Recent SciFi: a grab-bag of books for you

Looking for some great Sci Fi books to read? We'll get to a recommendation list of recent novels, below! But first, here are the nominees for the Nebula Awards for Best Science Fiction & Fantasy novel of 2015, to be awarded in May:

The Grace of Kings, by Ken Liu

Raising Caine, by Charles E. Gannon

Ancillary Mercy, By Ann Leckie

The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemison

Uprooted, by Naomi Novik

Barsk: The Elephant’s Graveyard, by

      Lawrence M. Shoen

Updraft, by Fran Wilde

Oh, great news... the guest speaker at this year's Nebula Awards Conference and Banquet in Chicago will be comedian and Daily Show veteran - and bona fide SciFi fan - John Hodgman. Wish I could attend! 

(Update: The award for best novel went to Naomi Novik's lovely Uprooted!)

Meanwhile, the Hugo Awards are open for nominations through March 31. 

My recent story, The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss from the anthology Old Venus is posted online on my website...and also (ahem) available in my just-released short story collection, Insistence of Vision. Your comments are welcome on Amazon, Goodreads etc!)

== Terrific books by others ==

More Than Human author Ramez Naam has won the 2016 Philip K. Dick Award for his novel Apex -- the conclusion to his near-future, global-spanning thriller Nexus trilogy -- imagining a genetically enhanced, technologically linked, post-human world.

A Crash Course in the History of Black Science Fiction: Nisi Shawl gives an introduction to notable black authors ranging from W. E.B. DuBois to the great Samuel Delaney, from Octavia Butler to N.K. Jemison, Steven Barnes and Nnedi Okorafor, who have shaped - and continue to shape - the literature of science fiction.

From Ursula K. Le Guin to Octavia Butler, Nalo Hopkinson to Joanna Russ and Joan Vinge, to the magnificent Alice Sheldon, a look at some memorable titles in feminist science fiction. Perhaps my novel Glory Season? Naw. Though I wrote it in that spirit, aiming for a worthy contribution to the pro-liberty and equality conversation, I never really expected it to be well-received, though the matters raised remain interesting.  Anyway I am a big fan of the sub-genre and I hope you'll be, too. It's stuff that needs ongoing discussion.

Covering topics from the metaphysics of The Matrix to the nature of free will and the ethics of robot rights, Science Fiction and Philosophy: From Time Travel to Super Intelligence, edited by Susan Schneider, uses science fiction as a window to explore big philosophical issues, with incisive essays by Ray Kurzweil, Daniel Dennett, Nick Bostrom, as well as relevant works from the likes of Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury.

Tech Insider takes offers recent science fiction novels that envision a future of climate change – termed CliFi for Climate Fiction -- from Monica Byrne’s The Girl in the Road to Liu Cixin's The Three Body Problem, and a new anthology of Climate Fiction: Loosed Upon the World (ed. by John Joseph Adams), as well as a couple of the novels mentioned below...

And this from io9: Nineteen times someone gets thrown out into the vacuum of space in Sci Fi movies.

== Recent Science Fiction Picks ==

The latest novel from Neal Stephenson, this 880 page epic portrays a devastating planetary-level extinction event: Seveneves begins with the sudden disintegration of the moon (by unknown forces) into seven pieces, which continue to collide and disintegrate. Anticipating the 'Hard Rain' of debris and fire that will rage across earth’s surface and annihilate its population, humanity comes together to construct an orbiting space colony -- a Cloud Ark to preserve the genetic legacy of our ecosystems. Billions left behind on the surface die in the ensuing conflagration, while a couple hundred develop the technological, political and social skills to survive long-term in space. Seveneves offers lovingly detailed descriptions of futuristic robots, space modules, docking maneuvers and orbital mechanics. The Big Picture comes in when the final third of the novel picks up five thousand years later…

A riveting and philosophical quasi-steampunk read: The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis, presents an alternate history of the early 1900s, where the Dutch Empire has ruled much of the world for a quarter of a millennium, in an ongoing war against a Catholic France-in-exile (based in Canada). The Dutch have melded Newton’s mysterious alchemy with sophisticated clockwork technology to power and enslave mechanical servants called Clakkers -- which wait upon their human taskmasters and serve as terrifying soldiers afield. When the century-old robot Jax overrides the compulsive ‘geas’ that constrain all Clakkers to complete their assigned tasks, he knows he will be relentlessly hunted down… even as he discovers a sense of free will and the essence of his own humanity. If you enjoy this, try its sequel in the Alchemy Wars, The Rising.

