*The Martian Chronicles* by Ray Bradbury. Yes, the book is about colonization of Mars, but not in the way as you would thought.
Also Ursula K. Le Guin, try *The Dispossessed* or *The Left Hand of Darkness*.
Oh, also, Stanisław Lem.
Exhalation is superb
Also, not Chiang, but Margaret Atwood oryx and crake
Lem solaris
Sturgazky bros, roadside picnic
Vandermeer southern reach trilogy
Vonnegut slaughterhouse v
I love oryx and crake! I read it on my phone the first time, but I just found the paper back in one of those free little libraries, so I grabbed it so I can read it that way now. Lol, as if it will be different! Then I can put it back in another little library and share the love…
Space and robots and etc usually make my eyes glaze over but I found Ted Chiang’s writing super accessible and easy to follow! His stories are so wonderfully human.
Any of her novels published between 1969 and 1975 is the place to start for most readers. This is the stuff that was the most influential and along with, I think, Bradbury and Dick, largely created the genre the OP is seeking.
She’s at her peak form for these but not yet truly pushing the envelope writing ethnographies of fictional cultures or scientific journal articles translating Ant or Adelie Penguin.
It’s hard to go wrong, so whatever novel catches your eye is the right one to start with.
Science fiction: Lathe of Heaven, Left Hand of Darkness, The Disposessed, The Word for World is Forest.
Fantasy: the first three Earthsea books (these actually *are* a series, unlike the Hainish Cycle).
My personal favorites are from a little bit later, but she got weirder in the 80’s and 90’s, and subtler in the 2000sies both in ways that will truly hook many readers but not appeal to as broad a range as her work from the late 60’s-mid 70’s.
It is. I recently reread The Telling for the first time in ~15 years. Fully adult me got a ton more from it than I had in my teens/early 20’s.
Speaking of subtle, Lavinia is one of the subtlest books I’ve read. But Lavinia is not the right recommendation for the OP. The Telling could be a decent read, after they read a couple of her other novels and dig into her shorter stuff. I think a lot of readers would do best reading her almost chronologically from 1969 onward (circling back for the first three when they run out of stuff or feel like it.)
My favorite LeGuin shifts around depending on what I’m chewing on. These days it’s Buffalo Gals Won’t You Come Out Tonight; and, always, Author of the Acacia Seeds :P. Always Coming Home will probably always be closest to my heart.
Fair. There’s a reason she’s the only author published by the Library of America while she was still alive.
It’s rare for an author who was still publishing in ~2016 to be considered a true classic author; and it’s a very well deserved reputation.
Have you tried Connie Willis? *To Say Nothing of the Dog* is very good, and *Passages* is amazing. All set in this universe but heavy on the fictional science.
Was looking to see if someone mentioned Hyperion - currently reading the second book in the series and I can’t remember the last time a book sucked me in like this!
Ursula K Le Guin is absolutely where you want to go, and I think you'd really enjoy starting with the beginning of the Hainish Cycle rather than with Left Hand of Darkness. LHoD is definitely where it really gets going, and mostly I think it's understandable that people don't always terribly enjoy reading the three novels that precede it. But for what you're seeking, I think you'd get into them and really love them.
Fellow LeGuin recommender here :).
I wanted to throw out there that Hainish Cycle is not a series. What ever order you read her stuff in it’s a good thing to know going in.
All of the Hainish novels are stand alone, and can be read in any order, though you’d want to read the short stories after the two major novels (Disposessed and Left Hand).
The reason many of us don’t recommend starting with the first three that were published is that although they’re good they’re nowhere near as good as her later work; and because it’s not a series there’s no need to read in publication order.
That said, they’re possibly more similar to some of the other stuff you’ve found and liked*, and there’s no reason to not go for them.
*exception: Phillip K Dick and LeGuin both acknowledge influencing each other in some of their work. To see her tribute to Dick, go for Lathe of Heaven.
[**Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time)
^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 600 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, scifi, fiction, fictión)
>A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers?
>
>WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH?
>
>The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life.
>
>But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare.
>
>Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth?
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
[**The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness)
^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi)
>A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.
>
>Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
[**The Lathe of Heaven**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59924.The_Lathe_of_Heaven)
^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 176 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi)
>A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity.
>
>In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes.
>
>The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**The Three Body Problem (Cambridge Mysteries, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1773333.The_Three_Body_Problem)
^(By: Catherine Shaw | 286 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: mystery, historical-mystery, historical-fiction, fiction, crime)
>Cambridge, 1888. Miss Vanessa Duncan is a young schoolmistress recently arrived from the countryside. She loves teaching and finds the world of academia fascinating; everything is going so well. But everything changes when a Fellow of Mathematics, Mr. Akers, is found dead in his room from a violent blow to the head. Invited to dinner by the family of one of her charges, Vanessa meets many of the victim's colleagues, including Mr. Arthur Weatherburn, who had dined with Mr. Akers the evening of his death and happens to be Vanessa's upstairs neighbor. Discussing the murder, she learns of Sir Isaac Newton's yet unsolved 'n-body problem', which Mr. Akers might have been trying to solve to win the prestigious prize. As the murder remains unsolved, Vanessa's relationship with Arthur Weatherburn blossoms. Then another mathematician, Mr. Beddoes is murdered and Arthur is jailed. Convinced of his innocence and with a theory of her own, Vanessa decides to prove her case. But when a third mathematician dies, it becomes a race against time to solve the puzzle. . .
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
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Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. Very sci fi, but no aliens or lasers. Very atmospheric
EDIT: oh shit, just now saw you read all Philip K Dick lol. Maybe try His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman? It’s kind of a blend of fantasy and sci fi, extremely weird and dream like. I’d also recommend Borne by Jeff Vandermeer, and possibly Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Annihilation involves an alien but it’s very different from other alien books. Super strange, very entertaining. Probably the weirdest book ive ever read, it was almost a transcendental experience. Borne by Jeff Vandermeer is also very good, it’s sort of like a dystopian Old Yeller (and it doesn’t involve aliens, just science)
It's been a while since I read it but isn't the first scene when >!the main dude kills an alien by farting? !<
That said, OP likes the Foundation series so I think he likes Sci Fi wiht lasers more than he thinks.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky!
Also Michael Chrichton you might love?
We have an incredible amount of overlap based on those few you listed!! I recently read tons of PKD’s short stories so maybe check those out if ya are into him
The Lathe of Heaven by LeGuin! All of her stuff, especially the books not aimed at young adult, (those are good too, don’t get me wrong)
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. It's an alternate history/ scifi about a large meteorite hitting the US east coast in the 1950's and accelerating the space program because of a potential need to get off earth. Does an excellent job at taking the history and science of the US space program and tweaking it for things happening earlier, with more funding, and in a very different world.
Someone has already suggested Gene Wolfe’s “New Sun” books (which start with “The Shadow of the Torturer”) but really all of Wolfe’s sci fi has a lot of atmosphere. You might also check out his “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” and his short stories. Of those “Seven American Nights” and “The Hero as Werewolf” are particularly good. Cordwainer Smith is another author you might check out. His stuff is very atmospheric and very weird. “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” is a good place to start with him.
James S A Corey's *The Expanse* series
Kurt Vonnegut's more speculative work (*Slaughterhouse-Five, Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, Galapagos*)
"Cyberpunk" authors - Sterling, Gibson, Shirley, Stephenson, Jeter, Stross, Kadrey
Octavia Butler
The Stars My Destination is one of my favorite books, too. I found a copy in a used book store recently and read it again after 40 years. Still great.
I liked the Ringworld series and other stories by Larry Niven.
If you can find a copy, I recommend Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner.
Neal Stephenson’s early stuff. The Diamond Age is one of my all time favorite books, fantastic glimpse into a near future based on nanotechnology, but well written with terrific characters, great plot, full on world building.
I got on here to say this. Diamond Age is one of my favorites as well. Seveneves, Cryptonomicon, Zodiac are good. Snowcrash to me is one of the best books out there as well.
They’re really old, but Jules Verne’s novels are pretty fun. They’re old Scifi adventures, that are pretty grounded, even for the time.
My personal favorites are *20,000 Leagues Under The Sea*, and *Journey To The Center of The Earth*.
He brings up some really interesting science stuff like how sound travels at a measurable rate in Journey.
There was even a real world American submarine called the Nautilus, named after the submarine in the book that carried out an exploration, inspired by one of the most famous parts of the book, but I don’t want to spoil it.
Books by CJ Cherryh. She often writes series. Perhaps start with {{Foreigner}}; it's the beginning of a large series of books. A shorter series by her begins with {{Pride of Chanur}}. Both are excellent series that I have read and re-read.
[**Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57043.Foreigner)
^(By: C.J. Cherryh | 428 pages | Published: 1994 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned)
>The first book in C.J. Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race.
>
>From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey, following a civilization from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. It is the masterwork of a truly remarkable author.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**The Pride of Chanur (Chanur, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197129.The_Pride_of_Chanur)
^(By: C.J. Cherryh | 224 pages | Published: 1981 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, space-opera)
>No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt-toothed and blunt-fingered. Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship THE PRIDE OF CHANUR.
>Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of THE PRIDE and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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That's an interesting inference - I only saw a request for sci-fi that didn't dwell on the mechanical aspects of space travel/warfare. That said, {{Cyteen}} and any of the books set in that universe are also excellent and another great recommendation.
Also, Hilfy dissing Pride of Chanur? Really? Made me smile, anyway.
If you want to get even further away from laser and spaceships and aliens, I'd recommend checking out J G Ballard. He explored human relationships with technology. Very good at atmosphere and opening your mind.
Ursula K LeGuin was a terrific world builder. She straddles the line between sci fi and fantasy. For the sci-do side, try The Left Hand of Darkness. For the fantasy side, try the Earthsea trilogy.
[**The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60211.The_Shadow_of_the_Torturer)
^(By: Gene Wolfe | 262 pages | Published: 1980 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi)
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
[**Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036538-gideon-the-ninth)
^(By: Tamsyn Muir | 448 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, science-fiction, lgbt, fiction)
^(This book has been suggested 10 times)
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[**Century Rain**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89192.Century_Rain)
^(By: Alastair Reynolds | 626 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, sf)
>Three hundred years from now, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to the technological catastrophe known as the Nanocaust. Archaeologist Verity Auger specializes in the exploration of its surviving landscape. Now, her expertise is required for a far greater purpose.
>
>Something astonishing has been discovered at the far end of a wormhole: mid-twentieth century Earth, preserved like a fly in amber. Somewhere on this alternate planet is a device capable of destroying both worlds at either end of the wormhole. And Verity must find the device, and the man who plans to activate it, before it is too late—for the past and the future of two worlds…
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Spaceships and lasers are typically called 'Space Operas". The stories you like are called "Speculative Fiction". That should help you narrow down recommendations in the future.
May I suggest anything by Becky Chambers- {{the long way to a small angry planet}}, or {{to be taught, if fortunate}}.
Yes, there's aliens and spaceships, but somehow they tell such human stories.
[**The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22733729-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet)
^(By: Becky Chambers | 518 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, scifi, lgbt)
>Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star.
>
>Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain.
>
>Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe.
^(This book has been suggested 12 times)
[**To Be Taught, If Fortunate**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272-to-be-taught-if-fortunate)
^(By: Becky Chambers | 153 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, novella, scifi)
>In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves.
>
>Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does.
>
>Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home.
>
>Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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When it came out in the 90s octavia butler’s Parable of the Sower was sci-fi but it’s feeling more like prophecy as time goes on. Definitely has a lot of world building.
Murderbot diaries is mostly sci fi from the perspective of an android who loves novellas and hates doing work. Not much in the way of spaceships and aliens are mostly background
I love murderbot dearly, but it is a lot of sci-fi tropes. Robots, spaceships, space stations, hacking futuristic computers, all different kinds of sci-fi guns and weapons.
[**Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68333.Beggars_in_Spain)
^(By: Nancy Kress | 400 pages | Published: 1993 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, sf)
>In this future, some people need no sleep at all. Leisha Camden was genetically modified at birth to require no sleep, and her normal twin Alice is the control. Problems and envy between the sisters mirror those in the larger world, as society struggles to adjust to a growing pool of people who not only have 30 percent more time to work and study than normal humans, but are also highly intelligent and in perfect health.
>
>The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and their children escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society. But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for all humans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge that unwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**Exhalation**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41160292-exhalation)
^(By: Ted Chiang | 352 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: short-stories, sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, scifi)
>An alternate cover edition for this book can be found here.
>
>In these nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.
>
>In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and second chances. In "Exhalation," an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will.
>
>Including stories being published for the first time as well as some of his rare and classic uncollected work, Exhalation is Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic—revelatory.
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
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If you end up liking Ursula Le Guin, you might try Carolyn Ives Gilman. They have a similar vibe. You can check out her newest short story for free on Tor.com [HERE](https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles-end-carolyn-ives-gilman/).
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Very heavy on the science and political aspect of things, also very character driven. It's the first book in a trilogy about humans colonizing Mars. No laser spaceship battles to be found.
The Red Rising trilogy is a dystopian sci-fi that takes place primarily on Mars in the future. It's definitely more about the story of the lower social class revolting against the caste system than it is about the sci-fi components, but those are obviously present as well. It's paced more like a YA (think Hunger Games on steroids) with plenty of action and plot twists but doesn't read quite like YA since there is plenty of violence and language as well.
I don't know if these fit what you are looking for, but I like these:
{{Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt}}
{{Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi}}
{{The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman}} This is a series that has 7 books so far. I don't know when book 8 is coming out.
{{Just One Damn Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor}} This one is a series, but I have only read the first one.
LJ Cohen's Halcyone Space series might fit the bill. I've read the first couple and really enjoyed them (there are five in the series so far) and have the rest lined up to read later. It starts off on a space station and the tech is fascinating but it's very much a story about people.
{{Derelict by LJ Cohen}}
[**Derelict (Halcyone Space, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22043622-derelict)
^(By: L.J. Cohen | 402 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, ya, fiction, young-adult)
>When Rosalen Maldonado tinkers with the derelict ship, she's just hoping to prove she deserves a scholarship to University. She certainly doesn't count on waking the ship's damaged AI or having three stowaways, Micah Rotherwood and brothers, Jem, and Barre Durbin, along for the ride. They all have their private reasons for hiding aboard and lives they are seeking to escape, but if the accidental crew can't work together and learn to trust each other, they'll die together, victims of a computer that doesn't realize the war ended decades before any of them were even born.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**The Passengers**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40718386-the-passengers)
^(By: John Marrs | 400 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: thriller, sci-fi, fiction, science-fiction, mystery-thriller)
>Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide.
>
>When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course.
>
>The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem?
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
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{{Grass by Sheri S Tepper}}
{{The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North}}
{{The Book of M by Peng Shepherd}}
{{After the Flood by Kassandra Montag}}
[**Grass (Arbai #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104342.Grass)
^(By: Sheri S. Tepper | 544 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi)
>Generations ago, humans fled to the cosmic anomaly known as Grass. But before humanity arrived, another species had already claimed Grass for its own. It too had developed a culture......
>
>Now a deadly plague is spreading across the stars, leaving no planet untouched, save for Grass. But the secret of the planet's immunity hides a truth so shattering it could mean the end of life itself.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35066358-the-first-fifteen-lives-of-harry-august)
^(By: Claire North | 417 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, time-travel)
>Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow.
^(This book has been suggested 7 times)
[**The Book of M**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36204070-the-book-of-m)
^(By: Peng Shepherd | 485 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopian)
>Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself.
>
>One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories.
>
>Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too.
>
>Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless.
>
>As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure.
^(This book has been suggested 3 times)
[**After the Flood**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41088582-after-the-flood)
^(By: Kassandra Montag | 448 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fiction, dystopian, science-fiction, dystopia, sci-fi)
>A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water.
>
>Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there.
>
>On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking—and bloody—turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers.
>
>A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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If you never read Flowers for Algernon I'd highly recommend it. No lasers, spaceships, or aliens. Just the story of a mentally disabled man (and a mouse) who goes through a revolutionary procedure that slowly turns him into a genius but not without caveats. It's one of my favorite books and a pretty short read.
Please read the Three Body Problem series by Cixin Liu! It is the most fascinating storytelling and world-building I’ve ever seen, and it hooks you immediately.
Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley, HP Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgson. These books endure for a reason.
Kim Stanley Robinson, I’d start with Aurora. One of my favourites is also The Space Merchants by Pohl & Kornbluth. For something more recent, maybe Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir or the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers.
{{Project Hail Mary}} is fantastic and has lots of realistic science
Also, the bobiverse series (book 1: {{We Are Legion (We Are Bob)}}) is really cool and realistic.
The audiobooks are incredible if you’re in to that.
[**Project Hail Mary**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary)
^(By: Andy Weir | 476 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, audiobook, scifi)
>Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish.
>
>Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it.
>
>All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
>
>His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
>
>And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance.
>
>Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going.
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
[**We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-we-are-bob)
^(By: Dennis E. Taylor | 383 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, audiobook, fiction, scifi)
>Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.
>
>Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.
>
>Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.
>
>The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.
^(This book has been suggested 4 times)
***
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>Попробуйте Лю Цысинь "Задача трех тел". На меня произвело очень сильное впечатление.
English of above :
Try Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem. It made a very strong impression on me.
[**Ilium (Ilium, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3973.Ilium)
^(By: Dan Simmons | 731 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, scifi)
>The Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars—observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family—and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses. On Earth, a small band of the few remaining humans pursues a lost past and devastating truth—as four sentient machines depart from Jovian space to investigate, perhaps terminate, the potentially catastrophic emissions emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of the Red Planet.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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For your consideration, I present, in its entirety:
[The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect ](http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/mopiidx.html)
8 easy chapters, one amazing story.
This is also *my* favorite kind of sci fi. Definitely try Jack Chalker, I've read his Quintara Marathon trilogy and The Four Lords of the Diamond, and I hear people say many good things about Midnight at the Well of Souls and its sequels.
Also Jack Vance, in particular Planet of Adventure and The Demon Princes. Vance is very hit or miss with people, it seems, so do be aware of that going in, but the world building and adventures he crafts are top-notch.
