You could read novels, but I personally think you're going to get a better intro to SF and more enjoyment, and a better chance of finding "your thing" if you read short stories. You can then read the novels you know you'll enjoy. I love SF anthologies, not only because you get a collection of pre-selected awesome pieces, but also you get to sample a ton of different authors with different styles in the same number of pages as reading a novel would get you just a single story and a single author. Also, many consider the short story the ultimate and best form for science fiction.

I suggest anthologies that collect stories over multiple years instead of just "best of the year" collection. For obvious reasons, you get better stories. Here are the best I know of:

• The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Science Fiction and Fantasy
  
• The Hard SF Renaissance (One or two stories from this will answer the question of whether you like Hard SF.)
  
• The Science Fiction Century
  
• Twenty-First Century Science Fiction (sort of a sequel to the previous one)
  
• Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume 1, 2a, and 2b (This is kind of a survey of historical SF, ranging from the '20s to the '60s.)
  
  So you could go historically starting with old stories and working your way more contemporary, in which case you'd start with SF Hall of Fame. But it might be a better idea to start with the most contemporary stuff and go backwards. In that case, you'd start with Locus Awards and start in the back of the book.
  
  In terms of specific authors, I would be amiss not to encourage you to read Ted Chiang. He has written only 13 short stories between 1992 and now, but he's won more awards for them than most SF authors do in their lifetime including the prestigious Nebula, Locus and Hugo awards, among others! READ. HIS. STORIES. He has an awesome anthology Stories of Your Life and Others plus you can buy his more recent stories on amazon.
  
  You should also read Greg Egan. And Enders Game if you somehow missed it. There's also the classic Arthur C. Clarke, either his short stories, or a novel like City and the Stars.
  

One of my favorite subgenres by far, by a long run. Some of my favorites:

ESSENTIAL

Earth Abides (George Stewart) - Essential reading for the genre. It is the death of civilization by plague, and then its slow rebirth as seen through the eyes of a lone survivor. Compelling, thought-provoking ending. Again, essential reading.

Lucifer's Hammer (Niven/Pournelle)- a combo disaster book and survival book, you get both the whole surviving disaster aspect, as well as the early portions of trying to rebuild society. Since I'm also a fan of disaster/survival books, I consider this one essential reading.

The Stand (Stephen King) - Obvious choice, and all the caveats apply. It's 2/3s brilliant and 1/3 rubbish. Still, despite the poor ending, the disaster and survival parts of it are some of the best of the genre. Well worth reading.

The Road (Cormac McCarthy) - Stunning, moving, inspiring, painful, brilliant, essential. Just know you're getting no action, no suspense, no real plot to speak of. It is a boy and his father walking the ruins of society. And it is amazing.

RECOMMENDED

Farnham's Freehold (Robert Heinlein) - A family emerges from their bunker to find that nuclear war has wiped out society. Great tale of survival. The last third veers into pure science fiction and may be off-putting to some, but it's worth it for the early portions if you're into the kind of build-a-new-world-with-your-hands thing Heinlein does here.

Eternity Road (Jack McDevitt) - Set 1,000 years after a plague has wiped out most of mankind. Society has rebuilt itself to roughly 18th Century levels. An expedition from a small enclave in the American south ventures north and explores the ruins of society looking for a fabled city. I love books about exploration, lost civilizations, old ruins, etc. This one is all about that. Not top-tier stuff, but worth reading.

The Penultimate Truth (Philip K. Dick) - One of his overlooked gems. People live in bunkers, Fallout style, and hear propaganda from above. One man finally ventures above ground to see what's really happening with the world. PKDish story ensues.

The City of Ember (Jeanne DuPrau) - it's a book for younger readers, yes, but don't let that stop you. Great premise -- generations of people have lived in a city deep underground following a disaster -- fun story, good characters. The sequel, The People of Sparks is also good and picks up right where this leaves off. Did not care for the others.

ALSO CONSIDER

On The Beach (Nevil Shute) - Widely considered a classic. It's slow and melancholy, more about waiting for an inevitable death than it is about survival or rebuilding or a post-apoc world. A great book, but maybe not what you're looking for.

Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb (Philip K. Dick) - Like many PKD books, describing it is difficult. It boils down to a post-nuclear war world and a cast of bizarre people trying to eek out their lives in a fractured world.

Plague Year (Jeff Carlson) - A nanotech virus has forced a sparse few thousand survivors to live on remote mountaintops. A few are trying to stitch together a government and combat the virus ... but they're not all on the same page, and conflict erupts. Great premise, though doesn't quite live up to its promise. Short, though, so a quick read.

