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Posted: 1/31/2023 6:05:22 PM EDT
That doesn't involve war.
Never been a big science fiction fan, but have been getting into it over the past couple of years. Tired of reading book after book about wars between civilizations. I enjoy reading books about colonization/exploration. Any recommendations? |
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Posted: 1/31/2023 6:12:52 PM EDT
[#1]
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Posted: 1/31/2023 7:43:29 PM EDT
[#2]
Wife is a voracious reader. She's in three book clubs and loves Sci fi. Her recommendations...
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi Red Shirts by John Scalzi Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi |
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Posted: 1/31/2023 8:08:23 PM EDT
[#3]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By intheburbs: Wife is a voracious reader. She's in three book clubs and loves Sci fi. Her recommendations... Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi Red Shirts by John Scalzi Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Except, you know, Scalzi is a horrible person. |
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Posted: 1/31/2023 8:16:15 PM EDT
[#4]
The Martian by Andy Weir is pretty good.
I second Project Hail Mary. |
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Posted: 1/31/2023 8:51:57 PM EDT
[#5]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By intheburbs: Wife is a voracious reader. She's in three book clubs and loves Sci fi. Her recommendations... Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi Red Shirts by John Scalzi Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi I've read Scalzi's books and enjoyed them, but haven't read Kaiju Preservation Society. Thanks. |
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USA
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Posted: 1/31/2023 9:05:27 PM EDT
[#6]
Here's a few on colonization and exploration...............
"Star Man's Saga" and "Murder Under Another Sun" by Colin Alexander. "Frozen Orbit" and "Escape Orbit" by Patrick Chiles. "Antares Dawn" "Antares Passage" and "Antares Victory" by Michael McCollum "The Voyage From Yesterday" by James Hogan. Also his "Giant's Star" series. "Death World" by Harry Harrison. "We Are Bob" series by Dennis E. Taylor. |
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WA, USA
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Posted: 1/31/2023 9:59:59 PM EDT
[#7]
It depends on what you mean by Science Fiction, but here are three options off the top of my head:
Pandora's Star by Peter Hamilton Variable Star by Spider Robinson (actually finishing a partial Heinlein manuscript, and did an excellent job IMHO) Hyperion series by Dan Simmons |
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Posted: 2/1/2023 10:34:50 AM EDT
[#8]
Daemon by Daniel Suarez
If you're looking for aliens & weirdness this isn't it. It's a story of someone like steve jobs with unlimited resources deciding they're tired of corporations running the government corruption & hes going to change itThrough internet & killing people. Really timely with its take on fake internet news creating truth Lots of action & all the tech in the book is scary but real. Keep hoping for a movie of it. The bomb with just blades.... yeah that is in this book written decades before it existed. Like ender's game but better |
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Posted: 2/1/2023 6:06:20 PM EDT
[#9]
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson
Seveneves by Neal Stephenson Rocheworld by Robert L Forward (older series from the 90s) |
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Posted: 2/3/2023 11:11:40 AM EDT
[#10]
Anathem by Neal Stephenson (relatively recent)
Ringworld series by Larry Niven (older classic) Gateway series by Frederick Pohl (older classic) |
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RUS
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Posted: 2/3/2023 11:15:51 AM EDT
[#11]
Lots of Heinlein short stories and early pulp type books.
