In article <58OdnW5rsq06e3vanZ2dnUVZ_oKhnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>,
Ken from Chicago <kwicker1b_nospam@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>"James Nicoll" <jdnicoll@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
>news:fs652v$ne2$1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Is there a modern SF author whose science fiction scratches
>> similar itches as the (solo) fiction of Arthur C. Clarke?
>>
>> I'll arbitrarily define "modern" as post-1998 and further
>> specify that even if Baxter had begun his career that late, he still
>> wouldn't count.
>
>For those not familiar with Clarke's solo work, might you cite examples
for
>those familiar with "modern" works so they might help?
>
The ones that come to mind (and so might show
my preferences) first are:
IMPERIAL EARTH: Scion of a wealthy family is sent back to Earth for the
USA's 500th birthday, although his real mission is to secure the future
of his family and his world (dependent on selling a resource whose
demand may be about to implode). His trip is complicated by his personal
history.
RENDEZVOUS WITHY RAMA (N!O!T! the sequels! which are a stink in the
nostrils of a non-existant god): a spacecraft is dragooned into examining
a passing alien space craft.
FOUNTAINS OF PARADISE: This is about the construction of a beanstalk.
THE CITY AND STARS: After a billion year hiatus in tourism, a young
man decides to leave his highly advanced city.
SONGS OF DISTANT EARTH: A low population colony world is visited by
a passing star****p (But I like the short story more),
A FALL OF MOONDUST: This about a tourist vessel that gets trapped under
the surface of the Moon and the effort to find and rescue it.
EARTHLIGHT: Espionage on a moon caught between two powers stumbling
towards war (If Clarke wasn't in some ways the anti-Alan Furst, I'd
have used this when someone asked for Alan Furst style SF).
As for shorts:
A Meeting With Medusa: Despite a life-altering accident some years
prior, the protagonist becomes the first person from Earth to visit
Jupiter.
Rescue Party: Well intentioned aliens head to save what they can from
a doomed Earth, with entirely too much success.
A Walk in the Dark: This is about what you'd expect from the title.
History Lesson: Visitors muse over the relics from long-dead Earth.
The Wall of Darkness: An explorer runs into an unreasonable problem when
he tries to reach the far side of a mysterious wall.
The Nine Billion Names of God: Computer science + Buddhism = a win win
scenario, although perhaps not for us.
Superiority: The story of the role advanced research and development
played in a glorious victory.
Jupiter Five: More archaeology plus a lesson in orbital mechanics.
There are more but I cannot recall their titles.
--
http://www.livejournal.com/users/james_nicoll
http://www.cafepress.com/jdnicoll
(For all your "The problem with
defending the English language [...]" T-****rt, cup and tote-bag needs)
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