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SF Novel Discussion Club: March Voting
Foundation, Isaac Asimov. Nominated by Clear Skies.
"Amazon.com
Foundation marks the first of a series of tales set so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire. Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it doesn't look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him? The first Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) won a Hugo Award in 1965 for "Best All-Time Series." It's science fiction on the grand scale; one of the classics of the field. --Brooks Peck"
Diaspora, Greg Egan, nominated by St. Leo, seconded by Immortal Wombat.
"In the 30th century, few humans remain on Earth. Most have downloaded themselves into robot bodies or solar-system-spanning virtual realities, escaping death--or so they believe, until the collision of nearby neutron stars threatens life in every form.
Diaspora, written by Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner Greg Egan, transcends millennia and universes in the tradition of Poul Anderson's Tau Zero, Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus, Camille Flammarion's Omega, and Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men. Diaspora is packed with mind-bending ideas extrapolated from cutting-edge cosmology, physics, and consciousness theory to create an astonishing hard-SF novel inhabited by very strange yet always believable characters. Diaspora is why people read SF. --Cynthia Ward."
The Fresco, Sheri S. Tepper. Nominated by jon miller.
"Part thriller, part social SF, prolific novelist Sheri S. Tepper's latest follows the adventures of Benita Alvarez-Shipton, an empty nester in her mid-30s, whose life is changed when two aliens ask her to carry their greetings to Washington, D.C. Chosen as intermediary because she is both ordinary and beyond political reproach, Benita seizes the opportunity to leave her abusive, alcoholic husband and start a new life in D.C. However, she doesn't count on her role extending beyond the initial delivery of the alien greetings, or on the dangers it will attract to her and her children.
Chiddy and Vess, ethical representatives of the benevolent Pistach, come to offer earth inclusion in a multirace Confederation--but on condition that earth clean up its societal woes. Earth has also attracted the attention of a subgroup of predatory races, who view the overpopulated planet as a rich hunting ground. Humanity must choose--either adopt the Pistach principal of Neighborliness and be ushered into the Confederation or refuse and be left at the mercy of the predators.
Interwoven with the earth-based action are excerpts from Chiddy's diary, written as a letter to Benita, that describe the complex Pistach society and the Pistach religion documented by the eponymous Fresco. The 17-panel, divinely inspired painting has for centuries been obscured by smoke from votive candles. Tradition dictates the events and symbols that lie hidden beneath the grime, and it is taboo to ever clean the Fresco. When Chiddy accidentally clears away part of the soot, revealing images that contradict Pistach dogma, it sets into motion a chain of events that undermine racial self-perception and threaten both Pistach and human survival.
Though some of the characters are drawn with such broad strokes as to render them caricatures, and there are elements of Pistach social engineering to alarm readers of just about any political stripe, The Fresco is nonetheless an engrossing, sometimes wickedly funny read. --Eddy Avery --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."
Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds. Nominated by Rogan Josh.
"Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Alastair Reynolds's first novel is "hard" SF on an epic scale, crammed with technological marvels and immensities. Its events take place over a relatively short period, but have roots a billion years old--when the Dawn War ravaged our galaxy.
Sylveste is the only man ever to return alive and sane from a Shroud, an enclave in space protected by awesome gravity-warping defenses: "a folding a billion times less severe should have required more energy than was stored in the entire rest-mass of the galaxy." Now an intuition he doesn't understand makes him explore the dead world Resurgam, whose birdlike natives long ago tripped some booby trap that made their own sun erupt in a deadly flare.
Meanwhile, the vast, decaying lightship Nostalgia for Infinity is coming for Sylveste, whose dead father (in AI simulation) could perhaps help the Captain, frozen near absolute zero yet still suffering monstrous transformation by nanotech plague. Most of Infinity's tiny crew have hidden agendas--Khouri the reluctant contract assassin believes she must kill Sylveste to save humanity--and there are two bodiless stowaways, one no longer human and one never human. Shocking truths emerge from bluff, betrayal, and ingenious lies.
The trail leads to a neutron star where an orbiting alien construct has defenses to challenge the Infinity's planet-wrecking superweapons.