The Postman (David Brin) - almost put this in skip because in the end it veers into silly stuff with super soldiers and the like -- the book is kind of unfocused -- but there is too much goodness here to do that. Great vision of a world set many years after society has been wiped out. worth reading despite its flaws.

SKIP

Dies The Fire (SM Stirling) - A LARPers wet dream. Technology suddenly stops working. gunpowder, too. We're thrown back into the Bronze Age. Really cool premise and some GREAT stuff on fracturing society and survival and rebuilding, though to be honest the "lifelong D&D players and LARPers are the only ones fit to survive" becomes a joke by the end. Way too much of that. I started off loving it but by the time I finished found it laughable. Also, it starts a whole series (which I have not read).

If you do comics, two are essential reading: Y: The Last Man and the sprawling epic Akira. The former gets right into it and features great characters and a compelling hook, while Akira is huge huge huge, WAY bigger than the movie, and the last half is set in a post-apocalyptic world. (Well, technically it ALL is ... but if you read it you'll see what I mean.

That's what springs to mind. There are already many other good suggestions here, too. Hope that helps.

zem beat me to the punch with 'Last and First Men' I can't recommend this book more. If you're in a country with copyright laws of life +50 years then this is in the public domain i.e. free and legal to download (I'd recommend Gutenberg Australia).

Not a novel but a similar concept to 'Last and First Men' is Dougal Dixons Man After Man: An Anthropology of the Future (to navigate to each chapter, click on the links at the bottom of each page; 200, 300,....5 million years hence).

Frank Herberts Dune explores the idea of the evolution of humanity with the Guild Navigators, Mentats, Bene Gesserit, Bene Tleilax etc. [mini rant](/s"Although his son has stated in his toilet paper worthy novels that these aren't so much cases of gradual evolution as sudden developments that seem to fit well into a narrative in order to make money")

Robert Reeds novel Sister Alice tells a story spanning hundreds of thousands of years with humans having gained godlike powers. Also by the same author and in the same vein I'd recommend Marrow and The Well of Stars.

Alastair Reynolds also did a good job with House of Suns; very similar to 'Sister Alice'.

Can you believe I've typed that twice because of a blue screen of death.

Check out Quarter Share by Nathan Lowell. Falls under the category of space opera, but it's a lot better than that. Great writing, funny, and no manipulative endings, with their screams of "buy the next book to find out!"

Normally I don't care for fantasy, but I stumbled across Hounded and found it well written, with a lot of creative, funny ideas. It's just good story telling.

I found the aliens in Octavia Butlers Xenogenisis/Lilith's Brood trilogy (link to book 1) to be extremely interesting and different, but not so far off difference as to be confusing. VanderMeer's Southern Reach trilogy (book 1) had some pretty far out aliens that definitely fit that bill, though, but is only tangentially military.

edit: just saw I am not the only one to mention Lilith's Brood; props to u/emopest for getting to it first. Leaving the comment because it is just that good!

Chaos Quarter by David Welsh is pretty much a quick fun read that seems to fit the bill of what you're asking.


As someone else said, The Expanse series starting with Leviathan Wakes is a really enjoyable story.


I'd also mark down Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach. It's simple and easy to digest without going all Revelation Space on you.

^(Note: these are all books I've read and can recommend from experience.)

David Brin's Sundiver is a detective mystery. Likewise his Existence is a mystery about a recently discovered artifact, though its presentation with multiple perspectives lacks the singular detective tone of Sundiver. It's not as much of a mystery/thriller more of a mystery/adventure. It is also one of the overall best science fiction novels I've ever read; the writing is top notch, the characters superbly lifelike, the tone excellent, and the overall reading experience enjoyable and filled with a realistic optimism.

Gregory Benford's Artifact is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact. His Timescape is about a strange phenomenon.

Jack McDevitt's The Engines of God is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact.

Asimov's The End of Eternity is a classic mystery/thriller.

Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect and Chasm City are both standalone detective mysteries. His Revelation Space is similar, but does not have the same classic mystery tone.

Greg Bear's Queen of Angels and Slant are both standalone detective mysteries.

I seem to recall the Second Foundation (Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos, Foundation's Triumph) trilogy by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin having some mystery aspects. I think one of them at least is a detective mystery, but I can't remember which right now.

Dan Simmons' Ilium/Olympos is a sort of detective mystery, but its tone is much more action/adventure despite the protagonist's undertakings to determine what in the world is going on.

Joan D. Vinge's Cat Trilogy (Psion, Catspaw, and Dreamfall) are detective mysteries.