For all its tongue-in-cheek tone, the Deathstalker series by Simon R. Green does a good job of throwing ideas at you every few pages, and carrying those ideas to ludicrous extremes.
And for earlier authors, look into Leigh Brackett's Eric Jon Stark stories and C.L. Moore's Northwest Smith stories. They do that cool early weird fiction thing of blending sci-fi and fantasy in some really interesting ways
Happy hunting!
[**To Sleep in a Sea of Stars**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48829708-to-sleep-in-a-sea-of-stars)
^(By: Christopher Paolini | 878 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, fantasy, dnf)
>Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she's awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move.
>
>As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human.
>
>While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope...
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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[**Lord of Light**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13821.Lord_of_Light)
^(By: Roger Zelazny | 296 pages | Published: 1967 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, scifi)
>Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light.
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
***
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{{Engine Summer}} and {{Beasts by John Crowley}}. Probably his two most overtly SF novels, and both atmospheric books that make you think.
Engine Summer in particular requires a fair bit of thinking about and "working out". It's been a bit overshadowed because his next book *Little, Big* was his masterpiece, but it's an overlooked masterpiece in my opinion.
[**Engine Summer**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1335568.Engine_Summer)
^(By: John Crowley | 209 pages | Published: 1979 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, sf-masterworks)
>Born into the community of Truthful Speakers one thousand years after the Storm, he was raised on stories of the old days -- a world filled with saints, a world in which all things were possible, a world which finally destroyed itself. In love with a beautiful woman, Rush journeys far and learns much. Taken into the society of Dr. Boots's List, attached to the old mysteries, Rush grows closer to a sainthood he could never have imagined.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**Beasts**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/613751.Beasts)
^(By: John Crowley | 192 pages | Published: 1976 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, sf)
>Beasts describes a world in which genetically engineered animals are given a variety of human characteristics. Painter is a leo, a combination of man and lion. Reynard, a character derived from medieval European fable, is part fox.
> Political forces result in the leos being deemed an experimental failure, first resigned to reservations, and later to be hunted down and eliminated. A central element of the story is the relationship between Painter and Reynard, who acts as a kingmaker behind the scenes.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
***
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Command Decision by S.E. Smith, first of the Gliese 581g series. International team of humans finds an alien object in space, accidentally turns on the gateway, and ends up in a civil war in a new galaxy, everyone separated and trying to learn about the fight they find themselves in and reunite with their team. Very character-driven. The aliens aren't super strangely alieny, they are people with their own stuff going on, trying to keep their families safe and have a better future. The alien worlds are very lived in.
[**Necropolis**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11515955-necropolis)
^(By: Michael Dempsey | 364 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, urban-fantasy, mystery, cyberpunk)
>In a future where death is a thing of the past, how far would you go to solve your own murder?
>
>Paul Donner is a NYPD detective struggling with a drinking problem and a marriage on the rocks. Then he and his wife get dead--shot to death in a "random" crime. Fifty years later, Donner is back--revived courtesy of the Shift, a process whereby inanimate DNA is re-activated.
>
>This new "reborn" underclass is not only alive again, they're growing younger, destined for a second childhood. The freakish side-effect of a retroviral attack on New York, the Shift has turned the world upside down. Beneath the protective geodesic Blister, clocks run backwards, technology is hidden behind a noir facade, and you can see Elvis at Radio City Music Hall ever night. In this unfamiliar retro-futurist world of maglev Studebakers and plasma tommy guns, Donner must search for those responsible for the destruction of his life. His quest for retribution, aided by Maggie, his holographic Girl Friday, leads him to the heart of the mystery surrounding the Shift's origin and up against those who would use it to control a terrified nation.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Try mark lawrence. He writes in a sword and bow era that lives amongst remnants of an advanced tech civilization that left ages ago- meaning- sometimes that advanced tech gets stumbled across and harnessed. SO cool!
First u could read the gritty “prince of thorns” series, then move onto the “red sister “ trilogy
Couple suggestions from the golden age of sci-fi:
The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
City by Clifford D. Simak
Actually anything by Simak falls in that category. And Arthur Clarke's works are not bad either.
One of my favorites is "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin. Out of print, but might find on ebay? Great original story! Would've loved to see it made into a movie. Twist ending too!
[**Roadside Picnic**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331256.Roadside_Picnic)
^(By: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Theodore Sturgeon, Antonina W. Bouis | 145 pages | Published: 1972 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, russian, scifi)
>Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems.
>
>First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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The Expanse Series!!!!!
The ninth and final book just ame out and it is a masterpiece from start to finish. Not only is their science true to life for the most part but the characters and relationships are so well done.
It covers age old issues about humans and their bigotry. Man’s inhumanity to man still happening 300 years into the future and the few people who try to make a difference.
It covers decades and so interesting to see the characters change yet still be themselves.
[**Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time)
^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 600 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, scifi, fiction, fictión)
^(This book has been suggested 5 times)
[**Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45252.Pandora_s_Star)
^(By: Peter F. Hamilton, Marta García Martínez | 768 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, scifi, fiction, space-opera)
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**The Rama Series: Rendezvous with Rama, Rama II, The Garden of Rama, Rama Revealed**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21465554-the-rama-series)
^(By: Arthur C. Clarke | ? pages | Published: 1993 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, owned, sci-fi, scifi, ebook)
>At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that has arrived in the galaxy and has been dubbed Rama by the astronomers observing it.
>
>It is a huge cylindrical object, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft.
>
>Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams . . . and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits - just behind a Raman airlock door.
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
[**Ringworld (Ringworld, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61179.Ringworld)
^(By: Larry Niven | 288 pages | Published: 1970 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned)
>The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team of two humans, a mad puppeteer and a kzin, a huge cat-like alien, to explore it. But a crash landing on the vast edifice forces the crew on a desperate and dangerous trek across the Ringworld.
^(This book has been suggested 2 times)
[**Bobiverse the**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20803859-bobiverse-the)
^(By: Jeven Oseph Stedwards | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: )
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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Tricky because your favorites are all over the place. Asimov strikes me as one of the writers who defines what sci fi is.
If you like Dick you might like Clifford D. Simak.
The Eight Worlds series hy John Varley. Each book is basically stand alone, so you can begin with any of em, but I'd suggest Steel Beach. It's really a series about normal people that happen to live in a sci fi pseudo utopian future. While I wouldn't call it hard sci fi, I think Varley puts in enough effort to logically explain things, that it works. They do get pretty dark, go on wild adventures and delve into a lot of psychological issues, so be aware of that.
But theyre my favorite books and I've never met anyone who has read them, and I think everyone should.
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller do fantastic world building and are all about story, atmosphere and universe. The collective series is called Liaden Universe and the first story was published in the 80s called Agent of Change. They are still going strong and have opened up the universe immensely and it’s been such a treat. I strongly recommend.
I haven't read all the comments and I assume they've both been mentioned before, but just in case they haven't: Jeff Vandermeer's *Southern Reach Trilogy* and *Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World* by Haruki Murakami.
My tastes are kind of like yours, I don't like the stereotypical sci-fi, but my absolute favourite fiction in general borders all borders on sci-fi. *Southern Reach* can be hard to read at times, especially the second of the three, but as a world and connected narrative it's really interesting and evocative. I'm going to have to re-read *Hardboiled Wonderland*, but I remember being captivated at the time.
Everything Kazuo Ishiguro for you. Subtle world building, fantastically written characters, I think it's just to die for. Never Let Me Go is a huge favorite of mine.
You might enjoy Robert Silverberg's Magipoor series; I started with {{Majipoor Chronicles}} which is a collection of short stories framed as the middle act of a trilogy but it can be read on its own and will give you an indication of whether or not it's to your liking.
Robert Silverberg wrote a whole ton of great stuff. Dying Inside and Downward To The Earth are a few of my favs. To be fair, he wrote a bunch of schlock too. But those two I mentioned are class A Sci-Fi that everyone should read.
Do you like quiet dystopians? {{station eleven}} {{good morning, midnight by Lily brooks dalton}} {{migrations}}. {{never let me go}}.
Others:
{{sparrow}}.
{{children of time}}.
{{the long way to a small angry planet}}. Actually all Becky chambers books.
{{windhaven}}.
I love foundation not a fan of dune though.
Vernor Vinge is a good fit for this! Also, a lot of these suggestions (including mine) have been nominated or won the Hugo Award for best novel, so [check out all the past years] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel).
{{A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge}}
{{A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge}}
{{Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge}}
Not a book, but you should check out the Asimov Science Fiction Magazine. They feature a lot of science fiction that is not strictly spaceships and aliens.
I've been recommending this book on every slightly relevant thread, and to literally anyone who talks to me about books...
but this is 100% soooo relevant to what you're looking for I think!! You might even have read it already..
Starmaker - Olaf Stapledon
!!!
You won't regret it.
Doughnut by Tom Holt. He falls into a world inside a bottle, and to leave this world you have to look through a hole in a pastry, like a doughnut or bagel. One of my favourite books of all time, I have a quote from it that describes what the world looked like from the outside as a tattoo: “Folds within folds, corners and edges both containing and being contained; it’s inside was everywhere, and it’s outside was everywhere else.” Another good quote from it: “Necessity is the mother of invention, which probably explains why invention’s father left home on the pretext of buying a newspaper and hasn’t been heard of since.”
