Whats everyone reading?

[TordelBack]

Just started Baxter's Proxima.  I like the way he explores the same rough scenario in different ways in successive novels. Here we have another colonising voyage tin a twin-hulled craft, not dissimilar to the central journey in Ark.  So far it's good fun.

[Theblazeuk]

I picked up the recently released paperback copy of Batman Judge Dredd Collection from my library. I've never read this particular crossover so looking forward to it!

Those may have been my first real exposure to Dredd. Judgement in Gotham I think.

[ZenArcade]

TordelBack, I loved Baxter for his musings on my favourite topic (bar the enthropic dissolution of the universe) the Fermi Paradox. I still don't think he quite nailed it down, but it was an interesting couple of novels. Z

[Radbacker]

I'm about 70 pages in Peter F Hamilton's The Reality Dysfunction, interesting start.  I've exhausted all Banks stuff and need to find some nice Sci-Fi to pass the time, I like the sound of the blurb and this guy has lots of books out so he must be good, at least that's what I figure.
This looks like number 1 in a series and it's friken massive so should last a while but anyone suggest similar authors I could try next?  I've only just started to read the Harder Sci-fi stuff (Fantasy is generally more my thing) and loved every single Culture book  I read and wouldn't mind something along similar lines.

Cu Radbacker

[von Boom]

You've already found Hamilton so I'd go with Alastair Reynolds. His Revelation Space books are a must. Start with Revelation Space. You also might consider Neal Asher, he's written quite a few.

[ZenArcade]

For the type of Sci fi you want also try Vernor Vinge. His books about an old greek concept (the further you move from mass/matter the more free you become) is facinating when translated into a galaxy-wide delineation of space itself. The first book A Fire Upon the Deep is staggering in its scale, detail and the sheer joy the author has in the telling. Z

[TordelBack]

For the type of Sci fi you want also try Vernor Vinge. His books about an old greek concept (the further you move from mass/matter the more free you become) is facinating when translated into a galaxy-wide delineation of space itself. The first book A Fire Upon the Deep is staggering in its scale, detail and the sheer joy the author has in the telling. Z

Yeah, A Fire Upon the Deep is superb, and its prequel A Deepness in the Sky is a classic first contact novel which I possibly enjoyed even more.  However, the sequel The Children of the Sky seemed a bit flabby and low on new concepts.  Still a good read, mind.

I also really enjoyed the slightly dated-feeling Across Realtime, but what you really shouldn't miss is The Collected Stories of...  A great and important collection.

[ZenArcade]

The collected stories is on reflection the best place to start, some great stuff, the blabber in particular. Z

[ming]

...anyone suggest similar authors I could try next?  I've only just started to read the Harder Sci-fi stuff (Fantasy is generally more my thing) and loved every single Culture book  I read and wouldn't mind something along similar lines.

Cu Radbacker

How about Dan Simmons' Hyperion / Endymion works?  Available as two omnibus editions collecting two books each - Hyperion weighs in at 779 pages and Endymion at 992 so they're fairly weighty but the pages fly by, honest.

Meanwhile, I'm rereading Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold; I read this years ago and have no recollection of it whatsoever, other than I really enjoyed it...  Gah!

[ZenArcade]

 :thumbsup:Dan Simmons what a writer. There is some great hard Sci Fi about. A lot of crap as well: my main bugbear being the destruction of Frank Herbert's Dune by those two talentless b*****ds!!!.
Anything set out by the posters here is top line intelligent writing. Z

[ming]

I may as well give Philip Palmer a mention while I'm at it.  Someone here pointed me at Red Claw and I followed that with Version 43, Hell Ship and Artemis, all of which I'll happily read again at some point (and I actually remember what happened in those).

[Judge Brian]

...anyone suggest similar authors I could try next?  I've only just started to read the Harder Sci-fi stuff (Fantasy is generally more my thing) and loved every single Culture book  I read and wouldn't mind something along similar lines.

Cu Radbacker

How about Dan Simmons' Hyperion / Endymion works?  Available as two omnibus editions collecting two books each - Hyperion weighs in at 779 pages and Endymion at 992 so they're fairly weighty but the pages fly by, honest.

Meanwhile, I'm rereading Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold; I read this years ago and have no recollection of it whatsoever, other than I really enjoyed it...  Gah!

Hyperion is great, but Endymion sucks. Truth be told, I didn't like the Fall of Hyperion nearly as much as I liked Hyperion.

[Radbacker]

thanks for the suggestions guys, quite a few of those down the local book shop.  See how long it takes me to read this monstrous tome then I think I'll try something else, a nice read so far but a tad dry and lacking the humour in Banks stuff, some of his passages were really laugh out loud stuff.

CU Radbacker

[ZenArcade]

Radbacker, some of the ship names are fantastic: 'Pure Big Bad Boat Man' and 'Lightly Seared on the Reality Grill' to name but 2 of many. I also love the discourses between the usually pretty messed up protagonists an  the prim, rational drones.
Peter Hamiltion probably isn't the best choice to pick up after Banks (boy how I'm going to miss a great new book every 2 years or so). Hamilton is form the school of 'more is better', he lacks the honing ability of others mentioned on the thread.
If you want a bit of a laugh read who goes here by Bob Shaw (also sadly departed).Z

[Theblazeuk]

Not much laughs in Alastair Reynolds. Extremely good hard SF however. Particularly love Chasm City's noir-tinged mission of revenge across centuries and lightyears