Seeking hard science fiction sources free online, especially new stuff
May 19, 2022 2:03 AM Subscribe
I'm not looking for just any science fiction (or 'science fiction') free to read online. I'm looking for stuff that is scientifically literate and 'sciencey,' where real science, plausible speculative science, or a scientific viewpoint (or all of these) is important to the story. Short stories that are not trite even to people who have already read a lot of sf (and even read some non-sf) would be especially nice. I'd also like to avoid piracy and theft.
Also, yes I do like many literary virtues other than 'scienceyness,' although I note that different people seem to disagree about when these are present and what they are like in practice. :-) Another value that shows up in some of the best science fiction is coherent, intriguing portrayals of cultures that are different from ours, and not just in superficial ways or in ways that merely pander to a particular political viewpoint within our society and don't go beyond that. (Also, yes it's pleasant to avoid racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ-ism, etc.)
You can skip this next part, but here are a few examples of sources that at least partly fit the bill, and how I think they do or don't fit.
- A generous and inspiring series of mefi posts by brainwane: seems to lean more towards fantasy and softer science fiction than hard? Still worth following though.
- Nature's recurring "Futures" feature: good and scientifically literate, but restricted to one specific length; and in some ways limited in variety.
- https://gutenberg.org (along with its sister sites in different countries) has some really good oldish science fiction stories if you know some author names or other keywords to search for (such as H. Beam Piper's Omnilingual, arguably one of the better science fiction stories of the 20th century.) However, materials with expired copyrights are usually several decades old (a few features of Omnilingual's portrayal of Mars are certainly scientifically out of date by now, even though you could set the story in another solar system and it would still largely work.)
- There are good sf magazines online such as https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/, but I would like to read more, and more specifically appropriate ones.
For any source(s) I might love, I suppose some individual stories might explore interesting political ideas (hard to avoid in a 'literature of ideas') but I'm not looking for a big pile of political axe-grinding for any particular political leaning or opinion, whether 'conservative,' 'progressive,' or 'specific other.'
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(I invite the moderators to add tags or whatever. I'm sorry I'm not better at this; I am so out of practice at mefi-ing, except for some lurking. Goddesses of the internet, please have mercy on my soul. :-) )
Also, yes I do like many literary virtues other than 'scienceyness,' although I note that different people seem to disagree about when these are present and what they are like in practice. :-) Another value that shows up in some of the best science fiction is coherent, intriguing portrayals of cultures that are different from ours, and not just in superficial ways or in ways that merely pander to a particular political viewpoint within our society and don't go beyond that. (Also, yes it's pleasant to avoid racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ-ism, etc.)
You can skip this next part, but here are a few examples of sources that at least partly fit the bill, and how I think they do or don't fit.
- A generous and inspiring series of mefi posts by brainwane: seems to lean more towards fantasy and softer science fiction than hard? Still worth following though.
- Nature's recurring "Futures" feature: good and scientifically literate, but restricted to one specific length; and in some ways limited in variety.
- https://gutenberg.org (along with its sister sites in different countries) has some really good oldish science fiction stories if you know some author names or other keywords to search for (such as H. Beam Piper's Omnilingual, arguably one of the better science fiction stories of the 20th century.) However, materials with expired copyrights are usually several decades old (a few features of Omnilingual's portrayal of Mars are certainly scientifically out of date by now, even though you could set the story in another solar system and it would still largely work.)
- There are good sf magazines online such as https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/, but I would like to read more, and more specifically appropriate ones.
For any source(s) I might love, I suppose some individual stories might explore interesting political ideas (hard to avoid in a 'literature of ideas') but I'm not looking for a big pile of political axe-grinding for any particular political leaning or opinion, whether 'conservative,' 'progressive,' or 'specific other.'
---
(I invite the moderators to add tags or whatever. I'm sorry I'm not better at this; I am so out of practice at mefi-ing, except for some lurking. Goddesses of the internet, please have mercy on my soul. :-) )
Thanks for the kind words about the posts I made, cattypist. (I'd actually have to look back to see whether I agree with you about your assessment of my selections, especially because I'm not sure what "soft" means to you -- "not very scientifically plausible" or "scientific viewpoint/people doing science in the story/speculative setting is less prominent in the story than other plot/character elements", or maybe something else. But I don't want this thread to get derailed into that question!)
