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Posted: 7/16/2016 4:05:51 PM EDT
Just what it says, looking for some books about things in the next less than 100 year time frame. Preferably some hard sci-fi.
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Blindsight.
First Contact genre. Dense, bleak and totally based on scientific reality. With vampires. Scary, apex predator vampires resurrected from dormant DNA and the blood of serial killers, designed as our only hope against the vasty blackness. |
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Daemon by Daniel Suarez. A billionaire creates a computer program to carry out his plans after he dies.
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"Flashback" by Dan Simmons View Quote Just read a review of it.....damn...looks good. "The United States is near total collapse. But 87% of the population doesn't care: they're addicted to flashback, a drug that allows its users to re-experience the best moments of their lives." 87% |
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Blindsight. First Contact genre. Dense, bleak and totally based on scientific reality. With vampires. Scary, apex predator vampires resurrected from dormant DNA and the blood of serial killers, designed as our only hope against the vasty blackness. View Quote Who wrote dense? Having a tough time googling it. |
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A little dated, but William Gibson's early stuff still holds up well.
Neuromancer, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Count Zero. The absolute best/creepiest scene in Neuromancer is where the AI the protagonist is working for wants to talk with him in an airport, and as he walks down the concourse, every payphone rings just at the moment he passes it. Except of course, payphones are already nearly extinct. And that's the kind of stuff that drove Gibson nuts, and why he gave up on writing Cyberpunk/Sci-Fi by the early 2000's. The stuff he wrote about... too much of it was already here, was too banal, we're actually more connected than his visions of the future (24/7 internet access via smartphones in our pockets etc.) or the capabilities existed, but nobody really wanted to use them, like voice dictation. Granted, some of the edgier stuff like AI and extensive body modification, direct neural input has yet to come to pass, but overall, he decided he couldn't keep up. Also, Snowcrash, and The Diamond Age by Stephenson are really good. It holds up a bit better, more nanotech, and extreme technology and social disruption. You kinda get the sense of the culture shock you'd get if you could kidnap someone from the 80's and dropped them into today, with Facebook, Twitter, the Kardashians and reality-TV etc. Where the stuff from Robocop and Cronenberg movies is an everyday thing we're just all used to, and we have the most amazing internet, but they realize 80% of it is cute cat videos and porn. |
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Undying Mercenaries Series by B.V. Larson. 1st books is STEEL WORLD. Kicks off in 2056. One of the most entertaining and best sci-fi series I've ever read.
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Quoted: Who wrote dense? Having a tough time googling it. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Blindsight. First Contact genre. Dense, bleak and totally based on scientific reality. With vampires. Scary, apex predator vampires resurrected from dormant DNA and the blood of serial killers, designed as our only hope against the vasty blackness. Who wrote dense? Having a tough time googling it. My bad. |
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Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not much on story or characters, but the descriptions of colonizing Mars and the early stages of terraforming are interesting enough to carry it. It's a conditional recommendation, however, because it's dry.
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. A mining spaceship in 2057 is redirected to take readings of the moon Janus when it breaks orbit and begins accelerating out of the solar system. I loved this one, but I'm a Reynolds fan. |
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Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not much on story or characters, but the descriptions of colonizing Mars and the early stages of terraforming are interesting enough to carry it. It's a conditional recommendation, however, because it's dry. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. A mining spaceship in 2057 is redirected to take readings of the moon Janus when it breaks orbit and begins accelerating out of the solar system. I loved this one, but I'm a Reynolds fan. View Quote Just downloaded that. |
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Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not much on story or characters, but the descriptions of colonizing Mars and the early stages of terraforming are interesting enough to carry it. It's a conditional recommendation, however, because it's dry. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds. A mining spaceship in 2057 is redirected to take readings of the moon Janus when it breaks orbit and begins accelerating out of the solar system. I loved this one, but I'm a Reynolds fan. Just downloaded that. It was great up until they met the Aliens.......then it turned meh... Edit: after a few chapters I became pretty good again. |
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Nexus by Ramez Naam - some fun pre-cyberpunk, interesting tech, pretty good intrigue.
