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Recommend Some Science Fiction Books

ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
edited June 2010 in Help / Advice Forum
I'm looking for some mind-bending, space-time-oriented science fiction books, but don't know much about the genre or its champions yet. I'm thinking about getting this for Dimension of Miracles, but otherwise I don't really have an idea of what I'm looking for.

As an extra bit of background, I have a full-time job and an active social life that includes a girlfriend, so I probably won't find the time to read through anything gigantic, but might be open to series comprised of shorter novels like, say, Foundation or some such.

What can you guys recommend?

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    see317see317 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I would recomend Fallen Dragon by Peter Hamilton, but the man writes huge novels and this one really needs to be read twice to fully appreciate everything that's going on.

    Time Ships by Stephen Baxter is pretty entertaining. It was written as a sequel to HG Wells' Time Machine, and was given the thumbs up by the Wells Estate.

    see317 on
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    TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    There's Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Charles Scheffield, which is a novel in a which a man has to survive till the end of the universe to save his wife.

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    ransimransim Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I've got a bit of weird taste in sci fi books. But one serious I really enjoyed that no one has ever heard of was the League of People's books by James Alan Gardner.

    The first book is Expendable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expendable).

    They're fun books and a bit different.

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    ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2010
    Hmmmm.... what relates to time travel...

    How about The Time Machine?

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    CrashtardCrashtard Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Scalfin wrote: »
    Hmmmm.... what relates to time travel...

    How about The Time Machine?

    Yes.

    For a modern book/series, The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton. It's seriously great, and it's a 3 book series.

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    FallingmanFallingman Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Peter F Hamilton is a pretty solid recommendation.

    His latest series has some elements of what you're after.

    But, his books are BIG - though, they are surprisingly readable.

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    FightTestFightTest Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Manifold: Time and Manifold: Space by Stephen Baxter. His two best books and probably the two best sci fi books I've ever read. Note that they're of the "hard" sci fi genre meaning there's no goofy magical time machine type stuff which is why I enjoy them so much.

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    MikeManMikeMan Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Not that big a fan of Hamilton.

    His worlds are very interesting, however.

    If you want truly awesome, mind-bending time travelly sci fi, check out Light by M. John Harrison.

    He just sort of throws you into stories and you pick up on stuff as you go, but he's VERY inventive and a very good writer. And that's a damn good book. Not too long, either.

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    ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    FightTest wrote: »
    Manifold: Time and Manifold: Space by Stephen Baxter. His two best books and probably the two best sci fi books I've ever read. Note that they're of the "hard" sci fi genre meaning there's no goofy magical time machine type stuff which is why I enjoy them so much.

    I'm not looking for goofy magical stuff, necessarily. Books that are actually steeped in real theoretical stuff would probably be even more interesting to me, in fact.

    And thanks for all the suggestions so far, guys!

    Zeromus on
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    John MatrixJohn Matrix Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Space-time science fiction? You should read The Forever War and Ender's Game. The first suggestion there directly deals with traveling long distances through space and how it affects the time line of the campaign.

    The second one deals with it to a lesser extent, but is still a fantastic read.

    John Matrix on
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    TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Light and Nova Swing by M. John Harrison. Mike already recommended Light but Nova Swing's a great sequel and it's worth reiterating.

    If you're looking for stuff that's lighter and fluffier read The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and then The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Heinlein. The first isn't time travel but the second is a sequel to the first with plenty of time travel and they're both classics.

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    ScalfinScalfin __BANNED USERS regular
    edited June 2010
    In that case, you might want to read The Theory of Interstellar Trade by Paul Krugman. Yes, that Paul Krugman. It's exactly what you think:
    Abstract: This paper extends interplanetary trade theory to an interstellar setting. It is chiefly concerned with the following question: how should interest rates on goods in transit be computed when the goods travel at close to the speed of light? This is a problem because the time taken in transit will appear less to an observer traveling with the goods than to a stationary observer. A solution is derived from economic theory, and two useless but true theorems are proved... This paper, then, is a serious analysis of a ridiculous subject, which is of course the opposite of what is usual in economics.

