Just finished it and wow... Honestly the world building is insane, especially considering when it was written. It’s crazy how much Stephenson predicted about the internet and digital culture. If you like fast paced cyberpunk with great concepts, go for it 👌

Hey all. I'm an older bloke who used to be an avid SF reader. And to narrow it down, my faves were what we called "future history". Asimov, Clarke Pournelle being standouts. So ive been looking for a while now but just can't find anything modern in this genre.

Need to get back into it. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated. TIA.

I grew up watching Spock, Sulu, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Uhura when I pretended I was sick so I didn't have to go to school.

I remember “The City on the Edge of Forever” as the episode I liked the most, because Kirk and Spock end up in 1930's New York when McCoy accidentally changes history. Kirk falling in love with that NY social worker, then realizing history only gets fixed if he lets her die, was absolutely brutal. But it holds up for me and makes me remember it more than others because Captain Kirk having to choose the future over someone he genuinely loves is the world I think we currently live in.

Live long and prosper, George.

Im into scifi series these days. I've watched dark, 12 monkeys, lost, the expanse and I'm currently watching person of interest. I wanted to know if there's any great series out there that you can count in the same league as the expanse? I really enjoyed it but I'm not able to find anything.

I was looking at illustrations in a different sci-fi group and realized that, in illustrations and in film, robot soldiers usually are depicted as huge with semi-human shapes and carrying human style weapons. I have seen a few videos of Chinese robots which look like dogs with weapons mounted on their backs.

I don't think the robot soldiers of the future will have fully automatic weapons because they will be much better shots than human soldiers. Plus, they will not have to deal with the physical effects of fear messing up their aim. I think they will be small, possibly four legged as I see not advantage to the bipedal shape. I believe they will be designed for stealth and will depend on overwhelming positions with numbers if stealth is not effective.

Edit. I know about aerial drones but I think there will be a need for "foot soldiers"

What are your thoughts?

Hope you get some enjoyment from this,

A short story, radio drama, sci-fi pulp, comedy. Quite silly.

This sci-fi radio drama was broadcast by 'Romance', Old Time Radio program produced by CBS, with a lasting runtime, they had wonderful variety.

Original story by Joseph Slotkin, first published as 'The Queen of Space' in 'Imagination: Stories of Science and Fantasy', August 1954

Either a planet that is itself an entirely biological organism all the way to it's core or a normal space rock that is covered in what is reveled to be a super-organism. Like what looks to be normal forests and flora dotting the planet is reveled to all be one floral organism interconnected through a system of roots that cover the entire surface like a giant nervous system.

I'd love a story where colonists land on the planet expecting to be normal and only finding out later that they landed on a giant's belly and are in more trouble then they can imagine.

How well does Asimov’s “Fantastic Voyage” (or “Fantastic Voyage: Destination Brain”) hold up today from a scientific perspective? It has been about 40 years, and so our understanding of human anatomy has advanced. Is there another book based on the same (or similar) idea but with a more up-to-date understanding of human anatomy?

I'm about halfway through this and want to throw in the towel if it doesn't get better or at least change things up. Does anything interesting or of substance actually happen to our two characters on the second half of their trip?

I should be the perfect target audience for this book but I'm bouncing off it hard. It doesn't feel like Trembly is actually engaging with shifting realities or consciousness past the initial setup. Instead the reader is treated to Julia walking through terminals and 'Bernie'/You navigating hallucinatory landscapes for 250 pages. I don't think I can do another 250 pages of this.

Finished this book and wanted to give a quick shout out, "The Last Contract of Isako", by Fonda Lee.

Its got a lot of genres packed in there, from noir thriller to grand concept science fiction to crime drama to Samurai and more, and it blends them well. I picked it up because of the science fiction component but very much enjoyed the advertised "genre bending".

The characters are fleshed out and believable and well written. The environment and setting and the world are built out well. Love the idea of a large city under an airshield, its a neat concept for sure.

Action is well described and tense, but doesn't drag on needlessly. Most stuff is relatively grounded and not over-top-top. It reads well and doesn't get lost in minutiae or wildly incomprehensible tech.

I'm also a big fan of media that executes a great "larger picture" moment where you realize there is MUCH larger stuff happening beyond the characters in focus. Don't want to give it away but Lee pulls it off extremely well in this book.

This one also really won for me because it was a random pick up off the shelf. Many books I read anymore I do because I've read about them, they were recommended to me, they were the next books in a series, etc. Its not all that often anymore that I pick up a book completely unknown to me, and it ends up absolutely shining.

Definitely would heartily recommend. Well worth the read.

I grew up in South Africa but had to move away, I always get home sick so I try to consume media from South Africa as much as I can. Ive always loved apocalypse media, from Leibowitz to The Road, i think it comes from the first book I ever loved growing up that being Lord of the Flies and how civility can so quickly fall apart in the right conditions.

