Rec me non-apocalyptic Science Fiction novels
February 22, 2022 12:23 AM Subscribe
I am in search of new-to-me science fiction, but due to the current state of the world, I just can't face another novel which involves mass deaths due to pandemics and/or climate change. I have in the past read (and enjoyed!) books involving these themes, but there seem to be so many of them around at the minute, and I've hit my limit for now.
I don't mind if the story involves an apocalypse which happens 'off screen' or in a time before the story starts. I'm really just looking for things where the plot does not deal directly with the complete breakdown of something which is actually or is very like our current world.
Recent SF books I have read and enjoyed which do not involve current ongoing apocalypses include: everything by Adrian Tchaikovsky; the Murderbot books; the Imperial Radch trilogy; A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the Locked Tomb books by Tamsyn Muir. I really enjoyed Robert Cargill's Sea of Rust but will probably not read the prequel Day Zero based on the brief plot summary I've seen.
I read the first Becky Chambers novel but bounced off it - the style was a bit meandering for my taste. I've read the first few Expanse novels but lost momentum with them around Cibola Burn. I'm very open to older, classic SF - I've read and enjoyed the first Dune novel and Hyperion by Dan Simmons among others.
Thank you!
I don't mind if the story involves an apocalypse which happens 'off screen' or in a time before the story starts. I'm really just looking for things where the plot does not deal directly with the complete breakdown of something which is actually or is very like our current world.
Recent SF books I have read and enjoyed which do not involve current ongoing apocalypses include: everything by Adrian Tchaikovsky; the Murderbot books; the Imperial Radch trilogy; A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, the Locked Tomb books by Tamsyn Muir. I really enjoyed Robert Cargill's Sea of Rust but will probably not read the prequel Day Zero based on the brief plot summary I've seen.
I read the first Becky Chambers novel but bounced off it - the style was a bit meandering for my taste. I've read the first few Expanse novels but lost momentum with them around Cibola Burn. I'm very open to older, classic SF - I've read and enjoyed the first Dune novel and Hyperion by Dan Simmons among others.
Thank you!
I suspect you'd enjoy the Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold if you haven't read them yet. They're that mix of high concept space opera and character-focussed, and the closest they come to an apocalypse is the fact the main characters come from a world that was cut off from the rest of the galaxy for a few centuries, devolving into a sort of 17th century feudal society, before contact being reestablished by a colonising empire. The books start some forty-fifty years after the invaders are kicked out, so if anything they deal with the reintegration of a post-apocalyptic world into a developed galactic society.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:28 AM on February 22, 2022 [16 favorites]
posted by I claim sanctuary at 1:28 AM on February 22, 2022 [16 favorites]
Try the Sector General series by James White. Sorry I can't give you a link, my new iOS system hates me.
posted by BoscosMom at 2:17 AM on February 22, 2022
posted by BoscosMom at 2:17 AM on February 22, 2022
Classic: A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge, The Book of the Long Sun - Gene Wolfe (I think Long Sun is more approachable and more obviously science fictional than New Sun)
Modern: Too Like the Lightning - Ada Palmer (its a series, so if you like it there are more. Fair warning I haven't read them all yet so there may be some apocalyptic themes but its a long time off from our current civilisation)
posted by crocomancer at 3:21 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Modern: Too Like the Lightning - Ada Palmer (its a series, so if you like it there are more. Fair warning I haven't read them all yet so there may be some apocalyptic themes but its a long time off from our current civilisation)
posted by crocomancer at 3:21 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
If you're down for lots of action and something quite different, try Alfred Bester. I personally prefer The Stars my Destination, but both it And The Demolished Man are great reads.
posted by Alensin at 3:30 AM on February 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by Alensin at 3:30 AM on February 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
Contact
Solaris
I've been reading my way through the Expanse books the last two years and the next one (Nemesis Games) was my favorite but is the opposite of what you're looking for right now, advance FYI.
posted by phunniemee at 4:16 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Solaris
I've been reading my way through the Expanse books the last two years and the next one (Nemesis Games) was my favorite but is the opposite of what you're looking for right now, advance FYI.
posted by phunniemee at 4:16 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Terry Pratchett's early novel The Dark Side of the Sun has always held a very fond place in my heart.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 4:20 AM on February 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 4:20 AM on February 22, 2022 [4 favorites]
Any of the Culture books by Iain M. Banks should work.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:29 AM on February 22, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 4:29 AM on February 22, 2022 [9 favorites]
I'll second Vernor Vinge and here are a couple of other space opera-y books I've enjoyed recently:
You Sexy Thing - Cat Rambo (this is kind of murderbotish as a couple of the characters have to figure out how to be a person from scratch)
The Last Watch & The Exiled Fleet - JS Dewes (nothing groundbreaking but I liked the world building very much)
Far From the Light of Heaven - Tade Thompson (closed-room mystery on a space ship)
Non-space opera sci-fi:
Girl One - Sara Flannery Murphy (if you liked The Power, you'll probably like this)
The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey (so great, about cloning)
Finna & Defekt - Nino Cipri (about low-wage work and IKEA being the portal to the multiverse)
The Plantfall Series - Emma Newman (there's a lot of variety across the books in the series, they're all great but often pretty dark)
Catfishing on Catnet & Chaos on Catnet - Naomi Kritzer (YA, super fun, recommended to me on here, about a sentient AI who loves cat pics and tries to help people)
The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson (so, so good, about multiverse travel, I think this gets a little close to the line of your no climate change rule, but maybe try it when you're ok to relax that rule a little).
