman infantry legion was magically transported to cavalry-oriented Byzantium a thousand years later? Turtledove balances battle scenes with equally riveting depictions of (well) Byzantine court intrigue, with a healthy slug of “easter eggs” for history buffs.
That miserable SOB St. Onge stole my thunder with respect to James H. Schmitz’s work, which regularly featured strong, self-reliant (yet still female) women, a trait he shared with Anderson. Laumer’s Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne was a series of short stories which viciously satirized American “feel good” diplomacy during the 1950s and 1960s.
About the only author missed so far is Jack Vance, who was equally brilliant in writing both SF and fantasy. His future history of the “Gaean Reach” (which includes the Alastor cluster series) is as detailed and expansive as anything written by Asimov, Anderson, Heinlein, Piper, or Pournelle/Niven.
His work as John Holbrook Vance earned him recognition as a mystery writer, and (from Wiki) “A 2009 profile in the New York Times Magazine described Vance as “one of American literature’s most distinctive and undervalued voices.”
A New York Times article cited by Wiki contains this passage:
“Baroque stylist.” I like that.
Those who cite Vance as an influence include Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, Tanith Lee, and Michael Chabon.
Again, from the linked Times article:
Finally, I have to mention Terry Pratchett. Now Stephen said he doesn’t read fantasy, but I have to wonder if he’s enjoyed the work of genuine artists such as Anderson, Vance, or Pratchett. Pratchett’s Discworld bears the same relationship to “standard” fantasy as Tolkien does to Harry Potter. To quote from the Discworld Wiki:
This one of the rare times I’ll complain about the lack of a preview function under the PJmedia umbrella, since I rarely post with multiple blockquotes, italics, and links. Feh.
Oh, urgh. Those italics should have closed off after “You took what’s left of all the good suggestions!”
Mote is now at Baen. $5
the whole CoDominium bundle is $36
Footfall (what happens when authors get frunk and someone suggest baby elephants wearing sneakers for a story line)Lucifer’s Hammer, and the free library has Fallen Angels.
Non-SF read Ringo’s Ghost, Kildar, Choosers Of The Slain, Unto The Breach, A Deeper Blue.
Alt-History/sci fi Flint’s 163x series.(and I agree on the good word for a commie bit above about Eric)
Flint and Freer’s Rats Bats and Vats, as well as The Rats, The Bats, and The Ugly is good as well.
Freer should be writing a bit more as he has finished a move from South Africa to Flinders Is. Tasmania. He wrote a story as a pay as you go to raise money to transfer his “Dragons” (the family pets).
Mad Mike’s Freehold is good for your libertarian side.
Travis Taylor’s stuff is great, but be prepared for real science in them. Doc’s a smart fella, and some of what he writes, he is working on (though not as advanced as in the stories) Doc is also helping Ringo on the Looking Glass series(Into the Looking Glass, Vorpal Blade,Manxome Foe, Claws That Catch). Great reads. And the two wrote Von Neumann’s War (Hooter’s is the headquarters for fighting to save the world!)
And, of course, Weber’s stuff. Go through all the Honor Harrington stuff. Empire of Man series
with John Ringo. The Dahak series(actually, now one long single e-book).
And, as always, Baen lets you read a bit of the book for free. So just start reading something, and the Free Library helps you pick authors you like for no cost.
Information overload!
I could go on and on (too late?) but there it is.
Can’t say I disagree with any of the other Baen based recommendations either.
Got enough information already?
What I found humorous were the recommendations (mostly early) that amounted to ‘I’m a liberal English major so these are the only books that are suitable for reading.’
Which is, frankly, sort of the anti-Baen of science fiction.
I usually don’t recommend my novels, period, but since you are a blogger I’ll confirm the recommendation of The Last Centurion. The point to Last Centurion is to read it as a non-fiction book. It is essentially the collected blogs of a character from the near future.
As to the rest, if your historic reading in SF is Heinlein juvies, you’ll probably like most of Baen’s SF. It is thematically drawing from the same background.
One note of caution, I don’t usually recommend the Ghost books (which were recommended above.) They aren’t to everyone’s taste. (It’s a long story why but they are ‘adult content’.)
Sorry, double post after rereading your supplementary note.
Heinlein was suffering from a brain ‘issue’ (forget precisely what) while he was in the process of writing IWFNE. It was diagnosed but he put off the surgery to correct it until he had the novel finished.
