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Trying to find some new authors of hard sci-fi. I hadn't read much of the genre because I didn't know such a thing existed until I read Poul Andersen's *Tao Zero,* and now I'd like to find more. I really enjoyed Mary Doria Russell's *The Sparrow* and its follow-up, but I don't have much patience for overly fantastic plots with lots of ray guns and alien wars.

Any ideas?

If you are interested in a black hole sci-fi novel, you could try


It's an interesting book that deals with the dystopic trope of the Government taking actions to keep the general population passive with the main characters getting to experience the dangers of ensuring this utopia.

I enjoyed it and thought it was a pretty quick read.


You could consider trying .

It a fair number of people don't really like this book. But i think if you are looking for a decent sci-fi book that is fairly narrowly focused on exploring a couple of themes, this might be for you.

The main focus of the book is on a failed Human settlement that has devolved from fairly high tech levels to a caravan based trade system. The reasons this happened are eventually revealed and the lead to an dynamic between "haves" and "have nots" where the "have" isn't really money per se.

It's written a bit differently then most of Niven's work and the char development of the protagonist is a bit weak, but I found it enjoyable if for no other reason than it explored that "other" part of colonizing a world most Sci-fantasy ignores.

You may also find to be of interest.



It's set in the near future (100 years or so from the 1950s i think if I recall)and deals with feeding the world's population with seafood.

It's science fiction, but quite different than much of the current brand of science fiction. I'd say the book has aged a bit. The harvesting of whales in particular is unlikely to come to pass.

But it is a nice change from shoot em up sci-fi that's common today.


Anyway, those are three pretty different options. I always struggle a bit to "grade" a book due to the fact that everyone likes different things. I found all of these books to be worth a try. Plus it never hurts to take a look back at the classics.

Enjoy!

John Barnes & Jack McDevitt are favorites of mine.

I'd suggest most anything by Gregory Benford.

Stephen Baxter has written some very cool novels and short stories that deal with Big Cosmic Themes, many as loosely linked trilogies.

Mentioned upthread is Arthur C. Clarke, a particular favorite of my youth and who many consider Baxter's thematic ancestor (to such a degree that they in fact collaborated on several books before Clarke's death).

I consider Greg Egan among the hardest of the hard sf writers although I prefer his short stories to his novel length work.

Alastair Reynolds made his mark with the Inhibitor series, a set of widescreen space operas where, for the most part, the aliens stayed offstage and were known by all the artifacts they left lying around. Chasm City, a standalone novel also set in the Inhibitor universe, is best described as outer space gothic film noir. His short stories are fun, too - I particularly enjoyed Galactic North, Zima Blue and Merlin's Gun.

Egan might be considered Diamond Hard Sci-Fi :)

Hey wow, thanks everybody! Especially intrigued by the "Diamond Hard Sci-Fi" reference.

Also a big fan of first contact stories, and the Fredric Brown type of kinda goofy scifi sometimes. But I have plenty to check out now.

Keep 'em coming!

Perhaps I've been out of the loop for a while but, would Clifford Simak be considered a "Hard Science Fiction" author ? perhaps "Eon" by Greg Bear ? or "Blood Music" ?

I'd reach for Greg Bear, books like The Forge of God and (if you want some hard sci-fi set in very near future) Darwin's Radio. They both have sequels as well.

Also a Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars series (Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars) are definitely hard sci-fi, though I found them a bit slow and better in their science than in their political/social speculation.

I think the definition of "hard sci fi" is "doesn't break the known laws of physics as we currently understand them, but extrapolates them to their logical end." Is that an accurate definition? I'm assuming that's what you're asking for. I also enjoy hard sci fi more than sci fi that gets into more fantasy-type stuff: dilythium crystals and FTL travel and such. I also mostly like large-scale "space opera" type books, so you'll find my recommendations leaning more in that direction.

My favorite series is The Golden Age by John C. Wright, and it's hard sci fi. Nothing FTL, no made-up mineral elements, no aliens, but mankind has successfully colonized the solar system and is looking beyond.

I agree with the Mars series: definitely hard sci-fi, but the pace was too slow and I couldn't get through it. I didn't make it past Red Mars; maybe the others moved faster. Greg Bear I have also read, and really like his books. I think Alistair Reynolds and Peter Hamilton stay pretty closely inside "hard sci-fi", and both have a lot of great books to choose from. I especially liked House of Suns and Revelation Space. I think that's all I've got for now.

I liked Revelation Space a lot as well.

