got any recent sci fi recommendations?

[God Bomb]

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell and it's sequel (Children of God)

In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet that will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question what it means to be "human".

thanks for the rec, I checked out "The Sparrow".  It was very good, if a little implausible at times.  But incredibly depressing.  To the point where I didn't really want to read the sequel.  I read the wiki for the Children of God instead, and I think it would have depressed me too.

[brilligtove]

Two hardcore prolific scifi authors I like, Alan Dean Foster and Jack L. Chalker.

Are they still writing? Cool. I used to read a lot of them both. The Humanx stories from ADF were a lot of fun. I found Flinx tales spiralled out of control and stopped making much sense though.

Chalker's dead. I haven't checked Foster's pulse. I recently had enough time to read all the Flinx books straight through. I found his links past and future to be ... interesting.

I never made it through all the Flinx books. I somehow got to them out of order and with gaps. I might have to revisit the series. At the time I thought it was an incoherent mess.

[Noisy Rhysling]

Two hardcore prolific scifi authors I like, Alan Dean Foster and Jack L. Chalker.

Are they still writing? Cool. I used to read a lot of them both. The Humanx stories from ADF were a lot of fun. I found Flinx tales spiralled out of control and stopped making much sense though.

Chalker's dead. I haven't checked Foster's pulse. I recently had enough time to read all the Flinx books straight through. I found his links past and future to be ... interesting.

I never made it through all the Flinx books. I somehow got to them out of order and with gaps. I might have to revisit the series. At the time I thought it was an incoherent mess.

I read them hit-or-miss back in the day, but I've gotten into the habit of looking up the chronology and doing the slow march. For the Flinx books there's only one that wildly out of sequence with regard to publication date, The Tar-Ayim Krang. Otherwise I felt they were contiguous. I do wish we had more of September Skua's back story.

[brilligtove]

Looks like I need to figure out that library app after all.

[Noisy Rhysling]

Looks like I need to figure out that library app after all.

If you have a lot of books the barcode reader is a blessing. Boss Lady had a lot of books to enter when I turned her on to librarything, and the mouse allowed her to enter >1,500 books in two days steady work. Like any demon-possessed electronic device it can be temperamental, but she got used to it in a few minutes.

Before that I had all her books sort by category:

[brilligtove]

Oh wow. I didn't even know that barcode reading was a thing. So much to catch up on!

[Noisy Rhysling]

Oh wow. I didn't even know that barcode reading was a thing. So much to catch up on!

They made it ... cute.

[starnado]

I just listened to Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. I didn't take to it at first but it grew on me and in me, at first as a growing affection for the characters and then, as the plot developed, as an increasing sense of hopelessness and excited tension. The book that defines the term steampunk.

[PANTS!]

Looks like I need to figure out that library app after all.

What app is this?

[Ah.hell]

Hmm....a library app, I'm going to have to get me one of those. 

[brilligtove]

Most public library systems have apps you can use do read books on your phone. I still haven't done this from my Toronto Public Library account.

[amysrevenge]

I've been a cardholder at two different libraries that use the "Hoopla" app for their digital libraries.  It's a mix of awesome and frustrating - if you are accustomed to Audible and/or Google Play Books, for instance, you might find the Hoopla interface less intuitive. 

And the selections are often kind of... mysterious.  Like, they don't have some traditional favourites (ie. expensive stuff), and have heaps of stuff you've never heard of (ie. cheap stuff).