Non Trek scfi novels?

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by GalaxyClass1701, Apr 25, 2012.

  1. rfmcdpei

    rfmcdpei Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    It even features in Trek literature: in Children of the Storm, when the crew of the Demeter discuss how to insert O'Connell's seeds into the bubbles of the Children of the Storm, the "ancient myth" of the subtle knife is brought up.
     
  2. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

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    This thread needs to go to the Sci Fi boards.
     
  3. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    It would be more accurate to say they were written by Gentry Lee with Clarke consulting. And they're so profoundly different from Rendezvous with Rama in tone, content, and approach that I think it's misleading to lump them together as a unified whole. A lot of people who love Clarke's novel (myself included) loathe Lee's sequels. And the reverse is probably true as well. So caveat emptor there. (There were also two further books in the series that Lee wrote entirely by himself.)
     
  4. Therin of Andor

    Therin of Andor Admiral Moderator

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    Why? The OP is a ST reader, but curious about recommendations of non-ST SF novels enjoyed by fellow ST fans. If the post was over on a Sci Fi board, many of us wouldn't have even noticed it.
     
  5. Causchy

    Causchy Ensign Red Shirt

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    I found The Sparrow and Children of God, both by Mary Doria Russell, to be extremely interesting and fairly disturbing.
     
  6. Patrick O'Brien

    Patrick O'Brien Captain Captain

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    I just started reading this book, so far so good. It is presented in a similar format as World War Z, which I like:)
     
  7. j3067

    j3067 Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    A Fire Upon the Deep & A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
    The Peace War & Marooned in Real Time, also by Vernor Vinge

    The Vinge books are paired because, although they are not direct sequels, they share some secondary characters characters and occur in the same universe.

    I'd also recommend Marsbound & Starbound, by Joe Haldeman (I did not care for Earthbound at all though).

    I'll also echo the recommendations of the Old Man's War books by John Scalzi.
     
  8. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Vinge has recently published The Children of the Sky, which is a direct sequel to A Fire Upon the Deep. So the "Zones of Thought" series is up to three books now.
     
  9. jstern2

    jstern2 Ensign Red Shirt

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    Are there any really good Firefly- or BSG-esque books that are less science-fictiony and more about just great drama that happens to occur in a spaceship setting?

    Or to make another comparison is there a novel that does for spaceships what Zone One did for zombies?
     
  10. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    There are some pretty decent Babylon 5 novels. I read the trilogy about Bester (the Psi Cop played by Walter Koenig) and found it really enjoyable - if a little disturbing, which is fine because Bester is a really disturbed/ing character.
     
  11. The Borgified Corpse

    The Borgified Corpse Admiral Admiral

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    Ouch! Forgotten already? You were just down ther
    Speaking of Bester, I can't believe no one has mentioned Alfred Bester's 2 great classics: The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination.

    I also really liked Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. (Imagine an Ayn Rand novel in outer space, but with shorter political rants.)

    All of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's books are great.

    I've only read one of his books, Rising Sun, and that's more of a straight-up murder mystery than sci-fi. But it was a helluva lot of fun! I've never read another author who was as engaging and whose prose was so thoroughly readable. I breezed through it as if it were a book less than half as long.
     
  12. Timewalker

    Timewalker Cat-lovin', Star Trekkin' Time Lady Premium Member

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    Who do you think the Babylon 5 character was named after? ;)

    I absolutely LOVE The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. I've read and re-read my copy until it's nearly falling apart - time to replace it so I can read it some more! :D Of all the Heinlein novels I've read, this is the one I've most wished could have been made into a movie. A friend and I used to spend a lot of forum conversations (on another board) "casting" it...
     
  13. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not sure what you mean by "science-fiction-y." Are you saying you're looking for science fiction stories that focus on characterization rather than the science fiction aspects of the setting?
     
  14. Yevetha

    Yevetha Commodore

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    If you are looking for Space Fantasy try Star wars books.

    I recommand the Thrawn Trilogy for start.
     
  15. backstept

    backstept Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Peter Watts' Rifters trilogy and Blindsight
    one thing to note: Feedbooks has the second and third Rifters books labeled wrong . . . Maelstrom is #2 and Behemoth is #3

    Arthur C Clarke's The City and the Stars was great
     
  16. jstern2

    jstern2 Ensign Red Shirt

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    Pretty much. I've been searching for a couple days now and it's interesting how hard it is to find a novel that's just about humans in space - no aliens, no technobabble, etc. - just great characters in a tense setting in space.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    ^Well, if you're not interested in the speculative elements, why do you want it to be in space at all?
     
  18. jstern2

    jstern2 Ensign Red Shirt

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    I'm interested in the speculative elements, but in the same way that Firefly or BSG are. There are still sci-fi elements, but they aren't necessarily at the forefront of what the story is about.
     
  19. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I recommend anything and everything in Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth milieu.
     
  20. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I'd recommend picking up Robert J. Sawyer's Starplex.