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AL, USA
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Posted: 2/3/2023 11:31:41 AM EDT
[#12]
A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Some war but thats not the main thrust. The first in a series. The first few are great after that they trail off like most. |
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Posted: 4/20/2023 5:41:08 PM EDT
[#13]
Saturn Run by John Sandford
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OH, USA
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Posted: 4/20/2023 11:10:52 PM EDT
[#14]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Ohio_Bill: Anathem by Neal Stephenson (relatively recent} I was in Denver for the GABF when Reamde came out. Neal did a reading at a book store, Tattered covers maybe?, for it. GOt to meet him, and his autograph. I asked him about Anathem and was stoked that I thought there was going to be a movie about it. Asked him about the trailer on Youtube... and he kinda laughed and was like, yeah, yeah. that looked cool, except it was fan fiction. Someone made a trailer for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWs1h5WAjWY Great book though. |
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Posted: 4/25/2023 6:18:05 PM EDT
[#15]
S.M. Anderson's Eden Chronicles
H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy Sapiens Series |
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USA
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Posted: 4/25/2023 6:54:06 PM EDT
[#16]
Mindbridge by Joe Haldeman
First expeditions to new extrasolar planets are so dangerous and so expensive that humanity sifts through its very best to become Tamers, essentially Doctorate level polymath geniuses trained as astronaut/frontiersmen. Told as an edited history and epistolary account of a huge discovery of an alien technology. |
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Posted: 4/27/2023 4:05:16 PM EDT
[Last Edit: ZF-1]
[#17]
9 years worth of chapters.... Whoops too much war sorry (but still awesome)...  |
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Posted: 4/27/2023 5:45:02 PM EDT
[#18]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Keymaster4225: Saturn Run by John Sandford Excellent book. I've read it a couple of times. |
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Posted: 4/27/2023 9:09:12 PM EDT
[#19]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VACaver: Excellent book. I've read it a couple of times. Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By VACaver: Originally Posted By Keymaster4225: Saturn Run by John Sandford Excellent book. I've read it a couple of times. I re-listen to the audiobook when I'm bored and need some easy entertainment. I wish they'd make it into a movie, would be pretty easy to keep true to the book |
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Posted: 5/2/2023 12:22:01 PM EDT
[#20]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By intheburbs: Wife is a voracious reader. She's in three book clubs and loves Sci fi. Her recommendations... Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi Red Shirts by John Scalzi Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Scalzi has fallen hard off the deep end of wokeness. Older books, in particular the Old Man’s War series are phenomenal. Kaiju isn’t bad, but it’s wrapped up in all kinds of wokeness. Probably one of his best is Fuzzy Nation, a reinterpretation of Piper’s Little Fuzzy. |
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OK, USA
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Posted: 7/2/2023 9:21:57 PM EDT
[#21]
I have been really enjoying the "Omega Force" series by Joshua Dalzelle.
Good characters and a fun story. I found them on one of those audible sales and I'm on book 11/14 now. |
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Posted: 7/2/2023 9:40:47 PM EDT
[#22]
Niven
Ring World, a bit dated but a fun SiFi read without "combat". |
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WI, USA
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Posted: 7/2/2023 10:01:27 PM EDT
[#23]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By RattleCanAR: Niven Ring World, a bit dated but a fun SiFi read without "combat". It’s one of my all time favorites. |
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MH, USA
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Posted: 7/2/2023 10:45:42 PM EDT
[#24]
I feel like when most people say Sci-Fi they mean Space Opera. Space Opera is pretty good and I love it but Science Fiction is so much more expansive and allows for a lot more depth in style of story and setting. A ton of Sci-Fi doesn't involve space or high technology in any way.
I've read some John Scalzi who people are admonishing here--and rightfully so--some of his stuff has wokeness in itfor the sake of wokeness. The stories themselves are pretty cool and unique. His Dispatcher series is pretty fun and I'm doing Kaiju Preservation Society on Audible right now. What I recommend most though is getting anthology books with many short stories by different authors and then finding their bread and butter works from there. In addition to popular, contemporary authors, there are a million Sci-Fi authors with stories dating back to like the 1930s that still stand up today. Maybe look for Hugo or Nebula winning stuff and branch out from there. |
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Posted: 7/7/2023 9:05:37 PM EDT
[#25]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By bprifle: Daemon by Daniel Suarez If you're looking for aliens & weirdness this isn't it. It's a story of someone like steve jobs with unlimited resources deciding they're tired of corporations running the government corruption & hes going to change itThrough internet & killing people. Really timely with its take on fake internet news creating truth Lots of action & all the tech in the book is scary but real. Keep hoping for a movie of it. The bomb with just blades.... yeah that is in this book written decades before it existed. Like ender's game but better I'd love a movie too, but Hollywood would fuck it up 8 ways til Sunday. I'm a huge Daniel suarez fan. His book Influx is also terrific. OP, have her check out the Bobiverse series by Dennis Taylor. Great books. |
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Posted: 7/13/2023 7:49:32 PM EDT
[#26]
Lots of good ideas
I add Wool by Hugh Howley. Not exactly space exploration, but sort of an exploration of the situation the characters are in. |
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Posted: 7/13/2023 8:04:49 PM EDT
[#27]
Anything in Niven’s Known Space universe. Start out with Ringworld and go from there.
