I am forever getting recommendations for classic authors and works, but I’m finding it really hard to find newer stuff (last 20 years for instance) that is well worth reading, particularly in the sci-fi genre. What living authors can turn a phrase well as Douglas Adams? Who has can turn out a novel as sharp-edged as Iain M. Banks?
by nemoknows
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I’m imagining you’ve tried and disliked the Red Rising trilogy and accompanying novels?
For a science fiction experience that’s as intellectually stimulating as it is emotionally engaging, ‘Eternal Gods Die Too Soon’ is the book for you. It navigates the realms of advanced physics and the mysteries of the universe in a narrative that’s both captivating and enlightening.
Alistair Reynolds – hard space operas
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K Jemisin
A Half Built Garden by Ruthanna Emerys
A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers
We Are Satellites by Sarah Pinsker
Space Opera by Catherynne Valente
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers has some of the best character work I’ve read in a long time
The Murderbot series is one of my all time favorites
I love Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan saga. She started writing it decades ago, but she has also added new books within the last 10 years. I think the series is well worth reading.
Connie Willis probably has more Hugo and Nebula Awards than any other living author. She can write a light, humorous book like _Bellwether_ or _To Say Nothing of the Dog_, or a punch-in-the-gut short story like “The Last of the Winnebagos.”
Expanse series by James Corey
Eclipse series by Ophelia Rue
Will save the galaxy for food and Will destroy the galaxy for cash by Yahtzee Croshaw. An unemployed star pilot tries to get by in a universe where transporters are a thing.
The Girl Who Could Move Sh*t With Her Mind by Jackson Ford (actually Bob Boffard). It’s the first book in the Frost Files series. He also wrote the Outer Earth books.
Miles Cameron and Ann Leckie for sure
Ada Palmer
Becky Chambers
Emily St. John Mandel
Arkady Martine
Kim Stanley Robinson
Kazuo Ishiguro
James S.A. Corey
Ted Chiang
Sequoia Nagamatsu
The Lathe of Heaven by U.Le Guin
A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine. And the sequel A Desolation Called Peace.