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What lesser-known sci-fi reads do you recommend?
We all know the big-name ones: Dune, 1984, The Martian Chronicles, etc.
What are some sci-fi books that you loved that you never hear about or that won't be making those top-of-all-time lists?
Why do they stand out to you?
What do they do well?
Why do you think they didn't get wider appreciation?
There are three that come to mind, although whether or not they count as "big-name" is probably up for debate. I mention them because they have moved me, and because although they may sometimes appear on "sci-fi you should read" lists, they're also not so large in the zeitgeist as far as the general public is concerned.
The Culture Series - Iain M. Banks
This is probably the better known of the three, and also the most extensive. The ten books are anthological in structure, and detail the interactions between the Culture- a post-scarcity space-faring society of humanoids- and smaller, less-advanced civilisations that don't necessarily share the same enlightened view of morality or society. I love it for its almost anti-dystopian lens into the future, for its discussion about purpose in an environment in which everything you'll ever need is provided at no cost, and for its approach to current societal issues which poses the possibility that maybe we could forget all of the manufactured animosity surrounding them entirely.
As to why it didn't get wider appreciation? I'm not entirely certain. The anthological nature might put people off, and while the series has been referenced in more high-profile contexts (such as the naming of the SpaceX landing ships), adaptations have also never quite managed to get off of the ground. Adaptation attempts seem to try to start with the first-published book, which might also be one of the rougher-edged in the series, and which also has one or two scenes which would likely never make it into any live-action medium.
Diaspora - Greg Egan
Perhaps a little less well known, Diaspora is a "hard science fiction" novel which spends perhaps a little too much time musing about the exact descriptions of four-plus-dimensional space- but would you expect anything else from a mathematician? This is a single book, not a series, and I think that it takes a very interesting approach to the subject of digital consciousness, self-representation (the "gestalt"), and purpose beyond the physical form.
This one is a little more difficult of a read, largely because of the aforementioned hard-sci-fi aspects, and it's one that I have yet to see much discussion about online, which I think is a shame. It would likely be quite difficult to adapt to another medium, and I think that the general public would not show much interest even if it were achieved.
A Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge
I really enjoyed these three books from the "Zones of Thought" universe, which is an interesting concept that puts some effort into trying to explain why certain limitations in technology might exist from our perspective. I also love the somewhat anthropomorphised dog-like "Tines", with their group-think behaviour and their focus on acoustic senses. This series, I think, is a little less philosophical (it's described as "space opera"), but it provides a compelling story with likeable characters, in a world that quickly pulled me in.
I'm actually surprised that this one has not seen wider appreciation, or any attempts at adaptation. I suppose that at the end of the day, there are wealth of IPs from which to pull and only so many capable teams producing media at once- as most of the big studios are happier making safe bets on sequels of already popular properties.
There are many other examples of brilliant books in sci-fi which might be, as you put it, "not widely appreciated" almost purely because sci-fi is only one genre in a medium that is just not as widely appreciated as film or TV is.
There exists older sci-fi which provides a backbone for a lot of the modern material, books which originated cyberpunk themes and the meta-verse (Neuromancer, which is getting an Apple TV adaptation soon; Snow Crash, which was tagged for a HBO adaptation some 7 years ago which never materialised), and softer sci-fi- which focuses more on the society and the humanity in a sci-fi setting (absolutely anything by Ursula K. Le Guin, who I recommend whole-heartedly as a writer whose work will often leave me crying- just check out "The Word for World is Forest" for a quick introduction to her style). There's more modern sci-fi (such as Adrian Tchaikovsky's children of time series; heck, even Paolini- author of the Inheritance Cycle- is getting in on the action with "To Sleep in a Sea of Stars", which I quite enjoyed).
I'm sorry, I've started rambling and haven't much answered the third question about what makes specific sci-fi less widely appreciated. I just enjoy sci-fi :3
Edit: fixed two spelling mistakes.
...i adore diaspora but as much as i appreciate a fire upon the deep, i think its prequel a deepness in the sky is an even stronger novel, certainly more literary...
On consideration, I agree with you. I think it the strongest of the three, and I'll admit to finding some of the inter-character tension in the third book a little frustrating to read. It has a cathartic resolution, but it could have arrived there quicker and with less whining.
...you remind me that i need to get around to reading the blabber and joan vinge's zones of thought short stories, too; supposedly she also has a full novel in the works...
Deepness has a indeed much stronger story (and I would definitely consider it the better book), but I found the biology and ecology of the Tines a lot more interesting than the Spiders.
May I recommend Ancillary Justice?
