Looking for specific SF books suggestions.

[Arpy]

Don't know if this request should go in the Gen SF BB but it's for books specifically so I'm trying it here. Mods please move if need be.

'Looking for SF reading suggestions that follow certain criteria and hope the SF readers here may know of some.


1) There should be no nautical space navies, or space airforces substituting fighters for ships.

2) There should be no FTL travel, or loopholes like wormholes to achieve the same effect.

3) No artificial gravity beyond the obvious spinning.

4) Everything isn't run by evil corporations, archaic nation-states, space warlords, space pirates, space gangsters, or have devolved into Luddite fantasy. Or be run by benevolent AI's that make humans superfluous.

5) Characters don't have massive chips on their shoulders because of the way the world therein is. Nor should they be brilliant ubermensch who miraculously save the universe. Overall, they're as more "civilized" from us as we are of people from an appropriate time in the past, accounting for the increasing rapidity of social and technological change. I leave what "civilized" means to be interpreted by the author.

I may add more later.
​

 

[David Mack]

That's quite a niche you've defined. If you weren't so opposed to FTL elements, I'd recommend John Scalzi's superlative novel The Android's Dream.

 

[kkozoriz1]

The Forever War would be pretty close.

 

[Dark Gilligan]

Agreeing wholeheartedly with The Forever War, though the collapsar jump runs afoul of criterion 2. But the thousand years of time dilation make up for it nicely.

 

[kkozoriz1]

That's what I thought. You don't go out and back in a few days. It just gets further and further into the future.

 

[Thrawn]

How about Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space universe? I can't remember if he has artificial gravity or not, but it's certainly space opera that dodges a lot of the usual cliches, including the rest of them on your list. In this case, "more civilized" would be defined as greater integration of technology, for better or for worse.

Try either Revelation Space or The Prefect. Both are good jumping-on points. The chronological list is

The Prefect
(Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days) - a book w/ 2 novellas
Chasm City
Revelation Space
Redemption Ark
Absolution Gap

and there's a short story collection called Galactic North, too, that goes from way before Prefect to way after Absolution Gap.

Revelation Space was written first, and The Prefect comes first, so pick whichever one sounds the most interesting. The last three make a loose trilogy (VERY loose), but aside from that they can be read in whatever order you want. They all stand alone in the same universe.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Encounter With Tiber

 

[Allyn Gibson]

If it weren't for number two, I'd recommend Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye. There is FTL, but outside of getting to the stars, it's not a useful FTL.

Or try their novel Footfall, in which near-present day Earth is invaded by baby elephants from Alpha Centauri. Absolutely no FTL; the fithp got here on a slowboat generation ship.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Encounter With Tiber

Ooh, I wasn't thinking of that one. Nice choice. My copy is autographed by Buzz Aldrin.

Also, James P. Hogan's The Gentle Giants of Ganymede and its sequels.

 

[The Laughing Vulcan]

Encounter With Tiber

Ooh, I wasn't thinking of that one. Nice choice. My copy is autographed by Buzz Aldrin.

Where's the jealousy smiley, the jealousy smiley!

 

[kkozoriz1]

Encounter With Tiber

Ooh, I wasn't thinking of that one. Nice choice. My copy is autographed by Buzz Aldrin.

Also, James P. Hogan's The Gentle Giants of Ganymede and its sequels.

Gentle Giants was the second book. The first is Inherit the Stars.
Wouldn't want to start the series in the wrong place. Giants Star is the third. Also available as an Omnibus of the first three novels.
http://www.amazon.ca/Giants-Omnibus-James-P-Hogan/dp/0345388852/ref=sr_1_84?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1277825219&sr=1-84

 

[SicOne]

Someone else mentioned Alastair Reynolds. I thought his novel "Pushing Ice" was extraordinary.

I recently re-read John Birmingham's Axis of Time trilogy (Weapons of Choice, Designated Targets, Final Impact) that might fit your bill; look up Axis of Time on Wikipedia for a little rundown that you can check further.

 

[Thrawn]

^ I grabbed the first book of that trilogy when it was free on Kindle, randomly, a while ago. Haven't read it, and haven't really even looked into it, I just got it for free.

I assume since you've re-read it that it's pretty good?

 

[Arpy]

Wow, I'm impressed by the number of responses. Thank you, all. You rock.

It's late here now. I'll look into all of these and let you know where I'm at. Thanks again.

 

[SicOne]

^ I grabbed the first book of that trilogy when it was free on Kindle, randomly, a while ago. Haven't read it, and haven't really even looked into it, I just got it for free.

I assume since you've re-read it that it's pretty good?

Thrawn, they're f#cking GREAT! Let me know if you read the first one, and we'll discuss.

 

[Thrawn]

^ Cool. Alternate history isn't generally my thing, but I'll give it a shot at some point. My next project is the 6-book The Lost Fleet series, which totally violates this thread's conditions, but which I'm enjoying way more than I expected to.

 

[Starbreaker]

The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson

Generational ship, good character/human study.

 

[kkozoriz1]

I'm tempted to recommend The War against the Chtorr series but we've been waiting on the fifth book (of seven) for almost 20 years now.

 

[MichaelS]

Kim Stanley Robinson's Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy. Also, his Science in the Capital trilogy.
Karen Traviss' wess'har Wars series (there's more advanced technology as the series progresses, though--including FTL).
Kay Kenyon's The Entire and the Rose quadrilogy (there might be minor incidents of FTL, but I don't recall anything detailed, and it's absolutely not integral to the story)

And since you didn't rule out time travel or time-related phenomena:
Kage Baker's Company series.
The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson.
Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer (forget the TV show, read the book).

Lastly, because I feel everybody should read this, even if it doesn't meet your criteria:
Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos.

 

[kkozoriz1]

Dragon's Egg & Starquake by Robert L. Forward