Old Man's War. It's about an old man who joins the armed wing of Earth's colonizing force, which only recruits from the oldest portions of society. It's the first book in a series of books that deal with mankind's expansion into space, and the possible problems.

If you like science fiction, go buy it right now. Don't look at any plot descriptions, because most of them spoil the questions surrounding why only the old are recruited, which doesn't get answered until a third of the way into the book.

If you haven't read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, make that your next book to read. Probably one of the most popular science fiction books ever written.

Use of Weapons and, everything else by Iain M. Banks. Amazing stuff. Trust me.

The Blade Itself and the rest of that series by Joe Abercrombie.

Altered Carbon and the rest of that series as well as Thirteen and The Steel Remains, and it's sequel (still waiting on book 3) by Richard K. Morgan. He's pretty amazing.

That would keep you busy for a long time and are all pretty amazing. Seconding Dune, which is amazing, and the Name of the Wind which is great but very popcorn.

But really, if you were to read everything by Iain M. Banks you would be a better person.

Edit: The Sparrow

If you'd like to know a little bit more about the human society in Warhammer 40K's universe, I recommend you read the Eisenhorn Trilogy. You'll understand how Chaos can breed inside human planets, how the Inquisition works, and how Godly Space Marines are to common humans, or even less common humans, such as psychers. If you like 40K, I'd say it's a must read.

Anything by Timothy Zahn is solid gold, but I'd start with Heir to the Empire. It was one of the earliest Expanded Universe works, so you don't have to know a bunch of obscure backstory to read it. It's also notable for creating a lot of the canon that appeared in later EU stuff and even some stuff from the prequels.

I wouldn't call being verbose awesome. As for the message in the text you should either read The Forever War, or watch the film again to learn why it's flowery but wrong.

> War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose.

The problem is that political purpose is often dictated by evil, power hungry, short sighted politicians (many of whom have had military experience and are often the worst when it comes to starting more pointless wars), and is counter productive to the continuation of the species (we came damn close to destroying the world many times during the cold war, like seconds away close). For a more contemporary example it was the chicken hawks elevated by military rhetoric that leveled Iraq just to hand out rebuilding contracts for their buddies, laying economic waste to both nations.

Plus I preferred Michael Ironside's delivery, juxtaposed with his missing hand. You don't need a bunch of prose to show violence as authority, "because fuck you" is it's own proof.

Other points that can be easily picked apart (and I'm not the first to do so).

> Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes.

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure" --Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson was talking about rebellions and the rebellious as the patriots. The removal of tyrants, makes Heinlein's statement disingenuous at best. It's a reversal and celebration of authority, that is ironically only possible due to Jefferson's original rebellion.

> It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or how—or why—he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals.

This is the Nuremberg Defense, nobody should have to explain why it's wrong.

Too many people read Starship Troopers then praise it without reading it's critiques or counter examples. Heinlein's theories haven't held up well in the years following his book. It's a good story, and a great window into the mind set of a WWII soldier, but as a model for society it's woefully inadequate.

If you really want to understand war and it's wide ranging ramifications in an easily approachable format I would suggest starting with John Keegan's: A History of Warfare. Then read Joe Haldeman's: The Forever War as a Vietnam era perspective counter example to Starship Troopers. Then try watching Verhoeven's Starship Troopers again as it was intended to be viewed, as an intelligent satire.

Ender's Game, Revelation Space, Altered Carbon and a few other great series out of there have dedicated a lot to overcoming time dilation.

Joe Haldeman tackled it head on in The Forever War Amazon link, a fantastic book that as a fan of similar stuff, you might like it!

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413465938&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye

The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. One of the greatest First Contact books ever. Hugo and Nebula nominee.

"Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others.
The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre."

Here are the recently published novels we've covered in the /r/SF_Book_Club (you can check out the survey results for these books from the sidebar over there):

• Children of the Sky by Vernor Vinge.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
  
  
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross
  
  
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
  
  
• Embassytown by China Miéville
  
  
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald
  
  
• Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

I'm reminded of a line of dialogue in a book I recently read (well, listened to). To expound on the plot summary on Amazon, the protagonist awakens to find that, while he was dead, the US became a theocratic state. Cryogenic preservation was ruled to be blasphemous, preserved people were declared to be dead, and all related assets were confiscated and sold off, including the preserved people.

The protagonist observes that it seems like it the proper action would have been to just bury the people, to which the other character replies, "Did theologues limit themselves to logical or consistent behavior in your time?"

I laughed so hard at that line - especially how it's delivered by the narrator - that I nearly had to pull my car off the road.

Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, both by Robert Heinlein; both amazing reads. "Stranger" being possibly on of the greatest Sci-fi novels ever written.

In no order:

The Gunslinger

Stranger In A Strange Land

Siddhartha

Ender’s Game

East of Eden

The Stranger

>Anyone read this book?

Dude, it's practically the Citizen Kane of cyberpunk. Dated, hard to grasp and totally genre changing. I loved it when I discovered it in the early 90's but truth be told it's been surpassed several times.

Read it, and if you find the themes interesting try Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan.

Great book on this subject : We Are Legion

Ender's Game - By Orson Scott Card

Hell, the whole series of books he wrote after Ender's Game is great.

I'll skip over the classics (Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick) as they've already been covered.

• Peter F Hamilton is incredibly good, I'd suggest starting with the Confederation Universe series. Very long, and can get a little heavy, but in my opinion, absolutely superb hard sci fi. The universe is similar in size and scope to that of Tolkien's, the science is detailed and well constructed, the space combat is awesome, and I found the characters believable and easy to empathize with. Judging from your criteria, I have a feeling that this series may be just what you're looking for.
  
  
• As others have suggested, Alastair Reynolds is an absolute stand-out in today's sci fi line-up. His Revelation Space universe is complex, engaging and has some of the best science theory I've read. He also includes a lot of biotechnology / biological themes in his work - which is a refreshing change from the nanomachines / cyborg / tech-heavy staples that seem to dominate a lot of modern sci-fi. There's an incredible sense of tension that is maintained for the entire series, more-so than any other modern anthology I've read.
  
  
• Richard Morgan is another of my personal favorites. If you want action-heavy, quality sci fi, look no further. I'd recommend starting with the Kovacs series, (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) they're equal parts Noir / Drama / Action / Sci-Fi / Awesome. Not much space combat, but the ground combat is really, really good.
  
  
• If you haven't read Robert Heinlen's original Starship Troopers (Don't judge it by the movie; seriously) I'd highly recommend it. Not much you can say about it, except that the movie cut entirely too much of the thought provoking content out.
  
  
• John Steakley's Armor is superficially similar to Starship Troopers, but it's far more weighted on the psychological trauma of war; the action is almost ancillary - in fact, where Starship Troopers tends to glorify war a touch, Armor tends to question the validity and purpose of war in an advanced society.
  
  Finally:
  
  
• I'm not going to say anything other than: "Do yourself a favor and read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash."
  
  Seriously. No space combat, but without doubt one of the most entertaining fiction I've read in any genre, and a superb example of dystopian sci-fi. For god sakes, the hero - Hiro Protagonist (I know, right?!) - is a Hacker / Samurai that works for the mafia. Delivering pizzas. Trust me on this: Go with it, you won't be sorry.
  
  Hope that helps and wasn't a Great Wall of Boring Text :-)

Sci-Fi Starters:

Starship Troopers by Heinlein

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card

The Foundation series by Asimov: Foundation -> Foundation and Empire -> Second Foundation

The Robot series by Asimov: I, Robot...

Start with Eisenhorn omnibus. Brutal and glorious.

While not a LitRPG I feel like the Bobiverse scratches the same itch very well.

It's about a guy who's consciousness is put into a robot and shot off into space. He has 3D printers that can create anything he can think of, including copies of himself. While not living "in a game" he still creates his own VR world that he shares with his copies and can control his perception of time by speeding up/slowing down his processor.

He explores, invents, creates and discovers tons of amazing stuff.

The first 2 books are free on Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0

https://www.amazon.com/Honor-Queen-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00BBI9WD6

Dude, do give the original book a read. It's called Roadside Picnic, not Stalker, and it's a sci-fi cult classic. It's not in Chernobyl, the original idea is a visit of an advanced alien form beyond our comprehension. The title comes from this analogy made by a character in the book:

>> A picnic. Picture a forest, a country road, a meadow. Cars drive off the country road into the meadow, a group of young people get out carrying bottles, baskets of food, transistor radios, and cameras. They light fires, pitch tents, turn on the music. In the morning they leave. The animals, birds, and insects that watched in horror through the long night creep out from their hiding places. And what do they see? Old spark plugs and old filters strewn around... Rags, burnt-out bulbs, and a monkey wrench left behind... And of course, the usual mess—apple cores, candy wrappers, charred remains of the campfire, cans, bottles, somebody’s handkerchief, somebody’s penknife, torn newspapers, coins, faded flowers picked in another meadow. [2]
>
>In this analogy, the nervous animals are the humans who venture forth after the Visitors left, discovering items and anomalies that are ordinary to those who discarded them, but incomprehensible or deadly to those who find them.
>
>This explanation implies that the Visitors may not have paid any attention to or even noticed the human inhabitants of the planet during their "visit" just as humans do not notice or pay attention to grasshoppers or ladybugs during a picnic. The artifacts and phenomena left behind by the Visitors in the Zones were garbage, discarded and forgotten without any preconceived intergalactic plan to advance or damage humanity. There is little chance that the Visitors will return again because for them it was a brief stop for reasons unknown on the way to their actual destination. ^[Wikipedia]

The games rewrite the setting into the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and do away with the whole alien thing, carrying over the figure of the stalker, anomalies and artifacts, making the NPP accident have the same effect on the environment as the alien visit in the book, and adding a lot of combat because game, so the book brings a lot more stuff to everyone who's played the games, it's pretty meaningful. And there's a lot of "ooohhhh that's why" moments if you're reading after playing, where some game element just clicks when you see where it came from.

Oh, and the book is super short, you can read it in an afternoon or something, and can be had new for ten bucks on Amazon.

This is my favorite book even outside of 40k.

http://www.amazon.com/Eisenhorn-Warhammer-40-000-Omnibus/dp/1844161560

EDIT: Jesus its $37?!!? Get a used copy or pick it up at your library.

My favorite 40k books are usually by Dan Abnett (and it's not a very unusual opinion). The omnibus about inquisator Eisenhorn is probably the best of his that I've read.

I agree that Horus Heresy series is also a great place to start, as it sets the background for the 40k universe. I really enjoyed the first 5. At the time that was all that was published -- I had no idea there were 28 now, wow!

ender's game

if you're into bullies getting consistently destroyed by the little guy, read it today

https://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Ender-Quartet-Book-ebook/dp/B003G4W49C

If you havent read the Bobiverse series, you should.

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

Here is a few:

Starship Troopers - the book, not the movie

https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441783589/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947608&sr=1-1&keywords=starship+troopers

Man's Search for Meaning

https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947637&sr=1-1&keywords=mans+search+for+meaning

Sapiens

https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947665&sr=1-3&keywords=sapiens+a+brief+history+of+humankind

12 rules for life an antidote to chaos

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=12+rules+for+life+an+antidote+to+chaos&sprefix=12+rules%2Cstripbooks%2C199&crid=1I6JP76TCR7PC

I don't know if it is exactly what you are looking for, but you may like Ender's Game.

There is only the one book. The movie only used the book as a premise and went off on its own. Anyone who has read the book pretty much doesn't like the movie. I don't think the 2nd and 3rd made it to theaters...
If you like bug killing adventures, look at Armor. If you like a more engrossing story look at Ender's Game.

I enjoyed theArcheologist warlord by E.M. Hardy (technically I suppose you would say it is sci-fi, but it feels more like fantasy). The main character gets transformed into a sentient space pyramid thing. At first I thought it would be more of a dungeon building thing, but he ends up sending workers out to gather resources, build pylons to extend his range, construct different units, ect.

It's not litRPG but the Bobiverse books by Dennis Taylor are fantastic and definitely get some of the 4x, spanning across the galaxy vibe as the bobs spread throughout space.

Are you interested in settlement/city building?

Thrawn trilogy by Timothy Zahn. It's where I started, and in my opinion some of the best published. What it did better than anything else was capture the adventure and excitement of the star wars movies. It also introduces a good number of characters that you will end up reading about later if you continue to read the books. After that you can read Kevin J. Anderson's trilogy, and then start picking up the singles, like Truce at Bakura, Courtship of Princess Leia, the one with the jedi hutt and luke has a girlfriend ghost. If you decide to skip all those and only read the Thrawn books also read the Thrawn duology which ties up a lot of the stuff from the trilogy that is left open. It isn't left open in a bad way, there is just more stuff that could happen. You will eventually get to the New Jedi Order stuff and then everything else that happened after that, but that is beyond the scope of my recommendations. Also, the links are for the first books, I figure you can figure out the sequels if you end up buying the first books. Also, you can get them for like a dollar at your used book store so don't get them from amazon.

edit: Also, if you have any questions feel free to ask, I read all of the books published by bantam as a child and half the new jedi order series before I gave up and started reading "real" science fiction. Don't take that the wrong way, I enjoyed the star wars books, sometimes one just needs to diversify! I should re-read the thrawn trilogy. :-D

MHI is part of Baen's free library. There's a large number of book 1's for various Baen series that remain free permanently on Amazon and other places.

----

The last time this was brought up here's what I said:

So Baen is heavier on SciFi than Fantasy/Urban Fantasy...and their authors tend to display their Conservative/Libertarian philosophies a bit more. But they do tell some fun stories if you lean towards their politics or can roll your eyes at that.

There's some others out there that I can't think of, but these are favorites of mine other than MHI...

John Ringo has a fantasy series I haven't gotten to yet and the weakest of his SciFi series up for free. I wish they had Live Free or Die or Through the Looking Glass, which are much much better series, but alas:

http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE

http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Dragons-Council-Wars-ebook/dp/B00BER04VI/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-2&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE

David Weber does great space navy battles in his Honor Harrington series.

http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=la_B000APBAFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879923&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APBAFE

Williamsons Freehold is a Libertarian's utopian heaven, but it's a favorite popcorn read of mine - the latter half is heavy military SF.

http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Book-Michael-Z-Williamson-ebook/dp/B00BEQLTZY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456879862&sr=8-1&keywords=freehold

The Ring of Fire series is about a 1990's era West Virginia coal mining town that gets thrown back into the year 1632 in Europe.

http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456882709&sr=8-4&keywords=1632

If you haven't already, you should check out the SF classic novel 'The Forever War' ( https://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631 )

It deals with exactly this, with soldiers fighting on the other side of the galaxy struggling to remember what they are fighting for, because Earth changes so much in their decades-long tours.

I can really, really recommend Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan, and the two follow-up books. Smart, hard-boiled, fast-paced sci-fi action!

http://www.amazon.com/Roadside-Picnic-Rediscovered-Classics-Strugatsky/dp/1613743416 It seems be available on Amazon ('Olena Bormashenko: Translator')

Kylar, Durzo, Dorian, Solon, Feir, Logan, Lantano, Viridiana, Elene...so many characters that I absolutely fell in love with from the Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks.

Also right now I decided to start reading some Warhammer books i've had sitting on my shelf. Am almost done with the first book in the Eisenhorn omnibus and it is amazing. I never knew how badass an imperial inquisitor is! I can't wait to read the next Inquisitor trilogy by Dan Abnett, "Ravenor"

On Basilisk Station
(Honor Harrington, Book 1) by David Weber is only $1.99 if you pick up the free Kindle version first and then add narration.

The Forever War by Haldeman https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312536631/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zTFiDbR3EQFT2

Amazon Product Description: The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...

Anyone have any book recommendations for a 26 year old? No topic in particular, not necessarily financial/business or otherwise, just any suggestions?

I'm currently reading:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143127535
I'm not far into it, but it's basically on how to properly apply mathematics and logic to problem-solving. It's not exactly a new strategy for life or anything, but it's probably a good idea to read if you're analytical. I got it off Bill Gates reading list.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728
Found through the reading list- This one I've finished and can't recommend enough. It's from the 50's and it's intended reader were investment bankers. The main suggestion is hide yourself from bad information because you can't eliminate the impact it'll have on your decision making, and we aren't exactly equipped to know what's good or bad if we don't have experience in that realm already. It's a lot of common stuff people use stats for to push a product service policy etc.

https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441783589/
I'm really into it. I love sci-fi. I don't necessarily love philosophy, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's hard for me to read a lot of at once but I don't ever want to put it down. The mindset of the character and narration really gets me. Since reading this, I've heard or noticed many many recommendations for Heinlein, though I'm unsure. He seems to be a proponent of fascism, but I guess he could just be writing down the fantasy of the particular fascist society he created and not necessarily saying "ya know this is how we should be" I don't know. I see conflicting things.

The Forever War. Many people compare it to Starship Troopers, which was also badass, but I liked this one better.

Okay so I think this might meet most of your criteria but it is two books that totals about 800 pages (I think - I'd have to run down to my bookshelf and check but I'm lazy). So it's a short read but I've read both books 3 times over and I always enjoy it. So here they are:

Book 1: The Mote in God's Eye

Book 2: The Gripping Hand

The most prominent one recently has probably been The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. It's more "post-ecological cataclysm," though, and civilization has more or less survived.

Most of the time I am "in the mood" for a certain genre or type of book. I will recommend some of my favorites that are easy to read and enjoyable. With a super short summary to see if it sparks your interest.

Fantasy:

• Name of the Wind : Great fantasy novel which follows a single character, Kvothe, who is an old innkeeper with a mysterious and illustrious past telling the story of how he became a legend. It is very well written and highly entertaining, the book is all about Kvothe as a teenager just trying to survive and becoming an arcanist. Highly recommended.
  
  
• Mistborn Trilogy : I've only read the first one. A dystopian world where ash falls from the sky every day with a centuries old tyrannical ruler. The story follows a young girl who is just trying to survive on the streets any way she can but gets caught up with revolutionists. Very enjoyable, and a unique magic system.
  
  Scifi:
  
  
• Ender's Game: This an Dune are always recommended for anyone looking to get into scifi...as well as Foundation series (which I haven't read :/). Earth has been attacked by an alien species of bugs...twice. We barely survived last time, so in order for us to prepare if it happens again Earth has started training military geniuses. Ender is one of the children chosen for training, and he is the best of the best. The story focuses on him and his story about rising through the ranks to try and save earth.
  
  
• Dune: If you want to experience a sand world with giant worms, extreme political tension, plot twists, feints within feints. I could say more, but simply saying that it is in my Top 3 favorite books says enough.
  
  
• Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy: Probably one of the funniest books I've ever read. It is highly regarded among this community and geeks as a whole. Do not judge it by the movie, this is a must-read book if you want a laugh.
  
  

I'd suggest one of the following:

• Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Well written, fun and an easy read.
  
• Seeker by Jack McDevitt. A good old fashioned archaeology mystery set 9,000 years in the future.
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Classic story about the child selected to lead Earth's defense against alien invaders.

Check out The Windup Girl, it's the closest thing I can think of that reminds me of The Diamond Age. Aside from Snow Crash, of course.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Amazon explains it better than I...
http://www.amazon.com/Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585/ref=la_B002BM2TEK_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380994224&sr=1-1

You talked to the right guy! If you want an awesome point of view and introduction (or just great stories if you are already a fan) to the Warhammer 40k universe I suggest you read the following in the order I put them:

Eisenhorn Omnibus

Ravenor Omnibus

The Emperor's Gift

All these are intertwined, there is another trilogy to follow up Eisenhorn and Ravenor but only the first book has been release for that so far. The Eisenhorn Trilogy are three of my favorite books and I read from many, many sources outside of WH40k

This may be a weird recommendation, but Altered Carbon. It's also cyberpunk, but a bit more violent. Looks at concepts of identity in a world where backing your brain up is easy, but bodies are expensive.

I've tried three times, and never made it more than 25 pages in. And there's a telepathic cat, for Pete's sake. That's the litmus test right there. If you're the type of person who thinks a telepathic cat would be a horrible thing to include in a book, this series is not for you.

The writing is mediocre; it's kid's stuff. The first few books are free at Tor, but you should be able to tell if this is for you in a few pages via Amazon preview.

If you're looking for something for < $1.46 you're mostly only going to find short stories and books of questionable quality by indie authors.

If you're willing to be patient the Kindle Daily Deal has high quality books from time to time for only $2. Just off the top of my head I've gotten sweet deals on Arthur C. Clarke, Stanislaw Lem, Lauren Beukes and Philip K Dick.

Amazon also has Monthly Deals and periodically a Big Deal where you can find books for $2-$5.

If that money is burning a hole in your pocket a quick perusal reveals a few books within a couple dollars of your credit:

Most of Greg Egan's books are permanently at $2.99

Nod $3.79 was an amazing book, nominated for several awards

1st 3 books of the Dragonriders of Pern $1.99

Player Piano $3.99 by Vonnegut

Flowers for Algernon $4.81

Enders Game $3.99

A Calculated Life $3.99 - was nominated for a couple awards this year

Edit, Also found (and added prices to all):

The Last Policeman $2.99

Horns $2.99 This is horror and not sci-fi but it is a thrilling good book.

I'd say Start Here Credit to u/smoomoo31

Then to go more in depth, Go Here Credit to u/Sentry_the_Defiant

If you'd like, you can purchase the books for yourself! SSTB and IKSSE3 and Prequel YOTBR (Kindle Edition, They're on Amazon and other mass market retailers if said dealers are available to you)

Good Apollo: Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness is getting a re-do of it's original comic, which is quite difficult to get now, so I'd hold off, its coming soon. And No World For Tomorrow is also coming in comic form sometime after GA1.

And just for clarity's sake, it is posted in those resources but I figured I throw it here anyway, with all the prequels, the story's official order is as follows: The Afterman: Ascension, The Afterman: Descension, Year Of The Black Rainbow, Second Stage Turbine Blade, In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Good Apollo: Volume 1: From Fear Through The Eyes of Madness.Good Apollo: Volume 2: No World For Tomorrow. They're latest a;bum, The Color Before The Sun, is non-conceptual, based souly in their, namely Claudio's, life.

