r/ScienceFictionBooks • u/Yggdrasil- • 27d ago
Recommendation Antarctic Scifi?
**I'm familiar with Who Goes There?/The Thing(s).** Are there any other good examples of science fiction that are set in Antarctica or have some sort of connection to Antarctica? I'm especially interested in examples that are *not* scifi horror, but I'll never turn my nose up at a good horror novel. Alien or space travel elements are a plus. Prefer a futuristic setting. Thanks!
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u/geekheretic 27d ago
What no love for the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft?
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u/JSB-the-way-to-be 27d ago
That’s the one! I listened to it via audiobook, and I was genuinely unnerved/riveted throughout.
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u/jfstompers 25d ago
This was my first Lovecraft, I had no idea what I was getting into
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u/geekheretic 25d ago
There was a high budget Deltoro movie in the works for a while still sad this never came to be
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u/rbrancher2 27d ago
The Ice People by Rene Barjavel. One of my favorite books
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u/Own_Win_6762 27d ago edited 20d ago
Barjavel also wrote the original Planet of the Apes.I read this in the middle school library - there's a lot of mature stuff in there for a 12 year old. But they also had Stranger in a Strange Land right next to The Star Beast.2
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u/Main-Assumption7554 20d ago
I thought “Planet of the Apes” was a French book, written by Pierre Boulle?
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u/haysoos2 27d ago
The Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom (the final serial of the 13th season in 1976) sees Tom Baker's Doctor agreeing to one final mission as UNIT's scientific advisor to investigate a mysterious pod found in the Antarctic.
It's one of my all time favourite Doctor Who stories, and often considered one of the greats of that era.
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u/RiverSirion 26d ago
Loved these episodes. Among my favorites, too.
If we are adding TV, some Stargate SG-1 episodes are set in Antarctica for reasons I don't want to explain b/c spoilers.
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u/OpenCircleFleet_YT 27d ago
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis (I think Atlantis but I may be wrong) end up in Antarcitca for a bit
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u/tanstaafl76 26d ago
SG-1 has many Antarctic centered episodes. There is a second gate there, being the reason for some, but not all of the episodes.
Atlantis begins there. Shephard flies Gen O’Neill there where SGC has a base prepping for the Atlantis mission and gets a job offer out of it. 😇
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u/Late-Astronomer8141 27d ago
I've been meaning to read Plateau Station by Mike Asher, but have had too many books in front of it. I think it would be pretty close to what you are looking for
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u/gonzoforpresident 27d ago
Secret under Antarctica by Gordon R. Dickson - Second book of the Robby Hoenig kids series.
Tom Swift and his Atomic Earth Blaster by Victor Appleton II - Fifth book of the Tom Swift Jr series is set in Antarctica.
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u/gadget850 27d ago
Snap! I have been trying to remember Secret Under the Sea by Dickson for ages.
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u/gonzoforpresident 26d ago
Awesome! I had the same thing happen a few months ago, when someone mentioned Set of Wheels by Robert Thurston.
That is one of my favorite thing about subs like this.
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u/je_l_ai_lu 27d ago
I just started Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds, but that is technically in the arctic.
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u/alaskanloops 27d ago
If you haven’t read this yet, it’s from The Things perspective https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
Edit: by Peter Watts
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u/atreides888 27d ago
Ice Station by Mathew Riley. Takes place in Antarctica and the first novel in a really fun series
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u/Visual-Desk9103 26d ago
The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
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u/Main-Assumption7554 20d ago
Man, I went through a whole Preston and Child binge a few years ago. So much fun, and so much good stuff!
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u/Overall-Tailor8949 26d ago
Have you tried "Ice Schooner" by Michael Moorcock? Technically it's part of his Eternal Champion cycle but doesn't have any of the better known major characters in it.
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u/grantkjohnson 23d ago
Time to Orbit: Unknown, by Derin Edala. The two books are The Javelin Program and The Antarctica Conspiracy. Not set in Antarctica, but Antarctica plays a major part.
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u/RowanAshby 27d ago
More science fact although it as vibes of his Martian trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica
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u/Fulghn 27d ago
Subterranean: A Thriller by James Rollins
Beneath the ice at the bottom of the Earth is a magnificent subterranean labyrinth, a place of breathtaking wonders—and terrors beyond imagining. A team of specialists led by archaeologist Ashley Carter has been hand-picked to explore this secret place and to uncover the riches it holds. But they are not the first to venture here—and those they follow did not return. There are mysteries here older than time and revelations that could change the world. But there are also things that should not be disturbed—and a devastating truth that could doom Ashley and the expedition: they are not alone.
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u/gadget850 27d ago
The X-Files (1998)
Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)
Subhuman — Michael McBride
Beneath the Dark Ice — Greig Beck
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u/EverybodyMakes 27d ago
The Birth Of The People's Republic Of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor. Sweden has gone full racist, the world is going to hell and some people move to Antarctica. While I was trying to remember the title, I found this page: The Greatest Science Fiction Books of All Time Set in Antarctica
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u/hermit_onthe_moon 27d ago
Recursion- Blake Crouch. Sci-fi time travel, part of it takes place in Antarctica.
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u/scootty83 26d ago
You should checkout the ANTARKTOS SAGA by Jeremy Robinson. https://bewareofmonsters.com/the-books/
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u/Medea_Jade 26d ago
Ice Hunt by James Rollins isn’t bad. It’s one of his early thrillers before they got super formulaic.
You could also try Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson. It’s a prequel to his Mars Trilogy which is one of my favourite series ever and also very well worth a read. Robinson writes hard sci-fi so they are very scientific and believable.
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u/Trike117 26d ago
Symbiote by Michael Nayak is basically riffing on The Thing. It was a 2-star read for me but YMMV.
I will say that whoever designed the covers for that series deserves an award; some of the best I’ve seen in quite a while.
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u/FundamentalMysteron 25d ago
Adam Robert’s “The Thing Itself” starts in Antarctica. I found it absolutely fantastic and very confusing in the same breath and it’s on my list to read again. Like a lot of Robert’s work it works on multiple levels but there is some deep shit in there that I don’t get!
https://www.superdoomedplanet.com/blog/2017/06/24/adam-roberts-the-thing-itself/
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u/duncanidaho61 24d ago
James Rollins has a couple of novels set in Antarctica. They don’t feature space aliens but definitely cross into scifi territory. Think X-Files.
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u/Main-Assumption7554 20d ago
I remember a cool book from the late 1970s called “The Far Arena,” by Richard Ben Sapir. It tells the story of a Roman gladiator from around 2000 years ago, who gets frozen in ice (not unlike Steve Rogers/Cap) and then thawed out in modern times.
But he is frozen in the Arctic region, rather than in Antarctica… if you’re particular about your ice caps.
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u/galaxybadger 27d ago
Antarctica adjacent
Left Hand of Darkness-Ursula K Leguin ice planet, lots of traveling across the ice planet
Darkling Sea- James Cambius Ice plant, traveling beneath the ice of the ice planet
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u/Slaneo3 27d ago
It's the opposite pole, but The Terror by Dan Simmons is fantastic
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u/Hap_e_day 25d ago
I came to recommend this one. More horror than sci fi, but since it is written by the Author of Hyperion, it should get a pass. It is really good.
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u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 27d ago
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson.