Beginner Sci Fi Recs

[Wyatt]

Hi, I’m a big fan of Stephen King, starting to get back into fantasy, and I’m wondering about some good entry-level Science Fiction stuff. I’m also looking for it to not contain any hardcore sex or rape.

I’ve already been suggested Leviathon Wakes.

[Ines, Resident Vampire]

Okay, so the following are, obviously, all very subjective, but those are the books I enjoyed a lot.

If you want something short and are interested in Artificial Intelligence, I'd recommend:
All Systems Red (and subsequent)

If you want to get into the classics and want to read something to think about:
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

If you want a classic and something to think about, but with witty humour, read:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

If you like to read about ragtag bands of people and don't want to start one of those series with 500 books, read:
Stars Uncharted (there's only two books in the series)

If you want an epic space opera, try this:
Hidden Empire (fair warning: there are a lot of books in this series)

If you want something that's less 'spaceships' and more 'cyberpunk', read:
Infomocracy

Whatever you read, I hope you have a great time with it!

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Do you like King's writing style? The horror element? The atmosphere?

[Paul]

Hey Wyatt



I'd recommend Dennis E. Taylor's Bobiverse books, starting with We Are Legion (We Are Bob), which are a great deal of fun.



Adrian Tchaikovsky's Children of Time & Children of Ruin are superb, similar to the Taylor books in terms of space exploration but also some wonderful takes on alien life.



Neal Stephenson's work is always enjoyable, although his recent books have got heftier and heftier (that said, if you're a Stephen King reader that might not be a problem!) I'd definitely recommend some of his earlier books, Snow Crash and The Diamond Age: Or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer which are both superb.



My favourite SF writer - possibly my favourite writer - is Iain M. Banks, and I think his Culture books should be read by everyone. They set in the same universe but not sequential, with hardly any internal connections.



Hope you find some stuff you like!

[Soo]

Mix of different styles for SF: action, humor, mystery, LitRPG, etc.

Listing books that haven't been already posted:

- Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds by Brandon Sanderson
- Where the Hell is Tesla? #1 by Rob Dircks
- 14 #1 by Peter Clines
- Lock In #1 by John Scalzi
- The Warrior's Apprentice #2 by Lois McMaster Bujold (I started the series here & it works well. You can read #1 later.)
- Initiate #1 by Joshua & Michael Anderle
- Life in the North #1 by Tao Wong
- Artemis by Andy Weir
- Illuminae #1 by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
- Space Team #1 by Barry J. Hutchison
- The Lives of Tao #1 by Wesley Chu
- We Are Legion (We Are Bob) #1 by Dennis E. Taylor
- Sleeping Giants #1 by Syvain Neuvel
- XOM-B by Jeremy Robinson

Hopefully, you will enjoy one of those. This is off the top of my head.

[Chris]

Why not start with this month's selection? Also look at rereads from the group shelf and buddy reads. Science fiction is a come-as-you-are genre. If you get inspired to track down author influences and precedents, reading things out of chronological order won't ruin anything.

[Sarah]

Echoing Allison, what is it you like about King? Because I love King too and can think of a few recommendations that are science fiction/fantasy with elements of horror and King-sequel in tone. But I’m not 100% sure that’s what you’re looking for.

[Leticia]

I started sci-fi with the robot stories from Isaac Asimov. My first ever sci-fi book was The Robots of Dawn that I found in the school library so that's what I would recommend. Foundation is more an acquired taste if you have read many in the robot series and can't read enough Asimov as it was with me in my teens.
Another beginner sci-fi books I liked back then were books in the Star Trek universe. My favorite then was The Lost Years

When it comes to more modern stuff the Murderbot series is great and for a more dynamic read I would recommend Illuminae

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Chris wrote: "Why not start with this month's selection? Also look at rereads from the group shelf and buddy reads. Science fiction is a come-as-you-are genre. If you get inspired to track down author influences..."

I almost said this, too, but Dreamsnake is not free of sexual violence.

[Mystic]

-I highly recommend Dark Matter by Blake Crouch & if you enjoy it then definitely go for his best book Recursion.

-Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel is awesome!

-I think you'll love A.G. Riddle's books, I have only read one so far Pandemic & it was the first proper Sci-Fi novel I read, it was really good. I think his writing is great for Sci-Fi beginners. I recommend starting with Winter World.

-Exhalation: Stories & Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang.

-Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.

