BTW Love all the recommendations and book talk! I'm going to have so much to read after this thread, both remembering old books and learning about new ones.
The Engines of God from Jack McDevitt (and the following books). Now this one is very interesting for a simple reason: it's not about huge wars and gigantic empires, but about archeology. Archeology in space, a thousand years from now to study strange artifacts from lost civilizations. It really is a breather in the genre, and maybe something interesting to pick from.
That actually sounds like fun. There's something to the whole "investigating a mysterious thing" that's really interesting.
Renedevous with Rama is the classic archetype (though it's a bit unsatisfying, which I guess is the point but, but!), and there's another that comes to mind, the first half of Greg Bear's
Eon, a big chunk of Reynold's
Pushing Ice and probably a zillion more.
Nice blogpost. It's so sad that Iain Banks passed away...
I know, right? Man. Definitely had a wee dram that day.
... and Blindsight by Peter Watts is the most mindblowing first-contact-with-aliens story ever written due to its bone-chilling take on the nature of consciousness.
Blindsight keeps coming up again and again, must be good! And consciousness eh? I wonder how its central conceit compares to
Embassytown, but then that one is perhaps more about language.
That said, I am more than a little surprised to not see the Dune series by Frank Herbert, as well as its prequels. I would highly recommend reading any or all of the zillions of Dune books, by Frank Herbert or Brian Herbert/Kevin J Anderson, as they tackle how many different societies approach multitudes of issues of the future, especially space travel.
My first thought is that yes, I really need to read the Dune series beyond the first book (which I've read through quite a few times). Second thought is, I think the Dune-feeling in Starsector is a great deal from Ivaylo's influence. Third: But I still need to read the Dune books!
Iain M. Banks I'm not quite as well read in, which is possibly why I like Alastair more. The reality that Alastair brings to his work is simply amazing. The sheer scale and scope that Alastair uses in his work blows me away. The way he has these epic tales that span interstellar space, and yet still never loses the size, the depth of space. The emptiness. Space is not tamed in Reynolds' writing, not at all. Not to depreciate Iain at all; I greatly enjoyed what I've read of the Culture novels.
I hear you on Reynolds; absolutely!
On Banks in this context - I very much chose his non-Culture novels as they, hmm, give up some of the comfort of the Culture.
