I've recently entered a personal Sci-fi renaissance, here are my thoughts on books I've read since last summer:

Tales of the Dying Earth, Jack Vance (1950, 1966, 1983, 1984) - 9/10. Melancholic, witty, original. Mankind’s transient hopes, dreams and ambitions are beautifully contrasted with the enormity of the sun’s impending death. Cugel (main character of two of the books) is such an entertaining character, never a dull moment!

The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (2015) - 5/10. Fantastic worldbuilding wasted on a story and characters that can only be described as “juvenile”. The book lacks different perspectives; the bad guys are cardboard cutouts that serve only to define the main characters in a suppressed-minorities-style. Lots of eye-rolling during this read.

The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula Le Guin (1969) - 10/10. Exquisite and thought-provoking stuff about gender, loved the descriptions of the environments. Very economically written at just over 300 pages.

The Book of the New Sun 1-4, Gene Wolfe (1980-1983) - 9/10. At times taxing to read, but rarely have I encountered this amount of depth in literature. I’ve found myself thinking about these books ever since I finished reading them. Will re-read at some point!

Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke (1973) - 8/10. Great “first contact” SF. I had a weird feeling of deja vu as I read it, probably because it’s a very influential book.

Last and First Men, Olaf Stapledon (1930) - 7/10.Very creative, gets repetitive at times. Amusing how wrong Stapledon was about everything when he tried to predict global politics in the 20th century, but after those chapters the book takes off.

Hyperion & Fall of Hyperion, Dan Simmons (1989, 1990) - 10/10. All you could ever want from SF - mystery, action, intrigue, JOHN KEATS. Loved the structure of the first book.

Endymion & Rise of Endymion, Dan Simmons (1996, 1997) - 5/10. Why Dan, why. The books are too long, do not contain very interesting characters (except Father-Captain Federico de Soya, who should’ve been the main character…!), and retcon a lot of stuff from the first two books. The dynamic between Raul and Aenea is dull and predictable.

Revelation Space, Alastair Reynolds (2000) - 7/10. The book started out grand in scope, but the latter parts are much more claustrophobic (in multiple ways). Very cool mysteries. I found the inter-personnel drama was given too much space towards the end. I bought all three books in the "trilogy", looking forward to reading the next two. :)

Recommendations are welcome btw, so far I've gotten these tips from SF aficionados: The wind up girl, Snow crash, The dispossessed

Usually I try to read the classic authors in publication order but I was at a used bookstore last year on an unseasonably summery fall day and found a rather large copy of Stranger in a Strange Land, but I hate lugging around large books so I put it back and knocked over this old printing of it, never read, regular sized, printed in the late 60s, the kind you know you're going to have to tape together to get it read, and it was $2 so I grabbed it. The store was even great, all used, so mostly classics, it's tiny sci-fi section was in the back and the only visible way to find it was a picture of Picard pointing toward it. Ive been meaning to start Heinlein for about a year so I tried to keep from reading it so I could start with Heinleins first novel. I love watching writers develop, especially themes. But my SO said let's go sit on a bench on the waterfront and I dove in. One of the kids accidentally hid my book on me and it was lost for months but now I'm nearly halfway through and it's absolutely delightful. This one is probably the most up my alley as sci-fi can get, too. So tell me reddit users, how are his earliest novels in comparison? I'm absolutely in love with it. I hope it's just his writing style and not this specific story. What's your list of favorites from him? Tell me what else I have to look forward to 💕 Apologies for the scattered, long post. My mind is racing from the shear imagination and high stakes of the scene I'm in, I had to pause to make coffee and figured I'd tap you guys while I wait.

Hey everyone. I’ve been currently wanting to read something good with post-human or transhumanist vibes. I just finished The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams and really enjoyed it. I’m currently deciding between Diaspora by Greg Egan and Blindsight by Peter Watts. I can’t decide which to choose. Which would you choose?

Can someone recommend some works with Neal Asher-like techno-body horror? A space-setting would be the icing on the cake

I am recently getting back into reading and would love some time travel book recs! I’ve been exploring this sub and marking a few options but just curious what you all have in mind at the moment, especially with vibes like the movies/shows I mentioned. I have always loved time travel and it’s probably one of my most favorite tropes. I generally love timey-wimey stuff and enjoy philosophical and/or fantasy vibes. Back to the Future is just nostalgic. I also have loved anything with a time loop like Groundhog Day although I know that’s more romance.