It follows one individual soldier who used to be a ship AI, who used to occupy hundreds of individual bodies, ancillaries, at once. (The ethics of where those bodies come from does arise.) And all she wants is revenge against the Lord of the Radch, who might also be fighting herself.
The world building is excellent and she's continued to write in the same universe after the Imperial Radch trilogy but outside of a Radchaai perspective.
Ann Leckie is great! You know, if you like Ship Minds in meat suits.
Also feel free to steal my thing. I don't even have a thing. I'm obviously just a human!
I just got Radiant Star from Libby. I'm trying to make myself finish my current listen before I start it.
I second all three. Of course lesser known is relative, but any chance to recommend Greg Egan to more readers is one I take. He is definitely an acquired taste with how integral math is to his writing. Though I personally think his stories can enjoyed even though most of the math and science is above my understanding. His stories still convey the excitement of science and discovery. My favorite is Orthogonal trilogy, though his short stories might be a better introduction to his writing in general.
I love Egan, his prose is lacking but who cares when he mathematically describes universes that are truly out of this world. I really enjoy reading the supplementary material and learning more in math and physics than I ever did in school. I've not read all his works, but Diaspora was my favourite so far, closely followed by Permutation City (which actually has some good prose).
That being said, I did find Dichronauts really difficult to visualize. The two dimensional space with two time axes and the light cones was just too much for my feeble three spatial dimension, one temporal dimension brain to comprehend.
Yes with Dichronauts Egan definitely started to dive into the very deep end of high concept, and he also lost me along the way, but thankfully he still writes short stories for the various magazines and they are always worth reading. And easier to understand. For example Understudies published in Clarkesworld is very on point the current complications of AI in education.
I greatly appreciate the recommendation, and I'll be fast-tracking the Orthogonal Trilogy in my reading queue. Diaspora left me in a funky and pensive mood, and I absolutely devoured it.
Post-read update: Wow. That was a ride. I'm far too stupid to understand even half of the mathematics, but I get the gist enough that I can understand the progression of knowledge and the parallels that are being drawn.
And while there are definitely moments in which it feels like the drama is a bit too contrived or cliché- does sci-fi so often have to revolve around two competing factions who can't come to an agreement?- there are many characters that I grew to like a lot, enough to feel the loss as the story moved on.
Glad you liked it!
I think that really is what makes Egan work. I feel like it doesn't matter that much that I can't follow all the math and science, as long as the characters excitement for their discoveries comes through and I understand the general gist of what is going on.
Blindsight by Peter Watts. I really liked how the story was told, and the story itself was quite interesting too. It's another "vastly smarter aliens are contacting us" scenario, but from an interesting perspective. I thought a couple parts of it resonated especially well with the LLMs, essentially alien minds that we're growing.
Available for free here: https://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm
I came here to mention this, and I just wanted to add on (I hope you don't mind) -
This is hard sci-fi, but also has a vampire in it. Those two facts together make me very happy for some reason
One of my favorite things in general is collecting the different lore/origin stories for vampires in fiction. Variously: Judas Iscariot, failed exorcisms, microbes. Blind sight's treatises on the origins are some of the best work in this area, and one of my favorite things about the book. The rest of the book is super weird and dense, but in a good way. I keep meaning to read it again, but there are just so many books...
I am hopeful it is not lesser known but I suspect it is lesser known as sci-fi.
Slaughterhouse-5 by Kurt Vonnegut. I read it in the very early 90's because a wonderful English teacher watched me chew through everything Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, and others wrote while hiding them under my desk in her classroom.
I remember doing a book report on "Foundation" and asking her if I could just do it on the whole Foundation series. At the time that was 6 books and I had already read them all and she said "Ok.. I guess.."
For my next book report she handed me "Slaughterhouse-5" and said "You're reading this." I didn't want too. She insisted. It's a gateway drug. Was for me anyway. It's about time travel.. and other stuff. It'll take you places if you want it too.
Mostly to other authors like Kurt. That's what it did for me. So glad it happened.
Could’ve guessed you’d choose this based on your username. :)
+1 to this, though. It’s been ages since I’ve re-read any of his novels; I most recently worked through a lot of his non fiction which I really enjoyed as well!
I ran /r/motorcycles on Reddit for a long long time with this same username. Old habits, they die hardest.
So it goes.
What is the book about? Time travel and what stuff?
War. Time travel. Alien abduction.
It's also about PTSD before we called it PTSD. It's about the nature of free will. It's about whether or not we have free will.
It's about some aliens Kurt called Tralfamadorians who see the past, present, and future all at the exact same time.
It's about things I can't explain. I'm not that smart.
So it goes.
Thank you. Sounds pretty heavy!
