Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with books and sciencefiction

There are no gay people in the future. (Or are there?)

mumble — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:55:41 -0800

Looking for book recs about sci-fi, specifically about gender issues and jetpack-related physics. Slowly easing my way into science fiction (classic Star Trek as of right now, with some Blade Runner/Electric Sheep-related thoughts and plans to branch out some more), interested in two aspects of discussion right now. I did some quick Amazon and Google searches (not very helpful) and poked around a bit at AskMe, and was hoping for specific recommendations about these things:

1) Sci-fi as a white, male space </allegation>: Essay collections prefered over single-topic tomes. I'm referring specifically to sci-fi movies and novels and the way women, sexuality and/or race are handled in the narrative and, to a lesser extent, the history and culture of the genre as a whole.

2) Why transwarp teleportation will never be possible </opinion>: Books on the science behind the fiction, preferably written for the layperson without being overly cutesy about it. This sounded pretty ideal, until I read the last paragraph of this review. See 1).

Not looking for actual novel recs, just the meta. Will also take specific essays that can be found online, if you feel like sharing a link. Thanks very much in advance!

In space no one can here you scream, he wrote

fearfulsymmetry — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 08:41:29 -0800

What's the best literary equivalent of Alien/Aliens? Well obviously there's the Alan Dean Foster adaptations for a start... and the comics.

And I'm not limiting it to 'monster on a spaceship' or 'monsters on a planet + space marines' but anything that successfully merges Space Fiction/Opera and Horror.

Recommendations for erotica

ninebelow — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 04:56:03 -0800

Recommendations for erotica I'm interested in reading erotic novels but I need a bit of guidance. Virgin Books are the biggest erotica publisher in the UK and I've dipped into a few of their titles at random but they've been uniformly awful. Google has not been my friend either because there is a lot of chaff out there. So I am looking for (ideally) a good reviews/recommendation site or (failing that) individual recommendations for novels, authors or publishers.

I'm a straight male interested in the porn rather than romance end of the spectrum and when I say novels I mean actual printed books. Bonus points for science fiction or fantasy recommendations (although I am not after a million recommendations for Jacqueline Carey).

Intelligent space opera?

Grinder — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 07:49:20 -0800

Intelligent space opera? Recently, I've found myself enjoying space opera and hard science fiction but some authors seem to focus more on the technology and big explosions than on realistic characters and interesting themes. Can anyone recommend good authors, preferably ones writing now (as I find that books that were written before digital technology and the end of the Cold War make it hard for me to suspend disbelief), who have a bit of depth to them?

I like stories with a bit of action and a good pace, but interesting people and a willingness to explore "big questions". This is reading for pleasure rather than improvement, but if I learn something along the way, so much the better.

I have read some of the English authors working in the area - Peter F. Hamilton, Neal Asher - but although they put together big plots on a big canvas well, they seem to construct their characters out of cardboard and there's no sense of an ongoing social, cultural or natural history in their galaxies. I end up somewhat unsatisfied. I've enjoyed Kim Stanley Robinson's "Red/Green/Blue Mars" series much better (I know it's not strictly space opera), and in the past, I really liked Frank Herbert, particularly the Dune series. Anything along those lines would be ideal.

Contemporary SF for someone who liked Philip K Dick?

Forktine — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:00:35 -0800

Science fiction - filter: I used to read and love Dick, Farmer, LeGuin, and others who coupled great writing with directly confronting sex, violence, and societal change. What contemporary authors might I like? I mostly stopped reading science fiction almost twenty years ago. I just reread some old favorites, and have be re-bitten by the bug -- I want to read some newer authors, but I'm not sure where to start.

I really liked authors like Dick, Farmer, Atwood, Ellison, LeGuin, Octavia Butler, Bruce Sterling, and the post-apocalyptic series by KS Robinson, for example. These were books that contained sex (and not always nice sex), violence (ditto), and big-picture ideas about society, as well as being well enough written to blur the line between genre fiction and "real" literature. That is, science fiction-y books, written first and foremost for grown-ups, and dealing with grown-up themes.

