(Part 2) Best science fiction books according to redditors
We found 4,295 Reddit comments discussing the best science fiction books. We ranked the 1,202 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
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
You have quite the appropriate username. I must warn you that if you're looking for "scary", you might be disappointed. However, because you asked, these are the titles that I can wholeheartedly recommend:
Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville
Naked Lunch by William S Burroughs
Sanatorium under the sign of the Hourglass by Bruno Schulz
Oyasumi Punpun by Inio Asano (translation: "Goodnight Punpun." This one is actually a manga series. If you've never read manga before, check this one out. You won't be disappointed.)
Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown
Notes from Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (I have a bit of a personal attachment to this one for reasons that may seem obvious)
Memoirs of my Nervous Illness by Daniel Paul Schreber (This one was recommended by one of my readers, and I'm very glad I added it to the rotation)
Dog Soldiers by Robert Stone
We are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor (a bit of science fiction fantasy that really makes you question the concept of identity)
The Masks of Time by Robert Silverberg
Tales of 1,001 Nights, author(s) unknown
A few other authors and stories I would recommend:
Philip K. Dick;
The Long Goodbye by Raymond Chandler;
Patricia Highsmith;
James Lee Burke;
Jorge Luis Borges;
William Gibson;
Dashiell Hammett;
Haruki Murakami;
Charles Baudelaire;
Ambros Bierce;
Nikolai Gogol;
Alberty Camus;
Nathaniel Hawthorne;
M R James;
H G Wells;
J G Ballard;
Thomas Ligotti;
That's about all I can think of right now, but I think it's a pretty good place to start.
Not necessarily my strong suit (my own stuff is roughly the opposite of what you're looking for, so I figure I'm safe to recommend things here) but I definitely have a few to check out
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Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga first and foremost. There is quite a bit of war and conflict, but it's not really the focus of the plot. The focus is the characters and their development, primarily the titular Miles Vorkosigan.
You can start with the first Miles Vorkosigan book ( https://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Apprentice-Lois-McMaster-Bujold/dp/1886778272 ) or with the duology around his mother (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BH9T86/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_2)
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Next up would be Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of The Solar Clipper. No wars at all, these cover the life story of a merchant shipper rising from a generic crewman to captain and owner of his own ship. Fascinating character studies and very well written. Start with Quarter Share ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AMO7VM4/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1)
Lindsay Buroker's space opera has a bunch of war and conflict, but it's mostly background for a more general adventure SF story. The first three books of her Fallen Empire series are bundled up here: https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Empire-Omnibus-Books-prequel-ebook/dp/B06XK7HT4T
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I'm now going to lurk on this thread, as I should probably be reading stuff with a tad fewer explosions myself ;)
I read a ton on my iPad. Mostly Sci-Fi stuff.
I just read A Soldiers Duty which was very good.
Wool - Omnibus Edditon was probably one the sickest books I've read in a very long time.
Both are available in the Kindle and iTunes stores
I think this is closer to munchkin fiction than rational fiction.
It's fun, though, and I also recommend Perilous Waif which I believe is by the same author.
Read the books!
Altered Carbon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FBFMZ2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_8TvyDbWEW1BSY
Broken Angels https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FC1BME/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_9UvyDbCGMBTD4
Woken Furies https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000FCKDKU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_wVvyDb407Q6CG
Amazon has this for the same price right now if you have a Kindle.
I enjoyed the series. Trying to think of what to compare it too. Maybe Honor Harrington?
While I didn't like Lost Fleet, /u/Mr_Noyes is right to say that it sounds like a perfect fit for OP. The first book is currently $2 for Kindle, so I highly encourage OP to give it a try.
your name isn't Dan Sugralinov is it ;)
I haven't read it, but Re-Start sounds exactly like what you're looking for
This is Killobyte, by Piers Anthony
http://www.amazon.com/Killobyte-Piers-Anthony/dp/0441444253
Surface Detail by Iain Banks
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.
For people who really liked this, I recommend The Boat of a Million Years which has a protagonist much like the one in The Man from Earth.
With that said, the movie was interesting but was very poorly acted.
Wool by Hugh Howey
http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Omnibus-Edition-Hugh-Howey/dp/1469984202/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1331548722&sr=8-5
This blew my mind when I met Mark. I grew up watching Stargate SG-1. Will always have a special place in my heart.
Also, the book Mark was talking about:
Redshirts, by John Scalzi
The Warhammer 40K universe is very large but the WH40K hobby breaks down into a few buckets.
You have lore, the mythology.
A good place to start is to read books like The Horus Heresy series of books.
You can find these on Amazon or The Black Library as well as many other places. Prices comparable to equivelant paperbacks.
If books aren't your thing, there are many youtube channels devoted to exploring the lore of every chapter, and race within the WH40K universe. Vaults of Terra was one that I found early on and have enjoyed a great deal.
Many people gain exposure to WH40K through video games like Space Marine and the DOW series.
The table top strategy game also is diverse and has its own skill trees. Some people prefer to spend much of their time painting amazing models, some even make their living doing so. Converting is its own thing, where people take bits from various models and sculpt them together to make their own amalgamations from their imaginations and nightmares.
Others just want to get a 6 foot long table top "chessboard" out, and play a game with your dudes. The table top game does require you to bring enough pieces to play, and you need to know the rules of the game, but there's a pretty accessible path to get there too.