It is alleged (and Jim Baen told me the story so it’s probably true) that when he was handed the galley proofs in the hospital he immediately called the publisher and said ‘Tell me you didn’t actually PUBLISH THIS!’ Alas, it was already at the printers.
And Freehold is NOTHING compared to Steve Stirling’s Dies the Fire or Fortschen’s One Second After.
John Ringo
James P Hogan has some Baen books.
His two best are “The Two Faces of Tomorrow” and “Code of the Lifemaker” (the sequel to Lifemaker is okay, but not as good as the original).
In “Lifemaker” an alien “resources extraction”, robot factory gets partially damaged, ends up on Titan, goes haywire and robots evolve into “people”.
His explanation for how it happened is so plausible you have to think it’s happened somewhere or somewhen.
In Two Faces, we are set to build Skynet but, since everybody’s seen The Terminator, they put it on an orbiting “colony” to see what happens.
His other books are hit and miss. Not bad, but not great.
As some have noted, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle wrote a few books together, they’re all very, very good.
Niven’s Integral Trees and the Smoke Ring are very good too. People live in a gas cloud fed by a gas giant so there’s no planet, just floating trees, bushes and ponds. The closest thing to gravity they have is on the Integral Trees’ ends as the trees rotate. They were on an interplanetary mission when something happened and their ancestors were put there. Part of the story is how that happened.
the stars my destination by alfred bester
Wow, not just the fans but the authors and publisher chiming in! I second the recommendations to read Ringo, Williamson, Kratman, Hoyt, Correia, etc. Some alternate specific recommendations: Michael Z. Williamson’s “Better to Beg Forgiveness”, Ringo’s “A Hymn Before battle”, Kratman’s “A State of Disobedience”
To *really* get the Baen Experience, log on to http:\\bar.baen.com where fans and aut6hors argue about what the characters were *really* thinking, help research details for the next book, or even participate in round-robin creative writing exercises.
For a humorous look at how Ringo envisions making a movie from Ghost, visit http://teddroberts.com/lc21.
Enjoy the Baen Experience!
Rob (#28) beat me to most of my recommendations. Charles Stross and Neal Stephenson are both very smart and very snarky, which I think you’d appreciate.
Stross is incredibly prolific – he cranks out 2 – 3 books a year, and the worst of them are pretty good. I only see three of his titles on Baen; hopefully they’ll get more. Don’t be turned off by his book covers – the publishers choose them and they’re equally reviled by the author and his fans.
Stephenson is probably too big for Baen right now; he’s successful enough to be carried by places like Costco. I’d part company with Rob on one of the books by Stephenson – his latest, Anathem was a chore to read. His earlier work – especially Snow Crash and The Diamond Age – are classics. His books Cryptonomicon, Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World are historical fiction. Cryptonomicon is an absolute classic – one of the best books I’ve ever read. The other three are prequels to it and are good if a bit slow.
Steve:
Trust me here; blood clogs hard drives and clothes can be washed.
ASOD? Hmmm…for reasons I think I understand, it’s been having something of a minor resurgance lately. Frankly, it’s not all that good. Okay? Yes, I suppose, but the later stuff is better.
L. Warren Douglas, a lesser known writer-his Arbiter Tale series, as well as most of his other works published by Baen, Del Rey, and RoC.
Huh…when I called Ringo “prone to being crazy”, I have to admit I didn’t expect him to pop up in the thread.
Agree with many of the suggestions above- but surprised no one has mentioned William Gibson’s Neuromancer or Virtual Light. Noticed that some of the themes/tech in those books is getting more and more prophetic as the years move along…
Ian Douglas (non Baen) has two series in the same universe, the Legacy trilogy (near future-25 or so years to distant near future- 150 yrs or so) beginning with Luna Marine; and the Inheritance trilogy which expands into more distant future 500 yrs + from now. William C. Dietz has the ‘Legion of the Damned’ books based on a future incarnation of the French Foreign Legion which is space opera but fun.
Happy hunting
Chris
Oh, sorry one more-again non-Baen but good to read- Ben Bova. Could be considered slightly more left leaning, but not preachy about it. His ‘Grand Tour’ (concentrating on near future in our solar system) is entertaining, based in hard sci-fi traditions of Clarke and Asimov.
