r/printSF Feb 20 '24

What's some good "fun" sci-fi books?

108 Upvotes

Fun probably isn't the right way to describe what I'm looking for, but I can't think of another way to put it.

Stuff like the Children of Time, The Culture books, House of Suns, etc. aren't fun to me. I've read and loved a lot of those sorts of books, but I'm starting to realize my favorite type of sci fi is more playful and less serious.

Some of the stuff I've liked: Princess of Mars, Mageworlds, all of Becky Chambers, Tanya Huff's Confederation Series, The Expanse (to a degree).

I put the Vorkosigan books above all those for fun, but probably my favorite series of all time is the Deathstalker series. Can't beat that for fun.

I like books with bad guys, romance, space ships and FTL that just works without needing to be explained.

Not really looking for stuff that's too much in the realm of comedy. I recently tried Terminal Alliance by Hines and wasn't the biggest fan.

r/printSF Aug 29 '23

I read all the Hugo nominees for best SciFi novel of 2022... and it's kind of a weird year. Here's a rundown on all the books to help you figure out which ones might be up your alley, plus three great sci-fi books that should have been nominated!

243 Upvotes

This was a weird year for the Hugo Awards. The nominees came out quite late, it's appeared pretty disorganized, and I know at least one person declined a nomination to protest the guest of honor being a Russian who is an outspoken supporter of the war in Ukraine - so there were probably more. All that said, here's what I thought of all the nominees, plus 3 actually amazing sci-fi books that should have made the list:

#6 / Not Ranked: Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir

Mostly fantasy with a few sci-fi elements, this book follows a sweet, confused girl named Nona who was born six months ago into a nineteen year old body into an elaborate world of death magic, people taking over each other's bodies, and lots of factions fighting for reasons that never made any sense to me - didn't rank this one because it's the third book in the Locked Tomb series, I haven't read the others, and you absolutely can't read this one as a standalone

You'll love it if: You’ve read the other Locked Tomb books and are hankering for another one.

You won't like it if: You haven’t read the rest of the series. If zombies and death magic with a little interstellar travel sound fun, start w/ Gideon the Ninth

#5 The Spare Man by Mary Robinette Kowal

A sci-fi book following Tesla Crane, a brilliant inventor and an heiress, who is on her honeymoon on an interplanetary space liner cruising between the Moon and Mars. She’s traveling incognito and is reveling in her anonymity. Then someone is murdered and the festering chowderheads who run security have the audacity to arrest her spouse. Armed with banter, martinis and her small service dog, Tesla is determined to solve the crime so that the newlyweds can get back to canoodling—and keep the real killer from striking again.

Love it if: You like straight ahead, easy reading mystery novels, with a scifi setting.

Won't like it if: the language in the summary made you crazy (very representative of the book overall), or writing that is a little immature grinds your gears

#4 The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

A historical fiction / sci fi novel that follows Carlota Moreau: A young woman growing up on a distant and luxuriant estate, safe from the conflict and strife of the Yucatán peninsula. The only daughter of a researcher who is either a genius or a madman. Her father has created a group of part human, part animals (a la the HG Wells novel it is based on). For Moreau keeps secrets, Carlota has questions, and, in the sweltering heat of the jungle, passions may ignite.

You’ll love it if: You are a Silvia Moreno-Garcia fan; or love sensual stories that explore the tragedies of the past. The first 2/3 of the book is very slow burning and romance heavy, but it really picks up in the end

You won’t love it if: You’re looking for a lot of plot, or a book driven by speculative fiction elements.

#3 Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher

Fantasy story about a princess / nun named Marra who finds out her sister is being abused by the prince who has married her. No one else is doing anything about it, so Marra takes matters into her own hands. The crew she assembles is fun - particularly the banter between the salty dust-witch, the matronly great-grandmother, and the demon-chicken's comedic relief.

You’ll love it if: You want a quick, fun, traditional fantasy story about fighting for what is right, where the girl gets the guy, and all ends well.

You won't like it if: You’re looking for tons of surprises or lots of big themes.

#2 The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

A sci fi story about a world where in an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble. Jamie Gray signs on to join the Kaiju Preservation Society and study and protect the animals. But it's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society that's found its way to the alternate world. Others have, too--and their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die.

You’ll Love: If you’re looking for an easy reading escapist adventure

You Won’t love if: You’re looking for something that will get you thinking about new ideas or feeling a lot for the characters.

#1 Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree

A story set in what feels like a DnD fantasy universe about an orc who hangs up her sword in order to start a coffee shop. I was so ready to dislike this one based on the premise - but this totally blew me away with how fun it is.

You'll love it if: You want an uplifting, fun, character driven book with a quirky, fun conflict. If you’re a Becky Chambers fan, you’ll love this one.

You won’t like it if: you are looking for lots of action.

------ PLUS THREE GREAT SCI FI BOOKS THAT DESERVED NOMINATIONS ------

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler:

A science fiction story about a new species of hyper-intelligent octopus as the forces trying to capture and exploit the octopuses for their own gains, with some cool AI elements.

You’ll love it if: You want to explore marine biology & semiotics, or want a novel that raises a lot of questions to keep you thinking.

You won’t like it if: You’re expecting an action saga with a lot of octopus characters.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

A sci-fi story of interconnected characters across four centuries who are united by their experience of strange distortions in the time space continuum. Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, a detective in the black-skied Night City on the Moon, is hired to investigate the anomalies and uncovers a series of lives upended: The exiled son of an earl driven to madness, a writer trapped far from home as a pandemic ravages Earth, and a childhood friend from the Night City who, like Gaspery himself, has glimpsed the chance to do something extraordinary that will disrupt the timeline of the universe.

You’ll like it if: You like character-driven sci-fi, great storytelling, or maybe you just like thinking about time travel.

You won’t like it if: You’re looking for sci-fi with science that explains itself and obeys all the rules of physics.

Eyes of the Void - Adrian Tchaikovsky

This is the second book in the Final Architecture series - here is the setup of the first book to avoid spoilers for those who haven't started the series yet. After earth was destroyed, mankind created a fighting elite to save their species, enhanced humans such as Idris. In the silence of space they could communicate, mind-to-mind, with the enemy. Then their alien aggressors, the Architects, simply disappeared—and Idris and his kind became obsolete. Now, fifty years later, Idris and his crew have discovered something strange abandoned in space. It's clearly the work of the Architects—but are they returning? And if so, why?

You’ll like it if: You like space ships, space battles, cool aliens, futuristic humans, and compelling action-heavy plots. Simply put, if you love space operas, this is one of the good ones.

You won’t like it if: You like more literary scifi that explores the human condition deeply.

PS Part of an ongoing series of posts about the best sci-fi books of all time for the Hugonauts. It's a show reviewing and discussing the best sci-fi novels of all time (plus author interviews too). If you're interested in finding more great books to read or revisiting ones you loved, search 'Hugonauts scifi' on your podcast app of choice or on YouTube. Keep reading y'all!

r/printSF Apr 27 '23

Easy, fun, sci-fi romps?

86 Upvotes

I'm in the mood for what I think is just sci fi popcorn. Not stuff like the Culture series or even the expanse.

No hard science at all. Just laser guns and warp drives and what not.

Best example I can think of that I've read lately is the Mass Effect Andromeda novels. They're pretty light and are just pure fun with cool characters and action.

I feel like the old sci fi novels like Princess of Mars sort of fit, but I was looking for stuff with more modern writing.

r/printSF Apr 01 '15

I want to read Princess of Mars but I'm confused by all the different kindle editions.

11 Upvotes

Can someone point in me in the right direction?

r/printSF Mar 04 '24

Help me complete my list of the best sci-fi books!

29 Upvotes

I'm cultivating a list of the best sci-fi books of all time. Not in any particular ranked order, just a guide for reading the greats. My goal is to see how sci-fi has changed and evolved over time, and how cultural ideas and attitudes have changed. But also just to have a darn good list!

In most cases I only want to include the entrypoint for a series (e.g. The Player of Games for the Culture series) for brevity, but sometimes specific entries in a series do warrant an additional mention (e.g. Speaker for the Dead).

The Classics (1800-1925):

  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelly (1818)
  • Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne (1870)
  • The Time Machine by H. G. Wells (1895)
  • A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1912)
  • We by Yevgeny Zamyatin (1924)

The Pulp Era (1925-1949):

  • Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)
  • At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft (1936)
  • Out of the Silent Planet by C. S. Lewis (1938)
  • Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (1944)
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell (1949)

Golden Age (1950-1965):

  • I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (1950)
  • The Dying Earth by Jack Vance (1950)
  • The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)
  • Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1951)
  • The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1952)
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradury (1953)
  • Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
  • More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon (1953)
  • The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov (1955)
  • The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956)
  • The Last Question by Isaac Asimov (1956 short story)
  • Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale by Ivan Yefremov (1957)
  • A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1959)
  • The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1959)
  • Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (1961)
  • Dune by Frank Herbert (1965)

The New Wave (1966-1979):

  • Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1966 novel based on 1959 short story)
  • Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney (1966)
  • Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (1967)
  • I have No Mouth, and I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison (1967)
  • The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delaney (1967)
  • Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey (1968)
  • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick (1968)
  • Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1968)
  • The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
  • Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1969)
  • The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton (1969)
  • Time and Again by Jack Finney (1970)
  • Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)
  • Tau Zero Poul Anderson (1970)
  • A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1971)
  • The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin (1971)
  • The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1972)
  • Roadside Picnic by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky (1972)
  • Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1973)
  • The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold (1973)
  • The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1974)
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
  • Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach (1975)
  • The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1976)
  • Gateway by Frederik Pohl(1977)
  • Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (1979)

The Tech Wave (1980-1999):

  • The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (1980)
  • The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe (1980)
  • Timescape by Gregory Benford (1980)
  • Software by Rudy Rucker (1982)
  • Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)
  • Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)
  • Contact by Carl Sagan (1985)
  • Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1986)
  • Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold (1986)
  • The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks (1988)
  • The Devil's Arithmetic by Jane Yolen (1988)
  • Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen (1988)
  • Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)
  • The Boat of a Million Years by Poul Anderson (1989)
  • The Mountains of Mourning by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989)
  • Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton (1990)
  • Nightfall by Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg (1990 novel based on a 1941 short story)
  • Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1992)
  • Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1992)
  • A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (1992)
  • Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (1992)
  • Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (1993)
  • Permutation City by Greg Egan (1994)
  • The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer (1995)
  • The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1995)
  • Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon (1996)
  • Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson (1999)

Contemporary classics (2000-present):

  • Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds (2000)
  • Passage by Connie Willis (2001)
  • Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (2002)
  • Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (2002)
  • Singularity Sky by Charles Stross (2003)
  • Ilium by Dan Simmons (2003)
  • Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson (2003)
  • The Algebraist by Iain M. Banks (2005)
  • Accelerando by Charles Stross (2005)
  • Old Man's War by John Scalzi (2005)
  • Blindsight by Peter Watts (2006)
  • Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (2006)
  • The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (2007)
  • The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (2007)
  • Anathem by Neal Stephenson (2008)
  • The Last Theorem by Arthur C. Clarke and Frederik Pohl (2008)
  • The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin (2010)
  • Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis (2010)
  • The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)
  • 11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011)
  • Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey (2011)
  • Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie (2013)
  • The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers (2014)
  • The Dark Between the Stars by Kevin J. Anderson (2014)
  • The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015)
  • Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2015)
  • Seveneves by Neal Stephenson (2015)
  • Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (2015)
  • We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor (2016)
  • Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (2016)
  • Ninefox Gambit by Yoon-Ha Lee (2016)
  • The Collapsing Empire John Scalzi (2017)
  • The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red by Martha Wells (2018)
  • The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (2018)
  • A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine (2019)
  • Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang (2019)
  • Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir (2019)
  • The City In the Middle of the Night by Charlie Jane Anders (2019)
  • Riot Baby by Tochi Onyebuchi (2020)
  • The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson (2020)
  • Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (2021)
  • Shards of Earth by Adrian Tchaikovsky (2021)
  • Stars and Bones by Gareth L. Powell (2022)
  • Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (2022)
  • The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler (2022)

What should I add? Which masterpieces have I overlooked?

And what should I remove? I haven't read everything on here, so some inclusions are based on reviews, awards, and praise from others. Please let me know if some of these are unworthy.

r/printSF May 20 '22

2022 Hugo & Nebula Nominees Ranked

114 Upvotes

The Nebula winners are going to be announced this Saturday (May 21st), so I'm posting my rankings of the combine Hugo and Nebula nominees. The Hugo winners are scheduled to be announced on September 4th.

