Need "Weird" Sci Fi book recommendations
April 18, 2011 7:04 PM Subscribe
Can anyone recommend Psychedelic/ Mind Expanding contemporary Sci Fi books?
I've read previous threads here about sci fi book recommendations but I'm trying to narrow it down to some pointers on recent ( last 15 years or so) heavy tripped out sci fi novels. I"m a fan of all Philip K. Dick, some Michael Moorcock, and I really liked Dune to name a few. Those are what I'd call psychedelic and heavy reads.
I've only read 1960s and 70s sci fi because they seemed to, by default, be "weird" and heady naturally. I'm looking for stuff that might include consciousness, drugs, gods, other dimensions, etc. I know there must be new ones that would impress me like this but the choices are overwhelming ( Plus I like to judge books by their cover and It doesn't help that most book covers look like poor student Photoshop projects). I get turned off quickly by that, so I need some help here. Thanks for any recommendations.
I've read previous threads here about sci fi book recommendations but I'm trying to narrow it down to some pointers on recent ( last 15 years or so) heavy tripped out sci fi novels. I"m a fan of all Philip K. Dick, some Michael Moorcock, and I really liked Dune to name a few. Those are what I'd call psychedelic and heavy reads.
I've only read 1960s and 70s sci fi because they seemed to, by default, be "weird" and heady naturally. I'm looking for stuff that might include consciousness, drugs, gods, other dimensions, etc. I know there must be new ones that would impress me like this but the choices are overwhelming ( Plus I like to judge books by their cover and It doesn't help that most book covers look like poor student Photoshop projects). I get turned off quickly by that, so I need some help here. Thanks for any recommendations.
Stepan Chapman, The Troika
Michael Swanwick, Stations of the Tide
Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus (lots of Wolfe, actually, but that's a good starting point)
Samuel Delany, Dhalgren
posted by strangely stunted trees at 7:26 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Michael Swanwick, Stations of the Tide
Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus (lots of Wolfe, actually, but that's a good starting point)
Samuel Delany, Dhalgren
posted by strangely stunted trees at 7:26 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Christopher Priest seems like he would suit you. He wrote the book on which the film "The Prestige" was based, but don't assume the two are very alike.
posted by AmbroseChapel at 7:47 PM on April 18, 2011
posted by AmbroseChapel at 7:47 PM on April 18, 2011
Response by poster: Thank you for the replies. I will check out some of these titles. I've heard of many of them, but some not.
Lovecraft In Brooklyn, thanks... those are good recommendations, much appreciated.
strangely stunted trees, those all look interesting. I've got Shadow of the Torturer by Wolfe on my list to read also.
AmbroseChapel, I did read The Inverted World by Christopher Priest , and liked it.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:20 PM on April 18, 2011
Lovecraft In Brooklyn, thanks... those are good recommendations, much appreciated.
strangely stunted trees, those all look interesting. I've got Shadow of the Torturer by Wolfe on my list to read also.
AmbroseChapel, I did read The Inverted World by Christopher Priest , and liked it.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:20 PM on April 18, 2011
You might check out Acts of the Apostles - it runs off the rails a bit towards the end, but it reminds me of Philip K. Dick, more for the paranoia than the tripiness, but it has some trippy things going on as well.
posted by pombe at 8:24 PM on April 18, 2011
posted by pombe at 8:24 PM on April 18, 2011
Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice sounds just about right. "Stoner noir" is a delightfully accurate description.
Also, Neal Stephenson's Anathem. It's long but well worth the effort. Stephenson writes an excellent blend of story, characters, world building, alternative history, sci-fi (the good, hard variety), physics, philosophy, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and general "theory" without feeling like a textbook. If you don't think about the world in a whole new way for at least a week after reading it you're doing something wrong (assuming, of course, that you like Stephenson—he isn't for everyone).
posted by willhopkins at 8:25 PM on April 18, 2011
Also, Neal Stephenson's Anathem. It's long but well worth the effort. Stephenson writes an excellent blend of story, characters, world building, alternative history, sci-fi (the good, hard variety), physics, philosophy, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and general "theory" without feeling like a textbook. If you don't think about the world in a whole new way for at least a week after reading it you're doing something wrong (assuming, of course, that you like Stephenson—he isn't for everyone).
posted by willhopkins at 8:25 PM on April 18, 2011
I recommend this one a lot, but it's such a fun genre-skipping read that it's hard not to: Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World. In an alternate near-future, a big war is fought with "go-away bombs" that erase the physical content of reality, leaving a metaphysical fallout called "Stuff" that is shaped by the human unconscious. So when a group of shellshocked troops wanders into a Stuff-storm, most of them are cut to ribbons by the abstract idea of war, phantom bullets shot from nowhere and sudden, irrational explosions.
The book follows the life of the unnamed narrator and his childhood buddy Gonzo, who are sent on a mission to stop the sabotage of a global pipeline that sprays an anti-Stuff chemical into the surrounding atmosphere. The plot is pretty out there, blending science fiction and fantasy and satire and over-the-top action. It also has some pretty interesting ideas about the nature of identity, given that Stuff can generate entire populations of mutated, apparently sentient creatures from a people's imaginations... or horribly alter the people themselves. It was really fun.
