Wanted: Good Scifi

[rhoenix]

Since the subject wasn't very specific, here's what I'm looking for in terms of Scifi books and/or shows:

- depict life in that setting well (with many well-done little details that truly flesh out the universe in which the story is written or depicted)
- show good, consistent framework rules for that particular universe (e.g. if a previously-established rule gets broken, there's a damn good reason)
- has FTL travel, even if (or especially) in rudimentary stages

Toward those ends, I've had the nBSG series recommended to me (which I now have enqueued via Netflix) because it shows the psychology of such a setting well, as well as the other details of the setting. Additionally, I'm re-reading Ray Bradbury's book The Illustrated Man again (as there are some damn good short stories in there).

My thanks in advance.

[Gerald Tarrant]

I'd reccomend both The Mote in God's Eye and The Gripping Hand (in that order as the second is a sequel). The FTL is of the "jump point" type but the slower than light travel has accelerations in the 1-3 g range (no "intertial dampers") with the upper end being limited by the limits of human physiology. There's additional material from this Universe (known as either the CoDominium Universe or the Empire of Man) but the earlier "CoDominium stuff" is mostly centered on ground combat. And the remainder is agglomerated in some books known as the "War World" series of the "shared Universe" anthology type, lots of different authors writing short stories, so the quality varies. But "Mote" and "Gripping" are excellent, the Empire (the major polity described in both) is well fleshed out with a good back story, and the physics "feel" real, and the biology that's discussed in "Mote" and "Gripping" is fascinating and sets up the story perfectly.

[Samuel]

Note that the series has other books in it that take place at different times- King David's Spaceship is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

Have you read Asimov's robot trilogy?
Rolling Stone by Robert Heinland? (no FTL)
Relevation Space? (no FTL)

I'm going to need more details. Aside from consistent and life like, what else do you want?

[rhoenix]

Have you read Asimov's robot trilogy?
Rolling Stone by Robert Heinland? (no FTL)
Relevation Space (no FTL)

No, no, and no. Those seem like a good place to start.

I'm going to need more details. Aside from consistent and life like, what else do you want?

Honestly, I'm not sure what to tell you.

I want to learn how the great writers of scifi performed their craft so I can do proper credit to this story I'm working on. So, I'm trying to keep the requirements sparse for that reason.

The story after all always revolves around the events and the characters; the scifi setting is just a stage. The stage is important and must be consistent, particularly in scifi (with all the nerdy details we all love), but in the end only serve to showcase what people do on that stage. So, I want to see how other authors and such tackled doing so.

[Isolder74]

Jules Verne and H G Wells.

[Falkenhayn]

Joe Haldemann (The Forever War) and Dan Simmons (Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, certainly, though the Endymion story arc's a little out there). Also, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein.

[dragon]

There's a book out there, A Desert called Peace. It's about a the human race finding a single hole in space that leads to another habitial planet. After about 500 years earth is falling apart and a ridgid caste system has taken power. Most of their technology is falling behind and their spaceships are old and mostly harmless as they can't be fixed. The other colony is getting to the point where they are become a threat to earth. The only thing that is keeping the colony from advancing to much is that there are dozens of different countries set up on the planet. And the main hero is not a very nice person as he is consummed with vengece.

THe author has co-wrote with Ringo two of the Posleen series.

Now it's not a riviting sci-fi book but it's good for a quick break from reality.

[hawkwind]

Neal Asher´s "Polity" series.

J.

[Samuel]

There's a book out there, A Desert called Peace. It's about a the human race finding a single hole in space that leads to another habitial planet. After about 500 years earth is falling apart and a ridgid caste system has taken power. Most of their technology is falling behind and their spaceships are old and mostly harmless as they can't be fixed. The other colony is getting to the point where they are become a threat to earth. The only thing that is keeping the colony from advancing to much is that there are dozens of different countries set up on the planet. And the main hero is not a very nice person as he is consummed with vengece.

THe author has co-wrote with Ringo two of the Posleen series.

Now it's not a riviting sci-fi book but it's good for a quick break from reality.

Sir we are detecting Kratman at 50 km.
Fire everything we have at him!

Joe Haldemann (The Forever War)

Just a word of advice- don't bother with Forever Free. Forever Peace is good, but unrelated to Forever War.

(Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion, certainly, though the Endymion story arc's a little out there).

Love- it makes the universe go round

Asimov might be good. He is responsible for the 3 laws and his robot short stories deal with how that works and falls apart in practice. I Robot is good and totally unlike the movie that bears his name. The Foundation is okay, but for the most part the Empire series is not as good as the Robot one.

Books made by other authors that share his universe are hit or miss. If you are interested in getting better at writting, you can take a look at his earlier works which give you an idea of how his writing progressed. Notably Asimov is bad act characterization- his individuals feel sort of flat. For some reason he was better at giving his robots a personality- he got more complaints when he killed off Giskard than when he offed Elijah.

Stark knows quite a bit about older authors and probably can give some good advice although the one he will immediately suggest is Lensmen. I haven't read it so I cannot comment.

[Nyrath]

There was a splendid novel called The Humanist Inheritance (now renamed The Last Great War) by somebody named RedImperator. It used to be available online, but is has been taken down while he polishes it up for eventual publication.

[Broomstick]

Stark knows quite a bit about older authors and probably can give some good advice although the one he will immediately suggest is Lensmen. I haven't read it so I cannot comment.

Ah, the Lensmen series! (I assume you mean that one) The E.E. Doc Smith space opera? Very entertaining. A couple years ago I wanted to re-read it but couldn't find Triplanetary anywhere - the local library said their copy fell apart back in the 1980's or something but here it is on Project Gutenberg. Apparently the US copyright ran out. I've heard it's still being published, but like I said, the Gutenberg copy is the only one I've been able to find for quite some time.