Also watch this video by a Sci-Fi enthusiast for other great recommendations!
https://youtu.be/l8UPAUkQIPI

[Micah]

You know I cut my teeth in SF on Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle) not really knowing or thinking about whether they were SF or not. (Vonnegut never really thought of them as such, but I'd argue today that they are.)

Not that I'm recommending them as your average Joe's intro to SF.

No, I think if I were to recommend anything it would be to just jump into the deep end of he pool and read the two greatest SF books of all time Hyperion and Dune.

Are they simple? No. Are they quick easy reads? No. But to me they strike at the very heart of what SF can be at its best: good storytelling, fascinating world building, wild far-out ideas, complex and compelling plots, memorable scenes and characters.

Plus -- added bonus -- if you read Dune now you'll be all ready for the new Dune movie that's supposed to come out this December (which I personally am highly skeptical about, because the track record for movies interpreting books that I love is pretty dismal).

[Wyatt]

Thank you for the suggestions.

The main thing I love about King is his ability to get inside people’s heads, as well as his ability to build tension.

I really enjoyed the Dark Tower Series, so I’m not worried about anything being too weird.

[Ian]

If you are looking for entry-level SF, I can't think of anything better than most of the very large number of books by the late Andre Norton (1912-2006.) Picking out one or two would be difficult, but you are reasonably safe trying whatever is first available to you.

(Well, maybe not the Crosstime books, which I found did not hold up well on a second reading. But I haven't seen any recent editions of them, anyway.)

A lot of her science fiction, and some of her fantasy, was published as juveniles, or for 'Young Adults" in their hardcover incarnations, but sold well to adults when they went into paperback. She was my introduction to modern science fiction, back in the 1950s, and I happily followed her for decades thereafter.

The one problem with starting her books is where to begin. Actually, almost anyplace. She has a lot of science fiction to her credit, but her fantasy was confined mainly to the very large Witch World series, later expanded to include High Hallack and the Dales, set on a different continent, but in the same time-line.

A lot of her science fiction can be grouped into (usually) short series, sometimes just two volumes. Her early "Time Traders" series ran to four or more volumes, and so did the "Solar Queen" series about a merchant ship competing with large corporations. Others were limited to two or three volumes.

Her science fiction novels often seemed to have a shared background, but sometimes it is so inconsistent as to suggest parallel universes are involved (which she implied in at least one novel, (view spoiler)[Android-At-Arms (hide spoiler)])

Fortunately, her Wikipedia Bibliography article breaks down the series into lists, in addition to all the standalone stories you can choose from.

For what seems to be a complete run-down, including some late-in-life collaborations, see the previously cited Wikipedia article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_N..., along with her biography https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andre_N...

A historical aside on the name "Andre Norton," which the article touches on.

The late Andre Norton became, legally, Andre Alice Norton, but the name given her at birth was Alice Mary Norton. When she began writing, her main market was juvenile fiction, especially historical adventure stories marketed "for boys," and publishers were reluctant to put a woman's name under the title.

However, she didn't keep it a secret that Andre (no accent) Norton was a woman, and some publishers later insisted on a new pseudonym, Andrew North. Some books were reprinted in paperback with "Andre Norton, writing as Andrew North," on the cover, so as not to lose sales to her considerable following. (I should acknowledge that she actually wrote some books aimed at elementary and Junior High level readers, and these went out under the familiar Andre Norton name.)

All this has confused more than one librarian. Even some science fiction fans have trouble remembering it. (I'm not sure how much the current generation is actually aware of it.) Unfortunately, excluding women's names (although not always writers) from certain markets probably isn't a quaint old custom. Then again, a lot of Gothic, and probably other, romances written by men have women's names on the cover....

[Silvana]

I'm going to a more recent route....

The Martian
The Calculating Stars
An Unkindness of Ghosts
All Systems Red
Story of Your Life / Exhalation / Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom / The Lifecycle of Software Objects / basically stories from Ted Chiang
Rosewater
Ancillary Justice

[Tom]

Adding to the list of more recent fare, I think the Wayfarer series (The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet) by Becky Chambers is great.

[Gav451]

I'd start smaller with more of the Pulp Classics that are quick and fun reads.

The Stainless Steel Rat Series is a romp and nothing more with a 50s style science to it. Its like small-town USA space and all the better for it.

The Martian Chronicles is funny and witty and very well written plus it is short stories so it can be read a bit at a time.

Dune is the start of a series but can be read alone. Amazing world building in that one.

HG Wells War of the Worlds is short and brilliant

The Steel Caves and the Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov are whodunnits in space with one eye on his robots stories. Both very good and again very quick reads