If you have any questions, feel free to post on here or PM me, we all love this stuff!

There are a few places you could start: The Afterman, the Year of the Black Rainbow novel, or the Amory Wars Second Stage comics.

I'd recommend starting with the Amory Wars Second Stage comics. Keep in mind, you'll want The Amory Wars comics, since they tell the complete story for Second Stage and In Keeping Secrets so far. There's also The Bag.On.Line comics, which were only a couple of issues before they were scrapped. If you decide to pursue them for a collection, expect to pay a bit of money for them.

Following that, you can continue the Amory Wars into In Keeping Secrets.. That's the latest album that's been adapted for those comics, but Claudio is currently writing the Amory Wars versions of Good Apollo 1 and 2.

If you feel like getting a very brief and confusing telling of Good Apollo 1, there's an old graphic novel that was released for it. Again, though, it will run you a bit of money, and while the art style's cool, it doesn't convey the story well and is quite short. For the time being, you'll have better luck finding bits and pieces of the Good Apollo story clued together across the internet and interviews.

You can then go back to the Year of the Black Rainbow novel, which tells the story of Coheed and Cambria's creation. It's pretty self-contained, though it does have a few references that will stick out if you're familiar with the later story.

The Afterman is only loosely connected to the Amory Wars, as it takes place long before Year of the Black Rainbow and expands on some of the unexplained concepts of the universe. Deluxe editions of the album contained artwork and brief explanations of the songs by Claudio, and u/TheElitist921 scanned and uploaded the explanations on the sub. Here's his post for Ascension, and here's the link to Descension.

Happy reading!

Edit: Bonus! u/DefiantLion also gave a synopsis/interpretation of the story to My Brother's Blood Machine over at r/TheFence.

Scalzi's Old Man's War was excellent. I devoured it in the initial reading, and I've re-read it about 3 times since (all this year).

It might be helpful if you give us a list of any books you've read that you did enjoy or genres you think you might like.

I have never met a person who didn't love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but it may not be your thing if you don't like wacked-out sci-fi so some general idea of your interests could help a ton with suggestions.

A Short History of Nearly Everything is a solid non-fiction

Robot Dreams is a great set of sci-fi short stories

Ender's Game gets a ton of hate but is a pretty great sci-fi

On A Pale Horse is an older series that I'd consider fantasy but with sci-fi elements

Where the Red Fern Grows is well loved fiction

A Zoo in My Luggage is non-fic but about animal collecting trips for a zoo and is hilarious.

Will post, then add links later...

• Furi
  
• Farscape
  
• Stargate
  
• Fifth Element
  
• Valerian and Laureline
  
• Moebius
  
• The Ground Walks with Time in a Box by Modest Mouse
  
• Roadside Picnic
  
• The Quantum Thief series
  
• Samurai Jack
  
• Adventure Time
  
• The Mars Volta
  
• The Amory Wars
  
• Rock and Morty
  
• Planescape
  
• Saga
  
• Dune

The series beginning with Altered Carbon is next on my to-read list. It might be worth a look for you.

Read the book.
Although it'll make you hate the movie. A lot like I Am Legend, World War Z, and countless other movies pretty much pissed on the book.
Edit: Why the downvotes, guys? Anyone who's read and seen any of those book/movie pairs knows exactly what I'm talking about. They're nothing alike.

I made a list based on where you can purchase them if you want to edit it onto your post:

This Month's Book

• The Woman in the Dunes by Kobe Abe
  
  

  January:
  

  
  

• [Consider Phlebas
  by Iain Banks]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Consider-Phlebas-Culture-Iain-Banks/dp/031600538X)
  
  
• [Brave New World
  by Aldous Huxley]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523)
  
  
• Fahrenheit 451
  by Ray Bradbury
  
  
  
• The Picture of Dorian Gray
  by Oscar Wilde
  
  
• Children of Time
  by Adrian Tchaikovsky
  
  
• [12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos
  by Jordan B. Peterson]
  (https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/B0797Y87JC)
  
  
  

  February:
  

  
  

• I Am Legend
  by Richard Matheson
  
  
• Dune
  by Frank Herbert
  
  
• Kafka on the Shore
  by Haruki Murakami
  
  
• American Psycho
  by Bret Easton Ellis
  
  
• Life 3.0: Being Human in the Age of Artificial Intelligence
  by Max Tegmark
  
  
• Beyond Good and Evil
  by Friedrich Nietzsche
  
  

  March:
  

  
  

• The Old Man and The Sea
  by Ernest Hemingway
  
  
• Moby Dick
  by Herman Melville
  
  
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl
  
  
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  
  
• The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
  
  
• The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• The Temple of the Golden Pavilion by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi
  
  
• Bushido: The Soul of Japan by Inazo Nitobe
  
  

  April:
  

  
  

• [The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Man-Luke-Rhinehart/dp/0879518642)
  
  
• [Stoner by John Williams](
  https://www.amazon.com/Stoner-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171993)
  
  
• [Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/0486415872)
  
  
• [No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai](
  https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Human-Osamu-Dazai/dp/0811204812)
  
  
• Sun and Steel by Yukio Mishima
  
  

  May:
  

  
  

• [Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima](
  https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Snow-Sea-Fertility-1/dp/0679722416)
  
  
• [Runaway Horses by Yukio Mishima]
  (https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Horses-Sea-Fertility-2/dp/0679722408)
  
  
• Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari
  
  
• In the Buddha's Words: An Anthology of Discourses from the Pali Canon by Bhikkhu Bodhi
  
  
• Mythos by Stephen Fry
  
  
• Inferno by August Strindberg
  
  

  November
  

  
  

• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
  
  
• Japanese Death Poems: Written by Zen Monks and Haiku Poets on the Verge of Death by Yoel Hoffmann
  
  
• Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
  
  
• Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
  
  

  Books Pewds suggested but hasn't talked about in any of the episodes yet:
  

  
  

• The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
  
  
• Tony Takitani by Haruki Murakami
  
  
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  
  linking pewds to see this u/pewpewpewPEWdie

Best place to start is the Timothy Zahn series. It picks up shortly after Return of the Jedi and is some of the best writing you'll find. It has possibly the best villain in the Star Wars universe hands down, I found myself hoping the bad guys would win about halfway through.

https://www.amazon.com/Heir-Empire-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553296124

The Timothy Zahn books are really good. You can get all 3 on Amazon for about 23 bucks: http://www.amazon.com/Heir-Empire-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553296124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1259835520&sr=8-1

Tales from Jabba's Palace was entertaining. My Mom got me the Millennium Falcon novel last Christmas, it was pretty interesting.

The New Jedi Order was good, but I stopped about 5-6 books into it. I read the summary on Wiki/Wookiepedia, and it sounds like they kind of jumped the shark. I might try to finish it up eventually though.

OK, so your mother reminds me so much of Joyful.

Go on you all for taking the threat seriously and acting on it!

Many many hugs from Scotland if you would like them.

And finally, and a fellow lover of Sci-fi I would like to suggest that you check out this online, self published 'book'. There are some clunky bits, and a few bits where an editor could have pulled it together. But in terms of storyline, character progression and universe creation it is one of the better sci-fi books I have read in a long while.

(I have turned them into kindle files, if you want me to send them to you throw me a PM)

Oh and the Honor Harrington series by David Webber.

In all honesty, the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are pretty tough to get into, since they are practically the ur-examples of fantasy, written back when a lot of commercial fiction methodology was still being developed.

When i read a book, I worry first and foremost if I'm entertained, if I am, I'll give it my recommendation, regardless of the flaws. These are the ones I think you'd find best for jumping in with.

YA/Middle Grade Books

• The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner (post-apocalypse)
  
  
• Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan (modern kid finds he's the son of Poseidon)
  
  
• Leviathan/Behemoth/Goliath by Scott Westerfeld] (World war 1 with mechs and genetically engineered animals)
  
  
• Eragon by Christopher Paolini (a kid finds a dragon egg and fights the big bad guy. As a warning, it uses the exact same monomyth structure as Star Wars so the similarities are... apt.)
  
  
  Fantasy
  
  
• Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (a gang of thieves try to rob the evil overlord)
  
  
• Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (a brutal war between about a half different factions over who gets the crown. Gets really complex fast so it might not be a great one to start with.)
  
  
• Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (I always say it's Oceans 11 written in the Game of Thrones world)
  Discworld by Terry Pratchet (I'd recommend not starting at the beginning.)
  
  
  Sci-Fi
  
  
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (it's Ender's Game. You must read this)
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi (Not sure how to pitch this. It's space marines fighting everyone)
  
  
• The Sector General Series by James White (It's like House, but in space with aliens. Not without flaws but very underrated in my view)
  
  
  Urban Fantasy
  
  
• The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (a hard boiled private eye who is also a wizard)
  
  
• Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia (Band of mercenaries hunt monsters. The author is very libertarian/right wing so if you can't stand that, you might not like the books. The kindle edition has to be bought from the baen.com bookstore)
  
  
• Grimnoire Chronicles by Larry Correia (1930's with magic, zeppelins, etc Same warning as above, but it's more subdued here.)
  
  
  Thrillers/Suspense
  
  
• Da Vinci Code/Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (even though I think Brown really needs to improve his writing style, he still can get the books going pretty intensely)
  
  
• Jurassic Park, Timeline, Congo, etc by Michael Crichton (a bit tougher reads since they're pretty scientific, but still good stuff)
  
  
• John Grisham's early work such as A Time to Kill, The Firm, Runaway Jury, etc. (legal thrillers but not hard to get into. I'm not a huge fan of his later stuff)

I have three books that I love to loan out (or just strongly recommend to those weirdos out there who refuse a loaner):

• Ender's Game, which has been mentioned.
  
  
• Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman.
  
  
• Lamb by Christopher Moore.
  
  The first two books have in some ways shaped my life over the years. The last book is just the funniest I've ever read.

Ethical Concern: The GMO corn is trademarked by <insert well known chemical company here> and the seed is sold to farmers who invest in it. Corn propagates by wind, neighbor farmer did not buy in but now his seed stock is infiltrated and the trademark owners sue him for stealing seed stock or some other violation of copyright. Local farmer caves to relentless legal pressure, soon all food stock is owned by corporations. This could get really wild (The Windup Girl), but so far that's still sci-fi, right?

Environmental Concern: Most GMO crops are created by chemical companies who in turn make products effective on plants that were not created by them. Rather than taking time to work with the environment these companies amass petrochemical sprays (a further economical cost to the farmer as well) and bombard regions so their plant survives. This chemical mixture goes into the soil and water where it in turn effects us; you do know that ALL drinking water is recycled I hope.


So you might be right, there might not be concerns on the healthy diet level (though we all know how wonderful the American diet is for us all). But there are larger socioeconomic issues here as well. To lock this only on a healthy for diet issue is absurd. I highly recommend Botany of Desire (book or PBS) as the potato chapter is enlightening on this measure (from an economic standpoint). Basically; organic food is far more economic in terms of space, maintenance, and profit per square foot.

I tried out Eisenhorn after seeing the badass cover art, and did not regret it. If you liked Gaunt's Ghosts, this is going to be candy for you.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Use whatever makes the most dramatic and compelling story, and whatever reinforces the narrative itself. I'd probably start with throwing the reader into the middle and fill in the background as the main story progresses. For example, how Paolo Bacigalupi builds the setting in The Windup Girl or John Scalzi allows the setting to unfold in the background of Old Man's War.

You can always go back and write prequels, first contact stories, and the like afterward. Remember, Tolkien didn't start with the Simarillion either- he just threw the reader into the setting.

The question however is this: who's your target audience? Adults or young adults? If you can get an illustrator like Drachen to work with you (cause damn he's good), That would be something to consider in and of itself.

Old Man's War by John Scalzi who's actually pretty cool blogger, and is an apparent good person

Sounds like you might enjoy Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age. I think Snow Crash is meant to be in the same universe - it's hilarious but not as dense. You might also like his Cryptonomicon, though it's not technically Sci Fi.

Tad Willams' Otherland Series is Epic Sci Fi with a huge amount of detail. Might be right up your alley.

Dune, Neuromancer and The Enderverse if you haven't already read those.

• Genesis of Shannara (post-apocalyptic fantasy)
  
• Duck and Cover novels (post-apocalypse meets Terry Pratchett)
  
• Wastelands (short story collection)
  
• Go Go Girls of the Apocalypse
  
• This is the Way the World Ends (post-apocalypse meets Vonnegut)
  
• Wool
  
• The Windup Girl

Iain M Banks most recent Culture novel is called Surface Detail. His Culture novels are great.

China Mieville consistently wins awards for his "new weird" books; most notably the Bas Lag novels. His The City and the City is a kinda mind-bending crime novel, but his most recent is Kraken.

The Wind Up Girl has garnered quite a few positive reviews.

SEALs, no, but Special Forces are, by design, supposed to interact with and train local forces.

The problem with Barnett's suggestions of a split force is that in neither Iraq nor Afghanistan has there been a climate where a "SysAdmin" force could exist and operate. The SysAdmins would have to be doorkickers with more specialized training.

Removing the hitters from the theater would just invite resistance forces to increase their attacks. Barnett pretends like civil affairs forces don't already exist. The problem is, unprotected, they are just potential casualties. Barnett's solutions don't really show how to fix much of anything because they're strategies for a battlefield that will never exist. The difficulty of counterinsurgency operations can be seen dating back to antiquity. It's not like Barnett suddenly "solved it" with his idea of a split force.

The reality is that there will always be boots on the ground who don't understand the greater strategy and importance of their actions, no matter how much or how often they are told or taught about the implications. You'd have to go full The Forever War and start conscripting the best and brightest from top universities if you'd expect to create an army of scholar-soldiers who have both the talent to combine warfighting/peacekeeping and nation-building activities, and then still have them maintain the level of big-picture awareness necessary for ultimate discretion. The kinds of soldiers Barnett needs don't exist in great numbers. Wars will always be fought with a cross section of the nation's populace, and, well, half the population is below average.

Science Fiction / Classic War Sci-Fi Novel sounds like Forever War.

Footfall by Niven and Pournelle

Ring of Charon by Roger MacBride Allen (Follow up - The Shattered Sphere)

Saturn Run by by John Sandford and Ctein

From the other linked discussion - One of my favorite scifi trilogies, The Chronicles of Solace (The Depths of Time, The Ocean of Years, The Shores of Tomorrow) by Roger MacBridge Allen, makes the lack of FTL -- and the necessary workarounds for maintaining an interstellar civilization -- a major plot point.

Red Rising Trilogy by Pierce Brown

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan - No FTL, but consciousness can be beamed as data and downloaded into different bodies (called sleeves). Futuristic noir detective murder mystery.

--Best of luck!

I'd suggest The Cross-Time Engineer
as it is exactly the situation OP envisioned.

"Altered Carbon" by Richard K. Morgan is kind of cyber punky and similar. It's the first book of a trilogy.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345457684/$%7B0%7D

The Mote in God's Eye also features a solar sail ship powered by giant lasers.

https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926


The concept is called a photonic laser thruster by scientists and engineers I'd you want to look up more about systems from a real world point of view.

Another different take: http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926. It's a first-contact book with a military side, but with a twist.

I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" to that list (along with it's sequel.)

Edit: Also Hamilton's other space opera, the "Night's Dawn" trilogy.

And of course the follow-up trilogy to Pandora's Star, The Void series, but I consider that part of the same story as Pandora's Star.

Yes, the bob in the computer is an entirely different kind of spirit.

Ping

The Bob, not exactly what you asked for, but worth the read

If you're into this, The Bobiverse series is great. Same concept.

Book #1 in the current series of 3:

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

The best "Standard" deal is the
Platinum Annual
24 Credits/Yr.
You pay $9.57 per credit
$229.50 per year

That's always available and offers the most credits at the cheapest price per credit.

If you follow the Audible sub then you'll find signup deals on there from time to time. The last I took advantage of was the
Discount Gold Annual
12 Credits/Yr.
~$8.29 per credit
$99.50 a year

You could sign up for that one until April 5th. Sometimes if you call and ask you can still sign up for one of these deals, but I haven't done/tried that so I can't say much about it. I don't know of any sign-up deals going on right now, they usually happen around holidays.

Depending on the genres you enjoy, your best bang for your buck might be a Kindle Unlimited subscription and then picking up some cheap audiobooks through whispersync. You can pick up a KU subscription for $0.99 for two months (https://www.techbargains.com/deals/amazon-kindle-unlimited-membership) and if you hunt around you can find a bunch of good books for $1.99. It's mostly Sci-Fi and Fantasy, but as a few examples:
https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MFGX5GI/
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00SLWQGUM/
https://www.amazon.com/Thru-Hiking-Will-Break-Your-Heart-ebook/dp/B00W4RICAM

Those aren't endorsements, just examples (I've only read the first one, which I would endorse if you like Sci-Fi)

Beyond that if you like classics you can usually find some of those cheap:
https://www.audible.com/pd/Siddhartha-Audiobook/B07HK6JZSC

On occasion, if you go to cancel your subscription you'll be offered a deal to keep it. I haven't signed up for any of those, and don't know what those deals are, but it's an option.

Last but not least, you can just buy more credits. If you've run out of credits (or if you contact Audible Support) you can usually buy 3 credits for $36 ( I think that's the correct amount). I generally wouldn't recommend this option, it's a bit more expensive to buy the Gold Plan, but you get a year's membership with that. Whereas buying credits straight out still leaves you paying a monthly subscription as well.

• We Are Legion (We Are Bob) is a hilarious trilogy that is a bit cheaper to buy the kindle and then add on audio narration. Ray Porter, the narrator, makes his series amazing.
  
  
  
• Off to Be the Wizard is a great series with good humor and can be less expensive if you buy the kindle and then add on the audio narration. I liked books 1-3, with 4 and 5 being not as great. The first books is well worth the purchase though!
  
  
  
• Super Powereds Year 1. This is one of my favorite series. Kyle McCarley does an amazing job narrating this saga (4 in the main story and 1 side story that could stand alone). Probably the worst covers and really made me not want to read the series, but Drew Hayes has become my favorite author. Every series he does is pure gold.
  
  
  
• Expeditionary Force: Columbus Day. RC Bray, sci-fi and lots of hilarious dialog when Skippy shows up (about halfway through the book). The series is great, and book 6 is coming out next week. Great starter price 0.99+7.49 for the kindle and audiobook.
  
  
  There are so many more options like this, but I don’t want to overwhelm you! These may not all be your cup of tea. But they are some of my favorites for a somewhat reasonable price.

Is there anything in particular you're leaning to?

Author Cherie Priest has a couple excellent books.

• Boneshaker, first book in her Clockwork Century series. It's a steampunk setting with zombies and all sorts of wonderful stuff. This book is actually on sale through the end of the month for $2.99.
  
• Bloodshot, first book in her Cheshire Red Reports series. It's about a vampire gal who is a thief-for-hire.
  
  The Dresden Files series, by Jim Butcher, is a wonderful series. It's about a wizard-for-hire in the modern world, and delves into the wonderful magic environment that Jim has created. Jim likes to put his characters through trouble and turmoil, and it's good for character development! The series starts off with Storm Front.
  
  The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is another great series. It's a post-apocalyptic/oppressed setting, centering around something called 'The Hunger Games' - an annual battle that captivates the capitol and all twelve remaining districts. There is a movie releasing next year, as well.
  
  The Name of the Wind is a terrific book by Patrick Rothfuss, the first entry into his series The Kingkiller Chronicles. It's a fantasy setting, and is about a character named Kvothe recounting his life. The writing style has an absolutely artistic writing style that is captivating to read, and such interesting and progressing events that make you eagerly turn the page. I have not yet read the sequel, The Wise Man's Fear, but I'm told it's even better in every way.
  
  Terry Pratchett is an amazing and renowned author. He has been knighted, an event for which he created his own sword for by hand, battles against Alzheimer's in a most respectable and commendable way, and has created such an interesting and provoking world that provides a lot of laughs and curious perspectives on matters. Where you start is a more difficult choice. A couple choice options might be as follows (I haven't read others yet, so I can't attest to others, but there are many!).
  
  
• Guards! Guards! which is the first installment to the City Watch sequence.
  
• The Reaper Man trails after Death, after he has been fired from his job.
  
  I haven't started this book yet, nor looked into it, but I have heard terrific reviews. The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch, is his first book in his Gentleman Bastard Sequence series.
  
  And of course, if you haven't entered George RR Martin's world of Westeros, the series A Song of Ice and Fire could be a wonderful read. It's very complex and very long and not yet complete (five books so far). It starts off with Game of Thrones, which is what the recently-aired HBO series was based upon.
  
  In the science fiction sphere, I would recommend Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. It's the first in his Ender's series, and there are quite a few books set in the world. I have only read the first one, and it was an excellent read, insightful and thought-provoking.
  
  ...anyway, that should be a few to peek at!

For anyone who would like to know, the following books I've read are my favorite and I'd really recommend them to anyone: The Martian by Andy Weir, Gerald's Game by Stephen King, The Panther by Nelson DeMille, Unflinching by Jodi Mitic, American Sniper by Chris Kyle, and Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

EDIT: Oh, and Blackwater - The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army by Jeremy Scahill.

EDDIT 2: Oh, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card which is so much better than the movie. The movie does not do this novel justice. And Killing Lincoln by Bill O'Reilly.

Ender's Game was pretty good. And of course you have to read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

The Bag.On.Line Adventures - nearly impossible for physical copies, if I'm not mistaken. though, much of the content of those few issues (if not all) are recounted in the Amory Wars: SSTB issues.

Ultimate SSTB - [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/Amory-Wars-Keeping-Secrets-Ultimate-ebook/dp/B072DX4LWD). $70 + S&H (if applicable) for hardcover, ~$40 for paperback.

