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Sci fi book recommendations?
12 years ago
This may be surprising, but I don't read dragon novels. I don't read them because I get much too involved. Either dragons aren't portrayed anywhere near accurately, and/or they're portrayed as a dying race with the last of them dying off, and/or they're pretty much always fated to die in any story written by humans.
I don't enjoy them for the same reason cat lovers don't enjoy stories about kittens being fed into meat grinders.
So I've given up on novels about dragons that were written by humans.
I do, however, greatly enjoy science fiction novels.
I've had some difficulty finding the sorts of novels I'm really looking for within that genre, however. There seem to be quite a lot of sci fi novels which revolve entirely around interstellar war. While I do enjoy these novels, what I'm really looking for is something more Star Trek like with space exploration, first contact with aliens, and wondrous and dangerous things. Albeit not Star Trek.
I've also looked for something like a novel about a mercenary ship crew in a universe full of aliens. Something along the lines of the Outlaw Star anime series albeit novels would be right up my alley. A ship for hire, taking on all manner of tasks from exploration to delivery to combat... and always struggling to make ends meet. I love that sort of thing.
But I don't seem to be able to find anything like either of those. Instead it's all novels about star nations fighting wars with each other, and there seems to be nothing else in sci fi land at all.
I have read and enjoyed military sci fi novels. So far I've read a lot of stuff by David Drake and David Weber. I've read David Drake's RCN series (ie. Lieutenant Leary series) and David Weber's Honor Harrington series... both of which I've enjoyed greatly.
I wouldn't mind reading more books along these lines. So yeah, I'd like recommendations for military sci fi novels, too. Kind of thinking about reading the Hammer's Slammers series... though wondering if it might be overly dark and nasty. I'm not really a fan of tragedy. I'm usually reading to relax and get my mind off of all the stresses of my real life. I don't want to read books that also make me feel bad.
I guess the other thing is that I don't seem to be interested in reading 'the greats'. The old classics written by super famous sci fi authors that everyone has heard of. Nor am I interested in novels based on TV shows or movies or vice versa. I'm not sure if I'm being a hipster or something here, but I just don't seem to get excited about books the mainstream enjoys so much. They usually feel like book report assignments to me.
So anyway... that's kind of a rambling explanation of what I'm looking for. Book recommendations and also resources I can use to find good books I would like. I can find lots of stuff to help me find the books which are the most popular with the unwashed masses, but I'm not trying to find the most sold. I'm trying to find books that would appeal to _me_ and my tastes. Like if I can find someone else with similar tastes to me that has book lists of what they've found. Kinda like using favorites lists here on FA to find more of what you like because a kindred spirit has already found it before you.
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
I don't enjoy them for the same reason cat lovers don't enjoy stories about kittens being fed into meat grinders.
So I've given up on novels about dragons that were written by humans.
I do, however, greatly enjoy science fiction novels.
I've had some difficulty finding the sorts of novels I'm really looking for within that genre, however. There seem to be quite a lot of sci fi novels which revolve entirely around interstellar war. While I do enjoy these novels, what I'm really looking for is something more Star Trek like with space exploration, first contact with aliens, and wondrous and dangerous things. Albeit not Star Trek.
I've also looked for something like a novel about a mercenary ship crew in a universe full of aliens. Something along the lines of the Outlaw Star anime series albeit novels would be right up my alley. A ship for hire, taking on all manner of tasks from exploration to delivery to combat... and always struggling to make ends meet. I love that sort of thing.
But I don't seem to be able to find anything like either of those. Instead it's all novels about star nations fighting wars with each other, and there seems to be nothing else in sci fi land at all.
I have read and enjoyed military sci fi novels. So far I've read a lot of stuff by David Drake and David Weber. I've read David Drake's RCN series (ie. Lieutenant Leary series) and David Weber's Honor Harrington series... both of which I've enjoyed greatly.
