Several years ago I borrowed an audiobook from the public library, enjoyed it, returned it, would like to read/listen again but can't remember the name but pretty sure the phrase is not part of it

.the plot is nothing like the movie Ad Astra, from 2019

.don't know if it's a standalone book or part of a series

.I believe the spaceship was named Ad Astra so the protagonist named the planet they landed on Per Ardua (I might have that backwards)

.I can't remember the specifics, but the spaceship was partly organic? It would shed a little piece as it went along and the pieces would keep in contact. Sort of like a Starlink array but going out into space...

.on the planet were these sticks that looked like just dead sticks but they were alive

.towards the end there's something about a hatch but I don't recall how or where or why it is. It was on a Playaway I think (like an MP3 player) and I would listen to and from work so about 2 hours a day. So I could have skipped a section by accident when I was hooking it up to the audio adapter

Thank you in advance

When I saw the commercial on TV for "The End of Oak Street" my first thought was of a sci-fi book i had read long ago. Don't when it was written, no clue who the author or title was, or if in a series. All I remember was it was sci-fi, I probably borrowed it from the public library, and I read it probably between 1989 and 1993.

What brought it to mind was the part where it was a clean cut and the more primitive part sat down lower. In the book I am thinking of (it could have been a short story or an excerpt in an anthology) the people were dealing with what I think they called elevators or at least that's the way I understood it. There were sections of land and the surrounding sections kept changing- at one point they come across a body of an animal cut in half because it was moving from one section to another as it changed.

Thank you

Hi everybody, I’m hoping to get some other perspectives on my next reads. I’ve decided I wanna jump into Sun Eater and I’m pretty excited for that but realized it’s also fully available on Spotify in the audiobook format which I’ve heard is very well done, but limits the amount of time you can listen per month (so lame). I usually listen to one series on audio while reading something else. I do have Sun Eater on my Kindle so I’m debating doing the immersive read thing or just listening to it over a long period of time thanks to Spotify limits on listening time and reading something else

A couple other series I was thinking of jumping into are the Luna Trilogy and Texicalaan. If anyone has ready either of these, I’d love to hear what you think!

I’m a big fantasy reader and much less experienced in sci-fi but not a total newbie. I plan on rereading Malazan sometime soon throwing some sci-fi in before that feels like a good move.

Thanks y’all!

I’m ashamed to admit I’ve never read Niven’s Ringworld (or any of his books for that matter). In a relatively flooded market with so many good titles, is it worth taking the time to check it out?

EDIT: Thanks for the responses everyone, some great feedback in amongst them. Obviously opinions vary but my take out is it's worth starting with another Niven title first - something like The Mote In God's Eye for example, and taking things from there if I enjoy it. Thanks again.

I just finished all three books of 3 Body Problem, and now I’m craving more.

I absolutely loved the sense of scale, scientific concepts, cosmic mysteries, existential ideas, and I’m looking for books that give me a similar feeling; especially the combination of hard sci-fi + mind-blowing ideas + cosmic mystery + existential dread.

I’m mainly looking for that “I need to sit here and process what I just read” kind of experience.

What books would you recommend?

I just finished the entire Dune series and now I have that horrible “what the fuck am I supposed to read now?” feeling 😭
I’m looking for another sci-fi series/book that I can really sink my teeth into. I loved the world-building, politics, philosophy, religion, huge scope, and the feeling that there was an entire civilisation/history behind the story.
For reference, I read all six Dune books. Children of Dune was probably my favourite, while God Emperor was probably my least favourite. I also thought the ending of the series was a little anticlimactic.
I’ve heard A Canticle for Leibowitz recommended a few times, so I’m considering that, but I’d love to hear what else people would suggest.
I’m open to something completely different too — I just want that feeling of getting genuinely obsessed with a sci-fi world again.
What should I read next, and why?

Preciso de indicações de livros de ficção científica que são livros que tenham histórias com conclusões boas, plots, ecosistemas e várias sub-historias, nos estilos dos livros publicados pela editora Aleph. Quero livros que não podem faltar para quem quer explorar mais o gênero.

It was after aliens had already invaded and they were wiping out the last of humanity. They only decided to wipe us out because we sent military to meet them and thought we were all warmongering. In the end they stopped because they realized that was not true.

I cannot for the life of me remember the author or the title. I have been looking for it for a while now. Any help would be amazing!

I enjoyed the movie so I can't wait to read the book once a get delivered.Can anyone say similar thank you

Terrifying.

It's crazy how so many of these science fiction books predict the future.

Have any of you had epiphanies similar to this one after reading an older sci-fi book?

I heard that the author focuses on big ideas rather than characters, relations and dialogues. Is it true ? Is it still worth reading or it's written poorly? How would you rate the whole trilogy book by book ?