Ultimate IKSSE:3 - [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/Amory-Wars-Second-Turbine-Ultimate-ebook/dp/B071KW34DC). ~$65 for hardcover. doesn't appear paperback is available.

GA Vols. I, II, III - [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/Amory-Wars-Good-Apollo-Burning/dp/168415068X) (scroll down to "Frequently Bought Together") for a total of ~$32. Ultimate Edition is not out (yet?).

NWFT - not written yet. TBD.

YotBR - [Amazon] (https://www.amazon.com/Year-Black-Rainbow-Amory-Wars-ebook/dp/B006OUEBIC), $10 through Kindle. expect to pay upwards of $200 for a hardcover as it's not in print anymore.

Afterman: Asc. and Dsc. - physical editions on eBay/etc. maybe? I wouldn't hold your breath. this is more of a collector's edition kind of thing, sadly. though people do sell them from time to time.

Vaxis Vol. I - again, same as Afterman. that being said, some lovely person made a .pdf of the Vaxis book [here] (https://www.reddit.com/r/TheFence/comments/9ouuoy/i_made_a_pdf_out_of_the_scans_of_the_vaxis_1_book/). so there is hope out there.

hope this clears things up for ya!

Sample.
The Course of Empire (Course of Empire Series Book 1) by Eric Flint
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Star Soldiers by Adre Norton
Oath of Swords (War God Book 1) by David Weber
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1) by David Weber
The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington Book 2) by David Weber
The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles Book 1) by R.E. Weber
The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Smith
Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars Book 1 by Mark E. Cooper
The Synchronicity War Part 1 by Dietmar Wehr
Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott
The Tank Lords by David Drake
Redliners by David Drake
A Desert Called Peace (Carrera Series Book 1) by Tom Kratman
Gunship by John Davis
With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary Book 1) by David Drake
Tales of Honor #1 by Matt Hawkins and Jung-Geun Yoon
The Fringe Worlds: (The Human Chronicles Saga Book #1) by T.R. Harris
Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1) by Michael Z. Williamson
The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) by Edward Crichton
The Sea Hag by David Drake
Forbidden The Stars (The Interstellar Age Book 1) by Valmore Daniels
FCBD 2015: Tales of Honor by Matt Hawkins and Linda Sejic
The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World Book 1) by Eric Flint
The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers
In the Heart of Darkness (Belisarius Saga Book 2) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake

The Bobiverse are mentioned quite a bit on Reddit. Guy becomes immortal through becoming a sort of AI after death. He is “awakened “ to help humanity however he struggles with not caring as much for humans since time and mortality don’t mean anything to him anymore. Bob

Finished We Are Legion (We Are Bob) yesterday.

It's...beyond reproach. If you have any nerdery in your soul you have a moral obligation to read this. I want to wait to read the second book because I don't want it to be over.

I don't want to say too much about it for fear of spoiling anything.

I was first introduced to the Orion concept in Footfall over 15 years ago and it has stuck in my mind since.

Attention A New Bulletin From The Terran Federation
=

Have you graduated high school?

Do you want to be somebody and do something?

Well then join the Mobile Infantry today and prove you have what it takes to be a citizen.

The Federation needs young men and women like you to help take our fight to the bugs.

Service Guarantees Citizenship.

Would you link to know more?

Definitely watch the movies first.

As to books, The Thrawn Trilogy is my personal favorite Star Wars book series. It's set about 5 years after Return of the Jedi. Luke is a Jedi trying to figure out what that means and one of my favorite villains in pop fiction is the antagonist.

The Jedi Academy is another great Star Wars trilogy. Pretty much anything by Kevin J. Anderson in the old Star Wars cannon is great.

When you're tired of reading about Luke, check out the Darth Bane trilogy. It's a look at how the Sith came to be the baddies they are today.

The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.

Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.

You've got some great suggestions so far- I'd also suggest Old Man's War ...it's fun.

Legacy of Heorot is also a good, fun read.

Connie Willis writes great short stories, and The Doomsday Book is one of the better time travel books that I've read (especially if you have any interest in history).

One of my favourite things to do is to pick up short story anthologies at the library, which usually gives me a good idea of which authors I'd be interested in reading.

This book is fantastic: http://www.amazon.com/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/dp/0765348276

Maybe not rich histories, but very, very interesting for a stand alone book.

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1611720052/ref=mp_s_a_1_1

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We are Legion might be up your alley. Book two has just been released so it looks like the Kindle version of book one is on sale.

I highly recommend the bobiverse series to you as a second point of reference.

If they ever come up with true machine uploading / true brain-computer interfaces, I'll be one of the first to sign up. Assuming it actually preserves consciousness and the sense of I, and isn't just a memory transfer and someone else wakes up inside.

Something like the tech in Old Man's War would be perfect.

Or for a more future scifi feel, Bobiverse.

I'll echo the other redditor that said The Forever War.

I read it for a comparitive literature class I took and it was the only book besides R.U.R. that I really enjoyed.

And speaking of that, R.U.R.. This is the book that made the word "Robot" into a science fiction staple. And it's a short read too.

Been on a huge Cyberpunk reading kick lately, especially William Gibson. I've never been much of a reader, so it's awesome to find books that are easy to dive into. Just finished Count Zero, now about half way through Burning Chrome. Altered Carbon arriving today for beach trip this weekend B)

I highly suggest any of these to anyone who is even moderately interested in the genre.

Met new VP of software at work yesterday. I'm actually pretty excited about working for him now. I really liked my old boss, but this dude seems much more... managerial. Hopefully I start getting actual development work now.

I am not sure about any Canadian Forces specific books. But some standard military officer books that in my mind are good to read about leadership and wisdom would be:

• The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester
  
• Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
  
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  
• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
  
• [The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell]
  (http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342986110&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Tipping+Point+by+Malcolm+Gladwell)

Absolutely I have a better solution.

SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP

Would you like to know more?

If you're interested in the the story behind the prequel movies, Darth Plagueis is an excellent book that fills in some of the plot holes from those movies. If you're interested in post-RotJ, I'd recommend starting with the Thrawn trilogy.

You've likely read most of these, but here are a few suggestions:

• The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis. Underappreciated works by Lewis - in many ways Narnia for adults. These books are a work of supposition. What if there is intelligent life on other planets that have not fallen into sin? What would that look like?
  
• Watership Down - Richard Adams. This is a book about rabbits. Not anthropomorphized rabbits, but rabbit rabbits with their own language and mythology, who care about and experience the things rabbits experience. It doesn't sound like it should work, but it is utterly captivating.
  
• Dune - Frank Herbert. A captivating epic in a richly detailed universe. Themes of politics, religion, and technology iterweave in a fascinating tale.
  
• Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide - Orson Scott Card. The tale of a child trained to be the commander of earth's defenses against alien bugs. The sequels feature the same character but in an utterly different tale. The books are very different but both one of my favorites. The recent movie didn't do it justice.
  
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein is a genius, but his books often disappoint me halfway through. This one doesn't. My favorite of his works.
  
• The Mote In God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. After colonizing the hundreds of stars, mankind finally makes contact with an intelligent alien race for the first time. They are utterly foreign and seemingly benign, but with a dangerous secret.
  
  I can recommend others if you've already hit all of those already.

there's also "The Mote in God's Eye "
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300456314&sr=1-5

May i add suggest a mote in gods eye
https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=nodl_

The Mote In God's Eye is one of my favourite sci-fi, first contact, deep space war novels.

Little Brother by Corey Doctorow https://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117

enders game: http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-ebook/dp/B003G4W49C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332391230&sr=1-1

YoTBR (Kindle Edition):
http://www.amazon.com/Year-Black-Rainbow-Amory-ebook/dp/B006OUEBIC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370974572&sr=8-1&keywords=year+of+the+black+rainbow

SSTB:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amory-wars-1-ultimate-edition-claudio-sanchez/1102181485?ean=9781608860357

IKSSE3:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amory-wars-claudio-sanchez/1110788600?ean=9781608861026

Bob

FYI, the first book of this series (Kindle version) is FREE for prime members right now if your interested. I don't know how long. I just got it.

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

xD ok this will be a long message bear with me.

1. Is there a synopsis of each story available?
   
   Yes! Every serial I write has a home page, and every home page has:
   
   

• Links to every part that is released
  
  
• A brief 'blurb' for the series, normally what I'd put on the back of the hardcopy :)
  
  
• Links to any artwork I've been sent or purchased of the series
  
  
• Links to any other media, like audio files or videos
  
  For my serials, the home pages are as follows:
  
  Flameweaver Saga
  
  Halfway to Home
  
  
  

2. I want to read other stuff
   
   From a quick browse-through of your comments I didn't see you crossing paths with any other serial authors - If you haven't read any of his stuff, I highly, highly recommend /u/Hydrael's work, over at /r/Hydrael_Writes! His Dragon's Scion and Small Worlds projects are exceptional! Small worlds is also published on Amazon!
   
   
3. I want to read traditional novels
   
   I can help with that! Some quick recommendations that I personally love - these are loosely ranked in order of how I'd recommend them, but the fact that they're here at all means they've got my support :)
   
   Fantasy novels:
   
   The October Daye series:
   
   

• Urban fantasy
  
  
• Awesome worldbuilding
  
  
• Is where I learned how to write twists, and where I picked up my penchant for chekov's guns
  
  Trickster's Choice/Trickster's Queen
  
  
• Traditional fantasy
  
  
• Wonderful politics and intrigue
  
  
• Influenced how gods are handled in Flameweaver
  
  
• Both written easily enough for young readers to understand, and complex enough for adults to enjoy
  
  Graceling
  
  
• Traditional fantasy
  
  
• A bit more well-known, but a surprisingly solid upper-YA read. Kind of a guilty pleasure book of mine haha
  
  Scifi Novels:
  
  Agent to the Stars and Old Man's War
  
  
• John Scalzi is the author I modeled my own writing style after. So if you like my style, you might like his too.
  
  
• Darkly humerous. Realistic and gritty, without being overpoweringly grim.
  
  
• Wickedly sarcastic
  
  The Ender Quartet
  
  
• A bit wordier/harder to read, after Ender's Game. The last book (Children of the Mind) is probably one of the most challenging books I've ever read. But rewarding.
  
  
• Long-running, intricate plotline
  
  The Ship Series
  
  
• Indie series I happened across a few years ago
  
  
• Upper YA. Younger characters, but dark content
  
  
• Well-written, relatable characters

Old Man's War

Fire Upon the Deep

Julian Comstock: A Story of 22nd-Century America

I think the best way is to suggest a few that got me into reading. One or two are YA, but well-written enough that I find it as worthwhile a read at 28 as it did at 14.

Ender's Game - Earth Has made contact with an alien species, and... It didn't go well. A program is started to teach a new generation of soldiers how to fight this alien threat. Children are not allowed to be children for long when the future of mankind is on the line. Also, it's being adapted into what is shaping up to be a pretty badass movie.

Snow Crash - Written in the 90's, but it essentially pioneered the concept of the online avatar, and predicted the rise of the MMO. Also, pizza-delivering ninjas. Trust me on this. It's good stuff.

Neuromancer Classic cyber-punk. Most sci-fi is like you see in star trek. Clean and sterile. Cyberpunk is the dirtier side of sci-fi. Organized crime, computer hacking, and a heist on a space station. And Molly. This book is the reason I have a thing for dangerous redheads.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Considered by most to be the very best in sci-fi humor. Lighthearted, hilarious, and I find I can read it in the course of about two days. It is absolutely, completely, and utterly amazing.

American Gods - What happens to the old gods when we start worshiping the new ones? Can the likes of Odin or Anubis compete with our new objects of worship. like television or internet? Remember, Gods only exist as long as folks believe in them. The old Gods aren't going down without a fight, though...

Hope some of these strike your fancy. It's admittedly more sci-fi than anything, but it's all soft sci-fi (Where the science isn't as important as the fiction, so story comes first), and nothing too out there. Please let me know if you decide to try any of these, and especially let me know if you enjoy them. I always like to hear if I help someone find a book they love.

I ain't so good at book descriptions but here's some stuff I really enjoyed -

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline: http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-A-Novel/dp/0307887448

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi: http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585

The author would argue with me about this being SF - Atwood prefers the term "speculative history" I believe - but the entire Oryx and Crake trilogy is very good.
http://www.amazon.com/Oryx-Crake-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385721676/ref=la_B000AQTHI0_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397411558&sr=1-2 the first book in Oryx and Crake, followed by Year of the Flood and Madaddam

That pretty much describes The Windup Girl, a recent joint hugo/nebula winner.

They are already translated and compiled into one book. https://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Suit-Gundam-Escalation-Confrontation/dp/1611720052/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480095418&sr=8-1&keywords=gundam+novel

They are out of stock as of now but you can order for when they get more in.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R is loosely based on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's 1972 Scifi novel Roadside Picnic and Andrei Tarkovsky's art house film Stalker, which itself is based on Roadside Picnic and shares its name with the game series. There is an English translation of the book available and the movie is available with English subtitles.

I would recommend looking into both of them. I found the novel very interesting, especially because it was written under the USSR. The film is also very good, but definitely won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Fellow fan of series here! Let me see...

Young Adult
Percy Jackson series is fun (and finished, too, I think).
Artemis Fowl series isn't quite as good as Percy Jackson IMHO, but it's got a following.

Fantasy
Harry Dresden series This is one of my favorites. Harry is Chicago's only professional wizard. There are a ton of these books and they are still going strong.
Game of Thrones These are great...but unfinished. If you watch the show, reading the books does help you get even more out of the story, I think.
Wheel of Time Another good series. There is a LOT of this series and it's finished. (Thank you, Brandon Sanderson!)
Mistborn Speaking of Brandon Sanderson... This one is very good. I highly recommend reading the Mistborn books before trying the Stormlight Archive, but only because as good as Mistborn is, Stormlight Archive is even better.
Stormlight Archive Amazing. Man, these are good. The series isn't finished, but the two books that are available are some of my favorites ever.
Kingkiller Chronicles I loved the first book. I could not freakin' believe I enjoyed the second one even more. The third one is still pending.
Temeraire Dragons in Napoleonic times. Super cool premise! This one is not finished (I don't think, anyway).
Gentlemen Bastards Con men in a fantasy realm. It's pretty light on the fantasy elements. Very light, I'd say. I'd also say that it has some of the very best swearing that I've ever come across. :D

Scifi
Old Man's War I'm almost finished this one--it's amazing!

Horror/Thriller
Passage Trilogy I've heard these described as vampire books...maybe zombie books... It's apocalyptic for sure. Great books!

Mysteries
Amelia Peabody Egyptology + murder mysteries. Super fun, but trust me...go with the audiobooks for these. They are best when they are performed.
Stephanie Plum Total popcorn reads. If that's your thing, shut off your brain and just enjoy.
Walt Longmire These get particularly good as it goes along. The main character is a sheriff in modern day Wyoming. (Side note: The TV show is also great--just don't expect them to stick to the books.)

Graphic Novels (Everything recommended can be gotten in a "book" format instead of only in comic form, in case that matters. I've gotten most of these from my local library.)
Locke & Key Eerie as crap. Love the art! This one is on-going.
Y: The Last Man All the men on the planet drop dead in a day...except for Yorrick. REALLY good. This is the series that got me reading graphic novels. Plus, it's finished!
Walking Dead I am not a zombie fan...but I like these. They're not done, but I've read up through volume 22 and am still enjoying them.

Other
OutlanderI have no idea how to categorize these or even give a description that does them justice. I refused to pick it up for AGES because it sounded like a bodice-ripper romance and that's not my bag. But these are good!

I hope there's something in there that'll do for you. Have fun and read on!

Edit: Apparently, I need to practice formatting. :/
Edit 2: I forgot to add the Lies of Locke Lamora (Gentlemen Bastards #1).

How about giving him a book of Stephen King novellas? Four Past Midnight, Hearts in Atlantis, or, if he wants some really scary, dark stuff, Full Dark, No Stars.

Or Terms of Enlistment by Marko Kloos for military sci-fi. Or Old Man's War by John Scalzi. OMW is a terrific series. Love those books!

Aw! <3

Like, what books I'd recommend, or just....stuff to do underway that would be in the self-improvement area? The big two that jump out as underway activities are always "save money, and work out."

What platform are you floating on?

So the first thing I do with all my proteges is I hand them the grading sheet for Sailor of the Year/Quarter and a blank evaluation, and I ask them to grade themselves. Not everyone wants to be, or needs to be, Sailor of the Year or a 5.0 sailor, but if that's the standard the Navy has set as "the best," then at least we have a guideline of what we should be working toward, right?

One thing that was pretty big at my last command was the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. Instruction here. One thing that is a really easy way to gain community service hours while underway is to make blankets for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society's "Budgeting For Baby" class. You can crochet (that's incredibly easy, I promise) or you can google one of the thousand DIY no-sew blanket tutorials. If you belong to a Bluejacket Association or Enlisted Association or whatever, you may be able to get them to fund the cost of buying the material...or even ask the FCPOA if they'll give $50 to the cause. You can head over to Jo-Ann's or Fabric.com and check out their discount sections too. NMCRS offers 30 hours per blanket. Taking an hour out of your Holiday Routine for the entire float.....most of the DIY no-sew blankets only take an hour or two to make, sooooo. Collect those hours. Add in a COMREL or two, and there's no reason you can't end a float with over a hundred hours of community service. This is particularly great if you have a friend or two to make blankets with you....snag one of the TVs on the messdecks and watch a movie while you crochet. You can also contact a local homeless shelter and see if they need hats and crochet hats for them. Obviously not a good suggestion if you're stuck underway on a submarine with no space, but if you're surface side--good to go.

Books I'd suggest, well, hm, this could get out of control pretty fast, but off the top of my head:

• Personality Plus by Florence Littauer or her work specific version
  
  
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
  
  
• It's Your Ship by Capt Abrashoff
  
  
• Starship Troopers
  
  
• Ender's Game (Ender and Starship are obviously straight scifi but there are some really awesome leadership principles/concepts/ideas that are worth mulling over. They've both been on past CNO's recommended reading lists too....and they're just fun to read.)
  
  
• For money, while, like, 99% of his stuff is "Duh!" I can't discount the practical steps he outlines, so Dave Ramsey's books, particularly Financial Peace is worth reading. His whole book is basically the wiki in r/personalfinance, but if you're wondering how to get your finances straight I recommend picking up this book. Just, in general. Good basic information and a starting point. Not saying you need it, but "saving money" just happens underway by virtue being trapped out on the ocean =)
  
  
• Leaders Eat Last

I loved to read. I started reading the BoxCar Children on the bus every day. Then I found the Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and some other obscure mystery books in the basement of the same caliber (e.g. bad). I kept reading everything I could find, until Highschool.

I too went to a "demanding" school. I stopped reading for fun, and would occasionally skip books for english class, too. Luckily, only one of my teachers in 4 years was a very pro-feminist (she was actually bi) , and then off to college... I pretty much stopped reading entirely, but unlike you I wasn't dissuaded by feminist nazi's.

Then I got a concussion. Let me tell you about concussions: They manage to turn the most basic thing like telling time into a chore, while other more complex things like driving remain unaffected. Anyway, I got a concussion, and the mental effort to read an hour for class would send me to bed exhausted.

The best books would take me a week or more to read through, and this is without school or work to slow me down.

What I found worked for me was to find something simple that I remember liking, and I would try to get through that. My goal was to re-teach my brain how to read.

• Pick up something on an elementary school reading level
  
• Find something you remember liking (so you'll be re-reading it)
  
• Try to find something short
  
  Your goal is to sit down and enjoy it in 1, maybe 2 settings. Find a free weekend, ask your girlfriend not to disturb you, and start reading. When I tried to start reading again, my routine included an energy drink to keep me awake and focused.
  
  Your goals are 3-fold:
  
  
• Re-experience the joy of discovering a story. TV feeds the story to you, re-learn how exciting it is when you become that character
  
• Make it easy: Think psychologically, you don't want to re-enforce your behavior (reading) by making it difficult, that'll never work.
  
• Instant gratification. By finishing the book in 1-2 sittings, you receive instant gratification for starting to read, as opposed to starting it and waiting a month or more to receive the gratification of finishing it.
  
  If you can read a news article about your favorite video game, you can read, and this is probably more mental than anything else. If that's the case, remember it can take up to 3 months to break a habit because it takes 3 months for your brain to "re-arrange itself" (lets not get into neuroscience right now!). Likewise, even if you start reading now, it may take 3 months before you notice any change, because it'll take your brain that long to "re-arrange itself" to enjoy reading. So try to read a book a week, for 3 months, until you can get somewhere.
  
  Also, it doesn't matter if you miss a sentence, or even an entire paragraph. You're not trying to read everything, you just want to have fun!
  
  It's back to school season. Go into your local Barnes & Noble, and ask for someone that works in the kids department. They can recommend good books, or just see what the local schools have for required reading. Generally, there's some good books on their lists (Gary Paulsen, Louis Sachar, etc)
  
  Lastly, some good books I would look at reading, in order of difficulty:
  
  
• Invitation to The Game
  
• The Transall Saga
  
• Hatchet
  
• Holes
  
• The Boxcar Children or Hardy Boys
  
• Sabriel (female protagonist, but one of my favorite books of all time)
  
• Enders game
  

I second The Hunger Games and Percy Jackson series as recommendations.

Looking for Alaska is really popular among my high school students, both girls and boys.

Maybe Ender's Game?

The Seven Realms series is another one several of my kids have been raving about to me. I haven't gotten around to reading them myself, but it might be worth checking out. Starts with The Demon King.

Ender's Game. This is an easy book to read and you will probably enjoy it.

Most of the characters in The Windup Girl are Thai or Chinese.

The Left Hand of Darkness messes around with gender in interesting ways. (Also, Ursula K. Leguin is an all-around fantastic author.)

Robert Heinlein can be a controversial author, but many of his works had non-white protagonists. Manuel Garcia O'Kelly-Davis from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is multiracial, and Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers is Filipino, if I recall correctly.

