Recommend me some sci-fi!

[Rizen]

I am looking for a new science fiction (or fantasy) book to read. I like books that are adventurous and not super serious. The Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy is my favorite book. I also liked Ringworld and The Chronicles of Amber. I read Dune but didn't like it because it dragged on and on without going anywhere. I also was reading Ender's Game but stopped because it felt like a long series of events where everyone was abusing Ender. I like more lighthearted novels.

[Permanut]

1. "The Door Into Summer", Heinlein..

Fairly simple plot, time travel with a couple of twists.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

5. It is slightly off, but the cat aspect and prediction of everyday robots make it one of my favourites. . . . . nt

[rsdsharp]

17. I'd recommend The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, his third Hugo winner.

Something tells me you’re familiar with that one, too.

[Hekate]

33. Read that when I was really young (there was lots of f&sf in my folks' house) & that cat became ...

…an eternal catch-phrase in my family. My sibs & I, now old ourselves, have all experienced cats that wander from room to room looking for a door where it isn’t raining or snowing outside.

[wcmagumba]

2. If you want some old sci-fi (1947) try "The World of Null A" by A. E. van Vogt.

I always like this book and series...cheers...

Edit: "A Wrinkle in Time" is a good choice too...

[kimbutgar]

3. I've been reading a Jack Finley book of short stories about time travel stories

He wrote the great book Time and again.

[JoseBalow]

8. Jack Finley wrote Invasion of the Body Snatchers

I recently read a very good book of time travel stories that was recommended by another DUer:

Times Three by Robert Silverberg

If you like time travel stories, as I do, you'll probably enjoy it also.

[kimbutgar]

11. Thanks I'll check it out!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Heinlein wrote the greatest time travel story ever, the gender-bending "All You Zombies", which has no zombies

He also wrote the second best time travel story: "By His Bootstraps".

Here's the link to the "All You Zombies" article but I really recommend reading the short story first before the article.

“ALL YOU ZOMBIES—”

by Robert A. Heinlein

Back in the 1950s the sophisticated editors of that sophisticated magazine Playboy asked Robert A. Heinlein for a story, an adult story, of course, and Heinlein sent along this eye-opening mind-bender. Turned out the editors of the bunny mag weren’t sophisticated enough to wrap their brains around “—All You Zombies—” and rejected the story, after which it saw publication in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, which may have lacked a foldout but was sophisticated enough to see the story’s merits. So did Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, who in 2014 made the story, with small changes, into a very effective movie, Predestination, well worth checking out.

2217 Time Zone V (EST) 7 Nov 1970 NYC–“Pop’s Place”: I was polishing a brandy snifter when the Unmarried Mother came in. I noted the time—10.17 p.m. zone five or eastern time November 7th, 1970. Temporal agents always notice time & date; we must.

The Unmarried Mother was a man twenty-five years old, no taller than I am, immature features and a touchy temper. I didn’t like his looks—I never had—but he was a lad I was here to recruit, he was my boy. I gave him my best barkeep’s smile.

Maybe I’m too critical. He wasn’t swish; his nickname came from what he always said when some nosy type asked him his line: “I’m an unmarried mother.” If he felt less than murderous he would add: “—at four cents a word. I write confession stories.”

... {the full story}

[kimbutgar]

22. Thank you saving to read later!

[Hekate]

34. If you like time-travel, look for anything by Connie Willis. Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series is good too.

[EYESORE 9001]

4. Something from Philip K. Dick, perhaps?

I discovered his work in my early twenties, and if Asimov or Heinlein composed classical symphonies, Dick is full-on thrash rock.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Nah. Dick is great,; he's more like Miles Davis. Harlan Ellison is Frank Zappa. More extreme writers are thrash rock

I need to read more Dick.

[Permanut]

23. There's a joke in there somewhere..

but not a good one. Never mind.

[malthaussen]

39. How would you classify William Tenn, then?

Maybe Warren Zevon, I dunno.

-- Mal

[Bernardo de La Paz]

40. Have read some, but can't remember

(and not familiar with Zevon)

After reading Wikipedia article, ... how about Huey Lewis and the News? Billy Joel?

[malthaussen]

46. Not weird enough.

If you can score a copy of The Wooden Star, you'll see what I mean.

-- Mal

[Bluestocking]

6. Delta-v

Delta-V by Daniel Suarez

[Glorfindel]

7. "The Dragonriders of Pern" by Anne McCaffrey

"The Stars My Destination" by Alfred Bester
"A Canticle for Leibowitz" by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The "Foundation" and "Robot" series by Isaac Asimov

[Hekate]

35. Canticle for Leibowitz has stayed with me forever....

Isn’t it funny how many of the best (or at least in my opinion) feature librarians and archivists?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

41. Canticle is a literary classic, it is that good, imo

Librarians / archivists are a useful vehicle for expository sections of a story. Speculative fiction, being more completely in the imagination than all but a few genres, requires expository sections so the reader can pick up a sense of how the futures / alternative realities / exoplanets / magical devices function.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. The Past Through Tomorrow by Heinlein contains the very current "If This Goes On --"

In it a theocracy has held control of the US in 2100 about 70 years since about 2030.

The book has 21 stories set in a coherent timeline. Average of 39 pages per story. "If This Goes On --" is 136 pages, and the last one is 175 pages. Stories written between 1939 and 1962 are remarkably insightful in some ways though all but the last four have been superseded on this timeline already. Regardless, the key thing is that they are all good yarns, great tales well told that keep you reading without being "page-turners".

The last four stories, including the novel "If This Goes On" are also in the collection "Revolt in 2100", which another DU member was also reminded of recently:
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/100220164632

[Fichefinder]

12. Anything by Joe Abercrombie especially

The Blade Itself. Laughed my ass off.
Extremely dark humor.

[Bluestocking]

14. Fantasy not sci-fi

This is Fantasy, not Sci-Fi.

[Hekate]

36. It's a broad and inclusive genre, though

[Humboldt Sage]

13. Something from Jack L Chalker

I've really enjoyed his work over the years.
Well of Souls and Soul rider series are a fun read.
Cheers

[flying rabbit]

18. +1 to well of souls nt

[LetMyPeopleVote]

43. Welcome to DU

[Terry_M]

15. Sounds like John-Scalzi would be where we overlap

I like the more serious variety (I enjoyed the entirety of the original Dune series) - but I also like Scalzi's more light/adventurous/humorous tilt too occasionally.

I haven't read everything by him, but Redshirts (as long as you don't over-think it) and Starter Villain fit the humorous side and the Interdependecy series is more on that not super serious space opera side.

[SWBTATTReg]

16. Any of the E. E. Doc Smith paperbacks. Tons of books, and I bet I have over 50 of his titles and most are short

stories but some are truly classic, such as the 'Lensman series', any of them...not all of them are of the Lensman series, but quite a few of them are, and he's written over 232 books. A prolific writer!

[ms liberty]

19. For fun reading, I recommend Christopher Stasheff, The Warlock in Spite of Himself

I'm not even sure how many books there are in the series, but my favorites are it (which is the first), and Escape Velocity, which is a prequel. Another series of his is Starhip Troupers, which is 4 books about a space traveling troop of actors. All of his work is very lighthearted and fun.
I have to mention that if you haven't read Douglas Adams' other books, you should. He was so brilliant.

David Eddings Belgarion and Mallorean series have not been mentioned in this thread, but they are so good that I reread them regularly.

[LogDog75]

21. I have a couple of suggestions

I recommend Issac Asimov's Foundation trilogy. In Foundation, young Hari Sheldon developed a new branch of mathematics called Psychohistory which predicts the future based of large populations. He convinces the Galactic Emperor the empire will fall within 50 years followed by 10,000 of a dark age. He convinces Emperor to establish a Foundation on a planet on the outer edge of the galaxy they can save all the scientific knowledge of empire and reduce the dark age to 1,000 years. During this 1,000 year period, the Foundation will face many challenges.

The original series consisting of three books but Asimov later added four more books and after his death his estate authorized prominent scifi writers to continue the series. The first three novel are all you need to read but if you really get into the series then you'll enjoy the rest of the series
Foundation
Foundation and Empire
Second Foundation

Another series I like are the Ben Bova's Mars novels which deals with the exploration and colonization of Mars in the late 21st century. There are no aliens, flying saucers, blasters. etc. like some of the pulp scifi novels. The novels are more about the characters of the people exploring Mars and their interaction with each other.
Mars
Return to Mars
Mars Life

If you want a really old scifi books, try When Worlds Collide and After Worlds Collide. It's a story set in the late 1930s about a rogue planet with a smaller planet with an Earth-like atmosphere, headed towards a collision with Earth. The larger planet will destroy the Earth and continue on its journey while the smaller planet will remain in the solar system. A small group of scientists and industrialists join together to build a rocket that would take a small number of humans to the small planet to live and continue human existence. After Worlds Collide tells their story of survival on the new planet.

All three series may be available in your local library.

[electric_blue68]

25. Never read the Foundation series. Might see if I can get it as e books from my library....

at least the major three.

And then a bell "went off"; so I checked.
Brin wrote "Foundations's Triumph", in '99.

[electric_blue68]

24. Sprawling, Serious But W Great Humor,and fabulous aliens, and cool humans....

Last edited Sun Mar 23, 2025, 10:51 PM - Edit history (3)

I m h o some of The Best SF, ever is David Brin's Uplift Universe series. Very inventive non-hominid aliens, complex political and warring stuff. Vast galactic (even multi-galactic) intrigue, and ancient mysteries. He's an Astrophysicist so has got some serious cred for building vast scenarios.

Universe building on the grandest scale while creating great characters, and interesting interactions good, bad, complex. And humor is sprinkled all through out.

Start with the stand alone Sundiver. Humans, and multi-species take a dive into our sun in a tough, relatively small Space (& Sun) Craft.

Wild discoveries, and intrigue abound! Takes place about 100 years before the main duology, then trilogy.

My mom brought home a paperback copy for me from a library sale. Hooked ever since!

Some of us are still waiting for (w fading hopes) that he'll go back and finish some fascinating, and major loose ends; (while having finished up other strands.
Arrggg, gggrrrrrrr, sigh.

