Spider Star
The human colony on the planet Argo has long explored and exploited the technology left behind by an extinct alien race. But then an archaeology team accidentally activates a terrible weapon...
Read More.Praise for Star Dragon
"Seldom does a storytelling talent come along as potent and fully mature as Mike Brotherton. His complex characters take you on a voyage that is both fiercely credible and astonishingly imaginative. This is Science Fiction."
-- David Brin"Star Dragon is terrific fare, offering readers a fusion of hard science and grand adventure."
-- Locus Magazine"Star Dragon is steeped in cosmology, the physics of interstellar travel, exobiology, artificial intelligence, bioscience. Brotherton, author of many scientific articles in refereed journals, has written a dramatic, provocative, utterly convincing hard science sf novel that includes an ironic twist that fans will love."
-- Booklist starred review"Readers hungry for the thought-provoking extrapolation and rigorous technical detail of old-fashioned hard SF are sure to enjoy astronomer Brotherton's first novel."
-- Publishers Weekly"Mike Brotherton, himself a trained astrophysicist, combines the technical acuity and ingenuity of Robert Forward with the ironic, postmodern stance and style of M. John Harrison. In this, his debut novel, those twin talents unite to produce a work that is involving on any number of levels. It's just about all you could ask for in a hardcore SF adventure."
-- Paul di Fillippo, SCI-FI.COM
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What are the Best Science Fiction Mysteries?
September 14th, 2012
I’ve read and watched some good ones, but I’m sure I don’t know this interesting subfield as well as I should to be able to come up with a comprehensive list. Let me list some that I think are good to great, and solicit input from others about some that I may have missed. I’ve got a science-oriented mystery short story I’ve promised for an anthology and so have been thinking about this topic. Now, a lot of good books have “mysteries” scattered throughout them to pull the reader forward, but I’m thinking of “Whodunnit” kind of stories that feature formal detectives or folks thrust into that role tackling puzzles so profound they’d fit into the mystery genre.
Here’s some examples from my own reading that I really enjoyed and can recommend:
Altered Carbon by Robert Morgan. Awesome cyberpunk detective noir.
The Prestige by Christopher Priest. I confess I’ve only seen the movie, but I imagine the book is as good. Just how are they pulling off their tricks?
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge. A murder mystery with a science fictional bent.
Caves of Steel by Issac Asimov. Classic murder mystery…with robots! The sequels were also mysteries if I recall, but it’s been a long time since I’ve read these.
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester. Yet another murder mystery…with telepaths!
Kiln People by David Brin. Another science fiction detective story…with golems!
When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger was really super, cyberpunk with a middle eastern spin.
While Blade Runner sort of fits in, it’s more of a violent missing persons story to me. We know who Deckard is looking for. I recall Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K. Dick, the novel Blade Runner was based on, as being a pretty straightforward science fiction detective story, however. It’s in.
Let me keep in Watchmen as well, even though it’s comic books. There’s a murder mystery…with superheroes!
Well, that’s nine that I think are pretty great! I have a few others I can’t quite remember the titles of, so I guess that they’re not that great, and a few I’ve heard of but not read myself.
Hmmm…after working on my list for a while I found this one, with a lot of overlap. Maybe I’m not missing as many classics as I think I am? Any other really good ones to add?
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The Long Arm of Gil Hamilton – Niven collection; all are “detective” stories/mysteries
Science fiction mysteries are my favorite! And you’ve left off the very best writer of them, Jack McDevitt! He’s Alex Benedict books are amazing literary science fiction mysteries. It’s just about the best SF series going.
I’ve read a few McDevitt and liked them, and one was indeed a science fiction mystery (not an Alex Benedict book however).
And I’m a Niven fan, too, of course. My last novel Spider Star got compared favorably to both McDevitt and Niven. I think I’ve read a few Gil Hamilton stories but not that collection.
Thanks for the input!
This short story by Arthur C.Clarke is quite good (spoilers):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_Strain_%28short_story%29
Edward D. Hoch was the master of SF detective whodunnits. Try the novels:
The Transvection Machine, 1971
The Fellowship of the HAND, 1972
The Frankenstein Factory, 1975
or better yet the short stories:
City of Brass (Simon Ark), 1971
The Judges of Hades (Simon Ark), 1971
The Quests of Simon Ark (Simon Ark), 1984
I don’t love China Mieville’s presence as The Smart SF Writer, but “The City and The City” was a decent SF mystery story. Pretty much a hunt for the killer of a woman, albeit with political twists and fantastical turns.
The next Asimov in the series begun by CAVES OF STEEL s as good – called THE NAKED SUN.
One that has just been published is JACK GLASS by Adam Roberts.
Another new one is WAKE UP AND DREAM by Ian R. MacLeod. It is a brilliant story with Clark Gable (in an alternate universe) being a down on his heels gumshoe. It just won the Side Wise Award.
It’s fantasy rather than sci-fi, but I’ve recently finished Rivers of London. A very junior police officer takes a witness statement from a ghost and ends up having to unravel a mystery where magic is being used to kill people. This is a brilliant book, part comedy, part fantasy adventure, part detective story.
Actually, the book version of The Prestige is much better, although I agree the movie was quite good. There’s a whole other plot line that takes place in modern times that was left out of the book that adds a entire level of impact to the story.
Keith, I’ve been told that before. I thought the movie was great on a lot of levels, so it sounds like the book is totally awesome.