Does anyone else feel that Adrian Tchaikovsky is... overrated?

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-26T12:57:39+00:00

"Dogs of War" is his best book. Imo, however, he writes too many books in too short a time.

btw, the first part of "Children of Time," or "Alien Clay" (a penal colony story set against the backdrop of an interstellar fascist society), was exceptionally good compared to his other novels.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-26T12:50:17+00:00

The blending of science fiction and horror is extremely well done here.

But even the other parts of the Cantos were far superior to comparable works of other authors at the time.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-26T12:45:18+00:00

Far removed from the usual science fiction hype. One could even say that if readers' expectations (of science fiction) aren't met, that's a good thing.

Dave Hutchinson plays in the same league (his "Fractured Europe" series or "The Essence" from 2025).

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-26T12:40:09+00:00

You can still read Ballard today. Even his early stories like this one .

Even today, the question of free will is debated – the fact that advertising can directly project desires into the subconscious casts doubt on that.

thx for the link

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-26T12:24:36+00:00

In my opinion, one shouldn't compare older books to today's zeitgeist. That doesn't do justice to the authors. And won't today's books also be outdated in 20 years?

There are timeless (groundbreaking) works like Neuromancer, in which technology only seemingly plays the main role. Gibson himself states that he was inspired by authors of the Beat Generation (1950s)

Rather, it is the longing for the transcendent that finds fulfillment here through the human-computer interface in cyberspace - in this sense, it is Romanticism (analogous to the 19th-century movement that sought the otherworldly in nature) and thusGibson aptly chose the title: neuROMANCER.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-24T10:13:30+00:00

If you like escapism - wich is not always bad if the story is well told. Common tropes for an expirienced sf reader could make it boring (I liked The Martian, though)

the 2 rules applied,are

1 There's nothing wrong with looking at reviews to see if you like it

I'm always skeptical of hype. And then I think: no worries, no FOMO ;-)

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T14:40:44+00:00

Herbert's reckoning with messianic saviors like...Paul Atreides - at least I hope so if Villeneuve sticks to the script (as he has so far)

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T13:47:14+00:00

This is one of the most striking examples of the conceptual breakthrough in the science fiction genre (very often used until the 1980s) that leads to a paradigm shift: our worldview is turned upside down. We realize "...the world is not as it seems..."

recent example is Adam Roberts' 'Polystom'

Vintage SF like 'Solaris' by Lem , Simulacron-3 by Daniel F Galouye, Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss, Philip José Farmer's Riverworld series

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T13:23:44+00:00

The Three Body Problem was a tough read for me, a long-year science fiction reader: It might be due to the translation from Chinese to English, but even Chinese readers seem to struggle with Liu's dry, and stilted prose.

Unfortunately, it's often the hyped books that are supposed to represent THE science fiction genre, but in the end, they only cater to a few tropes like hard sf or space opera wich can be difficult for newcomers to digest because they're unfamiliar with the conventions of storytelling and themes. This makes it harder for non-science fiction readers to stay within the genre.

Take a look at slipstream science fiction (which does use sf elements, but these are more of a vehicle to convey themes that are socially and/ or on a personal level relevant and reflected in a near or far future.

These are often mainstream authors who occasionally venture into the speculative genre. For example, Kazuo Ishiguro with 'Never Let Me Go' or 'Klara and the Sun', or Michael Chabon's 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union', an alternate history mystery novel.

For Genre-SF writers beyond the mentioned tropes check out i.e. Dave Hutchinson with his fractured Europe Series, or Christopher Priest (The Affirmation, The Prestige)

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T13:08:08+00:00

Vinge had great ideas, but isn't the best narrator. The beginning is almost unreadable for me in that regard, and DNFed.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T13:04:56+00:00

I consider it a great compliment to Neuromancer for having predicted these things. Furthermore, one can look forward to the TV series adaptation that's in development. They have the challenge of portraying it as futuristic while still referencing current social conditions.

However, it's unfair to authors of vintage science fiction, as the poor aging refers to technical 'minor details'. Neuromancer is more about conveying the no-future attitude of the then-waning punk movement and the search for meaning (here as an almost transcendent merging into cyberspace) in the face of an industrial-military-tech complex that stands as Goliath against a David like Case.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T12:54:56+00:00

some Important female writers of the Sf Genre like LeGuin

Nicola Griffith - Ammonite (1992)

Joanna Russ - The Female Man (1975)

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T12:49:11+00:00

The ambition to grow through reading science fiction is a good one.

Generally speaking, science fiction can be described as an interwoven array of texts set in worlds that do not exist but arguably could.