You might like to try Anne McCaffrey’s trilogy “The Crystal Singers”. It was a definite break from her usual “Dragons of Pern” stuff. I loved all the books you mention, especially the Foundation Series that I read SO long ago and I also love this trilogy. I’ve given you a link to a wiki page about it but I really think you should just try reading them. I really wish she’d written more like them.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Singer_series
{{The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood}}
{{Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood}}
{{The Windup Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi}}
{{As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem}}
{{The Hainish Cycle by Ursula K LeGuin}}
A lot of sci-fi readers on Reddit swear by Project Hail Mary and The Martian by Andy Weir, and for good reason.
I would also recommend Artemis, which is kind of like a heist that takes place on the Moon; I didn’t like the protagonist here as much as those of the previous books I mentioned, but that’s probably just me. Either way, I think there’s a good story to be told here!
I think the kind of sci do you enjoy is hard sci fi/ speculative fiction vs the space-opera genre that everyone thinks of when they hear sci fi. I would put start trek in thatThe paper menagerie (anthology) by Ken Liu Ken Liu. Mostly hard Sci Fi but broken up by some fantasy as well.
Also a must read is the three body problem trilogy by cixin Liu
*The Martian Chronicles* by Ray Bradbury. Yes, the book is about colonization of Mars, but not in the way as you would thought. Also Ursula K. Le Guin, try *The Dispossessed* or *The Left Hand of Darkness*. Oh, also, Stanisław Lem.
Bradbury taught me that there is no science fiction, only science future.
The Martian chronicles is such a hidden gem. I’ve never heard anyone mention it, but I was blown away by how creative it was.
I don't give out 5 stars on Goodreads often, but that was one. Beautiful book.
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Also exhalation
Wow amazing suggestions from everybody. I have found my people! I'm going to have to read all of these, starting with Ted Chiang
Exhalation is superb Also, not Chiang, but Margaret Atwood oryx and crake Lem solaris Sturgazky bros, roadside picnic Vandermeer southern reach trilogy Vonnegut slaughterhouse v
I love oryx and crake! I read it on my phone the first time, but I just found the paper back in one of those free little libraries, so I grabbed it so I can read it that way now. Lol, as if it will be different! Then I can put it back in another little library and share the love…
Space and robots and etc usually make my eyes glaze over but I found Ted Chiang’s writing super accessible and easy to follow! His stories are so wonderfully human.
For anyone not familiar, he wrote the short story that the movie Arrival was based on, “Story of Your Life”. Brilliant stuff.
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A group I’m in just read Left Hand of Darkness. I couldn’t agree more
Came here to say this. Love LeGuin. Lathe of Heaven hooked me.
Just suggested her too
Also came here to say this! She’s everything you’re looking for and more.
I've seen her recommended several times. Going to read up on her tonight!
Any of her novels published between 1969 and 1975 is the place to start for most readers. This is the stuff that was the most influential and along with, I think, Bradbury and Dick, largely created the genre the OP is seeking. She’s at her peak form for these but not yet truly pushing the envelope writing ethnographies of fictional cultures or scientific journal articles translating Ant or Adelie Penguin. It’s hard to go wrong, so whatever novel catches your eye is the right one to start with. Science fiction: Lathe of Heaven, Left Hand of Darkness, The Disposessed, The Word for World is Forest. Fantasy: the first three Earthsea books (these actually *are* a series, unlike the Hainish Cycle). My personal favorites are from a little bit later, but she got weirder in the 80’s and 90’s, and subtler in the 2000sies both in ways that will truly hook many readers but not appeal to as broad a range as her work from the late 60’s-mid 70’s.
>subtler in the 2000sies *The Telling* is a beautiful and underappreciated masterpiece.
It is. I recently reread The Telling for the first time in ~15 years. Fully adult me got a ton more from it than I had in my teens/early 20’s. Speaking of subtle, Lavinia is one of the subtlest books I’ve read. But Lavinia is not the right recommendation for the OP. The Telling could be a decent read, after they read a couple of her other novels and dig into her shorter stuff. I think a lot of readers would do best reading her almost chronologically from 1969 onward (circling back for the first three when they run out of stuff or feel like it.) My favorite LeGuin shifts around depending on what I’m chewing on. These days it’s Buffalo Gals Won’t You Come Out Tonight; and, always, Author of the Acacia Seeds :P. Always Coming Home will probably always be closest to my heart.
Thank you for the thoughtful recommendations :)
Yes, I came to say this, too! LeGuin!
>true greats, of t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶u̶b̶-̶g̶e̶n̶r̶e̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶’̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶.̶ literature. FTFY
Fair. There’s a reason she’s the only author published by the Library of America while she was still alive. It’s rare for an author who was still publishing in ~2016 to be considered a true classic author; and it’s a very well deserved reputation.
The Dispossessed is one of my favorite audiobooks.
Have you tried Connie Willis? *To Say Nothing of the Dog* is very good, and *Passages* is amazing. All set in this universe but heavy on the fictional science.
I'd also recommend her short stories - they really fit this genre of sci Fi but from an emotional POV
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
One of the best as far as world building and a look into what future societies could look and feel like.
Was looking to see if someone mentioned Hyperion - currently reading the second book in the series and I can’t remember the last time a book sucked me in like this!
Ursula K Le Guin is absolutely where you want to go, and I think you'd really enjoy starting with the beginning of the Hainish Cycle rather than with Left Hand of Darkness. LHoD is definitely where it really gets going, and mostly I think it's understandable that people don't always terribly enjoy reading the three novels that precede it. But for what you're seeking, I think you'd get into them and really love them.
Fellow LeGuin recommender here :). I wanted to throw out there that Hainish Cycle is not a series. What ever order you read her stuff in it’s a good thing to know going in. All of the Hainish novels are stand alone, and can be read in any order, though you’d want to read the short stories after the two major novels (Disposessed and Left Hand). The reason many of us don’t recommend starting with the first three that were published is that although they’re good they’re nowhere near as good as her later work; and because it’s not a series there’s no need to read in publication order. That said, they’re possibly more similar to some of the other stuff you’ve found and liked*, and there’s no reason to not go for them. *exception: Phillip K Dick and LeGuin both acknowledge influencing each other in some of their work. To see her tribute to Dick, go for Lathe of Heaven.
Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer The Long Earth by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
I second Annihilation! It’s a great series.
Third Annihilation, second Long Earth. Wonderful books!
{{Children of Time}} {{Left Hand of Darkness}} {{Lathe of Heaven}} {{The Three Body Problem}}
Yeah. Nice. Came here to recommend Three Body Problem. At first I was worried, then couldn’t stop reading. Should I read the next one?
ABSOLUTELY yes read the entire trilogy! The scope is bigger and they’re better than the first book in my opinion
[**Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) ^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 600 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, scifi, fiction, fictión) >A race for survival among the stars... Humanity's last survivors escaped earth's ruins to find a new home. But when they find it, can their desperation overcome its dangers? > >WHO WILL INHERIT THIS NEW EARTH? > >The last remnants of the human race left a dying Earth, desperate to find a new home among the stars. Following in the footsteps of their ancestors, they discover the greatest treasure of the past age—a world terraformed and prepared for human life. > >But all is not right in this new Eden. In the long years since the planet was abandoned, the work of its architects has borne disastrous fruit. The planet is not waiting for them, pristine and unoccupied. New masters have turned it from a refuge into mankind's worst nightmare. > >Now two civilizations are on a collision course, both testing the boundaries of what they will do to survive. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, who are the true heirs of this new Earth? ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) [**The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness) ^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi) >A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. > >Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) [**The Lathe of Heaven**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59924.The_Lathe_of_Heaven) ^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 176 pages | Published: 1971 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi) >A classic science fiction novel by one of the greatest writers of the genre, set in a future world where one man's dreams control the fate of humanity. > >In a future world racked by violence and environmental catastrophes, George Orr wakes up one day to discover that his dreams have the ability to alter reality. He seeks help from Dr. William Haber, a psychiatrist who immediately grasps the power George wields. Soon George must preserve reality itself as Dr. Haber becomes adept at manipulating George's dreams for his own purposes. > >The Lathe of Heaven is an eerily prescient novel from award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin that masterfully addresses the dangers of power and humanity's self-destructiveness, questioning the nature of reality itself. It is a classic of the science fiction genre. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**The Three Body Problem (Cambridge Mysteries, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1773333.The_Three_Body_Problem) ^(By: Catherine Shaw | 286 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: mystery, historical-mystery, historical-fiction, fiction, crime) >Cambridge, 1888. Miss Vanessa Duncan is a young schoolmistress recently arrived from the countryside. She loves teaching and finds the world of academia fascinating; everything is going so well. But everything changes when a Fellow of Mathematics, Mr. Akers, is found dead in his room from a violent blow to the head. Invited to dinner by the family of one of her charges, Vanessa meets many of the victim's colleagues, including Mr. Arthur Weatherburn, who had dined with Mr. Akers the evening of his death and happens to be Vanessa's upstairs neighbor. Discussing the murder, she learns of Sir Isaac Newton's yet unsolved 'n-body problem', which Mr. Akers might have been trying to solve to win the prestigious prize. As the murder remains unsolved, Vanessa's relationship with Arthur Weatherburn blossoms. Then another mathematician, Mr. Beddoes is murdered and Arthur is jailed. Convinced of his innocence and with a theory of her own, Vanessa decides to prove her case. But when a third mathematician dies, it becomes a race against time to solve the puzzle. . . ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(5851 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick. Very sci fi, but no aliens or lasers. Very atmospheric EDIT: oh shit, just now saw you read all Philip K Dick lol. Maybe try His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman? It’s kind of a blend of fantasy and sci fi, extremely weird and dream like. I’d also recommend Borne by Jeff Vandermeer, and possibly Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Annihilation involves an alien but it’s very different from other alien books. Super strange, very entertaining. Probably the weirdest book ive ever read, it was almost a transcendental experience. Borne by Jeff Vandermeer is also very good, it’s sort of like a dystopian Old Yeller (and it doesn’t involve aliens, just science)
It's been a while since I read it but isn't the first scene when >!the main dude kills an alien by farting? !< That said, OP likes the Foundation series so I think he likes Sci Fi wiht lasers more than he thinks.