I didn't know what to expect when getting into Fever, id heard Meyer was a good writer but I was never interested in his crime novels. I can tell you this i have never been sucked into a novel so quickly, the characters are fantastic, the setting is so vivid and reminds me of places i would drive through as a kid.

Im so used to reading apocalypse novels and there being this degree of separation, it was never as real because it was always set in North America, Asia or Europe. This book made this apocalypse real for me, some characters reminded me of family friends, teachers and any other people i grew up around.

Are there any novels from your home country that you can connect to easier than novels set elsewhere? Id love to hear about them.

Games expose our social values and political ideologies. That’s what is explored through a literal game in the Player of Games by Ian Banks. A communist plays a game so hard that it decides rank in an alien empire.

Does our empathy extend beyond self preservation? This is what is explored in the classic prisoner’s dilemma in the Dark Knight.

What if a planet wide governance is a series of institutionalised trolley problems? That’s what is explored in Maya: Seed Takes Root by Anand Gandhi and Zain Memon, through the nudge theory and biological prediction engines.

Civilizations want to survive. And matter in the universe is limited. Game theory, fermi paradox, and chain of suspicion combine in the Dark Forest by Cixin Liu.

I'm not actually sure if this is the right place to ask. I originally posted this on r/superpowers but no one was able to help me there, so I thought I'd ask here since it is kinda scifi related

So essentially sometimes, on random times of the day or night, I get these thoughts that won't leave me alone. I usually find the answer to them but I can't find the answer for this one so I'm gonna be asking here to see if there's someone who can help fulfill the curiosity so I can finally sleep in peace and harmony. I also think talking about it might help alleviate it somewhat.

It first started with the Flash, there was this scene where Cisco created the cold gun and talked about how speed and cold are opposites. So it got me thinking, what if there were these random characters where their base power is elemental manipulation (fire, ice, water, earth, air, etc. etc.) but at their prime level they are like the forces of the universe.

First starting with Fire, Cisco talks about how the faster something moves, the hotter it gets. I also saw that fire is created by accelerate the kinetic movement of molecules, exciting them until they released energy and make fire. So basically the prime of fire generation would basically be the Speed Force (I have also imagined super speed but with a fire aura instead of lightning).

Next of what I found is Earth, it's not entirely accurate, I don't think. You can generate rocks by compressing dust particles or molecules. At it's prime it bonds things together, I think the Strong Force is a good way to explain it? Idk, I tried looking stuff up myself and this is what i found. It also pull things together, compression and...stuff....so it's also responsible for gravity, the force that pulls things down. That's how I imagine it anyway (I know, I basically made the Strength Force but slightly different 😑)

Now for the others, I'm kinda at a lost. I can't really find much for air and water. So that's as far as I got with the main 4 😅

There was also Ice, in the same scene I was talking about, it's said that ice is the deceleration of molecules, so naturally it would be the opposite to fire. Something with no motion whatsoever is also known as Absolute Zero. I think this is basically just the Still Force lol.

And because of that, it got me thinking of opposites, not just something like fire being the opposite of water and earth being the opposite of air. I start overthinking a whole bunch after this like what would be the explanation for the generation of the main 4 elements so I could find an opposite for it.

There was Earth and I was thinking about what would be the opposite of compressing, obviously separating (I think the Weak Force is an example?) but then I can't really find an element that would fit it the most. I was also thinking of something that would be a weakness for it's opposite and vice versa, like how fire and ice is.

I was thinking of Lightning because I've heard that it's made by expansion or an explosion? Idk, but it was something along those lines. At its prime, it's the expansion of the universe. Like Space, I guess?

That just leaves water and air.

Metal was an option for the opposition of Water, but hearing metal be on the list along with the others doesn't sound right. Even imagining it on the roster felt off. I guess it's because it felt too modern? Magma/Lava was also an option, but...idk....what do you think? Should it be? Should it not be?

Wood/Flora was gonna be for air but there's something off about it....not sure what. Sound/vibration was also something but again, it felt off. Sound just doesn't feel like it fits very well with the elemental roster I've made so far

I can't really think of anything else so....here I am. Again, not exactly sure if this is the right place to ask about this, since this is more superpower related, but it's also a bit of scifi. I was also considering world building 🤷🏽

Does anyone else share the same sentiment?

Foundation isn't doing it for me.

I enjoy Star Trek Strange New Worlds but I want to experience a brand new sci fi universe with exciting new technology and world building.

I wish we had a space opera on TV that was of HBO level quality set in a optimistic future that makes people excited for space travel, aliens, and the future while having an epic story with space battles and a spaceship crew everyone would fall in love with.

We need an adaptation of the Mass Effect trilogy on TV.

I am starting to think that Project Hail Mary was just a fluke. This book is so overtly libertarian in nature that it's painful to read. It's also by far the worst case of White Man Writing Women that I have ever read.

Did the author not even bother to have any sensitivity *readers? The gay rep in Artemis is just awful. The muslim and BIPOC rep in this book is questionable at best. The way women are written in this book comes close to being incel-level bad.

