The Hard Sci-fi thread

[Psychosplodge]

I've not read much of what would be considered as hard sci-fi (which is really more science-possible, than science-fiction when you think about it). The only ones I can honestly say I really enjoyed was Kim Stanley Robinson's amazing Mars trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars and Blue Mars) dealing with the colonisation and terraforming of Mars. I found those a fascinating read and think that they would make for a great HBO style tv series, though not movies as too much would have to be chopped out to fit them into movies.

How did I forget about them, they're a Brilliant read.

Is hard sci fi when you see the penetration and there's less story?

I'm here to fix your planet
But I can't afford to pay you
I'm sure we can come to some arrangement

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

I've heard good things about the Mars trilogy, I keep meaning to check that out! Colonisation is becoming more fascinating to me, I guess because we are slowly getting closer to it becoming a reality.

[Psychosplodge]

It's good.

[scadugenga]

It's a worldbuilding problem. Stories are driven by plot, which is made interesting by characters and worldbuilding/setting. A book with a fantastic setting that lacks good characters and/or plot will end up sounding like a physics textbook.

Exactly this.

[YorkNecromancer]

To assist in clarification: [url]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness[/url]

The problem I usually get is that the people who are good with the real science part of science usually tend to lack the emotional intelligence to create compelling characters. Conversely, the ones who are great at characters tend to be terrible at science.

What I find grating about hard sci-fi is that it usually doesn't include the interesting side effects of the technology it introduces. Take the internet; the Cyberpunk genre posited hacking and inter-corporate warfare in the 90's. It didn't consider things like the London Riots being orchestrated by highly effective, for want of a better word "organic", leaderless communication. It didn't consider things like technological snobbery ("Oh you use Microsoft? Ugh"), as well as the adoption of technology by the great unwashed masses, who use it to look at cat videos.

This all tends to undermine the "hardness"; for me, if you're aiming to be as realistic as possible with your science, you have to be as realistic as possible with your culture to. You can't have modern/mediaeval stasis.

If you want a truly "hard" scif-fi, you might want to watch "Primer".
[url]http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/Primer?from=Main.Primer[/url]

The hardest sci-fi I've enjoyed is probably the reimagined Battlestar Galactica (even if it does go all wibbly-wobbly in the final season), mainly because it tries to keep the culture as realistic as possible (doesn't always succeed, but it tries).

The other series I consider to be "hard" would be the Avatar: Legend of Korra, purely because it entirely averts mediaeval stasis. In the original Legend of Aang series, it was a kind of fantasy mediaeval China. The Korra series is set decades later, and the society is now in the equivelant of the 1920's, specifially because of the "new technology" (i.e.: refinements of magical powers) that the main characters of the first series developed. These have allowed actual new technology as well, in a logical, sensible way. The only "soft" thing about the series is the skill of bending elements, which is obviously complete nonsense. Everything else is surprisingly hard, considering it's a kids' series.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Resurrecting this thread cos iv got increasingly into the genre and would love to find more people into it.


First recomendation is Stephen Baxter's Xeelee series. I got all 4 main books in one volume and it's been one of the best SF reads I've ever had! Totally my thing!

My fave of his has to be "Ring". The Ring itself is one of the most awesome SF concept's I've read - totally in line with Olaf Stapledon esque stuff! The Ring itself is made out of a cosmic string that is made into a loop and creates the phenomenon of the Great Attractor. The Ring's actual function is to create a kerr metric at the centre which creates a portal to other universes. The Ring seems to have similaroties to Tipler Cylinders.

Theres more too...the main antagonists are a fascinating species of Dark Matter lifeforms that inhabit gravity wells of stars. So yeah, totally awesome stuff - I will have to read more of Baxters work as it seems to be more on the "grand concept" end of hard SF that I like the best.

On the other end (the more down to earth Arthur C Clarke style) I have to recomend a sci-fi anime called Planetes. Absolutely brilliant - very very well done realistic near-future setting, and if one of your complaints about hard SF is characterisation, then this one is TOTALLY for you as it is very character heavy! Just give it a chance, and it totally does include the interesting side effects of the technology and the settings such as how different gravity effects humans. I wish so much there was more stuff like this, it gets the genre absolutely spot on.

Also picked up an Alastair Reynolds book, "Pushing Ice", but have not started it yet - however it sounds like it has a lot of cool and interesting "proper" Alien Aliens in it, and from what I've read his Revelation Space series is pretty badass...guess I shall see!

[daboarder]

May I recommend Joel Shepards Cassandra Kresnov books.

Very well written, strong female protagonist (Characters actually, there's more female lead characters than males now that I think of it), and good plot. little on the soft side but they do paint an intriguing picture of a society where the "network" is a part of the infrastructure as much or more so than the roads.

[Psychosplodge]

Yeah I'd recommend Alastair Reynolds, I think my favourite one of his is House of Suns, which iirc is standalone.

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

Reading it's synopsis on Wiki, it sounds like it has a lot of similarities with Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, so ill probably like it.

Daboarder - I love good strong female protagonists. There are not enough in general, but on on the subject of Females in SF - Margaret Atwood, Alice Sheldon, Madeline Ashby, Tricia Sullivan, Catherine Asaro and Nancy Kress are some Hard SF writers that kick ***!

[Charistoph]

Speaking of strong female protagonists, What would the classification of the Honor Harrington universe be? Hard, soft, or middle?

On one hand, it involves sciences which we can't even prove, yet, but on the other hand, it could be plausible. And Weber actually takes these things in to account as he writes the stories.