Rec for someone who doesn't read SF/F

doubt · Oct 3, 2011

I hope I can explain this right, because as someone who doesn't read much SF (I watch some, so maybe that'll help...)

You know how in Star Trek, they visit all those previously undiscovered planets and then get into trouble due to cultural differences. I'd like stories from that kind of perspective. Set in alien cultures, but not completely bizzare. Just different enough. Like the race in Ex Post Facto. How do other species live? What's interesting about them? It can be a story that's set on an alien planet, with alien characters and no mention of any humans. I'd prefer nothing too hardcore on technology, war or conflict on a larger scale.

I would also love stories about post human races like H. G. Wells' Eloi, or prehistoric alternative history cultures like in Jean M. Auel's Earth's Children or even further back like in Terra Nova (new TV series. Any books like that?). Basically anything that explores alternative cultures/races/species and how they live, socialize, interact, what their problems could be. Stories can be suspense, romance, horror, action, adventure... Does this word vomit make any sense?

dolores haze · Oct 3, 2011

Anthropological science fiction. CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series is an excellent example.

AceTachyon · Oct 3, 2011

dolores haze said:
Anthropological science fiction. CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series is an excellent example.

Also Cherryh's Chanur novels. Starts with The Pride of Chanur. (Note: the link goes to an omnibus edition of the first three books of the series.)

megan_d · Oct 3, 2011

Storm Constantine's 'Wraeththu' books feature post-humans.

sunandshadow · Oct 3, 2011

C.S. Friedman's Madness Season has a character who is a non-human who was raised among humans but then insect-like aliens conquered earth and they decide to transport the main character to another planet, and there are also some alien dog/hyena things that are a bit mysterious and some insight into two kinds of alien reproduction...

areteus · Oct 3, 2011

The Wess'har series (by Karen Chance, I think...) looks at humans in comparison to several alien species including one who are militantly environmentalist (to the extent that they will invade planets in order to cleanse them of an 'infestation' by one species...). Some interesting cultural stuff in there.

Lyra Jean · Oct 3, 2011

Lear's Daughters. I forget the authors. There were two of them. It's about a group of humans who travel to another world and do an anthropological study of the natives.

Izz · Oct 3, 2011

dolores haze said:
Anthropological science fiction. CJ Cherryh's Foreigner series is an excellent example.

AceTachyon said:

Also Cherryh's Chanur novels. Starts with The Pride of Chanur. (Note: the link goes to an omnibus edition of the first three books of the series.)

Click to expand...

x10

LoopyLinde · Oct 3, 2011

I second all the Cherryh mentions. She has been writing about human/alien interactions for a long time. My favorite of this type is "Wave without a Shore". A society that lives side by side with aliens but refuses to aknowledge them or to admit their existence, to the point of actually not seeing them at all.

This society's hierarchy is based on who believes the most convincingly in his own version of reality, and is able to impose it on the rest.

spacejock2 · Oct 3, 2011

Asimov's Foundation series? (I'd start with Foundation, the first in chronological order.)

LoopyLinde · Oct 3, 2011

I should just say, this subject has been around forever in SF and Fantasy, though there are fads that come and go and the plot type might not be as popular as it was at one time. But a used bookstore that had a decent SF section would have dozens of choices.

Kevans · Oct 3, 2011

Another direction is the alternate history/time travel plot line. A good example is L Sprauge DeCamps "Lest Darkness Fall". Where Martin Padway tries to prevent the final fall of Rome.

Or the 1632 story cycle by Eric Flint, where a modern mining town ends up in the Thirty Years War.

Regards,
Kevin

froley · Oct 3, 2011

Don't expect written SF to be anything like what you've seen on TV and in the movies. It's a whole other kettle of fish.

For someone who doesn't read SF, I'd recommend starting with some Robert J Sawyer. He writes in a mainstream voice but his ideas are very SF. Hominids or Factoring Humanity might be a good place to start (Hominids especially--it deals with an alternate reality in which Neanderthals rose to dominance instead of us).

Another is the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Napoleonic War + dragons. The dragons are intelligent and have their own dreams and desires, and the writing's very accessible too.