At the heart of this artifact, the final revelations detonate--most satisfyingly. Dense with information and incident, this longish novel has no surplus fat and seems almost too short. A sparkling SF debut. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."
334, Thomas M. Disch. Nominated by molly bloom (I took your first nomination, btw).
"Amazon.com
The stories in 334 revolve loosely around a government housing project at 334 East 11th Street in New York City in the 2020s. The project's inhabitants are universally poor, often jobless, sometimes squalid. Some are happy, others angry, depressed, or just numb. The stories study their hopes and disappointments, and all are deeply introspective.
The early 21st-century setting might, in the hands of another author, be only a guise, a shortcut to making a world that's more gritty, shabby, and used up than ours. But Disch's future is thoroughly imagined, and he's adept at dropping in details of his characters' lives that are commonplace to them but jarring to us. It might be something as simple as going to the kitchen to "mix up a glass of milk." Occasionally it's radical, as in the case of Millie, who wants to have a baby but also keep her career. The answer? The child is gestated in an artificial womb and Millie's husband gets mammary implants.
Though American, Disch is closely associated with the UK's New Wave movement, and these stories reflect the New Wave emphasis on character above ideas. He's also a well-known poet, and in 334 you'll find some of the most lyrical science fiction written. --Brooks Peck"
The Tank Lords, by David Drake. Nominated by loinburger.
"Ingram
Facing destruction, a planetary government hires Hammer's Slammers, the ruthless men of Colonel Hammer's indomitable armored brigade known for their routine acceptance of impossible missions. Original." "
Destination: Void, Frank Herbert. Nominated by MacTBone. (Mac, I took the first one in the series if that's all right with you).
There is no official Amazon review of Destination: Void, but the first review (5 stars) was very positive:
"Groundbreaking Sci-Fi meets Platonic Dialogue, January 19, 2002.
Reviewer: wormwood_3 (see more about me) from WV, USA.
I happened to come upon a yellowed, 75 cent copy of Destination: Void while browsing through a used book store. The title intrigued me and I was familiar with Herbert's writings so I bought it. When I finally got around to reading it-- I was amazed! It followed a storyline that seemed, at first, to be a cliche sci-fi plot of colony-ship-meets-computer-intelligence, but emerged as an incredible tale. It is, I must admit, a bit technical. Jargon and concepts from computer programming and other areas of science were prevalent, but could be understood from context without an extensive scientific background. Aside from all that, the dialogue between the four primary characters developed into a discussion on the nature and origin of intelligence, religion, and life itself. No new age factless speculation here: arguments were carried out on a firm and cogent level palatable to academics of all sorts. I firmly recommend this book to any mature person who wishes to investigate what it is we mean when we say we are 'conscious'. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition."
Worldwar: In the Balance, Harry Turtledove. Nominated by David Floyd.
No Amazon review, but this is quoted from the Kirkus review featured on the above link:
"From Kirkus Reviews
Vast, churning alternate-world/alien-invasion saga. In 1942, as WW II engulfs the Earth, down from space come the reptilian-alien ``Race,'' whose fleetlord, Atvar, has orders to conquer the planet and add it to the Empire. The Race, known to the humans as ``Lizards,'' are an old species, with evenly developed but not particularly advanced technology; their hereditary Emperors have ruled for thousands of generations. Expecting an easy victory over sword-wielding primitives, the Lizards are appalled at how rapidly human technology has advanced. Though their tactics are inflexible, and they learn slowly, the Lizards have nuclear weapons and are prepared to use then (on Berlin, on Washington). Turtledove (A Different Flesh, Agent of Byzantium, etc.) takes a global approach, mingling real and fictional characters, developing a dozen or more occasionally connecting plotlines. A sampling: Major Heinrich Jaeger, sent to invade Russia, instead turns his panzers against the new invaders from space; pilot Ken Embrey of RAF Bomber Command contends with Lizard jets and guided missiles..."
For those books that were parts of series', I took the first book in the series.