If you haven't read Octavia Butler, I'd give her a try. The Parable books are too close to our world, but Kindred or the Xenogensis trilogy might work for you and she's wonderful.
posted by snaw at 4:57 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
You Sexy Thing - Cat Rambo (this is kind of murderbotish as a couple of the characters have to figure out how to be a person from scratch)
The Last Watch & The Exiled Fleet - JS Dewes (nothing groundbreaking but I liked the world building very much)
Far From the Light of Heaven - Tade Thompson (closed-room mystery on a space ship)
Non-space opera sci-fi:
Girl One - Sara Flannery Murphy (if you liked The Power, you'll probably like this)
The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey (so great, about cloning)
Finna & Defekt - Nino Cipri (about low-wage work and IKEA being the portal to the multiverse)
The Plantfall Series - Emma Newman (there's a lot of variety across the books in the series, they're all great but often pretty dark)
Catfishing on Catnet & Chaos on Catnet - Naomi Kritzer (YA, super fun, recommended to me on here, about a sentient AI who loves cat pics and tries to help people)
The Space Between Worlds - Micaiah Johnson (so, so good, about multiverse travel, I think this gets a little close to the line of your no climate change rule, but maybe try it when you're ok to relax that rule a little).
If you haven't read Octavia Butler, I'd give her a try. The Parable books are too close to our world, but Kindred or the Xenogensis trilogy might work for you and she's wonderful.
posted by snaw at 4:57 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
Note that A Fire Upon The Deep, mentioned above, does involve the destruction of millions of planetary civilizations by a malevolent entity, violent conspiracy theories, and a war between nations. (But, it's also fantastic.)
Some may disagree, but I found Anathem an antidote to gloom. A world like ours is threatened, but nothing bad actually happens.
Jack McDevitt's Academy Series is about as low stakes as you can get, civilization-wise. (Some of it's a bit dated and very clearly written by an old white guy, but it's well written and fun.)
posted by eotvos at 5:57 AM on February 22, 2022
Some may disagree, but I found Anathem an antidote to gloom. A world like ours is threatened, but nothing bad actually happens.
Jack McDevitt's Academy Series is about as low stakes as you can get, civilization-wise. (Some of it's a bit dated and very clearly written by an old white guy, but it's well written and fun.)
posted by eotvos at 5:57 AM on February 22, 2022
Mefi’s own Cstross’s Merchant Prince series
posted by dhruva at 6:08 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by dhruva at 6:08 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
If you want more hard sci-fi space operas, I really enjoyed Alastair Reynolds Revelation Space books when I read them a couple years ago. There's some large, galactic-level threats in them, but I didn't find them to hit too close to home in terms of resemblance to our modern problems. Also, there's cool old ancient technology and weird near-convincing physics sometimes.
posted by crossswords at 6:27 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by crossswords at 6:27 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Mefi’s own Cstross’s Merchant Prince series
Wildly rampant anthropogenic climate change ends up being an important ongoing plot point.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:13 AM on February 22, 2022
Wildly rampant anthropogenic climate change ends up being an important ongoing plot point.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 7:13 AM on February 22, 2022
If you want a huge series of military space opera with female main characters, I've really enjoyed the Honor Harrington books by David Weber. Not too serious, but fun, good writing (including space battle writing), and love that it's female-centered.
posted by foodmapper at 9:01 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by foodmapper at 9:01 AM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
One of the Academy books involves an apocalypse. It involves a group of anthropologists seeing a DOOM coming to an alien world, and doing their best to mitigate the damage until the threat passes.
I'll add "Space Opera" by Catherynne M. Valente. Humanity has to compete in a galactic eurovision contest or DIE. We're fine if we don't come in last.
I like Tanya Huff's Valor and Peace series. Valor involves a gunnery sargent in a war between our confederation, and another one. The Peace series is about how she and her crew adjust to life after the war.
(If you're up for fantasy, I'd also add her Keeper trilogy for being good fun.)
posted by Spike Glee at 9:34 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'll add "Space Opera" by Catherynne M. Valente. Humanity has to compete in a galactic eurovision contest or DIE. We're fine if we don't come in last.
I like Tanya Huff's Valor and Peace series. Valor involves a gunnery sargent in a war between our confederation, and another one. The Peace series is about how she and her crew adjust to life after the war.
(If you're up for fantasy, I'd also add her Keeper trilogy for being good fun.)
posted by Spike Glee at 9:34 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
LX Beckett's Gamechanger is phenomenal — post post post collapse Earth and humans are working together on a global scale, all internet connected, lots of future/present-seeing around tech, gender, sexuality, ai etc. It's an excellent story w/ a lot of heart and vision. It feels like a finger on where the cutting edge is right now, in the best way.
