Recommend some actual good sci-fi books

The Something Awful Forums > Archives > General Bullshit > Recommend some actual good sci-fi books

Big McHuge: Feb 5, 2014; You wait for the war to happen like vultures.
If you want to help, prevent the war.
Don't save the remnants.
Save them all.

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester is one of my all-time favorites. I enjoy sci-fi but I don't get a chance to read nearly as much as I'd like.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:40

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 04:32

dee eight: Dec 18, 2002; The Spirit
of Maynard

I read (twice) "Blue Remembered Earth" and it was slow and kinda soap-opera ish the first time but the second time I said to myself, "No, the personal interactions mirror the strange divides in the social strata of the the setting and it's relevant to the story."

It's a pretty good read if you pay attention.

Echoing "Forever War" being good poo poo.

Most stuff by Larry Niven is good, try Tales of the Known Universe.

"Half Past Human" by Bass is a good future dystopia book.

Finally, Keith Laumer stuff with Retief of the CDT or Bolos in it is good light reading. There's some good chuckles to be had, for certain.

dee eight fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Aug 5, 2014

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:40

Kelfeftaf: Sep 9, 2011

1984 is also pretty cool

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:42

Kelfeftaf: Sep 9, 2011

Fahrenheit 451 too.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:45

Al Cowens: Aug 11, 2004; by WE B Bourgeois

Borneo Jimmy posted:

creepy/weird sex scenes.

Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

This is what people do for fun in that universe ( :nws:

)

Sick gently caress Roger Williams posted:

Taken by surprise, Caroline screamed as she was burned. The scream didn't last, though; as soon as her mouth was open, Fred jammed the rag between her teeth. He stuffed it into her mouth until she thought she might choke. Then he got up, flicked the cigarette aside (its purpose served), and opened a storage box on the back of the rumbling bike. From this he took a roll of grey tape. He wrapped several loops of the tape around Caroline's head, to hold the gag in her mouth. The rag stank of gasoline and motor oil, and made her think again of the power of the machine.
Had she been screaming? Caroline didn't know why Fred had gagged her, since there was nobody to hear. She was somewhat surprised at how effective the rag was. She tried to scream again, and nothing got out but a muffled moan.
Then she understood. Fred was straddling her again, and now he was opening his fly. His cock popped out huge and eager, and with her legs cinched together it would feel enormous inside her. Fred had no trouble getting it into her, though. She was wet with a huge desire, and when Fred began pumping she came almost instantly.
Her orgasm was shockingly intense, somehow even more so because the gag sealed in her screams of ecstasy. He kept pounding, loving her hard. She came again. She nearly had a third orgasm, but Fred finally got his own rocks off, ejaculating with an animal cry of triumph.
Then he got up, zipped his fly, got on the bike again. Caroline was still swooning when she felt the chain jerk taut, and once again the landscape was flying by at impossible speed. Soon Fred found harder ground, and the bruises and cuts and raw spots spread more quickly. Brambles snagged at her and ripped open her skin. Fred turned a corner, throwing her sideways into a tree hard enough to break ribs. Caroline swooned in a delirium of pain and blood loss and was hardly aware when Fred found a highway and began dragging her along the pavement at nearly seventy kilometers per hour. Several kilometers down that road he felt the bike surge forward and hit the clutch, knowing what he would see when he looked back. Suddenly he was dragging only a chain. Caroline had disappeared; Prime Intellect had taken her from him.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:54

Medium Cool: Dec 27, 2006; Yr sister is a beauty when she's naked; Grimey Drawer

sirens of titan idiots

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:55

Lawman 0: Aug 17, 2010

Borneo Jimmy posted:

recommend some with creepy/weird sex scenes.

Mars trilogy and there was this one where these people were on a jupiter sized artifical planet or something and they had internet holographic sex bots

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:55

Kelfeftaf: Sep 9, 2011

Borneo Jimmy posted:

recommend some with creepy/weird sex scenes.

Gravity's Rainbow has this:

She turns. "Hold up my fur." He obeys. "Be careful. Don't touch my skin." Earlier in this game she was nervous, constipated, wondering if this was anything like male impotence. But thoughtful Pointsman, anticipating this, has been sending laxative pills with her meals. Now her intestines whine softly, and she feels poo poo begin to slide down and out. He kneels with his arms up holding the rich cape. A dark turd appears out the crevice, out of the absolute darkness between her white buttocks. He spreads his knees, awkwardly, until he can feel the leather of her boots. He leans forward to surround the hot turd with his lips, sucking on it tenderly, licking along its lower side� he is thinking, he's sorry, he can't help it, thinking of a Negro's penis, yes he knows it abrogates part of the conditions set, but it will not be denied, the image of a brute African who will make him behave� The stink of poo poo floods his nose, gathering him, surrounding. It is the smell of Passchendaele, of the Salient. Mixed with the mud, and the putrefaction of corpses, it was the sovereign smell of their first meeting, and her emblem. The turd slides into his mouth, down to his gullet. He gags, but bravely clamps his teeth shut. Bread that would only have floated in porcelain waters somewhere, unseen, untasted-risen now and baked in the bitter intestinal Oven to bread we know, bread that's light as domestic comfort, secret as death in bed� Spasms in his throat continue. The pain is terrible. With his tongue he mashes poo poo against the roof of his mouth and begins to chew, thickly now, the only sound in the room�

