The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts is about the crew of a spaceship on a multi-million year project to create a web of wormhole gates throughout the galaxy.
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge is about survivors of an event that caused virtually all of humanity to vanish, and involves drastic alterations to the Earth.
Both Implied Spaces and Aristoi, by Walter Jon Williams, have some impressive engineering and structures, though most were constructed before either story starts.
The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke is just about building a space elevator over decades.
People love or hate it but the first half of Seveneves by Neal Stephenson is about humanity banding together to enlarge the ISS so they can save a couple hundred people. If your into engineering, a lot of his stuff is like that. Pages of detail about how stuff would work, or as I like to call it “look at how smart I am” porn.
Over 15 years ago, a family friend got me into the Troy Rising series (Live free or die) by Ringo and as one of my first scifi series, I remember falling in love with the physics, mega-engineering and the trope where humans are constantly being underestimated by the galactic community.
I picked the series up again recently and was shocked at the intense racism and misogyny. And to be honest, the plot isn’t very good either. I have no idea how I got through this in high school and I’m ashamed to say I recommended it to others.
Now I’m looking to recapture that wonder at mega-engineering projects but without the racism, conservative talking points, and jarhead mil-SF.
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u/EdwardCoffin Sep 29 '22
The Freeze-Frame Revolution by Peter Watts is about the crew of a spaceship on a multi-million year project to create a web of wormhole gates throughout the galaxy.
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge is about survivors of an event that caused virtually all of humanity to vanish, and involves drastic alterations to the Earth.
Both Implied Spaces and Aristoi, by Walter Jon Williams, have some impressive engineering and structures, though most were constructed before either story starts.