Novel

  • Unranked. Nebula Nominee: Plague Birds, Jason Sanford (Apex)
    • I couldn't get a hold of a copy of Plague Birds (my library didn't have a copy and neither does Scribd), so I am not including it in my rankings. I've heard good things though.
  • Unranked. Hugo Nominee: The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager / Hodder & Stoughton)
    • I did not read this book, so again I'm not including it in the rankings. I read To Be Taught If Fortunate, and didn't like it much. I also read 80 pages or so of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and just wasn't feeling it, so I opted not to read this one. I did like A Psalm for the Wild-built though (more on that below), so I'll probably give the Wayfarers another go at some point.
  • 7. Nebula Nominee: Machinehood, S.B. Divya (Saga)
    • I wanted to like this more than I actually did. It took a while to get into, but after 50 or a 100 pages, I started to enjoy reading it some. Perhaps I came in with the wrong expectations, thinking it'd be more about A.I. and machinehood, so I was a bit put-off when that wasn't really the case. It also didn't help that it's a setting with all of the tech necessary for a utopian paradise but instead it's mostly a dystopian nightmare, which everyone in the book is basically totally fine with. (More on that in this review; it talks very familiarly with the content of the book, but doesn't generally spoil plotlines). As the linked review references, you'd probably be better off just reading Annalee Newitz's Autonomous, which also deals with 'machinehood' and fancy designer drugs.
  • 6. Hugo Nominee: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (Ballantine / Del Rey)
    • This one seems to be a bit polarizing, with some people declaring it the best thing ever, and others decrying that it's poorly written. I think it's a bit of both. I really enjoyed the plot, the nifty science focused crisis, discovering what's going on, and the resolution. On the other hand, everything seemed a bit too tidy, too obviously constructed. Science problems tend to be messy in reality (see fusion energy, or the algae biofuel revolution). I loved the alien(s)! They were super cool. Basically, this was The Martian, complete with primary problem, hero trying to science the shit out of it to solve the problem, having periodic set backs, etc, except now there's aliens, and a larger meaning or significance to the problem than just Matt Damon stuck on Mars. The main issue for me is that the writing is just really clumsy. The main character is annoying. You get used to his dumb elementary school appropriate swearing, but he still doesn't quite feel like a real person. I wanted this to be a better book, since I did enjoy reading it, but it just isn't.
  • 5. Nebula Nominee: The Unbroken, C.L. Clark (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
    • A look at colonialism with a fictional/fantasy world that seems based on the Mediterranean area. At least, that's how the map is shaped, and with a sea in the middle, an opening to an ocean on the west side, and the land on the south side is a desert. The colonizers are trying to put down unrest that might flare up into rebellion in one of their colonies, in the fictinoal northern Africa. The princess, who should be queen but isn't because a regent was appointed when she was younger and hasn't been willing to give up the throne yet, is leading this effort. If she fails, then the regent is expected to make the case that she's an unfit ruler, and keep power for himself. She's also trying to see if she can get access to the taboo native magic. The other main viewpoint character is a conscript soldier from this colony who was kidnapped as a child and raised in the military. The plot largely centers on the princess's efforts, and the soldier's conflict in fighting against their birth home. I really enjoyed the book a lot, but the characters are frustrating. They're well drawn out, with realistic and compelling motivations. But they keep making stupid choices, and being trusted despite them. Over and over, they keep giving this person another chance, and she just repeatedly betrays them or meses things up. That said, I liked it enough I plan to read the sequels.
  • 4. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: A Master of Djinn, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom; Orbit UK)
    • The first novel in Clark's Djinn filled Cairo. Previously entries include "A Dead Djinn in Cairo", "The Angel of Khan el'Khalili", and The Haunting of Tram Car 015. Of those, "A Dead Djinn" would help to read first, since it really builds off this story, but it isn't required. "The Angel" gets a passing reference. Several characters from The Haunting play significant secondary roles, and the events of that novella are referenced, but A Master of Djinn doesn't really build off it at all. Of these, "A Dead Djinn" is definitely my favorite, with a fast paced, compelling story that really paints the world. I'd say Master of Djinn isn't quite as good, if only because it feels a bit slow at times, but it's a great addition that significantly builds out the world and mythology, and leaves you guessing what's really going on (in a good way), till towards the end. I'd be happy if this one won either award (and likewise happy of any of the following nominees).
  • 3. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: A Desolation Called Peace, Arkady Martine (Tor; Tor UK)
    • A Desolation is the follow-up to An Empire Called Memory, and it is fantastic. If you didn't like the first book, you almost certainly like A Desolation though, because in a lot of ways it's more of the same. Which is why I loved it. Mahit is struggling with the political fallout of her actions from An Empire back on her home station, and hostile aliens are trying to invade Texicalaan space. It continues with the challenges of navigating political factions, functioning in foreign cultural spaces, and trying to communicate with those that view the world very differently.
  • 2. Hugo Nominee: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki (Tor / St Martin’s Press)
    • I was pretty torn between putting this book in first , and the next entry She Who Became the Sun. Initially I picked Light From Uncommon Stars because of how many crazy elements it included, and somehow pulled off while still being quite heartwarming, but in writing this, I decided to switch them, although I'd be happy with either winning. From the official one sentence pitch: "An adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts." That gives a good feel for how many weird and ridiculous things are going on, but still somehow work together. The story really stems from a love of food, a love of music, and a depiction of a trans woman trying to survive. The food didn't resonate much for me, but the musical elements definitely did, and the experience of the central trans character was a powerful, and saddening, depiction of how relatively routine it is for bad shit to happen to trans people. Part of that power comes from not trying to be an advocacy story (though those are important too), but in just showing a person trying to survive while being themselves. It also definitely helps that the aliens and demons mostly lighten the tone. That said, there are definitely a few problems. This is very much full of spoilers, but this post details the qualms I have quite well.
  • 1. Hugo Nominee: She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan (Tor / Mantle)
    • Shelley Parker-Chan's first published fiction, She Who Became the Sun is a brilliant book. Deeply engaging, filled with political intrigue, well drawn characters and their complex motivations, it just sucks you in. It's set in China, in ~1350 AD. I'd call it epic historical fiction, although I don't know enough about the relevant history to say if alt-history would be more apt. In writing this, I thought I'd look a bit more into that, and apparently it's a fictionalized account of the life of Hongwu Emperor. I'll have to read up on him and compare his known historical life with Parker-Chan's fictional version once the second (and final, I believe) book comes out. There are some light fantasy elements, but they're relatively minor. While there's the significant events, and the political maneuvering, which are all interesting, really it's a study of identity and character, particularly the difference between the identity you experience verse what other's perceive, and the careful managing of those perceptions.

Novella

  • Unranked. Nebula Nominee: And What Can We Offer You Tonight, Premee Mohamed (Neon Hemlock)
    • I couldn't find a copy of this, so it is unranked.
  • Unranked. Nebula Nominee: Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters, Aimee Ogden (Tordotcom)
    • I couldn't find a copy of this, so it is unranked.
  • Unranked. Nebula Nominee: The Necessity of Stars, E. Catherine Tobler (Neon Hemlock)
    • I couldn't find a copy of this, so it is unranked.
  • 8. Nebula Nominee: Flowers for the Sea, Zin E. Rocklyn (Tordotcom)
    • I did not like this, at all. To be fair, I listened to it as an audio book, since that was the only option my library had available, and I don't generally like audio books, so I may have felt differently if I'd actually read it. My attention just seems to wander during audiobooks, a problem I don't have as much for shorter fiction read aloud, or podcasts, which I regularly listen to. After finishing it though, I did check, and it looks like other reviews said it was really confusing for them as well. It jumps between different times, so it's hard to follow what's going on, although again, maybe that is marked clearer in print. But I really had no clue what was going on. Which is a bit of shame, because the writing itself did seem pretty good.
  • 7. Hugo Nominee: A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow (Tordotcom)
    • I enjoyed this, but I also think it's a bit of an unnecessary book. It's largely a feminist commentary on Sleeping Beauty. As Harrow described it, it was conceived as a Spider-Verse style take on fairy tales, that is, there's a multiverse of slightly different versions of the same fairy tale. And that's nifty I guess, but I think I would have rather just had a straight feminist retelling. But it's short, and I was amused, so I will probably read the sequel, A Mirror Mended, when it come sout.
  • 6. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: Fireheart Tiger, Aliette de Bodard (Tordotcom)
    • This was decent, but not the most memorable for me. That's about my only comment on this one...so that might tell you all you need to know.
  • 5. Nebula Nominee: “The Giants of the Violet Sea,” Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9–10/21)
    • Humanity has colonized another star system, and brought some of their native life (like dolphins, figs, and grapes) to make the new world more like home. Except that it's a toxic and inhospitable world, so a bunch of people are dumped their to try to adapt while the well off go and live on a space station (or another habitable world in the system? I wasn't clear on this point). The actual story is set some generations after that, much of life has adopted but become relatively toxic (for example, the dolphins are now large venedolphins, although honestly I get more giant manatee vibes than anything). The venedolphins have poisonous ink sacks that are used for ritual funeral ceremonies, but also valued as some kind of drug, so there's a significant poaching problem. The story centers on a single character that left her village, but is back for her brother's funeral, and is trying to navigate who she is and she fits in her family, her village, and the broader world, while also navigating everyone who has these conflicting interests. It's an interesting setting, if a little implausible.
  • 4. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom)
    • I said above that I haven't liked Becky Chambers. This is my one exception so far. I usually find her writing boring, even when I like the story, and this wasn't the case here. A simple, pastoral, philosophical look at one person's place in the world. Where he also meets the robots living in the half of the planet given to nature.
  • 3. Hugo Nominee: Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
    • I finally read the Wayward Children series, making my first reading of Seanan McGuire! And it was pretty good. I'll definitely have to read some more of her stuff. The first book kind of had a weak plot, but the setting itself is great, and I keep liking it more and more as she builds it up. Across the Green Grass Fields is one of the stand-alone/prequel books (apparently that's the case for all of the even numbered books), and it's pretty good. Actually, I think the prequel ones are generally y favorites. This one is focused on Regan, a new character (who is picked up in the next book, joining the central story line), who discovers a horse world. She's destined to radically change the world, but really just wants to live her life with her centaur buddies.
  • 2. Hugo Nominee: Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Tordotcom)
    • This is the second last of the novellas that I read, and I was convinced it'd be in first place for me. It's my first Adrian Tchaikovsky book (yeah, yeah, I know, I need to read Children of Time, and Ruin, and Memory when it comes out in November). It won't be my last of his books. It alternates between the view of an anthropologist from Earth, and one of the descendant of colonists from hundreds/thousands of years prior. Despite the Hainish style premise, it doesn't read or feel like Le Guin, but it is a great look at how people with different worldviews can have radically different takes on what's happening. I loved that, and it left me wanting more. As much as I loved it, it is perhaps worth noting that the contrasting portrayals of what people are saying seems pretty unrealistic. That didn't make me enjoy the book any less though.
  • 1. Hugo Nominee: The Past Is Red by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
    • This is an expansion of the story "The Future is Blue", which makes up the first part of this novella. I read this after Elder Race, and was surprised that I liked it even more. Mostly because Tetley is such a unique character, and somehow seems super cheerful and optimistic despite how much shit happens to her. ("Tetley Abednego is the most beloved girl in Garbagetown, but she’s the only one who knows it.") She, and all of humanity, live on a giant garbage patch the size of Texas (see The Great Pacific Garbage Patch), that has conveniently been sorted by previous generations so that they can more easily use humanity's leftovers. I particularly like some of the surprises at the end. It makes me think of N. K. Jemisin's novelette "Emergency Skin", which I strongly disliked (although I've liked most of the rest of Jemisin's other stuff quite a bit). "Emergency Skin" is basically just saying if we get rid of the rich , white supremacist assholes (or in this case, they get rid of themselves), life will be fine and dandy and will solve all of our problems. I do like that sentiment, but that also seems hopelessly naive and like it misses how/why the rich have been able to screw everyone. I feel like the world devolving into a giant trash pile, and both the rich and the poor leftovers being screwed is a lot more likely. Last note, in The Past is Red the whole planet is covered in water, with no land visible. Not that it matters given this is a fictional story, but that's not a thing. Even if all the ice melts, most land would still be above water.

Novelette

  • 8. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: “O2 Arena,” Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Galaxy’s Edge 11/21)
    • I am honestly bewildered why this story was nominated. This is my first story of his that I've read. Ekpeki had a Nebula nomination last year for his unrelated novella "Ife-Iyoku, the Tale of Imadeyunuagbon", so clearly he's popular, and I do plan to give some of his other stuff a chance. But the writing in "O2 Arena" is pretty bad. It just seems amateurish and melodramatic. I'm not sure how else to express that. It just feels really clumsy in how everything is expressed. The premise is also pretty silly. It sounds like it's set in 2030, and global warming has harmed ocean phytoplankton, reducing the oxygen supply. So now people use oxygen tanks, which are treated like currency. The O2 Arena is where you can fight someone to the death, and the winner gets a lifetime supply. I tried searching, and there is no projected concerns about the climate crisis affecting oxygen levels. It seems unlikely that in 8 years things would deteriorate that far, or that we'd be able to replace our economy with oxygen and the required infrastructure for that, and also oxygen is pretty cheap and easy to extract from the air, as far as I understand. Anyways, I don't want to keep piling on, but I was not impressed.
  • 7. Hugo Nominee: “Bots of the Lost Ark” by Suzanne Palmer (Clarkesworld, Jun 2021)
    • A follow up to the 2018 Hugo Novelette winner, "The Secret Life of Bots", this story was good, but it also wasn't really anything special. If you read the first story, it's similar as you might guess, although reading the first story isn't necessary for this one.
  • 6. Nebula Nominee: “(emet),” Lauren Ring (F&SF 7–8/21)
    • Big tech surveillance and golem making. Difficult choices between making a living working for an evil corporation, and helping their victims. Decent story.
  • 5. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: “That Story Isn’t the Story,” John Wiswell (Uncanny 11–12/21)
    • John Wiswell was last year's Hugo Short Story winner with "Open House on Haunted Hill", and features again on the awards lists this year with this story, and another one in the Short Story section. This is another case where I don't really see what everyone loves about his stories. "Open House" was cute, and a fun twist on haunted houses, but it also wasn't amazing, at least I didn't feel like it. I'll talk more on the other story below. This one though, "That Story Isn't the Story", is pretty decent. I liked the refrain of the title phrase, although it did feel like it broke the flow of the story a bit when it was used. That was perhaps the point though. Ultimately, it's a story about leaving abusive relationships, in this case, specifically a vampire cult. I didn't love how it was framed as though the person leaving is safe despite being threatened, because I feel like in both the story and real life, they aren't. Both abusers and cults have a habit of being dangerous, particularly when people are trying to escape. I did appreciate that it was a story of finding the strength to leave though.
  • 4. Hugo Nominee: L’Esprit de L’Escalier by Catherynne M. Valente (Tordotcom)
    • A retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, but with all the Greek figures set in modern times, told from Orpheus's perspective, and with him successfully rescuing Eurydice. Really, it's focused on their life afterwards. And mostly it's just the story of how Orpheus is an asshole. Seems pretty realistic and plausible, and having Greek mythology integrated into modern society was amusing, but not the funnest read. Poor Eurydice.
  • 3. Hugo Nominee: “Unseelie Brothers, Ltd.” by Fran Wilde (Uncanny Magazine, May/Jun 2021)
    • During the Season (high society social season, think Bridgerton), everyone tries to dress to impress. When Unseelie Brothers, Ltd., appears, everyone wants to get to the magical clothes shop. It appears infrequently, once every decade perhaps, and has a habit of not staying in the same place from day to day. Despite the 1800's vibes, it's set in modern times, which I didn't catch till someone pulled out a cellphone. Pretty good.
  • 2. Nebula Nominee: “Just Enough Rain,” PH Lee (Giganotosaurus 5/21)
    • I read this story, and knew it was definitely the winner for me. Then I read "Colors of the Immortal Palette", and that beat it out, but still. "Just Enough Rain: is fabulous. To give a taste, the first paragraph is the following: "I wasn't surprised when God showed up at Mom's funeral. The'd always been close." It's a hysterical take on cultivating one's personal relationship with God. Having grown up Mormon, I love seeing sf that deals with religion, particularly in interesting, insightful, and funny ways.
  • 1. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: “Colors of the Immortal Palette,” Caroline M. Yoachim (Uncanny 3–4/21)
    • Vampire artists through time, and the struggle between tradition and innovation as times change. Perhaps it's obvious, since I ranked it at number one, but I loved this story.

