Kim Stanley Robinson is probably my favorite living author; I don’t think anyone does setting and worldbuilding better than he does, yet his stories are largely character-driven.

Here’s my favorites of his that I’ve read:

  • Aurora, where a generation ship is on it’s way to Tau Ceti
  • The Years of Rice and Salt, an alt-history where most of Europe perishes in a great plague in the 14th century
  • Shaman, a fictional narrative about the people who painted Chauvet Cave

I love how his stories are about being optimistic in times where that’s a hard thing to be. I like the focus on environmentalism and the sublime (Ministry for the Future is basically a solarpunk novel). He mostly writes hard sci-fi, which is my favorite genre, but also spins off into history and philosophy like in Galileo’s Dream.

I think most people know his writing from his Red/Green/Blue Mars series, which I love, but he’s done so much more than that.

So what’s your favorite of his books?

  • th_in_gs@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    3·
    13 days ago

    Aurora is somehow simultaneously a pessimistic and optimistic book.

    Actually, I guess that’s true for many of his books, but it’s stark in Aurora.

    • Zombiepirate@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      Oh, for sure.

      That’s what I like most about it: it feels almost crazy by the end to try to be optimistic about the future of humanity.

      But it is anyway.

      It’s easy to be defeatist; being optimistic is a subversive act.