A good author to stock up on is Kenneth Roberts. Historical fiction was his niche. "Oliver Wiswell" is a fascinating perspective of the Revolutionary War from a different point of view.

I'm a "classic" and a character development kind of guy. Conrad, Harte, Kipling, Verne, DeFoe, Saki, Tolstoy, Twain, Stevenson, etc.

The problem I have with modern SciFi is it has evolved into fantasy/fiction. Of course it doesn't help that most of the things which were only to be imagined in my youth are now realities.

Lasers, computers which fit into your hand, telecommunication devices, cloning, space flight, etc., who woulda thunk it?

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“Whatever story you're telling, it will be more interesting if, at the end you add, "and then everything burst into flames.”
― Brian P. Cleary, You Oughta Know By Now