# Looking for new Sci Fi recommedations



## Tricorp (Mar 21, 2010)

I am looking for Sci Fi recommendations, I am looking for ebooks that are newish, indie authors are ok.  I love hard Sci-Fi with realistic science and believable characters.  Also, I am cheap, so no books over 6.99 please.  Any recommendations?


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## Geemont (Nov 18, 2008)

Maybe not so newish, but here are three suggestions:

$6.00










$6.39










OK, this one is above your price point, $9.99, but is the quintessential hard science fiction novel, and some critics have said it could be the _hardest_ of hard science fiction.


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

I haven't found much new science fiction lately that really piqued my interest, but I just downloaded the sample for Charles Stross's _Singularity Sky_, as I enjoyed his writing in his more urban-fantasy books _The Atrocity Archives_ and _The Jennifer Morgue_.


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## Basilius (Feb 20, 2010)

If you're looking for newish AND cheap, I recommend scouring the Philip K. Dick award nominees and winners for the last few years. This award's given to books first published in paperback, so I doubt you'll be paying more than $8 for anything.

A good list (though without info on ebook availability) is here: http://www.worldswithoutend.com/books_pkd_index.asp

You won't find indies in there, AFAIK, but it's someplace to go shopping at least.


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## Bigal-sa (Mar 27, 2010)

Michael Hicks, "In her name" series. The trilogy is $7.99 (used to be *much* cheaper), but the individual books are under $5

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_2_11?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&field-keywords=in+her+name&sprefix=in+her+name


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## J.R. Rain Author (Apr 9, 2010)

Generally, you can't go wrong with Gregory Benford, although he hasn't published much lately. He's a physicist at UCI in California.


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## Tricorp (Mar 21, 2010)

Good recommendations folks! I have read half of them and just bought a few of the others, and I am seriously looking into Schild's Ladder.  
Any indie authors out there have a book that fits the bill?


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## MCM (Apr 20, 2010)

I was going to suggest David Louis Edelman's Jump 225 trilogy (which is hard sci fi insofar as the outlandish biotech rules are adhered to stubbornly), but they're suddenly all priced over $6.99. I checked a bunch of other recent hard sci fi reads, and they're all in the $12 range too. So I'll second the Charles Stross suggestion. Singularity Sky is great.

Since you asked, I'm going to also suggest two of my books, The Vector and Typhoon. I'm a bit of a stickler for rules in my sci fi (breaking the laws of physics or possibility always takes me right out of a story). Neither of mine are science-driven... they're about characters dealing with complex sci fi environments. So hard, but not hard-hard.

I also want to say a big thanks to everyone for the great suggestions. My reading list filled right back up!


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## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

Although not as hardcore, Robert J. Sawyer's stuff is quite good. I read the first of his WWW series called Wake. I think the second book is out now (Watch). His Neanderthal Parallax series was also excellent.


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## pawsplus (Mar 31, 2009)

This one is EXCELLENT--and CHEAP! 

Containment (Christian Cantrell)


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

For what you're describing, you can't go wrong with Asimov.











Most definitely hard-scifi. Foundation is basically a retelling of the Fall of Rome, except this time Rome is a giant galactic civilization encompassing over 250 _million_ worlds. The entire series is phenomenal. Also, if you want a less global, more detective feel, there's also Caves of Steel. Sadly, it is not on Kindle.

David Dalglish


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## NogDog (May 1, 2009)

Half-Orc said:


> For what you're describing, you can't go wrong with Asimov.
> ...


Except that Asimov hardly qualifies as "newish" in this context, I suspect.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Tricorp said:


> Any indie authors out there have a book that fits the bill?


I think Al Past's books have the attributes you mentioned:


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## davidhburton (Mar 11, 2010)

I agree about Asimov. Not newish, but classic! 

What's funny is that I read the series years ago and only recently discovered that I hadn't completed the series. I never knew there was a Foundation and Earth. 

I have it now!!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

in addition to Al and Mike's very excellent books, we have many other Indie authors who write sci-fi, head on over to the Book Bazaar and check it out!

Betsy


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## Rob Steiner (Apr 14, 2010)

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson is one of the best sci-fi books I've read in years. One night the stars go out, and mankind discovers the Earth has been put in a "cosmic baggie" (as one of the characters puts it) by some unknown intelligence. Mind-bending science, fascinating sociological tale, AND believable characters. It's above your $6.99 price point ($7.99), but I thought I'd throw it out there.


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

pawsplus said:


> This one is EXCELLENT--and CHEAP!
> 
> Containment (Christian Cantrell)


nice artwork


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

check out www.baen.com they have an excellent selection usually $6 or under


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

NogDog said:


> Except that Asimov hardly qualifies as "newish" in this context, I suspect.


Whoops. When reading the OP I thought he was looking for new authors to read as in "ones I haven't read" not "ones published recently." My bad.

But Asimov still rocks.

David Dalglish


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

I'm reading _The Last Days of Krypton_ by Kevin J. Anderson, which is really interesting if you like Superman and want to know the back story of what happened to Krypton and all the major players.


