64 posts tagged with books and scifi. (View popular tags)
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What are your favorite novels about contemporary-ish space exploration?

I'm looking for books where characters are exploring the solar system using space ships that are technologically within (or somewhat close to) our capability to build today. Bonus points if those novels are character driven.
posted by Hoenikker on Jun 14, 2013 - 21 answers

 

I read it for the economics and the unicorns

What are some good scifi / fantasy / horror novels about economics? [more inside]
posted by nicebookrack on May 16, 2013 - 22 answers

I need to read some grown-up books. With unicorns, preferably.

After spending several years reading largely YA, I'd like to read some grown-up secondary world fantasy novels. Persnickety tastes below the fold. [more inside]
posted by PhoBWanKenobi on Apr 30, 2013 - 58 answers

Some suggestions for speculative fiction

I just read China Mieville's The City and the City and really enjoyed it. I have a long train ride tomorrow and would like to download some more books for the road. Can you recommend some intelligent, literary speculative fiction, including perhaps others by Mieville? [more inside]
posted by foxy_hedgehog on Apr 19, 2013 - 28 answers

Suggest Sc-iFi/Fantasy Books for a brand new High School elective

Sci-Fi/FantasyFilter: I've just been told that I get to be the first one to teach a brand new Science Fiction & Fantasy elective at my High School. I am building this class from scratch and since the students will be responsible for getting the books themselves, I have pretty much free-reign for my book choices. Great, right? Absolutely! However, I want to expand my initial book search so I wanted to enlist the Hive Mind to help with this initial salvo. More details below the fold. [more inside]
posted by ThaBombShelterSmith on Mar 21, 2013 - 68 answers

Looking for Books of the Ancients

So I'm jonesing for some science fiction of a particular nature. Specifically stories that deal in the Precursors trope. [more inside]
posted by SilverTail on Mar 3, 2013 - 16 answers

Details, details, details...and then BAM!

As a reader of fiction (especially if you're a devotee of speculative fiction), how much do you like detailed descriptions and/or lists as part of the story? What if the story switches between detail and expediency? [more inside]
posted by batmonkey on Dec 28, 2012 - 12 answers

In search of a science fiction book I read as a teen...

In search of a science fiction book I read as a teen... [more inside]
posted by rainbowbrite on Dec 2, 2012 - 7 answers

Sci-fi about ancient aliens/technolgy for a 14-year-old?

Help me find more great sci-fi about ancient aliens / ancient technologies for my favorite 14-year-old avid reader. [more inside]
posted by wintersonata9 on Jul 25, 2012 - 30 answers

What to read next after The Stars My Destination?

If I like The Stars My Desintation by Alfred Bester, what else might I like? [more inside]
posted by StephenF on Apr 13, 2012 - 17 answers

UF romance that doesn't squick

I'm looking for urban fantasy/sci fi series with romantic components that don't make me want to claw my eyes out. [more inside]
posted by jingle on Dec 23, 2011 - 30 answers

Looking for an old 80's fantasy book.

Looking for an old 80's fnatasy book. [more inside]
posted by hrhtx on Sep 26, 2011 - 4 answers

Trying to remember dystopian book title?

Trying to remember a dystopian sci-fi book, society had the technology to record mental experiences which allowed people to experience good things such as beaches/vacations but also "bad" things such as prostitution/drugs/murder. Anyone know the name of this book? [more inside]
posted by tubling on Aug 29, 2011 - 33 answers

What female bbc correspondant wrote an awesome eco sci-fi book?

Help me identify a book! My Google-fu wasn't strong enough. Science fiction, part of a trilogy (or more?), published in the last 10 years with three (at least) alien species, one underwater, and a strong ecological theme. Written by a female former bbc war correspondent.
posted by mathtime! on Aug 2, 2011 - 2 answers

LIBERTARIAN ENGINEER SAVES THE WORLD

Give your best examples of the SF/ Survivalist/ Wish Fullfillment sub-genre "libertarian engineers do everything better" or "objectivist superman saves history". More specifically ones where someone is the last man on earth/sendt back in time and constructs a free market utopia through sheer smarts and rationality ( with himself on the top of it, of course). [more inside]
posted by The Whelk on Jun 9, 2011 - 28 answers

Young Adult dystopia?

[YA book filter] I would like to find some YA or easy-to-read adult sci-fi, speculative fiction, or dystopian fiction. Preferably, about the United States or other earthly country, not deep-space intergalactic stuff. [more inside]
posted by lockstitch on Mar 29, 2011 - 37 answers

Science Fiction book title

Name that Science Fiction book title! [more inside]
posted by Brocktoon on Feb 24, 2011 - 3 answers

Lapsed sci-fi reader looking for a new literary love in all the wrong places.

I'm getting back into reading for pleasure after years of avoiding it during college. I've found fantasy books easy to get back into, but have no idea where to start with sci-fi! [more inside]
posted by Logic Sheep on Feb 20, 2011 - 40 answers

Identify this book!

Identify this Y.A. Sci-fi book from the 1980's - a boy learns how to meditate his way to flying. [more inside]
posted by dadici on Jan 19, 2011 - 4 answers

Recommend space-station-based books and shows?

Science fiction books and shows about what goes on inside space stations or ships? [more inside]
posted by bookdragoness on Jan 13, 2011 - 39 answers

Jednakże oprócz malutkiej karteczki w trocinach ze słowami «To my, trociny», nie znaleziono nic.

(BookFilter): Sci-fi picaresques. [more inside]
posted by Nomyte on Dec 28, 2010 - 17 answers

Book Identification: Cyberpunk VR Read/Write?

SF book filter: cyberpunk novel in which a virtual-reality programmer discovers a way to make nerve-induction interfaces write thoughts and feelings to the brain, in addition to merely manipulating sensory perceptions. Powers that be do not like, hilarity ensues... [more inside]
posted by lordcorvid on Dec 6, 2010 - 3 answers

Make an online list of books I've read?

Do you know some sort of online database of books where you can make a profile and compile a list of what you've read? (more explanation) [more inside]
posted by CelebrenIthil on Apr 21, 2010 - 11 answers

ID a book about pack telepathic wolves

Help me ID this scifi/fantasy book: humans (and a very young boy) encounter alien telepathic wolf/dog packs! Several parts are told from the wolves' and boy's point of view. [more inside]
posted by SarahbytheSea on Feb 23, 2010 - 7 answers

Can you recommend Science Fiction novels for me?

The only science fiction novel I've read is "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Can you recommend me more? [more inside]
posted by tumbleweedjack on Dec 26, 2009 - 51 answers

Name that book series I barely remember

Back in the 70's/80's, I remember seeing a series of scifi/fantasy books, where the cover art for all the books had a consistent theme of a red/orange sun that figured prominently. What was it? [more inside]
posted by nomisxid on Oct 6, 2009 - 19 answers

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

Looking for book recs about sci-fi, specifically about gender issues and jetpack-related physics. [more inside]
posted by mumble on Aug 23, 2009 - 27 answers

Tell me the name of this 80s time travel story, please!

Want to help remember a book title? 'Course ya do! It's from the 80s and, if I remember correctly, involves some kids that discover a new game at the local arcade. There's a pilot's helmet on top of the machine, and when they try it on and attempt the game they find they can travel through time. I believe the cover was a picture of the machine and the helmet. At one point they use it to break into a research facility or something, but before that I think they go back too far and it's still being built (leading to some fretting about jumping forward in time and ending up halfway through a wall or floor). I know somebody out there can field this one!
posted by Monster_Zero on Jun 23, 2009 - 2 answers

Contemporary SF for someone who liked Philip K Dick?

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? [more inside]
posted by Forktine on May 28, 2009 - 40 answers

Have Space Pogo Stick--Will Travel

Name-that-golden-age-SF-bookfilter: a kid wins a contest to go to a space station, and it's not Have Space Suit--Will Travel. [more inside]
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal on May 7, 2009 - 9 answers

Help me get lost in more books!

What books or series spur their own mythology or philosophy? I love getting lost in the world of a book or movie. Past books and series such as "Harry Potter," "The Da Vinci Code," "Lost," "The Matrix" movies, "Buffy" and "Star Wars" come with their own universe - people analyze them, look for mythological/philosophical undertones, solve puzzles and come up with their own theories. [more inside]
posted by adverb on Apr 24, 2009 - 69 answers

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

Wanted: Science Fiction Books moved by a great central idea such as: Ringworld by Larry Niven or The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. [more inside]
posted by MasonDixon on Mar 25, 2009 - 34 answers

Sci-fi spitting in Mona Lisa's eye

Short Story Askme: I read a short dystopian story many years ago set in a run-down, post apocalyptic future. A queue of people line up on a street to spit at a painting. The painting represents all the problems of the past. It is implied that the painting is The Mona Lisa. What is the story?
posted by bollockovnikov on Sep 25, 2008 - 2 answers

How do I break into publishing?

How do I break into one of the larger publishing houses? [more inside]
posted by prunes on Sep 4, 2008 - 21 answers

Robot-themed sci fi recommendations?

What are some good sci fi novels/short stories that focus on robots? Difficulty: no Asimov. [more inside]
posted by olinerd on Jul 19, 2008 - 23 answers

Who's that frog-licker?

WhatWasThatBookFilter: a friend of mine needs help tracking down a fantasy/sci-fi paperback she read back in 1997. Full description below. [more inside]
posted by bettafish on Jun 11, 2008 - 5 answers

Other Like Hiro to Help Me Lose Weight

Recommendations for Sci-Fi while on the Treadmill? [more inside]
posted by Smarson on Jun 3, 2008 - 25 answers

The Man Who Fell To Earth Post-Nixon

Walter Tevis's classic sci-fi novel The Man Who Fell To Earth was published in 1963. Does anyone know how and why, then, the current edition came to contain a reference to the 1972 Watergate scandal? [more inside]
posted by johngoren on May 23, 2008 - 12 answers

Sci-Fi easy readers?

Book-rec-filter time! Looking for sci-fi themed books for a young child. Can you suggest any? [more inside]
posted by Janta on Mar 18, 2008 - 9 answers

What's the time-travel canon?

I'm trying to make an expansive and widely-varied reading list of time-travel books and stories. Suggestions? [more inside]
posted by scarylarry on Mar 11, 2008 - 43 answers

Scifi: is it worth a cat's pockets?

My girlfriend's mother and I have a real intellectual rapport, in some ways. Recently we've been talking about literature. She's extraordinarily widely read, but only really within the canon. I've been fronting, claiming that genre fiction like sci-fi has plenty of stuff of genuine literary merit in it. She's called my bluff and asked for a recommendation. What would you suggest? I was thinking something strange and ornate like Cordwainer Smith, but am open to advice.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot on Mar 4, 2008 - 74 answers

Women writing SciFi: Your Picks?

In your opinion, who are the best female science fiction authors? What are the best scifi books written by women? [more inside]
posted by taz on Feb 8, 2008 - 106 answers

Looking for the name of a sci-fi book.

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. [more inside]
posted by Gudlyf on Feb 7, 2008 - 9 answers

My god, it's full of Stars

I'm looking for a series of hardback science fiction anthologies I dimly remember from childhood (sometime in the mid 80s). I think it had a one word title with a number, and the series went up to at least number five. I remember two stories in particular... [more inside]
posted by Artw on Jan 13, 2008 - 11 answers

The True North Stands Alone

Recommendations for dystopian sci-fi, with a Canadian twist. [more inside]
posted by the dief on Dec 17, 2007 - 18 answers

Great SciFi Books that are not literate.

Science fiction book recommendations please. [more inside]
posted by seanyboy on Oct 12, 2006 - 43 answers

If it were Chalker I'd know it.

Help find a SF book that my friend can't quite recall, but remembers themes of? [more inside]
posted by Meep! Eek! on Sep 1, 2006 - 7 answers

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

Which famous sci-fi author bet another author that if he wrote the worst book he could, it would become a hit? [more inside]
posted by pornucopia on Mar 21, 2006 - 25 answers

looking for old scifi art book

I'm looking for a book of spaceship art I used to look at in Waldenbooks as a kid.. [more inside]
posted by jockc on Nov 17, 2005 - 9 answers

Science fiction on ice

I need recommendations for excellent science fiction books, movies, short stories (or anything, really) centered around life, scientific exploration, and/or research in the arctic, antarctica, or similar fictional extreme cold climates. [more inside]
posted by aebaxter on Nov 15, 2005 - 30 answers

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