I wouldn't mind reading more books along these lines. So yeah, I'd like recommendations for military sci fi novels, too. Kind of thinking about reading the Hammer's Slammers series... though wondering if it might be overly dark and nasty. I'm not really a fan of tragedy. I'm usually reading to relax and get my mind off of all the stresses of my real life. I don't want to read books that also make me feel bad.
I guess the other thing is that I don't seem to be interested in reading 'the greats'. The old classics written by super famous sci fi authors that everyone has heard of. Nor am I interested in novels based on TV shows or movies or vice versa. I'm not sure if I'm being a hipster or something here, but I just don't seem to get excited about books the mainstream enjoys so much. They usually feel like book report assignments to me.
So anyway... that's kind of a rambling explanation of what I'm looking for. Book recommendations and also resources I can use to find good books I would like. I can find lots of stuff to help me find the books which are the most popular with the unwashed masses, but I'm not trying to find the most sold. I'm trying to find books that would appeal to _me_ and my tastes. Like if I can find someone else with similar tastes to me that has book lists of what they've found. Kinda like using favorites lists here on FA to find more of what you like because a kindred spirit has already found it before you.
Any help appreciated. Thanks!
Exiles at the Well of Souls
Quest for the Well of Souls
The Return of Nathan Brazil
Twilight at the Well of Souls
(There are three more, but the author is up front about the fact that people threw money at him to write them and that they aren't very good).
Falls somewhere inside what you're looking for, although I suspect a little interpretation is required.
There's also...a book that I can't remember the title of because I never actually read it. Trying to poke the friend who told me about it. But it featured realistic space fleet combat. Or at least as real as you can get anyway.
IIRC, it had light-based weapons being undodgeable at close range (because speed of light is really fast) but highly inaccurate at range (because relativity: the target isn't where you aimed any more). Long range weapons were missiles that could get close to the target by virtue of being able to course correct, but also had to be stealthy (or they'd be destroyed uselessly).
The Lost Fleet.
They advertise them on Baen Ebooks. But only Midnight seems to be available. The others aren't.
Worth reading the rest of them.
And yes, alien sex. XD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolo_(tank)
Should I start with the first ones? Or it seems like there's a new series of them that's pretty recent. Is there any order they aught to be read in?
So far, none of the books seem to be actually connected. Each book or short story encompasses a different snippet of bolos around the galaxy. All kind of different takes on the theme.
A lot of these stories aren't actually about battles. They're about things like... you've got a giant war machine which is sentient and self aware and the war is over. Now what? You can't easily just scrap it. It's sentient like Mr. Data on Star Trek.
In fact, it's pretty clear that bolos are a huge influence on later sci fi. The themes are expanded upon by Ghost in the Shell, for instance. Particularly the Tachikomas.
Anyway, thanks for recommending these books!
John Ringo and Travis Taylor have a really fantastic series starting with Into the Looking Glass. I love the books, incredibly sharp humor and wonderful tech.
David Weber and Steve White did a good series http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pe.cgi?3809 Start with
Crusade, then go to In Death Ground and The Shiva Option before you start read Insurrection though. Stars at war technically comes after Shiva Option but isn't really necessary.
I'm starting a series called Star Carrier that a friend recommended to me.
I know you said you weren't looking for them but as far as good dragon books, I enjoyed EE Knight's Age of fire series. It was a much different perspective on them that I really enjoyed, though I'm still working through them.
Doc E. Smith's Lensmen Series (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._E._.....Lensman_series):
1. Triplanetary
2. First Lensman
3. Galactic Patrol
4. Gray Lensman
5. Second Stage Lensmen
The 6. Book, The Vortex Blaster, is not part of the main story, but has a feline character in it and they visit her home planet once.
This is military space opera at it's best, but they are old. The future technology is based on vaccuum tubes for example and computers have not been thought about. It has been suggested that computers would not ave been in the interest of some because it would have stunted certain developments. Also note that the first book spans from very deep in the past, the destruction of Atlantis, Ancient Rome, the Third World War to the future. And not, that's not a spiler. The first book is prepareing the basics for the later books. I mention this, because much stuff happens that may seem pointless at first.
Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanx_Commonwealth):
Not much military action here, but much exploring, interesting species get met (including some furries).
I recommend to start with 'Nor Crystal Tears' as it shows an interesting take on a first contact situation and lays the groundwork for the entire setting.
Following up I would recommend the 'Icerigger' trilogy:
1. Icerigger
2. Mission to Moulokin
3. The Deluge Drivers
Anthropomorphic felines on an ice planet using their adapted claws to skate on the ice.
The Flinx series is good as well, as are the single novels. Midworld (from 1975) can be seen as a major inspiration for James Cameron's movie Avatar for example.
Final words. Please not that these books are all a bit dated and don't have as many pages as the new monstrosities. Personally I prefer a novel that has 300-400 pages and not over 1000 like some of the newer ones. David Weber for example has started to padd the books of his 'Honor Harrington' series for a while now and I'm sick reading the weapons development for the umpteenth time, especially as much from it happened in the series and I read it when it happened.
Just my take on it.
As for book length, I don't seem to mind short or long. As long as it's not dragging, I suppose.
Being an engineer, I actually rather like Weber's delving into technical details. The only thing I haven't liked is one of his later books in the Harrington series (like book #10 or so) where the entire thing was all nonstop meetings. Like at one point, there was actually going to be some action... and then the chapter suddenly ends, and we're just in yet another meeting discussing what had happened after the fact. That was lame. Fortunately, that was only one of the books, and Weber seemed to get real direction again after that.
I do remember the first book I read from Weber. 'Insurrection'. I got it one year before the Star Trek movie with the same title came out. Since then I call the movie the 'Micro-Insurrection'.
Though I did have some trouble swallowing the impossible luck of a couple of the events in the first half of the book. Ryo runs off on this journey across planets to try to find these supposed imprisoned aliens... manages to get into the base... believable (barely) up to that point. But what exactly does he hope to do once he's there? How was he ever going to get involved? The aliens just happen to execute their jailbreak at the very moment he arrives at the door to the restricted area, just happen to encounter him as he's leaving in another corridor, and take him along with them. Deus ex machina much?
That felt very much like the author painted himself into a corner and then hand waved. I almost gave up on the book at that point, but getting together with the aliens is also when the book really starts.
In the end, I really enjoyed it overall. The second half of the book was great.
And I really enjoyed all the blatant ovipositor references. :)
I'm pretty much going to have to read more of the Humanx series now.
Also... I hadn't realized before that first contact was this whole subgenre... I'd like to find more such!
Most of the other Humanx Commonwealth novels play after the unification of the Human and Thranx societies and a few others that joined in. But there are still interesting. While the goverment is largely not corrupt and there are still the AAn, merchantile conglomerats and other things.
I`m not up to date, but there is the Flynx series (which has the most novels), the Icerigger Trilogy and many single novels. The Icerigger novels have an interesting feline species as main players.
It is about bounty hunters on the Inner Frontier, I think- the edge of Galactic civilization pushing toward the center of our galaxy. Santiago is the ultimate prize, the ultimate criminal no bounty hunter can catch. There Are Reasons.
We are not pathetic or weak enough to need any lesser creatures help or aid for anything, that's just the pathetic delusions of humanity wanting to be something more, and yet they still go about it the wrong way. Instead of dreaming of becoming a dragon, they want to ride one, or use it as some beast of destruction or whatever. It's disgusting how dragons are portrayed in most books.
One of my stories I've posted here (Riding the Dragon) is from that setting. And it portrays a _very_ mature relationship where the rider can even make joking jabs at the dragon without being immediately killed... for the most part. I've wanted to write a story at a much earlier stage and show the sharp contrast of how a new pairing gets along. And probably not the same characters.
Dragons are and should be absolutely terrifying creatures. In stories written by humans, they constantly suffer from Warf Syndrome. It's played up how powerful they are, but they always lose. Every. Single. Time. Readers don't take dragons seriously anymore because of this built up effect across so many stories. Dragons have become a sort of joke.