In my personal experience, I watched a lot of videos on youtube of people playing. Youtube says there's about 150k videos of people talking through their games so you should be able to find what you're looking for.
To find a game a good step is to look for your friendly local game store. When I got started I just googled around until I found some people near me who played once a week, reached out and asked if I could come watch a few games. I painted up some guys, read a couple books and let them know I'm just learning, and asked if someone wanted to play against me .... and if they could help explain what I'm doing wrong in a friendly way. That worked great.
Now back onto the original question of expense. The books, games, and youtube part is pretty self explanatory. The table top gaming part is the grey area. Games played on the table top have a mechanism so that you don't show up with 5 dudes, and I come at you with 100 Godzillas. That wouldn't make for a fun game. This is the currency of points.
Games Workshop has preselected sets of models into starter kits that are available that give a beginner a box of dudes to make that make for a good place for a person to get started and have enough firepower to play a game and get a feel for it.
My personal experience was pretty organic. I like daemon, monster zombies from space with giant chain axes and plasma cannons. Sounds cool. I watched some youtube videos and figured out a modest list of models that I would need to play a game. I then went on Ebay and picked up the ones that I could as I could, learning how to paint as I went.
As I hung back and had fun with my hobby, I figured out more specifics, sometimes ordering from Games Workshop, Forgeworld, or Ebay and found that I really enjoyed the modeling aspect of the hobby.
I hope you have fun too!
Grandfather Nurgle is your friend and only wants to see you, your family, planet, species and Galaxy just as happy and jovial as all of the rest of the Plague Planet.
Lighthearted space opera, like Nathan Lowell, Andrew Moriarty, Jamie McFarlane, Becky Chambers, Peter Grant. The stories often involve a young person getting their first job onboard a commercial spacecraft of some sort.
If you like Stephen Baxter, his Manifold Time is truly, truly epic in scope. Like... I don't think it's really possible to talk about a more epic scope. It definitely (and literally) jumps through various widely separated time periods. It's not very character focused. And it does deal with some real/speculative science. And it ticks your changes in culture/evolution box a little bit (IIRC, it has been a while).
I was not a huge fan of the rest of the Manifold series, but Time was incredible and I have no reservations recommending it at all.
My friend, if you haven't already read this you're in for a treat. Scifi author John Scalzi has tackled exactly that premise:
https://www.amazon.com/Redshirts-Novel-Three-John-Scalzi/dp/1491514388
If you want something gritty, make sure to read Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. One of the best cyberpunk books in the last 15 years. It captures the noir feel of a detective in a cyberpunk world. It's also currently being made into a Netflix series.
Not in any particular order.
There are also fine ladies in /r/printsf. Science Fiction isn't a men's club.
The 4 big UK space opera SF authors are Hamilton, Alastair Reynolds, Ken MacLeod and Iain Banks.
Consider Phlebas.
Cosmonaut Keep.
Revelation Space.
https://www.amazon.com/Perilous-Waif-Alice-Long-Book-ebook/dp/B01NBWXMP9
Scifi. The worldbuilding is very rational, but the protagonist isn't at all.
On the topics you mentioned:
If you don't mind sci-fi try Perlious Waif.Alice is most definitely a Mary Sue, and yet this has a pretty good in story justification.
Yeah man... I've been broadening my horizons. Not sure why I'm so addicting to this genre but I keep searching for that next fix. I stumble upon some litrpg-adjacent novels that scratch the itch, like Persephone Rising and Perilous Waif, (those were pretty good) but then I feel the need to read more cybernetics-enhanced battle women books like those and it's back to square one.
This is an example of LitRPG that might be a bit of what you're looking for:
https://www.amazon.com/Re-Start-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB
If you haven't checked out The Dresden files yet you really should. It's not "true progression", but it's about a modern wizard who keeps "skilling up".
Evan Currie's Odyssey One series is more military than pure space opera, but it is awesome.
The Golden Oecumene series by John C Wright is a Transhuman Space Opera of epic proportions. I highly recommend it.
Rachel Bach has a great series called Fortunes Pawn. Also a lil closer to military sci-fi but it has some nice Space Opera themes.
Joshua Dalzelle has a great series called the Black Fleet, again more military sci-fi than true space opera, but very good none the less.
The Reality Dysfunction series though, if you are looking for a meaty Space opera to lose yourself in is a must read series.
____
I almost forgot about the Manifold Series by Stephen Baxter and the Darwin's Radio series by Greg Bear. Both are phenomenal reads, and while technically they are set in the near future and aren't space opera per say, they are must reads for anyone into Sci-Fi.
I don't think fanfic is a problem. Exhibit A: HPMoR. But there's critically-accepted/acclaimed fanfic works in the industry. Watts's "The Things" and Scalzi's "Redshirts" are both fanfic, and they were both nominated for the Hugo Award (Scalzi won his, and Watts should have won, but was robbed). SF fans aren't strangers to fanfic.
And fanfic isn't a requirement by any stretch. Sword of Good, Three Worlds Collide, Study of Anglophysics, and Last Christmas are all good non-fanfic rationalist works.
Publishing is hard, and takes ages. I dread the day I finish a novel, because I know it'll be years before anyone else will see it even though it's done and ready! I've delayed starting one partly for that reason. But it can force us to up our game. And IMHO the benefits are worth it.
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
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
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, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.