The themes are. Kurt's writing style is .. conversational.. IME easily accessible. Humorous, sarcastic... strangely fatalistic and optimistic at the same time.
If I try to describe it I'd say: Things are going to happen .. most of them will be bad.. the good is still good. Try to do more good. So it goes.
He wrote "So it goes." a lot.
If you try it out I hope you enjoy it! I did!
And so on.
For a great Vonnegut short story, I feel like a lot of people miss "Harrison Bergeron". I don't recommend it generally, because like a lot of Vonnegut I think most people aren't intelligent enough to understand it or take it the right way - and the underlying message could be profoundly harmful in modern knee-jerk "culture war" milieu - but I feel like it's safe to recommend to to fellow Tildans. It sticks with you.
I think about that one a lot honestly. It's come up more than I would have thought
I read it a long long time ago. Great story and definitely worth reading for anyone who has not yet!
Joe Haldeman's Forever War. His other work is all over the place, but I've enjoyed most of it.
Connie Willis - The Bellwether is one of my favorite novels, period. Crosstalk and The Road to Roswell are similar, silly and warm. The Doomsday Book is really amazing but also very sad.
Stand in Zanzibar by John Brunner, with its sequel, The Sheep Look Up
Maria Doria Russel wrote two novels about Jesuit missionaries' first contact with aliens: The Sparrow and Children of God
I really enjoyed the Takeshi Kovac novels by Richard K. Morgan, but they are a little shallower.
I rarely see Premee Mohammad mentioned, but I just finished the Annual Migration of Clouds trilogy and really enjoyed it.
C. J. Cherryh doesn't get mentioned much, but I remember enjoying Downbelow Station and others in that series.
Another good strategy would be looking at the lists of Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award winners
You beat me to it on several of these. John Brunner's Stand on Zanzibar has been repeatedly called "prescient". I'd like to add a recommendation for his The Shockwave Rider, which was profound about information technology and society given that it was written in 1975, and generally has a linear and accessible thriller plot structure. Stand on Zanzibar's style is more experimental and very much a product of the 1960's - not necessarily to everyone's taste.
As far as I'm concerned, Bellwether is some of Connie Willis' best work. It's very tightly written, and doesn't lose the Wodehouse-inspired comic intensity in the page volume.
Love the C.J. Cherryh rec - it's dense and chewy reading in all the best ways, a fully realized vision with character complexity, someone to empathize with and root for on all sides.
Did you ever read To Say Nothing about the Dog? It is one of my favorites by Willis, along with The Doomsday Book. I haven't read Bellwether, so that's on the list of books to read now.
I have it in my queue, but I think I was so scarred by Doomsday (read it during the pandemic no less) that I've been avoiding it. I'll have to bump it back up.
I really enjoy Connie Willis, especially her Oxford Time Travel Series (which includes Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, as well as Blackout and All Clear). In case anyone wasn't aware, she's writing a new one in this series called The Spanner in the Works that is supposed to release next year!
The Sheep Look Up was going to be my recommendation. It's dated and a bit racist stereotyped, and a bit hippie-ish, but the whole crumbling of society part really stuck with me. I don't remember Stand On Zanzibar nearly as well as Sheep.
I think Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke fits here.
Starts with aliens appearing on Earth and taking it over as a sort of benevolent dictatorship for unclear reasons. I remember when I first read it finding it both engaging and also the sort of book where I just had no idea where it was going until we got there. It’s not very long and is I think often considered one of Clarke’s best novels.
I’ll go ahead and plug I Am Legend too. Also fairly short and incredibly gripping as a kind of horror SF. I still don’t understand why everybody has struggled to make a good adaptation but they all seem to lose the fundamental theme of the novella and throw away what imo is one of the best endings of all time (and I’m sorry but the Will Smith alternate ending does not fix this). I also find it probably the most realistic and relatable version of what it would be like to survive some giant earth wide cataclysmic event. Seriously, just read it. It won’t take you very long.
This just unlocked a brief core memory. Shortly after the Will Smith movie came out, I was a camp counselor for middle school boys. One of them brought norovirus with them and as expected, about 75% of them got violently sick. For some reason, despite patient zero being in my cabin, I never got sick. As one of the only counselors who wasn't spewing something out of either end, it fell to my 20-something ass to be the sole "adult" in charge of the non-sick kids.
Our main sleeping area was really just divided by a hallway with bathrooms, there was nothing sterile about it. While I listened for kids puking in the sick side, the non sick kids wanted me to read something to them in the "clean side". I was really into Thoreau and Rousseau and Candide and other philosophy books at the time and figured they wouldn't be interested in those, but I did have a paperback copy of I Am Legend with me.