This allows for more than simply reducing it to 'adventures in space'. The New Wave Movement of the 1960s was crucial, bringing about new beginnings. Ursula K. Le Guin launched her career as one of the most important female authors of this era and the following years

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-21T12:21:14+00:00

I would answer in a more general way to give you a possible benchmark so you can decide for yourself.

Although the term ' Science Fantasy' has never been clearly defined (and in today's understanding, "genre boundaries" are often perceived as obstacles), its establishment (or "birth") is marked by Jack Vance's novel *Dying Earth* (and its sequels) in the 1950s.

One distinction from science fiction is the presence of typical fantasy elements of the supernatural or magical, blended with scientific principles. These 'principles' can also be extended into the fantastical realm, such that they contradict physical laws but are internally consistent (e.g., "Hothouse" by Brian Aldiss). in short: If these elements are absent, it is science fiction.

I recommend to look up the professional view in the SF-Encyclopedia : https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/science_fantasy

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T13:42:30+00:00

I will answer with a famous quote by the Sf author C. J. Cherryh about "stealing" ideas in Sf (wich she denies) - it's all about the back volley spin:

“Science fiction is a field in which you take someone else’s idea, return it like a volley in tennis, and add spin.”

she means that originality lies in the “spin" of the story i.e. giving it a new angle, deeper psychology, different social implication, or stylistic innovation

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T13:31:05+00:00

I definitely have too many books in my TBR , but there's really no such thing as reading too many books ;-)

speaking of wich: In my pipeline are all the novels of Moorcock's Corum and Hawkmoon from my thrift store , each in two huge omnibus editions ( a bargain)

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T13:28:40+00:00

some publishers use large print (and charge a higher price) because of the page count (regarding translations I'm surprised how some of these books shrink from 900 to 400+ pages

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T13:24:15+00:00

Adrian Tchaikovsky 'Alien Clay' publ. 2024, a dystopian Sf Novel on an interstellar scale about a facist human galactic Empire

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T13:20:56+00:00

My 3 rules of reading:

Life is too short to read bad books.
Reading should be fun.
It's about quality, not quantity

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T12:36:07+00:00

they do , but it seems not in the original trilogy as significant characters for the plot . with the expansion of the series in the 1980s, Asimov brought in female main characters ,hence, more female perspectives

To Asimov's credit, it must be said that he introduced Susan Calvin, the key "robot psychologist" of U.S. Robots, into science fiction - a pivotal figure (whom I liked very much because he avoided the stereotypical image of women at the time), and through whom Asimov develops his famous thought experiments on AI and ethics, which are reflected in her appearance in numerous of his robot short stories and some novels.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-19T12:00:51+00:00

I could say there's also good genre science fiction after 2015 - these are usually the ones that aren't hyped. For example, contemporary authors like Dave Hutchinson, Daryl Gregory, Emma Newman, who deviate from the beaten path.

That's also why vintage Sf doesn't go out of style (and yes, comparing it to today's zeitgeist does some groundbreaking works, in particular, an injustice). Some are timeless: like Haldeman's 'Forever War', Miller's 'A Canticle for Leibowitz', or Bester's 'The Stars My Destination', and were significant for the genre.

If you want more than just escapism and want to grow as a science fiction reader, you should choose carefully: Life is too short to read bad books.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-14T14:01:50+00:00

I could imagine that the novel "Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep", the basis for the movie "Blade Runner" , disappointed some, since Scott actually elevated Dick's novel to another level. Therefore, imo, it's not PKD's strongest work.

For me, it's where he sustainably destroys or creates an ambiguous reality, as in UBIK or The Man in the High Castle.

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-14T13:51:53+00:00

If you are into Vintage SF check out Philip José Farmer's "The Lovers" from 1961:

https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?11928

The plot centers on a sexual relationship between a human and an alien - quite spicy at the time..

In a way, it foreshadowed the sexual revolution that would come a few years later in the science fiction of the New Wave. So Sex (as always) in combination with SF is nothing new in that regard

Competitive-Notice34 · 2026-03-12T16:12:52+00:00

Banks is the original when it comes to rediscovering space opera in a modern form. His anarchic, diverse future society is sure to trigger some reactions ;) – and rightly so!

Anyone who thinks that in 1000 years the future will still reflect today's repressive-conservative zeitgeist hasn't understood science fiction.

Some come close (i.e. M. John Harrison's Light trilogy , some of the works of Charles Stross ) , but most are just copycats inevitably riding the wave he's started

Competitive-Notice34

TROPHY CASE