Someone else in this thread recommended The Brief But Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, and it's not exactly SFF (more in the vein of magical realism) but it is easily one of the best books I've ever read.

I thought it was great and one of the main characters you would doubtless sympathize with. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1597801585

I don't think I've heard of either of them having a novel. MSG has a novel but I have never heard of Thunderbolt having one.

For light reads, there are All You Need Is Kill with its take on alien monster invasions and groundhog day-like time loop, and Kino no Tabi which has chapters that explore some interesting sci-fi themes.

There are also Legend of the Galactic Heroes and the original Gundam's novel adaptation, but I wouldn't say that they're fit for light reads.

Well, it's certainly more rare than this printing.

In any case, I remember my middle school's library had these particular books. I was pretty stoked to read them, then got a pretty big surprise when I read Amuro boned Sayla and ends up dying. So much for Zeta and CCA.

Eisenhorn is for the most part an investigation type driven story with many literary devices and themes of duality. Out of all the books in my Warhammer Library, this one by far is my favorite, mainly because of the wide-array of relatable characters. Anyone with no background knowledge of the Warhammer universe can pick up and read this book. However, if you want something more action packed oriented where the story focuses more on the Emperor and all his Primarchs and how they all fell from grace, start with the Horus Heresy novels.
I'll provide you with links to both books:

Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett: http://www.amazon.com/Eisenhorn-Warhammer-40-000-Omnibus/dp/1844161560

Horus Heresy Book 1: "Horus Rising" by Dan Abnet:http://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464468488&sr=1-1&keywords=horus+rising

If you have the time, read Eisenhorn- it's a great introduction the Warhammer 40k universe.

https://www.amazon.com/Eisenhorn-Warhammer-40-000-Omnibus/dp/1844161560

I know it may not be what you're after necessarily, but give the Eisenhorn trilogy by Dan Abnett a go from the Warhammer 40k universe. I actually enjoy it a lot, and it's fairly similar to what you want in being gritty and sci-fi. However, it's also magnitudes darker than Cowboy Bebop. However, Eisenhorn is an Inquisitor - a man tasked with protecting the Imperium from corruption and sedition, and investigating a possible cult that has taken root.

The full trilogy in one omnibus, but you can buy them individually

Individually they're titled Xenos (Book 1), Malleus (2), Hereticus (3)

Old Man's War

The Forever War

The list was too long to fit into a self-post, here is the continuation.

Prolific Authors: (5+ Books)

• Going Home by A. American
  
• Surviving Home by A. American
  
• Escaping Home by A. American
  
• Forsaking Home by A. American
  
• Resurrecting Home by A. American
  
• Apocalypse Law by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 2 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 3 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 4 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 5 by John Grit
  
• Holding Their Own I: A Story of Survival by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own II: The Independents by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own III: Pedestals of Ash by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own IV: The Ascent by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own V: The Alpha Chronicles by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VI: Bishop's Song by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VII: Phoenix Star by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VIII: The Directives by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own IX: The Salt War by Joe Nobody
  
• Apocalypse Drift by Joe Nobody
  
• Secession: The Storm by Joe Nobody and P.A. Troit
  
• Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• 299 Days 1: The Preparation by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 2: The Collapse by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 3: The Community by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 4: The Stronghold by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 5: The Visitors by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 6: The 17th Irregulars by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 7: The Change of Seasons by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 8: The War by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 9: The Restoration by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 10: The 43 Colonels by Glen Tate
  
  Science Fiction with apocalyptic elements:
  
  
• Directive 51 by John Barnes
  
• Daybreak Zero by John Barnes
  
• The Last President by John Barnes
  
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  
• Wool by Hugh Howey
  
• Shift by Hugh Howey
  
• Dust by Hugh Howey
  
• Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  
• Aftermath by Charles Sheffield
  

Before aliens actually invade with landing forces, they will sit back and throw rocks.

Is the idea older than the sci fi book, "Footfall" ?

Everyone in this thread should read this book/series, about a 20th century Polish engineer time warped back ~700 years.

https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624

Even Better: The Cross Time Engineer. It's like Twain's book, but with sex, more SciFi and sequels.

Ok.... here's EXACTLY what you want.

https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624

Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) would make a great show.

Glaxnor, I almost always agree with you, but here we part ways. It may be true of certain types of SciFi, or even the entire Fantasy genre, but not all. Replay and Altered Carbon are two that disprove this, for me.

• William Gibson's Neuromancer and related.
  
  
• Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon and sequels. Also Thirteen.
  
• China Mievlle's The Scar. I can't vouch for his other books - reading in publication order would be to start with Perdito Street Station instead, but I haven't read it myself, yet.
  
• Warren Hammond's Kop and sequels - I feel like this series has been a bit neglected by this subreddit, and I don't know why I rarely see it mentioned here. IMO this series is better than Morgan's sequels to Altered Carbon.

Altered Carbon - Richard K. Morgan

It's a sci-fi detective mystery, very good, and there are two other books in the series as well.

The Takeshi Kovacs trilogy by Richard K Morgan was pretty great. Last good scifi I read.

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels/dp/0345457692/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1240608120&sr=8-2

The Thrawn Trilogy:

1. Heir to the Empire
   
2. Dark Force Rising
   
3. The Last Command
   
   The Hand of Thrawn duology:
   
   
4. Specter of the Past
   
5. Vision of the Future

So far it's very good. It is the sequel to one of my favorite books Little Brother, so read that first.

EDIT: I goofed the link.

EDIT 2: You can legally download LB for free from the author's website. Enjoy!

EDIT 3: When done with that, you can download Homeland here.

Two Debut novels from the last two years that were amazing:
We are Bob we are Legion

The Traitor Baru Cormarant

[Adrian Tchaikovsky] (Author)
[Children of Time]
[Children of Ruin]
[Bobiverse]

Well, there's /u/bethrevis' Across the Universe trilogy for starters. I didn't like the first book much, but loved the next two.

Cecil Castellucci's Tin Star is a standalone YA sci-fi with strong Titan A.E. vibes.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game also fits, though it's a smaller focus, I think.

More adult than YA, but I'm currently reading Steven Erikson's Willful Child and it fits the easy reading notes. It's kind of Star Trek helmed by meta-William Shatner/Zapp Brannigan/Zaphod Beeblebrox, as narrated by Kurt Vonnegut.

I believe These Broken Stars would also fit the YA space opera label, though I haven't read it.

Edit: And if you don't mind spinoffs, I forgot about Star Wars' Young Jedi Knights series. Loved those as a kid. Not sure how they stand up, but that was the series fitting the YA niche instead of adult or MG.

Here

You can buy the Kindle version on amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Year-Black-Rainbow-Amory-Wars-ebook/dp/B006OUEBIC/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486355755&sr=8-1&keywords=the+black+rainbow

Second Stage Turbine Blade Ultimate Edition

In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 Ultimate Edition

That's the closest thing to a 'compendium' as you'll find. Also, Claudio did releases a Good Apollo Graphic Novel around the release of GA1, but it's not nearly as in-depth as SSTB or IKS as it was written/drawn/published on a severely small budget. It's going to be re-released in the future true to the format we know, though.

Almost forgot YotBR, but you'll have to go searching beyond Amazon for that, as all of the physical releases are sold out and the only thing left available is the Kindle edition.

Happy reading :)

I'll add some of my favorites that you didn't mention. They are mostly Superhero, because that's what got me into self published authors that are frequently on KU.

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis Taylor. Great sci fi with plenty of humor and nerdy pop culture references, but also a fare share of danger and adventure. KU has all 3 books in the Bobiverse.

Sensation: A Superhero Novel by Kevin Hardman. This is a YA Super Hero novel, and is the first of 7 along with a couple spinoffs and short stories. The author also has a sci fi series and a fantasy series, but I haven't read them yet. I'm pretty sure all of his books are on KU.

Into the Labyrinth by John Bierce. This is the Mage Errant series. The 3rd book just came out, and there is a post here by the author. This is a book centered on a magical school, and it has a very good and detailed hard magic system.

Fid's Crusade by David Reiss. This is a Super Villain novel, and is darker than a lot of superhero books out there. There are currently 3 books in the Chronicles of Fid. I've only read the first one but I really liked it, and I even bought it when it was on sale so I could go back and read it again sometime instead of relying on it being on KU forever.

Arsenal by Jeffery H. Haskell. Another Super Hero novel, this one is probably in between the other two I mentioned in terms of tone, being darker than Kid Sensasion, but lighter than Fid. The protagonist is disabled and in a wheel chair, but made an awesome suit of armor to become a hero. There are 8 books in the series, and there is another series set in the same world with the 4th book coming at the end of the month. All of them are on KU.

1. My favorite book (beginning of a trilogy, plus more after that, yaaay!) is Heir to the Empire, by Timothy Zahn. It is set in the Star Wars universe, about five years after the battle of Endor. It is written so well, you can practically hear the background music. Plus, he introduces my favorite character of all time in that book.
   
   
2. I don't even remember the name of my least favorite book. I refuse to give that thing room in my brain. It was billed as a murder mystery, but the murder was only a mystery to the main character, who actually heard it go down while she was hiding, but spent the next several chapters oblivious. Then it took her over 2/3 of the book to figure out that the murder victim just might be the girl who had been renting a room in her house and who had been coincidentally missing since the night of the murder. Oh, and the author was simply awful at giving her characters normal human reactions to things. Then at the end, it turned into a "you should go to church and become a 'Christ-centered' Christian" book. I don't even...
   
   
3. Harry Potter. The books are charming. But the movies took what she wrote, embellished, and made a rich world of depth and wonder.
   
   
4. Jumper. It's a very good Young Adult fiction book, easily enjoyable by adults as well. The movie took the slightest hint of a main theme, wasn't even true to the mechanics of that, and threw out everything that made the book good. As Hollywood does.
   
   
5. I enjoyed the Battlestar Galactica book that was based on the original TV series. I'm pretty sure that the only reason was that I was young and loved the series.
   
   
6. Jedi Search: Star Wars (The Jedi Academy): Volume 1 of the Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson. I'm so sorry to say this about an author, but after reading Zahn's work, it was like going from art at the Louvre to a child's crayon scrawlings. Then he booted my favorite character off to the periphery and failed to justify her reason for taking off and randomly showing up merely for exposition, then disappearing again. To add insult to injury, he repeatedly brought up that she had "tried to kill" Luke Skywalker. Ahem, no. Had she actually tried, he would be dead. The entire point had been that she was fighting to not kill the guy. And she succeeded. In not killing him. Dude, if you are going to play (write) in somebody else's universe, you need to do your research.
   
   I would be happy with any of the e-books on my list that are in your price range. But here are five:
   
   Sara, Book 1
   
   Ender's Game
   
   Wyrd Sisters
   
   Witches Abroad
   
   Horror, Humor, and Heroes Volume 2
   
   Have fun with your first gift giving! And thanks for the contest. :)

For elaborate world building, it's tough to beat Dune. Intergalactic politics in the wake of an AI rebellion, deep mysticism and Bedouin-flavored lore, religious fanatics, a drug that makes the universe go round, and giant freaking sandworms!

Ender's Game is another popular suggestion to get you into reading. I preferred Dune, though.

Another good read that I enjoyed immensely was Unwind by Neal Shusterman. After the United States has fought a second civil war over abortion, a new deal is struck - no abortion, but unwinding up to the age of 18. It's dark and twisted and I loved it... especially considering it's a young adult novel, which is not my genre of choice.

Odd Thomas is a fun series, but Koontz can be kind-of hit or miss. I'm finding the odd-numbered books in the series to be better than the even-numbered ones, but that's just based on the first four. I wonder if that was intentional?

Don’t know if this is a deal but Ender’s Game is at 7.49

https://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Ender-Quartet-Book-ebook/dp/B003G4W49C

Read this, it might help.

Check out the Spinward Fringe series by Randolph Lalonde. The original prequel (Origins) story is good space opera with an upbeat feel and the later broadcasts are are a little more dark and thought provoking as parts of the galaxy devolve into wars and power plays. Good stuff all around.

Kindle light SF/Space Opera-y and free, [Spinward Fringe: Origins][http://www.amazon.com/Origins-Spinward-Fringe-ebook/dp/B004EPYUXA].

The Spinward Fringe series is good. I recommend it if you have an e-reader, because the first book (actually it's more like a prequel but whatever) is completely free. The rest of the books are nice and cheap as well. (again, if you have an e-reader)

Yes, actually

You can get the Year of the Black Rainbow novel on Kindle for like $10. Year of the Black Rainbow (The Amory Wars Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006OUEBIC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_F3VOBbCW398QP

You're on the right track! You want to find the Year of the Black Rainbow novel which is available on Kindle. People occasionally sell the actual book online too, but it was only in limited print. You might be able to get a Kindle app on your computer, phone, or iOS device if you don't actually have a Kindle.

You'll also want the In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3 comics. That edition should cover all of them.

The Good Apollo graphic novel is going to be made defunct whenever Claudio starts releasing the new stuff he's been working on, but who knows how long that'll be. It's really rare and expensive, so I wouldn't recommend trying to get a hold of that.

Lastly, pick up the Afterman Deluxe Edition book. That's also a rare find, because it was in limited print, so if you can't find it, it has been transcribed by someone right here in /r/TheFence!

Player of Games is a good book, and it's early enough in the Culture series that Banks hadn't yet realized he made the Minds too powerful and doesn't need the human characters to actually do anything. But it is not military science fiction and I don't think it's similar to The Forever War.

If you're looking for more military sci-fi I can recommend Forging Zero, All You Need is Kill, David Weber's Honor Harrington series, Orphanage...and many more I'm sure. Armor is great and I'm sure you've heard of Starship Troopers.

A note on David Weber, I find his overuse of italics a constant irritation when reading his books. It really helps to get digital copies and run them through calibre to eliminate all the italics first.

The Honorverse series is exactly what you are looking for - start with the first book - On Basilisk Station.

Not quite so militarily focused (more about politics, espionage, and the individual stories of the characters), but also a great read, you might check out The Vorkosigan Saga - start with Shards Of Honor.

It's not fantasy, but David Weber has an amazing series that starts with On Basilisk Station. A strong female lead, a well thought out background, and a lot of math (which he does all of it for you). A hard sci-fi series that's been a treat to read.

Amazon link to the first book

I just grabbed it for free on Amazon

the first two books in honorverse are free on kindle. just started reading them and they are awesome


http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=sr_1_5_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376167823&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/The-Honor-Queen-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00BBI9WD6/ref=pd_sim_b_8

Thanks for the in-depth answers! Mine are surprisingly similar to yours.

>Who is your favorite author?

I love Tolkien, and George R R Martin, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, Cormac McCarthy, Larry Niven, Patrick Rothfuss, Douglas Adams, Diana Wynne Jones and probably a bunch I'm missing at the moment. My favorite genre is sci-fi, both space opera and hard.

I haven't been on WP long enough to have many favorite authors but I do enjoy your stuff, lalalobsters, luna_lovewell, written4reddit, and a few more.

>What is your favorite book?

My Dad introduced me to Tolkien and the sci-fi giants like Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke when I was probably 9 or 10 (I am about to be 34,) so all of their seminal works are very dear to me. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I freaking love dinosaurs and Jurassic Park is my favorite movie and because of that I have probably read JP the novel more than anything else.

I just finished reading [We are Legion (We are Bob)] (https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1485632176&sr=1-1&keywords=we+are+legion+we+are+bob) and found it highly enjoyable.

>And, most importantly, describe your level of love for cheese.

Cheese is a staple food group for me and variety is the spice of life so I am always eating new cheeses. Staples include: extra sharp cheddar, havarti, and bleu cheese. If it's stinky, it's probably delicious, too. And, my favorite snack is english muffin halves slathered in cream cheese and covered with jalepenos. I also could eat a bucket of cottage cheese plain, or my favorite, mixed with mango chutney.

And now I'm hungry.

Armor by John Steakley. It's what I wanted Starship Troopers to be.

Also The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Ship to ship space combat at relativistic speeds!

The Forever War books by Joe Haldeman.

Try:

• The Forever War by John Haldeman
  
  
• Armor by John Steakley
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi
  
  Hmm, apparently anything written by a John something or the other will work...

> Fiction is just a mirror of reality for the most part. Many things that happen in fiction don’t even happen here. But as far as pain and sadness. Joy and love, life and death, it’s all real here. Here it’s real. - Lucian Bane

Fiction that mirrors reality and challenges the reader is more of what we need, the books i listed below have shaped my view of the world in a very thought-provoking way.

Other stuff out there, the pop-fiction, the garbage or crack cocaine for the brain is as bad as TV. Hollywood panders to the masses. Did you know Hollywood usually has two different versions for films released in America and Europe? Yep, that's right - Hollywood dumbs down movies for American audiences. Everything in media these days is centered around comic books and video games - the modern day opiates of the masses.

Some notable fiction that should be required reading:

• 1984 & Animal Farm
  
  
• The Forever War
  
  
• Starship Troopers
  
  
• Lord of the Flies

Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.

This sounds cool, and if it sounds cool to you I can't recommend strongly enough the Conrad Stargard books from Leo Frankowski http://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1317995127&sr=1-7
An accidental time traveller suddenly and unexpectedly finds himself in thirteenth-century Poland, and knowing that the Mongols are about to invade he sets to bringing about the industrial revolution.

Cross Time Engineer deals with it by moving the action to Poland, and making the claim that the Polish language hasn't changed much since the Middle Ages.

The Cross-Time Engineer

So, I read and finished Cyberpunk: Stories of Hardware, Software, Wetware, Evolution, and Revolution, which I referenced in last month's thread. It was a really great collection of stories from a variety of authors.

After that, I continued my cyberpunk trend with Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. It was recommended on a list of cyberpunk books, most of which I compulsively bought. I really liked it, especially the character development. There are two more books in the series, which I'll have to get.

Instead, though, I started Limit, 1200 page epic translated from German. It received a bunch of awards and I read that lots of the technical details are on point, which is something that typically takes me out of the story a lot. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of July, but it's a lot to read and I'm easily distracKitty!!!

not completely military, but Rickard K Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs books are really good reads.

Altered Carbon

Broken Angels


Woken Furies

and there's his non Takeshi book:

Thirteen

> there's a strong case that a lot of the postmodernist bullshit could be easily countered by a strong religious identity

AMEN TO THAT.

> the most optimal balances of personal freedom vs controlling the worst aspects of human behavior

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

Take a look at the list of past Hugo winners and look for easily accessible ones. A few jump out at me:

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold, or maybe the omnibus Cordelia's Honor

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

For anyone who enjoyed the movie, the book is also really great.

Also the sequels were just a complete abomination with worse acting, CGI, and completely void of a story.

if you like Sci-Fi at all, do yourself a favor, push the movie out of your mind and read this book.

You should check out Starship Troopers if you haven't yet. I think it was a big influence on the forever war IIRC.

1. A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin
   
   
2. Heir to the Empire - Timothy Zahn
   
   
3. Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson
   
   
4. All the Sweet Promises - Elizabeth Elgin

Heir to the Empire is under $5 new right now on Amazon.

I've been buying used from there and from Powells (and a local shop) for a while, though, and the quality is almost always totally fine. Most of the time you spend about $4, shipping included.

The Thrawn trilogy books. If you haven't read them I would strongly urge you to.

1

2

3

Heir to the Empire picks up five years after Return of the Jedi. It has probably been 10 years since I've read those though.

That looks like the comic book adaptation , the novels are still in print for normal paperback prices:

First book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0553296124/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527435281&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=heir+to+the+empire&dpPl=1&dpID=51Q-Rpnu3-L&ref=plSrch

back to the beginning

---

Current Selection#####

• Echopraxia by Peter Watts [Echopraxia]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
  ---
  

  Past Selections#####
  

  
  

  2014######
  

  
  

• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke [Songs]. Began August 6th.
  
  
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson [2312]. Began July 7th.
  
  
• The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard [crystal]. Began June 4th.
  
  
• The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon [Lot49]. Began May 7th.
  
  
• The Lilith's Brood Trilogy by Octavia Butler [lilith]. Began April 7th.
  
  
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie [Justice]. Began March 6th.
  
  
• [Invisible Cities] (http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Cities-Italo-Calvino/dp/0156453800) by Italo Calvino [Invisible]. Began February 5th.
  
  
• Machine Man by Max Barry [Machine]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2013######
  

  
  

• House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds [suns]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Singularity Sky by Charles Stross [singularity]. Began November 4th.
  
  
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood [Oryx and Crake]. Began October 7th.
  
  
• The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway [gone-away]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin [dispossessed]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks [sonata]. Began July 3rd.
  
  
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clark [rama]. Began June 3rd.
  
  
• Jack Glass by Adam Roberts [glass]. Began May 3rd.
  
  
• Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn [monsters]. Began April 3rd.
  
  
• Solaris by Stanisław Lem [solaris]. Began March 3rd.
  
  
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan [carbon]. Began February 1.
  
  
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson [diamond]. Began January 4th.
  
  

  2012######
  

  
  

• Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke [childhood]. Began December 1st.
  
  
• Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo (aka Unto Leviathan) [fools]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg [dying]. Began October 4th.
  
  
• China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh [china]. Began September 4th.
  
  
• Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges [labyrinths]. Began August 4th.
  
  
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury [martian]. Began July 2nd.
  
  
• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [mote]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky [picnic]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester [Destination]. Began April 2nd.
  
  
• Diaspora by Greg Egan [diaspora]. Began March 5th.
  
  
• Stories by Ted Chiang [Chiang]. Began February 3rd.
  
  
• Grass by Sheri S. Tepper [grass]. Began January 2nd.
  
  

  2011######
  

  
  

• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny [lord]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Zones of Thought Trilogy by Vernor Vinge [zones], [fire], [deepness], [children]. Began October 28th.
  
  
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami [Wonderland]. Began October 3rd.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline [rp1]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross [Rule 34]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi [quantum]. Began July 1st.
  
