My birthday is next month and my mom always wants to know what I want. So let’s help Mom out, I’m looking for some recommendations for some good science fiction books.
Either new or old is fine. I prefer space exploration, but don’t mind military scifi. I love gender issues, but no misogamy or misandry in the storylines as it just ticks me off.
For example: I loved Forever War by Joe Haldeman and the Memoirs of a Spacewoman by Naomi Mitchison since those books touch on gender issues and changing sexuality in the story, I hated Ring World by Larry Niven due to the outright sexism. (Don’t get me started on Heinlein’s views on women)
I am not really into romance. If the romance is the major plot, rather than a subplot I generally don’t enjoy the book. For example I enjoyed how in Dune, Paul’s marriage is important politically, but it is not the plot of the entire book.
And no erotica. Thanks.
So if you have read or written a science fiction book that you think I’ll like, feel free to post that to the comments too.
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Posted by theparasiteguy on August 10, 2014 at 3:48 pm
I know I’m incredibly late to the game here (and certainly too late for your birthday), but…
Have you ever read Consider Phlebas (or any of the Culture Books, for that matter)? Plenty of exploration, and plenty of neat stuff in general. I’ve been meaning to try some other Culture books for a while, but I seem to keep ending up reading other things.
Octavia Butler’s works are generally highly enjoyable (not to mention thought-provoking) from my experience. Bloodchild is probably the best place to start as far as her writing goes (the titular short is actually free on Amazon at the moment), but I’d also recommend checking out the Lilith’s Brood/Xenogenesis trilogy at some point.
And speaking of Xenogenesis…there’s Xenogenesis (http://www.amazon.com/Xenogenesis-Tales-Miriam-Allen-deFord/dp/034521546X), an excellent short story collection I read some time back. Most (if not all) of the stories here tackle gender in some manner, so it could well end up being up your street.
Lastly, I’ve yet to meet anyone who didn’t end up loving The Star Beast…assuming you can stomach Heinlein, that is ;). For what its worth, its the least sexist Heinlein book out of the three I’ve come across…not that that’s saying much, mind.
Posted by Elizabeth Guizzetti on August 10, 2014 at 5:10 pm
Thanks for your suggestions