That's not the way it should be.
I like cyberpunk.
I have always hated nano tech. Nano tech is always _ALWAYS_ portrayed in a very unrealistic and super munchkin overpowerful sort of way. And it's just lame.
I also recommend "Pandora's Star" and "Judas Unchained" by Peter F. Hamilton (two book series). Be warned, these books are very long.
Or if you want some shorter, more action filled books, try "The Forever War" by Joe Haldemann (often considered a must-read of the genre) or "Old Man's War" by John Scalzi. These are military sci-fi and deal with humanities first forays into interstellar space.
Only other two I can think of right now with ship related themes are well off the normal path, one is Web of the Chozen by Jack Chalker, and another favorite series, the Flinx and Pip books by Alan Dean Foster again, you should like that one since Pip is an Alaspin Miniature Dragon, an empathic (not sentient) small winged serpent that is Flinx's companion.
--Shadow
Shadowrun: Spells & Chrome. Collection of stories in the cyberpunk/magic setting of Shadowrun.
Automatic Detective. Noir novel in a highly futuristic setting.
Emperor Mullusk versus The Sinister Brain. I mean, come on just look at the title.
Reboots. Space exploration with mythical creatures, is werewolves, zombies, etc.
Confessions of a D-List Supervillain. Has pacing issues, but is good.
Automatic Detective: I actually have a strange love for the old detective film noir thing. The concept of putting that into a sci fi setting... that sounds great. Actually, come to think of it, Blade Runner is kind of that sort of thing. Hmm. Anyway, looking it up, I see references to Automatic Detective being some sort of comedy. I hope that's not really the case. I've never been interested in comedic novels. That would ruin it for me.
Emperor Mullusk versus The Sinister Brain: Hmm.
Reboots: The name is too common. Not having much luck googling it. Any more info?
AD... I guess you could say it's a bit of a comedy, but that's just because the author has a great love of B-horror movies and odd things. The story itself is really good, the characters are nice and deep. It has a nice balance of the dark aspects of noir and just enough comedy to make it feel not so heavy.
Emperor Mullusk Vs the Sinister Brain: Yeah, the title sounds weird, the book is pretty much a very nicely done 50s sci fi thriller. Again, bit of comedy in it, but it's very good. Same author as AD and I've gotta say, he's one of my favorites. Read most of his books several times. Already read his newest (Helen and Troy's Epic Road Quest) twice already, and it just came out a couple weeks ago.
Reboots: Um... -looks around- I picked it up because it had Mercedes Lackey attached to it, and you can tell where she started writing and the other guy stopped because it gets a lot better. http://www.amazon.com/Reboots-Merce.....ywords=reboots
Wikipedia seems to lack information about it. It's only got an article about the RPG, and in that article it mentions that there are novels, but no specific information about them.
Do you have any links or the names/authors of specific books? What to read and what order to read it in?
I'm also a big fan of the Vlad Taltos novels by Stephen Brust. Those are more fantasy-based, about an assassin in a fantasy magi-tech kind of environment. Dragons exist, but are very non-standard and not to be fucked with. First one is titled 'Jhereg'. The first few are done almost like mystery novels, and the main character's familiar is definitely not a pet.
This sounds quite interesting. Thank you.
The other characters are never really developed beyond back stories. They seem more interesting, but instead you just get more Angus. The setting, too, seems more interesting, but instead you just get more Angus. Morn, despite her presence in most of the book, is pretty much just a door stop even when the zone implant isn't operating. So really, there is only Angus in this book.
And I just didn't find Angus very gripping. I kept hoping the book would move on from him.
Presumably the other books in the series aren't about Angus. Which gives hope that I may find them more interesting, but I don't feel too excited about continuing on to find out.
Thanks for the recommendation anyway!
That first book is really just a short story, the next four are proper full-length novels that steadily broaden in scope. The second one is mostly about Morn and Nick on Nick's ship, and gives an introduction to the aliens on their own station, with occasional asides about what's happening to Angus, but it never quite lets up.. every character is constantly getting screwed over and being psychologically broken in various nasty ways.