The most recent one I read (book, not a series,) was Jack McDevitt's Time Travelers Never Die, which was entertaining. Oh yeah, I also read Connis Willis' Blackout and All Clear. There's also The Doomsday Book, which I haven't read yet. I read To Say Nothing of the Dog when it was released, and didn't really love it, but I think I need to re-read it. Stephen Baxter's Manifold series is great, including Manifold: Time.
Check out the books on this list.
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
Killobyte? I haven't read it in a while, but it seems similar to what you're asking. There's a tower, a boy, a video game, and some bow and arrows. Also a girl, though not the boy's sister.
I’ve read two books along those lines, and both have stuck with me/haunted me:
Boat of a Million Years
https://www.amazon.com/Boat-Million-Years-Poul-Anderson/dp/0765310244
The Immortal Prince
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005J569JW/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
There are two books specifically about the Metro series.
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-English-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/1481845705
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2034-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/1473204305/
Also, try out The Road by Cormac McCarthy http://www.amazon.com/Road-Cormac-McCarthy/dp/0307387895/
I recommend checking out Redshirts: A Novel With Three Codas. It's a published fanfiction (only technically) of Star Trex which tries to rationalize the behaviors of the crew.
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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.
It was a good film. If you liked it, you have to check out the short novel it was based on, ["All You Need is Kill"] (http://www.amazon.com/All-You-Need-Is-Kill-ebook/dp/B005LJETYI).
There is also a [manga] (http://www.amazon.com/All-Need-Kill-Vol-manga-ebook/dp/B00KO85D96/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413527745&sr=1-1&keywords=all+you+need+is+kill+manga) currently being serialized.
The story is much tighter and focuses a lot more on the relationship between Keiji (Cage, in the movie) and Rita. That's all I'm going to say about it for fear of spoilers.
Edit; corrected my tenses.
That would be cool. I used to frequent r/freeebooks quite a bit but have stopped due to the fact I have everything for the most part already (people post there as frequently as possible based on the subreddit rules). So this will help fuel my ebook addiction. 800 kindle books seems to be in my future....
Edit: Though The Breaker Series (books 1-3) is currently free and posted there, looks pretty good. Edward W. Robertson is the author, who people really seem to like here.
So...read any good books lately? Here're mine:
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Sourdough by Robin Sloan.
The City and the City by China Mieville.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells.
>I'm a Big fan of these tongue-in-cheek sci-fi books.
ill take a look im a sci-fi fan too. if you considered a dip into fantasy books that dont take themselves to seriously try the breed series in sci fi im sure you know of murderbot?
https://www.amazon.com/Restart-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB/ kinda sorta?
The kindle version is 12.99
http://www.amazon.com/Surface-Detail-Iain-M-Banks/dp/0316123412/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1299936925&sr=8-1
Also the third party price does not include shipping, so their prices always look cheaper.
Great series of books. You do not need to read them in order; I read book 4 first, and it spoils nothing.
Supposedly, Amazon Prime wants to do a miniseries of this, or at least the first book, to the level of quality of Game of Thrones. I'll... believe it when I see it.
Anyway here are Amazon/Audible links! (Or hit up your local library, etc.)
I really like this stuff as space opera type stuff. It's usually not "hard" sci-fi like Asimov or even Philip K. Dick or anything, but I rather hope humanity heads in the direction of the Federation, and then ultimately to The Culture.
Fun fact!! Elon Musk named the autonomous drone barge ships (the ones that SpaceX rockets land on) after some Culture ships. Namely the Of Course I Still Love You, and the Just Read The Instructions. I also rather like the full name of the ship Mistake Not… (Don't Google it! It's a spoiler!!!)
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Phillip Jose Farmer?
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Scattered-Bodies-Riverworld-Saga/dp/0345419677
King Solomon's Mines, of course! One of my long-time favorites. Or maybe one of the other books by Verne? Robert Jordan's Conan books, or even the originals?
And an off the wall suggestion -- you could also look at Farmer's Riverworld books.
Strange Relations is, uh, interesting.
He's most wellknown for the Riverworld series, though. First book: To Your Scattered Bodies Go.
Might I also suggest Roger Zelazny.. The Chronicles of Amber (10 book anthology).
Reminds me of River World. Sounds like a fun idea!
I have a few options:
https://www.amazon.com/Killobyte-Piers-Anthony/dp/0441444253
https://g.co/kgs/j3n3E8
Easy read, but I still enjoyed it.
Killobyte by Piers Anthony
Not that you asked for more book recommendations, but try The Boat of a Million Years, by Poul Anderson. The book explores some of those questions, although it was published in 1989 so The Future starts around 1990.
This is why I really got into the movie The Man From Earth and the book The Boat of A Million Years.
The 2033 one is a thing, I have it. You can buy it on amazon here.
https://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-English-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/1481845705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487400160&sr=8-1&keywords=metro+2033
https://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-English-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/1481845705/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486304363&sr=8-1&keywords=metro+2033
An English version popped up immediately in google for sale on amazon. Here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1481845705
The actual Red Shirt getting fed up sorry is by John Scalzi. I highly recommend the audio book version
We Are Legion (We Are Bob)
Honestly it depends what you are interested in. If you are into the Imperial Guard, then you can't go wrong with the Gaunt's Ghosts series, which narrates story of Colonel-Commisar Ibram Gaunt and his crack team of Guardsmen. The first book in the series is First and Only by Dan Abnett
If you are interested in 40k's crazy [sci-fi take on the Spanish Inquisition] (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Inquisition), then the [Eisenhorn Trilogy] (https://www.amazon.com/Xenos-Eisenhorn-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849708738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466481737&sr=1-1&keywords=eisenhorn) might be your kind of thing.
If you are into more the cataclysmic galaxy spanning warfare, the sprawling Horus Heresy series of novels may be worth looking into. These are set 10,000 years before the normal 40K setting, and detail the fall and betrayal of Warmaster Horus, and the massive civil war that it sparks, which is instrumental in setting the stage for the world as it is in 40k. The first book in this series is [Horus Rising] (https://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=519sDhjvfXL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR99%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=522C5CJ8ECDM71RF2P9S). While there are literally dozens of novels in the series, by several different authors, the first three (Horus Rising, False Gods, and Galaxy in Flames) will give you a pretty solid overview of the events of the Heresy.
Really, you can start with pretty much any series within the universe that sounds interesting to you, and there are literally a hundred or hundreds of books set in the universe, there isn't any set order outside of individual series that should be read. If you run into something you don't understand, the [Lexicanum] (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page) has articles on literally anything within the universe that you could think of.
It's a really fun universe to get into honestly, if you have any questions feel free to send me a message!
The Horus Heresy is a series of books which now numbers several dozen. Reading the entire Heresy series isnt quite required to get into 40k. Rather, the first three novels are a pretty good introduction to the universe, its conflicts, and its major players.
Now, there are also rule books for the Horus Heresy game, which was created to synergize with the novel series. Those have "fluff" (story) in them as well, but Id stay away from the rule books unless you find yourself super deep in. The HH codices are expensive, and even the 40k rule books came be a bit of a slog (theyre poorly written, IMO).
Honestly, if you dont want to buy anything right now, the best place to start is the Lexicanum. You can learn about the various factions, some of the lore, and all kinds of cool stuff. And the best part is, its FREE!
Hello all! Moving along to survive another day. Hey, if any of you are into webcomics, Questionable Content is a long time favorite. I usually read it, get all caught up, forget about it for a couple months, then binge read again. He has been going since about 2004, and has almost 4,000 comics at this point. He has the main core cast of characters, but he keeps changing the situations, so it doesn't get stale. Much better to read from the beginning, as it is not one of those comics where each comic is self-contained. He's gotten to the point with Patreon that it is his full time job, and he sometimes will do live drawings of the strip online, which is really cool to watch. Just thought I would share that with you.
QOTD: Was actually reading two at once (not uncommon for me...usually one audiobook and one physical/ebook). Just finished 2 yesterday: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and Blue Hope by John Dreese.
Altered Carbon is the basis for the new Netflix series of the same name. Very cyberpunk, which is not my usual fare, but it was pretty good. I wanted to read it before I started to watch the series, and now I have to read the rest of the trilogy. It starts fairly straightforward, but then he starts peeling back all of the layers of what is actually going on. Warning though...a couple of very explicit sexy time scenes, just to let you know. Thankfully, they weren't major parts of the story, but just wanted to warn you.
Blue Hope is the second book of the Red Hope series. OK, so I take this two ways. Yes, the story was very good, and continues from where the first book (his freshman work) leaves off. The first book was fairly short, more like a novella, and had some good concepts, but you can definitely tell that this was his first novel, as there are some parts that easily could have been developed more, some parts which seemed a bit trite and unnecessary, etc. And Dreese is not subtle with his "cliffhangers". The part where, in a story arc, an author will usually take a few chapters to come down from the end of the main conflict, and maybe hint at a possible follow on story. Nope....60mph to 0 in about 3 pages. With that said, moving onto the second book, Blue Hope. This one seems like he took his time in doing. Still some scenes that he seemed to rush, and that could have been developed a lot more, but the storyline gets into more detail about the mission, the problems, etc. The climactic scene at the end is good, but again seemed rushed. But he did it again. Screeching halt at the end, and it screams for another story.
If you guys want to read Red Hope and Blue Hope, they are both on sale for $0.99 on Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Road-Vintage-International-Cormac-McCarthy-ebook/dp/B000OI0G1Q/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
http://www.amazon.com/1984-George-Orwell-ebook/dp/B003JTHWKU/ref=sr_1_1_ha_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607743&sr=1-1&keywords=1984
http://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley-ebook/dp/B00JTYQJ3K/ref=sr_1_1_ha_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607785&sr=1-1&keywords=brave+new+world
http://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels-ebook/dp/B000FBFMZ2/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607819&sr=1-1&keywords=altered+carbon
http://www.amazon.com/Neuromancer-William-Gibson-ebook/dp/B000O76ON6/ref=sr_1_1_ha_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607849&sr=1-1&keywords=neuromancer
http://www.amazon.com/Fahrenheit-451-Novel-Ray-Bradbury-ebook/dp/B0064CPN7I/ref=sr_1_1_ha_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607872&sr=1-1&keywords=farenheight+451
http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Cradle-Kurt-Vonnegut-ebook/dp/B003XRELGQ/ref=sr_1_1_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607936&sr=1-1&keywords=cat%27s+cradle
http://www.amazon.com/Slaughterhouse-Five-Kurt-Vonnegut-ebook/dp/B003XVYLDU/ref=sr_1_3_twi_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1419607936&sr=1-3&keywords=cat%27s+cradle
New series you might like, Poor Man's Fight, and Alarm of War.