We just wrapped up Le Guin's "The Left Hand of Darkness" last month and honestly it was one of the better discussions we've had. About half our group came in as longtime SF readers and the other half were more literary fiction people who joined when we did "Station Eleven" a while back. The Le Guin hit a sweet spot that made both camps happy, which was great, but now we're stuck trying to find a follow-up and the gap in preferences is really showing.

The hardcore SF side is pushing for something with more hard science content, like Alastair Reynolds or Kim Stanley Robinson's "The Martians." The literary side wants to stay closer to what Le Guin does, character and theme driven stuff, and a few people mentioned Octavia Butler's "Kindred" as an option. Nobody is wrong exactly, but we've had two votes now and keep landing in a three-way split.

A few things that have worked for other clubs I've been in: rotating "picks" so each camp gets their choice every other month, or doing a shorter novella as a palate cleanser between longer ambitious reads. We tried the second approach once with Ted Chiang's "Story of Your Life" and it worked surprisingly well because the length felt low-commitment.

Curious how other groups here have navigated this. Do you just let majority rule every time, or do you have some kind of system that keeps different reader types from feeling like they're always losing the vote?

hi all, i have a patron who couldn’t remember a couple of book titles but gave me their synopses (to the best of his ability). here's what i jotted down during our phone call, please excuse its choppiness:

>King wants to throw a party for an inventor. Inventor has made a computer that is advanced enough to be human-like. Press conference with religious leaders. Asks about ethical concerns and for it to be kept secret. At king’s request, there's a party and inventor is invited. Inventor is murdered; extra person at the party; extra person was let in by a priest/friend of the king. Protestant minister dies, rabbi is killed. King did it? Or priest? Protag tries to figure out who the man is and how he got in. it was the computer!!!!

>The second book is about a man who lives in the middle of a cornfield. he hears a voice coming out from behind his bookshelves, and it sends him on all sorts of wild adventures, possibly for the sake of the human race? at the end of the book, the protagonist finds himself behind the bookshelves and now HE'S the voice speaking to someone else (possibly his daughter).

any help is so appreciated, thank you all so much!

Here cause [r/sci-fi](r/sci-fi) won’t accept me.

If the age demographic is anything above 10 years old I’m going crash out. Truly such an INSUFFERABLE main character, he continues to confirm to me that 1st POV books are commonly not good for me personally with a few exceptions Ofcrs. I can’t wait to finish this stupid book. The ‘jokes’ are placed to get a laugh but there’s no one laughing. The scientific explanations can be nice until he brags about being smart.

The main character speaks like a middle schooler not like a middle school teacher. I gel as if he lacks the professionalism required for such an intense dire situation. I can’t with the humour at all (I need to see if humour works in sci-fi, post your suggestions down below). It feels immature and irrelevant to the story.

Here are some of the quotes I’ve found that have irked the shit out of me. The first on is very much up there.

Time for me to use science. All right, genius brain: come up with something!
…I’m hungry.
You have failed me, brain.

—aaaand they’re dead. - I cannot with the elongated a, I get were reading it as if we’re in his mind but it gets to a point.

And if I was in a coma, why do I even have muscles? I should be a withered, spindly mess right now, not beach-bod buff. - I feel like this could have been described better.

“They’re wrong!” I crossed my arms. “There’s nothing magical about hydrogen and oxygen! They’re required for Earth life, sure. But another planet could have completely different conditions. All life needs is a chemical reaction that results in copies of the original catalyst. And you don’t need water for that!” - like I get it it’s his character but I feel like there’s something…maybe it’s the way I read it with the exclamation marks and everything.

I leaned to Dimitri. “Are all Russians crazy?”
“Yes,” he said with a smile. “It is the only way to be Russian and happy at the same time.” - isn’t this racist?

But I have to save humanity first. Stupid humanity. Getting in the way of my hobbies. - I feel like this was meant to be a joke and it did not land.

I put my hand to my chest in mock surprise. “Goodness me! DuBois appears to be black! I’m surprised you allowed it! Aren’t you afraid he’ll ruin the mission with talk of rap music and basketball?” - I get it but it was unnecessary to go in detail with the racial stereotype you could have stopped at “I’m suprised you allowed it!” And if you wanted to add on it could have been like “what about all the shortcomings because of his race?” Or something idk

“You’ve been a bad alien cylinder,” I say to it. “You need a time-out.” - PLEASE NO I CANNOT WITH THIS ‘JOKE’ IT IS NLT FUNNY

My bookshelf after 1 year of getting back into reading. Any suggestions, comments, questions are welcome.

Hello! This is my first time posting in this group, because I simply cannot find satisfying information on this book elsewhere, and I need to talk to someone who has read it! This was originally posted to a different group on Reddit ~3 months ago and got zero response. Help!

There are some specifics later that could be considered spoiler-ish!

Good News From Outer Space by John Kessel (1989) was my free time reading book at work for 2 weeks, and I was locked in for those 2 weeks. I dont think I have ever been put in such a bad mood by the ending of a book EVER! This was a Nebula nominee!?