(I'm wary of inflicting 'the classics' on a newbie, as they very nearly turned me off my favourite genre, hence the 21st-century recommendations.)

So, hope you find some good recommendations in this thread, and best of luck to you!

Ria13 · Oct 5, 2011

I like my sf more literary, so some more literary suggestions... I will list these in order of most to last challenging.

* Enchantress from the Stars and The Far Side of Evil by Sylvia Engdahl. a book and its sequel but I think you can read one without reading the other. (she wrote the earlier version of the second one first.) this has a Star Trek-like background of a peaceful interstellar government which at times visits pre-First Contact planets in secret.
* the Hainish cycle of Ursula LeGuin. thinking of The Word for World Is Forest, The Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. these share the same universe but you can read these in any order.
* The Starry Rift by James Tiptree, Jnr.
* The Child Garden: A Low Comedy by Geoff Ryman, one of my all-time favorite books, period. if you want to read any book on this list, make it this one. a love story, too. if you can handle the basic concepts presented in the first couple of pages, give it a shot.

some I've not read:

* Canopus in Argos: Archives by Doris Lessing. peaceful aliens, noninterference policy, etc. you can read these individually or in one big-ass volume.

Ria13 · Oct 5, 2011

froley said:
(I'm wary of inflicting 'the classics' on a newbie, as they very nearly turned me off my favourite genre, hence the 21st-century recommendations.)

could you elaborate on that? growing up read sf I had no problem reading works from forty or more years ago. (but then I always liked sf and no one had to convert me.)

sunna · Oct 5, 2011

Definitely Cherryh. She does such a great job of highlighting the differences without overwhelming you with them.

Also, in the spirit of anthropological sci-fi, Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow and Children of God are really great.

mirandashell · Oct 5, 2011

You could also try the Pern series by Anne McCaffery. Features humans on a colony planet that have a symbiotic relationship with dragons.

The first ones were written in the sixties so have the thinking from that era. But it's easy enough to get past that. The writing is pretty good. And the stories are absorbing.

froley · Oct 5, 2011

Ria13 said:
could you elaborate on that? growing up read sf I had no problem reading works from forty or more years ago. (but then I always liked sf and no one had to convert me.)

YMMV--this thread isn't about me or my tastes, just a list of books the OP might like. PM me if you're really curious

Chasing the Horizon · Oct 5, 2011

mirandashell said:
You could also try the Pern series by Anne McCaffery. Features humans on a colony planet that have a symbiotic relationship with dragons.

The first ones were written in the sixties so have the thinking from that era. But it's easy enough to get past that. The writing is pretty good. And the stories are absorbing.

Oh, try The Powers That Be trilogy by Anne McCaffrey. Fantastic planetary SF with a much less dated feel than the Pern series. Should be able to pick them up super-cheap used.

CrastersBabies · Oct 5, 2011

George RR Martin is a great one for fantasy. Low magic, no elves, orcs, etc. I've heard people declare it "the fantasy book for people who don't like fantasy."

I got my mom to read it and she liked it (and she hates EVERYTHING sci-fi/fantasy).

For sci-fi, I dunno, something like Ender's Game might go a long ways.

doubt · Oct 6, 2011

You're so amazing, guys. Thanks so much. I am in the process of assembling all of those into a list and then I'll decide what to read first. Some of those books sure are massive! Haha. But the suggestions are awesome, at least what I've seen from the summaries.

Buffysquirrel · Oct 6, 2011

Ursula K. Le Guin writes what we might call anthropological SF, ie SF that enquires into other cultures. Try her Hainish (Ekumen) series books.

Rec for someone who doesn't read SF/F

doubt

dolores haze

international guttersnipe

AceTachyon

Odd person

megan_d

Falling in the milk

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal

areteus

Lyra Jean

Two years old now.

Izz

Doing the Space Operatic

LoopyLinde

spacejock2

LoopyLinde

Kevans

Fish from another stream

froley

Ria13

Ria13

sunna

mirandashell

froley

Chasing the Horizon

Blowing in the Wind

CrastersBabies

Burninator!

doubt

Buffysquirrel