[rhoenix]

There was a splendid novel called The Humanist Inheritance (now renamed The Last Great War) by somebody named RedImperator. It used to be available online, but is has been taken down while he polishes it up for eventual publication.

Indeed - reading it while he had it posted here was a partial inspiration for me. Your site's been rather helpful too, might I add.

[Stark]

There was a splendid novel called The Humanist Inheritance (now renamed The Last Great War) by somebody named RedImperator. It used to be available online, but is has been taken down while he polishes it up for eventual publication.

I'll always remember this as the fanfic that broke the 'all fanfic sucks shit' rule.

[Samuel]

There was a splendid novel called The Humanist Inheritance (now renamed The Last Great War) by somebody named RedImperator. It used to be available online, but is has been taken down while he polishes it up for eventual publication.

I'll always remember this as the fanfic that broke the 'all fanfic sucks shit' rule.

Technically, as an origional work it doesn't count as fan-fiction

[Imperial Overlord]

The Dread Empire Falls series by Walter Jon Williams. The last master of a space empire will soon die. One of the members species is planning a power grab. Hijinks, by which I mean interstellar war, ensue.

[open_sketchbook]

Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison is some classic stuff. I've not read the entire series but what I have seen have all been quite good. It's set so far into the future nobody even really remembers what Earth was called (It was Dirt or something, wasn't it?) but the technology is pretty grounded and the world feels modern, if a bit retro seeing as when they were written. It's about a guy named Jim DiGiz, a man who is a criminal in a universe with no crime.

[Darth Hoth]

Stark knows quite a bit about older authors and probably can give some good advice although the one he will immediately suggest is Lensmen. I haven't read it so I cannot comment.

Ah, the Lensmen series! (I assume you mean that one) The E.E. Doc Smith space opera? Very entertaining. A couple years ago I wanted to re-read it but couldn't find Triplanetary anywhere - the local library said their copy fell apart back in the 1980's or something but here it is on Project Gutenberg. Apparently the US copyright ran out. I've heard it's still being published, but like I said, the Gutenberg copy is the only one I've been able to find for quite some time.

That is, however, the original magazine edition, which has no relation to the Lensman series proper. Smith later rewrote it into a prequel of sorts, but that is another version with fairly substantial departures.

Anyway, if you want to start that series (which I would heartily recommend), do not begin with Triplanetary, that is akin to becoming acquainted with Star Wars through Episode I or Star Trek through Enterprise. Rather, look for the original tetralogy (Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second-Stage Lensmen, Children of the Lens, in that order), and if you like those, then read the prequels.

The Lensman books have, if I recall correctly, been out of print since the '80s as a result of a conflict between Doc Smith's estate and the makers of a licensed Japanimation series ("SF New Age Lensman"). I have found my copies on second hand; Amazon and similar sites should have them as well.

[Samuel]

Anywhere we can find the changed version of Triplanetary?

[Broomstick]

Second hand booksellers, libraries... but as it's been out of print awhile locating a copy may or may not be difficult.

When I read the series I actually started with Triplanetary but (yes, I'm showing my age) when I did so the series was still in print and finding it was easy.

[NecronLord]

The Lensman books are notionally still in print, available from Old Earth Books Here. I have a copy of Galactic Patrol from them, and it's very nice, too, with some interesting black and white illustrations. It's $15 though, but it's a very high quality paper, about as good as you can reasonably expect a paperback to be.

However, they only seem to have Triplanetary in stock at the moment.

[[R_H]]

It's been awhile, but I remember liking Scott Westerfeld's Succession trilogy.

[Darth Hoth]

The Lensman books are notionally still in print, available from Old Earth Books Here. I have a copy of Galactic Patrol from them, and it's very nice, too, with some interesting black and white illustrations. It's $15 though, but it's a very high quality paper, about as good as you can reasonably expect a paperback to be.

However, they only seem to have Triplanetary in stock at the moment.

Ah, yes. If you can find the Old Earth Books editions, go for them; they are facsimile reprints of the original Fantasy Press releases, and of much higher quality overall. Me, I have had to make do with Panther/Pyramid editions; the former even Anglicise the spelling . . .

[Alien-Carrot]

While not "pure" scifi, as it has some half-ass explained mysticism in it, I would recommend the Reality Dysfunction series. I never did get to finish it, but the first 4 books rocked ass.

ALL HAIL THE LIGHT BROTHER.

[fusion]

I am surprised that no one has mentioned the culture series... It is definitely up there also...

PS. The series is by Iain Banks....

[hawkwind]

I have found lensman series very interesting in terms of the ideas and concepts, on the other hand night unreadable.
Banks can be difficult sometimes, especially for nonenglish reader. Use of weapons is very good book.
I also liked Ken Mcleod "Cosmonaut keep" trilogy, that was a good one. Unlike most I didnt liked Simmons Hyperion, but I enjoyed his "Illyum" and "Terror" (which is by means not scifi, though it has fantastic in it).
Stephen Baxters books are mostly quite good as are those by Greg Bear. If you havent read Carl Sagans "Contact", now is also the time.
Frank´s Herbert "Dune" is ultimate sci fi novel, but the successions arent worth reading.

I have started to read Peter F Hamilton´s "Nights Dawn" last year, but I got stuck in middle of second book, brilliant as it is too much indigestiable for me.
I liked very much Neuromancer by William Gibson and also short story "Johny Mnemonic" by him, though not much of his other work also because it was at that time very badly translated into my language and I didnt read english back then.
Try to find Bruce Sterling and Michael Swanwick short story "Dogfight", though not scifi with rockets in space, it had emotionall impact on me.
Clarke is still timelessly good, though I found his short stories more entertaining than his novel.

Hope these hints help.

J.