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Post by MartinT on Nov 18, 2018 7:28:44 GMT
C J Cherryh has written some hard SF along those lines but I can't remember the one that most covered mining. Good books, those.
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Post by speedysteve on Nov 18, 2018 9:12:16 GMT
Homo Deus. Sequel to Sapiens. It was in an AirBnB we recently rented  a bit about it link |
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Post by rfan8312 on Nov 19, 2018 3:07:39 GMT
C J Cherryh has written some hard SF along those lines but I can't remember the one that most covered mining. Good books, those. Thanks your mention of hard SF, would like to find that kind of thing. Will check CJ. |
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Post by MartinT on Nov 19, 2018 6:25:42 GMT
C J Cherryh is a very good author who writes compelling novels, both hard SF and fantasy. For hard SF I recommend the Union/Alliance Series:
Downbelow Station (1981)
Merchanter's Luck (1982)
Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983)
Cyteen (1988)
Rimrunners (1989)
Heavy Time (1991)
Hellburner (1992)
Tripoint (1994)
Finity's End (1997)
Regenesis (2009)
I remember Downbelow Station being very good. Heavy Time and Hellburner are set in the solar system and involve asteroid mining.
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Post by rfan8312 on Nov 20, 2018 17:23:04 GMT
Wow thanks very much Martin. I'll look into both of those last mentioned. Finity's End. Cool title.
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Post by MartinT on Dec 1, 2018 17:09:02 GMT
Why We Sleep - Matthew WalkerA gift from my son who says I don't sleep enough. He's right. The opening chapter is extremely sobering in laying out the facts on why good sleep is vital for our wellbeing. 
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Post by Tim on Jan 6, 2019 18:30:04 GMT
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Post by Slinger on Apr 18, 2019 15:16:40 GMT
I've just read the eight books (so far) in the Inspector McLean series, by James Oswald. The books are set in Edinburgh, where Tony McLean is a D.I. and in each one there is a hint of the supernatural, but not to the detriment of what is, at heart, a good police procedural series. They are definitely worth a read, and I've enjoyed Tony's journey so far. Many of the 'peripheral' characters are as memorable as the lead character himself, which is, to my mind, the mark of good writing. After being immersed in all eight books, one after the other, I'm going to miss many of the characters like old friends. Grumpy Bob, Madame Rose, Angus, Kirsty, Stuart... I really hope there's another book in the pipeline because after the way #8 ended I really need to know what happens to Tony next. There are brief synopses of the books here...It's been a long time since I got hooked on a series like this. The last time was probably Phil Rickman's "Merrily Watkins" books. [EDIT] I've just found #9. It was released in February. |
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Post by canetoad on Apr 19, 2019 4:14:30 GMT
Noah Gordon - The Physician and Shaman
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Post by MartinT on Apr 19, 2019 10:02:35 GMT
Alastair Reynolds - Blue Remembered Earth.
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Post by Slinger on Jun 4, 2019 23:33:07 GMT
I'm powering through a series of books by Philip Kerr at the moment, collectively known as the "Bernie Gunther" novels. Bernie is the lead character, and he's a German detective. The books start out in 1930s Berlin with Bernie working for the police. The time-line moves around, not always in a linear fashion, and takes in pre-war, wartime, and post-war Berlin, France, Austria, Russia, America, Havana, and Buenos Aires, and I'm only half way through so far. A lot of famous Nazis turn up throughout the pages, not always as peripheral characters, and Bernie pretty much hates them all equally.
Some of the slang words and expressions Kerr puts in Bernie's mouth can grate a bit to begin with, or they did with me, simply because they seem so alien I suspect, but I've read that they are historically accurate and after a time one stops noticing them. The stories themselves are great and also meticulously researched. I'm learning a Hell of a lot about the German police, and military, of the era, not to mention social and political history. Needless to say they cover the war years, and although the author is English viewing things from the German perspective is refreshing, and quite novel.
Kerr published 13 Bernie novels in his lifetime, and the 14th, Metropolis, was published posthumously following his death in March last year. I'm on the 7th in the series at the moment, and I'm already sad, knowing that there will be no more once I reach number fourteen.
I can't recommend the series highly enough.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 5, 2019 8:23:14 GMT
The language and phrases of the time are some of the reasons why I like the Leslie Charteris The Saint novels, written from the late 1920s up to 1950 or so. They are really well written and feature hilarious moments as well as derring-do. I have, over the years, collected almost all of them.
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Post by Slinger on Jun 27, 2019 13:42:23 GMT
I'm 10 books into Philip Kerr's "Bernie Gunther" novels now, and I didn't realise that history could be such fun, although as we're talking Nazi Germany maybe "fun" isn't quite the right word. I thought I had a reasonable knowledge of the era and goings-on, but apparently I hadn't. Many well-known names appear in the books, and as I suggested in my first review, they are not always peripheral figures. Even the author's notes/afterwords are required reading. It turns out that many of the characters in the books who one has never heard of are "real" too, and the author fills in the blanks, and the epitaphs, after the book is over. I've just learned about a whole new chapter on the war, and how the constituent parts of Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, etc. were involved, plus a few questions over exactly how neutral Switzerland was.
I really can't recommend this series highly enough. The author has done his homework forensically and still managed to weave involving fiction around the facts and introduce us to a hero who is actually likeable, while being both moral and amoral in equal measure.
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Post by canetoad on Jun 28, 2019 10:05:23 GMT
Colleen McCullough's Masters of Rome series is very good.
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Post by petea on Jun 28, 2019 13:58:13 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Jun 28, 2019 14:26:03 GMT
I've been wanting to read this for ages and have finally got round to it after completing a couple on the go.  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jun 28, 2019 14:59:01 GMT
Must read more
He says again !
Loads of new to me Scifi books I have had for years still unread
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Post by MartinT on Mar 13, 2021 22:35:54 GMT
I'm currently reading a set of SF short stories called The Knights of the Limits by Barrington Bayley. I'm in awe of this new-to-me author. His exceptionally clear vision and writing style are a wonder.  |
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Post by Slinger on Mar 13, 2021 23:17:38 GMT
Bayley was friends with, and collaborated with, Michael Moorcock. He died in 2008, aged 71.
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Post by rfan8312 on Feb 17, 2022 4:07:02 GMT
Reading HP Lovecraft now. The book is called 'The Main Fiction'. It has 5 Lovecraft stories in it.
I'm almost done with The Call Of Cthulu, and really just hoping to get to The Mountains Of Madness which apparently my favorite film (In The Mouth Of Madness) is based from.
I'm finding the writing style quite tedious. It's given me a new perspective on English usage but it's just such a roundabout way to say the simplest things.
Though once I've read and reread and rubbed my eyes to make sure I'm seeing the order of the words correctly and I grasp the meaning of any given sentence its pretty cool and reveals some decent horror. Though I'd prefer to witness the acts that made these cosmic gods so terrifying instead of repeatedly being merely told that they are so horrifying.
Random note: in the book Needful Things by Stephen King there is a random mention of a graffiti'd wall in an abandoned warehouse in Boston with the letters 'Yog Sothoth' spray painted on them. Apparently just a random reference by King to Lovecraft.
Have wondered about HP Lovecraft ever since.
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