Julian May's Perseus Spur is a detective mystery. It's pretty light-hearted and a lot of fun to read. Something you would pick up at an airport bookstore and not be at all disappointed with. I can't speak for the other two books in the trilogy, haven't read them yet. Just ordered them off Amazon for $4 a piece.

I could go on, but I think that should keep you busy for a while.

 

^(Edited to clarify the tone of some suggestions. Some are more traditional mystery/thriller, while others are more adventure/mystery, more alike to Indiana Jones than a noir detective.)

The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi and The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi are both amazing, deep, engrossing books with worlds of their own. I cannot recommend them enough.

Also, China Mieville's books are pretty awesome, though more urban fantasy than SciFi. Still worth a read.

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

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. It is like Niven and Clarke in that the plot focuses on a big, mysterious object; however, it is a character-driven story first. The hard sci-fi elements, as they gradually emerge, deliver the goods as well. It's a great book; it won the Hugo for a reason.

Edit: Avoid reading the synopsis on amazon. I think it gives away a bit too much.

Have you read the 'Red Mars' series? They're by Kim Stanley Robinson and are pretty much exactly the sort of hard sci-fi + character development that you seem to enjoy. They're also pleasantly topical given Curiosity's successful landing.

A Canticle For Leibowitz is remarkably deep, more in the spec-fic vein than sci-fi, but an undeniable classic nonetheless.

I've also really enjoyed the "Hall of Fame" short story collections. You really get a sense of the inspirations behind the genre.

This is my favorite sub-genre as well. Stross, Vinge, and Rucker are all computer science professionals as well as writers. Doctrow is an uber FOSS geek and uses lots of current tech in his work.

I highly recommend Stross's "Accelerando" and "Rapture of the Nerds".

Accelerando
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OIZUC6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1370432920&sr=8-2&pi=SL75

Rapture
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0080K3HTI/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1370432982&sr=8-2&pi=SL75

Quarter Share.

YA Space Opera has a lot of potential. If it stays short on the science, but it's long on action and 18-23 love triangles, there's a ton of potential. CW's television show The 100 got renewed for a 2nd season; if it makes it to a 3rd year, other networks are going to start trying YA SF television shows (maybe the already are), and that could ignite publishing.

Here's a few recent books, all good or very good:

Last Plane to Heaven, Jay Lake (short story collection)


The Adjacent
, Chris Priest

On the Steel Breeze, Alistair Reynolds (Book2 in series)


The Causal Angel, Hannu Rajaniemi (Book3 in series)


Strange Bodies, Marcel Theroux


The Martian, Andy Weir (recommended!)


ShipStar, Benford-Niven (Book2 in series)


Ancillary Justice, Ann Leckie


A Darkling Sea, James Cambias


The Disestablishment of Paradise, by Phillip Mann {I've just started this one, so can't say yet if good or great or crappy, but it's started off very good).


...And if you have not yet discovered The Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff VanDerMeer, you should probably check it out.

Try The Quantum Thief a hit-tech, high-energy adventure.

Also,

> .. books aren't sexist or racist but not about those issues ...

Ancillary Justice which folks might not suggest because of its well-known take on gender, but it's not about that at all. It's pace is pretty moderate, though.

https://www.amazon.com/Existence-David-Brin/dp/0765342626

For me, it was a different take on "first contact". It's a really fun read, set a little bit further in the future from today.

"Join Us!"

Yes, although obviously I'd rather you paid for it :-)

Delaney - "Aye, and Gomorrah", "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-Precious Stones", collected here

Gibson - "Hinterlands", "The Belonging Kind" (with J. Shirley), collected here

Pelevin - "The Hermit and Six-Toes", and "News from Nepal", collected here

The first story is The Microcosmic God by Theodore Sturgeon, and the third is A Martian Odyssey by Stanley Weinbaum.

I haven't read the 2nd one, but the collection is very likely to be The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Vol 1.

The three series that come to mind are below:
I enjoyed all 3 for each its own reason. The Solar Clipper one stands out as more unique in my mind. I wish there was more like it.

 
 
 

---

• Starforce by B. V. Larson (Swarm,Extinction,Rebellion,Conquest,Battle Station,Annihilation,Storm Assault,The Dead Sun)
  
  
• Frontiers by Ryk Brown (Aurora: CV-01,The Rings of Haven,The Legend of Corinair,Freedom's Dawn,Head of the Dragon,The Expanse,Celestia: CV-02,Resistance,Liberation,Rise of the Corinari)
  
  
• Solar Clipper Trader Tales by Nathan Lowell (Quarter Share,Half Share,Full Share,Double Share,Captain's Share,Owner's Share)

I enjoyed David Brin's Existence but it's probably not the War of the Worlds style invasion that you're looking for.

