Recommended Science Fiction Books
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Ioniz3dSPIRITZ
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I'm looking for books that have to do with space and aliens. Space and the possiblity of life on other planets has been a big interest lately. I'm looking to feed my imagination. Someone drops some titles and/or authors.
Note* I don't want to limit myself or this thread to just books regarding space and aliens. If you know of any other science fiction books that you think are a good read, please do share.
Note* I don't want to limit myself or this thread to just books regarding space and aliens. If you know of any other science fiction books that you think are a good read, please do share.
Comments
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Octavia Butler is my favorite author, I have everything she's ever written.
Kindred - about a Black woman who travels back in time whenever her White ancestor 'calls' her (fantasy, not sci-fi)
Lilith's Brood series (Dawn, Adulthood, Imago)- centuries after humanity destroys itself, a race of aliens resurrect them. From what I remember, the aliens won't let them reproduce because there's something in human DNA that makes us inherently prone to violence so some of the humans want to send human colonies to another planet where they can have an exclusively human society like they did before the war
A Seed To Harvest series - contains Wild Seed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark and Patternmaster - this series, especially Wild Seed and Mind of My Mind, is what made Octavia Butler my favorite author. It's about two African immortals, a shape-shifter and a telepath who can take over other people's bodies and control their minds. The telepath wants to create a race of telepaths who can enslave the rest of the world. He uses the shape-shifter and her sense of morality against her but she wants nothing to do with him after she finds out what kind of a man he is
Parable of the Sower/Parable of the Talents - about a Black woman in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian future who has a birth defect which causes her to be overly sensitive to the pain of others. She builds a naturalistic 'religion' with the idea that ? is change and that it's humanity's destiny to colonize other planets. It gets depressing at times
Fledgling - about a 10 year old Black girl with amnesia who finds out that she's a vampire except the vampires in this novel aren't supernatural beings, they're a separate species of humans who develop mutually beneficial, symbiotic relationships with ? sapiens
Survivor- takes place in the A Seed To Harvest universe but Butler disliked it so much that she had it pulled out of print in the '80s. I have one of the few remaining copies, it cost me over $200. In the future, humans have set up a small colony on a planet already inhabited by another alien species who are divided in to two cultures, the Tarkhon and the Garkhon. The colony has cordial relations with the Garkohn who are hostile to the Tarkhon. After she's kidnapped and integrates into the Tarkohn society, the main character returns to her colony and acts as a liaison between the Tarkohn and the colony, encouraging them to work together against their common enemy- the Garkohn who want to eventually control and dominate the humans
She also has a book of short stories, Blood Child, that I'd recommend.
That's what I remember, I read Survivor last summer and the other novels, I haven't read in years.
When I have nothing else to read, I'm going to have an Octavia Butler marathon.
Darwin's Radio/Darwin's Children by Greg Bear : in a single generation, humans begin to evolve into a separate species (some racism but, overall, I liked it)
The Neanderthal Parallax by Robert J. Sawyer : ? sapiens discover a parallel universe where neanderthals became the dominant species (I also liked it, overall, even though the author gets pushy and obnoxious with his anti-religious views)
The Chameleon by Joe Haldeman- two aliens with the ability to shape-shift and pass for human arrive on Earth but they have no idea where they came from. It takes place over a century, it was really good
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - a young boy is used by the military to fight an interstellar war with an alien species (I'm reading the second sequel, Speaker for the Dead)
It's not science fiction but Tananarive Due has a fantasy series (My Soul To Keep, The Living Blood, Blood Colony) about an Ethiopian immortal who breaks his covenant with his people and tries to give his wife and daughter the blood that makes them immortal. I've only read the first two and I'd recommend them, especially the first one
The Imaro series by Charles Saunders is about a warrior in a parallel universe that mirrors mythical, ancient Africa and his rise as an unwanted, bastard child of a woman scorned by her tribe and some great 'destiny' he has to fulfill. I read the first two novels, it's a little cheesy but I liked it (fantasy, not science fiction)
No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop : I never finished this but it's about a Black American man who travels back in time to prehistoric Africa, befriends a group of prehistoric humans (not ? sapiens, an earlier species) and, apparently, has a child with one of them. It was all right but not as interesting as it sounds
Here's a list of science fiction/fantasy novels that are awarded every year : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nebula_Award_for_Best_Novel http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_awards
and I'd recommend The Outer Limits : http://www.tv-links.eu/tv-shows/The-Outer-Limits_9678/ -
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
? is a good read. really makes you think about the world you live in.
I'm hesitant to read A Brave New World because of it's anti-hedonistic world view but I'll get around to it. I found it online somewhere.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12878933/BRAVE-NEW-WORLD-A-Defense-of-Paradise-Engineering
I'd also recommend Animal Farm by George Orwell even though it's fantasy, not sci-fi. -
What's so bad about anti-hedonistic point of view?
he doesnt trash it all together. at least i didnt think so. It seemed he more preached balance.
does 1984 by george orwell count as science fiction?
The chrysalids and the Giver are also good dystopian novels.
and i've heard good things about feed.
For the record, by 'hedonism' I mean philosophical hedonism, the idea that happiness is the only intrinsic good and suffering is the only intrinsic bad. I should wait until I've read it before I criticize it but the impression I have is that in the flawed society presented in ABNW, people have wrongly used technology to eliminate suffering and experience 'false happiness' without being 'truly' happy (the idea is that artificially induced happiness isn't 'real' and pain has some kind of noble or virtuous value). There is no 'false' happiness, all happiness is intrinsically valuable and the end goal of ethics and technology should be to maximize happiness/minimize suffering as much as is possible. I only skimmed through the article I linked but it makes my case better than I could.