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    kaliyamakaliyama Left to find less-moderated fora Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Charles Stross, as well as writing amazing lovecraft/ian flemming mashups, has a book or two out in a post-singularity world. The first, fittingly, is called "Singularity Sky." If you don't like Peter Hamilton you should love Charlie Stross.

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    afrowomanafrowoman Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I highly recommend reading the Pendragon Series by DJ MacHale.

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    afrowomanafrowoman Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    afrowoman wrote: »
    I highly recommend reading the Pendragon Series by DJ MacHale.

    It's about a bunch of "travelers" who have special powers. They travel through time and space. They fight a demon, named Saint Dane, who wants to destroy all the worlds.

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    TriskalTriskal Registered User new member
    edited June 2010
    I would also recommend Stephen Baxter, as one poster has already mentioned. Greg Bear is pretty mind-bending too, but his novels tend to be a bit longer. If you're willing to tackle that, start with Eon.

    Another I'd recommend in the hard sci-fi genre is John Cramer, author of Einstein's Bridge and Twistor.

    Triskal on
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    ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    John Matrix wrote: »
    Space-time science fiction? You should read The Forever War and Ender's Game. The first suggestion there directly deals with traveling long distances through space and how it affects the time line of the campaign.

    The second one deals with it to a lesser extent, but is still a fantastic read.

    I've read and quite enjoyed Ender's Game, in fact!

    Zeromus on
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    NobodyNobody Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    You could try the Looking Glass series by John Ringo and Travis Taylor. It comes across as kinda pulpy from Ringo, but Taylor holds a masters in Physics and Astronomy so it goes into great detail with the scientific portions.

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    HypatiaHypatia Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    John Matrix wrote: »
    Space-time science fiction? You should read The Forever War and Ender's Game. The first suggestion there directly deals with traveling long distances through space and how it affects the time line of the campaign.

    The second one deals with it to a lesser extent, but is still a fantastic read.

    Definitely read The Forever War, it's short, sweet, and really amazingly awesome!

    Hypatia on
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    altmannaltmann Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Snow Crash, by Neil Stephenson.

    It's the ultimate cyberpunk book. It practically INVENTED cyberpunk. Short synopsis:

    A samurai hacker who delivers pizza in an armored tank for the mafia makes a mistake that causes him to go on the run. He ends up assaulting an air-craft carrier sea fortress and fighting a guy who's heart is wired to an atomic bomb.

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    RadicalTurnipRadicalTurnip Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Have you read the rest of the Ender's Game series? What about the Earthfall series by Card? Earthfall is great Sci Fi, but his Mormon comes out a little strong at times, just a warning.

    Other than that, Ann McCaffrey has some great Sci Fi (that isn't Pern, which is Fantasy pretending to be Sci Fi, but quite good). A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge was great, really good aliens. Ian M. Banks has some good stuff, like The Player of Games.

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    Void SlayerVoid Slayer Very Suspicious Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    For old school Si Fi I would recommend The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick or any of his anthologies of short stories. The story involves class warfare, real warfare, cybernetic medicine ethics, media, robots (kill-bots), post apocalyptic underground vaults and
    Some of his more confusing aspects with time travel and an ambiguous ending, like it should have a sequel but just stops there. Oh and he never says what the penultimate truth is, just implies 3 things during the book and ends it.
    Most of the perspectives in the work seem very mundane (it's no space opera) but the villains (?) are great and the heroes are flawed.

    Also Try The Reading Thread in debate and discussions it has a long spoiler intro post with recommendations. There may be a newer one.

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    GenlyAiGenlyAi Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    MikeMan wrote: »
    If you want truly awesome, mind-bending time travelly sci fi, check out Light by M. John Harrison.