"Amazon.com
Foundation marks the first of a series of tales set so far in the future that Earth is all but forgotten by humans who live throughout the galaxy. Yet all is not well with the Galactic Empire. Its vast size is crippling to it. In particular, the administrative planet, honeycombed and tunneled with offices and staff, is vulnerable to attack or breakdown. The only person willing to confront this imminent catastrophe is Hari Seldon, a psychohistorian and mathematician. Seldon can scientifically predict the future, and it doesn't look pretty: a new Dark Age is scheduled to send humanity into barbarism in 500 years. He concocts a scheme to save the knowledge of the race in an Encyclopedia Galactica. But this project will take generations to complete, and who will take up the torch after him? The first Foundation trilogy (Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation) won a Hugo Award in 1965 for "Best All-Time Series." It's science fiction on the grand scale; one of the classics of the field. --Brooks Peck"
Diaspora, Greg Egan, nominated by St. Leo, seconded by Immortal Wombat.
"In the 30th century, few humans remain on Earth. Most have downloaded themselves into robot bodies or solar-system-spanning virtual realities, escaping death--or so they believe, until the collision of nearby neutron stars threatens life in every form.
Diaspora, written by Hugo Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award winner Greg Egan, transcends millennia and universes in the tradition of Poul Anderson's Tau Zero, Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix Plus, Camille Flammarion's Omega, and Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men. Diaspora is packed with mind-bending ideas extrapolated from cutting-edge cosmology, physics, and consciousness theory to create an astonishing hard-SF novel inhabited by very strange yet always believable characters. Diaspora is why people read SF. --Cynthia Ward."
The Fresco, Sheri S. Tepper. Nominated by jon miller.
"Part thriller, part social SF, prolific novelist Sheri S. Tepper's latest follows the adventures of Benita Alvarez-Shipton, an empty nester in her mid-30s, whose life is changed when two aliens ask her to carry their greetings to Washington, D.C. Chosen as intermediary because she is both ordinary and beyond political reproach, Benita seizes the opportunity to leave her abusive, alcoholic husband and start a new life in D.C. However, she doesn't count on her role extending beyond the initial delivery of the alien greetings, or on the dangers it will attract to her and her children.
Chiddy and Vess, ethical representatives of the benevolent Pistach, come to offer earth inclusion in a multirace Confederation--but on condition that earth clean up its societal woes. Earth has also attracted the attention of a subgroup of predatory races, who view the overpopulated planet as a rich hunting ground. Humanity must choose--either adopt the Pistach principal of Neighborliness and be ushered into the Confederation or refuse and be left at the mercy of the predators.
Interwoven with the earth-based action are excerpts from Chiddy's diary, written as a letter to Benita, that describe the complex Pistach society and the Pistach religion documented by the eponymous Fresco. The 17-panel, divinely inspired painting has for centuries been obscured by smoke from votive candles. Tradition dictates the events and symbols that lie hidden beneath the grime, and it is taboo to ever clean the Fresco. When Chiddy accidentally clears away part of the soot, revealing images that contradict Pistach dogma, it sets into motion a chain of events that undermine racial self-perception and threaten both Pistach and human survival.
Though some of the characters are drawn with such broad strokes as to render them caricatures, and there are elements of Pistach social engineering to alarm readers of just about any political stripe, The Fresco is nonetheless an engrossing, sometimes wickedly funny read. --Eddy Avery --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."
Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds. Nominated by Rogan Josh.
"Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Alastair Reynolds's first novel is "hard" SF on an epic scale, crammed with technological marvels and immensities. Its events take place over a relatively short period, but have roots a billion years old--when the Dawn War ravaged our galaxy.
Sylveste is the only man ever to return alive and sane from a Shroud, an enclave in space protected by awesome gravity-warping defenses: "a folding a billion times less severe should have required more energy than was stored in the entire rest-mass of the galaxy." Now an intuition he doesn't understand makes him explore the dead world Resurgam, whose birdlike natives long ago tripped some booby trap that made their own sun erupt in a deadly flare.
Meanwhile, the vast, decaying lightship Nostalgia for Infinity is coming for Sylveste, whose dead father (in AI simulation) could perhaps help the Captain, frozen near absolute zero yet still suffering monstrous transformation by nanotech plague. Most of Infinity's tiny crew have hidden agendas--Khouri the reluctant contract assassin believes she must kill Sylveste to save humanity--and there are two bodiless stowaways, one no longer human and one never human. Shocking truths emerge from bluff, betrayal, and ingenious lies.
