Literary suggestions for the bored

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discord
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Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by discord »

just a place to add something for the bored, will probably spiral out of control something fierce, but that is the nature of this beast.

dragoongfa: since you also seem to like them here is a list of humanity, fuck yeah! stories.

excalibur alternative - david weber
dahak series - david weber
troy rising -john ringo
the damned series - alan dean foster
destroyermen - Tayor Anderson
lost fleet - Jack campbell
mother of demons - Eric Flint
rats bats and vats - Eric flint (or maybe not, but it's awesome anyway)
dragonback - Timothy zahn
The salvation war - Stuart slade, http://www.tboverse.us/HPCAFORUM/phpBB3 ... m.php?f=29

anyone care to add to the list?

<edit>
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dragoongfa
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by dragoongfa »

The lost fleet also gets my recommendation, it could be better but it gets a lot of things just right and the story is tense. The problem is that it has turned into a cash cow by its publisher, it's still good but the latest book had unnecessary levels of filler.

The damned series is next on my backlog.

The Salvation war is hit or miss with people, on the one hand it's humans invading Hell (and later heaven) and kicking ass, on the other it's just full of cringe worthy moments and a lot of unnecessary weapon porn.

Not recommended:

The Annihilation series by Saxon Andrew.

Had potential, bad execution, badly written and without any tension whatsoever.

Not recommended times 2:

Any W40K novel written by C.S. Goto and Matt Ward.


EDIT: For any Renegade Mass Effect fans here is a treat, it's not a fan fic but a retelling of the setting with a Grimdark approach:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7170477/1/ ... pretations

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Razor One
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by Razor One »

If we're recc'ing fanfic, I'd suggest To the Stars. It's magical girl meets hard science fiction, and it's excellent.
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by Username »

Cool ! I will have to look at the one's I haven't read.

The Excalibur Alternative was a fun read, short sweet and not over-done. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun medieval turn space opera.



I can't begin to describe how much I have enjoyed Anderson's Destroyermen series. The progression and evolution of the different characters is great. The world he has created is quite good. I must say the best thing for me about it is the industrial progression the factions go through, It's like reading a world war II fiction met land of the lost in the best way.

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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by RedDwarfIV »

Username wrote:I can't begin to describe how much I have enjoyed Anderson's Destroyermen series. The progression and evolution of the different characters is great. The world he has created is quite good. I must say the best thing for me about it is the industrial progression the factions go through, It's like reading a world war II fiction met land of the lost in the best way.
I love that series. Waiting patiently for the next book, which I've already pre-ordered.
dragoongfa wrote:The damned series is next on my backlog.
I've read the first two books and I own the third. Why do I say I own, but have not read, the third? I started it, and skies above was it boring.

Books one and two were more interesting, but they both dragged. I actually liked the second book. The first book though... it was in interesting premise but with one, terrible flaw.

The protagonist. I swear, this guy has to be the most unwittingly evil man in the history of literature. When faced with aliens asking for humanity's help in combating a threat what will inevitably attack earth and attempt to enslave humanity... he sabotages their efforts because 'humanity has made such efforts to become peaceful, and is closer to peace than ever!'

He singlehandedly caused millions of un-necessary human deaths, and caused the galactic war to continue for a thousand years, with the Amplitur all the while sucking races into their mind-raped, genetically enforced servitude.

Our sodding hero everyone.
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pinheadh78
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by pinheadh78 »

What, no mention of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising? Finest military fiction you can find.

Also Clive Cussler books may not be the finest high society reading around; but they make for fun adventure books to read on the subway or bus when you just want something easy to read without jarring stops and starts.

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Mr.Tucker
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by Mr.Tucker »

Well, for me, I've always had a fascination with harder sci-fi novels dealing with the expansion of mankind through the solar system, so you may see my list as being slightly skewed :D . That being said, here we go:

''Mars trilogy'' by Kim Stanley Robinson. It includes three novels:
Red Mars
Green Mars
Blue Mars

A very interesting read.

''The Grand Tour'' by Ben Bova. This is a VEEERY long series (written over a period of some 25 years), but it deals with the consequences that human expansion has over society, and how coorporatism shapes space industries. Chronologically, the novels would be: Powersat, Empire Builders, Mars, Moonrise, Return to Mars, Moonwar, The Precipice, Farside, Jupiter, The Rock Rats, The Silent War, Saturn, Titan, The Aftermath, Mars Life, Venus, Mercury, Leviathans of Jupiter, The Return, New Earth. Ongoing series (yep) .

''Last Light'' and its sequel ''Afterlight'' by Alex Scarrow narrate the fall of British civilization after a war in the Middle East eradicates the majority of the Earth's oil supply.

William R. Fortschen's ''One Second After'' : post-apocalyptic novel dealing with the aftermath of a series of EMPs detonated above the industrialized regions of the Earth.

''Ark Royal'' a 2014 military sci-fi trilogy by Christopher Nuttall that includes: ''Ark Royal'', ''The Nelson Touch'' , and ''The Trafalgar Gambit''. Deals with human nature in the middle of an interstellar war. Somewhat similar to ''Lost Fleet''.

''The Martian'' by Andy Weir. Basically Robinson Crusoe in space (I absolutely LOVED IT).

