Science Fiction Recommendations

I like reading science fiction. I have since I first learned to read. One of the reading programs I had at Sahuaro School in Phoenix, Arizona, as a kid included a set of short chapters from a variety of different books. I remember getting a chapter from Robert Heinlein's Farmer in the Sky; one near the begining of the book that described the rocket ship taking off and I've been hooked ever since.

I have been reading and rereading some good scifi books over the holidays and have some recommendations.

I just finished three books by John Scalzi. Two of them, Old Man's War and The Ghost Brigades, I've read previously. Both of these are set in the same universe where humans are fighting desperately to remain alive in a universe filled with hostile aliens. The unique twist in these books is that the defense forces consist almost entirely of old people from earth who have joined in order to avoid dying and are given brand new superhero bodies which are designed specifically for fighting aliens. The writing is very brisk and there's lots of action and plot twists. Both of these books are a lot of fun. I would read them in order, Old Man's War first and then, The Ghost Brigades.

The third book by Scalzi that I just finished is The Android's Dream, which I picked up on Tuesday and finished in about 24 hours. This one is much more humorous and I laughed a lot. It starts off with a US trade representative deliberately insulting his alien counterpart in a special language of scent that only the alien understands. After repeated messages like, "Your mother mates with algae," being anonymously sprayed into the atmosphere the alien finally discovers who is sending the messages and becomes so enraged that he dies of a stroke. The human diplomat laughs so hard he also dies of a heart attack. The rest of the book is very similar with lots of quirky plot twists and wacky scenes. This book is a real romp.

I am now rereading a pair of books by Dan Simmons, Ilium and Olympos, which I first read a couple of years ago. Simmons is a very good writer. These two books, which are really one story, are set in the far distant future where some humans have advanced so far scientifically that they are both virtually and literally gods. They have recreated the Trojan War and are watching over their simulation waiting for it to play out. Of course, things go wildly wrong, and there are several storylines to follow. I liked these two books a lot.