Are there any contemporary hard sci-fi authors comparable to Isaac Asimov, Arthur C Clarke and others of their era?
I have recently been reading Stephen Baxter and Kim Stanley Robinson and would like to find other comparable authors.
The problem I have with modern sci-fi is that it is blurred with Tolkien-style fantasy and it's often difficult to know where a particular book fits on the spectrum.
I would heartily recommend "Children of Time" (Children of Time #1) by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Another one that stands out over the last couple of years (for me) is "The Book of Strange New Things" by Michael Faber, which has a mix of hard sci-fi with some very thought provoking philosophy/religion.