"The Hard Quarry" by Caleb Huitt is a selection that springs to mind as possibly suiting your criteria. Maybe also consider this discussion of Sci Phi Journal and "idea-driven or idea-centric speculative fiction" which may overlap with what you're looking for, or may clarify why some venues that are explicitly interested in that are unfortunately also less likely to align with your other interests.
To help focus recommendations, could you mention some specific authors, stories, or books whose work would fit your criteria? For instance, would Kim Stanley Robinson's work suit? Or, are there publications which are not free to read online (such as Analog?) that would completely suit your criteria if they were free to read on the web?
posted by brainwane at 3:45 AM on May 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
"The Hard Quarry" by Caleb Huitt is a selection that springs to mind as possibly suiting your criteria. Maybe also consider this discussion of Sci Phi Journal and "idea-driven or idea-centric speculative fiction" which may overlap with what you're looking for, or may clarify why some venues that are explicitly interested in that are unfortunately also less likely to align with your other interests.
To help focus recommendations, could you mention some specific authors, stories, or books whose work would fit your criteria? For instance, would Kim Stanley Robinson's work suit? Or, are there publications which are not free to read online (such as Analog?) that would completely suit your criteria if they were free to read on the web?
posted by brainwane at 3:45 AM on May 19, 2022 [3 favorites]
I can recommend one of my favourite stories, The Life Cycle of Software Objects By Ted Chiang. It’s a meticulously told story of the development and maintenance of a piece of software that also happens to be profoundly heartbreaking.
Link to archived version from the publisher’s website - so it is non pirated, though they’ve since taken it down.
posted by ordinary_magnet at 6:34 AM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Link to archived version from the publisher’s website - so it is non pirated, though they’ve since taken it down.
posted by ordinary_magnet at 6:34 AM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Blindsight and Starfish are relatively recent, hard sci novels by Peter Watts available in full on his website.
posted by foxfirefey at 12:05 PM on May 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by foxfirefey at 12:05 PM on May 19, 2022 [5 favorites]
Strongly seconding Peter Watts. https://www.rifters.com
posted by Splunge at 12:49 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Splunge at 12:49 PM on May 19, 2022 [2 favorites]
Public libraries, they are not just for print books anymore! You can get a card for free and they will usually have a selection of ebooks you can borrow. Los Angeles Public Library, for example, has the The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year series, the latest one is from 2019.
Some public libraries have e-card applications turned on due to COVID so you don't even have to go to the library to apply for the card, you just have to live in their jurisdiction.
posted by judypjhsu at 8:54 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Some public libraries have e-card applications turned on due to COVID so you don't even have to go to the library to apply for the card, you just have to live in their jurisdiction.
posted by judypjhsu at 8:54 PM on May 19, 2022 [1 favorite]
Bit late to this question, but ManyBooks has a large number of sci-fi (and other) books available for free download.
It's primarily good versions of books you'll find on Project Gutenberg (which is in itself a good source), but I've found several books on there that have been recommended by others here on the green, and obviously there are a large number of classic sci-fi books on there.
posted by underclocked at 12:40 AM on June 19, 2022
It's primarily good versions of books you'll find on Project Gutenberg (which is in itself a good source), but I've found several books on there that have been recommended by others here on the green, and obviously there are a large number of classic sci-fi books on there.
posted by underclocked at 12:40 AM on June 19, 2022
Response by poster: brainwane, when I very, very belatedly sent you a 'thank you' memail, you replied asking me to post a reply on this post, so here it is!
Some of the issues are complicated, so at least one section of this reply becomes a choice between 'don't really properly address the question, reply with too many words, or even compromise by doing both!' :-)
That's also why I've probably made at least one important editing error in this reply. :-/
"The Hard Quarry" by Caleb Huitt is a selection that springs to mind as possibly suiting your criteria.
