Newton’s Wake: A Space Operaby Ken MacLeod

Here’s a book that tosses you into a strange new world and time. The computers of Earth became intelligent and devastated the planet in a short war known as the Hard Rapture. Since then, the fleeing survivors have created several factions spread across the galaxy. Lucinda Carlyle is a member of a fractious family that controls the Skein, a web of gates linking distant planets. When on a mission of “combat archeology”, she blows her first command. Her team wakes a hive of destructive machines, and is forced to leave her behind in a hostile human culture. Can she learn to co-operate with people offended by her technology before a greater threat destroys them all?

Biosby Robert Charles Wilson

Isis is the only living planet within range of Earth, and it is deadly. It has a rich ecosystem, older than ours, yet without intelligence — ripe for colonization, if only we could survive exposure to its air. Zoe Fisher has been genetically engineered as the newest probe. Will her stronger immune system be enough for her to survive when seals and sterilization fail? A tight and suspenseful read.

The Chanur Saga and Chanur’s Endgame by C. J. Cherryh

C. J. Cherryh is a reliable provider of novels of politics and life in space. This series, orginally published as five volumes, and now collected in two, is one of her most light-hearted. When the cat-like Hani crew of The Pride of Chanur hide a human refugee, it shakes up the entire balance of the multispecies trading region. When intelligent felines and humans can come to understand each other, you know everything will be ok. A fun ride.

Doorways in the Sand by Roger Zelazny

Fred’s uncle left him a generous allowance for as long as he was in college. So Fred has been changing majors and avoiding a degree for thirteen years. When his university gives him a doctorate to get rid of him, he’s out of income. And then a priceless alien artifact disappears, and everyone thinks Fred has it. This is a great story, with rich prose and clever structure — just a bit challenging to read. Are you up to it? It is also no longer in print. I found ample used copies available online.

The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold, now published in an omnibus as Young Miles

This books starts with Miles Vorkosigan failing utterly. All his life, he has aspired to serve his world, follow in the steps of his father and grandfather, and join the most prestigious cadre of his society. When in a moment of pride and anger, he pushes too hard on the final physical exam of his military academy, all his dreams lie in ruins. What he does next makes a great tale of adventure. This book begins one of the most celebrated sagas in recent science fiction.

Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov

This is one of my long time favorites. Retired tailor Joseph Schwartz stumbles from our green and pleasant time into a future where Earth is a poor, troublesome, and partly radioactive backwater of human civilization. In fact, to conserve resources, citizens of Earth are routinely euthanized on their 60th birthday. When an experimental medical procedure gives him an edge, he finds himself fighting for his own life and the future of the entire planet.

Beholder’s Eye by Julie Czerneda

Esen is the youngest of a family of five — the only individuals she knows of her species. She, her mother, and her sisters, can all assume the form of any sentient they have tasted. They keep their true nature from all but each other, to protect themselves from the paranoia of more numerous species. But when an enemy who already knows their secret begins hunting them, the strategies of the rest of her family fail to keep them alive. Esen has only one small talent that was hers alone. Can friendship succeed where art, finance, and war have failed?

The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson

A rogue, a courtesan, and the naturalist son of a preacher interact with Newton, Leibniz, and Louis XIV at a pivotal period of history. Although published in three immense volumes, the Baroque Cycle is a unified tapestry holding many threads. Full of adventure, richly imagined, and immensely entertaining, the Baroque Cycle takes a gonzo tour of the movers and shakers of a time that just happens to see the beginnings of the science, math, and banking that created our civilization. Available in three volumes as Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World or as six paperbacks beginning with Quicksilver: Baroque Cycle Volume 1.

Red Thunder by John Varley

When I read this and Mammoth, I felt like John Varley had returned his attention to novels and thought, “Why shouldn’t science fiction be fun?” I enjoyed this very much. It has something of the flavor of an early Heinlein. Teenagers meet an eccentric retired military man and his even more colorful Cajun friend. When an American space mission flounders, it threatens the death of the crew and giving the Chinese the first manned landing on Mars. The old commander has a revolutionary space drive in his barn. Can they put together a spaceship, save the astronauts, and make the first landing on Mars Is anything ever that simple?

The Wellstone by Wil McCarthy

Would everyone settle back and enjoy it with unlimited material wealth? Not in this story of a revolution run by nearly immortal children in an incredibly wealthy civilization. As the son of immortal monarchs, Prince Bascal has few hopes of exercising power. So he leads his friends on a protest that grows larger than any of them expected. This is a great ride, and it’s worth noting that author Wil McCarthy is actually trying to build title substance that underlies his fictional civilization’s wealth.

Startide Rising by David Brin

This is a buoyant adventure. The galactic milieu holds many intelligences, like competing and contentious families, and they find humans, by arising without family connections, a pretentious upstart. Newly intelligent dolphins and chimps add charming variety to the character cast. Very entertaining.

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein

It’s worth revisiting this tale of Lunar colonies suffering under a harsh government. Memorable characters, clean prose, and the dramatic intersection of physics and politics make a compelling read.