this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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*Neuromancer by William gibson is crazy dark and is the book which started the cyberpunk genre.
The forever war by Joe Hadleman is cynical but not totally dark, still has some awesome dystopic themes which have not lost their power over he years. Hard to say if it could be read as critical of current gender ideology or in support of it.
If you've ever thought about getting into the 40k universe Dan Abnett is great and his writing of female characters gets better over the years.
Alastair Reynolds and peter f Hamilton mention many societies in their space operas and generally have a pretty grim, imo realistic, view of human nature and how it might follow us to the stars.
Brave new world is an interesting concept for those who like dyspotic worlds. IMHO not a great book, still worth a read.
Kayel means Neuromancer, not Necromancer. Don't want you to fall down the wrong rabbit hole.
Also I stand behind all of their points. Neuromancer is cool because its the grand daddy of cyberpunk and predicts stuff like the modern internet and what's starting to seem like our megacorps.
Forever War is one of my favorite sci fi novels of all time. Very influential military theme that seems like a counterpoint to Starship Troopers.
Everything by Dan Abnett is great. He's the best writer employed by Games Workshop. If you don't know much about 40k, his Eisenhorn series is fun. A decent stand alone novel is Double Eagle which is a dark sci fi story modeled after WW2 dogfights. Even the "good guys" in 40k are aggressively dystopian.
Reynolds and Hamilton are on my to read list but haven't gotten there. Do you guys recommend anywhere to start with them?
Thank you friend, it seems we have similar tastes for similar reasons. Would you recommend anything else?
For Reynolds, the revelation space trilogy is he best received and has his biggest ideas. But you could start anywhere. While he has some core themes, his ideas are all over the shop between books; each unique in both style and concepts.
Peter F Hamilton is an odd one. His writing is very male but the hard sci fi ideas and world building are second to none. The darkest place to start is the Confederation universe. The most fun and fantasy adjacent is the Void Trilogy. Despite being a hardcore fan I'm not very well read on him.
For both, their short stories are exquisite, in some cases mind bending and worldview changing.
Yeah I've got the first Revelation Space book waiting for me to open it up, there's just so much out there to read.
If we are talking sci fi dystopias, I'd say Altered Carbon and its sequels are compelling. Skip the Netflix show. We both seem to like military sci fi, and that series has that aspect in spades.
If you haven't read Gibson's stuff after Neuromancer, you might like that too.
Lol his writing is very phallic? I think I know what you mean.