So there I sat for several days, reading three or four chapters of the book every night to a bunch of middle schoolers until they all fell asleep. Then I putzed around in the other cabin cleaning puke off beds and scrubbing toilets lol. I don't think we actually finished the book but it was a really great way to pass the time in an otherwise unpleasant scenario.
I imagine I'd probably get in trouble for this today. Maybe I would have back then too, but those kids liked it enough that they never narced on me, so it's all good I suppose.
+1 for Childhood's End. Clarke is the author of my favorite piece of fiction of all time, The Nine Billion Names of God - full text at the link.
Yessssss Childhoods End is one of my favorites its so CREEPY
I've mentioned some of these on tildes before but I still feel they don't quite get the attention they deserve as great Sci-Fi:
Verner Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep
Some really amazing ideas in this story with humans caught in a war between galaxy sized AI systems battling for the cosmos, mind sharing packs of dog people and sentient trees driving vehicles.
Stephen R. Lawhead - Empyrion
A historian travels to a distant colony only to find everything has changed and he has to piece together its past to figure out what happened to all the technology, how the fascists got control of society, and what they are planning next.
Grant+Naylor - Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers
I know 80s British comedy TV isn't for everyone but this Red Dwarf book is still a really great story about a guy who just wants to get home but ends up millions of light years away. The characters are funny but it's also got lots of great sci-fi ideas.
I'm not quite sure if it counts since they all won Nebula or Hugo awards, but Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy is one I don't hear talked about much. Maybe because it can be rather boring at times (one can only stomach so many pages about nitrogen based economy), but I personally loved them all and always recommend them. Or maybe it's just because they're 30+ years old now.
For those unaware, each book deals with a different phase in the settlement of Mars. Red Mars deals with the initial colonization and inherent struggles, Green Mars deals with the terraforming of Mars, and Blue Mars sees humans explore and colonize outside of Mars.
I found it quite a memorable series and, funnily enough, the first book starts in 2026. Never a better time to pick it up!
The first two are definitely hard sci-fi while the third can get a bit into the softer side of things, but they're all great really.
I read Red Mars when I was a little too young for it. Ive always meant to go back and read it again
I enjoyed the first two, but until the third i got a little tired. Worth the read though.
My son recently introduced me to the Bobiverse novels, I was surprised to have never heard of them. I’m currently nearing the end of book 1 and enjoyed it more than I expected to.
If I had to describe it, I’d describe it as reading like a hybrid of Andy Weir and Cory Doctorow.
Might have become a busy bee. See this comment here from December.
Kind of surprised I haven't seen someone mention Roadside Picnic. It's a classic Soviet post-visit novel. Translation is a bit rough but if you are familiar with the STALKER game series, those are based off of Roadside Picnic.
I don't know if this is that unknown, but I am currently reading The Mote in God's Eye and really liking it, but haven't yet finished.
Both Mote and its sequel The Gripping Hand are excellent. I still sometimes reference "on the gripping hand" when the occasion arises.
I loved the exploration of how the cycles impacted Motie culture and evolution over time.
I'll second Mote as one of my absolute favorite books of all time.
One detail from it that I really like:
The Mote in God's Eye spoilers
When the human characters first arrive in the (alien) Motie system, they offhand mention spectrogram results in a list of various readings. There's an anomalously strong helium line. This isn't really remarked on, and at the time it's just sort of treated as one oddity among many others, but it turns out to be foreshadowing: the Moties have been using fusion power for an extremely long time, enough that the helium "exhaust" has "polluted" their system.
It's just a little thing, but I love the attention to detail it reveals.
Not sure if it counts as "lesser known", but since I made it to this age without picking it up...
I recently finished "Ringworld" by Larry Niven** (thanks j0hn1215 for correction). The central sci-fi idea introduced is as the name suggests. I was gripped by the deep exploration of what such a world would be like, both in terms of how it affects its inhabitants and the physical consequences of the geometry. There is a wonderful central mystery that you gradually pick up more clues about. Also loved the fact that it has alien characters that actually feel alien, not just human with some antennae on their head, with predictable consequences for interacting with them.
I think it isn't more widely read these days because it shows its age (though open to discussion if someone disagrees). The female characters are notably shallow, serving mainly as love interests for male characters, or in one case, to express a "concept" rather than to be a complete person. The protagonist doesn't feel well developed either, mainly being a vessel for the readers to place themselves in the story. I was able to look past this for the grand sci-fi idea the book developed, since it was actually interesting enough that I really wanted to know what happened next. But it would be impossible to ignore if characterization was "supposed" to be more important.
I second both your praise and critiques of Ringworld, I first read it in middle school and was entranced.
Correction, though, it was written by Larry Niven, not Heinlien.