So far, I have Ministry of Time and Sea of Tranquility on hold and can’t wait to read them! I am in the middle of Dark Matter and have Recursion on hold. Also Timeline.

I did read This Is How You Lose the Time War last year and didn’t love it. Maybe it felt too hard to follow? Another time travel book I really was floored by is Kindred, although that’s more historical fic.

Ty! I love the book communities on Reddit so far!

Hi

By accident I read Patrick Lee s Deep Sky first, and just found out it had two prequels. Do I bother with Breach and Ghost city? I really, REALLY loved Deep Sky.

Gone back to read some of my older books as I've been disappointed by a lot of newer popular stuff. Picked up Pandoras Star of the Commonwealth Saga and made the grave error in thinking the Primes were in a whole other series.

Reached THAT chapter last night and bloody hell, I forgot how absolutely terrifying it is.

Typical horror like ghosts, monsters etc doesn't bother me but that is seriously horrifying.

Don't read before bed if you want sweet dreams 😁

Can you recommend or do you know of any books/stories that feature an elevator to space?

Does anyone know the status of the WWE site? It doesn’t look like anything new has been added since last November

Margot had seen the sun as a child and vividly remembered it.

On Venus, the sun hadn't appeared for seven years. Then, one day, it appeared for a single hour. Ironically, during that specific hour, Margot was locked in a closet and missed seeing the sun she had longed for.

At the end of the story, Margot is let out of the closet, and the narrative concludes. There is significance in the fact that the story ends at this precise moment:

a) First, there are two key scenarios in Margot's life. In both instances, Margot experienced an event that profoundly influenced her. The first was her childhood encounter with the sun. The second was her confinement in the closet, which prevented her from seeing the sun again.

The first event clearly influenced Margot deeply, as she held onto the memory of the sun as a source of hope for many years. However, the story doesn't show the aftermath of the second event—her confinement—or its influence on her.

This ambiguity is significant. It leaves room for interpretation beyond assuming she is completely traumatized or that the ending is solely negative. It could also symbolize that even though the confinement negatively impacted her, the sun's presence was a factor in both defining scenarios. The sun influenced her memory (first scenario) and its physical appearance, which she missed, defined the second scenario. Therefore, the ambiguous ending might offer a glimmer of hope, reminding the reader (and Margot) that the sun still exists, even when unseen, and that holding onto that hope is possible. This might be why the author chose to leave the ending open to interpretation.

b) Secondly, the ambiguity surrounding Margot's state upon emerging from the closet—whether she is dominated by the negative influence of her confinement or sustained by the enduring memory or idea of the sun—contrasts with another element in the story: the sun's next reappearance is certain but very distant (seven years away). Just as the sun's eventual return is something awaited with hope, the reader is left hoping for a positive future for Margot, despite the uncertainty.

I finished Spin a couple of weeks ago and am just about finished with Consider Phlebas (no spoilers!).

Spin I absolutely adored, whereas I'd say I simply liked Consider Phlebas. I definitely can see why people like Banks... he is a great writer with a snarky wit. Of course, RCW is also a great writer, and the characters in Spin have much more depth than the characters in Consider Phlebas. Not a fair comparison perhaps, given CP was clearly meant to be slightly pulpy like an old fashioned space adventure.

After thinking about it a bit, I came to the conclusion that I simply find action sequences a tad on the boring side. Consider Phlebas is full of them... Millennial Falcon style action when escaping from the orbital, a raid on a temple, etc... Not sure why, but when I think of all the recent SF I've read I suddenly realized that the action scenes have almost always been the least compelling parts for me. I found Fal 'Ngeestra's ruminations much more interesting than all the action hijinks in Consider Phlebas, for instance. I also enjoyed all the discussion of the Culture's "culture".

I think maybe it's just that such scenes are not really where the written word shows it's strengths, given how immediately compelling and visceral an action scene in a good TV show or movie can be. I'm sure there are exceptions, but it seems like literatures strengths are it's ability to convey complex ideas, and to give us insight into the emotional and psychological interiority of it's characters. Something that TV and film have a hard time doing.

Given all that, what are your favorite SF works with little action?

I felt like Adrian T. in Children of Time hit the balance just about perfect... he had a little action, but he didn't get super descriptive with it... rather than going into every fired laser or plasma beam, he depicted just enough action to propel the story along.

I think this is the first time I've read a book and really not understood it. Like, so much so, that I barely even have guesses as to what might be it's point. I was enjoying the first half and then the second half just dragged and nothing came together for me. Not it's weird meta storytelling, not the sexual aspects, not the parallels between the Captain and the wife, not the Venusian stuff, and surely not the ending. I really just did not get this at all.

Interesting short story to read during our current times.

I'm a fairly new science fiction reading, having read mostly literary fiction, fantasy, and horror and don't have a background in science. But I'm wondering if anyone has any advice about how to get used to reading techno babble and jargon heavy passages. Is it just a matter of learning vocabulary?

Im interested in hearing about stories where the protagonist is good, but you wind up sympathizing, and agreeing with, the antagonist’s motivations and actions more.

I am about halfway through the first Salvation book and there's an issue that I'm not sure is an error or a clue.

In Alik's story about the investigation at the Lorenzo portal home, there is a portal that leads to Antarctica and when they go through it's dark there. It is specifically pointed out several times that Alik is wearing a heavy coat because it's winter in New York. If it's winter in New York, wouldn't Antarctica be in permanent daylight?

Is this an error or is it a clue that I should let go of until later?

So I've first read the trilogy of Ami, Child of the Stars by Enrique Barrios it's a very simple read and was advertised for children because everything treated in there would feel to fabulous for the average realistic adult. It treats about morality, values, life after death, evolution of the soul and physical body, soul mate, aliens in relation to Earth and also their lifes in several other planets, evil construct and purpose, advanced technology -- all that good stuff... Those subject are touched and expalined very simply and in form of conversation between caracters. Someone gave me this book when I was 10 and never read it past the 1st page , now that I'm 23 F, I remembered the book out of nowhere and it had a profond effect on me.

The other book I read was 2150 AD by Alexander Thea with a lot of similar theme with the Ami book but going more into dreams state, alternate reality, holistic powers, futur civilisation, death, will power, Choice....

I'd like to know if any of you read and I don't see comments about those books anywhere and they are extraordinary !

And also I would love some simlar recommandation, thank you for reading :)

I will copy paste my original post to r/Findabook:

So I dreamed that I was reading this book about an intelligent monkey that was traveling in a spaceship and is being chased by other creatures. The ship crashes into a human colony, and the monkey goes into hiding with one family coming out to its rescue.

There are some other details I remember, the chapters had some intermissions with comics and some poems in between, though that might just be dream weirdness. The things chasing the monkey also had some sort of tech that could allow it to speak, but for some reason that was bad.

I remember saying in the dream that it was a pretty heavy book to read, and had a great reflection on what it meant to be human. Now this is probably a long shot, but is there something like this dream book out there?

It is a pretty weird one, but it still haunts me and I would love to find anything like it out there. Cheers!

Hey all, just finished the Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch.

Overall, really enjoyed it. My only confusion was what exactly was happening at the Libra crash sight. That whole chapter of the book was the only part I'm still trying to figure out.

Was the whole crash site basically just a messed up time vortex? (That's how I took it anyways)

Hoping Tom Sweterlitsch continues writing one day, I really enjoyed this.

Hullo there, friends.

Since I started to read him, Wyndham has become my fav sci-fi author untill today, and I don't think I will ever stop liking his stories.

He has such an special imagination and bravery for daring to touch the fragilest fibre of society's morallity. "The Midwich Cuckoos" should be a mandatory reading for the ethic class in every school of the world.

For what I'd seen, Wyndham is very famous in the anglospeaking world (specially UK, of course), but practically nobody knows who he is in the hispanospeaking world.

I'm surprised that some of his books still haven't a spanish translation, and finding some original copies is hard in Spain 🇪🇦. So it's difficult to find someone with who talk about his novels :'v

Do you like Wyndham's stories? How did you meet them?

It's only 2 weeks old, but I'm really digging Wil Wheaton's new podcast It's Storytime. While a podcast isn't printSF, he is narrating SF short stories that ARE in print, so I figure it's appropriate to talk about it here.

So far both stories have been from authors I've never heard of, and were engaging and entertaining. I highly recommend you give it a listen. Just search for Wil Wheaton in your favorite podcast app. You can find a bit more detail about it here.