I tend more towards the classics personally (Isaac Asimov, Robert A Heinlein, [not-so-classic] Larry Niven and/or Jerry Pournelle, etc), but am willing to look around.
Problem is that most of what's out there hasn't really caught my attention all that much, and sampling authors can get kinda pricey quick even in just paperback (for which I haven't much shelf room), never mind the generally retarded DRM-related policies of most ebook publishers making the electronic options more obnoxious than they're worth.
(At the risk of sounding like I'm plugging, so far only Baen Books seems to have an ebook policy that doesn't treat honest customers like criminals by default. No DRM, you can download as many times as you want, and you actually own the book once it's purchased instead of being a rental that can be withdrawn at any time even if the publisher screwed up [see Amazon and Nineteen Eighty Four].)
edited 11th Jan '12 4:11:49 PM by Nohbody
All your safe space are belong to TrumpHow easy it is to stand Heinlein depends entirely on what you're reading. His early stuff and his juveniles (like Farmer In The Sky, Have Space Suit Will Travel, Citizen Of The Galaxy, Starship Troopers*, or The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress*) are pretty good — there's still some politics in there, but none of the really crazy stuff. Almost everything after Stranger In A Strange Land (with the exception of The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress), though, all bets are off. Nudism, free love, incest, a Marty Stu Author Avatar character... it all becomes a huge self-referencing wankfest that Canon Welds most-if-not-all of his works into the same cosmology where authors are all-powerful gods literally creating universes through the act of writing (yes, really).
His two best "adult" (as in non-juvenile, not pornographic) novels are Starship Troopers (which has very, very little to do with the movie) and The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is alright for his later stuff (it involves all the wankery, but it takes a distant back seat until very near the end), though it'll probably be a little confusing if you're not familiar with his other work.
Farnhams Freehold is the only work of Heinlein's that I find actively offensive rather than merely unappealing — the short version is that a Nuke Ex Machina sends the protagonists (who are in a bomb shelter at the time) into THE FUTURE!! where they (eventually) discover that in THE FUTURE!! it is the black people who own whites as slaves! (and also eat them sometimes!!!) While most of the group eventually succumb to their weak and spoiled nature and assimilate into this culture, the main character cons his owner into sending him back to the past as an experiment, an opportunity which he plans to use to ensure that the evil terrible black-run future never occurs. Oh, and he gets his (college-aged) daughter's friend to come with him so they can be fuckbuddies in the post-nuclear-war past.
Yeah. I like Heinlein in general, but I hate Farnhams Freehold.
edited 11th Jan '12 5:31:15 PM by NativeJovian
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.Kinda. I prefer my stuff relatively soft, but find Niven to be a long time favorite.
Fight smart, not fair.So, how hard is hard science fiction? No FTL, no aliens, no psionics? If that's the case, i liked Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, I should read the other two soon. One fantastic book that everyone should read is Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke. Its like 99% hard science fiction, and one of the best science fiction books I've ever read.
edited 11th Jan '12 8:23:11 PM by MrShine
The Firestar series, you guys. There is no finer reading to bring out the starry-eyed "holy shit I could live to see interstellar expeditions" in all of us. Though by the third book, it's kind of lost that grounding in the real world, as the author decided to be overly realistic and develop his world's technology in every possible direction at once. Still, it's all made quite plausible, and seriously, you don't meet many optimistic futurists these days, especially not ones with such profoundly human characters.
Hail Martin Septim!I know I really love Pat Cadigan's Synners. It's pretty much amazing Cyberpunk. And I love Lois Mc Master Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, though people debate how hard it is.
edited 11th Jan '12 8:57:58 PM by NoirGrimoir
SPATULA, Supporters of Page Altering To Urgently Lead to Amelioration (supports not going through TRS for tweaks and minor improvements.)And how, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is my favourite science fiction story. Problem down here is that it's hard to lay hands on much hard science fiction, most of it's either Star Wars, Star Terk, or Dune.
Do you count Fire Fly?
I enjoy all Sci-Fi though. Star Wars, Doctor Who, Ect. Realistic ones do appeal to me, but I havnt really read one yet.
I'm baaaaaaackDoctor Who is so far away from Hard Sci Fi its only seeing it a year afterwards when its light finally reaches the TARDIS. Its still good though ;)
"You can reply to this Message!"I really like what I've read of Asimov currently and would like to read similar work. Must work through classic hard sci fi...Need to get a copy of 2001 soon. Must get through it.
If someone wants to accuse us of eating coconut shells, then that's their business. We know what we're doing. - Achaan ChahI didnt mean those were hard, I was asking about Fire Fly. I know those are pretty(or in who's case, very) "soft" sci-fi.
I'm baaaaaaackWell, a solar system with umpteen planets and moons occupying the Goldilocks Zone kinda strains my credulity. Also, psionics are pretty solidly in the "soft" department. But other things, like the explanation for why not many people use energy weapons, count as fairly hard in my book.
edited 13th Jan '12 7:32:22 PM by DomaDoma
Hail Martin Septim!Terraforming aside, that many planets in the habitable zone is not realistic. The semi-western societies OTOH are probably fairly realistic for a planet with a limited manufacturing base. I'd say World Of Phlebotinum level.

Do any of you like hard science fiction? What are your favorite books or authors?
I'm a big fan of Alastair Reynolds, I have his upcoming book Blue Remembered Earth on pre-order.