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Wednesday, August 10, 2016

What is the Best Modern Science Fiction? (Nominations Needed)

Image description: futuristic city
What is the best modern science fiction novel or series?

Reminder- Our Best Non-European Fantasy poll is almost over. Unless I get a fantastic guest blog in the next 12 hours or so, results will probably go up tomorrow. So please head over there and vote (or vote again) for your favorite non-European fantasy setting.

BUT ALSO....

We need your nominations for the newest poll: Best modern science fiction (novel or series).  

Now back when Writing About Writing had about four regular readers, I did a poll on best Sci/fi or Fantasy series and it turned into a seven part poll with quarter-finals, semi-finals, and finals and just went on and on and on, so I learned a valuable lesson that day about breaking big categories into small ones.

The poll we'll be starting for August needs reader nominations. What is the best modern science fiction novel or series. For purposes of this poll we will be defining "modern" as the last 30 years.

Rules- 

1- As always, I leave the niggling of semantics about "science fiction" to your best judgement because I'd rather be inclusive. If you want to nominate a stand-alone Discworld novel as science fiction, I might arch an eyebrow at your ridiculous stretch, but I'm not going to argue. (Though you might need to "show your work" to get anyone to second your nomination.) As long as it's not Xanth or something, all I will do is check the publication date of the first book.

2- To avoid multi-decade spanning series being on our poll because an author tossed out a recent sequel, the book OR FIRST BOOK IN THE SERIES must have a copyright date no earlier than 1986.

3- You may nominate two (2) works of modern science-fiction. Remember that I am a terrifying megalomaniac who hates free will and all things that smell like liberty. To encourage reading and reading comprehension I will NOT take any books or series beyond the second that you suggest. (I will consider everything after your second rec in a long list to be "seconds" if the work is nominated before or after yours.)

3- You may (and should) second as many nominations of others as you wish. That is the only way they'll be making it to the final poll.

4- Please put your nominations here. I will take books or series nominated as comments to this post on other social media (Facebook or G+ for example); however, they may not get the seconds you need to go onto our poll because no one will see them. (Seriously, Deloris Umbridge got a nomination on our best villain poll, but she received no seconds because she was nominated on Facebook instead of here. And then everyone got sad that she wasn't on the polls.)

5- You are nominating WRITTEN WORKS, not their movie portrayals. CGI epic fights might be very pretty, but if you found The Martian to be too hard and sciencey (I didn't, but just by way of example), you shouldn't nominate it because you liked Matt Damon.

6- "Best" means whatever you as a reader think it should. Most challenging. Most engaging. Most fun. It's up to you what "best" means.

70 comments:

  1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson, and
    Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

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  3. Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
    This Alien Shore by C. S. Friedman

    Second Snow Crash.

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  4. I would have to go with Kevin J.Anderson's "Saga of the Seven Suns" and Karen Traviss' "Wess'har Wars"

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  5. Old Man's War by John Scalzi
    Polity Universe by Neal Asher.

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    1. Seconding for Old Man's War... but not for the sequels.

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    3. Second Old Man's War by Scalzi

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    4. I'll give Old Man's War a vote, but you have to add Ghost Brigades and The Last Colony to be competition for Starship Troopers. LOL

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  7. Commonwealth Saga by Peter Hamilton

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  8. Honor Harrington Series
    Prince Roger Series (March Up Country)

    Both by Weber

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  9. The MaddAddam Trilogy by Margaret Atwood -- she calls it "speculative fiction" but I think it counts at sci-fi.

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  10. Use Of Weapons by Iain M. Banks

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  11. Ancillary Justice (Sword, Mercy) by Ann Leckie

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    Replies
    1. Seconded. This was going to be my first nomination if someone hadn't already nominated it.

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    2. Seconded. This was going to be my first nomination if someone hadn't already nominated it.

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  12. Honor Harrington Series
    Prince Roger Series (March Up Country)

    Both by Weber

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  13. Ancillary Series by Ann Leckie
    The Martian (since it doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet, outside of the article)

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  14. The City & the City, China Miéville

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  15. The Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold.

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  16. In rule 2 "must have a copyright date no later than 1986." I assume you mean no EARLIER than 1986 as the books mentioned have been more recent.

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  17. Spots the space marine by MCA hogarth. Modern not just in being new, but in being written in a found footage, camera view style that serves the story well.

    Pay me, Bug! By Christopher Wright. If Robert Aspirin (Myth adventures series, phule's company) had written Firefly, this would be it.

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    Replies
    1. Second for Spots the Space Marine by Hogarth!

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    2. Third for Spots the Space Marine. Female marines and giant bugs for the win!!

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  18. Red/Green/Blue Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson

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  19. Nightdawn trilogy by Peter F Hamilton.

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    Replies
    1. THIS!!! I couldn't remember the damn title. Seconding this SO HARD.

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  20. The Expanse novels by James S. A. Corey, the pen name of authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck.

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  21. Scott Westerfeld's Uglies trilogy.

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  22. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

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  23. I loved and nominate Cinder by Marissa Meyer and
    Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.

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  24. Second The Expanse
    Second Iain Banks
    Second The Martian

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  25. Nominate Cherryh's Foreigner series

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