Worlds and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
He’s more of a liberaltarian than a liberal.
Both books are well worth a read, especially Worlds.
Wow, talk about a trip down memory lane! I started on SF/Fantasy in the early 50s. I just spent an hour flipping between this thread and Google.
Some notables that haven’t been mentioned: Robert Silverberg, Harlan Ellison, Phillip Jose Farmer and John Brunner. Probably many more that slip my mind.
Best classic I’ve read in the last couple of years: Poul Anderson’s Time Patrol. Alternate history covering over 50 centuries, cleverly eliding the paradoxes inherent in this genre.
Best SF movie: “Total Recall” from a short story by Phillip K. Dick.
One of my favorite past times: wandering a good used book store and finding such as “The Hugo Winners, 1967″.
Wow. Great thread. Stephen, you were a Heinlein AND a Globe-Democrat reader? How did our paths not cross?
Would second the recommendations for Neal Stephenson and William Gibson: invented cyberpunk, smartest guys (especially Neal) in the business, cracking good stories, and completely unable to finish their work. It just peters out and you hit the last page. Be warned.
And, too, seconding Bester and Zelazny. They’re two of the three best pure writers in SF. Haven’t read the Amber series and I’m a little afraid to. Would hate to have anything taint my love for _The Doors of His Face the Lamps of His Mouth_.
The third best writer, one I haven’t seen mentioned above, is Ted Sturgeon. Beautiful writing and the best understanding of the human condition in SF. Good friend of Heinlein, though their styles differed tremendously.
last one promise- John Steakley “Armor” and James L. Halperin “The Truth Machine” and “The First Immortal”
Try Iain Banks “Culture” books, particularly “Player of Games” ans “Use of Weapons”, or some of his non SF. Excellent stuff
Much of the Barfly Choir has already chimed in on Ringo, Weber, and Flint. Can’t say enough about all three. Other Baen authors to watch: Mike Williamson, Tom Kratman, and lately, Larry Correia. In particular, his “Monster Hunter International” was the single most FUN book to read in a long time. . .
And I saw one or two mentions of Charles Stross. Especially recommended are his “Escaton” and “Laundry” series. The first is set in a universe where we created Artificial Intelligence early in this century, and it advanced rapidly, realized humanity was in danger on just one planet, and planted colonies all over the galaxy. And that’s just the back-story, the books occur centuries later. And the Laundry: imagine Magic is real. Then imagine it’s controlled by a version of Her Majesty’s Secret Service. . .melded with “Yes, Minister. . .”
As far as “classic” SF goes, I’ve seen the major names, but always recommend A.E. Van Vogt and H. Beam Piper.
But, I suspect, we’ve filled your reading list for the next several decades already…
All of Frederick Pohl’s stuff is good, but my two favorites are Gateway and The World at the End of Time.
No one has mentioned Robert Silverberg, – Starborne is quite good, and The Face on the Waters was creepy. His books may be out of print.
Joe Haldeman – The Accidental Time Machine.
Drake is certainly five star, and the Hammers Slammers series covers a lot of the themes that Heinlein covers, but I think you actually get a better flavor from his RCN/Lt. Leary series. It’s 100% space opera, rather than science fiction, and is quite a bit of fun. (One thing to keep in mind is that in addition to Vietnam, Drake also has a JD and translates Latin and Greek for fun. Quite a few of his stories are drawn from the Classics classics.)
What about Peter F Hamilton?
His stuff is basically “space opera”, but he has nice plots, although they usually involve about a dozen main characters…
He seems to have a “conservative” outlook, but I don’t know if he’d admit to that.
Cheers,
Damon
Go for the Daniel Leary/RCN series. The books are fabulous and should start with “With The Lightnings”. The series is based on events that Victor Davis Hanson would write about.
Simply put, David Drake is an excellent writer of fiction who produces what Victor Davis Hanson probably could if he wrote historically-based fiction.
A lot (not all) of H. Beam Piper’s stuff is now on Gutenberg.org due to some screw up that let the copyright pass into the Public Domain. http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/p#a8301 I can’t reconmend it enough as it seems to include all the Paratime Police short stories.
One of the best fact based stories he wrote that you’ll never find anywhere else is his “Rebel Raider” that is about the behind the lines operations of Confederate Captain (eventually Colonel, brevet Brigadier General) John S. Mosby. From a historian’s PoV it’s pure gold but for a Military historian, the twist at the end will have you ROTFLOL.