Neuromancer by William Gibson, of course. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, of course of course. The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu - won the Hugo for best novel... last year or the year before, fascinating story that jumps between China during the Cultural Revolution and China in the near future. The translation makes things feel a little flat now and again, but I couldn't put it down. Higher Education by Charles Sheffield and Jerry Pournelle - a near-future sci-fi story, starts with an extended slam on "self-esteem culture" as applied to education, then pretty much goes into space to do cool low-tech hard-sci-fi stuff. ETA: Quoted:
Another one: Ready Player One by Ernest Kline View Quote Quoted:
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Not much on story or characters, but the descriptions of colonizing Mars and the early stages of terraforming are interesting enough to carry it. It's a conditional recommendation, however, because it's dry. View Quote |
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I read "Saturn Run" after I saw it on here mentioned on a thread of a guy asking what to read after The Martian.
I liked it and would recommend it for anyone interested in space exploration/travel. |
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Joe Haldeman - Camouflage
Started this today, like it so far. |
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I'll take this thread in a slightly different direction...
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi Post apocalyptic where the apocalypse in question was the annihilation of almost all biodiversity due to GMOs escaping the control of their creators, essentially. Like if Monsanto was ten times as bad as the biggest Monsanto hater believes. The writing, however, is amazing, and the vision is dark. He has some other short story stuff in the same setting. |
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I'll take this thread in a slightly different direction... The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi Post apocalyptic where the apocalypse in question was the annihilation of almost all biodiversity due to GMOs escaping the control of their creators, essentially. Like if Monsanto was ten times as bad as the biggest Monsanto hater believes. The writing, however, is amazing, and the vision is dark. He has some other short story stuff in the same setting. View Quote I have that ebook but haven't read it yet. |
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I would suggest "Lunar Discovery: Let the Space Race Begin (Discovery
Series Book 1)" and the second on too which I recently finished. |
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I'll take this thread in a slightly different direction... The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi Post apocalyptic where the apocalypse in question was the annihilation of almost all biodiversity due to GMOs escaping the control of their creators, essentially. Like if Monsanto was ten times as bad as the biggest Monsanto hater believes. The writing, however, is amazing, and the vision is dark. He has some other short story stuff in the same setting. View Quote Awesome book, one I think about frequently. I like the character development and plot twists. The near future technology and the way they track calories as a valuable commodity was quite interesting. Plus I really like the eco catastrophe side as I converted from environmentalism in 90,s The short novel by him SHIPBREAKER is also a good read in this same timeframe but really pales when compared with Windup Girl. |
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Try an old classic titled "brave new world". I read it a few weeks back and found it chilling. I think it was written in the 60's?
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Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam.
Entertaining, but also makes you think. |
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Are you talking about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? Cuz it came out in 1932 View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Try an old classic titled "brave new world". I read it a few weeks back and found it chilling. I think it was written in the 60's? Are you talking about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? Cuz it came out in 1932 "Brave New World" album including a song by the same name from The Steve Miller Band came out in 1969. Here's a link to the song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVEgDSOx_5w |
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Are you talking about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? Cuz it came out in 1932 View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Try an old classic titled "brave new world". I read it a few weeks back and found it chilling. I think it was written in the 60's? Are you talking about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? Cuz it came out in 1932 Yes, that one--not the music album. I was only 30 years off, not too bad going from memory. |
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Yes, that one--not the music album. I was only 30 years off, not too bad going from memory. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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Try an old classic titled "brave new world". I read it a few weeks back and found it chilling. I think it was written in the 60's? Are you talking about Aldous Huxley's Brave New World? Cuz it came out in 1932 Yes, that one--not the music album. I was only 30 years off, not too bad going from memory. Tell that to a woman after guessing her age... |
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John Ringo's Posleen series.
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Quoted: Seveneves View Quote It was a terrible mistake. Great book though, and I just realized what I thought was just an anagram for a tile isn't OP, it's a spectacular book and starts near future. Most of NS's stuff, specifically snowcrash and Cryptonomicon are side splitting funny and awesome. It's not even really writeen AS comedy, or trying to get laughs, it's just the dudes writing style has these perfect set ups that just flow together, then jump out. |
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I read "Saturn Run" after I saw it on here mentioned on a thread of a guy asking what to read after The Martian. I liked it and would recommend it for anyone interested in space exploration/travel. View Quote I read it when it came out and enjoyed it. I also enjoyed the Adrian Tarn series by E.R. Mason. |
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Saturn Run is excellent. Highly recommend it. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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I read "Saturn Run" after I saw it on here mentioned on a thread of a guy asking what to read after The Martian. I liked it and would recommend it for anyone interested in space exploration/travel. Saturn Run is excellent. Highly recommend it. I was going to recommend saturn run. Michael Crichton also did some really good near future sci fi (prey, state of fear, timeline, next) |
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