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## Sean Sweeney (Apr 17, 2010)

I read that a couple of years ago. It's a fantastic story. I read KJAs Allies & Enemies last year. Now that was a fantastic read.


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## mparish6 (Apr 14, 2010)

It's not really hard sci-fi compared to some of these other titles, but allow me to recommend The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson. Undoubtedly his best book - and really fantastic sci-fi.

And I know it's heresy to say it, but I suppose I should admit I've never actually been that crazy about Azimov ...


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## Cliff Ball (Apr 10, 2010)

John Fitch V said:


> I read that a couple of years ago. It's a fantastic story. I read KJAs Allies & Enemies last year. Now that was a fantastic read.


I read Allies & Enemies too, which I normally wouldn't have done, but I was working for the local public library and was doing the acquisitions at the time and saw it, and decided to read some of it. An hour later, I realized I had read a good portion of the book and wasn't getting work done.

I thought _The Last Days of Krypton_ was new, saw it on Book of the Month Club and bought it.


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## David &#039;Half-Orc&#039; Dalglish (Feb 1, 2010)

mparish6 said:


> And I know it's heresy to say it, but I suppose I should admit I've never actually been that crazy about Azimov ...


Nothing will be liked by everyone, not even the greats like Tolkien and Asimov. With Asimov, I think it just depends on what you are expecting. I loved Foundation, but I'll be the first to admit that the characters were pretty much secondary to the worlds he wanted to create. Anyone who needs lively or deep characters to remain interested will easily struggle, and his writing is a bit workmanlike.

All that said, I loved the scope of the Foundation Series, absolutely loved it.

David Dalglish


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## Tricorp (Mar 21, 2010)

Thanks for all the book recommendations folks, lots of awsome books.  My kindle is very happy.  Whoever said that the kindle would hurt the publishing industry? I find myself spending way more than I did before.


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## Basilius (Feb 20, 2010)

Half-Orc said:


> Nothing will be liked by everyone, not even the greats like Tolkien and Asimov. With Asimov, I think it just depends on what you are expecting. I loved Foundation, but I'll be the first to admit that the characters were pretty much secondary to the worlds he wanted to create. Anyone who needs lively or deep characters to remain interested will easily struggle, and his writing is a bit workmanlike.
> 
> All that said, I loved the scope of the Foundation Series, absolutely loved it.
> 
> David Dalglish


I had some unused Audible credits, and they just re-recorded the Foundation trilogy. Picked those up, and I'll dive back into the series after I finish _Anansi Boys_.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I'd highly recommend the books by John Stith. He has self-published his backlist for the Kindle. _Redshift Rendezvous_ is probably his most famous work, it was nominated for a Nebula.

Also, anything by Jack McDevitt (some of his books are part of a series, nice to read in order, but not necessary).

Mike


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## Tricorp (Mar 21, 2010)

Just read MCM's Vector, great stuff, a good hard sci-fi novel, character driven too.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Who is MCM?

Mike


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## Tricorp (Mar 21, 2010)

An indie author, don't really know who he is, he just posted earlier on this thread and I really liked his novel.


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## MCM (Apr 20, 2010)

jmiked said:


> Who is MCM?


I'm MCM! Indie author by day, creator of TV shows by night. Reader of Kindles when I really should be writing, which is pretty much all the time.

Speaking of which, I love all the recommendations in this thread. My reading list is filling up nicely. If anyone has any more, please add them! I need distractions!


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## Frank Zubek (Apr 27, 2010)

I liked Pushing Ice by Alistair Reynolds
A crew mining a comet are recruited, by earth, to chase after one of Jupiter's Moons after it BREAKS ORBIT and races out of our solar system!!
Great first contact novel
Unfortuantely it doesnt seem to be availble on Kindle (for now)

What IS on Kindle is a trilogy by David George III
He wrote a Star Trek series of 3 books under the umbrella title Crucible
Each of the three books feature one of the main characters....Kirk, Spock and McCoy


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

kebuzf said:


> What IS on Kindle is a trilogy by David George III
> He wrote a Star Trek series of 3 books under the umbrella title Crucible
> Each of the three books feature one of the main characters....Kirk, Spock and McCoy


*in best Shatner imitation voice* Links, Man, Links!!

http://www.amazon.com/Crucible-Kirk-Every-Wandering-ebook/dp/B000NY121O/ref=kinw_dp_ke?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&qid=1272492606&sr=8-6


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## Tricorp (Mar 21, 2010)

Thanks to everyone for all the great recommendations, and I really wish Pushing Ice was available on the kindle now.


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## Ben Lacy (Apr 20, 2010)

It's Superman: A Novel came out not long ago.  A look at the classic Superman.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Tricorp said:


> An indie author, don't really know who he is, he just posted earlier on this thread and I really liked his novel.


OK. I thought it was yet another acronym that I didn't know. I wish people would spell those things out for those of us not plugged into modern culture.   

Mike


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