Hacker News Reader

Comment by jabl | Hacker News Reader

I really loved the Baroque cycle; Is there any other author that writes similar stuff?

I've liked other Stephenson novels I've read (Cryptonomicon and Diamond age), but to be honest they haven't been the mind blowing experience of the Baroque cycle.

I'm planning to read Anathem and Termination Shock in the hopefully not too far future, but we'll see.

View on HN

Not quite at the same scale, but Dan Simmons writes some pretty great alternate/fictionalized history that tend to be pretty lengthy (if that's your thing). I particularly enjoyed Drood and The Terror (from which the TV series was adapted), and Black Hills is pretty nice as well. He also did Hyperion Cantos and the Ilium/Olympos series if you're more into s-f.

Hyperion is absolutely wonderful, I enjoyed all four but the first two are definitely worth reading.

The first one is the best SF Pilgrims Progress update ever.

In my search for more works like the Baroque Cycle, I was led to Thomas Pynchon, who's writing far surpass that of Stephenson (in my opinion). In particular, Against the Day, Gravity's Rainbow, and Mason & Dixon. They are all historical fiction of sorts, with long detailed excursions into well researched nooks and crannies of history. Pynchon's writing is sublime once you get used to it.

I think you'd really like the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. Surprising amount of history-of-science in his historical fiction.

For straight up history of science, Simon Winchester is pretty great.

> I think you'd really like the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. Surprising amount of history-of-science in his historical fiction.

Oh yes, I've read the entire Aubrey-Maturin series. I loved it! Good catch! ;)

The baroque cycle was great, if a bit long. Connie Willis, another great sci-fi author, has some good historical fiction like Doomsday Book

Reply on news.ycombinator.com