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Sci-fi reading recommendations?

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May 28, 2024, 01:56 PM
redwood25
Sci-fi reading recommendations?
Always on the look-out for good stuff to read. Currently on a bit of a sci-fi kick (well, it's an ongoing kick that started in high school in the 70's). Anything new and exciting stand out?


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May 28, 2024, 02:16 PM
DanH
Larry Correia's Monster Hunter series is a fun blast. John Scalzi's Old Man's War was a fantastic take on an updated version of Heinlein's Starship Troopers with a lot more humor. Speaking of a mix of serious and humor, I present this:

https://www.amazon.com/Redshir...a%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-4

As far as older stuff, Dune is a good read until the end of Book 3: Children of Dune. Another oldy but goldy is Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "A Moat in God's Eye" that is criminally underrated. For some good Star Wars, there's Timothy Zahn's Thrawn Trilogy that started the superior Expanded Universe that Disney threw away.
May 28, 2024, 02:40 PM
V-Tail
I download most of my reading, free loans from the county public library for my Kindle e-reader.

Just finished John Scalzi's Redshirts. First science fiction that I have read for a while. I would recommend this book.



הרחפת שלי מלאה בצלופחים
May 28, 2024, 03:06 PM
PASig
I thought Seveneves was pretty good and I hear there may be a movie version someday:

quote:

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Anathem, Reamde, and Cryptonomicon comes an exciting and thought-provoking science fiction epic—a grand story of annihilation and survival spanning five thousand years.

What would happen if the world were ending?

A catastrophic event renders the earth a ticking time bomb. In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.

But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain….

Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown…to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.

A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.



May 28, 2024, 04:53 PM
redwood25
Excellent recommendations so far....I've read all of 'em!

Keep 'em coming!


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May 28, 2024, 05:38 PM
Expert308
One of my favorites is called The Proteus Operation, by a guy named Hogan. It's an alternate timeline / multiverse story about a scientific and military team trying to deal with the axis powers having won the 2nd world war. It's pretty old now, but I still re-read it every two or three years.
May 28, 2024, 06:03 PM
P250UA5
The Expanse?
10 books if you add in the novella collection

Project Hail Mary was enjoyable
Dark Matter wasn't bad




The Enemy's gate is down.
May 28, 2024, 06:07 PM
Fenris
A couple of old classics that are well worth the read:

"The Tripod Trilogy" by John Christopher
and
"The Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham




God Bless and Protect our Beloved President, Donald John Trump.
May 28, 2024, 06:13 PM
flesheatingvirus
Dune
Three Body Problem
The Expanse series
Ringworld trilogy
The Mote in God’s Eye


________________________________________

-- Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past me I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain. --
May 28, 2024, 06:53 PM
goose5
I'm currently on the third book of The Three Body Problem. If you've seen the Netflix show there are elements of all three books in that show. The Wall Facer Project was the first third of the second book, and the Stair Case Project was in the third book. I'm kinda running out of gas on the third book. The second book was slow, but the ending changed everything.


_________________________
OH, Bonnie McMurray!
May 28, 2024, 07:43 PM
bcereuss
My gosh, I remember the ringworld trilogy and the mote in gods eye.

How about the 4 lords of the diamond? Assuming heinlein novels were already covered, the stainless steel rat series, Spider Robinson and the like..
May 28, 2024, 07:43 PM
SpinZone
A few of my favorites


Coyote - Allen Steele
-3 books in the main series and then some associated storyine books.

Hail Mary - Andy Weir
-stand alone book.

Live Free or Die - John Ringo
-3 book in the series.

Old Man's War - John Scalzi.
-3 book series with a few books in the same universe.



“We truly live in a wondrous age of stupid.” - 83v45magna

"I think it's important that people understand free speech doesn't mean free from consequences societally or politically or culturally."
-Pranjit Kalita, founder and CIO of Birkoa Capital Management

May 28, 2024, 08:11 PM
lyman
quote:
Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
Dune
Three Body Problem
The Expanse series
Ringworld trilogy
The Mote in God’s Eye


to expand a bit,

Dune, go to 2 more sequils and stop,
then read Herberts White Plague,

Ringworld, excellent, as is Niven's Mote, but don't stop there, he has a lot of good works,

Heinlien, all of it,



https://chandlersfirearms.com/chesterfield-armament/
May 28, 2024, 11:56 PM
redwood25
Thanks for the suggestions. I've jotted some down and will check 'em out!

Some great stuff listed, of course, that I've read-Dune, Three Body Problem, all of Scalzi's work, and a few others I can't remember without scrolling back to look.

Appreciate the help!


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May 29, 2024, 12:57 AM
Nuclear
In addition to what has already been suggested:

Orphan series (and follow-up books) by Robert Buettner. Murderbot series by Martha Wells. Mike Kupari’s three solo sci-fi books. Almost anything by Heinlein, Niven, or Asimov. Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosignan series. Ian Bank’s Culture series. Daniel Keyes Moran’s “Continuing Time” novels. The Moon and the Desert by Dr. Robert E. Hampson.
May 29, 2024, 07:56 AM
Pipe Smoker
I recommend “The Weapon Shops of Isher” by A. E. Van Vogt.
* A good read
* Sci-Fi
* Firearms (for self defense)

What’s not to like?



Serious about crackers.
May 29, 2024, 10:38 AM
DanH
Going a little older we get to the first to win the Hugo Award for Best Novel:

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester

https://www.amazon.com/Demolis...r%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-2

Another novel of his that came later that also influence Roger Zelazny was "The Stars My Destination" or also called "Tyger Tyger"

https://www.amazon.com/Stars-M...r%2Caps%2C155&sr=8-1

There's also David Gerrold's Star Wolf novels which was basically his version of Star Trek after he was forced off of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It went to 4 books that can be found in paperback or Kindle.
May 29, 2024, 10:46 AM
eagle0199
I wanted to endorse John Ringo and also Scalzi but they've already been mentioned. +1 for both.


Phu Bai, Vietnam, 68-69
Baghdad, Iraq, 04-05
May 29, 2024, 11:35 AM
CD228
The Forever War by Haldeman.

Armor by Steakley.

Ringo's Poslean War series was good. But his zombie series was better IMHO.

Dune is good, but it's complex
May 29, 2024, 02:14 PM
SR025
Hyperion series