science fiction book list

Today’s guest post was written by Harold Kramer.

In this blog post, I’m going to discuss some of my favorite science fiction (sci-fi) books and authors. If you are interested in sci-fi, a good place to find some of the best science fiction are the Hugo and Nebula Awards. These annual awards constitute a list of outstanding sci-fi literature and drama. They also provide an international platform that showcases both established and new sci-fi authors in a broad range of genres and sub-genres.

Contemporary sci-fi has split into many sub-genres, such as dystopia (think Red Rising), alien invasion (like Ender’s Game), cyberpunk (like Neuromancer), and sci-fi/fantasy (Dune, for example). The common thread, that makes any literary or dramatic work science fiction, is that it deals with scientific topics such as life on other planets, space flight, time travel and life in the future. In fact, the library has recently merged its sci-fi collection into the fiction collection since it is has become difficult to distinguish “regular” fiction from science fiction.

For starters, here are two of my favorite authors:

Jack McDevitt is a master writer of classic sci fi. He has been compared to Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, two legendary sci-fi authors. He has been nominated for the Nebula Award sixteen times. His two ongoing series of novels are the Alex Benedict series and the Academy or “Hutch” (Priscilla Hutchins) series. Both series have definitive timelines, so you should really start at the beginning of each series. However, each novel can stand on its own. My favorite Alex Benedict novels are Coming Home and Seeker. Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel. Two of my other favorites are his first novel, The Hercules Text a story about mankind’s reaction to receiving an intelligent signal from space, and Omega, a Priscilla Hutchins novel about mysterious energy clouds in space. It was nominated for the Nebula Award in 2004.

Connie Willis is an American writer who has won more Hugo and Nebula awards than any other science fiction author ever. My favorites books by her are her trilogy of time travel novels. These include Doomsday Book that is an account of time travel to the 14^th Century by a female heroine who is a historian from Oxford University sometime in the late 21^st Century. It is moving story of human frailty and courage during a time of great devastation. It’s as much historical fiction as it is sci-fi. Blackout and its sequel All Clear also feature female historians from Oxford University. These books are detailed, compelling novels about the courage of the British people during World War II. These novels won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Let me know about some of your favorite sci-fi authors and novels and I will feature them in future blogs.

You know you love sci-fi if…

1. You see the words “Travel Program” in an email and think it says “Time Travel Program”. (Yes, I did this! Wouldn’t that have been a great library program?)

2. Your collection of cosplay costumes is larger than your regular wardrobe. (Guilty.)

3. You have a working knowledge of Klingon. (Did you know that Klingon translations of works of world literature have been published? Just saying…)

4. You have strong feelings about the Star Wars versus Star Trek debate. (In the interests of not offending anyone, I’m going to give this a miss.)

5. When someone mentions the number 42, you laugh. (Every time.)

If this sounds like you, you’re in luck! The Cheshire Library has a great collection of science fiction. Check out some of our new sci-fi arrivals:

The Hike by Drew Magary
When Ben, a suburban family man, takes a business trip to rural Pennsylvania, he decides to spend the afternoon before his dinner meeting on a short hike. Once he sets out into the woods behind his hotel, he quickly comes to realize he is falling deeper and deeper into a world of man-eating giants, bizarre demons, and colossal insects, and the path he has chosen cannot be given up easily.

A Night Without Stars by Peter F. Hamilton
On a routine space flight, Major Ry Evine inadvertently frees a captive vessel that crash-lands on the planet of Bienvenido carrying the last, best hope for human survival: a baby. But a far from ordinary one. The child not only ages at a remarkable rate but demonstrates knowledge and abilities far beyond those of Bienvenido’s humans. Hunted by all, she is a crucial link to humanity’s lost past–and a future already almost out of reach.

Take Back the Sky by Greg Bear
Marooned beneath the icy, waxy crust of Saturn’s moon, Titan, Skyrine Michael Venn and his comrades face double danger from Earth and from the Antagonists, both intent on wiping out their growing awareness of what the helpful alien Gurus are really doing in our solar system. Venn must journey far beyond Pluto where he will finally understand his destiny and the destiny of every intelligent being in the solar system.

The Stars are Legion by Kameron Hurley
On the outer rim of the universe, a galactic war has been waged for centuries upon hundreds of world-ships. But these worlds will continue to die through decay and constant war unless a desperate plan succeeds. Anat, leader of the Katazyrna world-ship and the most fearsome raiding force on the Outer Rim, wants peace. To do so she offers the hand of her daughter, Jayd, to her rival.

Navigators of Dune by Brian Herbert
Navigators, mutated by spice into beings far superior to normal humans, have made space travel possible: their prescient awareness allows them to foresee safe paths through the universe as starships “fold” space. Only one man knows the secret of creating Navigators, and he intends to use them to build a commercial empire that spans the galaxy. What could go wrong?

Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar
Hoping to become a national hero, Czech astronaut Jakub Procha accepts a dangerous solo mission to Venus and faces unknown dangers, wavering sanity, Russian rivals, and a giant alien spider who engages him in philosophical conversations.