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Good Sci-Fi (not fantasy stuff)

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Another type of fiction I like is sci-fi, the Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury type. Apocalyptic sci-fi is fun too. I've read a lot of the best stuff in this genre, but always looking for something unique. Don't care much for trolls and goblins, though.
 
I used to read sci-fi short stories. Enjoyed that genre very much. Got hooked on watching many seasons of Dr. Who right up till recently, and got a kick out of the balance of humour and drama with a goodly measure of goofiness thrown in. To each their own. Mystery Science Theatre on TV was fun in it's day.
The past couple years though I've been reading folk history and folk tales, as well as listening to gothic horror audio online. Stuff written by M.R. James and H.P. Lovecraft, that kind of thing. My wife makes me wear the headphones when I'm listening to that.
 
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Have you read any Octavia Butler? I think she is an amazing writer. The Parables Series has four, and also the Patternist Series. I got turned on to her writing when, many decades before, she has a story called Blood Child, published in the Isaac Asimov ....whatever magazine that was running in the 70s.
 
Paolo Bacigalupi is really good! My favorite is "Wind Up Girl". R.F. Kuang, The Poppy War and The Dragon Republic were awesome too.

Also the Justin Cronin series, The Passage, The Twelve and The City of Mirrors.
 
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My second foray into sci-fi was with C.S.Lewis' Space Trilogy following Dr Elwin Ransom as he explores the planets Mars (Out Of The Silent Planet), Venus (Perelandra) and Earth (That Hideous Strength). There was as much moral introspection as planetary exploration, as you would expect from Lewis. My first fun sci-fi tripping was with Kurt Vonnegut. His books were thought provoking and a lot of fun. Who could forget the little alien who communicates by way of tap dancing and farting? My favourite sci-fi however is still enjoyed through the child's vivid imagination of Calvin's alter ego Spaceman Spiff. I enjoyed hours (nay, years) of laughter together with our kids reading Calvin And Hobbes. https://calvinandhobbes.fandom.com/wiki/Spaceman_Spiff
 
Dune is probably the best sci-fi I've read, although I haven't read much sf. After reading the book, seeing the film will make sense, although IIRC critics from the eighties like Siskel and Ebert at the time claimed that it stank tremendously. I'll bet they didn't read the book.

Dune does have witches in it, but not the typical Snow White poisoning type of witch (they're into mind control).
 
I’ve read “Prey” by Michael Crichton a couple of times
Its a pretty straight forward, almost science based look at AI and autonomous machines
the first time I read it, I couldn’t put it down, absolutely riveting
 
I read the Starship & Canoe in 1980... a very good read alternating between hippie George Dyson's sea kayak ambitions and travels on the west coast of Canada and his superscientist father Freeman Dyson working on the Orion nuclear-propelled spacecraft.

Some real sci-fi from a real scientist... Carl Sagan's Contact, I thought it was good although a hardcore sci-fi reader hated it, maybe because it had some actual science in it. The movie's not bad, either. Jodie Foster almost as good as in Silence of the Lambs while the spacecraft designed by extraterrestrials spins up and warps spacetime into another dimension..
 
How about “The Expanse” series? International best seller....currently 8 books in the series with 9th on the way. Also a couple of novellas out.....made into a tv series currently on Amazon Prime I believe....I’ve read the 1st book, Leviathan Wakes” and thoroughly enjoyed it.....trying to make time for book 2......my library has the books available for download....

Mike
 
How about “The Expanse” series? International best seller....currently 8 books in the series with 9th on the way. Also a couple of novellas out.....made into a tv series currently on Amazon Prime I believe....I’ve read the 1st book, Leviathan Wakes” and thoroughly enjoyed it.....trying to make time for book 2......my library has the books available for download....

Mike

I've read the first three in the series, have the next three waiting for me at the bedside.
The TV series was fantastic, it's what all sci-fi shows should be modeled after...
 
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