I recently finished Travelers on Netflix, and found it very depressing. I'm in search of recommendations for science fiction (preferably not fantasy) stories that are the opposite of depressing. What would you recommend?
Doesn't have to be a book either.
Thanks.
by MSRsnowshoes
6 Comments
Humorous Sci-fi By John Scalzi:
**The Kaiju Preservation Society** is … adventuresome and fun.
**Redshirts** is a satirical look at space operas from the point-of-view of ‘expendable’ crew.
**Starter Villain** is the most entertaining book I’ve read recently. It’s a spoof of the early James Bond movies. A substitute teacher inherits his estranged uncle’s villainy which comes complete with a secret volcanic lair.
Still fun but a different type of humor is Martha Wells’ *Murderbot Diaries* series of sci-fi novellas. They follow an ex-military cyborg who hires out as security to humans at the edge of the galaxy, protecting them from the dumb things they insist on doing. Action-packed, fast-moving, with minimal world-building, I considered each of them a treat to read.
The first one is **All Systems Red**.
Yahtzee Croshaw’s **Will Save The Galaxy For Food** is a satirical look at space pilots put out of work by technology advances. The protagonist is a mashup of Han Solo and Crocodile Dundee.
Project Hail Mary was super fun. Andy Weir doing the complex-science-done-in-lay-terms bit, so if you enjoyed The Martian, you’ll probably enjoy PHM as well. Movie version drops next year sometime.
I just finished The Long to a Small Angry Planet and it warmed my heart (it also broke it a little).
The Martian by Andy Weir is pretty fun. The main character uses humor to deal with being stuck on Mars and the science is really cool. Project Hail Mary (also by Weir) is good too. Both books have some tense moments but they’re not depressing at all. For TV shows, try The Orville – it’s basically Star Trek but with jokes. And if you want something really light, Galaxy Quest is an older movie but it’s still great.
Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton and its sequel Antimatter Blues are fun. And the movie Mickey 17 based on the book is in theaters now and is excellent.
For recent books I would go with The Murderbot Diaries series by Martha Wells. But some older books you might like are The Flying Sorcerers by Larry Niven and David Gerrold, The Practice Effect by David Brin, and The High Crusade by Poul Anderson.