''Deep Storm'', '' The Ice Limit'' and ''Terminal Freeze'' by Lincoln Child. More techno-action oriented novels, but with a sci-fi twist. '' Deep Storm'' is the best, the rest are just okay. Very good communication between the authors and the fans (if you read them, be sure to check out their website as well) .

''Out of the Dark'' by David Weber. Very similar to ''Worldwar'' with a very strange ending twist, strong elements of dark fantasy and very strong undertones of "HUMANITY, FUCK YEAH!" . Decent read (not really up my alley but read it out of curiosity).

''Here Be Dragons'' by Craig Alan. This one I've not actually read, but I've heard very good things about. Kinda difficult to find though, but it's exactly my kind of space opera (diamond-hard sci-fi with realistic space warfare) so I'm not giving up.

''Eifelheim'' by Michael Flynn. Very sad story about first contact in medieval times. Exceptional read (still somewhat obscure).

Some classics:
''The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress'' by Robert Heinlein.
''The Mote in God's Eye'' and ''The Gripping Hand'' by Jerry Pournelle .
''The Commonwealth Saga'' by Peter F. Hamilton: ''Pandora's Star'' and ''Judas Unchained'' .

Some online resources:
''Blindsight'' by Peter Watts. A difficult read (re-read it twice to understand all the intricacies) but one of the most fascinating novels I've read. Truly underlines how ''alien'' extraterrestrial life can be. A bit depressing and moody, but incredibly well though-out. Deals with philosophical and psychological issues such as perception and reality. Can be found online here: http://www.rifters.com/real/Blindsight.htm . It's actually the authors website so no legal troubles :) .

''A Colder War'' by Charles Stross. An alternate history novelette, combining militaristic, cold-war espionage with strong fatalistic elements of the Cthulhu Mythos. Liked it very much. Can be found on the editure's website: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm .

''Tank Farm Dynamo'' by David Brin. Very short story, but with nice science behind it. Was definitive in my fascination with space tethers. Warmly recommended. Found on authors's website http://www.davidbrin.com/tankfarm.htm

''Bow Shock'' by Gregory Benford. Good, sciency insight into the inner workings of astronomy. Feel free to check out other novellettes aswell.
This must be the Great Wall of text. Sorry about that..... :|
Last edited by Mr.Tucker on Tue Mar 03, 2015 1:40 am, edited 2 times in total.

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RedDwarfIV
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by RedDwarfIV »

In similar vein to The Lost Fleet and the Ark Royal series (both of which I've read, including all spin-offs), there's Warship, from the Black Fleet (soon to be) Trilogy. It's the first (and currently only) released book in its series, but it's got promise.

A destroyer captain who has reached a dead end in his career due to the bigotry of Admiral Winters against his being from Earth is on his last cruise before his aging destroyer will be decomissioned and he will be retired. CENTCOM itself is going to be disassembled because there hasn't been a war in centuries.

Reaching an Asian Union system to investigate reports that the AU might be preparing to make a move on the Terran Confederation's home system and the Warsaw Alliance, that captain will find an entirely unexpected threat. He has only his aging, neglected destroyer to meet that threat with, and prove that humanity still knows how to fight. And because of admiral Winters' arse-covering, he's not going to see reinforcements any time soon...
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by Mikk »

All the novels by Peter Watts are highly recommended. All novels except Echopraxia from the Firefall setting are available for personal reading on his website.
He writes hard sci fi. They are rather dense on technical jargon and hypothetical interpolations on real science, at times. The author is a scientist on the side.
If you absolutely must have spaceflight in your fiction start with Echopraxia/Blindsight or some of the shorts like Ambassador (2000) or even better The Island (2009).

If you like morbid but a bit less technobabble the first book of The Expanse.

Other than these I highly recommend:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games [*]
Use of Weapons
The State of the Art [*] (short stories)
Against a Dark Background [**]
Feersum Endjinn (this one is a bit difficult to read, but I think it's rewarding when you can get into it)
Excession [**]
Inversions
Look to Windward
The Algebraist [***]
Matter
Surface Detail [***]
The Hydrogen Sonata [***]

Titles in italics are stand alone novels.
[***]They can't all be equal, can they. An extra asterisk for cool factor above baseline.
If you need a starting point the second one is good as it's short, but seriously don't read them too much beyond publication order at first.

Unfortunately I won't be able to suggest all of you should read the Gort Ashryn trilogy, because you can't. And no I'm not translating it.
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Hālian
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by Hālian »

Free Radical, a neat System Shock fanfiction novel. :3

Also, in honor of the late Terry Pratchett, the entire Discworld series.
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RedDwarfIV
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Re: Literary suggestions for the bored

Post by RedDwarfIV »

The Doctor How books are pretty amusing if you like Doctor Who, since it's an affectionate parody of that. There are only a few of them so far, including one which is apparently an extract from a so-far unreleased book.

MAIN SERIES
The Illegal Aliens

EXTRAS
The Rings of Uranus
The Deadly Anemones
The Kennedy Assassination Conspiracy (this is that extract I mentioned)

I liked it.
If every cloud had a silver lining, there would be a lot more plane crashes.

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