StephL,

Distances is one that I bought, but I gave it away before I read it. The lists of short stories on her web site and also on wikipedia both seem incomplete to me, I've read several of her stories but am not seeing the ones I read. I realize that's pretty weak given that she's an author I recommended. Her stories are not very exciting relative to stories by someone like Asher, but they are intelligent, and the character development is relatively good, and I enjoyed the ones I read. Maybe Distances wouldn't be a bad one to try.

I've read a few Ian M. Banks books, since I liked Asher and Reynolds so much, and it was pretty clear that both of them borrowed a lot of ideas from him. I didn't find them very entertaining though. For me his stories seemed morally and emotionally empty somehow. Asher strikes me as a fascist and sadist, but he has a theme of redemption that I think he does well, such as in The Technician or Brass Man, and I found his imagination compelling. The first story I read was Alien Archeology, and it seemed real to me somehow, as if I could feel the spirits that inspired his alien creatures. I didn't care for the Splatterjay stuff as much. Reynolds is similar for me. Some of his sort stories like Beyond the Aquila Rift feel to me to be narrowly veiled documentaries of my spiritual journey. Absolution Gap was a novel that spoke to me like that, even though on its face it was long and boring. I still haven't read Revelation Space, but I've read most of his novels and all of his short stories. I think Diamond Dogs was the only short story or novella of his that I didn't finish, it was just too brutal for me, but I still think it was a good story.

Larry Niven is another author who Asher and Reynolds obviously owe a lot to. I find the quality of his stuff to be mixed. Some of it he obviously just dashed off for the money. I think Mote in God's Eye is one of the best stories I've ever read though, even though I got bored with the political drama part and skipped half of it.

I have read most of Greg Egan's short stories, and maybe half of his novels. I liked them, and think he's very intelligent and imaginative, but they lacked some ingredient that would have been needed to make them as compelling to me than Asher or Reynolds.

Greg Bear is another writer that I've read a bit of, both short stories and novels. The philosophical part of his Judgment Engine short story could almost be a biography of my early 20's, though I didn't read it until much later.

Kij Johnson has a decent book of short stories. Likewise for Elizabeth Bear.

Gene Wolfe is another author that has connected strongly to me. I haven't read any of his novels because I don't care for fantasy, but in my early 20's his Fifth Head of Cerberus novella was my favorite story ever. I can't say that it was technically really that great, but it mirrored my own struggles. It doesn't have any answers, but I didn't have any answers either then. Blade Runner was by far my favorite movie at that time for the same reason, and is the only movie I've ever bought for myself, though don't think I've watched it more than two or three times.

I read a lot of science fiction when I was about 14, then I mostly stopped. I read a lot of metaphysical books in my mid 20's, and that's where a lot of my ideas have come from. It took me about three years to recognize that it was largely fiction also. Then I spent about ten years trying to clear my head and find what I really know for myself, then I read science fiction again for ideas for about five years. Now I've mostly stopped again. If I can find work where my family is I won't have time anyway.