Definitely not a great writer of female characters, but one could argue that the main female character being rather one-dimensional is in character for a person whose only qualification is having been bred for generations to be lucky.
Gah, you're right. Got confused since I was reading it at the same time as "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", which didn't really captivate me at all.
And nice explanation on her one-dimensionality, in a certain light it's perfectly in character :)
I like short stories by Philip K Dick, John Scalzi, Robert Sheckley, Isaac Asimov etc...
Scalzi is fun. I love most of his recent works. Old man's war universe has gotten a bit off the rails, but I enjoyed Kaiju Preservation Society.
Philip K. Dick is my favorite sci-fi author of all time. Ubik was a fever dream. Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep broke my 14 year old brain. The Man in the High Castle also messed with my sense of reality, but I thought it was kind of boring. Adjustment Team is what got me into PKD in the first place.
A series that I really enjoyed, but don't see brought up often is The Long Earth Series by Terry Pratchett & Stephen Baxter.
Now given the author I feel like it's probably well known on this site though.
But for those that don't, the core premise is fairly simple, a device that enabled a completely different type of travel with a single step.
Click to expand spoiler.
Travel between seemingly infinite alternate earths (and more) becomes possible, the series then explores how that would shape future development on humanity. Such as what if there was a way to explore space without the need to worry about escaping Earth's gravity?This is something I recommended in a thread from a few years ago, The Highest Treason by Randall Garrett.
60 pages - 1961 Science Fiction about a war between Humans/Aliens that I just happened to give it a shot and knocked it out during a boring lecture. A unified Earth society which embraces the idea that everybody is of exact equal standing is struggling in their with a war with a competent enemy; one general starts on a path to win the war by himself.
I thought the main character had a super interesting anti-hero story that felt pretty unique in that I couldn't really find a modern equivalent (that I know of), I suppose its a kind of heavy topic. I think being a short sci fi story from the 60's were probably a dime a dozen at the time, so its exposure would always be limited.
I don't think some of the subtext really resonated with me, I'm sure the commentary of a lazy earth society being a bunch of bureaucrats who don't recognize people with talent and only promote from seniority probably will ring more true with others who value more individualism.
Spoilers
He joins the aliens side and with his superior tactics continually wins against earth, culminating him essentially becoming space Hitler and committing genocide on multiple planets in order to light a fire under humanity's ass.
The last few pages had a very satisfying conclusion to it all, and you get to see a shift in perspective for the first time.
Available on Project Gutenberg
https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/24302/pg24302-images.html
I understand what you mean with an "unique antihero story" and I completely agree, the main character had an interesting motivation/determination while I also don't agree with him, it has some good points about society and what constitutes love, the story got me glued until the end.
In a way it reminded me of Ender's Game but from a completely different point of view.
If you have some other recommendations from this author I would give them a try as well, this short story was very well written, thanks for recommending it.
I haven't actually checked anything else out by that Author, it really was me rolling the dice on a random story, and honestly that kind of thing has historically not worked out for me, so I was pleasantly surprised.
I think this would be great in a short story anthology series like a twilight zone. Maybe it has legs in a longer story, but I think it gets its point across quickly enough.
I would really need to dig through my lists of what sci-fi I've read to get a really good answer but right off the top of my head lets go with Roger Zelazny - Lord of Light
Would you mind doing the archeological work of going through your lists?
This topic is a great bookmark as-is, but if you have lists to go through I can only imagine what you could add to it.
Sure! I don't know how much I'll find as I don't remember reading too many 'lesser-known' Sci-Fi books or what I pick will actually be lesser-known in anyway but here it goes:
Robert L. Forward — Dragon's Egg
Walter M. Miller Jr. — A Canticle for Leibowitz (not really lesser known, but still read today?)
Christopher Priest — The Inverted World
Roger Zelazny — Jack of Shadows
Roger Zelazny — Lord of Light (already mentioned)
Sorry, that's all I can really add, everything else I enjoyed in Sci-Fi qualifies as 'well known'.
I like Martha Wells's writing, especially her early work.
More on the lines of fantasy is The Death of the Necromancer.
And she has one that is closer to regular sci-fi called City of Bones. Unfortunately, it has the same title as a book by Cassandra Clare, and it has been overshadowed and mostly forgotten.
Midnight Burger, https://www.weopenatsix.com
my bad, I didn't read the entire title. this is not a read, it's an audio story about a dimension- & time- travelling diner.
So, so many good choices. (Will try to avoid spoilers.)
Earthman, Come Home - James Blish
1955
Set in (or rather, aboard) New York, New York, after Earth's cities have left the planet. Protected and propelled by the technology of the spindizzy, the Okies roam the galaxy as itinerant workers on a giant scale.
