Sunday February 19, 2023
My son-in-law recently asked me for science fiction recommendations. I read quite a bit of sci-fi when I was a teenager (mostly pulp), but once I started working I switched to mostly non-fiction/technical stuff. I do still read this genre occasionally, though, so I thought it would be interesting to revisit a few.
You’ll quickly notice that each bibliography I list is but a small fraction of the author’s overall work: I’m only listing works that I’ve personally read (or at least tried to read).
When I was asked for recommendations, this was the first name that popped into my head as a favorite author of mine when I was a teenager. But, I couldn’t remember a single specific novel of his I’d read. So, I checked Wikipedia, and then it all came back to me: Along with his own original works, Mr. Foster has created a lot of novelizations for film scripts. That’s why I read so much of his work: For movies I wasn’t able to see in the theater, I’d get his adaptation from the library and read that instead! Here are a few I can remember reading:
While his works are quite old (particularly for science fiction), he’s an amazing writer, and they hold up very well. A few I’ve read:
I’m also reminded that he has a huge bibliography that I haven’t read. I should revisit it.
This one’s a bit problematic. His style of writing doesn’t fit neatly into the science fiction genre, landing more in the area of horror/cosmic horror. And, as a person, he had some pretty loathsome views. But, boy, what a writer. The only modern writer that comes to mind in terms of being able to capture this level of creeping dread is Stephen King. Some of his work that I’ve read:
He’s another author with a large body of work that I’ve only read a fraction of.
Mr. Heinlein is a towering figure in the world of science fiction, but I’m embarrassed to say I’ve only read a couple of his novels, a long time ago. I do recall them being good, though:
Mr. Egan works in the realm of “hard sci-fi”: science fiction that is technically detailed, and meant to be as realistic (or at least plausible?) as possible. I’ve really enjoyed most of his work that I’ve read, but some were just too tough for me:
Another hard sci-fi writer, with works that I find almost as challenging as Greg Egan’s.
His work tends to veer into political/preachy, but is nevertheless very compelling. He has a writing style that, while very different genre-wise, has a knack for drawing you in that’s similar to Stephen King:
Mr. Scalzi’s Old Man’s War series was recommended to me by a friend. I’ve read the first two, and they’re quite good:
Mr. Weir is another author who works in hard sci-fi, but I find his work to be more accessible than Greg Egan’s:
Finally, if you want to have the most fun a person can have reading “science fiction”, here you go: