I hope this thread gives me some reading ideas, because I haven’t read a NEW science fiction novel in, literally, decades.
While I admire Gene Wolfe, Harlan Ellison, Delaney, Zelany, some Herbert, Silverberg, Bester and Clarke, I have to say I’ve been disappointed with so much science fiction...and I WANT to love it.
I think the bloom came off the rose with me when, first, I grew up and tired of the cynicism of the Ellison crowd, and second, Cyberpunk came into being. That youthful unearned cynicism I just grew out of, but I’ve never gotten tired of the “sense of wonder” SF—some Clarke and Andre Norton, especially.
But while I’m a more sophisticated reader now, “sophisticated” too often means “cynical” to these writers. I can’t tell you how many “new classics” I’ve picked up and then bailed on after a hundred pages. I just don’t give a DAMN about “cybercowboys” and their silly posing ways—characters who look cool as their killing people, tough-talking characters who haven’t a shred of humanity to interest me and, especially, boring plots which don’t activate my imagination.
Alfred Bester’s The Stars My Destination is a favorite, as is Clarke’s Songs of Distant Earth. I love Bradbury’s non-sf stuff, too. But these days when I want some good SF, I have to reread something, or write something.
I run into the same problem. I reckon the “newest” author I can get into is Dan Simmons’ Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion. And that was written in the late 80s-early 90s if I recall. He’s also the cat who wrote the essay “Message from a Time Traveler” that shows up on FR now and then. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1610142/posts
Freegards