The trail leads to a neutron star where an orbiting alien construct has defenses to challenge the Infinity's planet-wrecking superweapons.
At the heart of this artifact, the final revelations detonate--most satisfyingly. Dense with information and incident, this longish novel has no surplus fat and seems almost too short. A sparkling SF debut. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to the Hardcover edition."
334, Thomas M. Disch. Nominated by molly bloom (I took your first nomination, btw).
"Amazon.com
The stories in 334 revolve loosely around a government housing project at 334 East 11th Street in New York City in the 2020s. The project's inhabitants are universally poor, often jobless, sometimes squalid. Some are happy, others angry, depressed, or just numb. The stories study their hopes and disappointments, and all are deeply introspective.
The early 21st-century setting might, in the hands of another author, be only a guise, a shortcut to making a world that's more gritty, shabby, and used up than ours. But Disch's future is thoroughly imagined, and he's adept at dropping in details of his characters' lives that are commonplace to them but jarring to us. It might be something as simple as going to the kitchen to "mix up a glass of milk." Occasionally it's radical, as in the case of Millie, who wants to have a baby but also keep her career. The answer? The child is gestated in an artificial womb and Millie's husband gets mammary implants.
Though American, Disch is closely associated with the UK's New Wave movement, and these stories reflect the New Wave emphasis on character above ideas. He's also a well-known poet, and in 334 you'll find some of the most lyrical science fiction written. --Brooks Peck"
The Tank Lords, by David Drake. Nominated by loinburger.
"Ingram
Facing destruction, a planetary government hires Hammer's Slammers, the ruthless men of Colonel Hammer's indomitable armored brigade known for their routine acceptance of impossible missions. Original." "
Destination: Void, Frank Herbert. Nominated by MacTBone. (Mac, I took the first one in the series if that's all right with you).
There is no official Amazon review of Destination: Void, but the first review (5 stars) was very positive:
"Groundbreaking Sci-Fi meets Platonic Dialogue, January 19, 2002.
Reviewer: wormwood_3 (see more about me) from WV, USA.
I happened to come upon a yellowed, 75 cent copy of Destination: Void while browsing through a used book store. The title intrigued me and I was familiar with Herbert's writings so I bought it. When I finally got around to reading it-- I was amazed! It followed a storyline that seemed, at first, to be a cliche sci-fi plot of colony-ship-meets-computer-intelligence, but emerged as an incredible tale. It is, I must admit, a bit technical. Jargon and concepts from computer programming and other areas of science were prevalent, but could be understood from context without an extensive scientific background. Aside from all that, the dialogue between the four primary characters developed into a discussion on the nature and origin of intelligence, religion, and life itself. No new age factless speculation here: arguments were carried out on a firm and cogent level palatable to academics of all sorts. I firmly recommend this book to any mature person who wishes to investigate what it is we mean when we say we are 'conscious'. --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition."
Worldwar: In the Balance, Harry Turtledove. Nominated by David Floyd.
No Amazon review, but this is quoted from the Kirkus review featured on the above link:
"From Kirkus Reviews
Vast, churning alternate-world/alien-invasion saga. In 1942, as WW II engulfs the Earth, down from space come the reptilian-alien ``Race,'' whose fleetlord, Atvar, has orders to conquer the planet and add it to the Empire. The Race, known to the humans as ``Lizards,'' are an old species, with evenly developed but not particularly advanced technology; their hereditary Emperors have ruled for thousands of generations. Expecting an easy victory over sword-wielding primitives, the Lizards are appalled at how rapidly human technology has advanced. Though their tactics are inflexible, and they learn slowly, the Lizards have nuclear weapons and are prepared to use then (on Berlin, on Washington). Turtledove (A Different Flesh, Agent of Byzantium, etc.) takes a global approach, mingling real and fictional characters, developing a dozen or more occasionally connecting plotlines. A sampling: Major Heinrich Jaeger, sent to invade Russia, instead turns his panzers against the new invaders from space; pilot Ken Embrey of RAF Bomber Command contends with Lizard jets and guided missiles..."
For those books that were parts of series', I took the first book in the series.
There are three in particular that stand out to me, the Space Opera buff:
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