Epic Science Fiction Books

[sqbr]

I was discussing this with Cam: what are the good (or at least halfway interesting) science fiction epics? By which I mean long, somewhat mythic stories with a sense of history and gravitas. All I could think of was Dune and the Gap series (which I never finished due to Stephen Donaldson reaching my "sympathetic portrayal of rape" limit)

Kind of: The Xeelee Sequence and the Foundation Series and Worthing Saga.

EDIT: I'm rather tired and getting all confused in my definitions, so feel free to ignore my qualifiers and mention anything you think deserves mentioning.

gyges_ring has reminded me of semi-epic books which are painted on a large canvas but aren't very mythic or whatever, more like reading a historical novel set in the future e.g C J Cherryh's Union/Alliance books. I realise this is a very subjective thing, and don't think there's anything wrong with a prosaic tone.

Also: A Fire Upon the Deep (how could I forget?)

And thank heaven for Wikipedia (not all space opera is the sort of epic I'm talking about, mind you). *ponders investigating these authors*

Comments

[edible-hat.livejournal.com]

Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (which is historical, not futuristic, but contains a lot of science, an immortal alchemist, samurai cowboys and a pedal-powered computer). Also there's Cryptonomicon which is the Hobbit of Baroque Cycle's LOTR.

[alias_sqbr]

I got rather sick of Cyptonomicon well before I was finished reading it, which put me off the tome-like Baroque Cycle. Which is annoying, since the ideas do seem intriguing and I like Neal Stephenson.