Best Written Hard SF?

[Grunkins]

Whoops, didn't see Ralph's mention. Baxter is worth mentioning twice though .

 

[clovis-man]

Reynolds and Baxter: Check

And as for Iain M. Banks. I consider his Culture works to be hard SF and a singular literary style as well.

 

[ralphkern]

That he is Grunkins that he is

 

[Grunkins]

Reynolds and Baxter: Check

And as for Iain M. Banks. I consider his Culture works to be hard SF and a singular literary style as well.

I adore Banks, and his writing ability dwarfs nearly all other SF writers (I really can't think of a single writer that can match him - though I've yet to read anything by Gene Wolfe and I've heard great things about his prose). But I would never call him hard SF.

From his FTL by using energy from the skein behind the universe, to all the wondrous stuff the drones' and ships' fields can do, to the alterations the culture humans can do to their bodies ...etc.; he basically gives magic a SF based coat of paint, waves his hands a bit, and presents it in his setting. And that works perfectly for his books. When reading them I don't question for a second the verisimilitude of the culture universe. I just don't think that can rightly be called hard science fiction, as there is just about zero science involved.

 

[clovis-man]

I adore Banks, and his writing ability dwarfs nearly all other SF writers (I really can't think of a single writer that can match him - though I've yet to read anything by Gene Wolfe and I've heard great things about his prose). But I would never call him hard SF.

From his FTL by using energy from the skein behind the universe, to all the wondrous stuff the drones' and ships' fields can do, to the alterations the culture humans can do to their bodies ...etc.; he basically gives magic a SF based coat of paint, waves his hands a bit, and presents it in his setting. And that works perfectly for his books. When reading them I don't question for a second the verisimilitude of the culture universe. I just don't think that can rightly be called hard science fiction, as there is just about zero science involved.

I'll have to reluctantly agree with you on this. I think I was confusing "space opera" with hard SF. Is there such a thing as "hard space opera"? Oops. I guess there is if you consider Al Reynolds: no FTL for him.

But in most all future scenarios, especially those involving travel between planets, stars, etc., the science gets a little mystical at times. I often find myself thinking of the Balmer & Wylie opus, When Worlds Collide. Hard SF for them was insulating the space ship by packing books in the walls. Hey, for 1932 that wasn't bad.

 

[Bick]

... Balmer & Wylie opus, When Worlds Collide. Hard SF for them was insulating the space ship by packing books in the walls.

That's fantastic!

 

[ralphkern]

All this talk of banksey makes me feel I should give him another go. I just couldn't get into him first time round. I've read consider plebius, player of games and the algebriast. Can someone recommend another one to try?

 

[Abernovo]

You could try Use of Weapons, rk. Slightly off topic, but I've always liked Banks' literary works, as well. Some of them verge on Magical Realism. Not science fiction, hard or otherwise, but verging on sff.

Anyway...
I'd recommend David Brin's Existence. Hard sf, easy to get into and engaging. Kim Stanley Robinson is great. Both of them can do literary hard sf.

Nancy Kress also smuggles science in under cover of cracking stories. Her characters are good and the writing can be spot on.

 

[ralphkern]

Existence is fantastic and covers a massive range of hard sci fi themes. From the Fermi Paradox, a particular fave of mine to longevity.

Kim Stanley robinson... the mars trilogy are great, Icehenge awesome... 3012... meh. I suspect that that book is an example of an author becoming a victim of their own success and been given a carte blanche by the publisher who possibly overruled the editor. At the point i was reading that i was really examining writing structure as part of the research into my own writing style... I kid yea not there was a sentence that went on for half a page. my eyes were bleeding just reading it.

 

[clovis-man]

Nancy Kress also smuggles science in under cover of cracking stories. Her characters are good and the writing can be spot on.

Good catch. It helped her to have been married to a physicist, Charles Sheffield, who could also come up with believable yarns as an SF author. But both were/are good story tellers in their own right.

 

[quantumtheif]

Timeships by Stephen Baxter is an excellent one.

 

[BAYLOR]

Between the Strokes of Midnight by Charles Sheffield