Home
|
I am a
huge fan of the
primitive technology called books. For the moment I read most science
fiction and fantasy but I still like a good thriller, or other good
books. As being a fan of science fiction I am active in science fiction
fandom. For more about SF fandom see these pages.
Since summer 1997 I have a list of all books I have read. This is a
good way of keeping track of what you have read. And by placing it on
the web also I can access it from any place. If I was a bit less lazy
this should of course contain some review comments also, but that is to
much work. To see this fairly large list, go here.
I few books and authors I like and recommend are:
- Alastair Reynolds, British SF writer. His books Revelation Space, Chasm City, Redemption Ark, and "Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days" are
all taking place in the same universe. These books are taken place on a
very grand scale. The setting is that humans has colonized parts of
space, by using slower the light vessels and sleep caskets. They have
also encountered a the remains of a few other intelligent species,
however none that is alive. The technology level is quite impressive,
with a lot of nano-technology. The stories combine action and suspense
with hard SF considerations and questions. I like it a lot.
- George, R. R. Martin. His Song
of Ice and Fire series, starting with A game of Thrones, is clearly one
of the best epic fantasy I have read. He spins a truly interesting
plot,
with many twists that the are very plausible but as a normal reader
does not consider likely. Not for the ones that can't handle, what they
consider main characters, are killed or removed from the plot.
- Jack McDewitt, SF writer that I discovered early in my
reading. He has written a number of books. A good start is A talent for War and The engines of God. He
writes very interesting suspense SF with interesting ideas.
Unfortunately not all his books are superb, the weakest ones in my
opinion are Ancient shores
and The Eternity Road. This
means that I most likes his histories that are placed far from today's
earth.
- Neal Stephenson. A SF writer that writes stories in the
near future, present or in the past. One should read at least two of
his books, Snowcrash, and Cryptonomicon. Snowcrash is a
cyberpunk story with interesting plot elements. Cryptonomicon is book
that looks upon the art of encryption by using a combined plot based in
present and in a the second world war. He neatly ties together the many
plot lines into a believable story. It is also a book worth reading
simply for his excellent writing. There are a lot of this almost 900
page book that are not related to the plot at all, however any such
loss of focus is even more rewarding to read then the main plot line.
- Lois McMaster Bujold, writes thrilling and fun space opera.
This is definitely easier read than most other stuff but is well
written, fun, thrilling, mind boggling, and much more. Definitely worth
a read. So just start digging in to her Vorkosigan stories, the first
book is Shards of Honor. You will have many interesting hours in front
of you if you start reading this series. Also each book is an ended
adventure which avoids the problem of getting hold of all parts. You
can skip certain of the books with out major problems.
I am also a this day a sporadic reader of military SF. Earlier I read
much more of these books. If you want these things, go to Baen and browse their catalogue, you
can
even read and buy books in electronic form. One series that I have read
is David Weber's Honor Harrington. Inspired by C.S Forester's
Hornblower, but no taken to space. He is excellent at writing military
action so it becomes thrilling, where character and the political
building is less good. David Weber is published by Baen and was also
part of start up of there "how the torture your fans" movement. They
for several years ago started to provide previews of chapters of not
yet published books. When it has been taken to its extreme they
published down to single chapters, each days in a discussion forum. THEY ARE EVIL!
I will here also take the chance to complain about things I dislike in
literature:
- Very long series:
This is mostly a problem is fantasy literature, however it sometime
show up other where. Sure, one can write series but should have a clear
and knowledge of how to end them and keep to the plan on how long the
story should become. A trilogy is the limit. Longer series should
simply be written as ended chapters of the grand story. That way one
does not need to suffer long waits to see the conclusion.
- Bad editing: This
comes in several forms. On recent example was John Ringo's Hell's Faire that suffered
immensely
from the lack of proof-reading. I can't understand how they could
publish a book where the same information can be repeated just a couple
of paragraphs later. Another example is editors that can't keep their
authors focused and tell the author that they become unfocused and does
not move the story along. The grand example of this is Robert Jordan's
Wheel of time series, in my opinion there are happening more in the two
first books then in the last 6 together. So editors, do your job!
- Unnecessary Long books: This
is a double edged sword. I am not against all long books, only the ones
that are long without good content. If one has a good book it might be
better or worse depending on if it is long or not. However I think more
authors should consider how to shorten their stories, actually try it
and see if it becomes better. This has also been expressed as the word
processor decease.
|