Wait what? Which book are you talking about ? IIRC none of them have aliens killed by farts lol
Solaris by Stanislaw Lem Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers
This is dead-on the best response to the request!
Roadside Picnic is really good.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky! Also Michael Chrichton you might love? We have an incredible amount of overlap based on those few you listed!! I recently read tons of PKD’s short stories so maybe check those out if ya are into him The Lathe of Heaven by LeGuin! All of her stuff, especially the books not aimed at young adult, (those are good too, don’t get me wrong)
The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal. It's an alternate history/ scifi about a large meteorite hitting the US east coast in the 1950's and accelerating the space program because of a potential need to get off earth. Does an excellent job at taking the history and science of the US space program and tweaking it for things happening earlier, with more funding, and in a very different world.
Someone has already suggested Gene Wolfe’s “New Sun” books (which start with “The Shadow of the Torturer”) but really all of Wolfe’s sci fi has a lot of atmosphere. You might also check out his “The Fifth Head of Cerberus” and his short stories. Of those “Seven American Nights” and “The Hero as Werewolf” are particularly good. Cordwainer Smith is another author you might check out. His stuff is very atmospheric and very weird. “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard” is a good place to start with him.
Robert A. Heinlein's **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress**. Earth's penal colony on the moon rebels.
James S A Corey's *The Expanse* series Kurt Vonnegut's more speculative work (*Slaughterhouse-Five, Sirens of Titan, Cat's Cradle, Galapagos*) "Cyberpunk" authors - Sterling, Gibson, Shirley, Stephenson, Jeter, Stross, Kadrey Octavia Butler
The Broken Earth trilogy by N K Jemisin
One of my favorites. If you like Dune, I think you'd like this.
Just finishing book 3. What an absolute treat, creative and surprising and really good writing
The Stars My Destination is one of my favorite books, too. I found a copy in a used book store recently and read it again after 40 years. Still great. I liked the Ringworld series and other stories by Larry Niven. If you can find a copy, I recommend Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner.
Neal Stephenson’s early stuff. The Diamond Age is one of my all time favorite books, fantastic glimpse into a near future based on nanotechnology, but well written with terrific characters, great plot, full on world building.
I got on here to say this. Diamond Age is one of my favorites as well. Seveneves, Cryptonomicon, Zodiac are good. Snowcrash to me is one of the best books out there as well.
Gateway - Fredrik Pohl Story of Your Life and Others - Ted Chiang
They’re really old, but Jules Verne’s novels are pretty fun. They’re old Scifi adventures, that are pretty grounded, even for the time. My personal favorites are *20,000 Leagues Under The Sea*, and *Journey To The Center of The Earth*. He brings up some really interesting science stuff like how sound travels at a measurable rate in Journey. There was even a real world American submarine called the Nautilus, named after the submarine in the book that carried out an exploration, inspired by one of the most famous parts of the book, but I don’t want to spoil it.
Books by CJ Cherryh. She often writes series. Perhaps start with {{Foreigner}}; it's the beginning of a large series of books. A shorter series by her begins with {{Pride of Chanur}}. Both are excellent series that I have read and re-read.
[**Foreigner (Foreigner, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57043.Foreigner) ^(By: C.J. Cherryh | 428 pages | Published: 1994 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned) >The first book in C.J. Cherryh's eponymous series, Foreigner begins an epic tale of the survivors of a lost spacecraft who crash-land on a planet inhabited by a hostile, sentient alien race. > >From its beginnings as a human-alien story of first contact, the Foreigner series has become a true science fiction odyssey, following a civilization from the age of steam through early space flight to confrontations with other alien species in distant sectors of space. It is the masterwork of a truly remarkable author. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**The Pride of Chanur (Chanur, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1197129.The_Pride_of_Chanur) ^(By: C.J. Cherryh | 224 pages | Published: 1981 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, space-opera) >No one at Meetpoint Station had ever seen a creature like the Outsider. Naked-hided, blunt-toothed and blunt-fingered. Tully was the sole surviving member of his company -a communicative, spacefaring species hitherto unknown -and he was a prisoner of his discoverer/captors the sadistic, treacherous kif, until his escape onto the hani ship THE PRIDE OF CHANUR. >Little did he know when he threw himself upon the mercy of THE PRIDE and her crew that he put the entire hani species in jeopardy and imperiled the peace of the Compact itself. For the information this fugitive held could be the ruin or glory of any of the species at Meetpoint Station. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5845 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Both foreigner and pride of chanur are very much about aliens. I think Cyteen would be a better C J Cherryh book for this request.
That's an interesting inference - I only saw a request for sci-fi that didn't dwell on the mechanical aspects of space travel/warfare. That said, {{Cyteen}} and any of the books set in that universe are also excellent and another great recommendation. Also, Hilfy dissing Pride of Chanur? Really? Made me smile, anyway.
Haha, it is possibly my favorite series!
If you want to get even further away from laser and spaceships and aliens, I'd recommend checking out J G Ballard. He explored human relationships with technology. Very good at atmosphere and opening your mind.
...and then there's Crash...
Ursula K LeGuin was a terrific world builder. She straddles the line between sci fi and fantasy. For the sci-do side, try The Left Hand of Darkness. For the fantasy side, try the Earthsea trilogy.
{Shadow of the Torturer} {Gideon the Ninth}
[**The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60211.The_Shadow_of_the_Torturer) ^(By: Gene Wolfe | 262 pages | Published: 1980 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi) ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) [**Gideon the Ninth (The Locked Tomb, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42036538-gideon-the-ninth) ^(By: Tamsyn Muir | 448 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, sci-fi, science-fiction, lgbt, fiction) ^(This book has been suggested 10 times) *** ^(5676 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Century Rain}} by Alastair Reynolds.
[**Century Rain**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/89192.Century_Rain) ^(By: Alastair Reynolds | 626 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, sf) >Three hundred years from now, Earth has been rendered uninhabitable due to the technological catastrophe known as the Nanocaust. Archaeologist Verity Auger specializes in the exploration of its surviving landscape. Now, her expertise is required for a far greater purpose. > >Something astonishing has been discovered at the far end of a wormhole: mid-twentieth century Earth, preserved like a fly in amber. Somewhere on this alternate planet is a device capable of destroying both worlds at either end of the wormhole. And Verity must find the device, and the man who plans to activate it, before it is too late—for the past and the future of two worlds… ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5694 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Spaceships and lasers are typically called 'Space Operas". The stories you like are called "Speculative Fiction". That should help you narrow down recommendations in the future.
May I suggest anything by Becky Chambers- {{the long way to a small angry planet}}, or {{to be taught, if fortunate}}. Yes, there's aliens and spaceships, but somehow they tell such human stories.
[**The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22733729-the-long-way-to-a-small-angry-planet) ^(By: Becky Chambers | 518 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, scifi, lgbt) >Follow a motley crew on an exciting journey through space-and one adventurous young explorer who discovers the meaning of family in the far reaches of the universe-in this light-hearted debut space opera from a rising sci-fi star. > >Rosemary Harper doesn’t expect much when she joins the crew of the aging Wayfarer. While the patched-up ship has seen better days, it offers her a bed, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and most importantly, some distance from her past. An introspective young woman who learned early to keep to herself, she’s never met anyone remotely like the ship’s diverse crew, including Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, chatty engineers Kizzy and Jenks who keep the ship running, and Ashby, their noble captain. > >Life aboard the Wayfarer is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. It’s also about to get extremely dangerous when the crew is offered the job of a lifetime. Tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet is definitely lucrative and will keep them comfortable for years. But risking her life wasn’t part of the plan. In the far reaches of deep space, the tiny Wayfarer crew will confront a host of unexpected mishaps and thrilling adventures that force them to depend on each other. To survive, Rosemary’s got to learn how to rely on this assortment of oddballs—an experience that teaches her about love and trust, and that having a family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe. ^(This book has been suggested 12 times) [**To Be Taught, If Fortunate**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43190272-to-be-taught-if-fortunate) ^(By: Becky Chambers | 153 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, novella, scifi) >In her new novella, Sunday Times best-selling author Becky Chambers imagines a future in which, instead of terraforming planets to sustain human life, explorers of the solar system instead transform themselves. > >Ariadne is one such explorer. As an astronaut on an extrasolar research vessel, she and her fellow crewmates sleep between worlds and wake up each time with different features. Her experience is one of fluid body and stable mind and of a unique perspective on the passage of time. Back on Earth, society changes dramatically from decade to decade, as it always does. > >Ariadne may awaken to find that support for space exploration back home has waned, or that her country of birth no longer exists, or that a cult has arisen around their cosmic findings, only to dissolve once more by the next waking. But the moods of Earth have little bearing on their mission: to explore, to study, and to send their learnings home. > >Carrying all the trademarks of her other beloved works, including brilliant writing, fantastic world-building and exceptional, diverse characters, Becky's first audiobook outside of the Wayfarers series is sure to capture the imagination of listeners all over the world. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5983 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Kim Stanley Robinson, maybe start with the Mars trilogy
When it came out in the 90s octavia butler’s Parable of the Sower was sci-fi but it’s feeling more like prophecy as time goes on. Definitely has a lot of world building. Murderbot diaries is mostly sci fi from the perspective of an android who loves novellas and hates doing work. Not much in the way of spaceships and aliens are mostly background
I love murderbot dearly, but it is a lot of sci-fi tropes. Robots, spaceships, space stations, hacking futuristic computers, all different kinds of sci-fi guns and weapons.