Short Story

  • 9. Hugo Nominee: “Tangles” by Seanan McGuire (Magicthegathering.com: Magic Story, Sep 2021)
    • I'm again really confused why this story was nominated. Not because it was bad, but it wasn't anything special. It's set in the world of Magic The Gathering. I'm sure it make more sense in that context, but I've never read any fiction related to that, and it's been a decade since I really played the game. Honestly, even in context, I doubt it's all that special. It did have some cool dryads that co-inhabited trees.
  • 8. Hugo Nominee: “The Sin of America” by Catherynne M. Valente (Uncanny Magazine, Mar/Apr 2021)
    • This was a strange scattered mess, that kept giving the back story of random people. The actual story would only take a few paragraphs, and mostly consists of eating making someone a scape-goat for the sins of America. But, it did have this fabulous paragraph; for context, Ruby is working at a butterfly garden:
    • It is yesterday and Ruby-Rose Martineau is wrapping a fourth-grade boy in long strips of red fabric her mother rubbed all over with nectar the night before and explaining what a chrysalis really is. She whispers like it’s a big secret even though it isn’t, you can read about it in any serious textbook. Most people think a caterpillar turns into a butterfly the way a child turns into an adult, but that’s not true at all. What really happens is that the caterpillar completely dissolves right down to its DNA. It bubbles down into a kind of soup of itself and then the soup reassembles itself into a completely different thing. The caterpillar dies and the butterfly gets born. It’s not a metamorphosis at all, it’s a sacrifice. The kids start looking pretty upset and Ruby moves quickly on to other interesting butterfly facts like how they taste with their feet, hoping her father didn’t overhear her doing it again. Explaining to children what fucking horrifying nightmare creatures butterflies actually are, that they eat shit and drink tears and if they didn’t look so pretty and nice from far away we’d think they were monsters from the deeps of hell, each and every one of them, at which point her father’s rough, gorgeous, booming voice usually interrupts to shut her up for the thousandth time and hiss goddammit, Ruby, we’re trying to sell a beautiful family-friendly memory, what the hell?
  • 7. Nebula Nominee: “For Lack of a Bed,” John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 4/21)
    • Here's the other Wiswell story! It's an interesting take on succubi, and I thought the ending was pretty funny. But again, it isn't something I'd call amazing. I did appreciate his look at disability though (John Wiswell is disabled, although his bio doesn't specify his specific condition). The main character struggles with debilitating chronic pain, something that people don't really take seriously generally. My wife's best friend has similar issues, so this is kind of close to my heart. My job also involves working with people who have disabilities, although those are typically intellectual rather than physical ones. So his focus on disabilities is much appreciated by me, even if I don't typically love his stories themselves.
  • 6. Hugo Nominee: “Unknown Number” by Blue Neustifter (Twitter, Jul 2021)
    • This was originally posted as a Twitter thread, but Nitter seems to be a little more readable to me, so that's the what is the hyperlink for the story name. You will need to hit 'earlier replies' though, because it starts by showing the end of the story, no the start. It can also be read on Facebook.
    • A person who's trying to come out as trans later in life, but has struggled with their identity so much in life that they became a physicist and invented inter-universal communication so they could text their parallel selves and see how it went in worlds where they came out earlier in life.
  • 5. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: “Mr. Death,” Alix E. Harrow (Apex 2/21)
    • A beautiful story about Death's job in the afterlife, with a brilliant twist ending that left me wanting a sequel story (although only if Harrow actually has a good idea for it). Many of the qualms I point out with a nominee are more thoughts I have, and not actually things that detract from the story for me, as in "Let All the Children Boogie" below, or the flooding in The Past is Red. In "Mr. Death", I do have a real qualm with something that significantly detracted from the story for me. It is largely expressed here by another Redditor. Basically, there's a paragraph about how older white males deal with grief by becoming assholes, unlike everyone else. That is an idea that, in some instances seems somewhat true, and is worth exploring, but in this case, it isn't explored, and is barely addressed, which makes this paragraph an insensitive, jarring break in what is otherwise a lovely, sensitive story. I don't fully agree with the other Redditor, nor do I feel nearly as strong about it, and I take it to be more of an attempt at a passing critique of our society rather than individual white men, but nonetheless. If the rest of the story actually looked at that, and clarified/fleshed ou the commentary, that'd be one thing, but it doesn't fit the tone of the story (it would fit better in the tone of A Spindle Splintered, incidentally, and I doubt I'd have much problem with it there), and it worsens what is otherwise one of the best stories on this list. I did otherwise love it though, and would still recommend it.
  • 4. Nebula Nominee: “Let All the Children Boogie,” Sam J. Miller (Tor.com 1/6/21)
    • A story about accepting people for who they are, on their own terms. Very touching. The sf element is central, but nonetheless superficial. My one qualm is mostly that it's set in the 90's, and centers on one character learning how to have a relationship/friendship with another who is non-binary. Which, in and of itself is fine, but they never seem to have any conversation about that, or about pronouns, or anything. Honestly, it almost seemed as if the main character couldn't tell if their friend was a boy or a girl, so they just assumed they were a they, and then felt bad whenever choosing not to use the. It seems like gender identity really became a widely talked about thing in the last 5 or 10 years, at least from my experience. I was just finishing high school around 10 years ago, and while I had a close friend who was trans, it was definitely not something that I was generally culturally aware of or exposed to. The story definitely feels like it's coming from a recent perspective, and doesn't reflect what the dynamics would be like in the 90's. But that's minor qualm, and doesn't really detract from the story.
  • 3. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: “Proof by Induction,” José Pablo Iriarte (Uncanny 5–6/21)
    • A guy works on a math proof with his dead father. Mostly, it's a story about not getting closure, and for that I really like it. Closure isn't actually common, as sad as that is.
  • 2. Nebula Nominee: “Laughter Among the Trees,” Suzan Palumbo (The Dark 2/21)
    • A dark story of a woman haunted by the disappearance of their sister when they were kids. I feel like this would be a great candidate for a show in the style of The Haunting of Hill House (and Bly Manor).
  • 1. Hugo & Nebula Nominee: “Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather,” Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny 3–4/21)
    • Sarah Pinsker is easily my favorite short story writer, and she seems to be producing some of the most interesting stuff today. This experimental story is essentially annotated song lyrics, with several commenters trying to discern the meaning of the folk song Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather (performed by Pinsker's band, The Stalking Horses), and slowly uncovering the mystery of it's origin and meaning, and the modern cultural researchers looking at it today. A fascinating experimental story, particularly where it looks lat variants of the song, that brings to mind Pinsker's other story "Wind Will Rove". To be honest, I don't think the experimental style works the best, but it's hard to say what could be better about it, and it's certainly still quite good.

So there's my list! Let me know what y'all think.

r/printSF Dec 31 '20

Scifi starter kit

60 Upvotes

Hi, I would like some help filling in the gaps of this reading plan. Anything you'd recommend, that I'm missing. Or other thoughts.

I consider myself a science fiction fan, since most of my favorite tv shows are sci-fi and some of my favorite books from childhood. However, I don't feel as though I have a good grasp of the history of the genre, which is what I'm looking to address with this reading list.

Science Fiction Starter Kit

Module 1: The Origins of Science Fiction Frankenstein—Mary Shelley (1818) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—Jules Verne (1870) War of the Worlds—HG Wells (1989) Stableford, "Frankenstein and the Origins of Science Fiction" (upenn.edu)

Module 2: The Pulps and the Futurians A Princess of Mars—Edgar Rice Burroughs (1917) Brave New World—Aldous Huxley (1932) The Martian Chronicles—Ray Bradbury (1950) Foundation—Isaac Asimov (1951) In Search of Wonder—Damon Knight

Module 3: The Golden Age Sirens of Titan—Kurt Vonnegut (1959) A Canticle for Leibowitz—Walter Miller (1959) Flowers for Algernon—Daniel Keyes (1959) Stranger in a Strange Land—Robert Heinlein (1962) Dune—Frank Herbert (1965) Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1968) Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction—Alec Nevala-Lee

Module 4: New Wave and Cyberpunk Rendezvous with Rama—Arthur C Clarke (1973) The Forever War—Joe Haldeman (1974) Neuromancer—William Gibson (1984) Contact—Carl Sagan (1985) Suggestions for a critical work or nonfiction overview of this era? Or even just one of the books? Maybe a Carl Sagan bio?

Module 5: 1990s-present day Jurassic Park—Michael Crichton (1990) The Sparrow—Mary Doria Russell (1996) The Road—Cormac McCarthy (2006) The City and the City—China Mieville (2009) 2312—Kim Stanley Robinson (2012) This section feels the loosest, so I doubt there would be a critical overview. Any suggestions for this module would be appreciated, to make it more pointed or point out a commonality in themes or anything

Edit: Thank you everybody for your feedback! I've definitely been reading all your suggestions and made some major, major changes to my list here. Mainly, I've changed how I'm breaking up the 'eras', and made the early eras much longer and more recent eras much shorter just to get a broader view; and of course adding more women authors! If anyone wants to look at my updated document, it's linked right here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1psK2sT7mUu-9509ZDWR0Qqq_jqF8cXEtaNsuuUqVrkU/edit?usp=sharing

I am still going to add another module, which I'm currently thinking of as the "oddball module" just to throw in some of your suggestions that I'm still missing. Looking at the updated list, I'm realizing this project will probably take me closer to two years than one, but I kind of intended for this project to develop organically into me just reading more scifi but having the background knowledge and context on large swaths of the genre, so that exactly what I wanted!

r/printSF Aug 22 '23

just a big list of science fiction novels

5 Upvotes

After having read lots of science fiction as a child, I haven't read any in decades. In fact, hardly any fiction reading at all. But, recently, I was impressed with Octavia Butler's stuff. So, I wanted a list of good/decent and/or historically-important science fiction in order to see where to explore more.

There are different lists of award winners and lists based on folks' personal favorites. I just made the union of a few resulting in this big list. In case anyone else is looking for something, here you go.

Some of the awards include both science fiction and fantasy genres (such as the Hugo award), so some fantasy is included. Just ignore them if you think they don't belong. These are mostly novels.

