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

What's the best literary equivalent of Alien/Aliens? [more inside]
posted by fearfulsymmetry on Aug 9, 2009 - 21 answers

Recommendations for erotica [more inside]
posted by ninebelow on Aug 6, 2009 - 8 answers

Intelligent space opera? [more inside]
posted by Grinder on Jul 30, 2009 - 44 answers

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

Seeking a vanishingly obscure SF novel, "Stranger from the Deep". [more inside]
posted by zadcat on Apr 5, 2009 - 4 answers

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

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. [more inside]
posted by y2karl on Mar 10, 2009 - 11 answers

I'd like recommendations for short stories that are strange, humorous, or have a surprising twist. [more inside]
posted by Rinku on Mar 8, 2009 - 56 answers

Help me choose a couple of my next books: Which Dune sequels and which Gene Wolfe book to buy? [more inside]
posted by ersatz on Sep 28, 2008 - 26 answers

Recommend me some SF/Fantasy books that deal with "lost civilizations" [more inside]
posted by papercake on Jun 27, 2008 - 34 answers

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

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

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

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. 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

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?
posted by Malad on Dec 20, 2007 - 33 answers

What are the all-time best science fiction novels which depict Artificial Intelligence? [more inside]
posted by archae on Aug 1, 2007 - 37 answers

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". [more inside]
posted by DWRoelands on Mar 12, 2007 - 18 answers

Give me some recommendations for French-language science-fiction or fantasy books. [more inside]
posted by Silune on Feb 6, 2007 - 8 answers

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. [more inside]
posted by onalark on Oct 24, 2006 - 47 answers

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

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

FicFilter - Seeking online SciFi/Fantasy books with entertaining, accessible storylines. [more inside]
posted by bkdelong on Jun 15, 2006 - 14 answers

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

A set of questions related to this review in today's New York Times--it's the inaugural review of a new science-fiction column. [more inside]
posted by Prospero on Mar 5, 2006 - 52 answers

Help identify science fiction short stories that originally ran in either Analog or Asimov magazine. [more inside]
posted by mikepop on Feb 21, 2006 - 5 answers

I'm looking for a children's book that I can't remember the title to, but its story has stuck with me for years. [more inside]
posted by doublehelix on Jan 1, 2006 - 7 answers

Which Dune novel or novels by Frank Herbert or his successors refers to mentats as cultivating "the naive mind"? The only place I can find it is in the Wikipedia article on mentats (endlessly cloned around the Web).
posted by rwhe on Oct 27, 2005 - 8 answers

I read a children's / adults book several times as a kid, but remember almost nothing. Here are the only clues. It was science-fiction. A young boy had some involvement with television-like creatures on spindly legs, perhaps they were three-legged. I think the boy found them within a tree where they were either constructing a base or hiding. The book was illustrated in black and white line drawings. Any ideas?
posted by kingfisher, his musclebound cat on Aug 12, 2005 - 10 answers

"When Irish eyes are smiling... you've probably been ripped off" was a repeated refrain in a science fiction novel about virtual reality and perception. It's been at least six years since publication since it was over that long ago I read it. [more inside]
posted by phearlez on May 16, 2005 - 26 answers

BookBindingFilter: I greatly enjoyed reading this edition of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Some of the enjoyment was doubtless due to Tolkien's deathless prose, but I was surprised to find myself also enjoying handling, looking at, poring over a really beautifully crafted edition, with careful binding, stuck-together pages, a little built-in bookmark, etc.

Can anyone suggest other books I might like for these same reasons? Genre's not important; I'm a cheerful omnilege.
posted by ikkyu2 on Jan 23, 2005 - 24 answers

Since the AskMe crew seems to do so well at finding long-lost books, give this one a crack (MI). [more inside]
posted by tetsuo on Dec 14, 2004 - 2 answers

Can you identify this science fiction story? My friend's been looking for a copy for years...[more inside]
posted by deliriouscool on Nov 18, 2004 - 8 answers

I need to recommend a book for a male, teenage, esl student. Which book would you recommend to a person who says he's kind of interested in science fiction but doesn't like to read? [more inside]
posted by Zetetics on Jul 9, 2004 - 25 answers

Looking for some good adult sci-fi/fantasy novels to read... [MI] [more inside]
posted by eas98 on Jul 1, 2004 - 45 answers

Who can recommend some good time travel fiction? (Yes, I'm a geek)
posted by Robot Johnny on Jun 10, 2004 - 46 answers

Some years ago, I read a book called something like "Time Like a Slow (Flowing?) River". It was the sequel to another book in which environmentally indignant aliens had conquered Earth to save it from humans and placed strict restrictions on earthlings until they became better environmental stewards. People had to travel by solar powered paddleboats, abandon fossil fuels, etc.
I have had no luck on Google or Amazon (and it's not this). Does anybody know the name or author of either of these books?
posted by signal on Apr 29, 2004 - 3 answers