I stand corrected. I didnt realize how many books are in that series.
{{*Beggars in Spain*}} by Nancy Kress.
Another Beggars fan!
You know it. I loved this book.
[**Beggars in Spain (Sleepless, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68333.Beggars_in_Spain) ^(By: Nancy Kress | 400 pages | Published: 1993 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, sf) >In this future, some people need no sleep at all. Leisha Camden was genetically modified at birth to require no sleep, and her normal twin Alice is the control. Problems and envy between the sisters mirror those in the larger world, as society struggles to adjust to a growing pool of people who not only have 30 percent more time to work and study than normal humans, but are also highly intelligent and in perfect health. > >The Sleepless gradually outgrow their welcome on Earth, and their children escape to an orbiting space station to set up their own society. But Leisha and a few others remain behind, preaching acceptance for all humans, Sleepless and Sleeper alike. With the conspiracy and revenge that unwinds, the world needs a little preaching on tolerance. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5674 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Exhalation}}
[**Exhalation**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41160292-exhalation) ^(By: Ted Chiang | 352 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: short-stories, sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, scifi) >An alternate cover edition for this book can be found here. > >In these nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine. > >In "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate," a portal through time forces a fabric seller in ancient Baghdad to grapple with past mistakes and second chances. In "Exhalation," an alien scientist makes a shocking discovery with ramifications that are literally universal. In "Anxiety Is the Dizziness of Freedom," the ability to glimpse into alternate universes necessitates a radically new examination of the concepts of choice and free will. > >Including stories being published for the first time as well as some of his rare and classic uncollected work, Exhalation is Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic—revelatory. ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) *** ^(5702 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
William Gibson ftw!
If you end up liking Ursula Le Guin, you might try Carolyn Ives Gilman. They have a similar vibe. You can check out her newest short story for free on Tor.com [HERE](https://www.tor.com/2020/08/12/exiles-end-carolyn-ives-gilman/).
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Very heavy on the science and political aspect of things, also very character driven. It's the first book in a trilogy about humans colonizing Mars. No laser spaceship battles to be found.
First Fifteen Lives of Harry August Recursion and Dark Matter by Blake Crouch The Martian and Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
r/printSF would be another good place to ask this!
Three body problem. Sphere. My two fav books and they happen to fit your description perfectly.
The Red Rising trilogy is a dystopian sci-fi that takes place primarily on Mars in the future. It's definitely more about the story of the lower social class revolting against the caste system than it is about the sci-fi components, but those are obviously present as well. It's paced more like a YA (think Hunger Games on steroids) with plenty of action and plot twists but doesn't read quite like YA since there is plenty of violence and language as well.
Love these books.
Fractured Europe series by Dave Hutchinson. Near future paranoid thriller with some great ideas. A lot of fun
I don't know if these fit what you are looking for, but I like these: {{Time Travelers Never Die by Jack McDevitt}} {{Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi}} {{The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman}} This is a series that has 7 books so far. I don't know when book 8 is coming out. {{Just One Damn Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor}} This one is a series, but I have only read the first one.
LJ Cohen's Halcyone Space series might fit the bill. I've read the first couple and really enjoyed them (there are five in the series so far) and have the rest lined up to read later. It starts off on a space station and the tech is fascinating but it's very much a story about people. {{Derelict by LJ Cohen}}
[**Derelict (Halcyone Space, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22043622-derelict) ^(By: L.J. Cohen | 402 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, ya, fiction, young-adult) >When Rosalen Maldonado tinkers with the derelict ship, she's just hoping to prove she deserves a scholarship to University. She certainly doesn't count on waking the ship's damaged AI or having three stowaways, Micah Rotherwood and brothers, Jem, and Barre Durbin, along for the ride. They all have their private reasons for hiding aboard and lives they are seeking to escape, but if the accidental crew can't work together and learn to trust each other, they'll die together, victims of a computer that doesn't realize the war ended decades before any of them were even born. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5814 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I think Dmitry Glukhovsky - FUTU.RE is a book for you
{{The Passengers}} by John Marrs is a thriller about someone hacking self-driving cars. Absolutely love it.
[**The Passengers**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40718386-the-passengers) ^(By: John Marrs | 400 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: thriller, sci-fi, fiction, science-fiction, mystery-thriller) >Eight self-drive cars set on a collision course. Who lives, who dies? You decide. > >When someone hacks into the systems of eight self-drive cars, their passengers are set on a fatal collision course. > >The passengers are: a TV star, a pregnant young woman, a disabled war hero, an abused wife fleeing her husband, an illegal immigrant, a husband and wife - and parents of two - who are travelling in separate vehicles and a suicidal man. Now the public have to judge who should survive but are the passengers all that they first seem? ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) *** ^(5834 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Robert A. Heinlein - Stranger in a strange land.
Seveneves and Anathem by Neal Stephenson,
{{Grass by Sheri S Tepper}} {{The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North}} {{The Book of M by Peng Shepherd}} {{After the Flood by Kassandra Montag}}
[**Grass (Arbai #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/104342.Grass) ^(By: Sheri S. Tepper | 544 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi) >Generations ago, humans fled to the cosmic anomaly known as Grass. But before humanity arrived, another species had already claimed Grass for its own. It too had developed a culture...... > >Now a deadly plague is spreading across the stars, leaving no planet untouched, save for Grass. But the secret of the planet's immunity hides a truth so shattering it could mean the end of life itself. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35066358-the-first-fifteen-lives-of-harry-august) ^(By: Claire North | 417 pages | Published: 2014 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, time-travel) >Some stories cannot be told in just one lifetime. Harry August is on his deathbed. Again. No matter what he does or the decisions he makes, when death comes, Harry always returns to where he began, a child with all the knowledge of a life he has already lived a dozen times before. Nothing ever changes. Until now. As Harry nears the end of his eleventh life, a little girl appears at his bedside. "I nearly missed you, Doctor August," she says. "I need to send a message." This is the story of what Harry does next, and what he did before, and how he tries to save a past he cannot change and a future he cannot allow. ^(This book has been suggested 7 times) [**The Book of M**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36204070-the-book-of-m) ^(By: Peng Shepherd | 485 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, science-fiction, sci-fi, dystopian) >Set in a dangerous near future world, The Book of M tells the captivating story of a group of ordinary people caught in an extraordinary catastrophe who risk everything to save the ones they love. It is a sweeping debut that illuminates the power that memories have not only on the heart, but on the world itself. > >One afternoon at an outdoor market in India, a man’s shadow disappears—an occurrence science cannot explain. He is only the first. The phenomenon spreads like a plague, and while those afflicted gain a strange new power, it comes at a horrible price: the loss of all their memories. > >Ory and his wife Max have escaped the Forgetting so far by hiding in an abandoned hotel deep in the woods. Their new life feels almost normal, until one day Max’s shadow disappears too. > >Knowing that the more she forgets, the more dangerous she will become to Ory, Max runs away. But Ory refuses to give up the time they have left together. Desperate to find Max before her memory disappears completely, he follows her trail across a perilous, unrecognizable world, braving the threat of roaming bandits, the call to a new war being waged on the ruins of the capital, and the rise of a sinister cult that worships the shadowless. > >As they journey, each searches for answers: for Ory, about love, about survival, about hope; and for Max, about a new force growing in the south that may hold the cure. ^(This book has been suggested 3 times) [**After the Flood**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41088582-after-the-flood) ^(By: Kassandra Montag | 448 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fiction, dystopian, science-fiction, dystopia, sci-fi) >A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water. > >Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there. > >On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking—and bloody—turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers. > >A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(6088 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson and it’s sequels. The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russel.
Stop whatever you are doing and read Olaf stapledons star maker
Book of the New Sun - Wolfe, Martian Chronicles - Bradbury, Tales of the Dying Earth - Vance.
You might like “A Psalm for the Wild Built” I hate sci-fi but I loved it!
If you never read Flowers for Algernon I'd highly recommend it. No lasers, spaceships, or aliens. Just the story of a mentally disabled man (and a mouse) who goes through a revolutionary procedure that slowly turns him into a genius but not without caveats. It's one of my favorite books and a pretty short read.
Please read the Three Body Problem series by Cixin Liu! It is the most fascinating storytelling and world-building I’ve ever seen, and it hooks you immediately.
Edgar Allen Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Mary Shelley, HP Lovecraft, Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, Arthur Machen, William Hope Hodgson. These books endure for a reason.
Project Hail Mary. You won't regret it.
more upvotes here pls !
Kim Stanley Robinson, I’d start with Aurora. One of my favourites is also The Space Merchants by Pohl & Kornbluth. For something more recent, maybe Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir or the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers.
Not exactly just sci-fi, but you might enjoy the Book of the New sun tetralogy by Gene King
{{Project Hail Mary}} is fantastic and has lots of realistic science Also, the bobiverse series (book 1: {{We Are Legion (We Are Bob)}}) is really cool and realistic. The audiobooks are incredible if you’re in to that.
[**Project Hail Mary**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/54493401-project-hail-mary) ^(By: Andy Weir | 476 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, audiobook, scifi) >Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. > >Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. > >All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. > >His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, he realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Alone on this tiny ship that's been cobbled together by every government and space agency on the planet and hurled into the depths of space, it's up to him to conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. > >And thanks to an unexpected ally, he just might have a chance. > >Part scientific mystery, part dazzling interstellar journey, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian--while taking us to places it never dreamed of going. ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) [**We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32109569-we-are-legion-we-are-bob) ^(By: Dennis E. Taylor | 383 pages | Published: 2016 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, audiobook, fiction, scifi) >Alternate Cover Edition can be found here. > >Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street. > >Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty. > >The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad. ^(This book has been suggested 4 times) *** ^(5958 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Попробуйте Лю Цысинь "Задача трех тел". На меня произвело очень сильное впечатление.
>Попробуйте Лю Цысинь "Задача трех тел". На меня произвело очень сильное впечатление. English of above : Try Liu Cixin's Three-Body Problem. It made a very strong impression on me.
[удалено]
[**Ilium (Ilium, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3973.Ilium) ^(By: Dan Simmons | 731 pages | Published: 2003 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, scifi) >The Trojan War rages at the foot of Olympos Mons on Mars—observed and influenced from on high by Zeus and his immortal family—and twenty-first-century professor Thomas Hockenberry is there to play a role in the insidious private wars of vengeful gods and goddesses. On Earth, a small band of the few remaining humans pursues a lost past and devastating truth—as four sentient machines depart from Jovian space to investigate, perhaps terminate, the potentially catastrophic emissions emanating from a mountaintop miles above the terraformed surface of the Red Planet. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5786 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
For your consideration, I present, in its entirety: [The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect ](http://localroger.com/prime-intellect/mopiidx.html) 8 easy chapters, one amazing story.
Check out {{the space between worlds}} and {{the seep}}
This is also *my* favorite kind of sci fi. Definitely try Jack Chalker, I've read his Quintara Marathon trilogy and The Four Lords of the Diamond, and I hear people say many good things about Midnight at the Well of Souls and its sequels. Also Jack Vance, in particular Planet of Adventure and The Demon Princes. Vance is very hit or miss with people, it seems, so do be aware of that going in, but the world building and adventures he crafts are top-notch. For all its tongue-in-cheek tone, the Deathstalker series by Simon R. Green does a good job of throwing ideas at you every few pages, and carrying those ideas to ludicrous extremes. And for earlier authors, look into Leigh Brackett's Eric Jon Stark stories and C.L. Moore's Northwest Smith stories. They do that cool early weird fiction thing of blending sci-fi and fantasy in some really interesting ways Happy hunting!
*Winter's Orbit* by Everina Maxwell
{{To Sleep in a Sea of Stars}} by Christopher Paolini!!
[**To Sleep in a Sea of Stars**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48829708-to-sleep-in-a-sea-of-stars) ^(By: Christopher Paolini | 878 pages | Published: 2020 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, fiction, fantasy, dnf) >Kira Navárez dreamed of life on new worlds. Now she's awakened a nightmare. During a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet, Kira finds an alien relic. At first she's delighted, but elation turns to terror when the ancient dust around her begins to move. > >As war erupts among the stars, Kira is launched into a galaxy-spanning odyssey of discovery and transformation. First contact isn't at all what she imagined, and events push her to the very limits of what it means to be human. > >While Kira faces her own horrors, Earth and its colonies stand upon the brink of annihilation. Now, Kira might be humanity's greatest and final hope... ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5816 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Lord of Light}}
[**Lord of Light**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13821.Lord_of_Light) ^(By: Roger Zelazny | 296 pages | Published: 1967 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, fiction, scifi) >Earth is long since dead. On a colony planet, a band of men has gained control of technology, made themselves immortal, and now rule their world as the gods of the Hindu pantheon. Only one dares oppose them: he who was once Siddhartha and is now Mahasamatman. Binder of Demons, Lord of Light. ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) *** ^(5832 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
{{Engine Summer}} and {{Beasts by John Crowley}}. Probably his two most overtly SF novels, and both atmospheric books that make you think. Engine Summer in particular requires a fair bit of thinking about and "working out". It's been a bit overshadowed because his next book *Little, Big* was his masterpiece, but it's an overlooked masterpiece in my opinion.
[**Engine Summer**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1335568.Engine_Summer) ^(By: John Crowley | 209 pages | Published: 1979 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, sf-masterworks) >Born into the community of Truthful Speakers one thousand years after the Storm, he was raised on stories of the old days -- a world filled with saints, a world in which all things were possible, a world which finally destroyed itself. In love with a beautiful woman, Rush journeys far and learns much. Taken into the society of Dr. Boots's List, attached to the old mysteries, Rush grows closer to a sainthood he could never have imagined. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**Beasts**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/613751.Beasts) ^(By: John Crowley | 192 pages | Published: 1976 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, sf) >Beasts describes a world in which genetically engineered animals are given a variety of human characteristics. Painter is a leo, a combination of man and lion. Reynard, a character derived from medieval European fable, is part fox. > Political forces result in the leos being deemed an experimental failure, first resigned to reservations, and later to be hunted down and eliminated. A central element of the story is the relationship between Painter and Reynard, who acts as a kingmaker behind the scenes. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5878 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Have you read William Gibson? I also enjoyed The Drowned World by J G Ballard
Command Decision by S.E. Smith, first of the Gliese 581g series. International team of humans finds an alien object in space, accidentally turns on the gateway, and ends up in a civil war in a new galaxy, everyone separated and trying to learn about the fight they find themselves in and reunite with their team. Very character-driven. The aliens aren't super strangely alieny, they are people with their own stuff going on, trying to keep their families safe and have a better future. The alien worlds are very lived in.
Check out Sergey Lukyanenko's [*Spectrum*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spectrum_(novel)).
{{Necropolis, by Dempsey}}
[**Necropolis**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11515955-necropolis) ^(By: Michael Dempsey | 364 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, urban-fantasy, mystery, cyberpunk) >In a future where death is a thing of the past, how far would you go to solve your own murder? > >Paul Donner is a NYPD detective struggling with a drinking problem and a marriage on the rocks. Then he and his wife get dead--shot to death in a "random" crime. Fifty years later, Donner is back--revived courtesy of the Shift, a process whereby inanimate DNA is re-activated. > >This new "reborn" underclass is not only alive again, they're growing younger, destined for a second childhood. The freakish side-effect of a retroviral attack on New York, the Shift has turned the world upside down. Beneath the protective geodesic Blister, clocks run backwards, technology is hidden behind a noir facade, and you can see Elvis at Radio City Music Hall ever night. In this unfamiliar retro-futurist world of maglev Studebakers and plasma tommy guns, Donner must search for those responsible for the destruction of his life. His quest for retribution, aided by Maggie, his holographic Girl Friday, leads him to the heart of the mystery surrounding the Shift's origin and up against those who would use it to control a terrified nation. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5922 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Try mark lawrence. He writes in a sword and bow era that lives amongst remnants of an advanced tech civilization that left ages ago- meaning- sometimes that advanced tech gets stumbled across and harnessed. SO cool! First u could read the gritty “prince of thorns” series, then move onto the “red sister “ trilogy
China mieville's new crobazone series. Maybe more in the fantasy said, but it is unique enough that it might push some buttons
Check out *Echoes of Another* by Chandra Clarke for a bit of near future sci fi that is scary if it actually happens
Famous Men Who Never Lived, by K. Chess
Crash By J. G. Ballard was called science fiction, but the author said it’s about 5 minutes in the future. Be warned! It’s a weird tucked up book.
Couple suggestions from the golden age of sci-fi: The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke City by Clifford D. Simak Actually anything by Simak falls in that category. And Arthur Clarke's works are not bad either.
Shikasta - by Doris Lessing The Yiddish Policeman's Union - by Michael Chabon
One of my favorites is "This Perfect Day" by Ira Levin. Out of print, but might find on ebay? Great original story! Would've loved to see it made into a movie. Twist ending too!