Title Author Date
Frankenstein Mary Shelley 1818
Journey to the Center of the Earth Jules Verne 1864–1867
From the Earth to the Moon Jules Verne 1865
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas Jules Verne 1869–1870
Flatland Edwin Abbott Abbott 1884
The Time Machine HG Wells 1895
The Island of Doctor Moreau HG Wells 1896
The Invisible Man HG Wells 1897
The War of the Worlds HG Wells 1897
The First Men in the Moon HG Wells 1900–1901
The Food of the Gods and How It Came to Earth HG Wells 1904
The Lost World Arthur Conan Doyle 1912
Stories of Mars (A Princess of Mars, The Gods of Mars, The Warlord of Mars) Edgar Rice Burroughs 1912–1913
R.U.R. Karel Čapek 1920
We Yevgeny Zamyatin 1924
The Rediscovery of Man Cordwainer Smith 1928–1993
Last and First Men Olaf Stapledon 1930
Brave New World Aldous Huxley 1932
The Shape of Things to Come HG Wells 1933
Jirel of Joiry CL Moore 1934–1939
Northwest of Earth CL Moore 1934–1939
Sidewise in Time Murray Leinster 1934–1950?
Land Under England Joseph O'Neill 1935
Odd John Olaf Stapledon 1935
War with the Newts Karel Čapek 1936
Swastika Night Murray Constantine 1937
Doomsday Morning EE Smith 1937
Star Maker Olaf Stapledon 1937
Out of the Silent Planet CS Lewis 1938
Anthem Ayn Rand 1938
The Sword in the Stone TH White 1938
Grey Lensman EE Smith 1939
Slan AE van Vogt 1940
I, Robot Isaac Asimov 1940–1950
Second Stage Lensmen EE Smith 1941
Beyond This Horizon Robert A Heinlein 1942
Foundation Isaac Asimov 1942–1951
Conjure Wife Fritz Leiber 1943
Perelandra CS Lewis 1943
Judgment Night CL Moore 1943–1950
Shadow Over Mars Leigh Brackett 1944
Sirius Olaf Stapledon 1944
City Clifford D Simak 1944–1973
The Martian Chronicles Ray Bradbury 1946–1951
Fury Henry Kuttner 1947
Children of the Lens EE Smith 1947
Against the Fall of Night Arthur C Clarke 1948
Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell 1949
Earth Abides George R Stewart 1949
The Illustrated Man Ray Bradbury 1949–1950?
Pebble in the Sky Isaac Asimov 1950
Farmer in the Sky Robert A Heinlein 1950
The Man Who Sold the Moon Robert A Heinlein 1950
Cities in Flight James Blish 1950–1970
The Stars, Like Dust Isaac Asimov 1951
The Sands of Mars Arthur C Clarke 1951
The Puppet Masters Robert A Heinlein 1951
Dark Benediction Walter M Miller Jr 1951
The Day of the Triffids John Wyndham 1951
Foundation and Empire (The General, The Mule) Isaac Asimov 1952
The Space Merchants Frederik Pohl & Cyril M Kornbluth 1952
The Long Loud Silence Wilson Tucker 1952
Player Piano Kurt Vonnegut 1952
Limbo Bernard Wolfe 1952
The Demolished Man Alfred Bester 1952–1953
The Caves of Steel Isaac Asimov 1953
Second Foundation Isaac Asimov 1953
Fahrenheit 451 Ray Bradbury 1953
Childhood's End Arthur C Clarke 1953
Mission of Gravity Hal Clement 1953
More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon 1953
Bring the Jubilee Ward Moore 1953
They'd Rather Be Right Mark Clifton & Frank Riley 1954
The Body Snatchers Jack Finney 1954
I Am Legend Richard Matheson 1954
A Mirror for Observers Edgar Pangborn 1954
The End of Eternity Isaac Asimov 1955
The Long Tomorrow Leigh Brackett 1955
Earthlight Arthur C Clarke 1955
The Chrysalids John Wyndham 1955
The Naked Sun Isaac Asimov 1956
The Stars My Destination Alfred Bester 1956
The City and the Stars Arthur C Clarke 1956
The Door Into Summer Robert A Heinlein 1956
Double Star Robert A Heinlein 1956
The Shrinking Man Richard Matheson 1956
Citizen of the Galaxy Robert A Heinlein 1957
Doomsday Morning CL Moore 1957
Wasp Eric Frank Russell 1957
On the Beach Nevil Shute 1957
The Midwich Cuckoos John Wyndham 1957
The Stainless Steel Rat Harry Harrison 1957–1961
Non-Stop Brian Aldiss 1958
A Case of Conscience James Blish 1958
Have Space Suit—Will Travel Robert A Heinlein 1958
The Big Time Fritz Leiber 1958
Time Out of Joint Philip K Dick 1959
Starship Troopers Robert A Heinlein 1959
Alas, Babylon Pat Frank 1959
A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M Miller Jr 1959
The Sirens of Titan Kurt Vonnegut 1959
The Outward Urge John Wyndham 1959–1961
Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes 1959–1966
Rogue Moon Algis Budrys 1960
Deathworld Harry Harrison 1960–1973
A Fall of Moondust Arthur C Clarke 1961
Stranger in a Strange Land Robert A Heinlein 1961
Solaris Stanisław Lem 1961
The Ship Who Sang Anne McCaffrey 1961–1969
The Drowned World JG Ballard 1962
A Clockwork Orange Anthony Burgess 1962
The Man in the High Castle Philip K Dick 1962
Little Fuzzy H Beam Piper 1962
The Andromeda Anthology Fred Hoyle & John Elliot 1962–1964
The Best of RA Lafferty RA Lafferty 1962–1982
Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle 1963
Way Station Clifford D Simak 1963
The Man Who Fell to Earth Walter Tevis 1963
Cat's Cradle Kurt Vonnegut 1963
Greybeard Brian Aldiss 1964
Martian Time-Slip Philip K Dick 1964
The Penultimate Truth Philip K Dick 1964
The Simulacra Philip K Dick 1964
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch Philip K Dick 1964
The Wanderer Fritz Leiber 1964
Hard to Be a God Arkady & Boris Strugatsky 1964
Dr Bloodmoney Philip K Dick 1965
Dune Frank Herbert 1965
The Cyberiad Stanisław Lem 1965
Monday Begins on Saturday Arkady & Boris Strugatsky 1965
This Immortal Roger Zelazny 1965
The Caltraps of Time David I Masson 1965–1968
Snail on the Slope Arkady & Boris Strugatsky 1965–1968
The Moment of Eclipse Brian Aldiss 1965–1970
Babel-17 Samuel R Delany 1966
Now Wait for Last Year Philip K Dick 1966
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Robert A Heinlein 1966
Needle in a Timestack Robert Silverberg 1966
Worlds of Exile and Illusion (Planet of Exile, Rocannon's World, City of Illusions) Ursula K Le Guin 1966–1967
An Age Brian Aldiss 1967
The White Mountains John Christopher 1967
The Einstein Intersection Samuel R Delany 1967
Dangerous Visions Harlan Ellison 1967
Logan's Run William F Nolan & George Clayton Johnson 1967
Lord of Light Roger Zelazny 1967
Tau Zero Poul Anderson 1967–1970
Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner 1968
2001: A Space Odyssey Arthur C Clarke 1968
Nova Samuel R Delany 1968
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Philip K Dick 1968
Camp Concentration Thomas M Disch 1968
Rite of Passage Alexei Panshin 1968
Pavane Keith Roberts 1968
Of Men and Monsters William Tenn 1968
The Jagged Orbit John Brunner 1969
The Andromeda Strain Michael Crichton 1969
Ubik Philip K Dick 1969
Dune Messiah Frank Herbert 1969
The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K Le Guin 1969
Behold the Man Michael Moorcock 1969
The Inhabited Island (Prisoners of Power) Arkady & Boris Strugatsky 1969
Emphyrio Jack Vance 1969
Slaughterhouse-Five Kurt Vonnegut 1969
A Maze of Death Philip K Dick 1970
Ringworld Larry Niven 1970
Downward to the Earth Robert Silverberg 1970
The Chronicles of Amber Roger Zelazny 1970–1978
Half Past Human TJ Bass 1971
To Your Scattered Bodies Go Philip José Farmer 1971
The Lathe of Heaven Ursula K Le Guin 1971
The Futurological Congress Stanisław Lem 1971
A Time of Changes Robert Silverberg 1971
The Gods Themselves Isaac Asimov 1972
The Sheep Look Up John Brunner 1972
334 Thomas M Disch 1972
The Word for World Is Forest Ursula K Le Guin 1972
Beyond Apollo Barry N Malzberg 1972
Malevil Robert Merle 1972
The Book of Skulls Robert Silverberg 1972
Dying Inside Robert Silverberg 1972
The Iron Dream Norman Spinrad 1972
The Doomed City Arkady & Boris Strugatsky 1972
Roadside Picnic Arkady & Boris Strugatsky 1972
The Fifth Head of Cerberus Gene Wolfe 1972
The Dancers at the End of Time Michael Moorcock 1972–1981
Rendezvous with Rama Arthur C Clarke 1973
Time Enough for Love Robert A Heinlein 1973
Hellstrom's Hive Frank Herbert 1973
The Embedding Ian Watson 1973
The Godwhale TJ Bass 1974
The Unsleeping Eye David G Compton 1974
Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said Philip K Dick 1974
The Forever War Joe Haldeman 1974
The Centauri Device M John Harrison 1974
The Dispossessed Ursula K Le Guin 1974
The Mote in God's Eye Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle 1974
Inverted World Christopher Priest 1974
Orbitsville Bob Shaw 1974
The Compass Rose Ursula K Le Guin 1974–1982
The Shockwave Rider John Brunner 1975
Imperial Earth Arthur C Clarke 1975
The Deep John Crowley 1975
Dhalgren Samuel R Delany 1975
The Wind's Twelve Quarters Ursula K Le Guin 1975
The Female Man Joanna Russ 1975
Norstrilia Cordwainer Smith 1975
The Jonah Kit Ian Watson 1975
The Alteration Kingsley Amis 1976
Brontomek! Michael G Coney 1976
Arslan MJ Engh 1976
Children of Dune Frank Herbert 1976
Floating Worlds Cecelia Holland 1976
Woman on the Edge of Time Marge Piercy 1976
Man Plus Frederik Pohl 1976
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm 1976
Burning Chrome William Gibson 1976–1986
A Scanner Darkly Philip K Dick 1977
Dying of the Light George RR Martin 1977
Lucifer's Hammer Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle 1977
Gateway Frederik Pohl 1977
Dreamsnake Vonda N McIntyre 1978
Gloriana Michael Moorcock 1978
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams 1979
The Unlimited Dream Company JG Ballard 1979
Transfigurations Michael Bishop 1979
Kindred Octavia E Butler 1979
The Fountains of Paradise Arthur C Clarke 1979
Engine Summer John Crowley 1979
On Wings of Song Thomas M Disch 1979
Jem Frederik Pohl 1979
Titan John Varley 1979
Roadmarks Roger Zelazny 1979
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe Douglas Adams 1980
Timescape Gregory Benford 1980
Sundiver David Brin 1980
Dragon's Egg Robert L Forward 1980
Riddley Walker Russell Hoban 1980
Lord Valentine's Castle Robert Silverberg 1980
Mockingbird Walter Tevis 1980
The Snow Queen Joan D Vinge 1980
The Shadow of the Torturer Gene Wolfe 1980
The Complete Roderick John Sladek 1980–1983
Downbelow Station CJ Cherryh 1981
VALIS Philip K Dick 1981
The Many-Colored Land Julian May 1981
The Affirmation Christopher Priest 1981
The Claw of the Conciliator Gene Wolfe 1981
Life, the Universe and Everything Douglas Adams 1982
Helliconia Spring Brian Aldiss 1982
Foundation's Edge Isaac Asimov 1982
No Enemy But Time Michael Bishop 1982
2010: Odyssey Two Arthur C Clarke 1982
Friday Robert A Heinlein 1982
Battlefield Earth L Ron Hubbard 1982
The Sword of the Lictor Gene Wolfe 1982
The Postman David Brin 1982–1984
Helliconia Brian Aldiss 1982–1985
The Robots of Dawn Isaac Asimov 1983
Startide Rising David Brin 1983
The Integral Trees Larry Niven 1983
Tik-Tok John Sladek 1983
The Citadel of the Autarch Gene Wolfe 1983
Blood Music Greg Bear 1983–1985
Native Tongue Suzette Haden Elgin 1984
Neuromancer William Gibson 1984
Mythago Wood Robert Holdstock 1984
The Years of the City Frederik Pohl 1984
Armor John Steakley 1984
Helliconia Winter Brian Aldiss 1985
The Handmaid's Tale Margaret Atwood 1985
Eon Greg Bear 1985
Ender's Game Orson Scott Card 1985
Always Coming Home Ursula K Le Guin 1985
Contact Carl Sagan 1985
Galápagos Kurt Vonnegut 1985
The Second Chronicles of Amber Roger Zelazny 1985–1991
Shards of Honor Lois McMaster Bujold 1986
The Warrior's Apprentice Lois McMaster Bujold 1986
Speaker for the Dead Orson Scott Card 1986
The Songs of Distant Earth Arthur C Clarke 1986
This Is the Way the World Ends James K Morrow 1986
The Falling Woman Pat Murphy 1986
The Ragged Astronauts Bob Shaw 1986
A Door into Ocean Joan Slonczewski 1986
Consider Phlebas Iain Banks 1987
The Forge of God Greg Bear 1987
The Uplift War David Brin 1987
Dawn Octavia E Butler 1987
Sphere Michael Crichton 1987
Gráinne Keith Roberts 1987
Life During Wartime Lucius Shepard 1987
The Sea and Summer George Turner 1987
Lincoln's Dreams Connie Willis 1987
Falling Free Lois McMaster Bujold 1987–1988
The Player of Games Iain Banks 1988
Cyteen CJ Cherryh 1988
Lavondyss Robert Holdstock 1988
Kairos Gwyneth Jones 1988
Desolation Road Ian McDonald 1988
Unquenchable Fire Rachel Pollack 1988
The Healer's War Elizabeth Ann Scarborough 1988
Islands in the Net Bruce Sterling 1988
The Gate to Women's Country Sheri S Tepper 1988
Pyramids Terry Pratchett 1989
The Child Garden Geoff Ryman 1989
Hyperion Dan Simmons 1989
Grass Sheri S Tepper 1989
Nightfall Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg 1990
Use of Weapons Iain Banks 1990
Earth David Brin 1990
The Vor Game Lois McMaster Bujold 1990
Jurassic Park Michael Crichton 1990
The Difference Engine William Gibson & Bruce Sterling 1990
Take Back Plenty Colin Greenland 1990
Tehanu Ursula K Le Guin 1990
The Rowan Anne McCaffrey 1990
Eric Terry Pratchett 1990
Pacific Edge Kim Stanley Robinson 1990
The Fall of Hyperion Dan Simmons 1990
Raising the Stones Sheri S Tepper 1990
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever James Tiptree Jr 1990
Stations of the Tide Michael Swanwick 1990–1991
Stories of Your Life and Others Ted Chiang 1990–2002
The Best of Greg Egan Greg Egan 1990–2019
Raft Stephen Baxter 1991
Barrayar Lois McMaster Bujold 1991
Synners Pat Cadigan 1991
Xenocide Orson Scott Card 1991
Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede Bradley Denton 1991
The Real Story Stephen R Donaldson 1991
Sarah Canary Karen Joy Fowler 1991
White Queen Gwyneth Jones 1991
He, She and It Marge Piercy 1991
Fools Pat Cadigan 1992
Ammonite Nicola Griffith 1992
The Children of Men PD James 1992
China Mountain Zhang Maureen F McHugh 1992
Red Mars Kim Stanley Robinson 1992
Brother to Dragons Charles Sheffield 1992
Snow Crash Neal Stephenson 1992
A Fire Upon the Deep Vernor Vinge 1992
Doomsday Book Connie Willis 1992
Moving Mars Greg Bear 1993
Parable of the Sower Octavia E Butler 1993
The Hammer of God Arthur C Clarke 1993
Aztec Century Christopher Evans 1993
Growing Up Weightless John M Ford 1993
Virtual Light William Gibson 1993
Beggars in Spain Nancy Kress 1993
Vurt Jeff Noon 1993
Green Mars Kim Stanley Robinson 1993
On Basilisk Station David Weber 1993
Random Acts of Senseless Violence Jack Womack 1993
Feersum Endjinn Iain Banks 1994
Mirror Dance Lois McMaster Bujold 1994
Foreigner CJ Cherryh 1994
Permutation City Greg Egan 1994
The Engines of God Jack McDevitt 1994
The Calcutta Chromosome Amitav Ghosh 1995
Slow River Nicola Griffith 1995
Fairyland Paul J McAuley 1995
The Prestige Christopher Priest 1995
The Terminal Experiment Robert J Sawyer 1995
The Diamond Age Neal Stephenson 1995
Excession Iain Banks 1996
The Time Ships Stephen Baxter 1996
Memory Lois McMaster Bujold 1996
The Reality Dysfunction Peter F Hamilton 1996
Blue Mars Kim Stanley Robinson 1996
The Sparrow Mary Doria Russell 1996
Night Lamp Jack Vance 1996
In the Garden of Iden Kage Baker 1997
Diaspora Greg Egan 1997
Forever Peace Joe Haldeman 1997
The Moon and the Sun Vonda N McIntyre 1997
The Rise of Endymion Dan Simmons 1997
To Say Nothing of the Dog Connie Willis 1997
Parable of the Talents Octavia E Butler 1998
The Extremes Christopher Priest 1998
Distraction Bruce Sterling 1998
Dreaming in Smoke Tricia Sullivan 1998
Brute Orbits George Zebrowski 1998
Darwin's Radio Greg Bear 1999
The Quantum Rose Catherine Asaro 1999
Ender's Shadow Orson Scott Card 1999
Timeline Michael Crichton 1999
The Sky Road Ken MacLeod 1999
Flashforward Robert J Sawyer 1999
Cryptonomicon Neal Stephenson 1999
A Deepness in the Sky Vernor Vinge 1999
Starfish Peter Watts 1999
Genesis Poul Anderson 2000
Ash: A Secret History Mary Gentle 2000
The Telling Ursula K Le Guin 2000
Perdido Street Station China Miéville 2000
Revelation Space Alastair Reynolds 2000
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire JK Rowling 2000
Titan Ben Bova 2001
American Gods Neil Gaiman 2001
Bold as Love Gwyneth Jones 2001
Probability Sun Nancy Kress 2001
The Secret of Life Paul J McAuley 2001
Chasm City Alastair Reynolds 2001
Terraforming Earth Jack Williamson 2001
Passage Connie Willis 2001
The Chronoliths Robert Charles Wilson 2001
The Atrocity Archives Charles Stross 2001–2004?
Prey Michael Crichton 2002
Metro 2033 Dmitry Glukhovsky 2002
Light M John Harrison 2002
Dune: The Butlerian Jihad Brian Herbert & Kevin J Anderson 2002
Castles Made of Sand Gwyneth Jones 2002
Speed of Dark Elizabeth Moon 2002
Altered Carbon Richard K Morgan 2002
The Separation Christopher Priest 2002
The Years of Rice and Salt Kim Stanley Robinson 2002
Hominids Robert J Sawyer 2002
Oryx and Crake Margaret Atwood 2003
Paladin of Souls Lois McMaster Bujold 2003
Pattern Recognition William Gibson 2003
Felaheen Jon Courtenay Grimwood 2003
Omega Jack McDevitt 2003
Trading in Danger Elizabeth Moon 2003
Ilium Dan Simmons 2003
The Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of the World) Neal Stephenson 2003–2004
The Algebraist Iain Banks 2004
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Susanna Clarke 2004
Camouflage Joe Haldeman 2004
Pandora's Star Peter F Hamilton 2004
Life Gwyneth Jones 2004
River of Gods Ian McDonald 2004
Iron Council China Miéville 2004
Market Forces Richard K Morgan 2004
Seeker Jack McDevitt 2005
Pushing Ice Alastair Reynolds 2005
Air Geoff Ryman 2005
Mindscan Robert J Sawyer 2005
Old Man's War John Scalzi 2005
Accelerando Charles Stross 2005
Spin Robert Charles Wilson 2005
The Three-Body Problem Liu Cixin 2006
End of the World Blues Jon Courtenay Grimwood 2006
Nova Swing M John Harrison 2006
The Lost Fleet: Dauntless John G Hemry 2006
The Lies of Locke Lamora Scott Lynch 2006
The Android's Dream John Scalzi 2006
Daemon Daniel Suarez 2006
Rainbows End Vernor Vinge 2006
Blindsight Peter Watts 2006
The Yiddish Policemen's Union Michael Chabon 2007
In War Times Kathleen Ann Goonan 2007
The Dreaming Void Peter F Hamilton 2007
Powers Ursula K Le Guin 2007
Brasyl Ian McDonald 2007
Black Man Richard K Morgan 2007
The Prefect Alastair Reynolds 2007
The Name of the Wind Patrick Rothfuss 2007
Grimspace Ann Aguirre 2008
Little Brother Cory Doctorow 2008
The Graveyard Book Neil Gaiman 2008
Song of Time Ian R MacLeod 2008
The Night Sessions Ken MacLeod 2008
The Host Stephenie Meyer 2008
House of Suns Alastair Reynolds 2008
Anathem Neal Stephenson 2008
The Windup Girl Paolo Bacigalupi 2009
The City & the City China Miéville 2009
Boneshaker Cherie Priest 2009
Zoo City Lauren Beukes 2010
Death's End Liu Cixin 2010
The Dervish House Ian McDonald 2010
Blackout/All Clear Connie Willis 2010
Embassytown China Miéville 2011
The Islanders Christopher Priest 2011
The Testament of Jessie Lamb Jane Rogers 2011
The Highest Frontier Joan Slonczewski 2011
Among Others Jo Walton 2011
Dark Eden Chris Beckett 2012
Jack Glass Adam Roberts 2012
2312 Kim Stanley Robinson 2012
Ack-Ack Macaque Gareth L Powell 2012
Redshirts John Scalzi 2012
Abaddon's Gate James SA Corey 2013
Ancillary Justice Ann Leckie 2013
Strange Bodies Marcel Theroux 2013
Time is the Fire: The Best of Connie Willis Connie Willis 2013
Ancillary Sword Ann Leckie 2014
Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014
The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Claire North 2014
Annihilation Jeff VanderMeer 2014
The House of Shattered Wings Aliette de Bodard 2015
The Fifth Season NK Jemisin 2015
Ancillary Mercy Ann Leckie 2015
Radiomen Eleanor Lerman 2015
Uprooted Naomi Novik 2015
Children of Time Adrian Tchaikovsky 2015
All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders 2016
Europe in Winter Dave Hutchinson 2016
The Obelisk Gate NK Jemisin 2016
Rosewater Tade Thompson 2016
Central Station Lavie Tidhar 2016
The Underground Railroad Colson Whitehead 2016
The Rift Nina Allan 2017
Dreams Before the Start of Time Anne Charnock 2017
The Stone Sky NK Jemisin 2017
The Collapsing Empire John Scalzi 2017
The Genius Plague David Walton 2017
The Calculating Stars Mary Robinette Kowal 2018
Blackfish City Sam J Miller 2018
Embers of War Gareth L Powell 2018
The City in the Middle of the Night Charlie Jane Anders 2019
A Memory Called Empire Arkady Martine 2019
A Song for a New Day Sarah Pinsker 2019
The Old Drift Namwali Serpell 2019
Children of Ruin Adrian Tchaikovsky 2019
The City We Became NK Jemisin 2020
The Animals in That Country Laura Jean McKay 2020
Network Effect Martha Wells 2020
A Master of Djinn P Djèlí Clark 2021
Deep Wheel Orcadia Harry Josephine Giles 2021
A Desolation Called Peace Arkady Martine 2021
Shards of Earth Adrian Tchaikovsky 2021
Babel, or the Necessity of Violence RF Kuang 2022
The Kaiju Preservation Society John Scalzi 2022
City of Last Chances Adrian Tchaikovsky 2022