• The Belonging Kind (a short story in William Gibson's Burning Chrome collection)
  
• Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
  
• The Hainish Books by Ursula K LeGuin (especially the first ones)
  
• The Morgaine Cycle by CJ Cherryh

Just started CS Friedman's This Alien Shore. Female protagonist on the run, from what she doesn't know yet. Set within a far future universe and also entails an exotic computer virus let loose within the systems of the net... as usual very dense in plot and I am getting drawn in so far. Only other novel of her's I have read was In Conquest Born and that was a very good psi-fi/space opera.

I liked the Red Mars trilogy. And the series that starts from Coyote does a good job of making the tech believable, but also telling a timeless story that kids can grok.

I think her best book is Cyteen. It's a Hugo-winner, and it's more in the social futurism space. It's also nail-bitingly tense.

This is a book that you probably don't want spoilers for, so I would avoid the wikipedia article - and even the back cover - if you intend to read it.

Yes. Book 3 of the singularity series:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OIZUC6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519829701&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=accelerando

Popping back in to check the list of books (some good stuff in here!) and surprised not to see The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. He also wrote Pump Six (short stories, some very good), Ship Breaker (aimed at juveniles, but still fun) and The Alchemist (ok, I guess).

Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt is an excellent many-years-after-the-apocalypse type story.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson isn't exactly apocalyptic, but it does deal with end-of-the-world themes and explores how society might react.

Wastelands is an excellent collection of apocalyptic short stories.

This Alien Shore by C. S. Friedman. I'm not sure how many people have read it, but I don't see it mentioned very often, which is a shame because it's a great book.

I liked Legion of the Damned by William Dietz. Not exactly what you're looking for, but it's about encased brains plugged into power armor, mechs, warbots, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Legion-Damned-William-C-Dietz/dp/0441480403

Neal Stephenson's Seveneves is exactly what you are looking for:

https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Coyote + sequels by Allen Steele.

Red Mars + sequels by Kim Stanley Robinson.

40,000 in Gehenna by CJ Cherryh, now available in Alliance Space.

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson has a somewhat similar idea, except instead of humanity expanding off-planet, the universe itself ages faster.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0441480403/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?qid=1451393704&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=william+c+dietz&dpPl=1&dpID=51MlGQICJqL&ref=plSrch

Dawn by Octavia Butler comes to mind

http://www.amazon.com/Dawn-Xenogenesis-Bk-Octavia-Butler/dp/0446603775

Fortune's Pawn by Rachel Bach book one of three

What about Cyteen by CJ Cherryh

Nathan Lowell's Solar Clipper series (start with Quarter Share) fits the bill perfectly. The protagonist is practically a Mary Sue, but it's actually quite refreshing to have a character who has no flaws and for whom everything goes right.

The Windup Girl is different kind of apocalyptic tale, won the hugo and nebulla awards. Hard sci fi with a very human touch.

House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds. There are no aliens, but there is a robot race. FTL does not exist. The space farers go into stasis during journeys. There is an interstellar chase scene that lasts tens of thousands of years.

This Alien Shore is one of those single books that actually make me want to read more in that universe.

Stranger in a Strange Land is controversial, thought provoking, and while a couple of characters will show up in later Heinlein books, it isn't part of a series.

+1 Anathem (2008) by Neal Stephenson

+1 The Speed of Dark (2002) by Elizabeth Moon

SF doesn't get much harder than The Martian by Andy Weir. It's about an astronaut's efforts to survive while stranded on Mars after a failed mission. All the science is plausible.

I can also recommend The Risen Empire duology by Scott Westerfield for realistic space battles.

The Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson follows a couple of World War 2 boats that end up in a parallel Earth where humans never evolved.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0451462378/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_wRYNybD5GTGC0

Current book: Wingsuits, fuck yeah! Unlimited leisure time, whooooo hooo!

Last book: set around an apocalyptic meteor strike, in a matter of days the US is returned to agrarian levels of technology. This book really showed me that I have no useful skills or assets in such a scenario.

Off the top of my head, the Paradox Seriesis right up your alley. Female lead, but no doubt a dick-swinging mf all the same. I've got some more on the tip of my tongue; I'll have to look through my library when I get home.

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

​

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)

​

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

​

I'm now going to lurk on this thread, as I should probably be reading stuff with a tad fewer explosions myself ;)