Told from the viewpoint of the city's mayor, does a fine job of describing the constant game of trying to keep the city both safe and supplied. I think this one is just old, so it's fallen off the radar, which is a shame.
Star Surgeon - James White
1963
One of a series, this novel is set in Sector General, a future multispecies hospital. The protagonist is a surgeon who has to figure out how to treat a member of an unknown species who may have murdered its only shipmate, and sets off a sequence of wider and wider geopolitical effects when he succeeds.
More medical science fiction than anything else, and tends to focus far more on the interactions between species than on the usual space-battle fare.
Chronolysis - Michel Jeury
1973
Mental projection into the past is possible. A researcher from the future inhabits the mind of a present-day office worker, only to discover that something (or someone) is sabotaging his efforts to complete his mission...or return home.
Did an excellent job of making the reader feel trapped along with the protagonist in a seemingly-endless loop of events. This one may be very tricky to find, as the original is in French and I've found English translations to be relatively wooden, both of which explain why it didn't make much of an impact in the English-language world.
Jinx On A Terran Inheritance - Brian Daley
1985
Does what is probably the most well-thought-out job of future world-building that I've ever seen, down to prosaic everyday details, as the backdrop for a story about a low-level functionary on space-travel-averse Earth who unexpectedly inherits a starship.
Daley seems to have mostly been known as a writer of novels in the Robotech and Star Wars universes; the trilogy this book is part of was one of his rare departures. Plus, he died at 48.
Kingdoms of the Wall - Robert Silverberg
1992
Every year, villages at the base of a mountain send out their most capable members to ascend to the summit to find the wisdom of the gods, in emulation of the First Climber who first brought back the tools of civilization. Few return, and those who do are deformed or insane. The protagonist sets out to determine why, and his account is written as a warning to future climbers.
Through the lens of the protagonist's native assumptions, the story gets progressively stranger the higher he ascends, as he discovers why previous climbers have been waylaid or chosen not to return. Maybe it's just me, but I've only ever heard this novel discussed once, and that was on a bus...in Europe...in the 1990s.
I have loads of other recommendations, some more obscure than the above, some less.
Can't belive I got beat on Sector General. I loved those books. The quality is kind of all over the place but overall a great series.
Are you looking for recent stuff or older? If you want recent and guarantee unheard-of, I really enjoyed The Triple Stars by Simon Kewin. Was in SPSFBO a couple years ago
I’m honestly asking because I think it’s an interesting question, not because I’m looking for something specific to read.
(Though I will invariably end up adding at least 10 or so books to my reading list once this topic is over though.)
Michael Flynn's Eifelheim is one I don't see mentioned often; his January Dancer series is also excellent.
Eifelheim has some interesting ideas that are almost psychohistory-adjacent in regards to where cities are likely to appear and some of the more or less predictable cycles of development and collapse across history.
spoilers
The idea of first contact involving a medieval priest and a tiny backwater village is really interesting, as is the framing device of trying to understand what happened so long ago from a modern perspective.My friend Snuggle Squiggle writes stories that are pretty far from mainstream. Hard magic systems, deep worldbuilding, and a tendency toward xenofiction (nonhuman protagonists and societies.)
https://serpentsquiggles.neocities.org/
(She does all her own writing and coding personally by hand.)
Most anything by Alice Bradley Sheldon (AKA James Tiptree Jr.). Thought-provoking stories, clean prose. Decidedly under-lauded, IMO.
ETA:
Also, since it's a weird hybrid using magic in a science fictional setting and has been running long (and inconsistently) enough that it doesn't get mention often: the Mageworlds series by Debra Doyle is at least solid, and unusual.
"The City and the Stars" by Arthur C Clarke.
It is an absolute page-turner of a novel, combining what I love the most about sci-fi as a genre.
It gives you a really cool setting - a futuristic city utopia, living eternally in the middle of an endless desert. With each page you want to learn more about this amazing place and how it works, and how it came to be, and all the secrets it keeps, and you wonder what's outside it, and who made it, and why... The entire novel is going on an epic adventure of discovery and wonder! At the same time, it tackles some serious philosophical questions about utopias, about identity, about change, and rules, and societal design, and cities, and how people behave, and why.
This is where sci-fi shines best - using the exploration of those amazing imaginary worlds and technologies, to tackle actual complex and interesting philosophical and moral questions.
I was hesitant to answer this at first, because I probably took the "lesser known" a bit too strict. I scrolled through my old Goodreads list of novels and selected some I think are worth mentioning in addition to all the great recommendations already mentioned here.