It's certainly not a BAD story. But relative to my AskMeta question, I think maybe "Hard Quarry" is more 'yet another story about plucky asteroid prospectors fighting against space pirates' and not so much about or built upon the author's doing much thinking about science?
Maybe also consider this discussion of Sci Phi Journal and "idea-driven or idea-centric speculative fiction" which may overlap with what you're looking for, or may clarify why some venues that are explicitly interested in that are unfortunately also less likely to align with your other interests.
Yeah, that earlier mefi discussion of Sci Phi Journal kept hitting concerns that I consider important. As I said in my rather belated reply to your memail, "I don't want to support any attempt to damage the Hugos or to make science fiction bigoted and narrow," and it seems Sci Phi Journal might be part of such a political effort?
I think that discussion of Sci Phi journal includes a few of your many helpful science fiction recommenation/link comments that I was thanking you for, by the way. :-)
To help focus recommendations, could you mention some specific authors, stories, or books whose work would fit your criteria? For instance, would Kim Stanley Robinson's work suit? Or, are there publications which are not free to read online (such as Analog?) that would completely suit your criteria if they were free to read on the web?
Kim Stanley Robinson has written some good books that I've enjoyed, but some of his works can feel kind of cardboardy to me too, not just in character relationships but in worldbuilding.
I remember when I was reading "New York 2140." The beautiful, attractive, strong woman athlete was in just the right situation to represent and promote the 'good' political opinions (which to be fair, might really truly be the good side) to the benighted but enlightenable finance/investment professional, to make the political side of that section of the story come out 'properly' and provide a relatively happy ending for it. Can our political opinions and desires for a happy ending have their own Mary Sues?
Also, I read much of the book wondering what was preventing these buildings' internal structure (especially any internal steel or iron) from being corroded and fatally weakened by soaking up salt from the underground level. (The risks of and need to protect against a flooded building soaking up saltwater at the above ground level were explicitly discussed and even a plot point.) I eventually decided this probably wasn't the kind of story in which my subterranean science/engineering questions are even implicitly considered, but rather a 'buildings sticking up out of the water with people living in them in a flooded city is a cool trope' kind of story with only partial subversion of the trope's superficialness. Maybe Robinson deals with the salty foundations problem as part of a later climax or ending, I don't know. Or maybe I'm wrong about some of the engineering issues here!
Or maybe the underground saltwater diffusion and seepage problem is a good example of the difference between dramatizing science ("Scientists have publicly predicted these climate disasters based on actual evidence, and this is what it might be like to struggle with that!") vs. following scientific facts and likelihoods into places Scientific American might not have directly covered yet ("Science and common sense together suggest permanent floodwaters can soak into the ground and even into building foundations over time, and saltwater corrodes certain important materials that help to hold buldings together, but maybe I haven't seen a scientist writing an article specifcally applying this to a sea-flooded NYC, so I never thought it through that far for myself.") Or maybe Robinson deals with this someplace I didn't see (or didn't get to), or maybe Robinson just thought, "Well, readers should extrapolate from what my book says about above-ground protections against saltwater, that something must have been done to protect against saltwater seepage through the ground too."
But all this complaining about science reminds me of the classic campaign of science-minded people satirically protesting that Niven's "Ringworld" wasn't dynamically stable and would collide with the sun. :-) 'Everyone knows' Niven is a Very Hard Science Fiction Writer, which is partly true, I guess. :-)
Anyway, if those are my complaints about that Robinson book, the book must have some pretty good qualities too! I read much of the way into the book for reasons. :-)
Since you ask about Analog, I do think Analog has sometimes or even often done a pretty good job of what I'm looking for, even if its history also includes some moments of inglorious racism and junk science presented as 'nonfiction.'
This reply, long as it is, doesn't even address all of what you asked for, so maybe I'll post again later. :-)
posted by cattypist at 2:17 PM on February 21, 2023
Some of the issues are complicated, so at least one section of this reply becomes a choice between 'don't really properly address the question, reply with too many words, or even compromise by doing both!' :-)
That's also why I've probably made at least one important editing error in this reply. :-/
"The Hard Quarry" by Caleb Huitt is a selection that springs to mind as possibly suiting your criteria.
It's certainly not a BAD story. But relative to my AskMeta question, I think maybe "Hard Quarry" is more 'yet another story about plucky asteroid prospectors fighting against space pirates' and not so much about or built upon the author's doing much thinking about science?
Maybe also consider this discussion of Sci Phi Journal and "idea-driven or idea-centric speculative fiction" which may overlap with what you're looking for, or may clarify why some venues that are explicitly interested in that are unfortunately also less likely to align with your other interests.
Yeah, that earlier mefi discussion of Sci Phi Journal kept hitting concerns that I consider important. As I said in my rather belated reply to your memail, "I don't want to support any attempt to damage the Hugos or to make science fiction bigoted and narrow," and it seems Sci Phi Journal might be part of such a political effort?
I think that discussion of Sci Phi journal includes a few of your many helpful science fiction recommenation/link comments that I was thanking you for, by the way. :-)
To help focus recommendations, could you mention some specific authors, stories, or books whose work would fit your criteria? For instance, would Kim Stanley Robinson's work suit? Or, are there publications which are not free to read online (such as Analog?) that would completely suit your criteria if they were free to read on the web?
Kim Stanley Robinson has written some good books that I've enjoyed, but some of his works can feel kind of cardboardy to me too, not just in character relationships but in worldbuilding.
I remember when I was reading "New York 2140." The beautiful, attractive, strong woman athlete was in just the right situation to represent and promote the 'good' political opinions (which to be fair, might really truly be the good side) to the benighted but enlightenable finance/investment professional, to make the political side of that section of the story come out 'properly' and provide a relatively happy ending for it. Can our political opinions and desires for a happy ending have their own Mary Sues?
Also, I read much of the book wondering what was preventing these buildings' internal structure (especially any internal steel or iron) from being corroded and fatally weakened by soaking up salt from the underground level. (The risks of and need to protect against a flooded building soaking up saltwater at the above ground level were explicitly discussed and even a plot point.) I eventually decided this probably wasn't the kind of story in which my subterranean science/engineering questions are even implicitly considered, but rather a 'buildings sticking up out of the water with people living in them in a flooded city is a cool trope' kind of story with only partial subversion of the trope's superficialness. Maybe Robinson deals with the salty foundations problem as part of a later climax or ending, I don't know. Or maybe I'm wrong about some of the engineering issues here!
Or maybe the underground saltwater diffusion and seepage problem is a good example of the difference between dramatizing science ("Scientists have publicly predicted these climate disasters based on actual evidence, and this is what it might be like to struggle with that!") vs. following scientific facts and likelihoods into places Scientific American might not have directly covered yet ("Science and common sense together suggest permanent floodwaters can soak into the ground and even into building foundations over time, and saltwater corrodes certain important materials that help to hold buldings together, but maybe I haven't seen a scientist writing an article specifcally applying this to a sea-flooded NYC, so I never thought it through that far for myself.") Or maybe Robinson deals with this someplace I didn't see (or didn't get to), or maybe Robinson just thought, "Well, readers should extrapolate from what my book says about above-ground protections against saltwater, that something must have been done to protect against saltwater seepage through the ground too."
But all this complaining about science reminds me of the classic campaign of science-minded people satirically protesting that Niven's "Ringworld" wasn't dynamically stable and would collide with the sun. :-) 'Everyone knows' Niven is a Very Hard Science Fiction Writer, which is partly true, I guess. :-)
Anyway, if those are my complaints about that Robinson book, the book must have some pretty good qualities too! I read much of the way into the book for reasons. :-)
Since you ask about Analog, I do think Analog has sometimes or even often done a pretty good job of what I'm looking for, even if its history also includes some moments of inglorious racism and junk science presented as 'nonfiction.'
This reply, long as it is, doesn't even address all of what you asked for, so maybe I'll post again later. :-)
posted by cattypist at 2:17 PM on February 21, 2023
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posted by crocomancer at 3:31 AM on May 19, 2022 [3 favorites]