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/19194
First off, another vote for Orson Scott Card. Read at least the 1st 4 of the Ender Wiggin stuff — Ender’s Game, Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind. The Alvin Maker series is quite enjoyable as well. And, pretty much, anything else he’s written.
And another vote for Neal Stephenson. Someone above mentioned him, so I won’t go look at Baen and see whether he’s there. If not, then get the books by any other means. He’s too good to not read. I think you’d particularly enjoy the Baroque Cycle. And his Cryptonomicon is, IMHO, a must read.
Nobody mentioned Mike Resnick. 19 Hugo nominations, 5 wins. Been a while since I read him, but Santiago and Paradise are both good.
If Tor books are available, then Greg Bear. Start with Eon.
Oh, a few more I always recommend. Again, don’t know about availability via Baen.
The Hyperion series, by Dan Simmons.
The Rifter series, by Peter Watts.
Like all the other Baen fans out here my main suggestion would be to go to the free library, download a selection and see what you like.
On the whole the key difference between Baen’s books and those of its competitors is that Baen’s books are almost always upbeat and the biggest problem is generally that you (well I) find them hard to put down.
You can divide Baen’s output into two or three categories. One is the reissue of older SF works (including a number of Heinlein, as well as Pournelle, Anderson, Schmitz and well a bunch of others, almost all good)
Then there are the modern authors. There are the big names: Bujold, Weber, Drake, Flint and Ringo. All of these authors are best sellers for a reason. IMO Lois M Bujold’s books are better written than the others in terms of her use of precisely the right word or phrase, her world building, her lack of infodumping – something that Weber does a lot of – and her characters. However none of these writers are bad. On the whole I’d say that Ringo writes the worst but on the other hand he has a trick of making his books utterly addictive so you get immersed in the book and skip over the “Oh John Ringo No” moments.
Finally there are all the other modern Baen authors. I like Dave Freer and Sarah A Hoyt. Going on your list I’ll add to the recommendation that you read Dark Ship Thieves (my review http://www.di2.nu/200912/28.htm ). You may well also like Eric Flint/Dave Freer’s collaboration – Slow Train to Arcturus (review here http://www.di2.nu/200810/07.htm ).
But yanno the big problem for someone just starting out is that there’s a lot and its all good.
I second John Ringo’s caveat about “Ghost” and its sequels – I love everything else he’s written, but had to skip chunks of “Ghost”, and haven’t bothered with the sequels (sorry, but I prefer likeable protagonists).
Yes to Pournelle, Ringo, Weber and Flint (except “The Philisophical Strangler”, which soured on me about halfway through).
My thanks to those who provided a link to “Rebel Raider”. I thought I’d read everything available by Piper, and am happy to see I was wrong.
Dr. Rob’s link re Ringo and “Ghost” is missing a few characters – it should be http://teddroberts.com/lc21.html
Well, it’s now obvious what caused Baen’s Bar to go all fuzzy this week. All the electrons came here and sampled high quality Vodka be for returning to their humble digs.
If you don’t know what you like, you could try their free library (see URL above). Entire ebooks, distributed for free.
There is a broad range available at Baen.
Mil-SF:
David Weber (Honor Harrington series)
John Ringo (Posleen books)
Ringo & Weber (Prince Roger aka. “March to” series)
Travis Taylor (One Day On Mars)
However I don’t think those fit your requirements.
Humorous:
Flint & Freer – “Pyramid Scheme”, also “Rats, Bats and Vats”
You might want to loosen up on the “no Fantasy” requirement. “Digital Knight” by Ryk Spoor is great! And Sarah Hoyt’s shifter books (starting with “Draw One in the Dark”) are good.
Hoyt has some nice straight SF. Darkship Thieves might do for you.
But … if you are really into old school SF I think there is really only one choice:
Travis Taylor – Warp Speed
But … take advantage of the free library, and the CDs (mentioned elsewhere in the comments here) and sample widely. I’m sure you will find somethign you like!
Of all the myriad titles I can think of, one rises to the top:
“Sten” Alan Cole and Chris Bunch
If you like your mil/espionage sci fi dark and gritty, yet with occasional comedy relief.
Anything by Charles Stross