The major theme in sci-fi romance books is first contact in a holy crap kind of way. Whether it is alien abduction and then kept, sold as slaves, sold as pets, etc or Earth invasion, or we finally explored space only to crash on a planet and holy crap – aliens.
I end up reading it and skimming past the "romance" parts. I'm really just looking for books that do the whole rest of it right. I find plenty of "first contact" books, but it is a lot of military, planetary conquest, blah blah boring. I'm looking for more Sci-Fi/fantasy than hard Sci-Fi.
Basically the out there plot of a scifi romance without the romance.
by infinitetbr
15 Comments
Have you read any John Scalzi stuff? Try Redshirts and see if it’s up your alley
You should look into Sanderson’s stuff. If you look at it from a high level, his Cosmere is very Sci-Fi.
I agree about John Scalzi. He’s on the lighter side of sci-fi. Old Man’s War, Agent to the Stars, Fuzzy Nation – all have first contact stories and there’s usually a B plot romance as a way to illustrate the character’s growth.
This is my 500th time recommending it, but The Locked Tomb series
The Fresco by Sheri S Tepper will be up your alley. First contact in a 1990s earth with peaceful aliens here to solve our problems … but are they actually peaceful? Whose interests would align with them or be jeopardised? They pick a middle-aged New Mexico mother to be their ambassador.
Grass by Sheri S Tepper has settling a colony planet and figuring out the ecosystem and this weird foxhunt mystery ritual? Interspecies friendship? You’d probably also like a bunch more of her books … she’s got a whole back catalogue to explore.
Sharon Shinn wrote Jenna Starborn, which is a retelling of Jane Eyre in space with colony planets and cyborgs. Wrapt in Crystal is another great one.
Lois McMaster-Bujold’s Miles Vorkosigan books may also scratch that space exploration itch.
Oh! And Sylvia Engdahl’s Enchantress from the Stars. A couple of anthropology-peacekeeper students are trying to help a medieval-tech-level-planet not be conquered by a newly-spacefaring conquering civilisation, in a way that won’t leave any discernible traces in the medieval-planet’s historical record. First contact among humanoids.
I think you might like Becky Chambers
You might like No Foreign Sky by Rachel Neumeier. It is a first contact book where a lost human colony that got integrated into an alien society encounters humans again. There are some space battles but they are the impetus for keeping the communication going. There is no romance whatsoever. One of my favorite rereads.
The classic of this genre is of course the Chanur saga of CJ Cherryh, told from the aliens’ perspective after finding a human, a previously unknown species for them. The human then becomes the trigger for all kinds of interesting happenings. It is definitely not a romance.
This doesn’t quite meet your requirement. It is a romance series but it’s lighter on the sex:
Harmony series by Jayne Castle. It’s scifi/fantasy.
Set on another planet with mid-century modern women’s lib heroines. Humans live very much like here, but in the shadow of glowing green alien ruins. The planet has been slowly transforming people so they have various paranormal powers of various strengths. It feels a little noir, a little 70’s mystery TV series. It’s fun and light.
How about SciFi written by a romance author but without much romance?
Jean Johnson- Theirs Not to Reason Why series.
I also love
Ann Aguire’s -Grimspace series, and Dred Chronicles
On the SciFi/Horror/Fantasy section
Mira Grant -Overgrowth
You might like A Half-Built Garden by Ruthanna Emrys – it’s neat-future first contact
Winter’s Orbit duology might be what you’re after
The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K LeGuin
Embassytown – China Mieville
The Story of Your Life – Ted Chiang
The Southern Reach Trilogy – Jeff Vandermeer
Nor Crystal Tears by Alan Dean Foster
You might like Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy. It has sex, and you could even say that is a focus, but not in a romantic way? Its very hard to describe, there is a lot of complexity and ethics and fear of The Other
Anne McCaffrey wrote a couple of series like this. Decision at Doona and Freedoms Landing. The later does have a romance but low spice.
And Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman. Alien tech running a DnD style reality show.