There are two more turds, smaller ones, and when he has eaten these, residual poo poo to lick out of her anus. He prays that she'll let him drop the cape over himself, to be allowed, in the silk-lined darkness, to stay a while longer with his submissive tongue straining upward into her rear end in a top hat. But she moves away. The fur evaporates from his hands. She orders him to masturbate for her. She has watched Captain Blicero with Gottfried, and has learned the proper style.

The Brigadier comes quickly. The rich smell of semen fills the room like smoke.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:57

Lawman 0: Aug 17, 2010

Kelfeftaf posted:

Gravity's Rainbow has this:

She turns. "Hold up my fur." He obeys. "Be careful. Don't touch my skin." Earlier in this game she was nervous, constipated, wondering if this was anything like male impotence. But thoughtful Pointsman, anticipating this, has been sending laxative pills with her meals. Now her intestines whine softly, and she feels poo poo begin to slide down and out. He kneels with his arms up holding the rich cape. A dark turd appears out the crevice, out of the absolute darkness between her white buttocks. He spreads his knees, awkwardly, until he can feel the leather of her boots. He leans forward to surround the hot turd with his lips, sucking on it tenderly, licking along its lower side� he is thinking, he's sorry, he can't help it, thinking of a Negro's penis, yes he knows it abrogates part of the conditions set, but it will not be denied, the image of a brute African who will make him behave� The stink of poo poo floods his nose, gathering him, surrounding. It is the smell of Passchendaele, of the Salient. Mixed with the mud, and the putrefaction of corpses, it was the sovereign smell of their first meeting, and her emblem. The turd slides into his mouth, down to his gullet. He gags, but bravely clamps his teeth shut. Bread that would only have floated in porcelain waters somewhere, unseen, untasted-risen now and baked in the bitter intestinal Oven to bread we know, bread that's light as domestic comfort, secret as death in bed� Spasms in his throat continue. The pain is terrible. With his tongue he mashes poo poo against the roof of his mouth and begins to chew, thickly now, the only sound in the room�

There are two more turds, smaller ones, and when he has eaten these, residual poo poo to lick out of her anus. He prays that she'll let him drop the cape over himself, to be allowed, in the silk-lined darkness, to stay a while longer with his submissive tongue straining upward into her rear end in a top hat. But she moves away. The fur evaporates from his hands. She orders him to masturbate for her. She has watched Captain Blicero with Gottfried, and has learned the proper style.

The Brigadier comes quickly. The rich smell of semen fills the room like smoke.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 03:58

Baiku: Oct 25, 2011

Pretty sure goons hate this book but gently caress you guys.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:00

Tewbrainer: Apr 1, 2010

Neuromancer.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:01

pixelbaron: Mar 18, 2009; ~ Notice me, Shempai! ~

Clipperton posted:

yeah i like movie novelizations too, my other favourites are 'predator 2' and 'under siege'

star wars novels too

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:01

Wertjoe: May 10, 2007

Dune is very good if you avoid the non Frank Herbert books.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:04

Waroduce: Aug 5, 2008

Please read Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:06

Al Cowens: Aug 11, 2004; by WE B Bourgeois

I have not read any Greg Egan besides wikipedia summaries but he's kinda.... on a whole other level

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:07

Loucks: May 21, 2007; It's incwedibwe easy to suck my own dick.

Al Cowens posted:

Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

This is what people do for fun in that universe ( )

LOL

Read it online!

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:10

Kelfeftaf: Sep 9, 2011

If you liked the Wikipedia summaries, then I'm in.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:10

Full Metal Jackass: Jan 22, 2001; Rabid bats are welcome in my home

Phrasing posted:

Pretty sure goons hate this book but gently caress you guys.

I loved this book and its sequel.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:13

Cake Smashing Boob: Nov 5, 2008; I support black genocide

Aniara

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:22

sesame_samuel_: Dec 24, 2012; Pork Pro

Asimov's Lije Baley series and Philip K. Dick's VALIS

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:26

SunAndSpring: Dec 4, 2013

I liked Tunnel in the Sky when I was younger. It ain't that great, but it's a nice read if you're into Robinson Crusoe stuff.

edit: surviving on a stranded island stuff that is, not the whole "white dude conquers the natives singlehandedly" thing.