The third book finally opens up to the political plots inside the UMCP, jumps perspective between several different characters, and actually introduces a couple that are respectable people before going into action plots on the pirate station, but there's a lot to get through before you reach that point.
Beyond that.. I've not finished re-reading the third one yet, so! The series is definitely not for everyone.
----
I do still think you'd like the Jhereg novels, but unfortunately they aren't available in any ebook format.
Specifically, there's so many elements in the book that are things I like... including the rape and abuse. So why didn't I like it more?
I think it's because I own a slave myself. I do a lot of the things that Angus does, but for very different reasons than Angus does them. In fact, Angus represents exactly what people misconstrue my relationship with my slave to be. And I think that's why I found him so personally offensive.
Some people, upon seeing me and Jaelyn together, comment that our relationship appears to be "old school". Man of the house with subservient wife in the kitchen ala 1950's style. Many interactions in our relationship work similarly to that, but the motivations are completely different, and that actually changes everything. She serves me because she voluntarily surrendered her freedom and wore my collar, not because of gender roles or old fashioned attitudes.
Similarly, the ways I abuse my slave for my amusement get misconstrued as being like a white trash abusive husband wearing his 'wife beater' shirt. There is some similarity in the violence involved, but the motivations and purposes behind it are completely different. As are the results. My slave grows more capable, more disciplined, and content while a battered wife grows increasingly broken, lost, and depressed.
Angus represents exactly that difference. He does what he does because he is cowardly and fucked up. He is exactly what I do not want to be or to be seen as. And what I fear that I could turn into. What if I was only deluding myself that there's any real difference?
As I think about it more, I'm actually becoming more interested in revisiting it and reading the rest of the series coming at it from the right angle. I read the book expecting something very different, and it's like getting a flavor you didn't expect when you bite into something, and it's initially revolting.
Yes, I think I'm going to have to read more.
I do want to say wow. This series gets better and better the farther in your get.
There's not much sex after the first couple of books, which is unfortunate. But the rest just becomes more and more interesting.
I'm really glad that I did end up reading the second book. I disliked the first book enough that I was going to give up on the series, but then decided I would just try the second book and if it was continuing to disappoint me after the first couple of chapters, I'd give up on it for good. I found Nick and Captain's Fancy much more interesting than Angus. And then the story really starts to get its legs as you move on through the later books.
Anyway, thanks for getting me into this series!
I would also advise asking our dragon
I hadn't thought about the status of dragons in fiction before. I guess Humans can't handle anything that can't be killed, ridden or tamed.
This reminds me of how I felt about kids books about magic before Harry Potter. The magic was never allowed to breathe. Kids find a magic tree/coin/turtle/witch which they can only use in limited, carefully controlled circumstances, and have to give it up at the end of Summer. Harry Potter discovers witches and wizards everywhere throwing spells left and right... and he gets to keep the magic.
Someone needs to do for dragons what Harry Potter did for magic.
Dragons ought to be absolutely terrifying and unstoppable. Not David and Goliath 'unstoppable, but not really'. I mean really fucking unstoppable. I'd love to see some big time production actually restore dragons to that sort of status.
I think people presume that wouldn't make for any sort of good story. How can the good guys prevail? Wouldn't they just automatically lose then? Not necessarily. The goal wouldn't be slaying the dragon. The goal would be placating the dragon or otherwise convincing him to stop burninating your thatched roof cottages. How to accomplish such a feat actually has more story potential than "stick your sword between these two particular scales and then wonder how this beast had managed to be such a threat for so long with such a vulnerable weakness!"
I mean geezus... for most dragon stories, it's like if an M1 Abrams tank was designed with a self destruct button on the front glacis. But don't worry, it's not really _that_ vulnerable. We covered the button with glass and a note that said do not break glass except in an emergency.