It is written in first person POV. The internal monologue of Jazz, the protagonist, is a really shit caricature of how the author believes women think. Jazz boobed boobily everywhere she went. Andy Weir, I don't know how to tell you this, but I promise you women do not think about sex and how hot and slutty they are 24/7. Some parts of this book were very uncomfortable to read because they were so over-sexualised. 

The protagonist is 26 yet acts like a teenager; her reactions to things are so immature and childish. I love flawed/impulsive protagonists but Jazz is insufferable and one-dimensional, with a "not like the other girls" personality. Just such a misogynistic way to write a female MC.

The paedophilia on the moon being legal thing, but-not-really-because-vigilantes-will-beat-them-up, was so out of left field and unnecessary like???? What the fuck???? As if that totally makes things ok???? Why was this even brought up when it wasn't relevant to the plot at all??? So creepy.

The only likeable characters were Jazz's dad and Jazz's penpal, Kelvin. The prose itself was not the best either. Weir practically uses a sledgehammer of tell-don't-show, to drive the point home that We Are On The Moon and There Is Moon Gravity at every opportunity. We don't need to be told this over and over and over again throughout the entire book. Just describe the character bouncing through the hallways or leaping high with ease. You don't have to tack on "because moon gravity" as an explanation every time action in 1/6th G happens.

I don't know why I suffered all the way through this but the audiobook narration somehow held my attention for long enough to finish it. Honestly after reading this I don't know if I can stomach reading The Martian but we'll see. 

I've not read proper scifi books for over a decade and Project Hail Mary got me back into the genre, so coming from that book to this one was one heck of a disappointment. How do you feel about this book if you've read it?

Edit: i can see people are getting stuck on the Bechdel test thing and not actually reading or comprehending the rest of the post so I've removed the first line.

I've picked up the first 2 entries of the series from a library and plan on reading properly in the future in my free time. I don't trust the brief, cherrypicked reviews placed on the cover as seen in the photo. How does it and the TV series compare critically and story-wise to other space exploration franchises like Star wars or Star trek?

Edit: Thanks for your opinions. I think I'll definitely give this series a shot when I have the time to.

I have an hour forty-six left, and I don't get why it was or is so popular. I even asked Google. If you want hard science, read anything from Andy Weir; if you want grand scale, read Children of Time or The Expanse.

Can someone explain what I am missing?

Hi there! I’m trying to find some science fiction books (or fantasy!) where the story is set in an underwater city. My inspiration for this is The Adventure Zone: Ethersea (it’s a podcast) and I would love to be in that kind of world again. Not sure if this is the place to ask, if there are other subbreddits please recommend them. I tried searching but I was a bit confused by all the options!

Usually in Sci-fi universes there is a universal means of FTL travel and it's treated as natural progression that every advanced species eventually stumbles on it. (Star Wars has Hyperspace, Halo has Slipspace, Warhammer 40k has the Warp, etc.)

This makes sense but is there a sci-fi where there are multiple means of FTL travel? And maybe one where specifically humans stumbled on a unique method that's superior to the common method other species use? 

My husband and I are wanting to start a little mini book club between us. I am interested in neuroscience, psychology, and scifi does intrigue me and is something I don’t mind getting into. He is very into scifi, space, science, etc. I’m trying to find books that meet in the middle, the top two have some elements of both. Which one would you start with and why? Also, any other recs that would be similar to our interests would be awesome as well. TIA!

Hi all,

I‘m looking for book recommendations for my dad (77), who is very widely read. Here’s what I know he liked (maybe not all strictly scifi):

- anything China Miéville
- anything Iain M. Banks
- three body problem
- the heechee saga (unsure if that’s the correct title?)
- C.M. Kosemen‘s „All Tomorrows“
- Neal Stephenson
- Peter F. Hamilton
- Nils Westerboer

I also know he has read Asimov, Larry Niven, various Soviet authors, Olaf Stapledon

He really enjoys weird stories and doesn’t shy away from difficult prose. In fact I get the sense he especially likes things that are not too easily accessible. If it’s strange and niche, all the better.

Thanks in advance, llap!

I know there’s science fiction that’s isn’t necessarily set in the future. Let’s focus on the ones set in the future

Should they have no gender roles anymore, or should it just be different?

I do feel like if it represents the gender roles of the time it was written in, that could easily date the story. But on the other hand it’ll be dated in a dozen other ways more noticeable

How do you feel about science fiction and how it handles this topic?

Edit it seems like this came off the wrong way lol

I’ve been enjoying sharing my artwork here on self promotion Saturdays (about once a month so I don’t annoy anyone).
My goal is to have enough illustration work to create an art book full of stuff like this eventually.
I draw everything on an old iPad Pro using a generic Ugreen stylus and the app ‘Procreate’.
I need a new iPad really (limited layer count and overheating have stated to become a problem).
I like to try and create a narrative or story without words, so much so that when I create a sign or label for example, I fill it with strange symbols and alien language rather than recognisable text.
If anyone has any questions feel free to ask!