Contact by Carl Sagan. Not only is it a great film, but the original novel is fantastic as well. That Sagan was a scientist and known for bringing interest for the cosmos to the masses with his tv series, also shows in his writing. It is filled with passion and love for the field, and it is all around a very positive feeling novel.
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson won the Hugo in 2005, so hardly lesser known, but in my opinion it is one of the greatest examples of a good hook of a premise. Starts with all the stars in the night sky disappears from one moment to the next. Makes for a perfect intriguing mystery and the fantastic story rolls from there.
Everything by Alastair Reynolds really. His Revelation Space series is his magnum opus. Really hard sf with slower than light space travel, making for a very atmospheric dark space opera. For good standalne novels I can recommend Pushing Ice and House of Suns.
Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars-trilogy is often mentioned with good reason, but I want to highlight two probably slightly overlooked novels. The Years of Rice and Salt is an alternate history set in a world where the black death in Europe was somewhat more effective, leading to a world without any European influence. Should be noted it is also builds its narrative around reincarnation, which might put some people off. I would also highly recommend Aurora, which is a generation ship type of story, but without spoiling too much - it takes an unexpected approach from the usual in that subgenre. It is also a novel that seems to divide readers for that reason. I personally think it comes with a very important message.
For something older, I need to mention Clifford D. Simak and Way Station. Simak has a very unique style of what could be called cozy science fiction. His stories a almost calm and serene, but still with a great sense of wonder for the big universe.
Now I mostly read short stories though, I can recommend looking out for short story collections by Ted Chiang, Robert Sheckley, Sean McMullen, Greg Egan and John Varley.
A Heritage of Stars by Clifford D. Simak published in 1977 follows a group as they attempt to find a legendary starport after humanity destroyed most of their technology.
I'll be honest in that I don't remember the plot that clearly, but this book was stuck in the back of my head as a "tip of my tongue" book for ~15 years. I read this when I was ~12 as my dad had a copy laying around, and I had finished my other books, and we weren't going to the library again until the weekend. I read through the book in an afternoon/early evening and remembered enjoying it. After I finished it I set it down and I couldn't find where I left it. It turned up when I was at my parents house, but it looks like I didn't bring it over to Malaysia with me so I'll have to bring it over when I'm there next, or have my parents include it in a box of books they're planning on sending me at some point.
I'd recommend the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper Series by Nathan Lowell. They are very much cozy scifi with the author deciding to write a book to then present as a podcast to learn how to make podcasts for his job, and he asked himself the question "what if there was a space opera that wasn't focused on war and politics". I find them great palette cleansers, book 2 was personally my least favorite, but thankfully the series recovered, and I've been enjoying reading them slowly but surely over the last couple of years.
The Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman was a great series that is one of those that seems fantasy, but is actually scifi in origins.
The Safehold series by David Weber started out with a scifi premise and works as a sort of technological uplift/English reformation bundled together. I've only read the first 4 books and while I found them enjoyable, the pacing makes me wonder if they're ever going to deal with the alien threat, and how long that is going to take. Considering they are 10 published books and from my brief looking there are plans for more. I listened to them as audiobooks which were enjoyable, but I've not picked the series up in a few years.
I'll second the Nathan Lowell books. My dad got me to read those, and I've enjoyed all of them (with agreement that book 2 is my least favorite). The three additional trilogies that follow them are also enjoyable (one follows the main character from this, one follows new characters, and the third blends those two together) and leaves things in a good place for if he writes more or doesn't.
I think someone on Tildes also recommended Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (first of the four part Terra Ignota series). I'm past halfway in book four now, all via audiobook, and those have been phenomenal. Blend of speculative science fiction, philosophy, mythology, and written in a sort of 18th century style that really has grown on me a lot throughout. Biggest hurdle if you do it by audiobook is that the excellent narrator changes after book one. That said, if you keep going, you'll find that the narrator for books 2-4 is possibly the best narrator you've ever heard in an audiobook, even though it doesn't feel that way at the start.
Thanks for the recommendation! After reading your description I figured I would go and add that to my To Read list and realized it was already on there. So I'll be bumping it up in my mind for when I'm looking for another series to start.
I read the first book of the Golden Age of the Solar Clipper and while I liked the characters and appreciated it not being high-tension I also felt that despite having space travel as a backdrop it didn't really offer anything that was science fiction. It seemed like the same story might have been written about seafaring in the 1700s and little would have changed. Are there more interesting ideas or questions that come up in the later books or was that the point?
I think that’s most of the point. There’s more world building that happens over time, but I’d say that you are absolutely correct in that this could be set on the ocean just as easily as space.
Later trilogies are a little more high stakes, but I’d say that overall I was in it for the characters more than the setting.