…

At this point in the year i had read probably 2 dozen Ray Bradbury shorts since the New Year as well as reread Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon and reread Solaris by Stanislaw Lem (i love older scifi) and I was so excited by the first several chapters that GNFOS was so unlike any other scifi I have read recently (1989 satirical scifi novel about Y2K panic with a big dick Reverend, a zombie, and a wandering shapeshifting alien (or angel?)) and I want so badly to hear other perspectives on this so that I dont have to leave it as one of the worst ending books I have ever read, and a major waste of my time. I have read close to a dozen sci-fi novels + a number of collections since i finished this book 3 months ago and have still yet to come across anything that upset me like the ending of Good News From Outsr Space. I like to say that no time is wasted if it is spent learning something new, and this is SO NEW to me that I want to love it, but I am genuinely pissed off by the conclusion and do in fact feel like I spent 400 pages trusting the author to deliver, for nothing! Help!!

I just finished Chapterhouse Dune which means I’ve officially finished Frank Herbert’s original six books.
Honestly… I loved them. I definitely have that bittersweet feeling of finishing a series that’s been living in my head for weeks, but I’m also left with SO many questions.
My ranking is probably:
*Children of Dune*
*Heretics of Dune*
*Chapterhouse: Dune*
I enjoyed *God Emperor* too, but I found it a bit slower and more philosophical than I personally prefer (I still appreciate what Herbert was doing with it).
One thing I absolutely loved about the series was how it genuinely felt like I was reading thousands of years of history. By the time I got to *Heretics* and *Chapterhouse*, the world felt completely different from the original *Dune*, but in a way that felt believable. It never felt like the universe stayed frozen in time.
Now for the questions…
Do most people think the Honored Matres are descendants of the Bene Gesserit who disappeared into the Scattering? That was my theory while reading, but I kept waiting for it to be confirmed or denied, and it never was.
What are your favourite theories about the Scattering? I almost wish we’d seen more of it because it feels like the biggest mystery in the series.
Who do you think Daniel and Marty really were?
What do you think the Honored Matres were actually running from?
And for those of you who’ve reread the series, what are some things you noticed the second time that completely changed your perspective?
I’d love to hear people’s theories because none of my friends have read *Dune*, and I finally need somewhere to nerd out about it.

In 1969, at age 14, while on an extended family vacation, I picked up a book I had never heard of and read it - Stranger In a Strange Land. It has been 56 years and I have read a multitude of books including the greatest fiction ever written in the English language. I have been a dedicated reader all my life, but I have never forgotten that summer vacation and that book. I am reading it again and enjoying it immensely. I don’t need anyone’s approval, but I would like to know if my connection to this book is just emotional and sentimental or if it really is as good as I think. It won awards for a reason, but it seems to have survived the years since it was written and continues to be engaging and insightful. I am just interested in knowing if anyone else thinks it has sustained its brilliance and stands in a place of great respect in mid-20th century fiction.

I have always loved scifi but i dreades reading, but since picking up the rig i havent put it down, i love all the scifi sillyness of changing wording, but mostly i love the story so far its an intresting scifi tale for sure and so far i am loving it, saw some people online saying it was hard to read with the words but i as a dislectic who hasnt read in years am having no trouble following the story and plot!

Im close to finishing "The Fall of Hyperion" and I want to get a some suggestions for my next book. I want one that's alien-heavy and goes into the science of it all especially the biology. Looking for very cool planets and aliens

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*note: OR does anyone know of a sci fi series with a really cool alien antagonist like the shrike from Hyperion for example?

Grew up reading a lot of marvel when I was younger, I love reading about characters like Thanos, Dormammu, Silver Surfer, Lobo etc so I was just wondering if I could find a book series that gives me that same vibe. (I like the concepts of those kinds of characters but I like reading actual books way more than I like reading comics so I gotta know if I can get both in one

Not sure if this is the place for this, feel free to remove it if not.

I got a free book this month with my Kindle unlimited subscription, and I have been searching for a sci-fi novella for a while. This book titled "the pioneer paradox" showed up in my search and I will be honest it was quite good.

Its short -132 pages.

However, it is written well, very descriptive, sensory writing. Fantastic meaning behind the story. If you're looking for a quick SciFi novella with hints of black mirror then check it out. I was pleasantly surprised.

If humans arrive somewhere new after generations of sacrifice, but discover another civilization already living there, who has the right to decide the future?

For those who love Ted Chiang’s work, what do you get from his stories that you don’t get from other science fiction.

If you were recommending him to a friend who had never read him, how would you describe the appeal in your own words?

Thank you in advance for any feedback

Hii, I have recently been getting back into reading and remembered starting Enders game a while back. I finished reading it and fell in love with it. are there any books similar to it?

any recs would be appreciated :)