For mind-expanding sci-fi, I'd recommend Ted Chiang. His short story "Exhalation," while a little dry in tone, dealt with the nature of consciousness in a fascinating way, and "Understand" was like "Flowers for Algernon" on speed the way it handled the concept of superintelligence. Almost all of his stories have a really interesting twist or outright mindfuck -- it's just too bad he's not more prolific. You can find links to his twelve stories in this post I did on him (the first "Tower of Babylon" link is broken; you can find another version here or here).
posted by Rhaomi at 8:50 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
The book follows the life of the unnamed narrator and his childhood buddy Gonzo, who are sent on a mission to stop the sabotage of a global pipeline that sprays an anti-Stuff chemical into the surrounding atmosphere. The plot is pretty out there, blending science fiction and fantasy and satire and over-the-top action. It also has some pretty interesting ideas about the nature of identity, given that Stuff can generate entire populations of mutated, apparently sentient creatures from a people's imaginations... or horribly alter the people themselves. It was really fun.
For mind-expanding sci-fi, I'd recommend Ted Chiang. His short story "Exhalation," while a little dry in tone, dealt with the nature of consciousness in a fascinating way, and "Understand" was like "Flowers for Algernon" on speed the way it handled the concept of superintelligence. Almost all of his stories have a really interesting twist or outright mindfuck -- it's just too bad he's not more prolific. You can find links to his twelve stories in this post I did on him (the first "Tower of Babylon" link is broken; you can find another version here or here).
posted by Rhaomi at 8:50 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Psychedelic... Mind Expanding?
Uh, dude... most anything by Rudy Rucker is pretty trippy...
After the Singularity, everyone and everything is sentient and telepathic. Aliens notice and invade Earth. In Rucker’s last novel, Postsingular, the Singularity happened and life on Earth was transformed by the awakening of all matter into consciousness and into telepathic communication.
posted by ovvl at 8:52 PM on April 18, 2011
Uh, dude... most anything by Rudy Rucker is pretty trippy...
After the Singularity, everyone and everything is sentient and telepathic. Aliens notice and invade Earth. In Rucker’s last novel, Postsingular, the Singularity happened and life on Earth was transformed by the awakening of all matter into consciousness and into telepathic communication.
posted by ovvl at 8:52 PM on April 18, 2011
You *must* read Vurt by Jeff Noon. Very bizarre and very psychedelic. I read it 15 years ago and it still stands out in my memory.
posted by gnutron at 8:59 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by gnutron at 8:59 PM on April 18, 2011 [3 favorites]
Otherland tetralogy by Tad Williams
posted by surewouldoutlaw at 9:09 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by surewouldoutlaw at 9:09 PM on April 18, 2011 [1 favorite]
Elvissey by Jack Womack from Amazon: A troubled couple sets out from a dismal future to retrieve Elvis Presley from an oddly different 1954. They need the King to be a savior to what's left of humanity, but he's a murderous freak with no desire to be anyone's god. Elvissey is set in Jack Womack's maybe-not-cyberpunk future, where the Dryco corporation runs everything, and everyone has been or will be "regooded," for their own good. Womack writes in an evolved language, full of odd verbs and newspeak: "He unpocketed a bottle of small blue pills; Dryco's standard eyedots and smile were imprinted upon each tablet. Three hours sole could pass between dosings, no more, no less. Swallowing dry, he fixed a doorways stare; shook, and resettled.... Regooded or not, his unscratchables still itched."
when I first read it the future-slang was too much for me, but i need to try it again.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:15 PM on April 18, 2011
when I first read it the future-slang was too much for me, but i need to try it again.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:15 PM on April 18, 2011
Philip Palmer writes somewhat PKD-ish space opera--I thought Version 43 was especially that. For heavy stories about consciousness, try some things by Greg Egan such as "Closer" or "TAP." And to sample a range of more or less contemporary authors, maybe The New Weird or Feeling Very Strange.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 10:07 PM on April 18, 2011
posted by Monsieur Caution at 10:07 PM on April 18, 2011
Peter Watt's short story The Island really aggravated my weirdo gizzard.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:28 PM on April 18, 2011
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:28 PM on April 18, 2011
read The Gunslinger, the first of Stephen King's Dark Tower books. how far you want to go after that is up to you but far-future, decaying Earth setting would fit right in in the 70s (when it was written, i think)
if you haven't already read M John Harrison and Norman Spinrad
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:32 PM on April 18, 2011
if you haven't already read M John Harrison and Norman Spinrad
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:32 PM on April 18, 2011
I'm trying to figure out how to describe Houses of Time by Jamil Nasir without giving too much away - maybe "Grant, a wealthy lawyer, tries lucid dreaming in order to imagine his perfect woman. A series of coincidences lead Grant to Dr. Thotmoses and the Trans-Human Institute, and things get progressively weirder from there."
I'd suggest NOT reading the reviews for this one, as they tend to give too much away, and one of the big pleasures of this book was not knowing how things would unfold.
