Check out "Hominids" and "Humans" by Robert Sawyer and "Evolution" by Steve Baxter.
I'm in the middle of "Coyote" by Allen Steele . . . excellent planetary colonization novel. Originally published as a series of novella and novelettes. Stealing Alabama was Hugo nominee last year and "The Between Years" is up for a Nebula this year. A good read! George A ----- Original Message ----- From: "Reggie Bautista" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, February 13, 2003 9:25 AM Subject: Re: Book Suggestions: The Best of Current SciFi? > JJ wrote: > >Hi, gang.. > > > >I'm going to make my weekly expedition to Borders in a couple of days. I'd > >like to stock up on SciFi books. What's new and worthy out there? > > If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, definitely pick it up. I'm not quite > to the end yet (about 60 pages left out of 568 in the paperback edition), > but the farther I get into it, the better I like it (and I liked it from the > beginning). > > If you *have* read _Kiln People_ and you have any interest in the situation > revealed in chapter 52, there's a really interesting book called _In the > Company of Mind_ by Steven Piziks that deals in depth with that type of > situation, along with nanotech, AI, security, and also a pretty scary look > at child abuse. WARNING: If you haven't read _Kiln People_ yet, don't look > at the reviews of this book on Amazon, as they discuss something that's a > major plot point in _Kiln People_ but is discussed from the very beginning > of ItCoM. Also, don't read the back cover, it has spoilers for the first 5 > to 7 chapters of the book. And if you read the Amazon reviews, ignore the > review that says this isn't science fiction; I definitely explores the > social results of some interesting technologies. There is also a sequel > which I have not read yet called _Corporate Mentality_. > > If you like alternate history and alternate science/technology novels, there > is a series of four novels by J. Gregory Keyes collectively called "The Age > of Unreason." The four books are _Newton's Cannon_, _A Calculus of Angels_, > _Empire of Unreason_, and _The Shadows of God_. The history in these books > diverges from our history with Sir Isaac Newton, who is successful in > developing alchemy (in real history, he tried but failed). Major characters > in the books include Newton, a young Ben Franklin (the main "hero" of the > novels so far, if there is one), Louis XIV, Adrienne de Montchevreuil (a > consort of Louis XIV), Peter the Great, the pirate Blackbeard, and Cotton > Mather, among others. As the books progress, new discoveries in alchemy are > treated in a very scientific fashion and look much like later actual > scientific advancements seen in a somewhat distorted mirror. I've read the > first three and loved them, and just got a copy of book 4. Keyes is best > known as a fantasy writer, although he also wrote the Babylon 5 Psicore > trilogy from an outline by jms. I don't know if this guy is the same as the > Greg Keyes who wrote a couple of Star Wars: New Jedi Order books. > > Reggie Bautista > The Alternative View Maru > > > _________________________________________________________________ > MSN 8 helps eliminate e-mail viruses. Get 2 months FREE*. > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus > > _______________________________________________ > http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l > _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
