minor point but fyi if it matters to you, Neal Asher is a climate change denier. edit: actually I just checked, he has doubled down and morphed into a full on Trumpster /Brexiter and “mens rights” kind of guy. Which sucks because I used to really enjoy his books.
Glasshouse was great - really wanted to know more of the backstory of that universe and read the series culminating in Accelerando.
For near future SF, the Halting State/Rule 34 bookd by Stross were quite good.
I’ll throw in Andy Weir’s The Martian, if you haven’t read it. I haven’t read his second book yet however.
I very much enjoy the Red Mars trilogy(plus 2312 which happens in the same universe). The first book spends a lot of time talking about the details of setting up the first Mars colony(based on early 90’s understanding of Mars). After that there is a lot more story, but there are always reasonably plausible sci-fi things happening in the background. Lots of interesting mega projects.
If you haven’t read The Martian, I really really enjoyed it. It’s a lot of fun while still doing a good job of making you feel how terrible of a situation he’s in.
I read 2312, but it had little impact on me. Racing around Mercury to avoid the sun or something is about all I can remember. I guess I’m not big on Kim Stanley Robinson.
Probably helped to read the Red Mars trilogy first as much of it is a continuation from things found in those earlier books.
However, if you didn’t like the style, then the earlier trilogy probably won’t work for you.
This trilogy was fun, but I’m not sure where your definition of “hard” cuts off. This series says yes to the demands of space travel and interstellar physics, but also speculates that storage of human minds in computers and FTL communication/detection could be possible. They are on Kindle Unlimited, but the Audible versions are very good.
It’s one of the few books that I tried reading and just couldn’t get through. Those first couple of chapters are really rough. Eventually I just gave up. I wish I could have gotten through it, since the second book, Green Mars, won the Hugo award, I believe. So I always figured if I could get through the beginning of Red Mars, the rest would become an easy read.
Really fun books!
Some folks discussing Dan Simmon’s Hyperion books on another thread. Loved these and The Terror, too.
Both of these things appear as if they will be quite possible. Quantum Entanglement is already shown to communicate FTL - the problem is that they can only communicate 1 bit at a time currently.
I’ve tried reading Blindsight, Three Body Problem, and multiple Kim Stanley Robinson and Alastair Reynolds. But they come off as pretentious and kind of put me to sleep.
Favorites from before the 21st Century:
Larry Niven/Niven & Pournelle (this will keep you busy for awhile)
David Brin
Nnnnnh… so uneven. Moties versus Ayn Rand fantasies.
While not hard sci-if I found Kim Stanley Robinson’s Years of Rice and Salt quite outstanding. I felt there were some minor pacing issues, but I ultimately loved the novel despite them.
In speculative fiction there aren’t many strong comparisons to the premise presented in the novel so I found it refreshing, novel, and bordering on literary fiction if not already comfortably in that genre.
Here are two of my favorites I haven’t seen getting discussed here.
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester. A fast paced tale of a screwed over soldier hell bent on vengeance that reads completely modern despite its age.
https://www.amazon.com/Stars-My-Destination-Alfred-Bester-ebook/dp/B0054LNIQS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1524537497&sr=8-1&keywords=the+stars+my+destination
The Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem. Idea fiction of the richest order. Two engineers with the ability to create worlds wrestle through the philosophical implications of their creations.
https://www.amazon.com/Cyberiad-Stories-Stanislaw-Lem-ebook/dp/B07B68DT5T/ref=sr_1_11?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1524537729&sr=1-11&keywords=stanislaw+lem
I’m not gonna read no stories written by no psi-cop! ;)
Ha, I clicked on your link totally prepared to buy this and saw a note that I apparently bought this in 2011. What a nice surprise! Been meaning to read this for a long time, apparently not the first time I’ve had that thought.
Wait. Alfred Bester?
Yep. Character was named after the author.
This was clearly written to have been a screenplay and it could have / could still be one akin to Fifth Element. Bruce Willis is too old now but the whole time i was reading it i was imagine Bruce Willis in the main role.
There’s a 4th wall breaking moment when the hero narrowly escapes from a bad situation and the supporting cast basically turn and look at the reader and say, “/shrug. I can buy that!”.