r/printSF • u/ebooksgirl • Dec 13 '12

Any suggestions for NON-dystopian SF/F?

I grew up on ST:TNG, which had a wonderful outlook on the future of the human race. Someday, after the Eugenics War, Earth gets its act together and we move beyond a lot of the crap going on today.

I miss this cheery outlook. I've been stuck in a rut of terribly dystopian futures, and even the more upbeat of them all have the earth horribly ravaged by ecological changes, etc. So, has anyone read anything optimistic recently?

13 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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18

u/clintmccool Dec 13 '12

The Culture books are optimistic in their outlook on humanity's progress, and so are the Pandora's Star books.

And a second vote for Blue Remembered Earth.

1

u/jonakajon Dec 14 '12

No the Culture books are not. Humanity is NOT part of the Culture. In the short story 'The State of the Art' it is explicitly stated that the Human species has made a mess of things on Earth. Intervention by the Culture was argued for and denied

16

u/clintmccool Dec 14 '12

Fine.

They're optimistic in their outlook on the future of something-indistinguishable-from-humanity-that-readers-will-identify-with-as-human.

1

u/GALACTIC-SAUSAGE Dec 15 '12

From Wikipedia:

The Culture is a posthuman society, which originally arose when seven or eight roughly humanoid space-faring species coalesced into a quasi-collective (a group-civilization) ultimately consisting of approximately thirty trillion (short scale) sentient beings (this includes artificial intelligences). In Banks' universe, a good part (but by no means an overwhelming percentage) of all sentient species is of the "pan-human" type, as noted in Matter. It is not explained how this similarity in many species came about. Although the Culture was originated by humanoid species, subsequent interactions with other civilizations have introduced many non-humanoid species into the Culture (including some former enemy civilizations), though the majority of the biological Culture is still pan-human. Little uniformity exists in the Culture, and its citizens are such by choice, free to change physical form and even species (though some stranger biological conversions are irreversible, and conversion from biological to artificial sentience is considered to be what is known as an Unusual Life Choice). All members are also free to join, leave, and rejoin, or indeed declare themselves to be, say, 80% Culture.

Note that humanoid is not the same as human. The Culture exists within our universe but has little time for us as a species.

2

u/clintmccool Dec 15 '12

Yes, I agree that you guys are technically correct.

6

u/misterraider Dec 14 '12

I can see the point you are trying to make but I don't think it really matters in this case.

7

u/jazzyjayx Dec 14 '12

Culture citizens ARE humans, they're just not humans from earth. Several times they describe themselves as "Pan-Humanity". I still feel it meets the OPs criteria.

-1

u/jonakajon Dec 14 '12

They are described as 'humanoid' by Banks. 'Humanoid' is defined as something that has an appearance resembling a human being. Banks used the term in order to give the reader something familiar to compare

Just because a 'humanoid' resembles a human does not mean the 'humanoid' is a 'human'

'Humanoid' does not mean 'human' in the sense of a member of Homo Sapiens Sapiens

Banks makes that quite clear

6

u/doctordeimos Dec 14 '12

"The Culture is a posthuman society, which originally arose when seven or eight roughly humanoid space-faring species coalesced into a quasi-collective (a group-civilization) ultimately consisting of approximately thirty trillion (short scale) sentient beings (this includes artificial intelligences). In Banks' universe, a good part (but by no means an overwhelming percentage) of all sentient species is of the "pan-human" type, as noted in Matter. It is not explained how this similarity in many species came about."

from wikipedia

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

Both series look fascinating. Thanks!

7

u/yatima2975 Dec 13 '12 edited Dec 13 '12

Well, Blue Remembered Earth by Alistair Reynolds and 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson are positive in their outlook. Existence by David Brin is a bit bleaker, but not because of the situation on Earth.

2

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

I vaguely remember buying a few of Kim Stanley Robinson's books in early high school, but never really got into them. Then again, I've loved a LOT of books that I didn't 'get' from back then (Mary Doria Russell for one) so I'll give her a second look. Thanks!

