My newest author is Charles Stross whom I discovered while browsing the sci-fi section at Powell's City of Books store in Portland, Oregon. Powell's is the largest bookstore I have ever seen (as I have not been to the Strand in NYC yet) and carries everything I could ever imagine. If you are a reader and visit Portland, Powell's is a must. Plan to spend a couple hours there.
I ran across Charles Stross' books by browsing the shelves. I am sure I was looking for anything Simmons as in Dan Simmons. Powell's is where I purchased a hardback of Olympos for $7.00 during a trip last year. This was a match for the hardback of Ilium signed by the author I purchased from eBay several years ago. With Stross, here is an author that I had no clue about who had a body of work that included five or six novels in the cyberpunk, nanotech, speculative future genre'. Ah, a gold mine!
I purchased a copy of each of the books on the shelves and acquired several more through Amazon.com. I can't understand why Stross has not gotten the kind of attention of contemporaries in speculative fiction like William Gibson and Neal Stephenson. In my opinion he is right on the mark science- and culture- wise and his characters and stories are highly entertaining. How much more fun can you have when phones rain down from the sky with offer to fulfill any wish with the simple proviso of being entertained as payment (see Singularity Sky) and the main premis that "information must be free" (not free as in no cost, free as in unfettered) ?
Entertainment aside (as in for your reading pleasure) I am in awe of the projection into the future of the effect of technology on culture and individuals. From culture shock of those on the slow end of change through how children may be affected, every page of Stross' work seethes with remarkable and profound speculation. So far I have read Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise and am part way into Accelerando. I have a copy of Glasshouse and still need to acquire The Atrocity Archives and several others to add to my collection of his novels.
I highly recommend Charles Stross if you want to expand you mind and have lots of fun while doing it.
OK, We are getting ready to dive under the Hudson River now so I need to hold my breath. All the best... David
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