John wrote: "Trying to find some new authors of hard sci-fi. I hadn't read much of the genre because I didn't know such a thing existed until I read Poul Andersen's *Tao Zero,* and now I'd like to find more. I ..."

Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion are some of the most mind blowing sci-fi reads ever. The Internet will verify. It crams in concepts of life and technology floated in the Terminator, Matrix, Oblivion, Shawshank Redemption, Fifth Element, Shakespeare, etc . It's quite the mix.

Bob wrote: "Perhaps I've been out of the loop for a while but, would Clifford Simak be considered a "Hard Science Fiction" author ? perhaps "Eon" by Greg Bear ? or "Blood Music" ?"

I would say no to Simak and a yes to Bear.

I'm not sure I would consider the Hyperion books hard science fiction. but I love them.

I haven't seen Bob's definition of hard scifi before, but I like it.

Try John Lumpkin and/or Thomas Mays for razor sharp physics based scifi.

Hal Clement, most of his books are based on some bit of physics or chemistry taken to extremes. In Mission Of Gravity for example the planet is so massive that the gravity is over a hundred times that of Earth overall. It however spins so fast that the equator is only three gravities. The natives have a very logical fear of heights.

John Lumpkin's Through Struggle, the Stars description reminds of Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet with an international relations universe construction. If so I think it just went on my short list of new Sci/fi's to read. This forum has been great. Keep bloating my plan to-read section my peoples!

As for Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars, (view spoiler)[I agree with Micah, but enjoyed that Robinson at least took the time to attempt to add international relations into his equation of early space travel. Most of the authors I've read in science fiction, often just lump this very human reality into one catastrophic event where humans overcome cultural/ethnic/socioeconomic barriers and unite humanity under one political or economic power. Other science fiction authors seem fixated on the pessimistic dystopian reality of man not being able to overcome these problems and thus never achieve space travel. (hide spoiler)]

Have you guys checked out Peter Watts yet? Blindsight is an award winner and also available over on his website as a Creative Commons.

I actually just finished up Echopraxia by him, stunning book. He's definitely worth a try.

Greg Bear's "Blood Music" is so delicious I have reread it many times. Robert Forward's "Dragon's Egg" is superb and pure hard scifi

I really liked Blue Remembered Earth and can't wait for the sequel.

I have issues with the term "hard sci-fi". Does that also mean cerebral, over-my-head sci-fi? Then, I would nominate anything by Greg Bear. However, for me, books like this also subtract themselves on my sci-fi enjoyability scale.

But if hard sci-fi means a strain of believability than that's different. When it comes to the science part of sci-fi, I need it to be good enough to add the wonder, but not too much to cover over the plot.

Rabindranauth wrote: "Have you guys checked out Peter Watts yet? Blindsight is an award winner..."

I thought it was an excellent book. lots to contemplate during and after the reading.

mark wrote: "Rabindranauth wrote: "Have you guys checked out Peter Watts yet? Blindsight is an award winner..."

I thought it was an excellent book. lots to contemplate during and after the reading."

Echopraxia definitely continues the tradition, then

Dacarson wrote: "Hal Clement, most of his books are based on some bit of physics or chemistry taken to extremes. In Mission Of Gravity for example the planet is so massive that the grav..."

Hal is considered to be the defining type of hard SF.

The people at BookRiot published this definition of hard sci-fi:

Hard science fiction exists inside the realm of scientific possibility. That is, anything that occurs in the story is not outside the known physical laws of the universe. In these stories, there is often an emphasis on this accuracy. In addition, a massive research load often goes into its implementation. As a result, even attempting to take on this task is ambitious.



They also produced a listing of some examples.

I would add SJ Morden to this list also

I recently read the Solar System series by Brandon Q. Morris. He refers to his works as hard science fiction, which I believe they are. I didn't like his last 2 in that series (The Dark Spring and The Beacon) as well. In the Dark Spring, he inserted himself into the story as a main character, which isn't a favorite writing style for me. I don't mind when Clive Cussler had his cameos since they were a paragraph or two, maybe a couple pages. The Beacon was really a different style completely from the rest of the series.

As far as another recommendation, I am looking for some reviewers and test readers for my first book Rift Particle, which is also the first in a multibook series "The Stellar One Novels". I would describe it as hard science meets speculative science. I have researched accepted science and generally accepted theories for much of the book, however, it is necessary to delve into the speculative for this genre, IMHO.

If any are interested I can send a PDF or Kindle version. All who accept must agree to write a review, which may be used during my promotions for the book.

Thanks for considering it! And watch my author's page for more!
W.R. Bryan

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