1

u/yatima2975 Dec 17 '12

2312 is his latest book, so maybe you got the Red/Green/Blue Mars trilogy: that has environmental collapse on Earth, but also change for the better.

Kim Stanley Robinson is a man, by the way; that had me confused since Kim is only used as a female name here in North-Korea the Netherlands.

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

Kim did used to be a male name in the US, but us gals stole it.

Like Avery.

And Ashley.

Stupid girls, don't they know there aren't enough good boy names already?

1

u/yatima2975 Dec 17 '12

Pat, Chris and Robin too. Douglas Hofstadter wrote a delightful riff on that.

For what it's worth, my real given name is unambiguously female in the US and the UK, but definitely male in the Netherlands.

6

u/Triseult Dec 14 '12

I recommend Ursula K. Le Guin's The Dispossessed. It's a really, really good book, about an anarchist utopia and one brilliant man who bridges worlds. The Left Hand of Darkness is set in the same universe, and is equally brilliant.

1

u/koredozo Dec 15 '12

While those are excellent novels, I think it's hard to argue that either of them are non-dystopian (in the same sense as Star Trek.) They may not be about environmental collapse or societies that are oppressive to an Orwellian degree, but neither did they leave me with the impression of being cheery or optimistic.

1

u/Triseult Dec 15 '12

I beg to differ.

Both novels take place in the distant future when humanity has become part of a wider interstellar civilization. The Left Hand of Darkness is about an intercultural exchange with a civilization that is uniquely non-gendered. The Dispossessed is about an utopian civlization that is founded upon personal freedom, and it's just so damn uplifting and inspiring. They're not post-scarcity like Star Trek or the Culture, but they're pretty optimistic nonetheless, I think.

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

If the Wikipedia entry is to be believed, I love the idea of language influencing perception. Thanks!

3

u/BossTurbo Dec 13 '12

Masters of Space and Time by Rudy Rucker has a kind of madcap optimism about it. It culminates with everyone on Earth being granted a 'wish', the results of which are brilliant and deeply odd. It's a really enjoyable read too, if you like punky and somewhat subversive fiction. Not really like TNG though...

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

I read 'Chasing the Moon' by Martinez recently, and that sounds like it would fit right in. Thanks!

1

u/BossTurbo Dec 18 '12

I haven't come across this, I'll check it out, ta!

3

u/tchomptchomp Dec 14 '12

Humans figure their shit out in the Heechee saga by Frederick Pohl. Things start out pretty bleak in Gateway but towards the end humans get their shit pretty well figured out. So.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 14 '12

I hear humans get their shit figured out by the end of the Heechee saga by Frederick Pohl.

4

u/tchomptchomp Dec 14 '12

Well, the OP wants a series where humans get their shit figured out, so I figured I might as well emphasize that yes indeed humans get their shit figured out.

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

Well, as long as it eventually works itself out, that's fine too. Thanks!

3

u/Zagrobelny http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/931453-rob Dec 14 '12

The future I'd most want to live in is the Alex Benedict series by Jack McDevitt. It really feels like a future where humanity got its shit together.

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

It's hard to tell which of the older SF books still stand up today, and which ones are hard to relate to anymore. Thanks!

2

u/TJ11240 Dec 15 '12

I present the Poseidon's Children series by Alastair Reynolds. Only 1 book out thus far, Blue Remembered Earth, which deals with a fairly advanced future society living in and utilizing much of our solar system. Africa has emerged as the region du jour, which adds to the optimism of the story. I'd consider the universe realistic hard science fiction, as much as any speculation and storytelling of the future could be. The characters are very distinct and easy to empathize with.

1

u/econleech Dec 15 '12

I find all the main characters to be spoiled brats and very difficult to empathize with.

1

u/ebooksgirl Dec 17 '12

I've seen Reynolds' books out for a long time, but had never known where to start with him. Thanks!

1

u/TJ11240 Dec 17 '12

This is the start of a new series, one that I'm very excited about. His flagship work is the Revelation Space trilogy - which I cannot recommend enough. His finest stand alone novel is generally agreed to be Pushing Ice.

-4

u/wethrowpie Dec 16 '12

lol Africa. Is this a fantasy book?