Well, this is so old that I don't know if it even qualifies as news anymore. But someone recently pointed out to me that Marc Andreessen (Mosaic co-author and Web God) named me as one of his picks for top ten SF writers of the '00s. That's cool. Seriously. No, really. Can I explain how cool it is? Okay, you're right. Too Much Information. I should stop now before I lapse into hopelessly pathetic geekery.
Also cool (though perhaps not surprising) is how much I agree with him about the other people on the list:
Charles Stross
Richard Morgan
Ken McLeod
Peter Hamilton
John Scalzi
Neal Asher
Peter Watts
David Marusek
I haven't read David Marusek, and I plan to rectify that in short order. As for the remaining names on the list, these guys are all fantastic writers, tending towards exactly the kind of hard-driving hard SF I love best. If you haven't read any new hard SF in a few years, this is a pretty damn good jumping off point. I can't argue with a single name on there, And my only gripe is the absence of the following names: Elizabeth Bear, M.M. Buckner, Ian MacDonald, Adam Roberts, Justina Robson, and Sean Williams. (You'll note that I discreetly listed them in alphabetic order!) But of course this is why I can never compile lists like these. I'd be constantly tortured by 3 am revelations of all the great writers I'd left out....
Finally, I have to confess that especially near and dear to my heart is Andreessen's bonus pick on this list, Vernor Vinge. True Names really is everything it's cracked up to be. And thankfully we no longer have to hunt through used bookstores or cadge borrowed copies in order to read it!
5 comments:
You’re in for a treat with Counting Heads.
Ian MacDonald is a huge name missing from that list. I'm going to have to look at the other names you added, as I'm not familiar with them. Richard Morgan and Peter Hamilton are two of my favorite writers, along with yourself. Charles Stross is also quite excellent. The others I will be also checking out in short order.
I'd have thought Iain Banks might have made it on there as well. Is he really too 90's?
Hi fresidue!
I love Iain Banks, but the list was supposed to be for people who STARTED writing in the '00s. And Banks was definitely well established before then. In fact, I now realize that Ian MacDonald's first novels go back into the '90s as well. So maybe someone needs to start a best of the '90s list too.....
First time commenter here, but I love your books, Chris. Can't wait for the new one!
Neal Asher is one of my favorites, particularly "The Skinner" and its sequels. The big missing name for me is Alastair Reynolds. The revelation space series was tremendous, as was Century Rain.
Caleb
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