  
• Embassytown by China Miéville [Embassytown]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald [dervish]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin [LHoD]. Began April 5th.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. [canticle]. Began March 1st.
  
  
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest [inverted world]. Began February 1st.
  
  
• The City & the City by China Miéville [the city]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2010######
  

  
  

• Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks [surface]. Began December 3rd.
  
  
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [cloud atlas]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson [anathem]. Began October 1st.
  
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts [blindsight]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi [windup]. Began August 1st.
  
  
• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams [MoPI]. Began July 15th.

Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle is fantastic.

From Heinlein himself, "Possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read."

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926

The Mote in God's Eye

If we were ever to make contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence, I would consider this book required reading for those who had to talk with the aliens. It is a very thought provoking and original take on first contact.

This isn't an adaptation but it might be what you're looking for..? http://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117

Swan Song - Robert McCammon Of the books I read last year this was my favorite.

Old Man's War - John Scazi - It's a pretty fun Military Sci-fi series

Leviathan Wakes - S. A. Corey - Near space, space opera.

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson - Epic Fantasy with an interesting magic system, good place to start with a popular author

The Blade Itself - Joe Abercrombie - "Grimm Dark" fantasy, he does an interesting thing by playing with a LotR style quest.

The Black Prism - Brent Weeks - Interesting Magic system, one of my favorite ongoing fantasy series. Much better than his first trilogy IMHO

Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch - Funny urban fantasy series that takes place in London

His Majesty's Dragon - Namoi Novik - Napoleonic* war + dragon's, fun quick reads.

Sevenes - Neal Stephenson - Stand Alone sci-fi novel about human's trying to survive in space as the world ends.

I can suggest more if you want, and I assume you've probably read at least some of these. Hope you enjoy some of them at least though.

Ask, and you shall receive.

I just started Old Man's War (John Scalzi) a couple nights ago. Interesting read so far. I am tempted to set it aside for a bit and re-read Hyperbole and a Half, because it's just a good read. Also, the "Simple Dog" reminds me of a friend's dog. :)

Ender's Game...little boy trains to save the world from aliens on a video game. The first book connects you to Ender and books 2-4 make you think about things a little difficult. They deal with some pretty taboo topics from a point of view that allows you to sympathize. They are so well written, Orson Scott Card is an amazing author, and you will be hooked by 50 pages, I promise :)

> To arms, rise the banners, he who believes in a God will quake when he sees the Hordes of nerd atheist bigots. Descend upon the Theist and show no mercy!

That's what I half expected....

> But, define beliefs?

What I believe in personally even without solid, absolute, undeniable, beyond a doubt, unquestionable, incontrovertible proof.

> Are you spiritual compared to believing organized religion

I guess part of it is spiritual, but it's mostly religion. Just not a single religion.

> And reddit only likes it if you go from Theist ot Atheist, due to then you will agree with them.

All I see on Reddit is these Theist/Atheist conversions so I thought it was time to hear from somebody who did the opposite.

> Favorite book?

Ender's Game

Some of my favorites:

• Noir - K.W. Jeter
  
• Macroscope - Piers Anthony
  
• Armor - John Steakley
  
• Protector - Larry Niven
  
• I Robot - Isaac Asimov
  
• Neuromancer - William Gibson
  
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
  
• The Fall of Reach (Halo) - Eric Nylund
  
• Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert Heinlein
  
• Cachalot - Alan Dean Foster
  
• Islands in the Net - Bruce Sterling
  
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
  
• Reality Dysfunction - Peter F. Hamilton
  
  I tried to get as many different authors as possible in there. Many of those authors have plenty of really good books you shouldn't miss.

Ender's Game is always a good one for young adults.

My first scifi-ish books were: Keeper of the Isis Light, Alien Secrets, Animorphs, Beyond the Farthest Star. The first three may be a bit too young for him though.

Don't be afraid to give him non-YA (adult) scifi books. It's better to go too old for him than too young and risk insulting him. If you have a particular favorite (that isn't too theoretical/preachy), give him that. He's more likely to read it if you are interested in it, and it'll give you something to discuss.

Ender's Game

I just read Ender's Game for the first time a few weeks ago. Don't let the blurb on the back deceive you, this is no kids book.

I know I'm Horrible, but I have never played Cards Against Humanity!

If you haven't read it, I suggest reading Ender's Game before the movie comes out. The book is fabulous, and the movie could really ruin it for you. :)

For an epic series consider Dune by Frank Herbert especially as we approach the new Dune movie in 2020.

For well written political-military sci-fi with a good grounding in realistic physics try the Honorverse by David Weber. First book is On Basilisk Station

For exceptional military sci-fi Hammer's Slammers by David Drake. They are a series of short stories that can stand on their own but when read together form a cohesive story arc.

For a one-off story that deals with some major issues of technology and how it can affect our near future try the bio-punk story The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. Be warned however there are some really... uncomfortable parts that are NSFW to put it mildly. Easy to skip but wanted to be up front about that.

As a personal guilty pleasure I will also recommend the military sci-fi series the Legacy of the Aldanata by John Ringo. It is not "hard sci-fi" but I really like Ringo and the core quadrilogy is so much fun. Start with A Hymn Before Battle

This is a book I don't see often, but I think it fits really well with your tastes.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

It's got a dystopian future where the world is run by corporations, and has an interesting cast of characters with their own goals. It's a standalone novel, but I will highly recommend it.

You haven't mentioned yet if you got a book to read or not, so here is my suggestion:http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585.

Have you read The Windup Girl or Pump Six by Paolo Bacigalupi? Really good stuff, he's very dark and some might say depressing but his writing is top notch. Pump Six is his collection of short stories, I suggest you start there.

There's not a lot of history in The Windup Girl but it is set in Bangkok, and it is a good read..

This could probably fit in a category called geneticpunk. It's a good read. Also where's your source to the link? Always source other peoples work. That chick is beautiful and I'd like to see more of her.

This is not in the horror realm, but I really enjoyed it. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupe.

The Windup Girl? Takes place in Thailand, the big bad corporations are GM food corporations, main character is a young woman who is the product of genetic engineering.

Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, and Confrontation is a Yoshiyuki Tomino-penned reinterpretation of the original events of the OYW.

https://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Suit-Gundam-Escalation-Confrontation/dp/1611720052/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=gundam+awakening+escalation+confrontation&qid=1566621123&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Mobile Suit Gundam (the original series)

One of the most underrated sci-fi series of all time. Below is the link to the novels that inspired the anime series. If you’re into novels.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation https://www.amazon.com/dp/1611720052/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_52hxCbFHTQW33

If you’re into manga or anime, HIGHLY recommend reading the origin series. It’s a more fleshed out version of the 1979 anime series. There’s 12 volumes I believe. Read the reviews for some perspective.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 1- Activation https://www.amazon.com/dp/193565487X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_35hxCbD65GJPM

Gundam has so many series that it can seem overwhelming to approach. The manga above is a great way to get into the main series. Space-opera, compelling characters, the lines of good vs bad are blurred. It’s commentary that frighteningly mirrors our society written by people who grew up in the post-WWII/post-Atomic bomb drop in Japan era. The over arching theme is that despite the tragedy that is war, there is an inherent goodness that humans are capable of.

I love it when people listen and are open to things that they have not read. http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Suit-Gundam-Escalation-Confrontation/dp/1611720052

I know, I've read these. But the edition I have is a later version with corrected spelling.

This one

I think the English translation of Tomino's 0079 books (Awakening, Escalation, Confrontation) are out of print again. You can buy the compilation used for around $15. You could also try your local library (they may be more likely to have The Origin series).

Update: It seems that they are still in print. Amazon only has a couple but says more are on the way.

Here's the Google Books link where you can preview the book.

Edit: Goodreads page. "A Great Read" -Asian Reporter

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1611720052/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1502327204&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=mobile+suit+gundam+novel&dpPl=1&dpID=51dwlkDL2zL&ref=plSrch

Sadly, I doubt that any of the books have been translated more than once into English. Most of the Strugatskys was published by MacMillan in the 1980s as part of their "Best of Soviet SF" series, many of them by Antonina W. Bouis and with forewords by Theodore Sturgeon. (I think I own all of them except Space Mowgli.) It's possible that this 2004 translation of Far Rainbow has a different translator. Daw and Bantam also did a few paperbacks, notably Snail on the Slope and Hard to be a God — oh, man, that cover.

The situation may change now that Chicago Review Press is coming out with a new translation, with a foreword by Ursula Le Guin. Chicago Review Press is owned by one of the big guys, so if it's successful we might see a proper Strugatsky revival. Weee!

Or we could just learn Russian.

Have you ever seen the movie Stalker, or read the novel it was based on, Roadside Picnic? They were the original source for the CRPG. They are both classics, and well worth the effort.

In March, I read some novels for a change!

Famous Men Who Never Lived, a (I think debut) novel by K Chess. It's a sci-fi novel about being an interdimensional refugee. It was slight, but good while it lasted, and thoughtful. Some guy at a mexican restaurant wanted to know if it was about, like Robin Hood. Don't judge a book by its cover.

The City In The Middle Of The Night, by Charlie Jane Anders. This is a follow-two-people-and-meet-in-the-middle science fiction book set on a planet that doesn't rotate and people are forced to live right on the terminator line. It's got some good horror elements and puts some interesting thought into its setting. The story doesn't go where you think it's going, but you'll like where it goes (probably.)

Roadside Picnic, a classic piece of Russian science fiction, which people are probably more familiar with from the things it inspired, like Tarkovsky's film Stalker, and then the STALKER video games that came from that. Aliens visited our planet, but they didn't notice us. They left their trash behind. Bleak in a very Russian way. Excellent.

One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denosovich, the book that shocked the USSR by not being samizdat. It's a slim little thing but says a lot.

Hostage by Guy Delisle. This is the "unusual one" for Delisle, whose books are little sketches of life - it's a telling of someone else's story. This dude was kidnapped by Chechens and held hostage for about three months in 1997, until he escaped. An excellent and baffling story, with excellent artwork.

I want the Eisenhorn Omnibus for mine.

Any of these three series I recommend as modern-day Lord of the Rings classics

Eisenhorn, books 1-3 of a 9 book series are simply the best books I've ever read - the series is currently on book 7. I recommend Eisenhorn to anyone that just likes to read. Books 4-6 are just as good, called Ravenor, with the 7th book in the series now out, called Pariah.

Another amazing series of books I love are the Old Man's War books, effectively a series of 6 books with some short stories in between and the last book being broken up into thirteen short stories (such was the demand for the books while they were being written). Fantastic, fantastic series - I recommend them to anyone.

I also love and recommend The Dark Tower series, 7 books. They're the only thing written by King that I've liked.

The Eisenhorn Trilogy (easily found at most book stores) is probably the most commonly recommended starting point, and for good reason: It's fantastic writing, and provides most of the knowledge you need as it goes on. If you like that, there is a story about his successor called the Ravenor Trilogy.

You can also pick up any short story collection and follow along mostly without issue.

Reading 40k novels/stories is tricky because the universe has grown almost out of control with characters and places and concepts, but the more you read the more you assimilate the information, and after a while you don't even know how you learned this stuff. But damn if it isn't entertaining sci-fi.

Best of all, for something so heavily involved in war and identity and politics, there is almost zero political agenda, by some miracle. Female characters complement male characters rather than trying to replace them. "Good guys" lose and protagonists die very frequently, giving a nice sense of urgency and importance to each story because -- let's face it -- in almost any sci-fi nowadays the protagonist is going to win because box office. Romance is almost never a theme, and in the rare instance it appears, it has a more powerful effect due to occurring naturally (and sparsely), rather than as part of a formula.

Good stuff all around.

Off mobile, here's a link to the omnibus on Amazon :)

This series might not be exactly what you're looking for, but it just came to mind...

The Bobiverse series

It's about a guy who is killed in an accident, and later has his brain used (in the far future) to man an AI probe to explore the universe. Bob begins to replicate himself, and many Bobs are born.

At one point one of the bobs discovers an indigenous race on a far planet and become EXTREMELY invested in their future. It's only one of the several aspects to the main story, but it was my favorite part.

​

It's a very entertaining series, lots of comedy and philosophical dilemmas.

You might check out We Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. Taylor. It's a great exercise into Von Neumann probes, post biological life and interstellar colonization. Book 2 is supposed to be out in the spring.

To no segundo livro do We are bob (Bobiverse). Começa nesse aqui. Pra quem gosta de ficção científica muito recomendo.

Outro livro muito bom é o "Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman". É um apanhado de histórias do físico Richard Feynman, tem a passagem dele pelos Los Alamos e também a vinda pro Brasil. Bem entretenedor.

I hope you get some recommendations that help you in this thread, but it seems to me that no author is going to be able to speak to your fathers personal circumstances.

If it's a option, spend time with him and talk everything though. Help him understand how you are feeling, and ask him to help you understand his feelings, thoughts, and motivations. I have no doubt that books will be recommended here that can help you in dealing with your circumstances, but only by talking to your father can you hope to truly understand his.

When you need to take your mind off the more serious stuff that life throws at you, I'll recommend We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse Book 1)

>Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

> Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

> The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.

It's relatively short, and a fun, rather light-hearted read. The Kindle version is on sale for $3.99, and the Audible version is only $1.99 for Members.

Super common, actually.


The Black Wolves of Boston by Wen Spencer features a protagonist who becomes a werewolf. Misfit Pack does the same thing.

One Woke Up by Lee Gaiteri features a protagonist wrestling with coming to terms with his time as a zombie


Into The Abyss by J. Langland features a protagonist turned into a horned demon.

The Tome of Bill features a protagonist who becomes a vampire. (Characters turned into vampires is super common, actually)

We Are Legion (We Are Bob) features a protagonist who becomes a space probe.

Chrysalis and Queen in the Mud on Royal Road feature protagonists who are turned into an ant and a salamander respectively.

Give the Bobiverse series a try.

The premise: An engineer signs up for cryogenically freezing his brain when he dies on a whim. A bus runs him over. He wakes up hundreds of years in the future except it has been determined that these frozen brains are now the property of the state. They couldn't unfreeze him and bring him back to life, but they COULD use his brain as a template to be mapped into a computer system. He is now effectively an AI, given control over a Von Neuman probe that is to be sent out to colonize space.

There's lots of fun world building and an interesting look at the human condition. They're pretty clever with Bob too. For example, there's no such thing as Faster Than Light travel, so Bob just turns his clock speed down. In this way he experiences time slower than is actually happening and doesn't go insane on the long journey between planets. The books really start to pick up as he constructs other Bobs, each with their own slightly different personalities.

Wonder where your dm got that idea

Have you read (or listened to the audiobook) We Are Legion (We Are Bob)? If not, you need to! It's $3.99 as a Kindle eBook or free if you're a member of Kindle Unlimited, and the audiobook is only $1.99. It's the first in a series of three books, and it's both amazing and hilarious, narrated from the perspective of a snarky geek. Your mention of Epsilon Eridani is what reminded me of it. I definitely recommend the audiobook as the narrator, Ray Porter, delivers the snark perfectly.

Hmm. I have Kindle Unlimited so Amazon won't let me easily look up if a book is in Prime Reading too, so this may or may not apply (sorry) but these were the best I've read recently:

• Nice Dragons Finish Last
  
• Super Powereds
  
• Silvertongue
  
• We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
  
  edit: Also why do so many of these Prime/KU requests always seem unpopular? "What are some good affordable books you can suggest" seems like a very reasonable question to me.

Thank you!

I highly recommend it. I know people are really hit or miss with audiobooks, but I love listening to it while playing Aurora.

Here's the first (it's a pretty short series of 3 books): https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

Can’t believe we haven’t mentioned Bob

The Bobiverse series. Basically follows Bob, a man who signed up to by cryogenically frozen in modern times, then 100 years or so later is recreated as an AI against his will to be placed in control of a Von Neumann space probe, going on to replicate and explore the galaxy.

Highly recommend the audiobooks.

Some light reading, perhaps?

• Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"
  
• Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"
  
• Joe Haldeman's "Forever War"
  
• Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama"
  
• Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep"
  
• Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan"
  
• Philip K. Dick's "Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep" (inspiration for the Blade Runner movie)
  
• Dan Simmons' "Hyperion"
  
  Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
  
  
• Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"
  
• William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
  
• Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl"
  
• Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"
  
  Cheers!

Theory of Continuous Groups by Loewner. This book is based on lecture notes which Loewner was planning to turn into a larger book. Unfortunately he passed away before getting much done so some of his colleagues edited and compiled the notes into this book. I'm only quarter of the way in but so far it's given me a really unique perspective into group actions. I'm loving it but it doesn't hold my attention for long spans of time.

Geometry of Polynomials by Marden. Marden is my idol, and I plan to devote my life to studying the zeros of functions. That said, this book is the hardest goddamn book I have ever read. Hell, some of the exercises he gives were actual topics of published research 60 years ago. That seems a little mean to me. Anyway I still love this shit.

Mr. Tompkins in Paperback by Gamow. Alternates between stories about a character transplanted into hypothetical worlds where particular laws of physics are exaggerated and semi-rigorous lectures about the physics itself. The section on gravity as curvature of space was especially enlightening. The author uses the idea of a merry-go-round spinning at relativistic speed, so that straight lines on the surface (i.e. geodesics) are in fact curved to outside observers. You can then imagine that the merry-go-round is walled off from the outside, so that on the inside the centrifugal force can be thought of as gravity toward the edge. This is the concept of acceleration of reference frame being equivalent to gravity. For a non-physicist this kind of explanation is AWESOME.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. My first Heinlein, just started it but I'm enjoying it so far. I honestly confused him with Haldeman... I loved The Forever War and I wanted to get another book by the author. Oh well.

Yeah so what I'm a nerd.

There is a lot of stuff in interstellar :D

Marooned in Realtime Deals with long time spans

Spin deals with dying earth and people dealing with it scientifically and not, ways to surpass it.

The Forever War deals with the human effects of time dilation

I've fallen on a deep sci-fi binge, so I'm going to recommend what I've read so far (lately) and loved:

Ender Series: The sequels to "Ender's Game" are not on par with the first, but they're compelling nonetheless (except maybe Childrens of the Mind), and the Bean series (Ender's Shadow and the sequels) is GREAT. I would recommend reading the sequels, and if not, to stay with the same Ender's Game vibe, then at least read Ender's Shadow, as it opens up the story a lot more.

Foundation (Isaac Asimov): One of the groundbreaking sci-fi series. I've currently read only the first one (Foundation) and absolutely loved it. It takes up several character's point of view over the course of a lot of years. But don't worry, each character get their spot lights and they shine in it. And the universe he creates is one I'm anxious to get back once I finish with...

Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey): This one I'm still reading, so I won't jump up and say: READ IT, IT'S AMAZING! But I will say this, it's long and full of twists, but it's two central characters are fun and interesting. Someone said it's like reading the best sci-fi movie there is. And it kind of is. It's full of action, suspense, some horror and fun writing. I would check it out if I were you.

Spin: I enjoyed this one. Not fanatical about it, but still enjoyable. It's a little bit too long, but the mystery around the event that occurs in the book is interesting and compelling enough to continue. The characters feel real, and the drama around it is fun.

A while ago I also read: The Forever War which I liked a lot. I like seeing humanity evolve, so this book was awesome. I hear it's a lot like Old Man's War, but I've heard better things from Forever War than Old Man's. Might be worth checking out.

Hope I was helpful!

I'm about to start reading "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. Seems to be pretty well regarded because it avoids a lot of silly sci-fi/war stereotypes. Also the story's military are based on the author's own experiences serving in Vietnam.

EDIT: Just checked Amazon and the book's not available for Kindle yet. The page had a link to request it from the publisher. I clicked it so there's one more vote. :)

Have you read The Forever War?

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Even non sci-fi readers that I've recommended it to have enjoyed it and been intrigued by the future warfare that the book describes.

You sure are getting defensive now, but I'm okay with everyone having their own opinion on matters. I would suggest reading Stranger in a Strange land if you are looking for some more philosophy from Heinlein (it's not boogey man fascist communist killing material I swear).

Also check out Forever War, which is probably the harshest criticism of SST from one of Heinleins peers, which ironically became Heinleins favorite book of all time.

The Forever War might be to your liking.

Armor by John Steakley.

Well, it's not actually my favorite book, but it has really stuck with me and taught me a few cool writing devices. I see some Forever War and Starship Troopers fans in this thread, and Armor kind of rounds out a military sci-fi trilogy for me. Thought it worth mentioning.

There was a scene in the new uncut version of The Forever War where, when William Mandella gets to go home on leave, already very sick of the war, he gives an interview to the media about how bad the situation is, how the war sucks, etc., and later hears it on TV, chopped, reedited, and with new words of his added in (not coincidentally, always when the camera is showing the reporter nodding sagely or something) saying how great the war is, how high the soldiers morale is, how much he believes in it, etc. It's only a matter of time.

If you're interested in reading a book with a somewhat similar theme as the movie (who even started the fight? war is not pretty, etc...), I highly recommend The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's sort of an anti-Starship Troopers story where the main character is drafted to war rather than volunteering. Still scifi with bizarre alien creatures but, IMHO with a more memorable story.

*Former gunny

Does he like to read? These are two of my favorites, and I'm fairly certain most vets would enjoy them too:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616641&sr=8-1&keywords=The+forever+war

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Remorse-Tom-Clancy/dp/0425143325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616649&sr=8-1&keywords=Without+Remorse

Here's a link just because I like the cover art :)

In fiction: Footfall by Pournelle & Niven.

We really need to agree on what we're talking about, in terms of scale and capability and mission. If we assume humanity is constrained by physics as we presently understand them, we're effectively limited to the solar system. So what's the mission of this space navy- defend against hypothetical alien invaders? (Good luck.) Protect a nation's access to off-Earth resources? Exploration? Defense of national space outposts? Talking about power projection is tricky if you don't know what your objectives are.

(If you assume humanity has faster-than-light travel then all bets are off and society is probably unrecognizable.)

deal. i just started footfall, but i'm dling neuromancer right now, and that's next. :)

You basically described the premise of Footfall there, though their ship was a fusion ship that they built using a previous races plans.