    He just sort of throws you into stories and you pick up on stuff as you go, but he's VERY inventive and a very good writer. And that's a damn good book. Not too long, either.
    TychoCelchuuu wrote: »
    Light and Nova Swing by M. John Harrison. Mike already recommended Light but Nova Swing's a great sequel and it's worth reiterating.

    So nice to see someone appreciate these sublimely-written books. They don't have much of a time-travel aspect though.

    I also recommend Bones of the Earth, by Michael Swanwick. This is a fun book if you think it would be fun to follow a plot where the chapters jump around randomly in time and the characters jump around randomly in time, but they do so according to totally different schemes. Not Swanwick's best work, but whatever gets more people into this secret master.

    GenlyAi on
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    ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    RadicalTurnip wrote: »
    Have you read the rest of the Ender's Game series? What about the Earthfall series by Card? Earthfall is great Sci Fi, but his Mormon comes out a little strong at times, just a warning.

    I've read Ender's Shadow and Speaker for the Dead and they didn't really do it for me.

    Read the start of M. John Harrison's "Light" at the bookstore today after the recommendations here and liked it quite a bit so I will probably buy that soon, but thanks for the continuing suggestions!

    Zeromus on
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    Mr ObersmithMr Obersmith Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    It's a bit dry but I really enjoyed Rendezvous with Rama.

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    moonwaltz7moonwaltz7 Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I just read The Stars, My Destination by Alfred Bester. It some good old school weird sf. It has space travel and teleportation, but no time travel (other than the normal kind.)

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    ceresceres When the last moon is cast over the last star of morning And the future has past without even a last desperate warningRegistered User, Moderator mod
    edited June 2010
    I need to make a Hyperion macro for these threads. The Hyperion Cantos is a series of books by Dan Simmons that is.. indescribable. You want mind-bending time travel? You got it.

    The books in the series are Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion.

    This series is pretty much beyond compare.

    Go. Read it now.

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    HlubockyHlubocky Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Definitely going to recommend the new Neal Stephenson book, Anathem. It starts slow but once it gets rolling... awesome! If you are totally turned off by Math/Science talk, you might want to stay away.

    Hlubocky on
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    yotesyotes Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    ceres wrote: »
    I need to make a Hyperion macro for these threads. The Hyperion Cantos is a series of books by Dan Simmons that is.. indescribable. You want mind-bending time travel? You got it.

    The books in the series are Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion.

    This series is pretty much beyond compare.

    Go. Read it now.

    Listen to ceres, and listen good.

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    BoomShakeBoomShake The Engineer Columbia, MDRegistered User regular
    edited June 2010
    I'm a big fan of Tau Zero by Poul Andersen.

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    frayfray Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Seconded Hyperion, The Forever War and Tau Zero. Also Man Plus by Poul Andersen, though it's not so much time travel, and pretty much anything by Asimov or Neal Stephenson. You might like John Courtenay Grimwood, although his books can be a bit excessively grimdark for my taste - Stamping Butterflies is good stuff though.

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    ZeromusZeromus Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    ceres wrote: »
    I need to make a Hyperion macro for these threads. The Hyperion Cantos is a series of books by Dan Simmons that is.. indescribable. You want mind-bending time travel? You got it.

    The books in the series are Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion.

    This series is pretty much beyond compare.

    Go. Read it now.

    Well, that's a convincing sell.

    Zeromus on
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    MuddBuddMuddBudd Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Zeromus wrote: »
    ceres wrote: »
    I need to make a Hyperion macro for these threads. The Hyperion Cantos is a series of books by Dan Simmons that is.. indescribable. You want mind-bending time travel? You got it.

    The books in the series are Hyperion, The Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, and The Rise of Endymion.

    This series is pretty much beyond compare.

    Go. Read it now.

    Well, that's a convincing sell.

    I'll third this. It's my favorite series of all time.

    Dan Simmons also has a newer, two-book set called Olympos and Ilium, which is really really good. And does feature some fantastically interesting time travel and high sci-fi.

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    KelorKelor Registered User regular
    edited June 2010
    Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy is brilliant and falls under your series of Foundation style smaller books.

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