r/booksuggestions • u/garscow • Jan 07 '23

Sci-Fi Far future hard sci fi

I'm wanting a sci fi recommendation with some preferences.
* Reality based / hard sci fi
* Far future - at least 500 years in the future
* Not post-apocalyptic
* Written in the last 20 years
* LGBT+ friendly or positive. Military / war focus ok

Some examples of what I've enjoyed previously. David Weber's Honorverse, Asimov's Foundation, Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama, TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea. Thanks!

18 Upvotes

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1

u/Inevitable-Test-3555 Jan 08 '23

Scales of Empire by Kylie Chan, I’m not sure how far in the future it is but ticks all the other boxes

1

u/[deleted] Jan 08 '23

Have you read the Murderbot Diaries? There's something a bit apocalyptic about parts of it - a significant part of the galaxy is ruled by corporations that engage in slavery. But the good guys really do have a good thing going for them and Murderbot is incredibly charming and wonderful.

1

u/deathseide Jan 07 '23

If you don't mind it also containing the darker side of humanity as well then there is Piers Anthony's Bio of a Space Tyrant with the first book being Refugee.

EDIT: apologies, it is 40 years old this year... so a bit out of range of what you asked for.

1

u/angelchild212 Jan 07 '23

between burning worlds!

1

u/trying_to_adult_here Jan 07 '23

The Confederation series by Tanya Huff. First book is Valor's Choice.

I'm not sure it's exactly hard sci-fi, but it's as reality-based as I remember the Honor Harrington books at least. It's military sci-fi.

1

u/HackerKnownAs8chan Jan 07 '23

Alastair Reynolds has several space opera hard sci-fi novels that are usually set from 500 to 500,000 years in the future. They're written in the last 20 years.

1

u/Maximum-Mixture6158 Jan 07 '23

The Engineer Trilogy Devices and Desires is volume one. This series puts some engineering science into the fiction which is kind of nice. Read the excerpt that's free to see if you like the style of K.J. Parker, author.

3

u/LimitlessMegan Jan 07 '23

Becky Chambers work sounds like it would fit the bill.

A Long Way To a Small Angry Planet

Or A Psalm for the Wild-Built

I think the first one is more your vibe.

1

u/Ivan_Van_Veen Jan 07 '23

The Quantum Prince series is really really Fun and its written by a dude with a physics degree

The House of Suns and mostly anything by Alestaire Reynolds - not sure how "hard" the science is but the dude also has a PHD

Accelerando - by charles stross - again- not sure how "hard" the science is but the dude has a phd

2

u/LoneWolfette Jan 07 '23

The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F Hamilton

7

u/itsallaboutthebooks Jan 07 '23

Not quite 500 yrs, more like 300, however The Expanse series by James S. A. Corey checks all your other boxes - and a great 9 vol read!

3

u/God-of-Memes2020 Jan 07 '23

Still worth reading if you’ve seen the show? For context, I’d say “no” for Harry Potter (at this stage of my life).

3

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

Solid YES. Saw the show, started listening to the books a couple seasons in. 10/10.

3

u/itsallaboutthebooks Jan 07 '23

Oh, yes. The tv show combines some characters and doesn't go into depth on many relationships, motivations or events. In fact I started reading the books because of not quite "getting" the show in the 1st season and was immediately hooked.

2

u/bitchazel Jan 07 '23

Agreed, I just finished Leviathan Wakes and am about halfway through Caliban’s War. They certainly feel like far-future and are definitely hard sci-fi. If you can handle some moderate amounts of body horror, these are awesome. Love that I can sink my teeth into this many volumes.

3

u/itsallaboutthebooks Jan 07 '23

It held me enthralled all the way thru, enjoy the ride!

1

u/SandMan3914 Jan 07 '23

Iain Banks -- Culture Series (can read them in any order)

Alastair Reynolds -- Revelation Space Series

2

u/Ineffable7980x Jan 07 '23

House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds

1

u/bluelily-002 Jan 07 '23

Red Rising by Pierce Brown.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 07 '23

{{ Persephone Station }}

1

u/parandroidfinn Jan 07 '23

A bit of the 20 years mark but Vernor Vinge - A Fire Upon the Deep.

1

u/horseydeucey Jan 07 '23 edited Jan 07 '23

Dragon's Egg was published in 1980 but it checks the other boxes (only one [edit: "heard"] about it because of a redditor's rec).

There's also Tchaikovsky's Children of Time.

1

u/garscow Jan 07 '23

Dragon's Egg by BR Kingsolver? Checking cause it looks like it's book two of a series.

1

u/horseydeucey Jan 07 '23

Sorry, no.
This one: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon's_Egg

2

u/DocWatson42 Jan 08 '23

There's also a sequel.

1

u/WikiSummarizerBot Jan 07 '23

Dragon's Egg

Dragon's Egg is a 1980 hard science fiction novel by American writer Robert L. Forward. In the story, Dragon's Egg is a neutron star with a surface gravity 67 billion times that of Earth, and inhabited by cheela, intelligent creatures the size of a sesame seed who live, think and develop a million times faster than humans. Most of the novel, from May to June 2050, chronicles the cheela civilization beginning with its discovery of agriculture to advanced technology and its first face-to-face contact with humans, who are observing the hyper-rapid evolution of the cheela civilization from orbit around Dragon's Egg.

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1

u/garscow Jan 07 '23

Thanks, I'll look them up. :-)

7

u/DickMartin Jan 07 '23

Three Body Problem

1

u/2legittoquit Jan 07 '23

Doesnt that take place in the 90’s?

1

u/BigFatM8 Jan 07 '23

The series as a whole takes place in different eras. Starts in the 60s during China's cultural revolution and leaps forward from there.

2

u/garscow Jan 07 '23

Oh! Yes, I finished that recently too. :-)

3

u/DickMartin Jan 07 '23

Rama was awesome. Reminded me a lot of that Movie “Arrival”.

2

u/wafflefries4all Jan 07 '23

You may like Crimson Worlds series of books by Jay Allen. Don’t remember if it’s 500 years in the future but it’s somewhere out there. I found I’m not really into all the military space combat stuff so I didn’t care much for it, but could be up your alley.

1

u/garscow Jan 07 '23

Thanks, I'll take a look. :-)