so - in the 1010 challenge I've decided to read 10 sci-fi books, not read much sci-fi in the last 10+ years although I read a lot of sci-fi when growing up...

so - suggestions for 10 really good sci-fi books from the last 10 years?

prefer speculative fiction to "hard" sci-fi

Thanks

Not sure what you mean by "speculative fiction" - in fact, I'm not even sure what the term is intended to mean. All fiction is essentially speculative. But that's a discussion for another day...

Good sf novels published since 1999:
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Michael Chabon
Matter, Iain M Banks
The Prefect, Alastair Reynolds
Life, Gwyneth Jones (stupid touchstone doesn't work)
The Night Sessions, Ken MacLeod
Black Man, Richard Morgan
The Caryatids, Bruce Sterling
Kéthani, Eric Brown
Ilium, Dan Simmons

I'd add to the science fiction, non-hard sf novels post-1999 list that I've recently read and enjoyed:

Air by Geoff Ryman
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Maul by Tricia Sullivan
Number9Dream Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Idlewild by Nick Sagan

(Edited with thanks to iansales. Note: only 1/3 of Cloud Atlas is futuristic.)

Message edited by its author, Oct 22, 2009, 10:49am.

I thought about mentioning the Ishiguro, but I found it dissatisfying - despite some lovely writing. Is number9dream sf? I know Cloud Atlas is.

#2 thanks for the list - I was meaning "what if this happens in the future?" as speculative will have a search for the books you recommend :-)

not so sure about the Dan Simmons book - I read the Terror and was seriously disappointed - although the first 2/3 of the book was a real page turner he lost it in the later part of the book.

I've actually read the Yiddish policeman's union so thats one sci-fi I forgot about!

must say the Prefect sounds great - going onto my wish list

Message edited by its author, Oct 22, 2009, 10:47am.

#3 thanks for the list

How about The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon? I had to check the year, but it's only 7 years old, apparently.

another suggestion would be Spin by Robert Charles Wilson - I liked it, anyway, and that's the definition of good, right?

But you already received good recommendations above... Might be enough.

The Simmons thing is unfortunately there in most his series - he tends to fail when it comes to endings, imo. I still read them, though, so the beginning generally makes up for some unsatisfying end. Ilium is weird, though.