I'm sure you read the Lost fleet by Jack Campbell. I'm also a big fan of Dread Empire's fall series by Walter Jon Williams.
Amazon
The Odyssey One series (book 1 by Evan Currie comes to mind.
It's pulp, but fun.
*****
The Culture Series (book 1) by Iain Banks also comes to mind.
This one is a bit more serious than Odyssey One, and I've only read the first book so far... It might turn out to be very different.
All you need is kill - http://www.amazon.com/All-You-Need-Is-Kill-ebook/dp/B005LJETYI
Then watch Edge of Tomorrow
I would like to suggest Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell.
Its the first book in series set in the "Golden Age of the Solar Clipper", and is an incredibly relaxing read, but at the same time gripping, and interesting.
All books in the series are also available in audiobook form, i think read by the author and are also very good.
https://www.amazon.com/Quarter-Share-Traders-Golden-Clipper-ebook/dp/B00AMO7VM4?ie=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0
Quarter Share and other books in Nathal Lowell's Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series might work. It's about a young man who winds up shipping on an interstellar trader ship. I found it a little tame, but might work for your daughter ... no violence and sex.
In much the same vein, EM Foner's Union Station books are fun reads ... more interesting and exciting, but maybe not for a very young girl. Might read the first book for yourself and see what you think. It would probably make reading to your daughter a lot more fun for you, however, and there is no sex and violence in them either.
Sorry, had a brain cramp and confused it with Robinson's The Breaker series, of which I'm also waiting for the next volume.
I'm certainly glad I tried his stuff out. His Breakers pack of books 1-3 for free is one of the best deals out there. (Turns out that deal is on Amazon.co.uk, not in the US.
Since CGI has advanced so much, if Data ever appeared again, I'd rather see Spiner doing voice/motion-capture, with Data himself as simply CGI.
I agree that Data as a ship AI doesn't really fit him.
I also second the thought that if you want to explore the idea of Ship AIs, you can turn to science fiction novels.
Ann Leckie's Ancillary series follows the ship Justice of Toren. First book is Ancillary Justice.
Martha Wells has her Murderbot Diaries, and in a few of the stories, a ship-based AI shows up. The first book of that series is All Systems Red.
If you want to go retro, Anne McCaffrey has her Ship Who Sang series, although those aren't true AI but human brains encased in "shells" that can be installed into spaceships or cities to help run them. First book is, predictably, The Ship Who Sang, but take note it was first published decades ago in the 70s or 80s, so some of the ideas are outdated by now.
Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch
Really flawed main character, but still, you want him to succeed. :) Excellent naval sf. The religious element is creative.
All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Not exactly military sf--the main character is more security personnel than military personnel--but it reads like good military sf. Nonstop action and the protagonist's running commentary is golden.
Perilous Waif by E. William Brown hits the sweet spot for me. Great characters and setting, and just enough mystery to keep the bigger picture interesting. He really sets up some promising ideas for the future.
Closest I can think of are SciFi-ish.
Re-Start Level Up. Guy gets a computer program uploaded into his brain that does some magic-like stuff, but through techie mumbo-jumbo means.
Emerilia's Michael Chatfield does some SciFi litRPG that isn't great, but fits. I'm currently reading book two of the Harmony War series, and no magic just tech.
Reality Benders has magic, but not really in the human faction, and very very minorly in the MC (he gets some psionic stuff with rather limited use).
Limitless Lands in a VR story with magic, but the MC doesn't use any. He's basically playing a strategy game while everyone else is playing an RPG. Works out well, story wise.
Survive Week One is right up your alley, though again, the non-Earth folks seem to have a not-quite-magic, and of course the MC is obviously going to eventually get it. Even then, I think it fits your bill for now.
I'm trying to remember, but I don't think the MC in Feedback Loop uses magic, and some of the VR worlds he travels through don't seem to have magic. Not that absurd things don't still happen, they just generally are because of game-mechanics (like pulling bombs/guns/cars from your inventory).
Yeah TzunSu is right there is a series out there called the Level Up series. Book one is called Re-Start.
https://www.amazon.com/Re-Start-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB
My first translated from Russian - LitRPG and motivational book: Restart (Level Up Book #1) LitRPG Series
https://www.amazon.com/Restart-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB/
The idea of augmented reality isn’t new. The Google Glass project is in fact nearing its completion even as we speak. But the idea of digitized real-life stats, that’s a bit different. I had it in summer 2014. At the time, I was working hard trying to lose weight from my original “too-fat-to-tie-laces” 242 lb. to my current 175 lb. These days, I can’t even imagine my life without going to the gym.
It was in the gym that I first realized how effective weight training could be.Today you lift 45 lb, a week later it’s 55 lb, and six months later, it’s already 175! Or, speaking in RPG terms, you level up Strength from 2 to 8.
Then an idea struck me. What if we could see all these status bars, skills and characteristics in real life just as we can in MMORPG? It’s one thing to know you’ve learned something from a book - and it’s something quite different if you can clearly see that it’s added +2% to your Intellect. Or that a visit to a swimming pool gives you +5% to Stamina. Would that motivate you more?
I’m absolutely sure it would. This is exactly why I’ve always loved RPG and LitRPG as well as weight training. Three years ago, I couldn’t do a single pull up. Now I can do fifteen easily. It’s the same in business: whether you work your backside off or just go through the motions, your company’s earnings are the only accurate barometer of your activity.
I spent some time thinking about it until it all fell into a pattern. That’s when I came up with my MC Phil Panfilov and his story. I mapped out his development arc, added some key scenes, came up with support characters and started writing.
That’s how I finished "Level Up. Re-Start", the first book in a series which tells the story of a gamer who’s been a bit too lax with his life. By the time he’s thirty-something, he has a wife, a string of one-off freelance gigs, a powerful computer, a level 110 rogue character in a popular RPG game and a beer gut.
What could happen in the life of an overgrown nerd in order to change his attitude? Could his wife - whom he loves a lot - leave him? Or what if he somehow could see the world through a game interface? Would he be able to face the harsh reality if he could see that his Reputation with his wife is Unfriendly, his Agility is stuck at 4, Strength at 6, Stamina at 3 and that his most advanced skill is WoW playing? Isn’t it time he did something about it?
That’s basically a glimpse into my story which I wanted to share with my English-language readers. The finished book has already hit the bestseller list back in Russia. The English translation of the first book in the series is available in KU.
https://www.amazon.com/Re-Start-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB Is finished. Good read to, though i wish there was more!
I'm also reading Book of the Fallen at the moment and can confirm that you'll like /u/crashdmj's suggestion of Iain M Banks' Culture series. I feel you when you say Malazan is taxing - with schoolwork and all, I've been working on it for two years now and am just halfway through Toll the Hounds.
Each installment of Culture is self-contained (different characters, different plot) but they all take place in the same universe, so I think it might be a good place for you to start. If you like it, great, you can pick up the next one and not be shackled to the same storyline; if you don't, you can move on to something else. I read Surface Detail, and found it to be thought-provoking yet still light enough to read and comprehend while on the treadmill or with a couple of beers - not something I can say about BotF.
Happy Reading!
you should read the culture series of novels by Ian Banks ...
> Do you guys think it would be possible to invent a way to capture a human consciousness from the past and place it into a virtual or real world in the future.
See To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer for a fun sci-fi take on this concept.
Wrong, this is the atheist afterlife!
Riverworld
Kinda short novels but very interesting
They're about a place that every person who as ever died since the beginning of time goes to get "reconstructed".
I have a [book, Manifold: Time] (https://www.amazon.com/Manifold-Time-Stephen-Baxter/dp/034543076X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=VGGEFAYR1REJ16CCHGC6) for you, except dolphins, they use squid.
FYI: LEO is low earth orbit.
I only know this cause I just started reading Manifold Time.
Manifold: Time by Stephen Baxter
It's a squid, but close enough.
(Awesome book, btw. Hard science fiction. Manifold: Space [the "sequel"] is possibly my favorite sci-fi book.)
He's one of my faves for a reason.
If you like sci-fi with a long view of things, you might want to check a book out that reminded me of Asimov's called "Manifold: Time".
Thirteen (US)/Black Man (UK) is a great novel by Richard Morgan with a pretty insane antagonist that should fit what you're looking for.
http://www.amazon.com/Thirteen-Richard-K-Morgan/dp/0345480899/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395172304&sr=8-1&keywords=Thirteen+morgan
I can't believe this thread has gone on so long without no mention of this book. Whole setup to the story is that the middle of the country seceded from the Union, splitting the country into three nation states.
Nickname for the new nation in the middle? Jesusland.
Woops, misspelled it :p it's kilobyte.
http://www.amazon.ca/Killobyte-Piers-Anthony/dp/0441444253
Killobyte by Piers Anthony? It's a book, but isn't very long and reads like a series of short stories, from what I remember.
amazon.com/Killobyte-Piers-Anthony/dp/0441444253
This reminds me of the book Killobyte. One of the main characters is a girl with diabetes that is locked in a virtual reality game.
http://amzn.com/0441444253
Poul Anderson's The Boat of a Million Years is worth a read.
Came here to say this.
Incidentally, it's available for 1 cent at Amazon,
The Boat of a Million Years - Goodreads Amazon
Read Wool by Hugh Howey.
From the description:
>This is the story of mankind clawing for survival, of mankind on the edge. The world outside has grown unkind, the view of it limited, talk of it forbidden. But there are always those who hope, who dream. These are the dangerous people, the residents who infect others with their optimism. Their punishment is simple. They are given the very thing they profess to want: They are allowed outside.
Then come visit us at /r/Wool!
My favorite book or series of books at the moment is Wool by Hugh Howey. It has incredible reviews. It's about a society that lives in a silo underground in a post-apocalyptic world. The "omnibus" edition is books 1-5. All together they're about the length of a normal novel. The 6th one is around a couple hundred pages. They're all deliciously disturbing.
I just finished the Wool omnibus by Hugh Howey..It's not fantasy but a great book..
http://www.amazon.com/Wool-Omnibus-Hugh-Howey/dp/1469984202/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1341887709&sr=1-1&keywords=wool+omnibus
Metro 2033 English: Here
Metro 2034 English: Here
I need 2034 in this cover in English. All the ones I can find are non-English. Kinda bothersome having 2/3 of them with the mask. Not to mention my 2034 one is smaller than the other two.
Here is an Amazon listing for the 2033 with gas mask - Metro 2033: First U.S. English edition (METRO by Dmitry Glukhovsky)
There's lot's in there and I found it pretty interesting, but it's definitely an FPS.
That being said, it's based on a book series, so there is a bunch of lore to look into.
Sort of off topic, but if you're interested in a game that's not so much about lore, but instead accuracy, check out This War of Mine.