The Expanse is another very good series of novels. Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds is amazingly good. |
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Posted: 7/13/2023 8:06:42 PM EDT
[#28]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By intheburbs: Wife is a voracious reader. She's in three book clubs and loves Sci fi. Her recommendations... Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi Red Shirts by John Scalzi Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi Kaiju is nothing more than a phoned-in, woke Covid “I’m stuck at home” effort. Scalzi’s Fuzzy Nation is excellent, however. The Old Man’s War series is good too, but it’s war themed. |
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Posted: 7/14/2023 9:43:10 AM EDT
[#29]
Rendezvous with Rama
At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredible, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams . . . and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits just behind a Raman airlock door. |
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USA
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Posted: 7/14/2023 7:44:49 PM EDT
[#30]
I just re-read "Summer's End" by Mark Van Stry.
No war, but some good action and an actually interesting story. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B62G8S59?tag=arfcom00-20 Dave Walker is a young man who managed to get an engineering degree and is off on his first job on a freighter plying a vast and diverse solar system. But, Dave has a problem....His Elite father-in-law thinks things would be much better if Dave didn't exist and is hiring hitters to make that happen. Dave long ago learned how to be absolutely ruthless when he was the legendary "Goose" ("Mongoose") Top Pick (ice pick) killer for a large kid gang, and Dave is not an easy target. |
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Posted: 7/14/2023 9:32:17 PM EDT
[#31]
Snow crash is awesome. SeveNEves is also good
Both Neal Stephenson |
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Posted: 8/19/2023 5:21:15 PM EDT
[#32]
The ones that came to mind I have read:
the Hyperion series—sone conflict but not as a focus of the story Leviathan Wakes Pushing ice Saturn run Bobiverse Anne McCafferys dragonriders of Pern Seveneves was good but not sure I liked it, but has generated much thought. Which usually means it is good. Some of the story was lost on me. I re read Ringworld a few years back and thought it really paled compared to when I first read it as a teenager. I had a hard time finishing it as an adult. 40000? In gehenna—a human colony world gets abandoned and the humans learn to adapt with the native reptilian humanoids Soldiers of paradise and the sugar rains (may be out of print) |
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Posted: 8/20/2023 10:48:18 PM EDT
[#33]
I just finished this series.
amazing  |
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MI, USA
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Posted: 8/31/2023 11:30:46 AM EDT
[#34]
Originally Posted By VACaver: That doesn't involve war. Any recommendations? Have you read Octavia Butler? She's different, but in a way that I find interesting. Her work is sometimes called 'speculative' fiction rather than sci-fi, due to its character-centered style, however there are a lot of futuristic settings, space aliens, and the like. This short story of hers might give you an idea if you'd like her style: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap1/bloodchi.htm Let me know what you think. |
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PA, USA
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Posted: 9/3/2023 9:56:16 AM EDT
[#35]
If you like football, check out The Rookie by Scott Sigler. Backwater, racist hick has to learn to play with aliens that more often than not would rather kill or eat him than get along.
Scott's Galactic Football League series has humans and aliens playing football in the far future. It's a lot of interspecies drama with some football action thrown in. If you like audio books the author reads the stories himself and does a fantastic job on the voices. |
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Posted: 9/9/2023 4:43:05 PM EDT
[#36]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By RaptorFuel: Rendezvous with Rama At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that astronomers dub Rama. It is huge, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredible, an interstellar spacecraft. Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams . . . and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits just behind a Raman airlock door. Just started my first read through. It’s fantastic so far, but there’s some BS, woke foreword by Ken Liu. The foreword almost got me to put the book away. |
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USA
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Posted: 9/9/2023 5:39:34 PM EDT
[#37]
The Golden Age trilogy by John Wright.
