Cool Starship

“Peter F. Hamilton was born in Rutland in 1960 and still lives nearby. He began writing in 1987, and sold his first short story to Fear magazine in 1988. He has written many bestselling novels, including the Greg Mandel series, the Night's Dawn trilogy, the Commonwealth Saga, the Void trilogy, short-story collections and several standalone novels including Fallen Dragon and Great North Road.“ Pan Macmillan / Authors / Peter F. Hamilton.

The Commonwealth Saga was my first Science Fiction series. It introduced John Lee to me. It introduced a more realistic future for humanity to me. If you give Hamilton a go, please start with the Commonwealth Saga.

“Iain [Menzies] Banks (16 February 1954 – 9 June 2013) was born in Fife and was educated at Stirling University, where he studied English Literature, Philosophy and Psychology. [...] He is acclaimed as one of the most powerful, innovative and exciting writers of his generation: The Guardian called him “the standard by which the rest of SF is judged” and the New York Times-bestselling William Gibson described Banks as a “phenomenon”.“ Iain Banks dot net / About

Banks was not my first science fiction author. But he is now the one I scream at people as a recommendation. His Culture series changed my life. We always had the books, as my husband is the ultimate science fiction fan. And he was heartbroken when he learned of Iain M. Banks' death in 2013.

I found this book because I'd walk through fire for John Lee, the narrator.

Renegade – Shepherd, Joel (Book 1, Spiral Wars)

ISBN-10: 1523981458

After striking out on a few Science-Fiction recommendations which were not Science-Fiction, I wanted to go back to some old faithfuls. Recently, however, I wanted a new adventure, so had a look at John Lee's back catalogue. John Lee is up there for me as one of the best narrators on Audible. I will listen to a book just because he has narrated it.

This is not a space opera, and I need people to stop categorising it as such.

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Chambers, Becky

ISBN-10: 1473619815

As titles and book covers go, it looks like a good read. I picked it up as it was recommended and was the only one on the list I could find for sale in Cork City. I bought it used from Vibes & Scribes. The blurb isn’t promising. It doesn’t give you anything new to enjoy. Essentially you could pick the plot up and plop it into a fantasy setting, and it’d work. This is why I don’t believe this book is Science Fiction but is instead just a book set in space.