Hey guys I really want to try and write a science fiction book this summer, mainly for myself, and I'm not even sure if I'll show it to anyone but I genuinely think I have great ideas
Anyway so I was thinking I really need to read more science fiction literature for context reference points sake, is there any essential charts or lists that anyone has? Would really appreciate it, especially stuff that is similar to ASOI&F only in sci-fi form
>>8100722
I'm not a huge asoif fan, but I can see the appeal of the sprawling character Web. It sounds like you're looking for a space opera. Consider phlebas and Hyperion are pretty good entry level stuff. Not hardcore Sci Fi though, but entertaining.
I've always had a soft spot for Asimov as well, I enjoyed his foundation series and some of his short stories.
At the moment I'm reading the short stories of kuttner and I'm enjoying that immensely. He has some great ideas of the functions that robots and technology will play in a new society. His idea of having to create an artificial human conscience to stop crime was particularly enjoyable.
Otherwise the dune series is always something to fall back on.
H. G. Wells: "The Time Machine"
Yevgeny Zamyatin: "We"
Aldous Huxley: "Brave New World"
Olaf Stapledon: "Star Maker"
George Orwell: "Nineteen Eighty-Four"
George R. Stewart: "Earth Abides"
Isaac Asimov: "Foundation"
John Wyndham: "The Day of the Triffids"
Clifford D. Simak: "City"
Ray Bradbury: "Fahrenheit 451"
Arthur C. Clarke: "Childhood's End"
Alfred Bester: "The Demolished Man"
Theodore Sturgeon: "More Than Human"
Hal Clement: "Mission of Gravity"
Edgar Pangborn: "A Mirror for Observers"
Isaac Asimov: "The Caves of Steel"
Arthur C. Clarke: "The City and the Stars"
Alfred Bester: "The Stars My Destination"
Walter M. Miller: "A Canticle for Leibowitz"
Stanislaw Lem: "Solaris"
Philip K. Dick: "The Man in the High Castle"
Clifford D. Simak: "Way Station"
Frank Herbert: "Dune"
Daniel Keyes: "Flowers for Algernon"
Jack Vance: "The Eyes of the Overworld"
Robert A. Heinlein: "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress"
Roger Zelazny: "Lord of Light"
Philip K. Dick: "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?"
Arthur C. Clarke: "2001: A Space Odyssey"
John Brunner: "Stand on Zanzibar"
Samuel R. Delany: "Nova"
Keith Roberts: "Pavane"
Thomas M. Disch: "Camp Concentration"
Ursula K. Le Guin: "The Left Hand of Darkness"
Philip K. Dick: "Ubik"
Larry Niven: "Ringworld"
Poul Anderson: "Tau Zero"
Philip Jose Farmer: "To Your Scattered Bodies Go"
Ursula K. Le Guin: "The Lathe of Heaven"
Robert Silverberg: "Dying Inside"
Arkady & Boris Strugatsky: "Roadside Picnic"
Arthur C. Clarke: "Rendezvous with Rama"
Joe Haldeman: "The Forever War"
Ursula K. Le Guin: "The Dispossessed"
Larry Niven: "The Mote in God's Eye"
Samuel R. Delany: "Dhalgren"
Cordwainer Smith: "Norstrilia"
Frederik Pohl: "Gateway"
Octavia Butler: "Kindred"
Gregory Benford: "Timescape"
Gene Wolfe: "The Book of the New Sun"
David Brin: "Startide Rising"
Tim Powers: "The Anubis Gates"
Jack Vance: "Lyonesse"
William Gibson: "Neuromancer"
Iain M. Banks: "The Player of Games"
C. J. Cherryh: "Cyteen"
Dan Simmons: "Hyperion Cantos"
Guy Gavriel Kay: "The Lions of Al-Rassan"
Neal Stephenson: "Snow Crash"
Connie Willis: "Doomsday Book"
Vernor Vinge: "A Fire Upon The Deep"
Maureen F. McHugh: "China Mountain Zhang"
Kim Stanley Robinson: "Red Mars"
Michael Swanwick: "The Iron Dragon's Daughter"
Greg Egan: "Permutation City"
Greg Egan: "Diaspora"
Neal Stephenson: "Cryptonomicon"
Vernor Vinge: "A Deepness in the Sky"
Alastair Reynolds: "Revelation Space"
Richard Morgan: "Altered Carbon"
Susanna Clarke: "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell"
Robert Charles Wilson: "Spin"
Peter Watts: "Blindsight"
Neal Stephenson: "Anathem"
Paolo Bacigalupi: "The Windup Girl"
China Mieville: "Embassytown"
>>8100741
Cool cool thanks man, I think Dune is probably where I should go for the start, I'm just specifically thinking of something that has some political/social commentary, but at the same time is set in a really immersive universe, like ASOI&F.
Anyway thanks for the recommendations.
>>8100766
Holy fucking shit man that's a lot of books thanks a lot, I've read a few of the more philosophical ones like K. Dick's work, Bradbury, Orwell and Huxley. I just haven't read much of the more action based stuff, I plan to try and write a book with the combination of the two styles; philosophy + action
>>8100981
Read Dune.
>>8100722
Marina you make my dick diamonds
Here you go OP. I'm sorry I can't be more specific, I've never read ASOIAF.
Send me a temp email and I'll get you a free copy of my own space opera, senpai.
>>8100722
I don't know who you are Marina poster, but I like you.
>>8100766
>Greg Egan: "Permutation City"
>Greg Egan: "Diaspora"
Why is Greg Egan the only one who gets mentioned twice? Also Use of weapons is better than player of games unless you are just listing first books in series.
>>8103141
I was lurking this thread until someone would start talking about the girl. Thx skipper.
>>8103535
Lots of authors are listed multiple times, just not consecutively. And the list has some stinkers on it, so take it with a grain of salt.
>>8100722
Pick up a copy of Dangerous Visions. You will get a sampling of all the best authors, in the form of short stories. Read it and take note of which authors you liked and which you didn't, go from there.
Here's a roughly chronological list that will make you versed as fuck in a pretty short amount of time
The Time Machine by Welles
The End of Eternity by Asimov
Childhoods End by Clarke
The Stars My Destination by Bester
The Dragon Masters by Vance
The Game Players of Titan by Dick
A Scanner Darkly by Dick
Left Hand of Darkness by le Guin
Dune by Herbert
The Deep by Crowley
Necromancer by Gibson
Enders Game by Card
The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Wolfe
The Diamond Age by Stephenson
The Time Ships by Baxter
>>8100722
Necromancer is the right answer
Night's Dawn Trilogy - Peter F Hamilton
It's the sci-fi most like ASOIF that I've read.
The Dragontails
The entire "Expanse" series. Written by two guys, one of them being GRRM's assistant. It's solar sci-fi as well if that's your thing. Not hard sci-fi, but it's definitely not as woo-ey as others. The laws of physics stay intact.
>>8100722
Don't forget to think about the progression of history. Assuming it's science fiction and not space fantasy you need to have worked out how and why things got to be from where they are today to where they are in your setting. Think of the technologies you are using, what problems they solve and how they affect social life. These things determine the setting for your story and are really 90% of what science fiction is about.
>>8105139
PS: Look at futurama... It might sound stupid but they did a great job of creating a continuity and explaining why things are or are not.
>>8100722
Who is she?