I don't want to get into a "your favorite band sucks" direction, but in case it clarifies things: I liked the original Dune book well enough, but bogged down in the sequels. I have read, and didn't at all like, Neal Stephenson and Niel Gaiman. And Asimov and Pratchet are (in their own separate ways) absolutely the opposite of what I am hoping for here.

(I looked through some old AskMe's, finding this and this which were helpful but didn't quite get at what I was looking for.)

Deep question

zadcat — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 11:11:47 -0800

Seeking a vanishingly obscure SF novel, "Stranger from the Deep". A good friend has several times mentioned sadly he'd like to get hold of a book he read as a kid, called "Stranger from the Deep". The web's usually a good source of info on science fiction, but this book's so obscure the only Google hit I find is a comment on a blog which confirms a couple of the plot details my friend has mentioned: an alien living at the bottom of the ocean has a machine that can bore into the earth's crust, whereupon beings are discovered living down there.

I can't even find out who wrote the book, but my impression is that it may have been distributed by Scholastic Books, which used to sell books direct through schools here in Canada (and, presumably, as noted in that blog entry, in New Zealand and elsewhere). So it might be technically considered a children's book, although not a tiny tots one.

It's not listed on Alibris or Abebooks, before you look, and not among Amazon's out-of-print listings either. But if you have any info on it I'd be glad to know more.

Plot? Who cares? But thanks for the Ringworld I'll keep it.

MasonDixon — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:39:59 -0800

Wanted: Science Fiction Books moved by a great central idea such as: Ringworld by Larry Niven or The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. The common trait of both of these I would argue is that the central concept is way more interesting than the plot. I don't even remember the plot of Ringworld even though I'm still fascinated by the concept of that kind of massive world. And could a war possibly be more boring than the one depicted in the Forever War? What is really interesting is the notion of "Time Travel" and the subsequent loss of home, family, lover, identity etc. due to extensive travel at relativistic speeds.

This Question is out there, but it degenerates into debate and its from 2006. If you think my question is flawed, do me a favor and just keep moving along. I don't need you to tell me how I should appreciate sf/scifi/science fiction or any of that.

What is the name and who is the author of this science fiction short story about a Utopian Transparent Society

y2karl — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 12:20:03 -0800

After looking everywhere and which a way, I am at a loss. I am looking for a short story with a near future high tech anarchy as background-- something that resembles David Brin's concept of The Transparent Society, Utopian Version, where every body knows everybody else's business--as opposed to, say, Police Surveillance State On Steroids Big Time where Big Brother knows your business and location as in 1984 meets The Minority Report. The story itself in part recounts the life of a young man coming of age in a world where the revolution is over and everyone's life is an open book in document and real time--in this world, teenage men have to find spaces under culverts or abandoned warehouses to stage their fights and duels as all else is on camera, being recorded and provided then to everyone else's examination.

At more than one point, the youth confides in an old man on a park bench. An old man who is a veteran of the recent Revolution, who can remember the penultimate moment of said Revolution as being there when the mountain fortresses of Zurich are breached and battle is joined hand to hand with the Gnomes in the caves beneath their vaults. Or something like that.

As part of the story's later action, said old man/war veteran on the bench draws out his younger companion in conversation and then later posts, to the local or universal public access channel, a not unsympathetic documentary about this youth, his life and his loves, along with supporting documentation and points of view from the all encompassing public record. Which is, as I recall, profoundly embarrassing to this sensitive young man.

The story ends with the report of death of this young man in a duel--which occurs offstage in every sense, at an undisclosed location without camera or microphone, and which is to that young man the only place in the world where a person could be free. Or so I recall now.

No doubt, some of you have had the answer since the opening paragraph but I have yet to find the story of which I speak. And it was a nominee, if not winner, for best short story or novella or something in some year or another. I forget which. I only read it once-- damn, where was I ? The dentist ? --and now I can't find hint not mention of it. Woe is me. Hope me please. What is the title and who wrote it ? I want to re-read it and see how my memory of it compares to the real thing.

I'll be pissed if it's Brin, btw...

Odd tales

Rinku — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:21:43 -0800

I'd like recommendations for short stories that are strange, humorous, or have a surprising twist. I'm in an english class where we're reading long, kind of dull, "straight" novels, one after the other. I'm enjoying the class but I need some antidotes - stories that are off the wall, exotic, mysterious, or... something like that. They need to be short enough that I can read them in one sitting.

My favorite short story ever, which definitely qualifies, is Borges' The Secret Miracle. Donald Barthelme's short stories, which I've been reading recently (and enjoying very much), would also count. Recommendations for genre short stories - fantasy, science fiction, horror, whatever - would be very much appreciated as well.

Recommendations for specific short stories, rather than collections or authors, would be appreciated - but if everything an author's done is amazing, well... go for it.

Which Dune sequels and Gene Wolfe book to buy?

ersatz — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:18:18 -0800

Help me choose a couple of my next books: Which Dune sequels and which Gene Wolfe book to buy? I read Dune some time ago and while I found the prose lacking at times and didn't particularly care about the epigrams and "mysticism", I liked it well enough to consider continuing with the sequels. Apart from the curiosity to see how the plot progresses, are they worth it compared to the first one, and if yes, which is the cut-off point? The Brian Herbert books are right out of consideration.

It occurred to me that I haven't seen anyone disliking Gene Wolfe, so I decided to give him a try. Which book do I choose? The Book of the New Sun seems to be his best-regarded book, but are the first volumes (Shadow and Claw) relatively self-contained to serve as a first sample? First sample doesn't necessarily equal easy to chew.

Recommendations for SF/Fantasy books that deal with "lost civilizations"

papercake — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:44:37 -0800

Recommend me some SF/Fantasy books that deal with "lost civilizations" I'm a sucker for stories with mysterious lost civilizations as the focus, or the backdrop. Can't get enough of 'em. I know that's a pretty general requirement and that they've become a kind of a SF/Fantasy cliché at this point, but what are people's favorite books that deal with lost civs?

For instance, I love Richard Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs novels with the Martian technology strewn around all over the place. (Although am frustrated that we never find out more than we do about the Martians.)

Elantris was an interesting idea that, ultimately, fizzled to me.

Love the LOTR's deep history and, yes, have read the Silmarillion and love it as well.

So, Mefites, any suggestions?

Other Like Hiro to Help Me Lose Weight

Smarson — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:07:59 -0800

Recommendations for Sci-Fi while on the Treadmill? I managed to lose a fair amount of weight about 18 months ago thanks largely in part to listening to Snow Crash while on the Treadmill. I found that it gave me something to look forward to at the gym and kept me distracted from how much I wanted to quit after 15 min. of jogging. Needless to say I've slacked off in recent months and have put some of that weight back on.
I'd love some recommendations for medium-to-fast paced sci-fi that I could get onto my iPod and hit the treadmill with again. Snow Crash is an excellent example of the type of pace of story I'm looking for. Something I'd consider not such a good choice would be Cryptonomicon. While still an awesome book by the same author, its lengthy descriptions about code breaking and math would bore me in about 3 seconds at the gym (however on the bus I eat that stuff up). I also tried using Gibson's Spook Country, and that too failed miserably (although worked great on a 7 hour car ride). If I hadn't already read Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive I'd probably be using those.

I've heard good things about Richard K Morgan's Altered Carbon.

Reading over this I've clearly used cyber-punk almost exclusively as examples, but I enjoy all the sub-genres inside Sci-Fi so whatever is action packed/funny/witty/ etc. I'm willing to try.

Sci-Fi easy readers?

Janta — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:46:32 -0800

Book-rec-filter time! Looking for sci-fi themed books for a young child. Can you suggest any? My son, who is not quite 5, is hugely interested in space, rockets, the planets, robots, etc. He's also just becoming comfortable with reading to himself. I'm looking for picture books and/or easy readers that have a scientific or sci-fi feel to them; do any of you have recommendations to share? Fiction or non-fiction -- he loves both.

What's the time-travel canon?

scarylarry — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:10:13 -0800

I'm trying to make an expansive and widely-varied reading list of time-travel books and stories. Suggestions? I realize that asking for a list of science-fiction stories about time-travel is a little like asking for a list of pop songs about love, but I'm interested in compiling a reading list of the very best and/or most eccentric or idiosyncratic works in the sub-genre.

I tend not to read sci-fi, so feel free to assume that I'm unfamiliar with works that might seem obvious to a connoisseur. Off the top of my head, I've read Wells's Time-Machine, Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch, that horrible Michael Crichton book, and that's it. Everything else is fair game.

I'm not looking for movies or TV shows, but graphic novel suggestions would be totally welcome. I'm looking for work that is either exemplary of the genre or quirky because it comes at the genre in an unpredictable way.

Thanks so much!

Women writing SciFi: Your Picks?

taz — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 04:52:55 -0800

In your opinion, who are the best female science fiction authors? What are the best scifi books written by women? Interpret the genre as broadly as you wish - "Hard" SciFi, Space Opera, Fantasy, Time Travel, Alternate History/Universe - it matters not! I especially love Steampunk, Cyberpunk, and New Weird, and am probably least interested in romances that just seem to have an incidental scifi setting and extremely politicized writing, but the most important criterion is overall quality - as long as the work is superior, I'm interested. I am asking for women writers because while I've read a fair amount of scifi, I realize I've only read a handful by women writers (most of which I've liked very, very much), and would like to read more.

I understand that I can go to any anthology of female scifi writers to get a list of names, but I'm asking for Mefites' personal recommendations for excellent women writers in this genre as well as specific books that stand out to you. I don't care if the author is not well-known or widely recognized - or, on the other hand, if the name is so obvious that everyone knows it.

Looking for the name of a sci-fi book.

Gudlyf — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 08:45:03 -0800

Looking for the name of a sci-fi book. Man is injected with a serum that causes him to shrink forever, eventually discovering there are universes smaller than atoms. Back in high school ('80s) a friend of mine was reading a sci-fi book that I cannot recall the name of. The basic premise was some scientists came up with some sort of chemical that, when injected into a human, made them shrink. One scientist injects the other in a fight and with way too much, so he starts to shrink, smaller than an atom until eventually he finds there's another universe inside the atom. There, he's a giant, but he still shrinks. Eventually he's told that he will shrink to the point of returning to his home universe. Anyway, that's how I recall it being explained to me. Any help appreciated.

Pageturners with insightful character development?

Malad — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:47:45 -0800

I'm looking for novels that are pageturners (genres preferred: science fiction/fantasy, magic realism, mystery/suspense/thriller) but also have psychologically acute character development. Any recs?

The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. -- B. F. Skinner

archae — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 01:08:27 -0800

What are the all-time best science fiction novels which depict Artificial Intelligence? I don't religiously keep up with the latest in science fiction, but I've got Gibson's Neuromancer, Clark's 2001 and Asimov covered. But what other great novels deal with Artificial Intelligence as the central theme?

I'm looking for especially creative and technical depictions of AI, which present the commonly used concepts in a way that is utterly ingenious. Some tortured, and mostly unrecognized author has to have pieced together the future of how AI is all going to turn out, what its impact on civilization and individuals will be, and where humanity will end up as a result. I am imagining an author who is Lovecraft-meets-Ligotti with a dash of Philip K. Dick and Pynchon, but for AI-themed sci-fi?

I know there's a small mountain of new sci-fi books published every year, and AI is a topic which has been done to death, so I want to cull the lesser quality and hit or miss type of books and recover the true gems destined to become premonitory classics.
Help me hive-mind!

One Shouldn't Forget The Name of a Tyrant

DWRoelands — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 12:02:25 -0800

Help me remember the name of a series of political/scifi novels. The novels centers on the life of a character referred to as "The Tyrant". The first novel talks about his childhood, most notably the time spent on a spaceship full of families. The ship is plundered by pirates, the men are killed, the food is stolen, and the only way the women and children manage to survive is by eating the bodies of the dead.

Later novels in the series have this character rising to become a head of state. He makes the government "the employer of last resort", repeals all drug laws, and even (if memory serves) repeals age-of-consent laws.

He also hires one of his most strident critics in the media to be a sort of ombudsman for his government to guarantee that the government is not censoring the media.

I hope this is enough to go on. Thanks!

French sci-fi and fantasy.

Silune — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:19:14 -0800

Give me some recommendations for French-language science-fiction or fantasy books. I studied French in high school and college, and I'd like to improve my fluency. I'd prefer works that are fairly long and not too difficult, but all suggestions are welcome.

Recommend me some touchy-feely scifi!

onalark — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 19:27:00 -0800

Recommend some sappy science fiction/fantasy to me please! I've read and liked Anthony, Heinlein, Goodkind, Card, Stephenson, Martin, and Rowling, but what I'm really looking for is touchy-feely stuff. I'm ashamed to admit that Stone of Tears is one of my all-time favorite novels for sappy interpersonal relations. I like Richard as a character and I forgive all of Goodkind's flaws for his ability to kindle empathy for his characters whilst keeping the action moving at a pace that keeps me reading.

I've really been in the mood to read some more science fiction of this sort, and any help directing me to some new authors and novels would be great.

Great SciFi Books that are not literate.

seanyboy — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:35:48 -0800

Science fiction book recommendations please. I want to compile a list of science fiction books that are/were great science fiction, but possibly not great literary fiction. I have this theory that sci-fi is mainly about the ideas and I'd like to compile a list of books that support this theory. It's for a creative writing lecturer friend of mine. This is great, but not exactly what I'm looking for. Any suggestions?

If it were Chalker I'd know it.

Meep! Eek! — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 21:43:32 -0800

Help find a SF book that my friend can't quite recall, but remembers themes of? Thanks in advance for any and all help. Her description:

So, it's a science fiction book. It takes place at a time when the air is so bad that you can't really go outside too much or often. I think I remember something about aliens, but I don't remember enough to elaborate on that point. The book is about this man who works answering history questions. He's attached to this online network thing in his head, and he simply closes his eyes and logs on. He gets paid to answer obscure history questions. He discovers some kind of plot, and gets in a lot of trouble. I think the plot has something to do with the aliens.. or a government/corporate coverup to keep people in line.. something like that. I remember liking it quite a bit.

In Search of Good Sci-Fi / Fantasy

bkdelong — Thu, 15 Jun 2006 17:32:58 -0800

FicFilter - Seeking online SciFi/Fantasy books with entertaining, accessible storylines. I've recently gone and re-read Richard Kadrey's "Blind Shrike", and have greatly enjoyed Cory Doctrow's "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom". I'm seeking similar stories, (preferably online but paper is fine), that have either a Sci-Fi futurist bent ala "Down and Out..." or the religo-spiritual, planar-like fantasy of "Blind Shrike".

Which famous sci-fi author wrote the worst book he could on a bet?

pornucopia — Tue, 21 Mar 2006 07:49:24 -0800

Which famous sci-fi author bet another author that if he wrote the worst book he could, it would become a hit? Long ago, I read a science fiction novel (don't recall which one), where, in the foreword (or afterword), the author told the following story:

Two famous science fiction authors were arguing about just how awful the public's taste was. One author proposed a bet: He would write the cheesiest, most cliched book he could possibly write, and it would become a hit. He wrote such a book, and it became such a big hit that the public demanded several sequels.

The author telling the story said that he wouldn't print the names of these authors, but that it was a very well-known story, and you could ask around at any sci fi convention to get the names. It's been almost 20 years and I still haven't been to a sci fi convention. Does anyone know any more about this story? I'm starting to wonder if it's a trick played on conventiongoers or something.