The Cross-Time Engineer is similar as well.

Leo Frankowski's Cross-Time Engineer series is a fascinating look at exactly this. One of my favourites.

http://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624

The Crosstime Engineer.

A Polish engineer accidently gets back in time to 1230 AD, so he gets the Industrial Revolution started so that Poland can fight off the Mongols when they show up in 1240.

The last book has knights shooting stream powered machine guns, special forces soldiers in plate armor, and small airplanes dropping gunpowder bombs on the Mongol Horde. Fun stuff.

You might enjoy the Time Crossed Engineer by Leo Frankowski: what happens when a professional engineer is accidentally back in time to 1231 AD in Medieval Poland.. just ten years before the Mongols are scheduled to invade.

It's a time travel story written by an engineer who just liked to play with the idea of what a modern day (well, 1980s engineer) engineer could do if stranded. But he starts from scratch and builds up. I liked it twenty years ago. Not sure if it still holds up.

https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Time-Engineer-Adventures-Conrad-Stargard/dp/0345327624

There's actually a series of books that follow this topic rather nicely. It is about an engineer who unexpectedly warps back to medieval Poland. He promptly goes to work using his knowledge to level up society.

The Cross-Time Engineer (Adventures of Conrad Stargard, Book 1) on Amazon.

I don't recall in which book it takes place, but a nice plot point is his realization of the significance of the date: the Mongol invasion is not very far away, so he better get cracking on preparing where he is to defend against the onslaught.

If you're interested in philosophy and cyberpunk/noir, there's probably nothing better for you than Altered Carbon. Humanity has gotten to the point where bodies can be swapped around with all of the implications along with it, and the main character is brought in to check out a suicide for one of the social elites.

It hits every one of your points you're interested in (except being a technical book, but whatever that's a hard sell anyway), and I'm a really big fan of it.

The Takeshi Kovacs Trilogy starting with Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. If you've ever wondered what life would be like if we could digitize human consciousness and shoot that consciousness at light speed through the cosmos to be inserted into awaiting bodies or "Sleeves", this may be the book for you. What is mind-blowing is not the technology so much as the insight into what our world would look like and how it's associated population would look/behave in their consequential relationships/interactions. Very enjoyable at the same time as being scary. A great time to read this type of subject matter ahead of our supposed transcendence/singularity.

You were pretty vague in your request, but i'll leave this right here:

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels/dp/0345457684

Pretty dark and mature cyber punk/detective noir book.

What do you think of Altered Carbon's black/green cover on Amazon?

Try Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan; it's one of the best combinations of action, atmosphere, and hi-tech ideas.

Or you could read the takeshi kovacs series, those are even better.

Sorry, i get carried away.

Altered Carbon has plenty of action and sex.

Richard K. Morgan: A land fit for heroes

It's a pretty damn good fantasy series. I got into it because his cyberpunk noir novels were so damn good. Altered Carbon and the rest of the Takeshi Kovacs novels were excellent.

Also, I was lucky enough to have friends immediately recommend Joe Abercrombie post asoiaf. The First Law Trilogy is absolutely gripping. Personally, I think it's better than asoiaf.

I'd like to see the problems (or solutions) of Identity that new technologies will create. I just finished the book Altered Carbon and in there, the future is going to happen in a way that we'd be able to digitize our consciousness and "re-sleeve" into another body so death would effectively be optional. Of course, if you didn't want to be trapped in the body you were born with, what would you want to make you feel as though you're You? But then again, some people (the not so wealthy) don't have the option of choosing what body they're put into.

All in all, why is it such a matter for us to determine "who we are" in the life that we didn't elect to be in? It's these philosophies that I'd like to see presented and dwelled on.

Altered Carbon - Netflix series

Altered Carbon - book

I just finished, and rather enjoyed Altered Carbon (Takeshi Kovacs Novels), which also falls into the cyberpunk noir genre. The first one at least, haven't read the rest yet.

Hey everyone, this week we discuss action scenes and how to ensure they're engaging and meaningful. Hope you enjoy it!

May 10th is when our Scrivener promotion ends, so if you've been trying it out and want to buy it, be sure to use the code RATIONALLY at checkout for 20% off before then!

The book recommendation this week by /u/alexanderwales is Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. It's a hardboiled detective story set hundreds of years in the future, when human minds can be digitally stored and put into empty 'sleeves' at will. A wealthy man, Lauren Bancroft, hires the ex-military detective Takeshi Kovacs to get to the bottom of a supposed suicide; the suicide was Bancroft's, who was restored from backup and has no knowledge of what might have made him take his own life. The novel has all the staples of hardboiled detective fiction, filtered through a transhumanist lens where bodies are disposable, torture takes place in virtual reality, and the femme fatales have been genetically engineered for beauty. The action in particular is a highlight, which is a good thing because there's plenty of violence along the way.

If you want to give the audio book a try, sign up for an Audible trial through us to get a free book and help support the show. Thanks for listening!

Gary Gibson does some credible space adventures. The Shaol sequence was pretty enjoyable.

A bit harder edged but brilliant is the Takeshi Kovacs trilogy from Richard Morgan. Start with Altered Carbon.

Also Neal Asher's Polity Agent series has a lot of good action tinged with horror.

These are my suggestions:

Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey.

Legend by David Gemmell.

Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan.

Death's Head by David Gunn.

These are all proper manly men's books, with lots of violence, casual sex, hot dames, and actually very well written stories with well-rounded and interesting characters.

EDIT I've had another couple ideas.

Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett.

Try Richard Morgan's Altered Carbon or Walter John William's Hrdwired for some good cyberpunk. For a good post-apocalypse novel you might like Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.

In this same vein, though grittier than Banks and Hamilton, is the Takeshi Kovacs series by Richard K. Morgan, starting with Altered Carbon. The main character is a former UN envoy (think baddest of the badass special forces). People's minds are backed up continually in a cortical stack, which is almost indestructible. Instead of interstellar travel, people like Kovacs have the contents of their stacks transmitted across the galaxy and "re-sleeved", loaded into a new body on the other end.

The series raises some interesting questions about identity and morality when death and attachment to a specific body are taken out of the equation. His first book also deals specifically with the topic of very, very long-lived people.

http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels/dp/0345457692

You might like this. A lot.

I'm reading Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein right now. It takes place in the year 4272 in an interplanetary human civilization with "the Senior", who's been alive since the 1940's (and who's genes aided research into 'rejuvenation clinics' for the wealthy and connected), giving his life stories and wisdom to the leader of a planet who wants to leave and colonize a new world. It's a fascinating read, and gets into some decent scientific detail too. Heinlein also wrote Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.

After loads of reading on the bus to work every day, here follows my reading list for military aviation:

Modern

• Viper Pilot - memoir of an F-16 Wild Weasel pilot who flew in both Iraq Wars
  
• A Nightmare's Prayer - memoir of a Marine Harrier Pilot flying out of Bagram.
  
• Warthog - Story of the A-10C pilots and their many varied missions in Desert Storm
  
• Hornets over Kuwait - Memoir of a Marine F/A-18 pilot during Desert Storm
  
• Strike Eagle - Story of the brand new F-15C Strike Eagle pilots and their time in Desert Storm
  
  

  Vietnam
  

• The Hunter Killers - look at the very first Wild Weasels, their inception, early development, successes, and failures
  
• Low Level Hell - memoir of an OH-6 Air Cav pilot
  
  

  WWII
  

• Unsung Eagles - various snapshots of the less well-known but arguably more impactful pilots and their missions during WWII (pilot who flew channel rescue in a P-47, morale demonstration pilot, etc.)
  
• Stuka Pilot - memoir of the most prolific aviator of Nazi Germany (and an unapologetic Nazi) who killed hundreds of tanks with his cannon-armed Stuka
  
• The First Team - more academic historical look at the first US Naval Aviators in WWII
  
  
  

  Overall/Other
  

• Skunk Works - memoir of Ben Rich, head of Lockeed's top secret internal firm and his time working on the U-2, SR-71, and F-117 including anecdotes from pilots of all 3 and accounts of these remarkable planes' exploits.
  
• Lords of the Sky - ambitious attempt to chronicle the rise and evolution of the "fighter pilot" from WWI to the modern day
  
• Red Eagles: America's Secret MiGs - the story of the long-top secret group of pilots who evaluated and flew captured Soviet aircraft against US pilots to train them against these unknown foes.
  
• Blind Man's Bluff: The Untold Story of American Submarine Espionage - story of the US submarine fleet starting at the outbreak of the Cold War and their exploits
  
  
  
  

  Bonus non-military aviation
  

  I highly second the recommendations of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. I would also recommend:
  
  

• Neuromancer - defined the cyberpunk genre
  
• Ghost in the Wires - memoir of prolific hacker Kevin Mitnick
  
• Starship Troopers - nothing like the movie
  
• The Martian - fantastic read
  
• Heir to the Empire - first of the Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy and the book that arguably sparked the growth of the Extended Universe of Star Wars
  
• Devil in the White City - semi-fictional (mostly non-fiction) account of a serial killer who created an entire palace to capture and kill his prey during the Chicago World's Fair
  
• Good Omens - dark comedy story of a demon and an angel trying to stop the end of the world because they like us too much
  
• American Gods - fantastic story about how the old gods still walk among us
  
• Dune - just read it
  

I usually prefer to get people interested in reading philosophy obliquely, through pop. philosophy or fiction with philosophical themes. So much depends on what you are interested in...

Fiction:
A good overview like Sophie's World

Military Ethics / Social Responsibility Starship Troopers

Science and Faith Contact

Somewhat easy philosophy

Ethics: The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill

Mind: Consciousness Explained

War: Just and Unjust Wars

Try the book sometime by Rober A. Heinlein it is excellent.

Comic or novel? This is the first volume right?

http://www.amazon.com/Heir-Empire-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553296124/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1394743625&sr=8-1&keywords=Thrawn

I'm sorry to say the full trilogy is a little too pricy for me but i think this would be a good way to get him started

Reading this from my inbox I thought you wanted to get into Europe. Awkward.

In chronological order (and I'd very much recommend reading them in this order, it can be rather confusing trying to understand events and relationships you've never heard of). Please note these are all Post Endor; there are also many good books prior to the events covered in these, and there are certainly excellent books that have slipped my notice. I'd suggest going to your local library and searching there if you want even more.

• Anyway, I'd highly recommend Heir to the Empire to start off, since it very much popularized the EU. There's three others to the series, all of which I'd recommend.
  
  
• My other favorite is The X-Wing series, beginning at "Rogue Squadron" The series is great, but its pretty long at around 9 books. I think the most interesting aspect is how multiple authors contribute to the series, so there is a variety of style.
  
  
• And I'd say the longest, largest, most comprehensive, and best series is the Yuuzhan Vong Series (actual name is New Jedi Order I think). Starting at Vector Prime (written by R.A. Salvatore, whose other works I'd also recommend), it details a galaxy-wide war against a strange extra-galactic race intent on total domination.
  
  
• If all of that still wasn't enough for you, "The Legacy of the Force" series, beginning at "Betrayal" carries the story on. Personally I'd recommend against reading these. I found them kinda depressing in how the story progresses. That and I don't particularly like the authors' writing style. Still, if you must have more, then this is next in chronological order.
  
  I apologize if that was too comprehensive.

I was introduced to her by the Trawn trilogy.

https://www.amazon.com/Heir-Empire-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/0553296124

Hard science fiction I liked are:

Old, and famous authors:
The Mote in God's Eye [series] (Niven, Pournelle)
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926


New, and unknown authors:
Allopoly: The Cycle of Civilization (Hadges)
http://allopoly.com

David Brin's Uplift series. Some invasion novels, a lot of first contact/conflict.

Also, The Mote in God's Eye, and The Legacy of Heorot. More first contact than first invasion, but they have the same effect.

The book is The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I'm not very far into it, but I've also already seen a character named Jock (as in Jock Fireblast).

> ('remove the log from your own eye before you bother with the splinter in your brother's eye')

As a complete aside, The Mote in God's Eye, is a really good book.

I'll recommend three!

An exploration of how biology affects culture, framed in a hard science first contact story:
The Mote in God's Eye


In the near future scientists discover a dead astronaut on the moon... who died 50,000 years ago.
Inherit the Stars


A sci-fi classic with great characters along the way. The over-crowded Earth is heavily reliant on the food created by a prison colony on the moon, which decides to declare its independence, with the help of the first A.I.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926

Might be a little too mature for an 11 year old, but I'd recommend Little Brother and Homeland by Cory Doctorow.
I'd recommend you reading them as well. Some pretty good common-man explanations of some core security topics.

I would really suggest the series ,Old Man's War. I'm not very good with summaries but it is a fantastic series if you are into sci-fi. Essentially elderly people's minds are transferred to new bio-enhanced bodies to fight humanities enemies. Sounds really generic but really well done in my opinion.

If you are into more of a military recommendation and less of a sci-fi one I would suggest The Weapon

It was also mentioned but Starship Trooper is a classic book and one of the inspirations I had for military service.

Agreed. I was looking through the gallery of Ender's Game book covers and most of them are atrocious. I do think this cover is probably the best I've seen, in terms of representing the book well and still giving a cool sci-fi feel to it, without looking too much like a kids book like this one.

Ender's Game

This is such a crazy awesome contest, and you are such a crazy and generous person!

A Kindle Fire is the ideal e-reader in my opinion. I'm constantly on the go, and constantly stuck in long rehearsals and going on trips which have a lot of down time. Reading is one of my favorite things to do, and I tend to go through books really quickly. I love real books, that paper feel and smell, but it's not always the best idea to pack two or three books to take along. Luggage can get heavy, there's not enough space, etc. With an e-reader, I could have tons of books at my fingertips! I feel like I should maniacally cackle there, but it might not be the best idea.

If I win, I would love the book Ender's Game to start off the Ender Quintet.

Make me smile, Rasta!

this would be cool

There's this thread on similar books to the count of monte cristo and here are the current suggestions ordered by page length:

The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester - 236 pages

Neuromancer - 271 pages

Ender’s Game - 5 books with the first (the linked one) around 250 pages

River God - 676 pages

Shogun & Tai Pan - 1000+ and 700+ pages each


I'm debating the first 2 really. Not sure if you happened to have read them and would have a recommendation.

I was a total girly-girl at your daughter's age, and LOVED The Secret Garden at her age. Would Coraline be too scary for her?

For your son, 6th grade is when I discovered Ender's Game and got WAY into the Star Trek novels. Franchise books tend to be pretty clean, would he be interested in the Star Wars novels?

The whole Ender's Game series is really, really good. I highly suggest reading all of the books. Everyone always compares it to the Hunger Games, but I personally don't think they really compare.

2030: The Real Story of What Happens to America is a book I thoroughly enjoyed, and I had my dad read it too. It's it's a bit apocalyptic, and of course it's a fictional novel, but the story sounds so plausible it's scary.

People have already recommended a bunch of books by John Green, but I second those recommendations. He's a wonderful author.

Finally, a coming-of-age book which just so happens to be my all-time favorite book is The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

I can talk about books all day. I love reading so much

First suggestion, although it isn't fantasy more historical fiction, is James Clavell's Asian Saga. Starting with Shogun. It takes about 70 pages for me to really get into the story, which for a normal length book would be a lot but these are over 1,000 pages for the most part. It sounds daunting but the stories are full of adventure and intrigue and you will very likely be captivated and swept away.

Second Ender's Game Series Kind of a classic science fiction series, just like Dune.

Third The End. The second book in the series releases on the 30th of August.

What genre do you typically read? Here are a few of my favorite books.

[Flowers for Algernon] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WJQ74E/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1)

1984

Ender's Game

World War Z

Flowers for Algernon: This story is told in first person, in a series of journal entries of a mentally handicapped man named Charlie. He goes under a medical experiment to see if mental retardation can be fixed by surgery, and the journal entries follow him through this. Warning: There will be ninjas cutting onions during your reading of this book

1984: This is a must read story in my opinion, on the off chance you have not read this already. It tells the story of Winston, a party member that works for a totalitarian government. To be honest, I don't read this story for the main character Winston, but I read it for the political commentary in the book, as it describes his life.

Ender's Game: This is set in the somewhat distant future of Earth. Earth has been at war with an alien insect race, thou at this time, there is a cease fire. This follows the story of Ender Wiggins, as he goes through military school. And he is like, 10 years old, as is his fellow classmates.

World War Z: You know that movie that was called World War Z with Brad Pitt? Throw all of that out the window. The only similarity that the movie and the book has is the name World War Z. This book is written as a series of interviews of survivors of The Great Zombie War. It goes through the whole war, from an interview with a doctor who dealt with a patient zero in a small Chinese village, to the great panic and how the government reacted, as well as the aftermath. It interviews people from all walks of life. Doctors, military, human smugglers, government officials, and everyday normal people both in the states and abroad. If i had to recommend only one book, it would be a tie between this or 1984. And 1984 is tied because of the historical significance.

Life of Pi is really good. I also just read Slaughterhouse 5, which was excellent, but I felt it was too short. I am reading Ender's Game right now, which is excellent. There are so many good books. Check out /r/books, /r/booksuggestions and I think you'll find a bunch to read.

Fear cuts deeper than swords - it really, really does. :)

1.) Not just grey but Earl Grey.

2.) A rain cover.

3.) Ginger chews?

4.) Ninja throwing knifes for my wee son - because I'm a craptastic parent!

5.) A classic, Ender's Game because why haven't you already read this??

6.) An item that is less than a dollar, including shipping... that is not jewelry, nail polish, and or hair related! Sorry! Nothing physical. $1.55 is the closest.

7.) Hello Kitty!

8.) I think compasses are beautiful.

9.) Princess Bride - but no on my WL. <3

10.) Gerber 22-41131 Profile Guthook Fixed Blade Knife -- It's self explanatory really.

11.) I love to cook and I need to cook healthy food but my current knives (and I use the term loosely) leave me beaten and bloody. So these

12.) Happy crayons

13.) A surfboard. Because they are BADD ASS!

14.) A gun safe could hold a lot of bread!

15.) Pretty lupus friend earrings!

16.) Blood orange and bergamot candle!

17.) Doctor Who K-9 bobble head!

18.) Pencils. I freaking LOVE pencils.

19.) A gift card, so I can gift more people. :)

20.) I love this beautiful buddha.

MADE IN OREGON! Bob's Red Mill flours. Look it up!

I love silly contests like this - I know others have done better, but I had fun looking. <3

My kitty makes me happy!

I'd love this kindle book!

Can you feel the love

400 gifts! You're so awesome! I think this is the only thing that qualifies on my wl lol. Thanks for the contest!

I'm not sure that's true. Some books (like this one) say at the very bottom of the description:

> At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

(Although I haven't actually bought the book, so I can't tell you if it's lying or not.)

Bravo! I'm enticed! Purchased both. Mobile, so pardon the formatting...


Enders Game
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003G4W49C/ref=redir_mdp_mobile?ref_=r_soa_w_d

Speaker for the Dead:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003H4I4JU/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1375797956&sr=1-1&pi=SL75

Well, I watched the release trailer and the extended reveal with Bryan Ekman expounding on his ideas. Interesting takeaway.

We've got this idea that humans are effectively immortal, with our consciousness, centrally stored, but able to be sent to synthetic bodies, at the least. When you leave a body to go to another in a different location, it's not completely wiped and remnants get left behind... making these machines crazy dangerous.

Serious design flaw there. Hell, may I be so bold as to say... That's not even a design flaw, the things would have to be engineered that way. Got some serious nefarious business all up in this crap.

Well, OK. I like my science fiction. I am seeing cyberpunk influences. I see Eve:Online and there's a few things a bit Spinward Fringe (Randolph Lalonde), Descent:Freespace, Freelancer, etc. The idea of consciousness transfer is not new to Sci-fi, but the remnants is. Probably because the idea is pants-on-head crazy.

What do I like? Inertia based flight. Art style.

What don't I like? The concept. More than just the Sci-fi plot hole so big you could fly Babylon 5 station through it. The idea that there won't be NPC quest givers or shopkeepers. I don't thing that's a tenable position.

I want to like it. No matter who was making it, I'd have these issues.

Entire and the Rose - The first book in the series is free on Kindle, this is an excellent example of world building. I wanted to continue reading this series, well beyond the time it ended. I wanted to know so much more about these worlds.

Spinward Fringe - First book in the series is also free on the Kindle, I'm only up to book 4 but it reminds me of a book version of Eve Online. If you enjoy epic space battles, fighting against corporate overlords and crazy science (very intelligent AI, cloning, etc) this is a great series to get into.

I've enjoyed both of those authors, so I guess I'll recommend some books I've liked.

In no particular order (links to the first book in the series, on amazon):

The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell

Spinward Fringe by Randolph Lalonde

Star Force by B.V. Larson

Honor Harrington series by David Weber

Valor series by Tanya Huff

May not be exactly what you're looking for but book 1 is free on Amazon so easy to read and check out if you like it. Spinward Fringe.

Spinward Fringe Broadcast 0: Origins: A Collected Trilogy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EPYUXA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_D4E0CbQ2CTC3N

Origins (Spinward Fringe)

Spinward Fringe: Origins Also, It's free if you have a kindle(or the kindle app).

Well my favorite author of all time is Isaac Asimov. He tends to write in a very direct way without flowery language, which I appreciate. Anything he writes is fantastic, but some specific starting points:
The Foundation Series is probably his best work.
I, Robot is probably his most famous work because of the film which has LITERALLY NOTHING in common with the book. It is very good and a great way to see Asimov's approach to robotics (a term he coined, by the way; he is credited with first usage of the word 'robotics', which is now a fricken major at most universities)
Nightfall is an amazing short-story-turned-novel. Read the short story version, it is better.
He also wrote [The Galactic Empire series] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galactic_Empire_(series)) and the Robot series which tie in to the same universe as the Foundation series, they're all good as well, but I'd probably focus on the Foundation series first and see if you like how that goes

Other great authors of golden age sci-fi include Robert A. Heinlein, and from him I recommend The Past Through Tomorrow a collection of his short stories. Fun fact: the secret service raided Heinlein's apartment and interrogated him on how he has written such an accurate description of multi-stage rockets, as those were currently not public knowledge and highly classified. They were convinced he was a spy or was being fed information from a spy. He was really just a very good writer. He is most famous for Starship Troopers because of the movie of the same name. The thing with Heinlein is that later in life he became a dirty old man, and his writing reflects that. Evidence is Stranger in a Strange Land which is a very good novel, but there is a lot of describing the female form in it, and quite a bit about humanity's attitude toward sex. A very good book and I recommend it, but he was clearly becoming a bit of a lecherous old fart.

Leaving the golden age for a moment, we enter the 'New Wave science fiction' where I'd have to recommend the Ringworld series by Larry Niven. And later Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (a fantastic book despite controversy surrounding the author). Currently I'm reading the Spinward Fringe series by Randolph Lalonde which is recent enough it doesn't have a wikipedia entry, and is not yet finished.

For a brief overview of the author's comparative styles; Asimov is very cerebral, his books don't contain much, if any, action and are mostly about exploring interesting concepts in a brilliant way. Heinlein was focused on the near-er or alternate versions of the future and had a little more action than Asimov tended to include. Larry Niven is renowned for being a very technically accurate writer and some physics professors have actually used his science fiction books to teach in class (he explores the concept of the dyson sphere and applies it in a real-world situation). Card is a mixture of action and psychology, a very deep book with a decent amount of action. Lalonde's series is very action oriented, but he creates a complex galactic community and small innovative details that make the series interesting. There are so many more I want to recommend, but I think I'll leave you with just the 6 paragraphs, lest I get too wordy -_-

Spinward Fringe by Randolfph Lalonde

Only problem is only the first one is free and it is part of a series. Also it is written by a new writer so there are a lot of grammatical errors but it also makes for a very original series so I look past the mistakes.

The last book I read for the first time was The Valhalla Call by Evan Currie. Great end to a fun military sci-fi. I would say it was a well rounded story for sure.

Otherwise right now I am re-reading the Spinward Fringe series by Randolph Lalonde. Now that is a very hard military sci-fi universe. But a very compelling story that drags you on.

Here's that Imgur album you were talking about:

http://imgur.com/a/T3saS

And here's the link to the Kindle edition of YoTBR

http://www.amazon.com/Year-Black-Rainbow-Amory-Wars-ebook/dp/B006OUEBIC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1396907270&sr=8-3&keywords=year+of+the+black+rainbow

Enjoy.

Can I give you a list? Imma give you a list with a little from each category. I LOVE books and posts like this!

Non-fiction or Books About Things:

The Lost City of Z: In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Cumberbatch will play him in the movie version of this.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Hilariously gross and just super interesting. Her writing is like a non-fiction Terry Pratchett. Everything she's written is great, but this one is my favorite.

Devil in the White City: All about HH Holmes and his murder hotel during the Chicago World's Fair. Incredibly well-written and interesting.

The Outlaw Trail: Written in 1920 by the first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park (aka, the area around Robber's Roost). He went around interviewing the guys who were still alive from the original Wild Bunch, plus some of the other outlaws that were active during that time. Never read anything else with actual interviews from these guys and it's a little slice of life from the end of the Wild West.

Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi:

Here I'm only going to give you the less known stuff. You can find Sanderson (light epic fantasy), Pratchett (humor / satire fantasy), Adams (humor fantasy), etc easily in any bookstore. They are fantastic and should be read, but they are easy to find. I suggest:

The Cloud Roads: Martha Wells is an anthropologist and it shows in her world building in every series. She creates societies instead of landscapes. These are very character-driven and sometimes emotional.

The Lion of Senet: Jennifer Fallon starts a great political thriller series with this book. If you like shows like House of Cards or things where there's a lot of political plotting, sudden twists, and a dash of science v. religion, then you'll love these.

The Book of Joby: Do you want to cry? This book will make you cry. Mix arthurian legend with some God & Devil archetypes and it's just this very powerful story. Even though it deals with religious themes and icons, I wouldn't say it's a religious book. Reads more like mythology.

On Basilisk Station: Awesome military space opera. Really good sci-fi.

Grimspace: Pulpy space opera. Brain bubble gum instead of serious reading. But that's fun sometimes too!

Check out the Honor Harrington series its got a strong female lead and its just pretty dam cool what with the space ships and stuff :) https://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

I've been listening to books this way for about 3 years and I have noticed that I am a very fast speaker now. I'm not sure if it's releated but it could be.

Also, always look for whispersync books. You can almost always get the audible version for crazy cheap.
Example:
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1452542369&sr=8-6
I can't see the audiobook price because I already have it but I bet the combination is only a few dollars for a great audiobook/ebook
http://www.amazon.com/Starliner-David-Drake-ebook/dp/B00ARPEAU4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1452542467&sr=1-8
this audiobook is only 1.99 vs 14.95 when buying it straight up.

Also available on kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&qid=1375910784&sr=8-1&keywords=On+basilisk+station

http://www.baenebooks.com/p-304-on-basilisk-station.aspx

For multiple formats.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ARPJBS0

For kindle.

Someone already suggested Harry Potter, they are really fabulous reads for adults too (I hadda fight my mom for em when the new ones came out....she was in her 70s :)

There's a series of books by David Weber that follow Honor Harrington, they are total space opera with lots of action and huge space battles and I believe there's a movie in the works and the first book is free on Amazon for ereader/cloud reader http://amzn.com/B00ARPJBS0

I can try to help more when I have an idea of genres!

The best responses to your points to me are found in, Peter Hamilton's Commonweath Series, and the brand new Bobiverse Series by Dennis Taylor and Ghost in the Shell. If you for some reason hate books, reading, and anime here is a quick TLDR: Just because the new you is a copy doesn't make it worthless, or makes death any less horrifying. Furthermore, the potential options are more than simply copying a brain before/during death. There's the whole nanite brain replacement Ship of Theseus issue starting from simple neural augmentation all the way to full on cybernetic replacement.

You'd really like the Bobiverse, it literally has entire genealogies of copies of one nerd, each with slightly different slowly diverging viewpoints which I found captivating and engaging.

Oooo Brazilian Empire! There's a really good book I just read with you in it! https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

Highly recommend the following series:
https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

It’s fun, it’s an easy read, but it’s not simplistic.

Also huge recommendation for these two books:
https://www.amazon.com/14-Peter-Clines/dp/1618680528

https://www.amazon.com/Fold-Novel-Peter-Clines-ebook/dp/B00NDTS7NC

Again, fun, easy to read and a blast to re-read.

Oh, then you need to read Bobiverse. Amazon link

One thing that I've learned is that some books that you buy on Amazon will let you add the narration for really cheap if you buy the book. So instead of paying $30 for a book (or $15 a month for a credit), you can buy a kindle book on sale and 'add' the audio book.

I'm currently listening to a series called the Bobiverse thanks to this. The first book (We are Legion, We are Bob) was only $4 for the book and then another $2 to add the audiobook. If you like sci-fi/adventure books, I'd recommend it, it's dumb fun.

Also don't forget that your local library probably offers audiobooks on OverDrive.

It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!


Here is link number 1 - Previous text "Bob"



----
^Please ^PM ^/u/eganwall ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^Delete

We have the same taste man ... trust me and read We are Legion. It was honestly my favorite out of all of them ....

1. We are legion (We are Bob) and the sequels are
   
   
2. For We Are Many: Bobiverse and the newest addition that just came out,
   
   
3. All These Worlds: Bobiverse
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

I just read a 2 novel series called "The Bobiverse". It's sort of sci-fi pulp but it's fun and I really enjoyed it. It captured the things I like about Star Trek, a little action/adventure/exploration with a few smart jokes.

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ/ref=pd_sim_351_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZPJFXB9C798XNAT6WP51

do yourself a favor and read this asap! it's quick and wonderful!

https://www.amazon.com/Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B01LWAESYQ

And spoiler alert, /r/bobiverse

The bobiverse is a good, fun, new one... Martin Kloos is great if he likes military scifi. Vernor Vinge is great with little or no bodily fluids, just spiders and dying civilisations...

One of my top faves atm. Another is the bobiverse series. It's been pretty entertaining and has a similar humor, but not quite as over the top.

It's not very sci-fi though, it's mostly just a sci-fi setting, but you're right it's not very recent.

Maybe Old Man's War would have been a better suggestion?

Train them in modern planes, give them regeneration and we would have Old Man's War.

Old Man's War.

You'd get along well with the main character from Old Man's War.

I'm in the middle of Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman's collection of short stories, and I'm loving it!

Link

You ALL still have Zoidberg!

I've read all these books, and they were decent reads. However, I should mention some positives and negatives about the series.

PROS:

• The books are fairly well written.
  
  
• The plot line at least makes some decent sense.
  
  
• Some of the technology and tactics make sense as well, and the neat thing is the concept of light delay in astronomical terms in relation to combat positioning and fleet tactics. This is really the meat and bones of the books and is usually the most interesting to read (in my opinion anyways)
  
  CONS:
  
  
• There is a lot of deus ex machina with the fleet fights.
  
  
• There is a convenient hand waving of why the main character is so good at what he does. It's literally because everyone else is so terrible.
  
  
• The romantic subplots seemed a bit forced, and constantly talking about 'honor' and crap seems really silly in context of a fight to return home.
  
  OVERALL:
  
  I'd definitely check these out if you're jonesing for some science fiction, but there are definitely better books out there if you're looking for something amazing to read.
  
  OTHER SERIES / BOOKS RECOMMENDATIONS:
  
  Into the Black - EDIT: Had book 4 listed here instead of book one, fixed
  
  Lines of Departure
  
  Old Man's War

Get those kids some books!

oh lawd, this is going to be LONG
for advanced readers,

Enders Game

The Giver

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time

The Harry Potter Series

The Heir Apparent

Farenheit 451


A lot of these books can be read young and then reread when older to get more meaning

For younger beginning readers

Dr Seuss, I really remember Green Eggs and Ham, Go Dog go, and One Fish two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish


Oh and surprise me, i really like SciFi/Fantasy and have read the Dune Series and ASoIaF, but the Modern High Power Rocketry Book would be very very appreciated.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

10/10
Science Fiction

it's my favorite science fiction book. People should read it before the movie comes out next year!

Ender's Game

> How does one who has never tried at anything, try at life?

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Some challenges seem huge but if you break them down into little pieces you can conquer them. How do you do that? Just start doing anything and something will happen.

Succeeding in my line of work is all about the effort I put into my projects. Even if I work my tail off there is a chance I could fail but the success is so sweet that I have to keep trying. Just do anything. Good luck.

Books: The Four Agreements

Ender's Game

Body for Life

If You Haven't Got the Time to Do It Right, When Will You Find the Time to Do It Over?

The War if Art

I got something out of these, maybe you will too. Good luck.

House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Doesn't appear to be a kindle version at the moment, but the formatting of the novel doesn't really lend itself to digital. Still worth a read even if you must lug around a dead tree.

The Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card.

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin.

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Cold Equations by Tom Godwin. My favorite sci-fi short story. Couldn't find a link to a kindle version, but it's in a lot of sci-fi short story collections. You can probably find it in your local library (if it still exists).

Ender's Game?


It's about a boy who was fooled into thinking he was playing a simulation but was actually attacking and destroying a world for real.

What I had to do was find a reading spot/time. I only read comfortably laying in bed before I go to sleep. It's become a habit now and thats the way I like to read. No distractions, read until I'm tired and then go to sleep. My wife can read anytime/anywhere, and I'm jealous of that, but it doesn't work for me.

Also find some books that you really like, that are easy. When you don't want to stop reading it helps a lot. Eventually you get to the point that you really can read anything because it doesnt have to hold your interest for every single sentence.

Try some Young Adult or easy reads right off the bat. a few suggestions, things I enjoy that are easy reads:

Suzanne Collins - The Hunger Games

Dean Koonz

Orson Scott Card - Enders Game

Find a Genre you're interested in and something with good reviews, then find your time/place and make it a habit.

Let's start with the premise of your question: there's only one conflict in your story, and this single conflict is the only source of suspense to keep the reader interested. Fortunately, suspense is not the same as conflict, and using that difference effectively will help your reader power through the "info dumps."


Conflict = things like man vs man, man vs society, man vs nature, etc. In a novel, there may be one or multiple conflicts, but it's usually a finite number of important conflicts. Interesting conflicts generally span the whole novel. Conflicts can take a lot of time to fully establish, can evolve over time, and the resolution of a conflict is a big deal.


Suspense = things that keep the reader interested. When done well, suspense is what causes readers to keep turning pages long after they promised themselves they would stop reading and go to bed. Suspense is not a genre, but something that every well-written work of fiction has in abundance. Suspense can be created in a single sentence and resolved in the next one. Suspense can also relate to the main story arc and function as a long term "hook." If you want a really good example of how to create many sources of suspense in just a few paragraphs, look up Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. When reading carefully, you'll notice that Card juggles multiple sources of suspense at any one time. For instance, the main character might react to something but the reader doesn't get to see what they're reacting to until the next paragraph (short term suspense that makes you keep reading to find out what they saw). The thing that they are looking at might relate to the next roadblock in their overall story arc (medium and long term suspense). This is a "can't put it down" kind of book, and there's no reason you can't borrow some of those tricks to keep the pace moving even in the very beginning of yours.


I highly recommend this Dictionary of Narratology. It will inform your writing by showing you choices you didn't know exist.


(Disclaimer 1: I'm not saying that Orson Scott Card is an amazing author that everyone should emulate. He has some limitations that I get frustrated with, such as sexism and nondescript settings. However, suspense is something he excels at creating in abundance, so he's a good model for learning new ways of creating suspense and increasing pace.


Disclaimer 2: Suspense for the sake of suspense is not a good idea. Connect the suspense to things that matter, like character development and the story, for maximum effect.)


I hope this helps.

I take it from Harry Potter and Divergent he likes strong, morally-white protagonists on journeys to save the world. I don't know his exact reading level or interests, so I will make the following suggestions by category. I ranked books in each category by difficulty.

 

Teen Fantasy:

 

Dealing with Dragons: Funny, easy to read, dragons, magic, and sarcasm.

The Lioness Series, Immortal Series, or The Magic Circle Series: Strong female leads and interesting to read with great stories (Think Mulan). My brother loved them.

Artemis Fowl: Strong, morally ambiguous but ultimately altruistic, sarcastic, and smart protagonist against the world.

User Unfriendly: Dudes get sucked into a video/rpg and try to get out without dying. Like Tron, but less sci-fi and more fantasy.

Halo: One of my brothers who HATES reading -- or at least is incredibly picky actually stayed up all night to finish four of Halo books. He also really likes the games. I don't know which one is the first or the best but this one had the best reviews. I dunno if it is dark either -- I haven't read it :'(.

The Dark Elf Trilogy: Darker than anything else I have on here (or can be) hero vs world type fantasy. Drizzit = my brothers' hero growing up. Kinda WOW-esque? Having played both, I understand how much of WOW is inspired by DnD. I personally didn't like this.

Redwall: Harder to read, talking animals save the world from other talking animals. I personally hated this series, but my brothers read every single book in the series at the time.

 


Adult Fantasy:

 

Magician: Magic, totally badass protagonist, BORING first couple chapters, but ultimately the most OP hero I have ever read. Amazing, truly amazing. I think it is two-three books in the first series.

Harper Hall: Dragons, music, strong, but lost protagonist. Deals with sexism and gender biased. The other books in the cycle range from sci-fi to political fantasy.

Dragonbone Chair: Strong, badass hero vs a dragon. What happens? He becomes more badass. It is a lighter verison of LOTR/Sword of Shanara (which is probably too much politics/genetics/enviromental commentary -- generally boring-- for him right now) --

An even lighter alternative, more teen book is Eragon. That being said, I absolutely DETESTED these books. I don't care if he was 16, he didn't coming up with any of his own material. But -- a lot of people really like it, so your brother might!

 

Sci-fi:

 

Ender's game: Amazing ending, especially if he likes videogames. I haven't seen the movie, but my Dad said it was "loosely inspired" from the book. All I know is the book was world-changing. It has some legitimately dark points (like gouging out a giants eye or drowning puppies).

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: This dude is cool. I didn't know until I linked it that it is hard to get a copy >.<.

Dune: This, like LOTR, is VERY political and can be very easily boring. It might also be too adult or hard for him. There is mental illness and just crazy people in the later books.

 

Mature Humor:

 

He should be ready for some British humor, which is a little more mature than American humor (sorry) and much more sarcastic. You also have to be in the mood for it, especially if you aren't expecting it.

Sourcery: Really, really funny.

Hitchhiker's Guide: Also funny.

Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold: American. Funny take on fantasy books.

 

I kept away from darker books where the protagonist is morally grey (Artemis fowl and Drizzit being exceptions -- though they are both still definitely heros), sex, questionable themes, or general mental derangement.

I also stayed away from more modern books, which I have read a lot of if you would like recommendations for those instead. I read a lot in general, so if you have a questions about a book in particular, I can try to help.

Edit: Links

The Stainless Steel Rat (probably the closest thing to Space Opera on my short list of suggestions)

Dune

Anything by Isaac Assimov

Anything by William Gibson (Count Zero, Mona Lisa Overdrive, and Neuromancer would be good first choices)

Ender's Game

H. G. Wells and Jules Verne are also good choices if you want some classic old-school sci-fi

If you are willing to give it a shot and you have 16 hours to kill, I'd recommend starting the series A Song of Ice and Fire. Guaranteed to keep you engaged.
If you are looking for a short read about small time crime in Boston and trying to sleep for 14.5 hours I'd recommend The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
Also if you have not read Ender's Game or the companion series Ender's Shadow this would be your other option. A fantastic sci-fi series, just realize that the author is kind of a dick.
*edit added links

You should read Ender's Game. I don't want to ruin it for you, but it too has big, scary bugs.

Ender's Game- Orson Scott Card.
The characters play a game in a zero-g environment.
http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Game-Ender-Book-1/dp/0812550706/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1280179219&sr=8-1

Just started A Game of Thrones. You ALL still have Zoidberg!

Book

Talk about a hard decision! I seriously cannot choose so here are a few of My Favorite Book (s):

Pride and Prejudice

Shadow Divers non-fiction

Ender's Game

If RedditRaffle chooses me I would like this book.

What a great first contest!

Do yourself a favour and pick up a copy, damn good book.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585

For some insight into the importance of seed repositories, read The Wind-Up Girl.

Reminds me of The Windup Girl. But that's science-fiction. Maybe we're moving towards a future like it though.

> When you really think about GMOS it's putting a company in charge of food. And if one entity gains all the food we could have a real situation going on.

Already a sci-fi plot point

The Windup Girl ( or anything by Paolo Bacigalupi ) is pretty fantastic.

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

More of a hard sci-fi than GRRM's stuff: The Windup Girl

Ok, you like a lot of the authors I do so Imma try and throw a couple out there.
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi Set in future Thailand where global warming has run rampant, the oceans have risen, and gene companies produce food seed continuously to keep ahead of genetic plagues that destroy anything edible. It's some solid hard scifi and if you like Gibson and Dick it should do ya well.

Red Thunder by John Varley Set in the near future the Chinese are clearly going to win the spacerace to Mars and a small group decides to build a ship to beat em. This is the first in a three part series (which I just learned had a third part lookin up that link) and I enjoyed it.

As for fantasy...

The Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher In the world of The Dresden Files, magic is real, along with ghouls, vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves, zombies and other mythical monsters. Harry Dresden works to protect the general public, who are ignorant of magic and the dark forces conspiring against them. This makes it difficult for Harry to get by as a working wizard and private eye. The Chicago PD's Special Investigation unit, when led by Karrin Murphy, regularly employs Dresden as a consultant to help solve cases of a supernatural nature. I love this series, whenever a new book comes out (and hes up to 14 not counting a few short story collections and such) I read it almost nonstop.

It's never been published digitally and no one has ever bothered to scan/upload its 500+ pages; the only option is to buy the paperback.

Here are links to Amazon and Right Stuf:

• http://www.amazon.com/Mobile-Suit-Gundam-Escalation-Confrontation/dp/1611720052
  
  
• http://www.rightstufanime.com/Gundam-Mobile-Suit-Awakening-Escalation-Confrontation-2nd-Ed

Tomino's novel version is very mature.

She probably has all of the books you've mentioned if she really likes them, bookish people usually do... A special edition might be an idea, but I won't be able to help you with that, I go for cheap paperbacks due to money ;)

I'm tempted to recommend "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, it's not sci-fi classic per se, but it's a dystopian classic, she would probably like it if she likes Brave New World, but again, she might already have it. Still I'm sure she'd be thrilled to get a thoughtful thank you gift from you, even if she's read it before or even has a copy... Here's a link to that book on amazon, if you want to have a look: amazon link

If she does like classic sci-fi, here are some old-school, hard sci-fi (but it's not all just spaceships and aliens) that she might enjoy and possibly even not have, since a couple of the authors aren't from English speaking countries:

• Stanislaw Lem "Solaris" amazon link
  
• Arkady and Boris Strugatsky "Roadside Picnic" amazon link
  
• Artur C. Clarke "Childhood's End" amazon link
  
• Walter M. Miller Jr. "A Canticle for Leibowitz" amazon link

When you do get to the book, keep in mind that there are two translations. The 2012 translation by Olena Bormashenko corrects some errors and renders the language into more relatable English idioms, but I actually preferred the amusing quirks of the original 1977 translation by Antonina Bouis. I'd start with the original, and re-read the new translation afterward.

Check out Roadside Picnic Arkady Strugatsky. It is a quick read with some humor, good action, strangeness, aliens (tangentially), and is sort of dystopic. It was written by a Soviet, and sometimes that sensibility doesn't translate so well to the west - but I found it very accessible. I do believe there was a movie and a video game derived from it.

• Roadside Picnic by the Strugazki Brothers (basis for the movie Stalker and inspiration for the game of the same name)
  
• Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky (basis for the shooter of the same name)
  
• Imajica by Clive Barker (though more fantasy than sci-fi, really)
  

Listen, if you really like Russian literature, do yourself a favor, forget Lolita and read some of the earlier Nabokov's work. He wrote Lolita in the states when he needed money, he was trolling for like half the book and it doesn't hold a candle to his real art. Check out "Luzhin's defense" (don't you dare to watch the movie instead - read it first, watch later if you must) and "Invitation to Beheading". Those are his real masterpieces. Not that piece of pseudo-psychopathological crap.

Also, Chekhov. Whenever people tell me they like Russian classic literature I quiz them on Chekhov's works. If you cannot quote at least three phrases from "The Cherry Orchard" verbatim I automatically assume you don't know shit about Russian classic literature :] (jk, I'm not that much of a snob. But seriously his texts have a certain "brain-worm" quality to them, like nursery rhymes they just stick. Of course it has to be a quality translation).

Don't bother with Tolstoy too much for that matter. He might have been a great philosopher and shit but boy does he write heavy. (here's a little secret - few Russians actually read "War and Peace" in its entirety, they have been tortured with this book too much in school). Same with Dostoyevsky - put off reading his books until you're at least 30 if you want to really appreciate them.

As in for more contemporary sci-fi/social drama stuff (and I'm risking being banned from /r/russia for desecrating the holy cow right now :]) - give these guys a try. Start with this (or if you're broke full text here ). Ever wonder where Stalker theme came from? - this is where. Mindblowingly good read and just as creepy.

You may want to go all the way back to the true beginning and read the book that the movie was based on.

http://www.amazon.com/Roadside-Picnic-Rediscovered-Classics-Strugatsky/dp/1613743416/

Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers.

Shocked that no one's mentioned Roadside Picnic by the Strugatsky brothers. A phenomenal post-apocalyptic/post first-contact book that really thrust the genre into the frontlines during the cold war. It's easily one of my all-time favorites.

Dan Abnett wrote a short story that went something like this, though set in the Warhammer 40k universe. It was a good story, and a linking piece of the Eisenhorn series, which is a great read if you like sci-fi stuff at all, even if you have no interest in the Warhammer 40k world. Pretty good read even if you don't like sci-fi stuff...very cool development of characters over a long period.

Eisenhorn is probably the best possible place to start in 40k. You get every possible angle of 40k explored in this omnibus as well as a some fantastic characters. Add Ravenor for flavor.

After that, dive into the military side of things with Gaunt's Ghosts. This covers primarily the Imperium vs Chaos side of the conflict, but also the internal conflicts the Imperium suffers from.

Now that you're thoroughly acquainted with the human side, view the universe through the eyes of the super-human Space Marines in The Ultramarines Omnibus. This series shows the strengths (and weaknesses) of the Space Marines as well as introducing the terrifying Chaos Space Marines more thoroughly.

Cry for death to the False Emperor with Soul Hunter. Follow up with the sequels in Void Stalker and Blood Reaver to get a very interesting perspectives from the Renegades.

Finally, finish your introductory odyssey with The Horus Heresy. You'll be reading how the modern universe came to be.

This is a "fuck-ton" of reading and will keep you busy for 6 months to a year or more before you finish. These series are the best of the best in the novel side of things. There are huge amounts more in the Army Codexes ^^that ^^you ^^should ^^be ^^able ^^to ^^find ^^for ^^$0 ^^on ^^"sharing" ^^sites and other excellent novels. PM me anytime and I'll happily answer questions/suggestions.

In the Warhammer 40000 universe:
Dan Abnetts Eisenhorn trilogy: Xenos, Malleus, and Hereticus.
or his series about Gaunt's Ghosts

I started in the Eisenhorn trilogy, personally, on a friend's recommendation. It gives you a good feel for the politics of the Imperium of Man, and the kind of intrigue that goes on behind the scenes, as well as a small glimpse at the dangers posed by the forces of Chaos.

You can purchase the trilogy in an omnibus edition here.

You said up to present day, but what about... 40k?

Pick up a few of the books. I would read, in order:

Caiphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM

Gaunt's Ghosts

Eisenhorn

Ravenor

Those 4 will give you a fairly firm grounding of the lore and a feel for the universe. The first two are war books, the latter two focus on the inquisition.

I ran a pretty successful six-month long campaign. Actually got to finish the story arc, unlike most campaigns I've run. We found the system...workable. The character options were pretty interesting, though the psyker felt OP to the players and the psionic manifestation effects were often game changing, usually in an amusing way, but sometimes they proved distracting from the main story just because some of their effects are so life-altering.

We all love the setting and were willing to put up with the idiosyncrasies of the system mechanics. I'd highly recommend reading Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn omnibus - it will really give you a good feel for the whole Inquisitor/Acolyte feel. Abnett's a really fun read all around.

I'm sure the Imperium could accommodate a submerged city like Rapture, even its Randian philosophy (though if it deviated from worship of the emperor, it's heresy - perfect fodder for an inquisitor and his/her team). Though I'm curious to know what else you have planned for the character.

EDIT: incorrectly called Rapture a "subterranean" city.

The Eisenhorn Trilogy

I recommend Old Man's War

​

The beginning line is awesome: John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army.

​

It's part of an amazing series and they are all excellent books.

You'd enjoy Old Man's War

• Armor - More ground base fighting in powersuits than in space - Second half of the book isn't very exciting - Audiobook is awesome
  
• The Forever War - War fought against aliens over a long period of time. Space and ground battles
  
• Old Man's War - Lots of advanced tech in these books with space battles and ground combat - This would probably be my first recommendation
  
• Currently reading Leviathan Wakes which is turning out to be pretty good

Old Man's War (recommended by Penny Arcade!)

And if you can consider this science fiction, then Infected it's pretty awesome, and very raw and gritty

I hope the downvotes were more for my inartful and pretentious comment than against the book. Don't take my word for it though check out the reviews on Amazon. I like the book though because it blends classic space exploration scifi, like Heinlein, with more modern genetics, networking and computer technology speculation.

• Ursula K Le Guin's Hainish Universe books: Worlds of Exile and Illusion, The Word for World is Forest, and The Left Hand of Darkness
  
• Iain M Banks' Culture Series
  
• Isaac Asimov's Foundation Series
  
• Vernor Vinge's Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky
  
• Charles Stross' Singularity books
  
• Robert A Heinlein's The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, Starship Troopers, and Have Space Suit, Will Travel
  
• Michael Marshall Smith's Only Forward and Spares
  
• Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age and Cryptonomicon
  
• William Gibson's Neuromancer
  
• Larry Niven's Ringworld and The Mote in God's Eye
  
• Frank Herbert's Dune series
  
• John Scalzi's Old Man's War series

Good to hear from you. I am not a book critic at all so I thank you for letting me try.

>Indeed, the story is designed to start in media res, and the lack of familiarity with the setting is intentional. The next six chapters are dedicated to exploring the characters and the world around them. I've always found it more interesting when the reader is thrust into an unknown universe, only to have information about that universe slowly disclosed over the course of the story.

Ever read John Scalzi's work? In Ghost Brigades he does this very well in the first chapter where you are just boggled to the point that you can't put the book down to find out where the story will go next. I know that most writers do this, but that was the one that stands out right now. He is a great writer and I recommend him if you haven't read any of his work. Start with Old Man's War.

>You shouldn't ;)

Dang! If you can, link the next installment. I'll be having a slow day at work tomorrow!

The Old's Man War Series (link http://amzn.to/1T0yQSB) and Warship of the Black Fleet Saga (link http://amzn.to/1XgUCqm).

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0765348276?pc_redir=1412323595&robot_redir=1

Maybe Ender's Game?

Ender's Game is seriously so much better than the movie. It's amazing what people will do to ensure the safety of the human race, without fully seeing the whole picture.

The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, by David Wroblewski. I was hesitant at first, always seeing it, but never checking it out at the library. It wound up being one of my favorite books to read, it was that good. Story of a mute boy raised on a farm breeding dogs. He can sign, and has pretty good life, as far as things go, until his father dies. He tries to prove his uncle had a hand in the death, but the plan backfires. Hated the ending - not because it was bad, but it was so damn sad.

If you're willing to poke at a series, try Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastards series, the first book is The Lies of Locke Lamora. The series centers around Locke and his shenanigans as a Gentleman Bastard - a notorious gang of thieves. They pull off some pretty intense schemes, some with great success, some with spectacular failures. It's a great series, and another set of favorites that I recommend to everyone that'd ask.

Congratulations on the new job, hope it works out well for you! Also, I love that you had such a great turn out for your book drive. My kids know how important it is to read - I actually push my daughter to read a little bit above her grade level. She keeps a reading log for homework, so her teachers are pretty impressed. She did amazingly well on her latest state reading/math test, and her teacher believes it's because of all the reading she does. If you do another drive, I hope it goes just as well.

Don't feel lame. I went on a really long kick where I was reading a lot of franchise books - Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, Stargate, etc etc. Sometimes they're terribly written, but sometimes there are really good stories with some great character development.

I'm not really familiar with the other two books but from what I looked up of them (especially considering the Halo + Ben Bova) I think you'd like Ender's Game.

It's technically YA fiction, but it's good enough that you'll often find it in with the regular science fiction. It's also a series so if you like the first one that'll give you a few more to read.

In the classic Science fiction category The Foundation Series is worth looking into as well.

Let's see. Maybe The Sky People too. It's not exactly classic literature, but it's a fun romp in space - a what if there was life on Venus & Mars and it was dinosaurs and prehistoric humans sort of thing. Although not classic science fiction it has that same feel because it takes a stab at what type of life might exist on our neighboring planets.

I haven't read Edgar Rice Burroughs, but he might be up your alley too.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said by Phillip K. Dick.

Really, anything by Phillip K. Dick.

I have to recommend my favorite book, it was even made into a decent movie!

I would love Speedrunners. And if you're feeling extra generous, Nimble Quest is also on sale for $0.50 right now!

www.steamcommunity.com/id/13DprimePlays

I've read The Book Thief! I really liked it. Here are some books that are similar to the Book Thief, and have changing/growing characters:

• [The Giver] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Giver-Quartet-Lois-Lowry/dp/0544336267/ref=pd_sim_b_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=1WWVNGF0226N13781SPQ). Takes place in the future, in a town where everything is controlled. Very interesting book. It might be too easy for you, but I'm not sure.
  
  
• [Life of Pi] (http://www.amazon.com/Life-Pi-Yann-Martel/dp/0156027321/ref=pd_sim_b_31?ie=UTF8&refRID=1WWVNGF0226N13781SPQ). A man is cast-away after his ship sinks and goes through incredible experiences. This might be a little too complex, but it doesn't hurt to try!
  
  
• [Flowers for Algernon] (http://www.amazon.com/Flowers-Algernon-Daniel-Keyes/dp/0156030306/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413110247&sr=1-1&keywords=flowers+for+algernon). This book follows a retarded man as he gets an experimental treatment to get stronger. If you only read one book out of these 4, read this one! It's one of the saddest books I've ever read and it's also one of my favorites. It also is a great example of a character growing and changing. you really should read this book, I cannot stress it enough!
  
  
• [Ender's Game] (http://www.amazon.com/Enders-Ender-Quintet-Orson-Scott/dp/0812550706/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413110356&sr=1-1&keywords=ender%27s+game). A young boy goes to school to learn to defend humanity in a great interstellar war. This is one of my favorite science fiction books. I'm not sure if you'll like it, it's a little out there. However, it really focuses on how characters grow and develop.
  
  If you have any questions at all or want any more book recommendations, feel free to message me!
  
  puedo hablar un poco español, despues de seis años de clas
  es. tu ingles es mucho mejor que mi español. quiza leo unos libros, jaja
  
  

I have Your Inner Fish . It was a very good read. Any random chance you have Ender's Game ?

Read Ender's Game before the movie comes out.

Okay I know the giveaway is over but you asked for obscure and so you have to read this fanfiction called Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. It's so amazing it has its own fanbase, inspired a new genre of fiction, has its own website, wikipedia article, and a few news sites have even reviewed it.

It's even got a podcast reading if you prefer.

It's like... if Harry Potter was smart and rational and also a huge sci-fi/science geek. It's basically a bit like Ender's Game if you've ever read it (which is another one you should definitely read).

Links:
HPMOR website
Podcast's site (also has readings of other works of rationalist fiction inspired by HPMOR)
Podcast on iTunes
HPMOR on Fanfiction.net
HPMOR Full PDF
HPMOR PDF but separated into separate books: 1 2 3 4 5 6
HPMOR MOBI
HPMOR EPUB

I can honestly say that this fanfiction is without a doubt the best thing I have ever read in my life. I can't speak well enough of it. I recommend paying attention when you read because the things you learn are useful later in the book for solving the plot. The plot is so well crafted that you can trust anything that happens has an explanation behind it. If you find yourself asking "why is it like this?" there is a reason! This is a game you can only play once, so please enjoy it while it lasts. Ahhhh! I'm talking too much, enjooooooooooy~!

I mostly read speculative fiction, which is typically divided between the subgenres of fantasy, sci-fi, and alternate history. Alternate history is technically considered a subgenre of Sci-Fi, but I read enough of it to make it worth counting as a separate group. Within each of those subgenres, there is a wide variety of styles and some people might find themselves not a fan of one style but a fan of another. If you are not well read in these genres, then you will want to try a few different styles of story before dismissing it. I also sometimes read novelizations of historical events which have their own sort of enjoyment to them that fictional stories lack. Then there are books that are set from an animals point of view, which range from attempts to be as accurate as possible to being practically fantasy stories.

As far as individual books, I will try to give you a few of the best to pick from without being overwhelming. Some are stand alone stories while others are parts of series.

Fantasy single books:

After the Downfall

Fantasy series:

The Dresden Files

A Song of Ice and Fire aka Game of Thrones

Sci-Fi single books:

Slow Train to Arcturus

Mother of Demons

Sci-Fi series:

The Thrawn Trilogy There are a great many Star Wars books worth the read, but this is definitely the place to start.

Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow

Alternate History single books:

The Guns of the South

1824: The Arkansas War Technically this is a sequel to an earlier book, but this one is leagues better and you don't need to read the first book to understand what is going on.

Alternate History series:

How Few Remain

1632

Worldwar

Non-Fiction:

Band of Brothers

War Made New This one isn't even really a novelization, just an analysis of the changes to military technology, tactics, and training over the last 500 years. Regardless, it is very well written and a great read.

Animal POV books:

Watership Down

Wilderness Champion

The Call of the Wild and White Fang These two books are by the same author and go in pretty much opposite directions. Among literature fanatics, there is no consensus over which one is better and I don't think I can decide for myself so I am recommending both.

Edit: I forgot to mention, the first book in the 1632 series is available online for free. This is not a pirated version, but something the author put up himself as a part of an effort to move publishing into the modern day with technology and make books more accessible to readers.

I'm also about to do a road trip with two other scientists! Here are some awesome books that either I've read, or I plan on reading on my trip:

Contact - Carl Sagan. This book is absolutely my favorite science-y fiction, ever.

Cat's Cradle or Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut, if you haven't read them already.

Anything by Ray Bradbury - specifically Fahrenheit 451, also if you haven't read it already.

If you're into full-on science fiction, I can totally recommend the Ender's Game series by Orson Scott Card and the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons.

Robin Mckinley - anything by her though specifically Sunshine. If you haven't read Mercades Lackey than you would probably like her since you like Tamora Pierce. Start with Arrows for the Queen or Magic's Pawn. Raymond E Feist writes another good fantasy series that has tons of books in it. You might even like the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books since you like the Game of Thrones. If you haven't read the Ender's Game books by Orson Scott Card they are very good. Some classical sci-fi - Foundation series by Issac Asimov.

edit: also because it looks like you like some historical romance The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and Peony in Love.

a book!

I'VE BEEN GOOD I SWEAR

$4.19 book :)

Thank you for the contest, Santa Chica!

Again on the sci-fi note: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I'd love to get Ender's Game. I've had it on my to-read list for a while. :)

I pick 7!

Girl in the Tangerine Scarf. Novel about a muslim growing up in america.

John Dies at the End. Horror fantasy novel with a lot of philisophical aspects. Also, lots of dick jokes. It's written by a guy that went on to write for Cracked.com. It also recently came out as a movie.

Ender's Game. Futuristic scifi about a kid that goes up to space-school to learn how to save the world from an alien invasion. Soon to be a major motion picture.

13 Reasons Why. Novel about the aftermath of a high school suicide. Good if you want lots of feels.

Interesting, The Kindle version is free on Amazon .. good enough reason to add it to my collection :)

I'm mostly into SciFi books myself. Recently I've been reading a bit by Paul McAuley, If I were to recommend something recent it'd be The Quiet War and Gardens of the Sun by him. For old classics you can't go wrong with Ender's Game or Ringworld.

Yeah I read a lot of Fantasy and Sci-fi. Umm, if he likes more Military Scifi I would recommend:

• Dauntless It's the first in a really cool space/naval series about a fleet of spaceships far from home and fighting through enemy territory to get home. All the while the Fleet Commander is acclimating to being 100 years in his own future (without "timetravel")
  
  
• Starship Troopers Is a classic scifi by Heinlein and has very little to do with the movies. Similar war ideas, giant bugs, but totally different feel. No cheesyness.
  
  
• Ender's Game of course is a classic Scifi book. Young boy growing up in a Battle School where they train kids to be soldiers. Very deep, very perspective changing.
  
  
• Stranger in a Strange Land Is another Heinlein book. A human boy grows up being raised by an alien Martian race on Mars. Brought back to Earth as an adult human, but again raised and taught everything by Martians. Has no concept of earth, our beliefs, our morals, our actions, anything. An amazing story that gives a great perspective for a WASP like me to see what it's like to integrate into a society where nobody is like you, and you understand nothing.
  
  If he likes "high fantasy" (elves, wizards, knights, etc) then let me know and I throw out a few of those too.
  
  EDIT: Also I'll plug Audbile.com here because these all also have great Audiobooks with GREAT narrators and I love listening to my books on my Android phone all the time. And of course Amazon owns Audible! discounts for buying the audiobook and the kindle book (often cheaper than outright buying the audiobook!)

Ender's Game and Artemis Fowl might be up your alley.

I'm reading The Windup Girl right now, and the shipping docks and nearby warehouse/industrial area are featured prominently. In the post-apocalyptic landscape (after "the Expansion") moving goods by sailing ship is once again the dominant form of global trade. I like that your idea of using the flats and up the Cuyahoga river a bit. Maybe also that section of abandoned "subway" under the Veterans Memorial bridge.

The Windup Girl

If you liked that book, check out The Windup Girl. It's a book, but about a post-oil economy where people are storing energy in springs, and there is a small group of android-like people who run on that energy.

Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood are two of my favourites.

The Wind-up Girl is also pretty neat.

The Fionavar Tapestry is one of my all-time favourite fantasy reads.

The Lies of Locke Lamora is usually a good bet if you like GRRM.

Riddle the First: Wine
I’ve heard tell that wine can be paired with fruit and cheese. Because I’m a classy lady I would have no trouble substituting traditional cheese for some White Cheddar Cheez-its:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001ONPN9K/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3OX0211BFWC4U&coliid=I2QRJJ8FY0PH3O

Riddle the Second: Broom
Do you know how dusty White Cheddar Cheez-its are? Of course I need a broom to keep my side of the dormitory clean!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006TESANU/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3OX0211BFWC4U&coliid=I37I11D6JNTLOL

Riddle the Third: Hat
What “classy lady” wouldn’t want a miniature top hat headband fascinator? I just hope its not too distracting to the other students…
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IB052U4/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3OX0211BFWC4U&coliid=IPL430LO8ISSR

Riddle the Fourth: Book
I chose a muggle book of fiction I’ve wanted to read for a while now, The Windup Girl, by Paolo Bacigalupi. I’ll give you a prize if you can say “Bacigalupi” three times fast…
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1597801585/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3OX0211BFWC4U&coliid=I3IYSDZAX1N183

Riddle the Fifth: Trunk
Cards Against Humanity would be stowed away in my trunk. What better way to learn about all my new housemates after sorting is complete?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004S8F7QM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3OX0211BFWC4U&coliid=I1Z7ZLARVMKSAN

For Bonus Points: Cape
I need variety! Why wear the same boring old cape day after day if I don’t have to? With Dancing Colors Scarves I could have a different colored cape, or a cape of many colors, anytime I pleased!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0042SR4F0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_S_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3OX0211BFWC4U&coliid=I2KTI79YW1128G

I'd suggest The Windup Girl. Though the psychological horror is pretty explicit. (Admittedly, it panders heavily to my tastes because, hilariously enough, Iowa is a superpower in that setting.)

Have I got a book for you. https://www.amazon.com/Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585

If you liked that book you should read the Wind-Up Girl and his other stuff. It's mostly all from different perspectives in the same future Earth.

> The real risks for GMO foods is that the plant can be induced to produce its own herbicide which in turn might have health consequences on people who consume it.

We'd have to establish that the herbicide was a peoplecide as well. My main concern about GMOs have nothing to do with health. I think it's crazy and dangerous to allow corporations to patent the food we grow. The SF novel Windup Girl was set in a dystopia where a company had, after patenting certain types of foodstuffs, "accidentally" released a pathogen that wiped out all the other ones, thus making everyone utterly dependent on theirs. I consider that a very potential future. It's the patenting of the food supply that freaks me out, not the health issues of GMOs.

Yes' I came here to suggest that' here's a link - http://www.amazon.com/The-Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597801585

For those commenting the lack of women authors, I agree.

I suggest Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente. She has other interesting books as well.

ALso, I did not see Paolo Bacigalupis The Windup Girl mentioned, very good

Wait... there's an official release?!?!?! I didn't know.

Is it this one?

Are these the original novels Tomino wrote?