Carl's Recommended Fiction

These are some books that I either like, or they are by authors I like and have been recommended to me. It's far from complete, and I'll be adding to it as titles and authors occur to me.

Carl Bussjaeger
OK, it may seem crass to recommend my own books, but...
If I didn't think they were worth reading I wouldn't have bothered writing them.

What would you do for cheap access to space? What would the government do to stop it?

Various short stories. Some from the Net Assets world, plus more than a dozen others. From the king of all radio pirates, to a wannabe hi-tech redneck.

L. Neil Smith
I've liked Neil's work since I read The Probability Broach back in the '80s. Oddly enough, even though I knew about libertarianism prior to encountering TPB, Neil's fiction has taught me a lot more about it than any academic tomes ever did.

I don't recall just how many copies of TPB I've bought. I loaned so many out that never came back that I started buying copies to give away. This is a fun introduction to hardcore libertarianism.	When I first read TPM, I was somewhat disappointed in it. I mostly enjoyed it, but it seemed choppy, jumped around, incomplete. I later learned that the first edition I read had little resemblance to the manuscript Neil submitted; the editor butchered it. Here's what it was supposed to be all along. Much, much better.	A fun sequel to TPB. See if you can spot my appearance in it. In fact, try to figure out all of the real world people references.	Just plain fun.
You'll like this one, too. It does get a bit thick with philosophy at times, but it's worth, and you'll get caught up in the philosophy anyway.	Entertaining and thought provoking. High tech hunter-gatherers in the Asteroids.	More by Smith

James P. Hogan
I read Inherit the Stars back in high school (yeah, Hogan's been around quite a while), and have made a point of picking up every book Hogan writes, fiction and nonfiction alike, ever since.

Brand new; haven't read it yet, but I will.	Four words: Buy it. Read it.	I've have had to replace this one a few times. Not, for once because loaners got lost, but because I actually wear the paperbacks out rereading it.
Ever wish you could just... fix everything? Good read.	More by Hogan

Travis S. Taylor
I happened upon Warp Speed at my local meatspace bookstore. Looked interesting. I read it, and then checked Amazon for anything else by Taylor.

Action, and a lot of hard science. Taylor understands that science fiction is supposed to differ from fantasy.	Sequel to Warp Speed. A little heavy on the wish fulfillment stuff, but still good. The physics are practically metaphysical.	By Ringo, but listed here because Taylor co-wrote Looking Glass's sequels. Hard-core physics, BEM, energy weapons, nukes and beyond. Action; did I mention action? I was largely turned off by military SF, but this started changing my mind.	Submarine cum starship. I wonder how well a hull designed to resist high external pressures would deal with the reverse environment, but it's fun even so. When reading Taylor, keep an eye out for other SF references.
Well, the Vorpal Blade survived. More or less. Sorta. Some of the crew, too. Better try again.	OK, the Blade didn't survive that time out, but a couple of Marines did. One more time...	Hint: there's no one named Von Neumann appearing in the story.	More by Taylor

John Ringo
I generally avoid most military SF, so I hadn't read Ringo until I saw some work he did with Travis Taylor. I like what I see so far, and feel comfortable recommending his work.

I haven't read this yet, but I've heard good things about it, and I've been enjoying Ringo's work.

This is hardcover, for pre-release orders.

More by Ringo

Firefly Store
Videos rather than books. The short-lived Firefly series (deliberately sabotaged by the TV network) was some of the best SF to hit the television screen. The cinematic release of Serenity was likewise for the big screen. Think of Firefly as the "Anti-Star Drek".

I prefer not to do my casual reading on-screen, thank to contrast and lighting issues. Plenty of other people feel the same, which is why e-books have been slow to take off. The Kindle is addressing those problems. It isn't perfect yet, but I'm getting one.

Got a Kindle, or planning to get one? You'll be wanting books for that. The Kindle Bookstore