“War is always coming – it’s only ever a matter of time. And right now, beyond our porthole, the time comes…” By the author of Wool, Hugh Howey’s Beacon 23 imagines an interstellar ‘lighthouse’ on the edge of space, emitting a Gravity Wave Beacon to help starships traveling at FTL in hyperspace navigate past gravitational disturbances. When the beacon fails, the isolated operator – a battle-scarred war veteran suffering from PTSD, with a questionable grip on reality -- is pulled into an alien war he wants no part of. And yet, the war may not be quite what it seems. A fun read, full of action, with interwoven humor and pathos. The final chapter offers a vexing moral quandary for ending the war. 

The Water Knife, by Paolo Bacigalupi, offers another entry into climate fiction, with a dystopic noir-future where the American Southwest has been devastated by drought and climate change, dust storms and wildfires. A gritty tale of no-holds-barred battles between states engulfed in brutal legal squabbles over water rights to the dwindling Colorado River. The rich live in glass-enclosed lush Arcologies funded by the Chinese, while cities and suburbs wither as their water supply is cut off. The wealthy Catherine Case, "Queen of the Colorado", divvies up the precious flow via her amoral 'water knife' Angel Velazquez. Murders, torture, betrayals, and constantly shifting alliances guide the ensuing action in Bacigalupi's dark (and dry) near future.

Another book where wars are waged over scarce water, the beautifully written Memory of Water, by Finnish author Emmi Itaranta. A near future of global warming where a rising Chinese dictatorship dominates Europe and occupies a Scandinavia that knows no winter -- termed New Qian. Officials keep water (and knowledge) under tight control, with rationing, penalties and punishment. Our young protagonist Noria Kaitio is following her father’s footsteps, learning to become an honored tea master, with secret knowledge of a hidden water source. After his death, she is isolated by the heavy silence of secrets and burdened with ancient traditions which know no place in a changed world. 

What might result if the current trend toward economic inequality continues? The Subprimes, by Karl Taro Greenfeld offers biting (if heavy-handed) satire of a dystopian plutocratic America where have-nots are defined by their credit rating (subprimes), unable to find unemployment and subject to imprisonment in debt prisons (Credit Rehabilitation Centers). These subprimes (vilified as Takers) seek daily labor on fracking sites and congregate in homeless camps – termed Ryanvilles. Schools, police and prisons have all been privatized; government welfare, benefits, public WiFi and all regulation discontinued, along with environmental restrictions. A dark look at families struggling to survive… Still, a future low on the plausibility score. Would Americans really tolerate this?

Full Fathom Five (part of the Craft sequence), by Max Gladstone offers up fantasy of a non-traditional flavor, a fully modern world where magic is integral to the day-to-day affairs of conducting business. People trade pieces of their soul-stuff in exchange for goods and services; stone-like penitents encase the bodies and restructure the minds of those who have transgressed; idols are constructed to enhance business deals and sway stock exchanges. But these idols are supposed to be non-sentient; when one begins communicating and reaching out to the general population, even inspiring poetry, our protagonist Kai uncovers a deep-seated conspiracy that could undermine society.

The Best of Gregory Benford has also just been released (edited by the late David Hartwell), with thirty-eight of Benford's finest short stories. 

Finally, after that extensive recommendation list, can I be forgiven for tooting, one last time?

Don't forget to get your hands on my latest collection Insistence of Vision -- with some of the best recent David Brin stories, including The Logs, Mars Opposition, Stones of Significance, Transition Generation, Chrysalis, The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss, A Professor at Harvard, Paris Conquers All (written with Gregory Benford). Sample my short story, Reality Check here. Plus essays including The Heresy of Science Fiction and Waging War with Reality. 

I am heading off to a book signing (see my calendar).  Amid all of our contemporary ructions and dismal, dyspeptic news reports remember: we are a people who dream big dreams!