SunAndSpring fucked around with this message at 04:30 on Aug 5, 2014

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:27

TOILETLORD: Nov 13, 2012; by XyloJW

J.G. ballards crash might be up your alley.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:46

Affe mk2: Mar 9, 2004; Chicks dig giant robots

I'm in the middle of A Fire Upon the Deep. It's pretty badass, but its idea of the internet is hilariously 90s.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 04:57

Zochness: May 13, 2009; I AM James Bond.; Pillbug

Full Metal Jackass posted:

I loved this book and its sequel.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:01

Moose King: Nov 5, 2009

Affe mk2 posted:

I'm in the middle of A Fire Upon the Deep. It's pretty badass, but its idea of the internet is hilariously 90s.

The medieval sentient hive mind dog packs were more interesting than any of the space stuff in that book. I've heard A Deepness in the Sky is good too, but I've also heard it's about that grey ginger dude and he was awful and dumb, so I haven't read it.

I really liked Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear, so maybe try that, OP.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:01

SHISHKABOB: Nov 30, 2012; Fun Shoe

Fandyien posted:

Forever War is one of the best sci fi novels ever written

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:04

BodineWilson: Dec 21, 2009

Blindsight, by Peter Watts.

He's one of those idea-guy writers, so it's not James Joyce or anything, but his conception as to what alien life might be like is really refreshing in its alien-ness.

Also, non-gay vampires:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WdCvGDpM9k

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:07

redshirt: Aug 11, 2007; Reporting for shovel mission Sir.

Forever War.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:09

Sponge Baathist: Jan 30, 2010; by FactsAreUseless

Slaughterhouse Five
Timequake

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:11

redshirt: Aug 11, 2007; Reporting for shovel mission Sir.

amityville anus posted:

Slaughterhouse Five
Timequake

I just re-read "The Sirens of Titan" and it was still fun.

Read it if you've never read it. It's a quick read at like 250 pages.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:13

Sunday Morning: Apr 7, 2007; Easy; Smellrose

jag420 posted:

Iain M. Banks is super duper.

I agree.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:16

Misandrist Duck: Oct 22, 2012

Rendezvous With Rama

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:17

Affe mk2: Mar 9, 2004; Chicks dig giant robots

BodineWilson posted:

Blindsight, by Peter Watts.

He's one of those idea-guy writers, so it's not James Joyce or anything, but his conception as to what alien life might be like is really refreshing in its alien-ness.

Also, non-gay vampires:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WdCvGDpM9k

There was no loving reason for that vampire to be in that book.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:19

Wizchine: Sep 17, 2007; Television is the retina
of the mind's eye.

redshirt posted:

I just re-read "The Sirens of Titan" and it was still fun.

Read it if you've never read it. It's a quick read at like 250 pages.

May as well throw in Slaughterhouse Five and Cat's Cradle while you're at it.

I love me some Frank Herbert. Besides the Dune books, I enjoyed Whipping Star, The Dosadi Experiment, and The Godmakers.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:19

BodineWilson: Dec 21, 2009

Wizchine posted:

I love me some Frank Herbert. Besides the Dune books, I enjoyed Whipping Star, The Dosadi Experiment, and The Godmakers.

Frank Herbert is great. I'd add The Jesus Incident and The Lazarus Effect. The Alpha Centauri video game owes a great deal to The Lazarus Effect, such as the mindworms.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:29

BodineWilson: Dec 21, 2009

Affe mk2 posted:

There was no loving reason for that vampire to be in that book.

Yeah, they really do seem like an afterthought.

It does underscore some of his ideas about sociopathy and consciousness though. But plotwise it's kinda odd. They must have been popular though, since his next book Echopraxia is all about the vampires, so i hear.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:37

A Tartan Tory: Mar 26, 2010; You call that a shotgun?!

Any of the culture novels by Ian M. Banks, specifically Consider Phlebas onwards.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:41

THE PENETRATOR: Jul 27, 2014; by Lowtax

dick

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:43

Wolfsheim: Dec 23, 2003; "Ah," Ratz had said, at last, "the artiste."

Someone recommended Asimov to me and every human in every story basically acted like they were doing slapstick

# ? Aug 5, 2014 05:48

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# ? Apr 24, 2024 04:32

Neurosis: Jun 10, 2003; Fallen Rib

In terms of recent sci-fi, The Quantum Thief and its sequels by Hannu Rajaniemi, The Golden Age by John C Wright and its sequels, and Peter Watts' Blindsight are all of a very, very high quality. The first 2 depict far future societies still limited to the Solar System and are ridiculously, absurdly idea dense.

Blindsight has already been recommended but it can't be repeated enough. It is amazing.

# ? Aug 5, 2014 06:00

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