The books I'm currently reading, I'm totally in love with "the old breed" right now, can't put it down!
A helmet for my pillow
With the old Breed
For whom the bell tolls
The Gay Science
Metro 2033
A game of thrones
Don't get caught in the narrative!
Read [Redshirts by John Scalzi](http://www.Redshirts.com/ A Novel with Three Codas https://www.amazon.com/dp/1491514388/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_5mNQAb49XA6D6), and this will give you a perspective of how new ensigns fight to survive the high mortality rate on away missions, and why you should look busy when the captain is coming by.
Redshirts?
Redshirts by John Scalzi. You won't be dissapointed.
This book.
I was surprised by how much enjoyed it, despite being rather turned away by the blurb.
I read the first books of both the Murderbot and the We Are Bob series last week. Both are great, and there are piles of sequels as well.
Over break: The Power by Naomi Alderman. Fabulously thought provoking, so I'm going to assign it to my incoming first year students next fall.
The bobiverse is a trilogy of books where the protagonist dies, and wakes up in the future as a computer program after dying the day he signed up for a cryogenic preservation service. Check out book one, We Are Legion (We are Bob)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1680680587/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1509816803&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=we+are+legion+we+are+bob
https://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517926171&sr=8-1&keywords=the+horus+heresy
start with that book, there are 45 after it. After that you can then go onto the other 40k novels.
Ask JIDF-Shill.
But in Horus Rising on pages 354-355, Horus says the Emperor was born in Anatolia (spelled Anatoly in Horus Rising), and shows a ring the Emperor gave him made a year before he (the Emperor) was born.
>The dreadful Sagittary, he said. Most warlike of all. Strong, relentless, unbridled, swift and sure of his mark. In ancient times, he told me, this was the greatest sign of all. The centaur, the horse-man, the hunter-warrior, had been beloved in the old ages. In Anatoly, in his own childhood, the centaur had been a revered symbol. A rider upon a horse, so he said, armed with a bow. The most potent martial instrument of its age, conquering all before it. Over time, myth had blended horseman and steed into one form. The perfect synthesis of man and war machine. That is what you must learn to be, he told me. That is what you must master. One day, you must command my armies, my instruments of war, as if they were an extension of your own person. Man and horse, as one, galloping the heavens, submitting to no foe. At Ullanor, he gave me this.’
>Horus set down his cup, and leaned forward to show them the weathered gold ring he wore on the smallest finger of his left hand. It was so eroded by age that the image was indistinct. Loken thought he could detect hooves, a man’s arm, a bent bow.
>‘It was made in Persia, the year before the Emperor was born. The dreadful Sagittary.
https://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448
this one?
I know how I feel, because I read several of the kickass Takeshi Kovacs books by Richard Morgan. (I dare you to read Altered Carbon https://www.amazon.com/Altered-Carbon-Takeshi-Kovacs-Novels-ebook/dp/B000FBFMZ2/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1 and NOT think about the implications.)
One of the things from the book that Jeff was verging on is that the poor or criminally sentenced have to loan out their bodies to the rich and/or privileged to blip into, like a rental car. There's a great moment when Kovacs is using a sleeve (a body into which he was recorded) and the lover of the owner of the body is asking him to be careful about damaging it, and you realize just how monstrous this situation is.
Back in January r/SF_Book_Club/ did Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan. I enjoyed that one and it had quite a bit of what you mentioned. It's a detective story with quite a bit of small arms porn.
Altered Carbon - Amazon
John Ringo does several good series:
http://www.amazon.com/Live-Free-Die-Troy-Rising/dp/1439133972
http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413865048&sr=1-1&keywords=posleen+war
Also, I'd recomend the Lost Fleet series:
http://www.amazon.com/Dauntless-Lost-Fleet-Jack-Campbell-ebook/dp/B000OZ0NXU/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413865075&sr=1-1&keywords=lost+fleet
You can have both. The writers just have to understand real-world physics enough to craft a story using it.
Ever read The Lost Fleet?
In terms of space sims though the only game I remember of note using a newtonian physics model was Independence War (1 & 2). It was a total blast to play. But this was back on the tail end of the golden age of pc gaming where we had a ton of amazing revolutionary games that didn't stick to known working formula and were willing to let you just have fun and enjoy a story, not just grind money, reputation, rank & ship customization options.
Oh yeah, also Frontier: Elite II & Elite 3...
Definitely check out snarky pants' post. I found a number of new series from those threads.
Just to get you started, [The Wandering Engineer] (http://www.amazon.com/New-Dawn-Wandering-Engineer-Book-ebook/dp/B009HB1VNS) is a fun series I just found. Good writing so far.
I also like the [Lost Fleet Series] (http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Fleet-Dauntless-Jack-Campbell-ebook/dp/B000OZ0NXU/ref=la_B001H6W4PU_1_31?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1419870550&sr=1-31)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013TX6FI/sr=1-1/qid=1279909287/ref=sr_1_1_oe_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279909287&sr=1-1
One thing that really surprised me the other day was this.
Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, a well established author from a traditional publisher ... priced at $0.99!
I had this on my ereaderiq list and I bought it as soon as I saw the notification in case it was a pricing error (it happens), but it's been at this price all month.
https://www.amazon.com/All-Need-Kill-Hiroshi-Sakurazaka-ebook/dp/B005LJETYI/
All You Need Is Kill
Mardock Scramble is a pretty good cyberpunk novel.
