[real-eyes] Sci-Fi book suggestions

From: Steven Clark <kcpadfoot@xxxxxxxxx>
To: real-eyes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 14:15:39 -0600

Hi, below is part of a transcript from an ultra geek podcast I listen
to.  I have followed these two people for many years and very much
appreciate their suggestions.
This is from episode 277 of Security Now www.grc.com/sn

from listeners, saying, hey, Steve, what's happening in the world of
sci-fi? So as
it happens, still the very best things that I have found are what we've
talked about
before. If listeners are not familiar with Peter Hamilton, he's at the
top of my
list.
Leo: Me, too. And you introduced me to him, and I love him.
Steve:
  Oh. "Fallen Dragon." You get an introduction. It's a standalone
volume. He's very
wordy. But so these books are long.
Leo: But they're all good words.
Steve:
  Yes, they are. And he paints such a rich environment that, I mean, I
still see all
of these worlds that he has created for me. So "Fallen Dragon" is a
perfect introduction.
Then my second favorite series, it's just a two-volume series, is
"Pandora's Star,"
followed by "Judas Unchained," which is the sequel to "Pandora's Star,"
which is
just - I've read "Fallen Dragon" I think three times. I've read both
"Pandora's Star"
and "Judas Unchained" twice. Because these are things you can reread, or
I can. They're
just spectacular pieces of work.
Then my second favorite we've also spoken of before, and that's Michael
McCollum's
books. He has a website, Scifi-AZ.com, Michael McCollum. He also writes
multi-volume
series which I very much enjoy. Because, again, if I read one book, it's
like, okay,
well, that's gone. It's annoying if the series isn't finished, and then
you're, like,
stuck waiting, which happens to me from time to time. But his Antares
Trilogy - "Antares
Dawn," "Antares Passage," and "Antares Victory" - is just fantastic. I
read them
all twice. And I'm just sort of waiting now for it to be long enough for
me to reread
them.
And then the Gibraltar Trilogy I've mentioned: "Gibraltar Earth," "...
Sun," and
"... Stars" is fantastic. And in the case of "Stars," I read it before
it was published
because just to be his proofreader. So that came out. And I reread the
prior two
in order to get ready for the third one to be done. So that's great. And
he also
has many individual novels.
But new stuff that I haven't talked about before, I made a posting to
the sci-fi
newsgroup at GRC, and I said, "Hey, guys, I'm looking for more to read.
I need, like,
kind of space opera stuff. What have you got?" And someone mentioned
what was called
"The Lost Fleet" series that's written by a guy named John G. Hemry. But
he writes
under the pen name Jack Campbell. And this is a series of six books
called "The Lost
Fleet" series: Dauntless, Fearless, Courageous, Valiant, Relentless, and
Victorious.
And I had never read anything like them before. And they were really
effective in
filling time. I can't say that they were fantastic science fiction. But
I needed
something to do on the stair climber. But I could also recommend them.
Leo: There are audio books of this as well.
Steve: No kidding.
Leo: Tomaho (sp) says it's on Audible.
Steve:
  Great. And this gives nothing away. I won't do any spoilers here.
Because in the
first few pages we're reviving a survivor of the beginning of a war from
a hundred
years before. So we're bringing him out of cryo sleep. And what's
happened is there's
been this war that's been going on for a hundred years between two
chunks of human
civilization that are really upset with each other. Because so many
casualties and
people have been promoted so quickly, the people in the current fleet,
whose side
we're on, have sort of lost the art of space combat.
And so we revive this guy from a hundred years before who says, wait a
minute. This
is the way you're fighting? And he organizes space combat in a really
compelling
and convincing fashion. So we don't have warp drive. We have worm holes
you can jump
between star systems with. But the laws of physics and the speed of
light play into
this intimately. And the author sets up some really interesting problems
and solutions
that involve configurations of fleets of ships that basically have
conventional weapons
and some beams and missiles and interesting weapons. But things are
constrained enough
that you're working within a domain, a fictional domain with real
limitations, which
makes it really interesting. And I found myself being sucked along in
this. So if
you've run out of stuff to read, or to listen to, give the first one a
try. And I'll
be surprised if you don't get hooked and end up with all six of them
because...
Leo:
  Sounds like Horatio Hornblower in the 25th Century or something like that.
Steve: I think actually I've heard exactly that analogy being made.
Leo: I love those kinds of seafaring novels, so...
Steve:
  Yeah. And there's interesting - there's a lot of politics because he
ends up being,
because he's a hundred years ago, he ends up being the most senior
officer. So he
ends up commanding the fleet. But then there's lots of people who of
course don't
like that. And then there's some political interplay, and we've got a
little romance
stuff going on. But mostly really, I mean, obviously contrived because
it's fiction,
but satisfying space battles. And I've never seen, I've never read
anything of this
scope where you've got really interesting space battle scenarios with
interesting
puzzles and limitations. So I wouldn't be surprised if you read the
first one and
then didn't get hooked.
Leo: Sounds cool.
Steve:
  So I did all of those. Then I said, okay, what next? Then I ran across
something
called "Helfort's War."
Leo:
  You like these big long series, don't you. You don't want just one
book. You don't
want just two books.
Steve:
  Well, and here was one where I ran out before the fourth book. This is
a series
of four. And it's sort of the classic newly minted graduate from Star
Fleet, I mean,
it's not set in the Star Trek environment, but we do have like the
academy. He's
graduated from the academy, and we follow his career through four books.
And I ran
out at the end of the book three, and book four just was published on
the 23rd of
November. So it's available for Kindle, which is where I'm reading this
stuff. And
I haven't yet started because I'm just finishing the fourth book in
another series
of six, which is Gregory Benford's Galactic Center Series.
So the Helfort's War books I really liked also. Again, I recommend them.
I mean,
top of the list is Peter Hamilton and Michael McCollum. I don't think I
would read
these other ones a second time, where I have read the earlier ones a
second time.
Of course not that much time has gone by. But still I feel like I'm sort
of done
with those. But really, I mean, they were diverting and interesting and
I think stand
very well. And then Gregory Benford actually is a UCI physics professor.
Leo: I like that. I like hard science.
Steve:
  This is. His is the so-called Galactic Center Series. I've just
finished "Tides
of Light," which is the fourth in the series of six. And here we sort of
- we've
got the humans versus the machines is like sort of the overall scenario
there. And
I loved, back in the day, Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series.
Leo: I haven't read those, either.
Steve:
  Oh, those are really good, Leo. Berserkers being machines left over
from some unknown
alien race in the past that are out to kill off all biological life. And
really interesting
sci-fi that's old. It's been around forever. But now we've got the
so-called "mechs,"
the mechs versus the humans. And this is a huge scope, like tens of
thousands of
years of history, but really interesting new ideas that I've never read
before. And
also substantial works. So I'm liking those, as well. So "The Lost
Fleet," "Helfort's
War," and Gregory Benford's Galactic Center series.
Leo: I'm amazed you have time to read all this stuff.
Steve: I spend a lot of time on the stair climber.
Leo:
  I guess so. Well, that's one of the advantages of being fit. You have
more time
to read.
Steve: Exactly.

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[real-eyes] Sci-Fi book suggestions

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