Looking for sci-fi novel recommendations, preferably of the “harder” variety. My two favorite authors are Alastair Reynolds and Vernor Vinge. Some other books & authors that I’ve liked (and a few I’ve disliked) below the fold, to hopefully give a better sense of what I’m looking for. Thanks! [more inside]
posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell on Aug 11, 2009 - 38 answers

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

I remember reading this sci-fi book a long while ago, but I can't remember anything easily googleable. Can anyone help identify it? [more inside]
posted by flatluigi on Feb 10, 2008 - 2 answers

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

My friend is searching for the title of a low-budget B-monster movie. The plot: The crew of a spaceship find a derelict spacecraft and awaken a demon/alien creature who possesses the crew one by one. Also, the movie might star Kurt Russell. [more inside]
posted by shoseph on May 30, 2007 - 11 answers

Remember my request for sci-fi music? Six months later, I'm finally ready to make my CD mix. Almost. Last night I figured out how to record mp3 audio from DVD on my Mac, and now I want to rip key dialogue snippets from classic sci-fi films. I went for Khan spitting at Kirk from his grave, but there's too much incidental music. I think maybe I can get Ripley signing off. What other short, iconic soundclips from sci-fi films should I look for? The intro to the old Battlestar Galactica? Something from Logan's Run? Blade Runner bits? Eerie, ethereal, otherworldly, outer-space stuff is best. (Bonus points if you can direct me to a source that's already done the work for me; right now I'm looking at a several-week Netflix slog.)
posted by jdroth on Sep 19, 2006 - 67 answers

Is there an online database of science fiction writing by subject matter? [more inside]
posted by xpermanentx on Nov 22, 2005 - 10 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

Like many other geeks here, I grew up reading sci-fi and fantasy. But I gradually got tired of it, because so much of it was poorly written or antithetical to my tastes. But I still yearn for other worlds at times, so I'd be interested in recommendations. [more inside.] [more inside]
posted by grumblebee on Dec 16, 2003 - 64 answers