Seconding recommendation for Crest of the Stars, but the new translation is not quite ready yet. Volume one is only getting released next month and then you can either wait for volumes 2 and 3, or pay for subscription at J-Novel Club website to read the ongoing translation. Or you can wait till all 3 volumes are finished and binge it then.
Banner of the Stars translation will start after they are done with the Crest.
By the way, all titles mentioned above are regular Japanese novels, rather than light novels. It's pretty rare for pure sci-fi to be published as a light novel.
As for magitek/science fantasy, Owari no Chronicle is quite good. It's only available as fan-translation, you can find it at Baka-Tsuki. And there's an informative review at MAL.
Try "All You Need is Kill" by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Japanese, and very science fiction explody with guns and mecha. Although not the main character, has a strong female character in it. Tom Cruise's movie "The Edge of Tomorrow" was based on this book, but don't tell her that.
Also try "I am not a Serial Killer" by Dan Wells. It is about a teenage psychopath that follows a strict code so that he won't become a serial killer. Code works well until crazy shit starts popping off. Has Horror elements, and Wells does a good job of getting in the head of a person that emotionally detached from everyone.
Both are relatively short, and are easy fast reads but super entertaining.
The book is fantastic and is different from the movie. Check it out: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005LJETYI/ref=aw_ss_kndl_dp/
There is a series of books where the main character and supporting characters are all basically just cogs in the machine aboard a Starship. It's been awhile but I remember liking them quite a bit and think they'd make a good show. The first was call Quarter Share and each one after goes up from there like Half Share, Full Share, Double Share, etc. Obviously the main character eventually works his way up to being an officer on the ship but in the first two books he was just a worker. I think I only read the first 2 but I've talked myself into reading through all of them now.
If you like Becky Chambers you'll enjoy Nathan Lowell's "Share" series (https://www.amazon.com/Quarter-Share-Traders-Golden-Clipper-ebook/dp/B00AMO7VM4/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1525890657&sr=8-8&keywords=nathan+lowell+solar+clipper). This is the first one of the series. They are exceptional for what they don't have - nobody has to save the Universe.
I would say I am a hard sci-fi lover. Especially those that can paint a picture for an entire universe, not just a story. Take The Golden Age of The Solar Clipper series by Nathan Lowell, I would say it is far from a hard sci-fi as it does not go into much science, and it is far from action packed, but boy does it paint an entire universe you could easily see yourself in!
I haven't delved into many other genres, mainly because I dont know were to start, and I easily get bored and drop a book if it doesn't hook me within the sample download :/
As for beverage it would be water, if anything. I so often get dragged into a story though that sometimes I wont even eat, lol. My wife doesn't see how I can do it, just sit there and read on my phone, unblinking for hours on end. She said she timed me once and got bored at 25min of me not blinking, LOL.
I will always show up for post-apocalyptic suggestions.
Station Eleven is incredibly well written (award winning) though may be less of a "thriller" than you're looking for.
The Breakers series is technically YA but it's so well done it doesn't feel like it, plus there's a ton of action. There are NINE books in this series AND a series that continues this series.
You might also look at Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam series if you haven't already, it's brilliant and probably a cornerstone of post-postmodern apocalypse fiction.
Hugh Howey's Wool trilogy is also worth checking out.
Book
Thanks!
Edit: My goal is to volunteer and to read more than I did in 2014.
Maybe the Breaker series. The 7th book just came out but you can get the first 3 for 0.99. http://www.amazon.com/Breakers-Books-Edward-W-Robertson-ebook/dp/B00E9YL3HM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1420069031&sr=8-2&keywords=breakers
The Breaker series, best self published thing I've ever read. Huge number of positive reviews, this is no hobbyist, this guy has chops.
I picked up The Breakers 1-3 for $0.99 just for the hell of it. It's pretty good for a buck.
Was just about to recommend this! The first book is All Systems Red
I liked sea of rust, which amazon recommended after All Systems Red. It was a short read but it was the best thing I've read in quite a while.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MYZ8X5C/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1517790536&sr=8-1
this surprised me. Im not sure why I rented it, but it was cool.
I will recommend you probably one of the greatest and most realistic LITRPG book I've listened to recently. It's on my top 5 favorites right now
-
Re-Start Level Up Book 1
-
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKRMLJB
So addictive, very refreshing with a solid narration. You just can't wait just how the mc develops and improves himself.
-
It will probably even inspire and motivate you on how to be a better person in real life.
I can even say that many will probably relate to the scenario if this ever happened to you.
-
It's that good
> Wool - Omnibus Edition was probably one the sickest books I've read in a very long time.
I hope this AskReddit question gets on the front page just so more people find out about this book.
Read book first. It's much better than the game.
http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-English-Dmitry-Glukhovsky/dp/1481845705
What do you mean? I found one on amazon and i have a English pdf/audio book on my computer?
> “Bahá'u'lláh says you can’t make a distinction between any manifestations of God - Baha'ullah, Mohammad, Jesus, Buddha, the Bob- they all came from the same God,”
Lol, apparently someone is a fan of the Bobiverse.
Edit: Wait a minute... That is from a year before We are Legion was released... Guess they mean JR "Bob" Dobbs.
HEY! No posting jailbait photos, you've been repor...
Wait, wut? :o I use this reference sparingly in this sub, but I'll use it with her: Time for her to fake her death and start over, possibly not for the first time...