The Hobbit gave me some hope. The first 10 minutes are spent with a dragon destroying AN ENTIRE CIVILIZATION - and not some little hamlet either. It's a dwarf fortress player's wet dream that gets wiped out, levelled and geared up warriors and all. My first thought was Finally, A REAL Dragon.
Everything the characters do is coping with this sort of localized apocalypse the dragon creates. All the character interactions are colored by the shockwave of that Dragon's power.
If whatisname the Hobbit finally kills the dragon with his overgrown letter opener I will be PISSED.
http://www.amazon.com/Icarus-Hunt-T...../dp/B007YUASDI
I see what you mean by not quite the mercenary theme I'm looking for, but close. In any case, I loved it! And it's turned me on to a new author. Timothy Zahn. I'll have to check out his other books.
Thanks for the recommendation!
Do you usually like books with tight focus or ones that have multiple parties whose actions come together in the end? And how much action do you like to have in the books, constant or only in occasional key moments?
Timothy Zahn's Conquerors trilogy is in many ways similar to the Icarus Hunt, but has larger scope and slower speed. It has plenty of trying to understand the way the other races think and feel about things, while trying to win a seemingly impossible war. Still, it stays mostly away from the actual war and sort of skips along the edges with the key characters. It's somewhat darker than Icarus Hunt though, but in Timothy Zahn style, meaning everybody soon gets along with things rather than go emo.
I seem to really like aliens and cool technology stuff. That's a simplistic way to put it, but pretty much accurate for me. I like authors that really get into the aliens not just being humans that look different, but actually have a different psychology. Seeing how they get along with humans and other aliens. That stuff is totally fascinating for me.
I'm also an engineer, and I get fascinated by sci fi tech. In particular, when the author has really thought about it.
I'm very much against the "technology and magic are essentially the same" thing. It bugs me a lot that sci fi and fantasy are lumped together. They're not the same at all in my book. However, I recognize that for many authors magic and technology really are the same... because they don't understand technology! So it really is all magic to _them_! When these authors write about technology, they're actually writing about magic instead and calling it technology. And I'm very aware of that when I'm reading it. You could literally search and replace science fiction terms with magical fantasy terms, and the story would still work and remain essentially unchanged.
As an example of the _opposite_ of that, take David Weber's Honorverse series. When he's writing about technology, it is not magic in disguise. He really understands his subject. And the writing is simply not interchangeable with magic at all.
That isn't to say that I don't also enjoy magic and fantasy stuff. Similarly, I like to see magic that isn't just interchangeable with technology either.
Anyway, that's a lot of digression. I really seem to enjoy a good depiction of alien species and alien interaction most of all. And ideally not revolving around war.
This Conquerors trilogy you mention sounds like it would be pretty well up my alley. Maybe not an exact match for what ideally I'm looking for, but neither was Icarus Hunt, and I loved that one.
<spoiler alert>
The thing I really struggled with was Cavanagh deciding... Hey, my race just encountered hostile aliens that completely trashed one of our biggest fleets like it was nothing. My son was on one of those ships. There's almost no evidence that he might have survived. I can't deal with losing one of my sons, so I'm going to hurl the remainder of my children at these aliens in a private effort with a handful of heisted fighters... you know, because entire squadrons of fighters had all... well... immediately died with 100% losses, actually.
I just couldn't wrap my head around that. It seems completely nonsensical. Okay, so maybe the story could go on the angle that the father _is_ behaving irrationally. But no, his family just accepts it immediately without the slightest fuss and says "I'm in!"... and his body guards (who have military experience) are like "Oh yeah, we can do that!".
Wat?
What I did enjoy is Zahn's portrayal of aliens. Absolutely delightful. Both of his books I've read so far have great alien stuff in them. And there's a lot of things I like about his writing style.
If you want to try him out I would recommend Vacuum Diagrams as a good one, as it is a set of short stories in his main universe, or Manifold: Space if you want a plethora of odd aliens. Technically Manifold: Space is the second of a series, but the individual books are nearly completely disconnected, and I would even suggest skipping the third one, as it is not good.
It is rather unique for sci fi.