Another stand alone of his is Existence. A spack junk removal man snags, and brings close to his camera an ovoid object with a mysterious internal glow, that becones increasingly intriguing to the point of incredulity as he descends in his Craft back to Earth.

The book is interspersed w chapters of how our existence as humans can be snuffed out through various natural, but more so our own doings.
When I reread I skip all that.

[Dan]

26. The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pourneille

[OldBaldy1701E]

27. 'The Incarnations of Immortality' series by Piers Anthony.

They are still some of my favorite books of all time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incarnations_of_Immortality

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

28. Start with Connie Willis, specifically

"The Doomsday Book".

After that read books by John Barnes, Robert Charles Wilson, Robert J. Sawyer, James E. Gunn. Steve Stirling, John E. Stith.

"Time on My Hands" by Peter Delacorte is one of my favorites, and I'm very sad he never wrote the sequel.

I can suggest more, if you'd like.

[hunter]

42. That's the second Connie Willis recommendation.

I'll make it a third.

[Mousetoescamper]

29. Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Now_Wait_for_Last_Year

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

30. Start with Connie Willis, "The Doomsday Book".

After that read these authors: Robert Charles Wilson, Robert J Sawyer, John Stith, Steve Stirling, Walter Jon Williams, and many others.

And, if at all possible, attend local science fiction cons. They are everywhere. You will meet writers and readers and lots of wonderful people.

[electric_blue68]

44. I like Connie from her short stories... ended up reading All Clear...

without reading any of the previous books of that series. Did enjoy it.

[Morbius]

31. The Expanse series

By James S.A. Corey (actually Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck). These were the basis for the TV series, but as usual, the books are better. It starts with Leviathan Wakes.

Read anything - literally anything - by Terry Pratchett. Almost all of his books are set on Discworld, and every last one will make you laugh, I promise. I have purchased every Discworld novel and never regretted it. He wrote Good Omens with Neil Gaiman, and despite the fact that it's about the end of the world, it's quite light-hearted. He also collaborated with Stephen Baxter on a parallel Earth series that starts with The Long Earth and continues for five total volumes.

[werdna]

32. Al of these by Becky Chambers

Wayfarers
1. The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (2014)
2. A Closed and Common Orbit (2016)
3. Record of a Spaceborn Few (2018)
4. The Galaxy, and the Ground Within (2021)
thumbthumbthumbthumb

Monk & Robot
1. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (2021)
2. A Prayer for the Crown-Shy (2022)

Here's a link to the source page:

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/c/becky-chambers/

[FSogol]

37. All of Zelazny's stuff is great. Read more of his novels. I also recommend:

Jack Vance (famous for fantasy, but his sci fi is top notch). The Demon Princes, Planet of Adventure, The Moon Moth, and Lyonesse
Poul Anderson - The Broken Sword
Jack Chalker - Well World series

[malthaussen]

38. Lois McMaster Bujold, the Vorkosigen saga.

Lois has won the Hugo for best novel four times (and I have a suspicion she hasn't won it more because the Hugo committee has an unspoken rule to never award more than Heinlein won), and every other award in the business multiple times. The Vorkosigan Saga is space opera of the first order, and fits right into your criterion of "more lighthearted novels." There are over a dozen books in the series, starting with The Warrior's Apprentice. A caveat to that applies, however: the Vorkosigan Saga proper is about the misadventures of Miles Vorkosigan, but there is also a two-novel sorta-prequel that tells the story of his mother, and a couple of other novels in the universe which are only tangentially related to Vorkosigan. There are several omnibus editions that package several of the books in one volume.

Many of Roger Zelazny's other novels are humorous in the same vein in which the Chronicles of Amber are: ie, dark philosophical humor. Lord of Light, And Call Me Conrad (aka This Immortal) and Creatures of Light and Darkness immediately come to mind. Some of his other novels are pretty bleak, though. I personally think A Night in the Lonesome October is one of the greatest sci-fi novels ever written, but I'm weird. A love story between a dog and a cat narrated by the dog which is a perpetual homage to the classic horror flicks of old and illustrated by Gahan Wilson is not, as it happens, everyone's cup of tea. Oh, it's also hilarious, however, with a horrible pun on virtually every page.

-- Mal

[justaprogressive]

45. Norman Spinrad

Agent of chaos,

Little Heroes

Songs from the stars

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/633185.Agent_of_Chaos

https://www.thriftbooks.com/a/norman-spinrad/261475/

Cory Doctorow! SF while he exposes the Bezzles

Try The Lost Cause (ECO-SCIFI) or try the Little Brother trilogy for young adults..

Little Brother[1] is a novel by Cory Doctorow, published by Tor Books. It was released on April 29, 2008.[2] The novel is about four teenagers in San Francisco who, in the aftermath of a terrorist attack on the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge and BART system, defend themselves against the Department of Homeland Security's attacks on the Bill of Rights. The novel is available for free on the author's website under a Creative Commons license (CC BY-NC-SA), keeping it accessible and remixable to all.[3]

Just finished reading his new book Picks and Shovels a Tech startup adventure. He's addictive!

Enjoy!