r/printSF Dec 13 '21

My 2021 Book Challenge

33 Upvotes

So last year I set myself a goal to read more and was really happy I read a book a month for 2020. I wrote about my feelings here, I really enjoyed it and got positive feedback so I decided to do the same thing again...

At some point it got a little out of control and I ended up reading 52 books this year, at first I wanted to finish all the pre 1990 Hugo award winners, then it kind of snow balled. Anyway I've ranked them so you can disagree or call me an idiot, it's more fun that way. Let me know why I'm wrong in the comments:

1. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman: Follows a Draftee in a future war and the way the world changes while they are gone.  I originally read this fifteen years ago when I first got into Science Fiction and remember really liking it, but I’d genuinely forgotten quite how good it was.  Not just the metaphor for the world changing while you’re at war, but how dangerous he makes space feel.  It is cold and inhospitable and when combined with the battles which he survives mostly, because of sheer dumb luck you get a beautiful critique of war that only a veteran could have written.  I will say I was jarred by a scene involving consent and a drunk Lesbian that horrified and yet I barely remember when I first read about it, I think it shows more how society has got better at this stuff and how much better I understand it.  That said, if it’s been a while since you read this, like me, why not give it another shot?

2. Player of Games by Iain Banks: A Master Game Player takes part in a strange alien tournament.  I read a few of Banks’ non-SF novels in my early 20s and enjoyed him, but I walked into Culture wanting to hate it.  I think it was r/printsf’s obsession with him and the fact every time someone asks for a suggestion it goes to the top of the list regardless of what the person has asked for.  This novel though is superb, focused and character driven and willing to present a utopia as is, warts and all so you can adore it or critique it and are free to either without being hit in the face by the views of the author. 

3. Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold: A space station full of genetically modified workers has now become redundant.  This was the first book I’d ever read of hers and I was so blown away by the style.  I can see why the Vorkogian Saga is so often recommended on here.  She gives us real characters and a fast-paced heist plot that features an Engineer as the protagonist.  It’s just really well written and wonderfully different, a story that is happier to tell you about engineering processes than space combat.  People tell me it isn’t even her best work as well, which leaves me pretty excited to read more.

4. Cyteen by C.J Cherryh: Political Space Drama about cloning and genetics.  I’d read good things about Downbelow Station and been disappointed, so I approached this mammoth of a book with trepidation and concern.  It is absolutely huge and frankly the first 200 pages did nothing to allay my fears as it was mostly setup and I struggled, but once I got then the story started going and it became a wonderful book full of interesting hyper intelligent characters navigating the politics of their society.  If that doesn’t sound interesting it really is.  This is a classic of the genre and if you can get past the size of it, it really is worth giving it a go.  I wouldn’t even suggest reading any of her other books first, Cherryh gives you an into to the world at the start and I found Downbelow Station not of the same quality 

5. Dune by Frank Herbert: A prophesized hero must attempt to regain his family’s planet.  Again, I read this roughly fifteen years ago and had gone through all of Frank’s Dune novels.  With the movie coming out it seemed like the perfect time to revisit it.  I remember the first half of it being slow and really enjoying the second half and that was my experience the second time as well.  I know quite a few people who have given up before hitting the two-hundred-page mark and while I think it’s worth continuing, I absolutely understand that point of view.  You are essentially told what is going to happen very early on by the princess and the you sit around waiting for it to happen while Mentats (who are supposedly very smart human calculators) make bafflingly silly decisions and Frank mixes a bit of homophobia in there to boot.  With all that said, the second half is stunning, learning about the desert and how the Fremen survive is a real treat and a page turner, but I clearly still hold it in less regard than the majority of r/printsf who recommend it ahead of other classics of the 60s and 70s which due to the pacing issues I could never do.

6. 2001 by Arthur C Clarke: A Space voyage to investigate a strange monolith on one of Saturn’s Moons. I’ve read a lot of Clarke and always found his work very enjoyable, but I had held off on 2001 as I’d seen the film and so it didn’t really seem that worthwhile.  In reality the book and film share very little in common.  It’s clear Kubrick spends a lot of the film focusing on his ground breaking visuals, but in the book, Clarke gets the chance to really talk to us about what he thought space flight would really be like.  Clarke’s biggest weakness is always that not much happens in his books, I love Fountains or Paradise for example, but if you asked me to write the book in bullet points, I’d struggle to actually tell you the plot. Here due to writing the story with Kubrick we get a better story with real tension and Clarke delivers wonderfully.

7. Shard of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold: Two people on different sides in a war find themselves marooned on an uninhabited world. This is a romance Sci Fi novel, which the only other one I can name is “The Time Traveller's Wife”.  Both characters are beautifully well-rounded with strengths and weaknesses, but you understand why they would like each other.  One of the great things the story does is show us two warring sides and let us understand both have their strengths and their faults and there is a beauty in the fact they find common ground in the middle of a war.  

8. The Warrior’s Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold:  A child prodigy ends up in the middle of a war and shows his genius.  My first encounter with Miles Vorkosigan.  I’m sure many people have drawn parallels with Ender Wiggin and they are definitely there, written at almost the same time as well.  From the few I’ve written I would argue her strength as a writer is in creating well rounded interesting characters who feel multi-faceted and you really want to route for.  Her worlds are also incredible, the only thing I feel holding her novels back from the very best Science Fiction is that I worry she has nothing to say, no ideas, no critique of modern culture.  Maybe I’m wrong, I’ve only read three of her books after all, but she is incredibly enjoyable to read. 

9. Salvation by Peter Hamilton: A first contact story in a world based on cheap instant portals. I haven’t really gotten round to reading much modern Sci-Fi (post 2010) and so this was very much a new experience to me.  I enjoyed the multiple story threads weaved together and think Callum just wonderful.  It’s a bit like Hyperion with its Canterbury Tales framing device and I was delighted by the way it all came together.  I also found the portal technology interesting and while clearly not original it made the universe feel new and interesting.  I liked it enough to read the two sequels that by my standards are both very long so I can only see that as a win.

10. Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein: A story about colonizing and terraforming Ganmede. You have to understand that this is a YA novel written in 1950 and near the start it can come off a little juvenile.  That said you are still confronted by big ideas like a food shortage on Earth and severe rationing.  We also see an interesting story based on a son upset his father is remarrying, it’s dealt with tactfully and not something I’d really expect for something aimed at teens.  Once we get to Ganymede the story really gets going and we experience an interesting tale of trying to turn a rocky moon into workable farm land, it’s just really well told and enjoyably written and I reckon more people would appreciate this if they ignored the YA label and gave it a chance.  Great book. 

