Look to Windward, Iain M. Banks
Another book in the Culture universe, Windward has some of the first real sappiness i've seen out of Banks. (It's well-written, like most of his other stuff.) A good story in his classic high-space-opera genre.
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The Sky Road, Ken MacLeod
The third book, following Cassini Division and Stone Canal. This book has an interesting weave of characters you've met off and on in the other two books at very different points in their timelines. Through much of the book it's very hard to tell WHEN this one is set - but it doesn't harm enjoyment at all. Still recommended.
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Girlfriend in a Coma, Douglas Coupland
A quick & easy read. Not quite as bitingly sarcastic as some of his other books, and i think the better for it.
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Frisco Pigeon Mambo, C.D. Payne
Heidi reviewed this on Astrarium, and i was sold. The book was indeed a goofy, fun read... and i too, recognized many of the characters.
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1968, Joe Haldeman
This is not science-fiction - it's fiction about the Vietnam War based on Haldeman's time there. It's a much more transparent view into Haldeman's thoughts on Vietnam and war, and well-worth the read. Quite well-written, engaging, and raw around the emotional edges.
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Marooned In Realtime, Vernor Vinge
Certainly a better book than The Peace War, but still outclassed by Fire and Deepness. Still worth a read. It's even worth reading Peace War first; the continuities are amusing to spot. Both this and The Peace War actually link to a newly compiled anthology called Across Realtime, which contains both books. The individual books are very out of print.
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The Peace War, Vernor Vinge
An early book of Vinge's. A decent read, but these are not in the class of A Fire Upon the Deep or A Deepness in the Sky - set your expectations accordingly. Written in the early eighties about a history starting in 1997, it's amusing to read now. There was quite a bit centered around Livermore, where i grew up, and LLNL (where my father works as a physicist); i enjoyed the place-recognition parts of the book, too. If you haven't read Fire or Deepness yet, go red them first. They're amazing.
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