I'm looking for good, well written, contemporary science fiction

[Karnos]

I didn't know where else to ask this.

As the title says; I'm looking for interesting, contemporary science fiction that is well written, and not part of a series of any kind. I stopped reading science fiction quite a while ago and I've recently been rereading some of it, but it's always back to classics of my childhood and teenage years, like Bradbury and Gibson. Bradbury and Gibsons are fantastic writers regardless of genre, but I tried re-reading some Arthur C. Clarke and I couldn't bear the dry prose, despite the great ideas.

The only contemporary science fiction writer I've read at the moment that meets the criteria is Ted Chiang, with good writing and interesting science fiction ideas. I mainly want to know what's hot in the world of Science Fiction right now and avoid horrid prose.

[Gnosticangel]

Have you tried the author Paolo Bacigalupi? I found "The Windup Girl" to be engaging and perhaps even prophetic:

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula awards for best novel, a new edition of the break-out science fiction debut featuring additional stories and a Q&A with the author.

Anderson Lake is AgriGen’s Calorie Man, sent to work undercover as a factory manager in Thailand while combing Bangkok’s street markets in search of foodstuffs thought to be extinct, hoping to reap the bounty of history’s lost calories.

Emiko is the Windup Girl, a strange and beautiful creature. Emiko is not human; she is an engineered being, grown and programmed to satisfy the decadent whims of a Kyoto businessman, but now abandoned to the streets of Bangkok. Regarded as soulless beings by some, devils by others, New People are slaves, soldiers, and toys of the rich in this chilling near future in which calorie companies rule the world, the oil age has passed, and the side effects of bio-engineered plagues run rampant across the globe.

What happens when calories become currency? What happens when bio-terrorism becomes a tool for corporate profits and forces mankind to the cusp of post-human evolution? Bacigalupi delivers one of the most highly-acclaimed science fiction novels of the twenty-first century.

https://www.amazon.com/Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597808210/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503410901&sr=1-1&keywords=the+windup+girl

 

https://www.amazon.com/Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597808210/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1503410901&sr=1-1&keywords=the+windup+girl

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

Haven't read them myself (yet) but Adam Roberts, Aliette De Bodard, Nina Allan, Lavie Tidhar and Ian Sales are all quite acclaimed.

Nina Allan also writes horror.
Tidhar has written some stuff that looks like weird fantasy.
Sales and Roberts are pretty demanding critics.

[Zaharoff]

James S A Corey (pseudonym for Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) has an acclaimed series of novels.
The Expanse (novel series) - Wikipedia
Subterranean Press has offered limited editions.

[Ibrahim]

M. John Harrison's 'Light'

[mgriffin]

I really like the work of Robert Charles Wilson, though his best book (in my opinion), SPIN, is the first book in a trilogy.

[Karnos]

Thanks guys, I'll check these out. Any more suggestions are welcome!

[qcrisp]

Quote Originally Posted by Karnos

Thanks guys, I'll check these out. Any more suggestions are welcome!

I haven't read this, but I've been recommended, independently from two different sources, Blood Music, by Greg Bear, so am intrigued.

[ghadis]

Anything by Christopher Priest. He has been on a bit of a roll the last few years with The Gradual, The Adjacent and others all being superb.

Likewise, M John Harrison. Anything by him is amazing.

i recent;y read Nina Allen's 'The Rift' and it was great. I've enjoyed many of her short stories in the past and am pleased to see she is just a good a novel writer. Quite similar to Harrison and Priest in some ways.

On the more space opera side of things i've just last night started Kameron Hurley's 'The Stars Are Legion'. Only a few chapters in but i'm absolutely loving it so far.

Oh, also a big recommendation for Jeff Vandermeer who has also been on a bit of a roll the last few years with the Southern Reach Trilogy and his most recent, the excellent, 'Bourne.'

All the above are tinged with a touch of the weird and uncanny as opposed to more straight up science fiction.

[Karnos]

Thanks, Ghadis! I'm also familiar with Priest, I forgot to mention him. In fact I recently finished his short story collection The Dream Archipelago.

Here is the third time I see Nina Allan's name, so I will have to check her out. She's Christopher Priest's wife, I think.

Vandermeer is a hit or miss for me. I really liked Veniss Underground (I've read it twice) and Shriek: An afterword but I did not like most of City of Saints and Madmen (save for the first story, Dradin in love) and the first volume of the Southern Reach trilogy, Annihilation felt a bit derivative to my taste, although I've yet to read the remaining two.

Thanks for mentioning Blood Music, Quentin. I've read a couple of books by Greg Bear, many, many years ago; Eon and The forge of God. I remember not being very impressed by latter, but I do remember being fascinated by the ideas of the former, although I have no recollection of the actual quality of the writing.

Thanks for the recommendations, guys. If anyone knows any more, keep them coming!