Suggest me some sci-fi books. I am a beginner in the genre. I have never read a sci-fi novel before. I tried to read "hyperion" but the jargons were too heavy to grasp.
Also, are there any short stories worth reading in the same genre so that also let me know about.
by Sufficient_Mixture_9
9 Comments
So John Christopher was a very famous writer in the 1960s through 1980s and really specialized in apocalyptic SF YA.
I still reread them though because they’re very literate, great plots, and interesting characters. When I say that they are simple, I don’t mean that they are childish or dumb. I just mean that they are pretty straightforward and not weighed down with too much lore or jargon or 300 subplots and dude characters. Each adventure, you follow through the mind of one character.
His two most famous series are technically SF. They both are in our universe after a collapse of civilization.
*THE TRIPODS* (TRILOGY)–It is 100 years or so after earth civilization has collapsed and daily life doesn’t *seem* too terrible most places, with sort of medieval level technology, but there are beings who rule the earth. I won’t say more because it would be a spoiler to identify who they are. This was incredibly influential on almost every Hollywood movie you’ve ever seen about an “occupied” earth.
Christopher, John. *The White Mountains*. New York: Collier Books, 1967.
Christopher, John. *The City of Gold and Lead*. New York: Collier Books, 1967.
Christopher, John. *The Pool of Fire*. New York: Collier Books, 1968.
[Prequel] Christopher, John. *When the Tripods Came*. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1988.
*THE PRINCE IN WAITING* TRILOGY–This also post-apocalyptic. Medieval era tech and society with monsters real and human.
Christopher, John. *The Prince in Waiting*. New York: Collier Books, 1970.
Christopher, John. *Beyond the Burning Lands*. New York: Collier Books, 1971.
Christopher, John. *The Sword of the Spirits.* New York: Collier Books, 1972.
Google Hugo and Nebula winners and start with the best.
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Dune would work well for what you want. It’s not “hard sci-fi” with tons of science & science jargon. Once you finish it you can watch the two movies & understand more about what is happening behind the scenes.
The moon is a Harsh Mistress is another classic and closer to hard sci-fi but it’s work more into the story.
All Systems Red (Murderbot Diaries 1). It’s short & a good intro.
Every single book and story is a matter of individual tastes. Stories that enchanted me when I was young are sometimes… pretty darned awful now. So to begin? Hmm. You surely already know of Dune, what with the recent movies.
The Girl Who Owned A City, by O. T. Nelson. This book was almost certainly plagiarized by the makers of the TV series Jeremiah.
Breed To Come, by Andre Norton.
Ender’s Game, by Orson Scott Card
Shards of Honor, by Lois McMaster Buhold
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe
The Pride of Chanur, by C. J. Cherryh
Ender’s Game. The book that started it all for me.
– Binti
– The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet
– Gideon the Ninth
– The Hitchhiker’s Guide
– The Stardust Grail
The Jacques McKeown series by Yahtzee Croshaw. An unemployed star pilot tries to get by in a universe where transporters are a thing. The first book in the series is Will save the galaxy for food.