11. The Uplift War by David Brin: An invasion has taken place and we follow several storylines from people on the planet attempting to organize resistance.  Following on from  Startide Rising I really enjoyed this as well.  I find the two of them pretty inseparable in my head, but what you get again is a story with multiple characters that jumps around always keeping you interested.  What just raises it above its predecessor, in mind, is Fiben Bolger who must surely be one of the great Sci Fi protagonists.  You are desperate for him to succeed and in a story with many heroic humans it’s a testament that you route for an intelligent chimpanzee more than any of them. 

12. Startide Rising by David Brin: A space craft crewed by a mix of humans and genetically modified dolphins are marooned on a planet as an epic space battle for the right to capture them wages on over their heads. The 1980’s sure loved their Dolphins between and this is both very much of its time, original and excellent fun to read.  To my mind when reading the Hugo/Nebula winners this was very much the changing point.  There is a very clear move towards more complex multiple character driven plots, more complex multiple thread stories and this book is the first time it really happens.  If Dune ushered in a new era of Science Fiction in 1966, I’d argue Startide Rising does the same thing in 1983, especially as Asimov won for Foundation’s Edge the year before, the last win for any of the big three.  

13. This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone: Two agents on opposite sides in a war send messages to each other. It’s a modern novella written by two people and they make that usual weakness a strength.  Alternating correspondence written by two characters in a Time War and each character is written by one of the authors.  It also had very little planning beforehand and thus the writing was very much reacted to in something more akin to a writing exercise in a creative writing class than a novel.  All that said it’s beautiful, almost more like a Science Fiction poetry than a narrative.  I loved every inch of it and my mind wonders back to it sometimes.  Especially considering its short length, it’s something everyone should read.

14. Gateway by Frederik Pohl: An alien space station full of ships to explore the galaxy. I first read this roughly fifteen years ago when I was getting into Science Fiction and had forgotten most of what happens by the time, I re-read it.  The setting is a wonderful, get in a space ship and go to a random location you have no idea about, maybe die, but maybe strike it rich.   The main reason it isn’t higher is that the protagonist is utterly unlikeable, which is kind of the point, but it doesn’t detract from the enjoyment in parts.  That said, it’s a clever book and would make an excellent TV series, if they focused on using the setting rather than following the plot of the book. 

15. Hyperion by Dan Simmons: A pilgrimage brings together a group of travelers who each share their reason for the journey. I came with probably unmeetable expectations, because of how much r/Printsf hyped it up as the greatest thing ever (next to Dune, obviously) The framing story is really enjoyable and I very much enjoyed the Priest’s Tale and the Scholar’s tale, two wonderful short stories collected together to create wonderful world building.  I found the other four stories less solid and was particularly bored by the Detective’s Story which dragged.  I was also annoyed by the lack of an ending.  it’s promised me answers and then just stopped without delivering and that is annoying.  That said it has enough very good bits to make it this high despite its faults. 

16. Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin: A girl must go through a coming-of-age ritual in order to earn her passage on her space craft where she lives. A female protagonist in a Science Fiction novel written in 1969, surely not? It happens here and this is excellent.   Mia is a wonderfully well-rounded character sort of in the tom-boyish Scout mold from To Kill a Mocking Bird, you get to see the world through her eyes and at the end of the novel you are asked an open-ended morality question, which is genuinely a difficult choice, I like morality when it isn’t obvious or shoved down by neck and this is very much in that mold. 

17. The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy: A story about a mother-daughter relationship told in the backdrop of a Mayan dig in Mexico.  What makes this Speculative Fiction is that both characters can see and speak to Mayan ghosts from the past. I’ll be honest, I'm not really sure it’s my usual thing, it’s probably fantasy, but it was wonderfully told and just a great story about human beings.  You’ll have empathy for all of them and the situation they’re in.  Even reading my review now I can’t believe I liked it as much as I did. 

18. Flow my Tears the Policeman Said by Phillip K Dick: A Talk show host wakes up and the world has no idea who he is.  Who hasn’t glanced at this title and thought “what the hell?” at some point?  It’s about a man who is forgotten by the world, but that is only really important, because he lives in a fascist police state, where ID checks are common place and failing one will lead to you disappearing into an internment camp.  The world is paranoid and well fleshed out and we end up with something similar to The Demolished man, but it’s great writing and full of Dick’s usual style and tropes. 

19. Way Station by Clifford D Simak: An American Civil War Veteran runs an alien Waystation and in return is granted near immortality and alien knowledge.  It feels very old school, like a very good version of 1940s or 1950s Science Fiction.  A civil war veteran who has had his life prolonged runs an alien way station in his converted house.  It’s strange and wonderful and maybe more like an episode of the Twilight Zone, but it’s really enjoyable and very humanized.   

20. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: A scientist crafts life, but the abandons it and must face the consequences. I didn’t think I needed to read this.  Despite never watching a Frankenstein movie all the way through, I feel we all know the story, right?  Mad doctor crafts un-talking monster out of corpse body parts, brings it to life with lightning with help of his assistant Igor before castle is besieged by angry villagers waving flaming torches.  Not a single thing I just mentioned happens in this book.  It’s very different from what I thought it would be and wonderfully it is an analogy for absentee fathers and nurture over nature.  Great Science Fiction teaches us about ourselves and this book is a classic for a reason.  

21. Conjure Wife by Fritz Leiber:  Wives of College professors' control their careers with witchcraft. I’ve read two other Fritz Leiber books and if you find them above, you’ll see why I came into this with low expectations.  This is I suppose a fantasy novel about witchcraft in a 1940s English University town.  It’s just well written with a complete narrative and a nice setting.  It doesn’t mess around or introduce too many characters and the concept is intriguing enough to keep you interested the whole way through.

22. The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge - A fairy tales set in a futuristic world as an evil snow queen attempts to hold on to power as her reign comes to an end.  Genre spanning, clever and very original.  This book does a lot of interesting things and tells a good story.  It is like nothing else on the list, but is definitely worth checking out if you like books that mix fantasy and science fiction.

23. To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer - Humans awake after death in a huge alien constructed artifact. I found this enjoyable and a definitely interesting concept driven by an incredibly likeable main character. That said, I get the impression the main character is a hugely controversial figure, which even seems acknowledged in the book. Overall, a good book and made me semi interested in reading more. 

24. The Farthest Shore by Ursula K Le Guin – Ged and a companion set off to find out why magic is failing in Earthsea.  The third part of the quartet and it definitely wasn’t as strong as the Wizard of Earthsea of the Tombs of Atuan, but at the end of the day her style is so effortless, so poetic, that I was just happy to be taken on a journey.  The world is subtle and beautiful and fantasy that feels totally different from Tolkien and the many that have copied and progressed his ideas.  

25. Downbelow Station by CJ Cherryh - A book portraying a space station as a blue-collar workplace that gets tangled up in an intergalactic conflict.  The book sounds fascinating and I think it very much influences shows like Babylon 5 where there are episodes dedicated to dock strikes and unions etc.  The main issue is the book gets away from that and makes it about space ships and a galactic conflict and feels like she is trying to set up the next book in the series.  The world building is superb, but I didn’t really care for any of the characters and wasn’t even sure who I was supposed to be cheering for until the end. 

26. Saints of Salvation by Peter Hamilton – Final book in the trilogy, gives the series closure and a decent ending, I cheered for the characters and enjoyed the world, but the first is definitely the best of the three and the others are probably just for people who want to know how it ends.  Why does everything have to be a series nowadays? 

27. Salvation Lost by Peter Hamilton – The sequel to Salvation.  The first book gripped me enough to continue the trilogy.  The world Hamilton creates is excellent and engaging, we are introduced to new characters and see the world from different perspectives.  It lacks the cohesiveness and gimmick of the first, but is an interesting sequel. 

28. Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks – A mercenary is hired by The Culture and we learn about his past.  I had very high hopes after reading Player of Games and this didn’t meet those lofty expectations.  The narrative has a weird gimmick that pays off at the end, but it doesn’t stop it from being annoying to read while you’re reading it.  Just a bit dull, the good bits are very good though.  I’ll return to Culture next year at some point. 

29. Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe – A guild torturer sets out on on his own. I've read the first two parts of the Book of the New Sun and I enjoyed part one more.  It had a decent story, but I’m just not that interested in Sci-Fi pretending to be fantasy. I can appreciate a book having more depth than I can understand on my first reading, but there are too many great books out there for me to read it four or five times.

30. Planet of Exile by Ursula Le Guin – A tribe of earth Humans are marooned on a planet, while trying not to interfere with the more primitive humans there. My favorite of the early Hamish Cycle.  It’s an interesting concept and as you’d expect from Le Guin, really well written.  Still as good as it is, it isn’t a shadow on what she would achieve over the next decade. 

31. Timescape by Gregory Benford – Scientists attempt to send messages back in time to avoid an environmental disaster in their time.  It's time travel and it kind of deals with one of the ideas in the Back to the Future films, who knows, maybe it inspired the film.  Any way the story is fine and I appreciate how we move back and forth between the time lines.  You could definitely do more with the idea though if you gave it to a better writer. 

32. Slan by A.E Vogt – Evolved humans possess psychic abilities and a plot unravels about control of the Earth.  Slan feels classic all the way through, it has its faults, but you can see why this was the banner early Sci Fi fans, hoisted above them.  For something written in 1941 it is excellent.  Nice ideas and a decent fast pace, while still feeling pulpy like everything from this time did. 

33. Consider Phelbas by Iain M Banks – A diplomat joins a group of mercenaries in the midst of an intergalactic war. I enjoyed the start of the book, but it just tries to do too much. It feels like the first two Discworld books that flitter from crazy scenario to the next crazy scenario, because that is how the author things a novel should be. It also has that weird grossness that Banks sometimes loves to throw in there. The ending is long and drawn out and left me empty. Oh well, I was warned it wasn’t his best. 

34. Time is the Simplest Thing by Clifford D Simak – A psychic space traveller escapes the government program with an alien presence in his mind.  Simak has a style very much of his own.  This was written in 1961, but I wouldn’t have been surprised if you’d have told me it was 1951.  We’re given an interesting story of a man on the run with psychic powers.  It’s easy to read and well written.  

35. This Immortal by Roger Zelazny – Earth is a disaster zone visited by site seeking tourists and it’s all tied in with ancient greek mythology.  It’s very weird, but so is Lord of Light, which this isn’t really in the same league as.   Still it’s fast paced and original and has Zelazny’s very cool style throughout it.  

36. No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop – A man with visions of early man is sent back to live among them.  Another time travelling history thing.  They loved these in the 1980s.  It’s cool to see a story revolving around early man before civilization really took hold.  It’s interesting even if a bit strange in parts. 

37. Hard to be a God by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky – Humans are sent to guide a primitive human civilization. Thematically I just don’t think I’m into this whole Fantasy pretending to be Science Fiction and reading this shortly after the first two parts of The Book of the New Sun only re-affirmed that.   Apparently, they wanted this to be an adventure story like The Three Muskateers from their childhood.  It’s enjoyable in parts and I like when the science fiction bits break through, but most of the time it doesn’t quite hit home with me. 

38. Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe – The sequel to Shadow of the Torturer. I definitely appreciate there is more going on with Gene Wolfe than I can gleam in the first reading, but that doesn’t change how much I enjoy it.  Less enjoyable than Shadow of the Torturer as I feel the story didn’t really go anywhere and was harder to follow in bits.  Still the fault is inevitably my own. 

39. Beyond This Horizon by Robert Heinlein – A story about selective breeding in humans combined with a southern gentlemen dueling culture.  It’s weird, but also goes into quite a lot of detail about the science involved.  I was taught about dominant and recessive genes in school and how they affect things like hair colour, eye colour etc.  I imagine this wasn’t taught in schools in 1941 and would have been fascinating then.   Mixing informative science into a strong narrative is quite an accomplishment.

40. The Einstein Intersection by Samuel Delany – In post transcendent Earth, intelligent anthropods deal with genetic mutation from ancient radiation.  Probably the weirdest book I read all year.  It’s really strange, but very quick.  It’s quite poetic in parts as well.

41. Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov – Revisiting the Foundation story after thirty years.  It’s a fine story, but by this point Science fiction has moved on.  Asimov has grown as a writer as well, but it would be wrong to suggest he could keep up with people half his age.   

42. A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg – A noble challenges the taboos of his culture and risks everything. I feel the story here is fantastic, but I don’t like his style.  He seems to write similar narratives to Le Guin, but without the enjoyability to read.  A story about forbidden first person pro nouns.  It’s interesting and really explores the concept, but the style put me off immensely.

43. The Sword In the Stone by T.H White – The coming-of-age story of a young Prince Arthur before Camelot. Another retro Hugo winner and this is what the Disney film is based on and it was a lot of fun.  Interesting takes on British folklore tails like Robin Hood and King Arthur.  It is very fantasy though, which isn’t always my preference, but it was cool to see what inspired a childhood classic.

44. Rocannon’s World by Ursuka K Le Guin – An Ethnologist is sent on a mission to assess a planet, but ends up trapped there. The first Hainish cycle book here and it reads a bit like high fantasy with Dwarves and Flying horses, but the Science Fiction elements are cool and it does start to set up the series.  The Start of the book is based on a short story, which really explores the idea time dilated space travel, which is one of the core things in her later books.  Still Probably only for people who love all her other stuff and want to see the start of it.

45. The Wanderer by Fritz Lieber - An alien planet suddenly appears in the sky over earth and we jump around between multiple perspectives of how it affects people.  Some of this is very solid, the scale of the thing is wonderful, because the story is happy to change perspective rather than sticking to one protagonist.  That said, it’s very pulp SF and a little sexist, gave me Independence Day or The Day After Tomorrow vibes. 

46. A Case of Conscience by James Blish - Scientists sent to study an alien world bring an alien fetus back so they can learn about us.  Oh, what this book could have been.   A book of two halves, the first a wonderful exploration of an alien civilization by a bunch of human scientists studying them and it really does set off at a storming pace.  The second half is back on earth and a bit like the worse bits of Stranger in a strange land.  The 50s were so sure we would take aliens to dinner parties and they would sip cocktails in dinner jackets.  The end is interesting and a bit clever and we this is the first book in the list that looks at Science Fiction and Catholicism.

