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Top 10 New Sci-Fi/SF Authors?
Dukebytes asks: "I am looking for the new RAH/Piers Anthony/Roger Zelazny/Weis & Hickman etc..., of the world. I have read just about everything I could find on King Aurthur, all of the Dragon Lance stuff, and all or most of the 'old school' hardcore. I don't know, I have maybe 4000 books at home, most of them Scifi/SF. I am looking for some new stuff. I haven't bought any kind of book other than techie for more than 2 years. I just keep reading the ones that I have over and over and over. What are you guys reading? If it is a series, please list ALL of the books in it!"
You remind me of a friend. The only books he ever read were fantasy books. That's it. He had no other books in his book shelves. As you can guess, he wasn't exactly the most open minded person in the world (not that I'm calling you close minded). He had the same thing with music. Only listened to heav metal. Wouldn't let anyone play any other type of music.
But I think you deny yourself some of life's pleasures by narrowly defining your interests. It's ok to like reading Sci-Fi books, but I can tell you that you are missing out on a lot if that's all you read. I don't consider Tech books to be "reading" books so I won't address that.
-- You see, there would be these conclusions that you could jump to
Whatgever genre, you can always hit the Amazon editor's picks list (avoid the topsellers lists, its filled with pedestrian crap) or the NY Times book reviews.
The first step to enlightenment is to be a book snob. Stay away from airport crap (John Grisham, Michael Crichton), and try batting out of your league a bit...you might just expand and learn something.
For me Orson Card, Terry Pratchett or Dan Simmons are "new" authors, even if the books I like from them have 10-20 years. You can even discover Isaac Asimov, and like their stuff, and being "new" for you.
If you're looking for the best new SciFi authors, check out Analog. It's a paperback magazine, published monthly (www.analogsf.com), with lots of great SciFi and science fact articles. Sometimes its just a selection of short stores, but you'll also find novellas and serials, some of which have been turned into full published novels. Lots of new authors, as well as few older ones, publish great Science Fiction.
-When going for broke, go for Ithaca!
I wouldnt recommend which ones to read, as although most can be read without reading any previous ones, its better to read them in order of they were made. Theres some jokes that you will only get if you read them in a previous book first
If you're using "SF" to refer to Science Fiction, which is the most common breakout, rather than Speculative Fiction, you're missing the boat entirely with the books you have mentioned. Sounds like you want FANTASY books.
If you are looking for unusual well-written fantasy, check out Storm Constantine. The Wraethu omnibus edition is usually available, and it's a stunning piece of gothic fantasy alternate-reality post-apocalyptic gender-bending writing. Can't get enough hyphens.
For science fiction work, of course there's Neal Stephenson, and the recently feted Cory Doctorow. You can't go wrong with the classics of Heinlein and Asimov, of course.
Beyond that, as others have said, try something outside the F&SF realm. Or, if you can't bring yourself to do that, subscribe to Analog, Asimov's or F&SF to get a taste of new authors. Short fiction is like the snack before you dig into a big meaty novel.
Illegitimi non carborundum