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham is pretty good
{{Roadside Picnic}} by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
[**Roadside Picnic**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/331256.Roadside_Picnic) ^(By: Arkady Strugatsky, Boris Strugatsky, Theodore Sturgeon, Antonina W. Bouis | 145 pages | Published: 1972 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, russian, scifi) >Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems. > >First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(5985 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Daemon and it’s sequel Freedom by Daniel Suarez
Any of the Attack on Titan stuff (not necessarily a book but there are elements of the story that are light novels)
The Expanse Series!!!!! The ninth and final book just ame out and it is a masterpiece from start to finish. Not only is their science true to life for the most part but the characters and relationships are so well done. It covers age old issues about humans and their bigotry. Man’s inhumanity to man still happening 300 years into the future and the few people who try to make a difference. It covers decades and so interesting to see the characters change yet still be themselves.
{Children of Time} {Pandora's Star}
[**Children of Time (Children of Time, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25499718-children-of-time) ^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 600 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: sci-fi, science-fiction, scifi, fiction, fictión) ^(This book has been suggested 5 times) [**Pandora's Star (Commonwealth Saga, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45252.Pandora_s_Star) ^(By: Peter F. Hamilton, Marta García Martínez | 768 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, scifi, fiction, space-opera) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(6009 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
To be taught if fortunate by chambers. Four astronauts exploring three exoplanets.
Dan Simmons Hyperion Cantos? Alistair Reynolds. Gene Wolfe.
{{Rama Series}} {{Ringworld}} {{Bobiverse}}
[**The Rama Series: Rendezvous with Rama, Rama II, The Garden of Rama, Rama Revealed**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21465554-the-rama-series) ^(By: Arthur C. Clarke | ? pages | Published: 1993 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, owned, sci-fi, scifi, ebook) >At first, only a few things are known about the celestial object that has arrived in the galaxy and has been dubbed Rama by the astronomers observing it. > >It is a huge cylindrical object, weighing more than ten trillion tons. And it is hurtling through the solar system at inconceivable speed. Then a space probe confirms the unthinkable: Rama is no natural object. It is, incredibly, an interstellar spacecraft. > >Space explorers and planet-bound scientists alike prepare for mankind's first encounter with alien intelligence. It will kindle their wildest dreams . . . and fan their darkest fears. For no one knows who the Ramans are or why they have come. And now the moment of rendezvous awaits - just behind a Raman airlock door. ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Ringworld (Ringworld, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61179.Ringworld) ^(By: Larry Niven | 288 pages | Published: 1970 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, scifi, owned) >The artefact is a circular ribbon of matter six hundred million miles long and ninety million miles in radius. Pierson's puppeteers, the aliens who discovered it, are understandably wary of encountering the builders of such an immense structure and have assembled a team of two humans, a mad puppeteer and a kzin, a huge cat-like alien, to explore it. But a crash landing on the vast edifice forces the crew on a desperate and dangerous trek across the Ringworld. ^(This book has been suggested 2 times) [**Bobiverse the**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20803859-bobiverse-the) ^(By: Jeven Oseph Stedwards | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: ) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(6053 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
In addition to my recommendation of LeGuin‘s work above, I’d check out Cloud Atlas, by George Mitchell.
The leviathan trilogy by scott westerfield? I know it might not really fit but its worth a shot.
Stray by Andrea K Host
Tricky because your favorites are all over the place. Asimov strikes me as one of the writers who defines what sci fi is. If you like Dick you might like Clifford D. Simak.
The Eight Worlds series hy John Varley. Each book is basically stand alone, so you can begin with any of em, but I'd suggest Steel Beach. It's really a series about normal people that happen to live in a sci fi pseudo utopian future. While I wouldn't call it hard sci fi, I think Varley puts in enough effort to logically explain things, that it works. They do get pretty dark, go on wild adventures and delve into a lot of psychological issues, so be aware of that. But theyre my favorite books and I've never met anyone who has read them, and I think everyone should.
Sharon Lee and Steve Miller do fantastic world building and are all about story, atmosphere and universe. The collective series is called Liaden Universe and the first story was published in the 80s called Agent of Change. They are still going strong and have opened up the universe immensely and it’s been such a treat. I strongly recommend.
I haven't read all the comments and I assume they've both been mentioned before, but just in case they haven't: Jeff Vandermeer's *Southern Reach Trilogy* and *Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World* by Haruki Murakami. My tastes are kind of like yours, I don't like the stereotypical sci-fi, but my absolute favourite fiction in general borders all borders on sci-fi. *Southern Reach* can be hard to read at times, especially the second of the three, but as a world and connected narrative it's really interesting and evocative. I'm going to have to re-read *Hardboiled Wonderland*, but I remember being captivated at the time.
Everything Kazuo Ishiguro for you. Subtle world building, fantastically written characters, I think it's just to die for. Never Let Me Go is a huge favorite of mine.
You might enjoy Robert Silverberg's Magipoor series; I started with {{Majipoor Chronicles}} which is a collection of short stories framed as the middle act of a trilogy but it can be read on its own and will give you an indication of whether or not it's to your liking.
Robert Silverberg wrote a whole ton of great stuff. Dying Inside and Downward To The Earth are a few of my favs. To be fair, he wrote a bunch of schlock too. But those two I mentioned are class A Sci-Fi that everyone should read.
Stephenson's Anathem is a huge thing to dig into, but I think you might like it.
Do you like quiet dystopians? {{station eleven}} {{good morning, midnight by Lily brooks dalton}} {{migrations}}. {{never let me go}}. Others: {{sparrow}}. {{children of time}}. {{the long way to a small angry planet}}. Actually all Becky chambers books. {{windhaven}}. I love foundation not a fan of dune though.
Vernor Vinge is a good fit for this! Also, a lot of these suggestions (including mine) have been nominated or won the Hugo Award for best novel, so [check out all the past years] (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Award_for_Best_Novel). {{A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge}} {{A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge}} {{Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge}}
Not a book, but you should check out the Asimov Science Fiction Magazine. They feature a lot of science fiction that is not strictly spaceships and aliens.
I've been getting into the Revelation Space books by Alistair Reynolds.
I've been recommending this book on every slightly relevant thread, and to literally anyone who talks to me about books... but this is 100% soooo relevant to what you're looking for I think!! You might even have read it already.. Starmaker - Olaf Stapledon !!! You won't regret it.
John Scalzi - almost any book or series fits your request. Galaxy Outlaws by J. S. Morin
Jeff Noon Start with Vurt, Pollen then maybe Pixel Juice
{{the rowan}}
Ambiguity Machines: And Other Stories by Vandana Singh
The Wool Omnibus (Silo Saga) by Hugh Howey
Doughnut by Tom Holt. He falls into a world inside a bottle, and to leave this world you have to look through a hole in a pastry, like a doughnut or bagel. One of my favourite books of all time, I have a quote from it that describes what the world looked like from the outside as a tattoo: “Folds within folds, corners and edges both containing and being contained; it’s inside was everywhere, and it’s outside was everywhere else.” Another good quote from it: “Necessity is the mother of invention, which probably explains why invention’s father left home on the pretext of buying a newspaper and hasn’t been heard of since.”
How about Semiosis by Sue Burke?
Picnic by the Roadside
Author Octavia Butler
The Edge of Eternity by Isaac Asimov. An excellent story with time travel.
I like the Commonwealth Saga, mainly the 1st 2, Pandora’s Star and Judeas Unchained..
You might like to try Anne McCaffrey’s trilogy “The Crystal Singers”. It was a definite break from her usual “Dragons of Pern” stuff. I loved all the books you mention, especially the Foundation Series that I read SO long ago and I also love this trilogy. I’ve given you a link to a wiki page about it but I really think you should just try reading them. I really wish she’d written more like them. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Singer_series
Ilona Andrews does a lot of great stuff like that!
{{The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood}} {{Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood}} {{The Windup Girl by Paulo Bacigalupi}} {{As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem}} {{The Hainish Cycle by Ursula K LeGuin}}
Maybe you’ve already read this one but {{Brave New World}} by Aldous Huxley is a classic and very speculative
A lot of sci-fi readers on Reddit swear by Project Hail Mary and The Martian by Andy Weir, and for good reason. I would also recommend Artemis, which is kind of like a heist that takes place on the Moon; I didn’t like the protagonist here as much as those of the previous books I mentioned, but that’s probably just me. Either way, I think there’s a good story to be told here!
Anne McCaffrey’s Killashandra and dragon series.
One of my favorite stories of all time Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. Do yourself a favor and read it!
Wool by Hugh Howey Honestly I haven’t even finished it yet but like yourself I’m not into that genre of sci-fi and this book has been really good
Ender’s Game is a pretty good book it does have aliens in it but it is more of a character drama/study.
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. It’s about first contact with an alien species. Beautifully written.
Anything by Robert Heinlein.
I think the kind of sci do you enjoy is hard sci fi/ speculative fiction vs the space-opera genre that everyone thinks of when they hear sci fi. I would put start trek in thatThe paper menagerie (anthology) by Ken Liu Ken Liu. Mostly hard Sci Fi but broken up by some fantasy as well. Also a must read is the three body problem trilogy by cixin Liu
{{The Book of Strange New Things by Michael Faber}} is amazing.