Science Fiction
Discussion
DodgyGeezer said:
The Lost Fleet series may work for you. It is still accessible scifi but it does make mention of the problems of trying to fire at targets at relativistic speeds, which may or may not make things interesting. This does, from memory, fall under the Mil-fi sub-genre (if that's your bag then maybe Orphanage by Robert Buettner or Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos may also work)
He's already mentioned Terms of Enlistment 
Also it looks like Kloos is writing another novel in the Frontlines universe called Scorpio https://www.markokloos.com/?p=3150
Kloos other series, The Paladium Wars is also quite good, looks like Book 4 is being written (3 kind of left a lot of unanswered questions).
Other Mil-Fi I'd recommend, The Expeditionary Force series - Craig Alanson and the Old Mans War series by John Scalzi.
Clockwork Cupcake said:
Sycamore said:
Does anyone have any recommendations on similar books in the vein of "believable sci-fi"?
I loved The Martin, Project HM, Artemis, Terms of Enlistment etc as they're set only a slight amount into the future so I can somewhat take the storylines as being believable.
"Captain Snagarian activated his Werofluren Drive to create a woopydoopy portal to teleport the Onomoato to the planet of Omicron Persei 8" I find difficult to follow and get into
I'd say that Adrian Tchaikovsky's "Dogs of War" (and its sequel) are just about within this remit, given they are about bioengineered uplifted animals, and the sociopolitical ramifications of this. I loved The Martin, Project HM, Artemis, Terms of Enlistment etc as they're set only a slight amount into the future so I can somewhat take the storylines as being believable.
"Captain Snagarian activated his Werofluren Drive to create a woopydoopy portal to teleport the Onomoato to the planet of Omicron Persei 8" I find difficult to follow and get into
(Plus Rex is a very good boy)
Also the Red Mars Trilogy. I thought this was amazing when I read it.
glazbagun said:
His Pushing Ice is close as well. It does have a bit of WTFery, but our POV is the same as that of the crew.
Also the Red Mars Trilogy. I thought this was amazing when I read it.
Also the Red Mars Trilogy. I thought this was amazing when I read it.
The Mars trilogy is unparalleled...hands down the best SF series ever written. I re-read it every few years (now on Kindle as my original paperbacks are quite worn!). We've almost reached the year the story starts now too - I remember it seemed like the far future when I first read it! Still remains believable, ignoring a few minor contrivances for story-telling purposes.
Sycamore said:
Does anyone have any recommendations on similar books in the vein of "believable sci-fi"?
I loved The Martin, Project HM, Artemis, Terms of Enlistment etc as they're set only a slight amount into the future so I can somewhat take the storylines as being believable.
"Captain Snagarian activated his Werofluren Drive to create a woopydoopy portal to teleport the Onomoato to the planet of Omicron Persei 8" I find difficult to follow and get into
It might be worth checking out early Sci Fi. They pre-date modern hard Sci Fi and are often set in a more familiar future.I loved The Martin, Project HM, Artemis, Terms of Enlistment etc as they're set only a slight amount into the future so I can somewhat take the storylines as being believable.
"Captain Snagarian activated his Werofluren Drive to create a woopydoopy portal to teleport the Onomoato to the planet of Omicron Persei 8" I find difficult to follow and get into
e.g. Alfred Bester, Robert Heinlein, Asimov
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Age_of_Scienc...
or check out the Sci Fi Masterworks collection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks
Two of my favourite novels are Recursion and Dark Matter by a fella called Blake Crouch. The sort of thing you’d imagine Christopher Nolan turning into films. Recursion is about memory and Dark Matter about superposition. Hard-science fiction rather than hard science-fiction if you see what I mean.
Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Both of those are being turned into mini series by the way, dark matter (with Jennifer Connolly - yum) just wrapped
Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Both of those are being turned into mini series by the way, dark matter (with Jennifer Connolly - yum) just wrapped
Lefty said:
Two of my favourite novels are Recursion and Dark Matter by a fella called Blake Crouch. The sort of thing you’d imagine Christopher Nolan turning into films. Recursion is about memory and Dark Matter about superposition. Hard-science fiction rather than hard science-fiction if you see what I mean.
Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Both of those are being turned into mini series by the way, dark matter (with Jennifer Connolly - yum) just wrapped
Was Dark Matter the one with the parallel universe box? Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Both of those are being turned into mini series by the way, dark matter (with Jennifer Connolly - yum) just wrapped
RoadToad84 said:
Lefty said:
Two of my favourite novels are Recursion and Dark Matter by a fella called Blake Crouch. The sort of thing you’d imagine Christopher Nolan turning into films. Recursion is about memory and Dark Matter about superposition. Hard-science fiction rather than hard science-fiction if you see what I mean.
Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Both of those are being turned into mini series by the way, dark matter (with Jennifer Connolly - yum) just wrapped
Was Dark Matter the one with the parallel universe box? Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Both of those are being turned into mini series by the way, dark matter (with Jennifer Connolly - yum) just wrapped
RoadToad84 said:
Lefty said:
That’s the one.
I enjoyed that. Didn't know about the TV series. Look forward to that then! If you haven’t already, try recursion, it’s even better. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it.
His latest novel is called Upgrade, it’s about gene editing and I didn’t find it quite so good but it’s less “physics” based and just less interesting to me.
Lefty said:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19231492/
If you haven’t already, try recursion, it’s even better. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it.
His latest novel is called Upgrade, it’s about gene editing and I didn’t find it quite so good but it’s less “physics” based and just less interesting to me.
Brill thanks! If you haven’t already, try recursion, it’s even better. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve read it.
His latest novel is called Upgrade, it’s about gene editing and I didn’t find it quite so good but it’s less “physics” based and just less interesting to me.
Lefty said:
Anyone got any suggestions of similar stuff?
Greg Bear is probably worth looking into.The stories may seem a little dated now (he was writing in the 80s and 90s mainly), but his concepts are still superb.
Eon is the one you should start with. Another one I've re-read multiple times. Oh, and google hallucigenia once things REALLY kick-off (not before...you'll know when).
Beyond that, if you're after the science, probably Blood Music and the two Darwin novels. But look into most of his sci-fi, at least the ones where he created the concept, rather than writing for someone else.
havoc said:
Greg Bear is probably worth looking into.
I have a number of his books in paperback bought back in the day. I seem to remember really enjoying them but eventually drifting away from him (I don't even recall why now) but there were some interesting concepts, for sure. David Brin is another good author. Several of his books were quite prescient (Earth springs to mind), and an interesting concept on distribution of self (via 3D-printed golums) was in Kiln People. Also Heart of the Comet (with Gregory Benford) and he also wrote The Postman (don't let the mediocre film adaptation starring Kevin Costner put you off).
John Barnes' Mother of Storms was a good read, as was A Million Open Doors (The first of "four novels in the Thousand Cultures series [which] include the theme of the effects of globalization, at an interstellar scale, on isolated societies" ~~ Wikipedia)
(None of the above are recent books)
edit: And no list is complete without Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson.
Edited by Clockwork Cupcake on Wednesday 28th June 23:24
havoc said:
gf5mez said:
The Mars trilogy is unparalleled...hands down the best SF series ever written. I re-read it every few years (now on Kindle as my original paperbacks are quite worn!).
Same here.Beautiful books, with such breadth to them.
I've bought 2312 so I'll give that a read first. But I don't see Red Mars mentioned so often these days, which I think surprising given the prominence of Mars missions.
captain_cynic said:
DodgyGeezer said:
The Lost Fleet series may work for you. It is still accessible scifi but it does make mention of the problems of trying to fire at targets at relativistic speeds, which may or may not make things interesting. This does, from memory, fall under the Mil-fi sub-genre (if that's your bag then maybe Orphanage by Robert Buettner or Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos may also work)
He's already mentioned Terms of EnlistmentAlso it looks like Kloos is writing another novel in the Frontlines universe called Scorpio https://www.markokloos.com/?p=3150
Kloos other series, The Paladium Wars is also quite good, looks like Book 4 is being written (3 kind of left a lot of unanswered questions).
Other Mil-Fi I'd recommend, The Expeditionary Force series - Craig Alanson and the Old Mans War series by John Scalzi.
I also recall Falkenberg's Legion Series as being rather good and I'm sure I've read the 'prequels' Janissary (Jerry Pournelle and assorted coauthors, including Larry Niven)
DodgyGeezer said:
The Lost Fleet series may work for you. It is still accessible scifi but it does make mention of the problems of trying to fire at targets at relativistic speeds, which may or may not make things interesting. This does, from memory, fall under the Mil-fi sub-genre (if that's your bag then maybe Orphanage by Robert Buettner or Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos may also work)
And of the same "universe" (as the Lost Fleet) Stark's War. More compactly resolved than the mildly overextended (IMHO) but still enjoyable Lost Fleet.Gassing Station | Books and Literature | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff