Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with books and scifi

Can you recommend Science Fiction novels for me?

tumbleweedjack — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 15:57:52 -0800

The only science fiction novel I've read is "Contact" by Carl Sagan. Can you recommend me more? I like Contact because I feel like it dealt intelligently with humans discovering alien life. I saw that there are other threads about science fiction books, but I am in particular interested in books that explore the theme of 'first contact' between humans and aliens. Outside of that, if there are any absolute must-reads, like a Great Gatsby of Science Fiction, I'm open to that too.

Name that book series I barely remember

nomisxid — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:41:18 -0800

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? I remember there seemed like a lot of books in the series.
As I recall, most of the covers were pictures of a character, with the omnipresent red dot in the background sky. At the time, I shied away from them because I was more into hard sci-fi, and it looked likely to be very fantasy-y.

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!

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

Monster_Zero — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:33:07 -0800

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!

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.)

Have Space Pogo Stick--Will Travel

The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal — Thu, 07 May 2009 20:37:47 -0800

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. I must have read this in '95 or '6, but it was old, old enough that my parochial school library's copy had a signature on the card from one of my classmates' parents. The basic premise: a kid wins a contest to go to a space station (a big Von Braun-y wheel, depicted on the cover) and plays a sort of junior science intern role there. There's a kindly commanding officer who doesn't have any legs, but that's no problem because everyone gets around the station on pogo stick-esque devices, bouncing off the walls, and (maybe?) an older brother character in one of the junior members of the crew. There are pygmy-esque Martians (on Mars and in movies, I don't think the main character ever meets any of them), a satellite colony for the elderly the main character goes to on some sort of field trip, and a swimming-in-microgravity contest where the characters try to get across a room starting from the middle.

It's totally not implausible that I'm mixing up a bunch of stories I read as a kid here, but the one I'm looking for is the one where everyone gets around the space station on pogo sticks and the commander doesn't have legs. Not that untangling any others I'm mixing up wouldn't be nice, though! I've been googling the story for ages, but haven't ever come up with anything. Hope me, Ask Metafilter!

Help me get lost in more books!

adverb — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 20:49:48 -0800

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. What others (books especially) might I like? I've read "Lord of the Rings" and the Narnia books; I'm not a Trekkie, either. His Dark Materials and Dune failed to capture my fancy.

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.

Sci-fi spitting in Mona Lisa's eye

bollockovnikov — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:56:52 -0800

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?

How do I break into publishing?

prunes — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:37:48 -0800

How do I break into one of the larger publishing houses? So I have spent the past year and a half thinking really hard about what I want to do careerwise. My tentative conclusion is that I should pursue my interests in a position where I will learn a lot. From there, opportunities will follow. Well I think I want to be in publishing. I love books. I am obsessed with books. And if I could have my druthers I would be in science fiction publishing. Just my luck I picked an obscure, unpopular niche in a tepid (dying?) industry.

For reference, I received a BA in Economics undergrad and I have been working for nearly a year and a half for a Big Four accounting/consulting firm doing financial advisory. I do not have any tangible experience in the publishing business from extracurriculars such as editing the school paper. I do not work in New York, but I imagine that a career transition of this nature will necessitate my moving there.

So how can I make this switch?

Robot-themed sci fi recommendations?

olinerd — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 15:25:31 -0800

What are some good sci fi novels/short stories that focus on robots? Difficulty: no Asimov. I'd love to read some recent sci-fi -- books or short stories -- centered around the theme of robots and AI. I'm less interested in Asimov or Philip K. Dick and more interested in more modern stuff that hasn't been made into movies. For reference, "classic" authors I like are Asimov, Niven, and Vonnegut. More recent types I like are Octavia Butler, Neal Stephenson, and Douglas Adams. I'd like to stay away from Crichton-esque beach reading unless it comes highly highly recommended.

So what have you got? I need some reading material!

Who's that frog-licker?

bettafish — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:16:16 -0800

WhatWasThatBookFilter: a friend of mine needs help tracking down a fantasy/sci-fi paperback she read back in 1997. Full description below. Quoth my friend:

"What I Remember
-- the cover was of an orange-y sky with a grey-purple rock face with a large stone with a hole through it that might have been called 'The Eye of ----'?
-- their was a rich, Baron Harkonnen-type guy who licked frogs either for drug or vision-inducing properties.
-- the lead might have been involved in some sort of Gladiator-style combat.
-- there was something to do with the sea? Ship-travel?
-- it was the first of a series/trilogy.
-- if you looked through the stone-eye-thing, then sometimes people (prophets?) could see the future.
-- the stone eye thing looks like the thing from Star Trek's City on the Edge of Forever, except it's up on a cliff or a mountain."

Does this ring a bell for anyone?

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.

The Man Who Fell To Earth Post-Nixon

johngoren — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:57:23 -0800

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? While some people have raised this issue online in book discussions, I've never seen any explanation.

On page 180 of the book, spaceman Jerome Newton (Bowie in the film) is being investigated by the government. Someone is talking about FBI abuses of power, and says: "Did you know that Watergate changed nothing--nothing."

There's been speculation that author Tevis must have revised the book sometime post-Nixon. But has anyone ever figured out why, and when?

And also, I was wondering whether there might be someone out there with two editions, someone who might be able to say what other changes might have been made to the old version? Whether maybe Tevis felt it contained too many dated predictions of what the 1970s would be like? This has haunted me for years.

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!

Scifi: is it worth a cat's pockets?

nicolas léonard sadi carnot — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 05:57:33 -0800

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.

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.

My god, it's full of Stars

Artw — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 18:27:24 -0800

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... In one a childs home starmaking experiment goes wrong when he puts too much matter into his simulated universe, creating a spinning cylindrical black hole which escapes and destroys the earth.

In another two creatures, essentially sentient stars, play a game in which they throw their cores at each other. The cores are of different colors, and the color difference is analogous to a gender difference. In the end the "male" star impregnates the "female" star but loses it's core. As a dying act it creates life on an earth like planet and then flings the planet out into space.

Any ideas?

The True North Stands Alone

the dief — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 10:20:11 -0800

Recommendations for dystopian sci-fi, with a Canadian twist. I'm extremely interested in a particular type of dystopian sci-fi lit -- one in which the US and/or most of the world has fallen into disrepair, but Canada stands more or less relatively intact and figures into the storyline. I'm looking for printed material primarily, but if anyone's got movies to share that would be great too.

Two examples I can think of off the top of my head -- Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and (god help me) Barb Wire.

Any good suggestions? I would dig on having something great to read over holiday break. Thank you!

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.

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.

looking for old scifi art book

jockc — Thu, 17 Nov 2005 11:59:36 -0800

I'm looking for a book of spaceship art I used to look at in Waldenbooks as a kid.. This book had color pictures of various alien ships and I think information about them. It was in the scifi section of the store. It was probably around '79-82 that I would see it. Does anyone remember this book?