I never really thought of 1984 as a science fiction novel but, according to many people, it is. -
wOW! Thanks bro. Now I'd like to see a sci-fi film with a pre-dominately black cast that isn't a comedy.
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that could be done.
how about one in a distant future where black people are the dominant race?
that would be trippy. i wanted to right something like that. Flip the roles of minorities around and see how it would look on screen.
there's more to it than just that. In ABNW, nobody earns anything. You are born into your job in the society. "everybody owns everybody" so you dont have to court a woman and win her heart anymore. Whenever life gets too stressful they have a miracle drug you consume to rid yourself of the stress. and worst of all, people are completely desensitized to death from a young age. There is no mourning. I think he really tried to point out that without the bad, the good is monotonous and boring.
I'd also be interested in a predominately Black science fiction movie or television series but even more so if the plot did not revolve around some kind of racial issue. If the only Black science fiction shows/movies in the future are race oriented, this reinforces the idea that science fiction is by default a 'White' genre and Black people only show up in science fiction stories when there's some kind of racial issue involved. Fantasy is probably the oldest genre of story telling in the world which means that Africans have been telling fantasy stories (ie. myths and legends) for thousands and thousands of years. Science fiction is just fantasy with a naturalistic world view.
I disagree with the assumption that without suffering, happiness would get 'boring'. Boredom is a form of distress, so it's contradictory to say that too much happiness makes you unhappy. If happiness gets boring it isn't 'happiness' anymore. This is off topic but the fact that most people lack a unified, coherent theory of value is exactly why most people cannot make consistent, moral judgments. -
On A Pale Horse by Piers Anthony or however he spells his name. Also see Split Infinity by the same author. Sci fi fantasy crossover
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The Ellimist chronicles
The Andalite chronicles.
^ Lots of aliens.
I read them when I was a kid, but they're still a good read. -
I'm also a big Octavia Butler fan. My favorite sci fi authors are Robert Heinlein, Asimov, Vernor Vinge, Rudy Rucker, Timothy Zahn.
I love people like Greg bear but he's not "Space opera" style science fiction. My favorite genre of sci-fi is cyberpunk, though. Gibson, Sterling, Stephenson, etc -
there is no reason to promote this garbage series and simultaneously be unsure about reading Brave New World. or any other decent sci-fi book.Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - a young boy is used by the military to fight an interstellar war with an alien species (I'm reading the second sequel, Speaker for the Dead) -
Ender's Game was great. The rest of the series is so-so. I enjoyed several others in it, though.
Brave New World is a necessary read, but I'm not sure how "enjoyable" it is. There are better dystopic novels. -
some Star Wars books can be good reading, the original post-Return of the Jedi trilogy by Timothy Zahn is like the definitive expanded universe classics. its called the Thrawn trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command.
also i recommend Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. ? -
...to the fullest. Also check out a newer Black female author ('00's) named Nalo Hopkinson--a lot of Afro-Caribbean influence. Also Nnedi Okorafor. If you happen to be looking for sci fi by Black authors specifically, a good pick-up for the collection would be Dark Matter (a short fiction anthology, came out a few years ago and has a follow-up volume as well).
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The Ellimist chronicles
The Andalite chronicles.
^ Lots of aliens.
I read them when I was a kid, but they're still a good read.
I loved all the chronicles. You can read the entire Animorphs series online. I started a few years ago but stopped at book 14 in the regular series. The author got on my nerves sometimes. I read up to book 28, I think, as a child. I might pick up from where I left off (book 14) one of these days.
I'd also recommend the My Teacher Is An Alien and Aliens Ate My Homework series by Bruce Coville.a good pick-up for the collection would be Dark Matter (a short fiction anthology, came out a few years ago and has a follow-up volume as well).
From the first book, I especially liked Gimmile's Song by Charles Saunders and Chicago 1927 by Jewelle Gomez. From the second book, I liked The Quality of Sand by Cherene Sherard, Yahimba's Choice by Charles Saunders, Aftermoon by Tananarive Due and Trance by Kalamu ya Salam. There may be some more that I can't remember. -
2001
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I used to love goosebumps as a kid. it was all I would read.
I loved Goosebumps. You should read the Fear Street trilogy (same author).some Star Wars books can be good reading, the original post-Return of the Jedi trilogy by Timothy Zahn is like the definitive expanded universe classics. its called the Thrawn trilogy: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command.
I liked Tales of the Bounty Hunter by Kevin J. Anderson.also i recommend Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. ?
I want to read it but I couldn't finish the movie (Blade Runner) because it was so boring. -
Ender's Game was great. The rest of the series is so-so. I enjoyed several others in it, though.
Brave New World is a necessary read, but I'm not sure how "enjoyable" it is. There are better dystopic novels.
enders game is very dope -
I loved Goosebumps. You should read the Fear Street trilogy (same author).
I liked Tales of the Bounty Hunter by Kevin J. Anderson.
I want to read it but I couldn't finish the movie (Blade Runner) because it was so boring.
You found Blade Runner boring. Wow. Thats one of the top sci-fi movies of all time. -
Ender's shadow >>>>>>>>>> Ender's Game. (ender's shadow is told from the point of view of another character.
Oh yeah, Orson scott card is an ? . -
I recommend The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin.
Since you mentioned an all-black cast she also has a fantasy series that starts with A Wizard of Earthsea where nearly all the characters are black or brown but they always make them white on the cover and made them white in the embarrassingly ? sci-fi channel adaptation, "Earthsea".
When I first read about the casting of that I went ballistic. I think she did as well in some letter and the argument on the imdb boards went on for years. -
any book by L. Ron Hubbard
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well the whole idea of being unpleased because your color of people arent participating in a certain activity you enjoy enough is racist...
That makes a lot of sense, Ice, it is racist to want different kinds of people portrayed in a genre typically associated with Whites.
