GOOD new/recent Science Fiction/Fantasy?

bropous · 03-07-2007, 05:43 PM

Okay,

So I hated Hyperion and Wheel of Time.

Can someone suggest some GOOD, engaging, thought-provoking, engrossing science fiction or fantasy writers who have had their works published in the last few years?

I'm a huge Tolkien fan, loved Frank Herbert and then his son's collaborations with the other fella on the Dune theme, enjoyed Fritz Leiber although even that got a bit too pedestrian. Even initially liked the Donaldson Covenant series until Thomas became such a non-sympathetic character (the rape and the reluctant hero crap absolutely killed the series for me).

Contrarian that I am, I still peruse the bookshelves at Barnes and Noble trying in vain to find something that will draw me in. Recent hits were Ilium and Olympos, and I enjoyed both even though they left me scratching my head with myriad unanswered questions.

But is it that the sci-fi/fantasy authors being published now are just trying so damned hard to be clever, original and stand-outs from the crowd that they are losing sight of the sine-quo non of writing, that of telling an engaging story? Or is it, as I am suspecting, just like it is in the completely vapid current music scene, that the corporate world has destroyed anything approaching originality in favor of the "make it a hit" formulations? Have the big publishing houses killed sci fi/fantasy like the big recording houses have killed modern music?

To me, most of the books I am seeing are as big wastes of space, time and money as any CD released by any band beginning their careers after 1992. Originality and readability are suffering tremendously, and more and more pedestrian garbage fills the racks and obliterates the quality that was there not so long ago. Seems to me that sci fi/fantasy is suffering big time, either in the strained effort to avoid the Tolkienlike, or in the even more affectatious attempt to impress readers with the author's understanding of physics or religion or philosophy or the works of past masters of literature.

I KNOW there has to be SOME authors out there who are producing quality works, but I am getting quite frustrated in my quest to find them.

So: Any suggestions?

Tuinor · 03-07-2007, 10:39 PM

I understand how you're feeling. You just about summed up every trip I've ever taken to a mall. Unfortunately, I haven't read any new series that can quite stand up to the standards you've set.

brownjenkins · 03-08-2007, 02:35 PM

Have you tried George Martin? Very good writer (which is rare in fantasy), and good self-editor (which is very rare among all writers). His books are not quite as "fantastical" as some in the genre, but they make up for it on the story side.

This is the first book in his series in progress.

bropous · 03-08-2007, 05:44 PM

I have seen the George Martin books, but never tried 'em....I might have to give your suggestion a read. Thanks!

bropous · 03-12-2007, 01:36 PM

I did go ahead and buy "A Game of Thrones" on your recommendation. I'll get cracking on it as soon as I finish "Fall of Hyperion".

03-07-2007, 05:43 PM	#1
bropous EIDRIORCQWSDAKLMED DCWWTIWOATTOPWFIO Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 1,176	GOOD new/recent Science Fiction/Fantasy? Okay, So I hated Hyperion and Wheel of Time. Can someone suggest some GOOD, engaging, thought-provoking, engrossing science fiction or fantasy writers who have had their works published in the last few years? I'm a huge Tolkien fan, loved Frank Herbert and then his son's collaborations with the other fella on the Dune theme, enjoyed Fritz Leiber although even that got a bit too pedestrian. Even initially liked the Donaldson Covenant series until Thomas became such a non-sympathetic character (the rape and the reluctant hero crap absolutely killed the series for me). Contrarian that I am, I still peruse the bookshelves at Barnes and Noble trying in vain to find something that will draw me in. Recent hits were Ilium and Olympos, and I enjoyed both even though they left me scratching my head with myriad unanswered questions. But is it that the sci-fi/fantasy authors being published now are just trying so damned hard to be clever, original and stand-outs from the crowd that they are losing sight of the sine-quo non of writing, that of telling an engaging story? Or is it, as I am suspecting, just like it is in the completely vapid current music scene, that the corporate world has destroyed anything approaching originality in favor of the "make it a hit" formulations? Have the big publishing houses killed sci fi/fantasy like the big recording houses have killed modern music? To me, most of the books I am seeing are as big wastes of space, time and money as any CD released by any band beginning their careers after 1992. Originality and readability are suffering tremendously, and more and more pedestrian garbage fills the racks and obliterates the quality that was there not so long ago. Seems to me that sci fi/fantasy is suffering big time, either in the strained effort to avoid the Tolkienlike, or in the even more affectatious attempt to impress readers with the author's understanding of physics or religion or philosophy or the works of past masters of literature. I KNOW there has to be SOME authors out there who are producing quality works, but I am getting quite frustrated in my quest to find them. So: Any suggestions? __________________ "...[The Lord of the Rings] is to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in 'world politics' of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, fogotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil). A moral of the whole (after the primary symbolism of the Ring, as the will to mere power, seeking to make itself objective by physical force and mechanism, and so also inevitably by lies) is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless." Letters of JRR Tolkien, page 160. Last edited by bropous : 03-07-2007 at 05:52 PM.

03-08-2007, 02:35 PM	#3
brownjenkins Advocatus Diaboli Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Reality Posts: 3,767	Have you tried George Martin? Very good writer (which is rare in fantasy), and good self-editor (which is very rare among all writers). His books are not quite as "fantastical" as some in the genre, but they make up for it on the story side. This is the first book in his series in progress. __________________ Your reality, sir, is lies and balderdash and I'm delighted to say that I have no grasp of it whatsoever.

03-08-2007, 05:44 PM	#4
bropous EIDRIORCQWSDAKLMED DCWWTIWOATTOPWFIO Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 1,176	I have seen the George Martin books, but never tried 'em....I might have to give your suggestion a read. Thanks! __________________ "...[The Lord of the Rings] is to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in 'world politics' of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, fogotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil). A moral of the whole (after the primary symbolism of the Ring, as the will to mere power, seeking to make itself objective by physical force and mechanism, and so also inevitably by lies) is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless." Letters of JRR Tolkien, page 160.

03-12-2007, 01:36 PM	#5
bropous EIDRIORCQWSDAKLMED DCWWTIWOATTOPWFIO Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: Littleton, CO Posts: 1,176	I did go ahead and buy "A Game of Thrones" on your recommendation. I'll get cracking on it as soon as I finish "Fall of Hyperion". __________________ "...[The Lord of the Rings] is to exemplify most clearly a recurrent theme: the place in 'world politics' of the unforeseen and unforeseeable acts of will, and deeds of virtue of the apparently small, ungreat, fogotten in the places of the Wise and Great (good as well as evil). A moral of the whole (after the primary symbolism of the Ring, as the will to mere power, seeking to make itself objective by physical force and mechanism, and so also inevitably by lies) is the obvious one that without the high and noble the simple and vulgar is utterly mean; and without the simple and ordinary the noble and heroic is meaningless." Letters of JRR Tolkien, page 160.

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03-07-2007, 10:39 PM	#2
Tuinor Elven Warrior Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Wandering in circles until they become triangles Posts: 292	I understand how you're feeling. You just about summed up every trip I've ever taken to a mall. Unfortunately, I haven't read any new series that can quite stand up to the standards you've set.