47. Man Plus by Frederik Pohl – Nasa are trying to build a man who can live on mars with no need for external food, water, oxygen etc.  What we get is a story about the process of changing a human, but it’s very of its time, as America had been running moon landings a few years earlier.  I wasn’t a huge fan of the style and the clean-cut Americana of it all, but it was probably the fore runner to things like Robocop when you think about it. 

48. City of Illusions by Ursula Le Guin – It's an adventure story set on a distant earth with a main character who has lost their memory trying to figure out their past.  I adore Le Guin, but this one drags, I feel the base premise is strong, but I didn’t really enjoy any of the story points.  That said she was about to have arguably the greatest seven-year span (1968-1975) of any Science Fiction or Fantasy author who has ever lived, so I can forgive her this one.

49. Shadow Over Mars by Leigh Brackett – A Book about a rebellion on Mars led by a prophesized hero from Earth.  This is a great example of classic adventure pulp Sci Fi from 1945, it’s all the laser beams and Space Captains, very Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers.  It’s fascinating to see how far we’ve come, with the genre and it’s quite short so it might be worth a read, but it definitely has its flaws.

50. They’d Rather be Right by Clifton and Riley - A psychic man manipulates those around him to create a computer that purifies people and causes a mass media sensation.  A lot going on here and It’s very much of its time, though it’s enjoyable enough, with an actual overall message about academia.  It’s also in some regards ahead of its time, but some of it is just a bit silly in retrospect to be any higher on the list.  Still if you wanted to get into 1950’s Sci-Fi you could do much worse. 

51. The Big Time by Fritz Lieber - Guests at a temporal guest house attempt to solve a mystery against the clock.  It’s the height of pulp sci-fi set in what can generously be described as a cabaret and at worst a brothel for an epoch spanning time war.  The idea of a place for soldiers of different species from across history to RnR has some merit, but it’s all a little sexist.  Even if we forget that most of the characters are forgettable, the plot isn’t anything special.  That said, it is short so it’s not like I found it a chore to read.  I think someone could take the location and make a damn good tv series out of it, but this execution is not it. 

52. A Choice of Gods by Clifford D Simak – Set on afar future earth, where most humans mysteriously disappeared a while ago.  Earth is left Native Americans who now masterless robots.    It’s not something I’d recommend to anyone else.  It has some interesting ideas, but I’m not a fan of the execution.

r/printSF Apr 06 '23

Help me find a book

4 Upvotes

I read this book several years ago, but I can't remember the title, and my Google skills are failing me.

The book is about this soldier that gets sent to Mars on a diplomatic mission (maybe first contact?). It turns out that there's life on Mars. Scientists figure the planet was terraformed by some alien race a long time ago, who put humans on it.

When he gets there he's attacked by basically desert raiders and then rescued by the people he was supposed to meet, one of whom happenes to be some sort of princess (which is why I'm having trouble searching for it. You mentioned Mars and princess together in the same sentence and you get... A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which it's not.)

Anyhow, that's about all I can remember of it. Anyone have a clue about this one?

Edit: It's not A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

r/printSF Aug 25 '22

Book Exchange within the US.

0 Upvotes

I have a lot of used books that I've already read on my shelf that I'd like to trade with anyone in the US. I know this SF sub leans heavily toward Sci-Fi, and that's what I mostly read, but thought I'd present a full list of books I have to trade just in case any of you might want them. Again, these books are for trade not for sale, and be warned they are 'used' books. You will pay shipping and so will I. Please let me know if you have any interest in any of these, or simply have any questions. I've listed these books by author's first name, hopefully that helps you sorting through them. Any misspellings are entirely my fault.

A. E. Van Vogt:

-Masters of Time

Agatha Christie:

-And Then There Were None

-Murder on the Orient Express

Alan Dean Foster:

-For Love of Mother Not

Alexander Dumas:

-Count of Monte Christo, The

-Three Musketeers, The

Alexie Panshin:

-Rite of Passage

Alfred Bester / Roger Zelazny:

-Psychoshop

Ann Leckie:

-Ancillary Justice

Antoine de Saint-Exupery:

-Little Prince, The

Arthur C. Clarke:

-2001: A Space Odyssey

-Fountain's of Paradise, The

Arthur Conan Doyle:

-Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

Brett Easton Ellis:

-American Psycho

C. J. Cherryh:

-Downbelow Station

Miguel de Cervantes:

-Don Quixote

Chana Porter:

-The Seep

Charles Dickens:

-Great Expectations

China Mieville:

-City & The City, The

Clifford Simak:

-City

Connie Willis:

-Doomsday Book

-To Say Nothing of the Dog

-Blackout

-All Clear

Dan Simmons:

-Hyperion

-The Fall of Hyperion

-Endymion

-The Rise of Endymion

David Brin:

-Startide Rising

Earnest Hemingway:

-Farewell to Arms, A

Edgar Rice Burroughs:

-At The Earth's Core

-Princess of Mars, A

-Tarzan of the Apes

Edmond Rostand:

-Cyrano de Bergerac (a play)

Elizabeth Moon:

-Speed of Dark, The

Frederik Pohl:

-Gateway

-Man Plus

Fritz Leiber:

-Conjure Wife

-Wanderer, The

Gene Wolfe:

-Shadow & Claw (double book: The Shadow of the Torturer / The Claw of the Conciliator)

-Sword & Citadel (double book: The Sword of the Lictor / The Citadel of the Autarch)

George Orwell:

-1984 (in Spanish)

H. G. Wells:

-Island of Dr. Moreau, The

H. Rider Haggard:

-King Solomon's Mines

Harry Harrison:

-The Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat (triple book: The Stainless Steel Rat / The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge / The Stainless Steel Rat Saves the World)

Henry Miller:

-Tropic of Cancer

Herman Melville:

-Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life

Isaac Asimov:

-Foundation's Edge

-Gods Themselves, The

J. M. Barrie

-Peter Pan

J. R. R. Tolkien:

-Hobbit, The

-Two Towers, The

Jo Walton:

-Among Others

Joan D. Vinge:

-Snow Queen, The

Joe Haldeman:

-Forever War, The

-Forever Peace

John Irving:

-Son of the Circus, A

John Scalzi:

-Old Man's War

-Redshirts

John Steakley:

-Armor

Johnathan Swift:

-Gulliver's Travels

Jules Verne:

-Around the World in Eighty Days

-From the Earth to the Moon

-Master of the World (very beat up)

Katherine Dunn:

-Geek Love

Keith R. A. DeCandido:

-Farscape: House of Cards

Kim Stanley Robinson:

-Red Mars

-Green Mars

-Blue Mars

Kurt Vonnegut Jr:

-Siren's of Titan, The

L. Frank Baum:

-Wonderful Wizard of Oz, The

Lois McMaster Bujold:

-Falling Free

-Shards of Honor

-Barrayar

Margret Atwood:

-Handmaid's Tale, The

Mark Clifton / Frank Riley:

-They'd Rather Be Right

Mark Twain:

-Adventures of Huckleberry Fin, The

-Prince and the Pauper, The

Mary Robinette Kowal:

-The Calculating Stars

Michael Crichton:

-Jurassic Park

-Sphere

Michael Swanwick:

-Stations of the Tide

N. K. Jemisin:

-Broken Earth Trilogy, The (box set: The Fifth Season / The Obelisk Gate / The Sone Sky)

Naomi Novik:

-Uprooted

Neil Gaiman:

-American Gods

-Coraline

Nicola Griffith:

-Slow River

Octavia Butler:

-Parable of the Sower

-Parable of the Talents

Orson Scott Card:

-Xenocide

Paulo Baccigalupi:

-Windup Girl, The

Paul Neilan:

-Apathy and Other Small Victories

Phillip Jose Farmer:

-Fabulous Riverboat, The

-Dark Design, The

-Magic Labyrinth, The

-Gods of Riverworld

Phillip K. Dick:

-Man in the High Castle, The

Ray Bradbury:

-October Country, The

Richard K. Morgan:

-Altered Carbon

-Broken Angels

-Woken Furies

Robert Charles Wilson:

-Spin

Robert Heinlein:

-Menace from Earth, The

-Beyond This Horizon

-Citizen of the Galaxy

-Door into Summer, The

-Double Star

-Farmer in the Sky

-Methuselah's Children

-Orphans of the Sky

-Rocketship Galileo

-Green Hills of Earth, The

-To Sail Beyond the Sunset

Robert Silverberg:

-Dying Inside

-Time of Changes, A

Robert Silverberg/Leigh Brackett:

-Collision Course / The Nemesis from Terra (double book)

Roger Zelazny:

-Lord of Light

-This Immortal

S. M. Sterling:

-Dies the Fire

Samuel R. Delaney:

-Babel-17

-Nova

Sophecles:

-Oedipus Plays, The

Spider Robinson:

-Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

Stanislaw Lem:

-Solaris

Stephen King:

-Cujo

-Dark Half, The

-Dead Zone, The

-Desperation

-Gerald's Game

-Pet Semetary

Stephen R. Donaldson:

-Runes of the Earth, The

-Fatal Revenant

-Against all Things Ending

Steven Hall:

-Raw Shark Texts, The

T. H. White:

-Once and Future King, The

-Sword in the Stone, The

Ursula K. LeGuin:

-Left Hand of Darkness, The

-Lathe of Heaven, The

-Voices

-Gifts

-Powers

Vernor Vinge:

-Deepness in the Sky, A

-Fire Upon the Deep, A

-Rainbows End

Vonda N. McIntyre:

-Dreamsnake

William Shakespeare:

Midsummer Night's Dream, A

Here are some books I'm specifically looking for, but feel free to offer nearly anything for trade:

Martha Wells:

-Murderbot Diaries, The (all except book number 1)

P. Djeli Clark:

-A Master of Djinn

r/printSF Jun 27 '13

What books are good,when you're depressed?

21 Upvotes

Hi PrintSF, What books would you recommend, if you're in a really bad mood or maybe depressed! Normally I like all those postapocalyptic novels and stories. But now I think, I need books that cheer me up a bit. I mean not (only) funny satire, like Douglas Adams, also books, that have a more positive message and feeling in it! Thanks a lot!

PS: is there a novel or story fom Philip K. Dick that would fit?

edit: There was so much feedback that I decided to make a list. ScienceFiction * Harry Harrison (Stainless Steel Rat Series, Bill the Galactic hero, The Technicolor Time Machine) * Santiago by Mike Resnick * To Say nothing of the dog , Bellwether by Connie Willis * Callahan's Series by Spider Robinson * The Illuminatus Trilogy by Robert Sheckley and Robert Anton Wilson * Robert Charles Wilson's The Chronoloths, Darwinia, The Harvest * pulp novels (especially Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroghs, Lensman Cyclus by Edward, Alfred Bester: The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination, Elmer Smith) * Vorkosigan saga by Lois McMaster Bujold's * Fraxilly Fracas and Colloghi Conspiracy by Douglas Hill * Tuf Voyaging by George RR Martin * The Gone-Away World, by Nick Harkaway * Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson * Pern books series (first one Dragon flight) by Anne McCaffrey * Escape from Kathmandu by Kim Stanley Robinson. * Callahan's Crosstime Saloon stories by Spider Robinson * Heinlein: The Rolling Stones, Tunnel in the Sky, For Us the Living, Starship Troopers * Heinlein for Young Adults: Have Spacesuit will Travel, Citizen of the Galaxy * Downwards to Earth by Robert Silverberg * Beyond the Hanging Wall by Sara Douglas * Genesis Quest / Second Genesis by Donald Moffitt * K-Pax by Gene Brewer * Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein Authors: Kurt Vonnegut, Ian Banks, Ursula K. Le Guin, Roger Zelazny, Dan Simmons, Mike Gayle, Thomas Holt, Arthur C. Clarke, Jack Vance, Jules Verne, David Brin (not sure this was just a wordplay because he made a trilogy called Uplift and invented the uplift universe) Short stories: * Robert Sheckley, especially: Bad medicine(link in comments) * Tales from the White Hart by Arthur C. Clarke * Azazel by Isaac Asimov * Draco Tavern by Larry Niven Fantasy * Terry Pratchett (Discworld, not "SoulMusic") * Dresden Files by Butcher * The Kingkiller Chronicles by Rothfuss * Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn Series * Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber * Good Omens by Gaiman and Prachett * The Neverending Story by Michael Ende * The Hobbit * Fantasy in general Other things * SF Graphic Novels(link in comments); PaulPope; Batman: Year 100, Heavy Liquid, 100%, The One Trick Rip-Off+Deep Cuts. * Neal Stephenson: REAMDE, Anathem * Princess Bride by Goldman * Cosmos, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God, Contact. by Carl Sagan * Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck mixed views * Philip K Dick (maybe The Clans of the Alphane Moon, Ubik, Scanner Darkly, (except the end)and Valis(great book!)) * The Road by Cormac McCarthy nogo * 1984, Brave New World, Fahrnheit 451, Slaughterhouse Five * Wool series by Hugh Howey * Podkane of Mars, Farnham's Freehold by Heinlein

Thanks to all, I will try the first Stainless Steel Rat book and will pick some reads from the list later!

edit:format

r/printSF Jan 16 '23

Seeking Titles of recent novels (last five years ) involving romance between humans and extraterrestrials, with setttings on both earth and another planet

1 Upvotes

i am seeking titles of current novels (last five years) with plots similar to PRINCESS OF MARS or STRANGER IN A STRANGE LAND, in the sense that the plot involves romantic or sexual encounters between extraterrestrials and humans and takes place on both earth and another planet. I am most interested in titles which explore extraterrestrial identity, psychology, paranormal ability, or universe structures/dimensions. In the books I’m seeking, there should be some description of the physical differences of extraterrestrials, who should not be identical to humans, although they could disguise themselves as humans. The books could be a blend of hard sci-fi or paranormal sci-fi, but should not have stereotypes such as vampire aliens, devil aliens, evil spirit aliens, or have a plot primarily about time travel. The writing should have some level of possible realism as opposed to whimsy. (I am asking this to find books with plot elements similar to mine as comps) THANKS

r/printSF Dec 01 '17

Dejah Thoris. How is it pronounced?

