I am a big fan of science-fiction in general (good science-fiction is always good sociology), and of Joe Haldeman (that website needs some updating, Joe! Oh well, we can console ourselves with Live Journal) in particular ever since I read The Forever War. I have read all his books since and they keep getting better (The Accidental Time Machine was great but then again, I love the time travel sub-genre). The latest one is Marsbound. It belongs to the first contact genre, humans meet aliens.
The story goes like this: an adolescent and her family were selected to become part of the Mars colony and it is through her eyes that we follow the story and her coming of age (there is unmarried, Kama Sutra-inspired s.e.x. in that book... what will Orson Scott Card say!!).
Anyhoo, the trip to Mars and the Mars colony itself provide a small cast of characters that all but a few exceptions play a minor role in the story... which is a bit of a frustration. One of the main secondary characters is never really explained and her determinations and motivations remain quite obscure all the way to the end.
At the same time, this is one of the things that I like about Haldeman's books: the story drives everything... no time wasted on long descriptions, super deep character psychology (which always bores the heck out of me), and no science that requires a Ph.D in astrophysics to figure out. It's about the story. Everything else is background although a great deal of space is devoted to how the Mars journey and colonization would be possible in terms of conservation and management of resources, which makes for some humorous moments. The same goes for the human / alien interactions... until it all goes to !@#$, of course... because it all has to all go to !@#$, otherwise, what's the point of first contact stories?
So, yes, there are a few loose ends and that book screams for a sequel. But it was a quick great read for end of summer. Quick because I could not put it down.
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Oh goodie another book review!
Thanks for sharing! Ahh, the one and the only French Doc.
(I've read this one, good description of it.)
Yeah, the livejournal is day-to-day and also interspersed with interesting stuff like this graphic outline of a novel in progress.
In good science fiction, the science is secondary
It's the effect of the science on society that makes the story.
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“But hysteria is all the rage these days, I guess” - gqm
Or the effects of society on science!
Did I just give everybody a headache?? :-)
My personal favorite contemporary Sci-fi authors:
Robert Charles Wilson
Robert Sawyer
David Brin
Vernor Vinge
Charles Stross
Joe Haldeman
Connie Willis
David Mazurek
Tim Powers
John Meaney
Tobias Bucknell
Ian McDonald
I'm not a big fan of fantasy. I'm strict sci-fi.
horse hockey, sweetie -- Tim Powers is hardcore fantasy,
and always has been.
It's just he writes so well and so concretely that yes, one can imagine the djinn leaving lil' gold circles about in the Middle East of Kim Philby's era (DECLARE) or that a Winter King system is linked through the casinoes of Las Vegas (the series including LAST CALL)
There's not enough time in the day to worship his writing; I just want the chance to read all his work.
Tim Powers is great - "Last Call" was teh awesome
I grew up on Heinlein, love Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (together and separately)
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“But hysteria is all the rage these days, I guess” - gqm
Heinlein was too cold warish for my taste
The first Heinlein's book I read was Farnhan's Freehold and I found the politics and racism in there utterly despicable.
Larry Niven, I loved Building Harlequin's Moon (with Brenda Cooper)... but turns out he's a big time conservative jerk. Not as crazy as Orson Scott Card, but a jerk nonetheless.
Cherryh
If you are a first contact and sociological SF fan, I fail to see how you can forget almost the entire oeuvre of one Carolyn Janice Cherry (aka "C. J. Cherryh", yes, with the "h").
It's because
as much of a fan as I am, I have some glaring gaps in my sci-fi background. I recognize the name, of course, but I haven't read anything from her... any specific recommendations? I'm always looking for good stuff.
C. J. Cherryh
Her most popular work is the Foreigner series, which is relatively recent and has reached nine (standalone but sequential and connected) book, starting with, well, Foreigner.
The basic premise is that a human colony is stranded on a planet inhabited by the alien atevi, who are similar to humans in some ways and different in others, crucially, in the ways in which individuals relate to one another in a social and moral level. At the time of the human landing, the atevi are just at the technological level of the steam locomotive. After a brief war, the human colony is given a large island to inhabit, on a lease. The lease is gradual distribution of human technology to the dominant power among the atevi.
The main story takes place 250 years later. Technological parity between humans and the now sophisticated atevi has almost been reached. But not all atevi or all humans are happy about this. For instance, many atevi believe that their cultural development has been hijacked and perverted by the human island enclave for purposes not their own.
Bren Cameron is the paidhi the lone human representative who lives among the atevi. And his job is going to get very complicated. The increasing complication in his job is chronicled over what will ultimately be twelve books, which incidentally also chronicles the development of the atevi into a spacefaring society.
Ooooh, sounds great
Thanks a lot, Mandos. (FD scurries over to Amazon.com)
Here are lists of the good stuff:
attempts to compile lists of 20 best SF books of the past 20 years:
http://www.cheryl-morgan.com/?page_id=1645
and a related discussion:
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/006980....
Martian Time-Slip
By Philip K. Dick. The French love him!
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Now, that is someone I have read
extensively... I don't think I have missed any PKD's books.