Spring’s publishing schedule is full of science fiction books I’m anxious to read. Here’s the first batch of them… click on the cover or title to check them out on Amazon.com; click on the author’s name to see the author on Amazon.

Robert J. Sawyer’s “Rollback” (3 April 2007)

A few years ago it seemed that many of my favorite writers were suddenly dead - and if they weren’t dead, they were at least not publishing enough to keep me busy. I started picking up more books because the covers looked good or because Amazon told me that I should consume - I mean read - books that it recommended. Robert J. Sawyer was one of the new authors I tried, and I went through quite a few of his books rapidly once I started reading him. Possibly my favorite was “Calculating God”, a story about an alien landing in Toronto whose first words are “Take me to a paleontologist”.

Sawyer’s a decent writer, smart, rational and (as a Canadian) never above taking a few digs at the US. His latest book looks to be a story about the second received message from aliens, with a focus on the woman who decoded the first message, her failed attempt at rejuvenation and her husband’s successful attempt.

John Scalzi’s “The Last Colony” (27 April 2007)

John Scalzi is a relatively new novelist who’s been a pleasure to discover. His first published novel, “Old Man’s War”, is everything a good classic Heinlein novel should be (without all the orgies and sleeping with your mother). Its sequel, “The Android’s Dream” showed that Scalzi had more than one world in him and was at home with humor as he was with drama. “The Last Colony” is the third book in the “Old Man’s War” series (or fourth, counting the novella “The Sagan Diary”) and is one of the books coming out the spring that I’m most anticipating.

Ian McDonald’s “Brasyl” (3 May 2007)

If Ian McDonald manages to capture my attention with “Brasyl” the way he did with “River of Gods” then “Brasyl” will probably end up being my favorite book of the year. The biggest impediment to it making as much of an impression on me has nothing to do with it; the year that “River of Gods” came out, I’d had several friends go to India and I loved it so much I gave them all copies. Also, the cover to the UK edition was way cool (it had a lovely Ganesh on it). But seriously, it was an awesome book, and I’ve enjoyed all of Ian McDonald’s work, so I can hardly wait for “Brasyl”.

Ken Macleod’s “The Execution Channel” (12 June 2007)

Macleod’s SF isn’t the hardest out there… his stories aren’t as much about the science and physics as they are about the social structures set in science fiction worlds. His politics are clearly quite left-leaning, with many of the stories involving communists, socialists and anarchists. I’ve really enjoyed his earlier novels and have also enjoyed seeing him evolve as a writer.

“The Execution Channel” looks to be a near-future extrapolation exploring the conflict between new technology and the old establishment. According to Amazon it also involves a nuclear attack on Scotland.

There’s more to come soon…

[tags]robert sawyer, john scalzi, ian mcdonald, ken macleod, sf, science fiction, books, new releases, rollback, the last colony, brasyl, execution channel, old man’s war, river of gods[/tags]

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