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:56 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by wemayfreeze at 9:56 AM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I don't know if it qualifies as Science Fiction, but one of my all time favorites is Lives of the Monster Dogs.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:21 AM on February 22, 2022
posted by Winnie the Proust at 11:21 AM on February 22, 2022
I’d suggest William Gibson’s “Bigend” (also known as “Blue Ant”) trilogy, starting with 2001’s Pattern Recognition, followed by Spook Country and Zero History. Gibson is, to my mind, a master stylist, and though these are the least science fiction-y of all his works, they’re very, very good. His newest stuff happens just before and long after a set of catastrophies known as “The Jackpot,” so not in your area of interest right now.
posted by lhauser at 12:16 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by lhauser at 12:16 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
For super fun space soap opera with a big ladleful of magic, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's multiple series in the Liad universe are great. Highly recommend them. Giant space turtles for the win. Most are available through Baen Books (including a free ebook of Agent of Change), which is maybe why their books don't get as much love in Metafilter as Baen publishes a lot of military science fiction with American conservative political overtones, such as ... Weber's Honor Harrington series.... I liked the Harrington books alright but it gets too over the top at times and definitely stalls out in the later books.
Speaking of military science fiction, Elizabeth Moon's series Serrano Legacy and Vatta's War are also excellent.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:16 PM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Speaking of military science fiction, Elizabeth Moon's series Serrano Legacy and Vatta's War are also excellent.
posted by spamandkimchi at 12:16 PM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Maybe try Dreamships by Melissa Scott, which is largely about a confined spaceship and AI, or Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh, which is primarily about identity in a world that's managed perfect genetic cloning.
If you'd prefer more straight space opera, Friedman's In Conquest Born is a clash between two fairly evenly matched space empires who've structured a lot of their respective societies around that war, but as I recall, there aren't any planet-killers deployed in the book.
posted by tautological at 12:37 PM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
If you'd prefer more straight space opera, Friedman's In Conquest Born is a clash between two fairly evenly matched space empires who've structured a lot of their respective societies around that war, but as I recall, there aren't any planet-killers deployed in the book.
posted by tautological at 12:37 PM on February 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
I think this counts as not apocalyptic, the Murderbot Diary series is really good.
posted by bluesky43 at 1:41 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bluesky43 at 1:41 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Becky Chambers’s most recent book, Psalm for the Wild Built, is a trim 200 pages and the first few chapters are like a balm against our modern hellscape.
posted by jeoc at 3:12 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by jeoc at 3:12 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
mote in god's eye and footfall, by the same writing team, are still two of my favorite novels about first encounters with extra-terrrestrials.
posted by bruceo at 4:15 PM on February 22, 2022
posted by bruceo at 4:15 PM on February 22, 2022
The Dispossessed!
I have given away several dozen copies of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Some of my friends found it very hard to read in parts, but it's personal trauma oriented, an apocalypse of one, if you will.
And if you like older sci-fi, snag some of the short story collections of any of the greats. Short stories and Sci-Fi go great together, I highly recommend The Science Fiction Hall of Fame. (Warning, later you learn a lot of these white dudes were beyond problematic.)
posted by DigDoug at 7:34 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I have given away several dozen copies of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Some of my friends found it very hard to read in parts, but it's personal trauma oriented, an apocalypse of one, if you will.
And if you like older sci-fi, snag some of the short story collections of any of the greats. Short stories and Sci-Fi go great together, I highly recommend The Science Fiction Hall of Fame. (Warning, later you learn a lot of these white dudes were beyond problematic.)
posted by DigDoug at 7:34 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
nthing William Gibson.
Also, Neal Stephenson: Snowcrash, Cryptonomicon are both page turners. The Baroque Cycle is as well - three heavy novels, not exactly science fiction.
If you really want to get into 'classic' SF, try The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1 (short stories) and The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 2 (novellas).
posted by TimHare at 8:43 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Also, Neal Stephenson: Snowcrash, Cryptonomicon are both page turners. The Baroque Cycle is as well - three heavy novels, not exactly science fiction.
If you really want to get into 'classic' SF, try The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 1 (short stories) and The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol. 2 (novellas).
posted by TimHare at 8:43 PM on February 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Left Hand of Darkness?
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:23 PM on February 22, 2022
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:23 PM on February 22, 2022
Expendable by James Allan Gardner, and all the series of books with Festina Ramos as main character. They are brilliantly imagined and compelling.
posted by Enid Lareg at 10:27 AM on February 23, 2022
posted by Enid Lareg at 10:27 AM on February 23, 2022
Chiming back in to put in another vote for The Sparrow! It is truly excellent (and harrowing to read, definitely read about it first to make sure you're ready for the content).
posted by snaw at 5:07 PM on February 24, 2022
posted by snaw at 5:07 PM on February 24, 2022
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For some amazing Mars colonization check out the Mars triology from Kim Stanley Robertson.
Regarding older, classic SF, I had a blast reading all the joint winners of the Nebula&Hugo awards.
posted by SweetLiesOfBokonon at 1:14 AM on February 22, 2022 [3 favorites]