For me, Houses of Time did a great job of evoking that dreamlike sensation I found in PKD's books, where the narrator realizes things are just slightly wrong, and the search to figure out what's happening causes more and more to unravel.
posted by dubold at 2:14 AM on April 19, 2011
I'd suggest NOT reading the reviews for this one, as they tend to give too much away, and one of the big pleasures of this book was not knowing how things would unfold.
For me, Houses of Time did a great job of evoking that dreamlike sensation I found in PKD's books, where the narrator realizes things are just slightly wrong, and the search to figure out what's happening causes more and more to unravel.
posted by dubold at 2:14 AM on April 19, 2011
Response by poster: Many thanks people! This will keep me busy for a while.
posted by Liquidwolf at 6:26 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by Liquidwolf at 6:26 AM on April 19, 2011
Vernor Vinge A Fire Upon the Deephas lots of big ideas, explorations of consciousness and the like. I was blown away when I read it.
posted by mearls at 7:20 AM on April 19, 2011
posted by mearls at 7:20 AM on April 19, 2011
The short stories of pseudonymous geniuses Cordwainer Smith and James Tiptree have some Big Ideas you might enjoy.
Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones is like nothing else.
Seconding recommendations for Iain Banks and everything from Lovecraft in Brooklyn's first comment.
posted by jtron at 10:09 AM on April 19, 2011
Archer's Goon by Diana Wynne Jones is like nothing else.
Seconding recommendations for Iain Banks and everything from Lovecraft in Brooklyn's first comment.
posted by jtron at 10:09 AM on April 19, 2011
Definitely look out for Rudy Rucker, as ovii said. Some really great books of his are earlier ones. The Ware Tetralogy is excellent if you can get a hold of them.
I also very much recommend White Light, especially if you are into higher orders of infinity and other math-based fiction.
posted by waitangi at 12:19 PM on April 19, 2011
I also very much recommend White Light, especially if you are into higher orders of infinity and other math-based fiction.
posted by waitangi at 12:19 PM on April 19, 2011
Hey wait--I am late to the party but I can unequivocally recommend Dhahlgren which is the very definition of a heavy read, but you can just skip around in it. And the anthology Aye, and Gomorrah, which is easier and amazing. Delany was part of that whole New Worlds crowd with Moorcock and them.
And if you can finish Andrea Hairston's Mindscape. you are a tougher reader than I am. It's neat but boggly...I really like it but seem to be reading it in fragments at intervals.
posted by Frowner at 12:35 PM on April 19, 2011
And if you can finish Andrea Hairston's Mindscape. you are a tougher reader than I am. It's neat but boggly...I really like it but seem to be reading it in fragments at intervals.
posted by Frowner at 12:35 PM on April 19, 2011
Absolutely nthing Vurt by Jeff noon. Amazing!
posted by lalochezia at 5:28 PM on April 19, 2011
posted by lalochezia at 5:28 PM on April 19, 2011
Clarification: Rudy Rucker sometimes does some complex mathish non-fiction things, but essentially: Postsingular & Hylozoic will bend your head. The Ware Tetrology is classic. Master of Space and Time is goofy fun. Saucer Wisdom starts off odd, but gets interesting as it goes along.
And: Jeff Noon is excellent. Vurt is a masterpiece, Pollen is the sequel. Falling out of Cars is something else more subtle and disturbing.
posted by ovvl at 6:04 PM on April 19, 2011
And: Jeff Noon is excellent. Vurt is a masterpiece, Pollen is the sequel. Falling out of Cars is something else more subtle and disturbing.
posted by ovvl at 6:04 PM on April 19, 2011
You most definitely want to read Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith.
posted by chmmr at 4:49 AM on April 20, 2011
posted by chmmr at 4:49 AM on April 20, 2011
I found the Illuminatus Trilogy trippy to the point of incomprehension.
posted by jefftang at 2:33 PM on April 20, 2011
posted by jefftang at 2:33 PM on April 20, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
Paul DiFilippo - pretty much the heir to guys like Moorcock. went through a 'biopunk' phase, where he combined steampunk with biology. one short story collection had both John Lennon's spectacles and Kurt Cobain's time-traveling sweater
Jeff Van Der Meer. like Moorcock, is half fantasy. Borgesian and overstuffed and gorgeous
China Mieville. stories can be weak but the description is awesome. start with Perdido Street Station.
Australia's Terry Dowling is amazing and underrated. 'Wormwood' is one of the best sci-fi books I've ever read
Ian McDonald's Desolation Road is a combination of Firefly and 100 Years of Solitude. It has more ideas in one book than most authors have in their entire ouveres
COMICS:
You didn't ask for comic books, but Grant Morrison is Moorcock's modern heir, though Moorcock dosen't like him. start with The Invisibles or The Filth
Warren Ellis' 'Transmetropolitian' is pure 70s sci fi weirdness, only mixed with things like transhumanism. it's a comic series but a comic series about Future William S Burroughs. perfect
Alan Moore is considered the best of the bunch. if you want the high weirdness skip Watchmen and head straight to Promethea. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Black Dossier also has a great Moorcock reference
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 7:20 PM on April 18, 2011 [4 favorites]