All this talk of space ship books

[Mike]

sure makes me hope the next book selection is indeed a space ship book!

[Nick]

Old Man's War

[Mike]

I'm going to read that regardless.

[Skaw]

I find an odd gap in the space ship book discussions. They seem mostly be really classic choices like Foundation or Starship Troopers with a few newer ones thrown in (like Old Man's War or Leviathan Wakes). I grew up on laser and am rather perplexed by the lack of variety in the ones being mentioned. There are so many great space ship books out there.
I enjoy the classics of the genre, but it would be nice to try something I've never read or heard of before.
*wistful*

[Nick]

I just finished Leviathan Wakes today. It is fairly entertaining. It really feels more of a setup for a bigger better story to come though. You get a world introduction that gives you three distinct cultural groups in Earthers, Mar's colonist, and the Belters. The book does a good job of setting up differences between the groups and reasons for political tension and then throws in a twist that gets slowly revealed through a detective like story of a missing woman. It is enjoyable in a similar way that Dresden files is to me. Its entertaining but nothing I'd write home about or stop people on the streets to get them to read it. I might spend spare audible credits on the sequels later so I can finish the series and get the full story.

[Gordon]

Part of the reason so many old classics are being brought up recently is that Tom and/or Veronica specifically suggested a classic.

[Skaw]

Hmm, that makes sense (I have just started listening to the podcast over the last month or so). I suppose its rather selfish of me. At this point in my reading, I'm familiar with most of the seminal sci-fi books/authors and have already decided whether or not I'm going to read them.
But who am I to get in the way of others reading them. I just get happy thinking of all the lovely space ship laser books I read growing up and want to share the love. Also something good that I've never read (or looked at and decided not to read) is like buried treasure.*

*Please excuse the clashing directions this post has gone.

[Tamahome]

So what are your favorites, Skaw?

[Skaw]

You asked. . .

Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold
Liaden books by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
Julie Czerneda does the best aliens of any author I have ever read
Skyrider books starting with Skirmish
The Madness Season: vampires and aliens in space, no sparkles - awesome
Anne McCaffrey: most of her books are laser books (even her Pern novels)
Timothy Zahn: very reliable for a good read, suggested - Conquerors' Saga starting with Conquerors' Pride
William Dietz: hard military scifi; I liked his McCade Series and his Drifter trilogy.
The Sten series was pretty good, a little weird, but good.
The Stardoc series
The Mageworld series by Debra Doyle, James D. MacDonald
Psion and its sequels
The Helmsman series
C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series - long, complex (and a little slow), but well done; her classic Union Station universe books are good too
Star Voyager Academy was awesome as was its sequel Article 23; the third Prometheus not as awesome, but the first two are worth the disappointment.

I could go on. . .

[Otto]

I'm really enjoying the Culture novels by Iain M. Banks (so far have read Consider Phlebas and Surface Detail). I really like the fully AI space ships with evocative names and deep personality defects. Nothing says dangerous like a million-ton weapons platform that decides to throw a tantrum :-).

[AndrewP]

Andrew wrote: "Nothing says dangerous like a million-ton weapons platform that decides to throw a tantrum :-). ..."

That sounds like Excession. You should read that one, it's great. Incidentally, I believe a GSV would be a LOT more than a million tons.

[Otto]

AndrewP wrote: "Andrew wrote: "Incidentally, I believe a GSV would be a LOT more than a million tons"
Oh, most certainly. Just a number :-)
I need to read more of those books. Just bought Use of Weapons, but so far my favorite ship is Falling Outside the Normal Moral Constraints from Surface Detail.