So many books . . . so little time.

Valerie wrote: "So many books . . . so little time."

I agree lmao

Happy to see H. M. Long on this list!

The ones I am most excited for:
Immortal Longings, The Book That Wouldn't Burn, The Deep Sky, Vampires of El Norte, Camp Damascus and Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea

These covers are works of art! Fantastic job cover artists/designers!

Man, these covers are amazing! Just added a bunch to my list: Witch King, The Book that Wouldn't Burn, the new Brandon Sanderson (does this guy know NO bounds??), and one horror, Her Little Flowers, which sounds deceptively sweet. Waiting, waiting... not that I don't have literally 500 books in my house that I could read in the meantime.

Thank you for separating Science Fiction from Fantasy & Horror. I had the opportunity to read an ARC of The Ferryman and I very much enjoyed it. I have a number of science fiction books already on my list and added a few more. Wonderful!

no real SF here at all - just anodyne wishy washy snowflake friendly woke crap.
Last good SF i read was iain M Banks (sorely missed). modern Scifi isn't. Note the Key Word SCIENCE - Just setting something in the next 10 years or on a spaceship or both is NOT scifi - It's chicklit in space

100 % spot on. - Sounds like stuff from the reading list of a gender studies course, or workshop by Extinction Rebellion, but what does any of that have to do with actual, true-to-the-core Science-Fiction? Where are authors like Issac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Carl Sagan and many others? They conjured up fascinating worlds and scenarios that people still love to read and talk about decades later - real classics. - What's going on? - I feel like an alien myself sometimes when I read the book descriptions up there, and elsewhere on this site. It boggles the mind (not in a good way) - Maybe Goodreads should sometimes recommend books that are not obsessed with woke themes, but instead offer intriguing, intelligent plotlines, original and credible characters (not trans this, queer that) and some REAL, well-constructed suspense. - Where is the quality? Do these books merit being classed as SCIENCE-fiction? - Does Goodread care if these novels they recommend are actually ANY GOOD and ENJOYABLE to read?

Again, SF <> F, please quit lumping them together.

I need books to have a warning if there's any kind of smut or sexual content because apparently that's what everyone likes right now and I'm not interested at all

Just picked up The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. I'm a huge fan of The Passage Trilogy and am really looking forward to this. Also looking forward to the Tremblay collection.

Here's what an old-time scientifiction fan wrote in the lettercol of the Sept. 1955 issue of THE ORIGINAL SCIENCE FICTION STORIES:

"There seems to be a great deal more emphasis on the story than on the science today, but perhaps this isn't too bad. Still, I sort of miss the flavor of what I think of as the 'good old days' but I guess reading tastes have changed a lot since then, and you have to keep up with the times if you are going to hold the attention of today's readers what with all the competition from television and radio and the movies."

That old-time reader "used to read Amazing Stories way back when." Amazing Stories magazine began in 1926, which was 29 years before this 1955 letter. As a point of comparison: we are in 2023 today, so 29 years ago was the year 1994.

One of the posters above in this thread asked, "Where are authors like Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Carl Sagan and many others?" Asimov died in 1992, Heinlein died in 1988, and Sagan died in 1996. So, that's how long ago we are talking.

Having said all that, this Goodreads list is not entirely absent of older authors, since a new book by longtime author Connie Willis is included. And a newer author on the list, Aimee Ogden, is a former science teacher who had a story published in Analog last year. So, perhaps today's old-timers might find a model in their 1955 counterpart, recognizing that "you have to keep up with the times," particularly in a forward-thinking genre like science fiction.

Gotta say, I'm enjoying the sturm und drang of this comment thread; I'm finding all sides very funny and amusing. Breaking out hte popcorn!

For the vast majority of science fiction existing as a genre it has been dominated by straight white men the fact that there are now more diverse authors writing their own visions of the future (and able to be published) is something to be celebrated to my mind, in science fiction of all genres you think we could embrace complexity of viewpoint.

There was also a concerted effort during the 'golden age' of science fiction for men like Groff Conklin and John W Campbell to exclude women and anyone not white so perhaps we can see the current embracing of new viewpoints as an antidote to a very old issue.

Also frankly I'm bored of reading older science fiction novels by authors like Brian Aldiss or J G Ballard and finding them often using incredibly sexist language to describe women. In so many classic sci fi stories there are wonderful compelling ideas but then I'm brought out of it by sexual language about teenage girls written by older men or by supposedly heroic male characters that demean and belittle their wives and women subordinates at every turn.

It is a clear fallacy to suggest that good science fiction can only be written by men and white men at that, Ursula Le Guin, Margaret Atwood and Octavia Butler were writing fantastic science fiction 40+ years ago that didn't push anyone out of the stories but rather invited in groups that had been left out by other sci fi authors. I see so many people who don't normally read science fiction pick up their books and find a new love for the genre through them. Also that queer and trans characters in sci fi today are still being thought of as shocking by some commenters shows how ahead of the curb Ursula Le Guin and others truly were.

Damn, that is a *major* TL;DR right there.

Jeff wrote: "Just picked up The Ferryman by Justin Cronin. I'm a huge fan of The Passage Trilogy and am really looking forward to this. Also looking forward to the Tremblay collection."
I LOVED it!

I’d love to get into sci-fi

Interesting that the Goodreads email showed some book covers that this post doesn't include. Not included on this list is The Reformatory and it looks awesome!

Lydia wrote: "100 % spot on. - Sounds like stuff from the reading list of a gender studies course, or workshop by Extinction Rebellion, but what does any of that have to do with actual, true-to-the-core Science-..."
thanks for reminding me about the legendary Carl Sagan. Been rewatching Cosmos (with the late great Vangelis on Soundtrack!)

I’m looking forward to Nick Cutter’s new one, The Handyman Method