It's set tens of thousands years in the future, and humanity has spread throughout the Solar System and the Oort Cloud. It is a literal Golden Age of technology, limited governance and maximum social opportunity, cohesion and cooperation. War is nearly forgotten. The story follows a restless, adventurous and inventive genius who decides to build his own interstellar spacecraft and devotes decades and a gigantic fortune to creating it. On the eve of its completion, he is suddenly beset by lawsuits and charges preventing him from leaving. Things escalate quickly until he is ostracized and shunned from society as a whole, leaving him literally unable to do business with anyone. Separated from all his wealth, power and connections(literally no human or AI will acknowledge his existence) he goes down the rabbit hole to find out why. Whoever or whatever is behind this has picked the wrong man, because his motto and driving ambition is "Deeds of renown without peer" and he is dead serious. The result is a narrative that covers tens of thousands of years of human history, spans a Solar System full of incredibly huge scientific and engineering feats like planetary sized AIs, taming and farming the Sun for energy and general human near immortality. The sheer scale and imagination is staggering. Not a light read, as the people portrayed thousands of years from now are very different and have millennia of historical and social references that shape them and a different vocabulary to express themselves. |
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Posted: 9/18/2023 12:57:49 AM EDT
[Last Edit: Grizz272]
[#38]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By PigBat: S.M. Anderson's Eden Chronicles H. Beam Piper's Fuzzy Sapiens Series I second Piper's Fuzzy Sapiens The dragons of Pern By Anne Mccafferty is a good series Marion Zimmer Bradely's Darkover series good also. Two more Roberts Adams Horse clan series Roger Zelzany's 9 princes of Amber |
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IN, USA
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Posted: 10/2/2023 3:25:49 AM EDT
[#39]
"A talent for war" by mcdevit, not sure of the spelling of the name.
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Posted: 10/16/2023 9:51:16 PM EDT
[#40]
Non War Sci-FI, look at The Monster hunter international series by Larry Corria. Monsters, Deamons and accurate gun descriptions.
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USA
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Posted: 11/3/2023 9:16:34 PM EDT
[#41]
It is probably obvious suggestion, but science fiction doesn't come better than Phillip Dick. If you read the most famous stuff, just delve into some undeground and lesser known works.
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IN, USA
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Posted: 11/16/2023 7:49:49 AM EDT
[#42]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Magyars: "A talent for war" by mcdevit, not sure of the spelling of the name. Excellent book, very good sci-fi author. I'd also recommend some of the classics...specifically Heinlien...lots of his book have pro 2nd ammendment, pro constitution themes |
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MT, USA
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Posted: 11/17/2023 6:49:41 PM EDT
[#43]
H.P. Lovecraft has a lot of great short stories covering exploration/colonization, along with other topics. His writing is from the turn of the century and just plain weird (his stories inspired Edgar Allen Poe), but very well written. I suggest "At the Mountains of Madness", "The Temple", and "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath"
Additionally, you could try "Eon" and "Hull Zero Three" by Greg Bear. These are more modern and spacey. |
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USA
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Posted: 11/17/2023 7:55:01 PM EDT
[#44]
Quote HistoryOriginally Posted By Magyars: "A talent for war" by mcdevit, not sure of the spelling of the name. His first book was part of the famed "Ace Science Fiction Specials" of the early 80s that gave us Neuromancer, In the Drift and Green Eyes, among others. The Hercules Text is the story of "First Contact" with an alien species via radio telescope at the 21 cm hydrogen line "water hole". It examines all sides of the discovery, from verifying it, the skepticism, the difficulties of translating the language, the effects on society and the questions it raises for governments, religion, the sciences and the arts. No handwavium warp drives or wormholes, just a message in a bottle floating on a sea without a shore. |
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