I found the first few Safehold books enjoyable, but if we're mentioning Weber, we must include the Honorverse. I found them a little repetitive after a while, but if you want a strong female heroine and enjoy naval battles and tactics translated to space, highly recommend.
Another one in this vein would be the Vorkosigan novels by Lois M Master Bujold. Off this topic, but her masterwork, IMO, is the fantasy novels and novellas set in the world of the five gods. Start with The Curse of Chalion, one of my top books of all time.
If we're talking about Weber I gotta throw my rec in for the War God series even though it's fantasy rather than SF. I got bored with ship combat when I got to HH (well like 5-10 books in) but found War God long before that.
Ah to be a kid with a library card and a tiny SF section
Oh, this resonates so hard.
I'll have to check out the War God series. Agree on 5-10 HH books being enough.
Even smaller on the day when the trip was a walk to the Bookmobile instead of a drive to the full library!
Both of those series have been on my list, but thank you for adding in your recommendations! There are way too many good books out there to read which is a good problem to have in my opinion. I was chatting with a friend yesterday who also loves reading and we both agreed that our dream retirement includes a mountain of books and the time to just sit down and read our way through them.
Where Were You Last Pluterday by Paul van Herck (open library link)
I read this in high school in the 80s. It's a satirical comedy time travel science fiction that prompted me to think about class privilege probably for the first time. It was written in 1968. As I recall, it has the kind of casual male-gaze/female objectification view that was pretty standard at the time of writing but was already feeling old in the 80's, but was the kind thing you'd expect from the genre. I remember it as a breezy read. I've never read it since, I can't tell you how "good" it is, but the idea of and extra day for the wealthy stuck with me all this time, and sadly seems even more relevant.
Also the Wikipedia page notes it was first published in Dutch.
(Edited for minor spelling/ missing words)
Addendum--I just remembered the circumstances of its purchase-- it was with a collection of various paperbacks in a display buy the checkout line in the local grocery store. There's something you don't see any more!
A lot of what I read I feel is award winning /popular even if it isn't a current big name. So I dug up one out of the dredges of my memory
Donald Moffitt’s Genesis Quest
I read this as a teen and it's stuck with me since, in part for humanity being the "client" race and for the radial symmetry of the Nar (giant double sided starfish ish) compared with the bilateral symmetry of the humans.
I think it's worth a read still, if only because I want to go back and see if it holds up myself.
Similarly,
Fallen Angels by Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle, and Michael Flynn.
Well known authors but this is one of those books no one talks about.
From fandom, tis from the sort of fans who call non fans "mundanes" Despite the climate science not panning out (sunspots being more directly the cause of Earth's temps and an anticipated drop in frequency leading to an ice age), it was enjoyable if of its time. It's probably got stuff that hasn't aged great.
I remember Fallen Angels as well! Niven and Pournelle are always a great team (Niven is brilliant, but gets silly left to his own devices), and Flynn brings a lot to the table as well. I actually brought up some of Flynn's solo work in another comment on this post (Eifelheim).
Genesis Quest sounds interesting, especially given that I saw Pluribus recently and have been playing The Message From Deep Space lately; both works that explore intersteller transmissions of different kinds as a form of first contact.
Yay someone else who remembers it! I've definitely read Niven solo but not a lot of him. And I think I've hit on Flynn before too, but I'm not 100% sure. I think I just got a copy of this at a used bookstore at just the right time.
With hindsight only because like I said I do want to reread it myself. I feel like Genesis Quest is giving me similar vibes to Octavia Butler's xenogenesis series in that there's a paternalistic relationship between the aliens and humanity. And that humanity ultimately is not fully satisfied with that relationship. But again from my recollection I feel like thematically they're different in how they address that tension.
I recommend Dragons Egg and Starkquake by Robert L. Forward.
Series follows the developments of the Cheela civilization which evolved to live on the surface of a neutron star.
a random title i really enjoyed but never see recommended or highly reviewed was "Encounter With Tiber", which Buzz Aldrin wrote with John Barnes. it's an indirect first contact story, nicely detailed and thought provoking, not a masterpiece but enjoyable
I think the overlap between things I'd recommend and things that aren't well known isn't particularly big, but I don't think I've ever seen Frank Herbert's The Geeen Brain mentioned online
The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is a Count of Monte Cristo story set in a space faring future where humanity has discovered an innate, teachable ability to teleport. The whole world it describes is very fun and bombastic.
There are gangs of bandits that follow the night side of earth by teleporting, raiding houses and stealing 24/7. The super rich demonstrate their wealth by never teleporting, and instead using the most expensive means of transport they can think of, which in one case means having rails put down specially to allow passage by antique steam train.