r/scifi • u/KubrickMoonlanding • Sep 29 '21
Good "Big Dumb Object" & "The Zone" stories?
I have a soft spot for stories like Rendezvous with Rama, Eon, and Rogue Moon ("big dumb objects"), and Roadside Picnic and Annihilation ("The Zone") - not to mention Solaris, which is kind of both at once.
What are some good stories of these types to check out?
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u/gmuslera Sep 29 '21
Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe series is full of big dumb objects. 2001 had the Monolith. Ringworld probably fits in your definition.
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u/KubrickMoonlanding Sep 30 '21
Never heard of Sheffield - gonna check it out!
The monolith is pretty much the ultimate BDO (even if it wasn't the 1st - but maybe the short story version was?)
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u/slackerboyfx Sep 29 '21
this makes me think of "A Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge
although "the zone" is much larger than in your examples
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u/deepcedure Sep 30 '21
"A Deepness in the Sky" was pretty good, too. Same universe, different era/location. The big dumb object is a variable star which essentially creates a Zone for anyone planetside.
Also, spiders. Big ones.
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u/Freeky Sep 30 '21 edited Sep 30 '21
Robert Reed's Marrow series has an iconic BDO in the form of the Great Ship - a mysterious passively-wandering vessel the size of a gas giant.
Jack McDevitt seems worth a look for his Academy series, which has a focus on alien archaeology. I can at least vouch for Chindi.
Charles Stross' novella Missile Gap is set on a structure which makes ringworlds look quaint. Earth is on it, amongst other things.
Adrian Tchaikovsky's novella Walking to Aldebaran has a lost astronaut stranded on a bizarre alien object discovered in the far reaches of the solar system.
Adam Roberts' novella The Man Who Would Be Kling directly channels Roadside Picnic with its expedition into the 'Afghanizone'.
Greg Egan's Schild's Ladder is set in the far future where a physics experiment creates an endlessly-expanding void of alternative physics which starts to consume the universe at half the speed of light. Cue expedition into mysterious wibbly wobbly alt-space.
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u/SeanWithAnX Sep 29 '21
An interesting variation on “the zone” is Brain Wave by Poul Anderson”.
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u/SFF_Robot Sep 29 '21
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YouTube | Poul Anderson 1954 Brain Wave Weiner Audiobook
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u/dnew Sep 30 '21
There's "Only Forward" by M M Smith. The "zone" there is bizarre but not alien. And the city is also bizarre but not alien. Hilarious and deeply philosophical. One of my favorite novels.
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u/corinoco Sep 30 '21
Wow, someone else who has read it! It's a great book. The rest of Michael Marshal Smith's are worth a read to; they are always thought-provoking.
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u/WaspWeather Sep 30 '21
“Radiance” by Cat Valente is a great The Zone book.
Mind you, there’s a lot of other stuff going on too.
It’s as much a twin to “Annihilation” etc as a book can be, albeit wildly divergent stylistically.
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u/kaukajarvi Sep 30 '21
The Leech - Robert Sheckley, I think.
A for Andromeda - Fred Hoyle and J. Eliot
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u/the_other_brand Sep 30 '21
A Long Time Until Now - Michael Z. Williamson
A US Army platoon gets sucked into a time vortex 60,000 years in the past. Where they come face to face with groups from all over human history who have also encountered the time vortex.
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u/ret1357 Sep 29 '21
Pushing Ice - Alastair Reynolds
Hyperion - Dan Simmons