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I like Cherryh a lot. I’m working my way through the Alliance/Union works. With only 4 to go, I’ll finish them this year. I’ve collected all 9 of the Foreigner series in my TBR collection, but haven’t started them. I’ll probably read her Gene Wars couplet before diving into the Foreigner...

2008 was a bit light on reading for me at 42 books. My 10 favorites, in the order read follow. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Philip K. Dick Diaspora, by Greg Egan Darwin’s Children, by Greg Bear Redemption Ark, by Alastair Reynolds The Time Machine, by H.G. Wells The...

This book is not without merit, but I wouldn't recommend it for a first Heinlein read. I preferred Time Enough for Love and I Will Fear No Evil. There is a bit of variety and range in his works. You may want to check out the Heinlein author section to help select what appeals to you most...

I recently completed Humans, by Robert J. Sawyer. Anthropology and parallel universes aren’t usually my cup of tea. I thought the idea of parallel universes was more fantasy than a legitimate scientific possibility. I only read the first in this series, Hominids, because it won a Hugo or...

My latest read is The Gateway Trip: Tales and Vignettes of the Heechee, by Frederik Pohl. It’s a 1990 work, but the second (and longest tale) in the book, “Merchants of Venice”, reads like 1950s pulp fiction. I’m found it quite refreshing and enjoyable. The rest of the stories were of a more...

Just finished Martian Time-Slip, by Philip K. Dick. This is only my 3rd by Dick. The writing quality is quite good, as I expect given Dick’s reputation. It’s a character driven story line. Although I didn’t particularly like any of the characters, the story held my interest. It was a bit...

My reading was quite awhile back, but I remember liking The Diamond Age. I think that was my first cyberpunk. I don’t recall it being steampunk.

Spin Control by Chris Moriarty. It had an interesting storyline, with very good character development. It was more readable than Spin State, but maybe not as interesting. It dragged on a bit longer than necessary and the ending was flat. Overall, I rate it a 7 out of 10.

It was quite a while ago for me, but I also enjoyed Mindbridge. More recently, I thought that Camouflage was pretty good. In my opinion, Forever Free was a bit of a disappointment.

Just read Callahan’s Secret, by Spider Robinson. Like the first two in the series, it’s a collection of short stories. I don’t read a lot of short stories, but I really enjoy this series for an occasional change of pace. I like the sense of humor and overall writing style. I look forward to...

Downbelow Station was the first book I read by Cherryh. Like you, I found it a struggle to get into and through it, but I thought it was well worth the effort by the time I finished. I’ve read several more of her books since and didn’t struggle with them at all. At this time, she’s my...

Recently finished Chindi, by Jack McDevitt. Most of the characters are a bit thin and McDevitt gets a bit lazy with some of the specific story points. Nevertheless, the story pace, overall grandeur and style make for a good read. I rate it a 7.5 on a 10 scale.

I finally finished The Martians, by Kim Stanley Robinson. It’s a collection of short stories from his Mars trilogy, and a few miscellaneous poems from when he wrote the trilogy. I loved the Mars trilogy, but this one didn’t do much for me. I’m not much of a short story reader anyway. It had...

I second the comments of Ian and others on Speed of Dark. I’ve also read the Serrano Legacy books. I thought the first 2 and last 2 books were entertaining reads, but the middle 3 were disappointing in my view.

While Chasm City was published after Revelation Space, I understand that Chasm City is a prequel. I read Chasm City first. I liked it, but it was tough to get into in places. Although I generally have a strong preference to reading series in chronological order, I think it may be better to...

I assume you mean The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. If so, they are both good. If you’re into time travel and historical fiction about medieval Europe, you may want to start with The Doomsday Book. If you’re into more typical and classical Sci-Fi, start with Gateway.

Interesting to see how others view this common issue. I’ve been trolling several used bookstores on regular basis for the past 3 years or so. My pile isn’t as imposing as some, but I’m in the deep end with around 150 books. Technically, it’s not a pile; they’re stacked in columns on top of a...

So far, I’ve only read Hothouse. I thought it was a terrific work. I thought it was Sci-Fi, but with a biological focus instead of the more typical focus on gadgets or technology. I have the Helliconia trilogy in my TBR-pile. As the pile is rather large, I’m not sure when I’ll get around to...

Conn, it has been a while since I read Downbelow Station, but I second gully’s advice. Downbelow was my first by Cherryh. My recollection is that I found it tough to get into it, but I ended up liking it enough to read many more by her. At this point, I’ve read 11 of her books (counting...

Getting into the Dune books takes some patience and perseverance. I found it well worth the effort, but it doesn’t provide much, if any, instant gratification.