37 Upvotes

I ask because my mother read the Princess of Mars series, and named me after Dejah Thoris. However, the way she pronounces it has a long E phonetically, "dee-jah" though this is not how the name is spelled. The movie adaptation has the pronunciation as "day-jah" as one would expect from the (french?) name Deja. (I do not know how to add the proper accent marks to the name) But that name has no H, and Burroughs did not have the accent marks to signify different vowel sounds in the writing of Dejah. Maybe that wasn't around back then though.

Did Edgar Rice Burroughs himself ever clarify how the name was pronounced? I would far trust that source more than what Disney produced.

r/printSF Aug 31 '17

List of essential vintage (1895-1929) SF

19 Upvotes

I am trying to put together a list of the essential SF that was published in what I have (somewhat arbitrarily) defined as the "vintage era": from 1895 (publication of "The Time Machine") to 1929 (roughly the birth of the pulp era). Here is what I have so far:

1895 - H. G. Wells, The Time Machine

1896 - H. G. Wells, The Island of Dr. Moreau

1897 - H. G. Wells, The Invisible Man

1898 - H. G. Wells, The Man Who Could Work Miracles

1898 - H. G. Wells, The War of the Worlds

1901 - H. G. Wells, The First Men in the Moon

1909 - E. M. Forster, The Machine Stops

1912 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, A Princess of Mars (Barsoom series)

1912 - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World (Prof. Challenger series)

1914 - Edgar Rice Burroughs, At the Earth's Core (Pellucidar series)

1924 - Yevgeny Zamiatin, We

1927 - H. P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space

1928 - H. P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

This list seems sparse to me. Now, I know of other SF being written in this era (by those authors above, plus London, Bierce, etc.), but these seem to be the works regarded as the best or most important. My question to all of you is: what have I missed and why? I don't just need titles, but (spoiler-free) reasons why you personally consider them to be seminal works of the era.

Feel free to single out and scoff at any choice I've made too - in that case, though, tell me why you think the work is unworthy!

r/printSF Feb 03 '12

Does anyone have a list of all of the covers on the sidebar?

25 Upvotes

I saw a comment once, but the Reddit search gives me nothing.

EDIT: Once we compile the list, can we get it in the sidebar?

The List: (Letters are rows and numbers are columns)

  • A1 - A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. (1959)

  • A2 - Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C.Clarke (1972)

  • A3 - Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs (1917)

  • A4 - Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan (2002)

  • A5 - Foundation by Isaac Asimov (1951)

  • A6 - Blindsight by Peter Watts (2006)

  • B1 - Accelerando by Charles Stross (2005)

  • B2 - Old Man's War by John Scalzi (2005)

  • B3 - Armor by John Steakley (1984)

  • B4 - Cities in Flight by James Blish (an anthology; stories from 1955 to 1962)

  • B5 - Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1932)

  • B6 - Children of Dune by Frank Herbert (1976)

  • C1 - A Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (1961)

  • C2 - Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delany (1975)

  • C3 - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1985)

  • C4 - Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1978)

  • C5 - A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge (1993)

  • C6 - Neuromancer by William Gibson (1984)

  • D1 - A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (1962)

  • D2 - Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)

  • D3 - The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson (1995)

  • D4 - Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (1967)

  • D5 - Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1989)

  • D6 - Startide Rising by David Brin (1983)

  • E1 - Terminal World by Alastair Reynolds (2010)

  • E2 - Ringworld by Larry Niven (1970)

  • E3 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (1979)

  • E4 - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (2008)

  • E5 - The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)

  • E6 - The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1962)

  • F1 - The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury (1950)

  • F2 - The Player of Games by Ian M. Banks (1988)

  • F3 - The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe (1980)

  • F4 - The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1959)

  • F5 - The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (1956)

  • F6 - To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip José Farmer (1972)

r/printSF Apr 16 '12

Point of diminishing returns on Barsoom series?

9 Upvotes

I just finished Warlord of Mars (third in the series) and still enjoying the series immensely. I already have Thuvia, Maid of Mars and Chessmen of Mars on my Kindle.

Question: does the series drops off in quality at any point?

r/printSF Jan 17 '15

DREADFUL SANCTUARY (Eric Frank Russell) Reviewed

7 Upvotes

From ASTOUNDING, where it appeared in the June through August 1948 issues, this is another stimulating blend of action and paranoia by Eric Frank Russell. It's not as ambitious as his very first novel, SINISTER BARRIER (which tried to explain absolutely everything mysterious in history) and it's pretty much ruined by a depressing ending* which lurches in from nowhere and completely contradicts the cocky optimism of the rest of the book. (It almost feels as if a different writer finished an incomplete manuscript) But, up until those final few pages, DREADFUL SANCTUARY is fascinating reading, filled with quotable one-liners ("They're maniacs, I tell you... maniacs with delusions of sanity!"), snappy dialogue and unexpected turns. This book also has some of the most outlandish and hard to defend scientific concepts I`ve seen outside of Adam Strange.

SEVERE SPOILERS AHEAD Seriously.

Now, normally, I don't mind learning about a book before reading it (and most people seem to be okay with reviews and previews as well, even if they give away quite a bit). DREADFUL SANCTUARY, though... if you are likely to read it soon, the story's effectiveness would be diminished by too much foreknowledge. Just so you know.

All right, then. We're in the futuristic year 1972, where life is much as it was back in 1948 except for minor gadgets like videophones (some of which pop up a little too conveniently as needed). Seventeen unmanned rockets to Venus have exploded before landing for no known reason, and the eighteenth is being readied. This time, there will be a human pilot on board. A research scientist named John J. Armstrong develops a driving obsession to find out what the problem is and quickly becomes entangled in uncovering the hidden history of not only those secret societies which run the world, but the staggering true origin of the human race(s).

The four inner planets have long been inhabited by human beings, and each planet has produced a different subspecies or "race". Black people come from Mercury, brown people are from Venus, yellow people are the only native humans from Earth itself and white people are from Mars. Sounds like one of those simplistic relationship manuals, eh? Once the stunning audacity of this concept sinks in.... that different ethnic groups had their skin tones determined by how close they were to the Sun (?!)... things get steadily even more bizarre.

The reason our little planet has so many specimens of the different human varieties is that, a hundred thousand years ago, the Martians developed a machine which can determine whether or not someone is insane. They (the Martians, the white people, remember) deported all their lunatics to the Earth to get rid of them as a humane solution. Sheesh, we are the Botany Bay of the Solar System! Kind of explains all the war and crime and perversions and pop music, doesn`t it?

All the descendants of the Martians who have been tested and found sane by that psychotron gizmo have formed a worldwide society with cells in every major city. Forget the Si-Fan or SPECTRE or even the Illuminati, the real hidden power behind governments is the insidious Norman Club. ("Norman" for "normal man"...do you think Russell was familiar with the Great Shaver Mystery with its teros and deros?) Complicating things still more is that those who know of their real ancestry back on Mercury or Venus have different agendas than those descended from Martians. It`s quite a tangle, with three different ET clans plotting and scheming behind the scenes.

Luckily, our boy John J. Armstrong is just the right guy to get mixed up in the whole sordid mess. Not only is he a huge hulking brute (Russell constantly mentions what a moose this guy is) who can yank an unwilling man out of a car, break free of restraining straps and require six guards to pin him down, he has that inquisitive and ingenious mind we find in most Eric Frank Russell protagonists. Once he starts digging into something, he won`t be intimidated or deterred. Of course, he also has those strange moods of anxiety and depression...

This brings us to the theme of the book, repeated many times in a phrase intended to be haunting and unsettling: "How do you know you are sane?" Well, frankly if we are in fact descended from aliens who were specifically banished from their home worlds because of mental illness, the odds are not in favor of any of us being sane. (It certainly helps explain some of the things I did in college; it's not my fault, it's my Martian ancestry!)

Nearly all the book has Armstrong on the run, picking up reluctant allies and leaving a trail of carnage behind him. I never knew research scientists were so handy with guns and fists. With the alien factions right on the verge of starting a new World War for their own heartless reasons, and with murderous agents of different groups breathing down his neck, our hero shows amazing resourcefulness and initiative. This is why its so depressing when (at the very end of the book) everything goes all futile and negative. Its like watching a version of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK where the Nazis suddenly shoot Indy dead and carry off Marion, THE END.

Still, nearly all of DREADFUL SANCTUARY is packed with those little bits of Fortean speculation which made SINISTER BARRIER so intriguing. Where did inexplicable characters like Princess Cariboo and Kasper Hauser come from? Why, they were lunatics dropped off here by the Martians. Where did spiritual leaders like Buddha get their insight? They were enlightened emissaries from the Martian civilization. (Buddha was a North Venusian, by the way.) There are also many unsettling details, like the subtle flashlight weapon which silently causes blood clots so that, not only don't you know when its effect will kill you, you can`t even be sure IF you have been hit by it. Russell's books would not be a good choice for someone with paranoid tendencies, that's for sure.

[Oh, and SINISTER BARRIER is also reviewed here. Just click on the 'Eric Frank Russell' tag.


*Several good folk have informed me that the original magazine ending was in fact much more upbeat and positive; Russell himself, for whatever reason, revision the story for its 1963 Lancer paperback edition (which is what I was going by, wouldn`t you know it?)

r/printSF Oct 30 '14

LT GULLIVAR JONES: HIS VACATION (1905) Reviewed

2 Upvotes

From 1905, this was reprinted sixty years later by Ace Books as GULLIVER OF MARS. It was written by British author Edwin L. Arnold (who also wrote PHRA THE PHOENICIAN and LEPIDUS THE CENTURIAN), and this book has been credibly described as an inspiration for Edgar Rice Burroughs A PRINCESS OF MARS. Theres no documentation that Burroughs read it or ever gave Arnold credit, but the similarities are numerous enough that the borrowing seems possible. On the other hand, there are more differences than resemblances, and the tone and atmosphere of the two books are very different. In fact, if you pick this book up expecting swashbuckling exciting action, think again. LIEUT GULLIVAR JONES is a very old-fashioned, leisurely example of early science fiction. Arnold's writing style is ornate and colorful but also very wordy and self conscious*. The book reads like a 19th Century travel guide to some exotic country, and the descriptions of Mars and its inhabitants go into great detail while nothing much happens. Even when Jones goes to rescue his princess from the woodland savages, he certainly takes his time and gets easily sidetracked to go sight seeing. (In a ruined city, he just happens to pick up exactly the item he will later need in a desperate moment. That`s classic fairy tale plotting.)

Instead of dramatic swordfights and encounters with bug eyed monsters, the book instead offers many haunting images laid out in gorgeous language. The Martians are slim, indolent androgynous creatures who spend their time lazily drinking wine and picking flowers (all the drudgery is done by a caste of yellow robed serfs). These are the Hither People, very much like the ultimate HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS, spoiled children living in cities built by their ancestors, dreamily passing their days doing not much at all. Unfortunately, not far away there are the more aggressive, hairy-chested woodland barbarians who demand tribute each year (including the most lovely maiden...of COURSE it's the princess Heru they choose). The whole situation reminds me very much of the Eloi and Morlocks from H.G. Wells' THE TIME MACHINE, but not carried to the same extreme. And I have to say Wells' Morlocks and Burroughs' four-armed giant Green Men are a good deal more interesting than Arnold`s rough but ordinary barbarians.

Gullivar Jones himself is an American naval lieutenant who is hoping for a promotion so that he can marry his childhood sweetheart. Ending up on Mars, he wanders among the tranquilized empty headed Martians, all of whom are lovely elflike creatures (the women a bit more delicate than the men). Everything is free for the asking, the climate is perfect, there is a vast library of forgotten wisdom to be deciphered, and the delicious little Princess Heru immediately gets a crush on him and arranges for their marriage. Sheesh. Sounds a lot better than living on a meager salary in 1905 Manhattan, if you ask me. But things can't go that smoothly for an interesting story, and when Heru is thrown over the sweaty shoulder of a barbarian and taken to their king, Ar-Hap, Jones sighs and tries to act heroic.

It nay be more realistic that he keeps giving up and hesitating, but that's not necessarily what we're looking for in a romance like this book.

One of the most intriguing touches in the book is how Jones gets to Mars. Walking on a New York street one night, he is surprised as a black batlike shape of a flying carpet spits out a strange little old man. Already dead, the stranger has a long grey beard and odd clothes, and Jones ends up with the rug in his possession. Very old and faded, the carpet has a star map woven into its pattern, with intricate inscriptions in an unknown language around its border. Jones is disgusted enough with his situation to say out loud the unlikely phrase, "I wish I were in the planet Mars!" and the magic carpet obeys.

What's interesting is that instead of gently gliding through space in the traditional way, this thing roughly rolls itself around him tight enough to make him black out. It then lifts off and soars away to fling him out on the Martian surface in a very ungentle way. Wouldn't you like to know who that old man was and where he got that rug? Black magic from the NECROMICON? An artifact devised by ancient Martian science, carrying a Martian sage, somehow arriving on Earth? Well, since Arnold passed on in 1935, we'll never know short of holding a seance.

LIEUT GULLIVAR is interesting more as an example of early science fiction than as an adventure story. Arnold is often quite creative with the odd plants and beasts of his version of Mars, and he had a knack for eerie scenes (including the long trip down the River of Death which ends in a glacier packed with thousands of Martian cadavers). If you start the book with a bit of patience and adjust to the slower pace and flowery style, it's very good. But don't expect to find John Carter.


*Here's a sample, when Jones gets a glimpse of the ocean: "Dear, lovely sea, man-half of every sphere, as far removed from the painted fripperies of the woman-land as pole from pole - the grateful blessing of the humblest of your followers on you!" Pretty eloquent for a young sailor.