Science Fiction can explore many themes, including relationships, philosophy, politics, and more. While this is common to many genres, SF is unique in that it also focuses on science-based “what ifs.” What if we could travel to distant stars? What if we could visit the past? The theme of “what if” hinges upon the forward progress of science. This explores the realm of the possible… a realm for which I am passionate.
I wrote
Get Off My L@wn: How a Computer Geek and His Wife Survived the Zombie Apocalypse
This is a classic that I read about at about 10 years old, a decade after its first publication. It was absolutely formative of my future preferences in that it paints on a huge canvas spanning 1800 years.
This book presents much for both religionists and atheists to ponder. Cynics and nihilists will find themselves smiling. The book is presented as three semi-distinct novellas separated by 600 years. Similar to my book, the way the drama unfolds contains no element that appears out of left field. Things make sense.
Despite being written on a fairly high level, the text is breezy and easy to binge-read. It's still one of my favorite books!
In the depths of the Utah desert, long after the Flame Deluge has scoured the earth clean, a monk of the Order of Saint Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: holy relics from the life of the great saint himself, including the blessed blueprint, the sacred shopping list, and the hallowed shrine of the Fallout Shelter.
In a terrifying age of darkness and decay, these artifacts could be the keys to mankind's salvation. But as the mystery at the core of this groundbreaking novel unfolds, it is the search itself—for meaning, for truth, for love—that offers hope for humanity's rebirth…
Another work spanning more than a hundred years and featuring many rich characters, crises, and drama, the Mars Trilogy makes a great summer read. At a little more than 1600 pages, the trilogy is like three seasons of a really engrossing television series.
The trilogy contains ample portions of science, science fiction, politics, and explorations of the human condition. There’s even some boom-boom for those who like a few explosions in their stories. Like my other preferences, there’s little “magic” in the Trilogy’s universe; instead, things mostly make sense after accepting a couple of assumptions. The richness of the characters really stood out for me, helped by the fact that the characters, by and large, experience long lifetimes!
The first novel in Kim Stanley Robinson's massively successful and lavishly praised Mars trilogy. 'The ultimate in future history' Daily Mail
Mars - the barren, forbidding planet that epitomises mankind's dreams of space conquest.
From the first pioneers who looked back at Earth and saw a small blue star, to the first colonists - hand-picked scientists with the skills necessary to create life from cold desert - Red Mars is the story of a new genesis.
It is also the story of how Man must struggle against his own self-destructive mechanisms to achieve his dreams: before he even sets foot…
Forgive me for citing another classic in the Science Fiction genre. My interpretation of Seldon’s Psychohistory is that it is a reasonable premise, being based on the law of large numbers. If only there was something in our present day based on large data models, like maybe language? Yes, we’re living in the dawn of “psychohistory,” but instead of predicting fundamental shifts in human society, today’s AI is telling us what detergent to buy and which politician to vote for. Sad.
It takes a lot of time and a great deal of commitment to read the Foundation Series and the titles I have listed do not include several set in the same universe but not written by Asimov. But consider, it’s Asimov, one of Science Fiction’s gods. This series is nothing if not foundational to Science Fiction.
The first novel in Isaac Asimov’s classic science-fiction masterpiece, the Foundation series
THE EPIC SAGA THAT INSPIRED THE APPLE TV+ SERIES FOUNDATION, NOW STREAMING • Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read
For twelve thousand years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. But only Hari Seldon, creator of the revolutionary science of psychohistory, can see into the future—to a dark age of ignorance, barbarism, and warfare that will last thirty thousand years. To preserve knowledge and save humankind, Seldon gathers the best minds in the Empire—both scientists and scholars—and brings…
Another work spanning thousands of years (with a steady cast of characters!), this series introduced me to the relativistic effects of space travel and the idea that interstellar combat may never feature two peer adversaries.
The first novel creates great military drama and social commentary set in a future universe. Forever Free takes a turn towards religion. I found this book riveting, and Forever Free was less so. I felt kind of obligated to read Forever Free like I must watch one of the newer Star Trek spin-offs even if I hate it (the others are fantastic, by the way).
The monumental Hugo and Nebula award winning SF classic-- Featuring a new introduction by John Scalzi
The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time…
Yes, another series recommendation. Imagine one of those currently popular plots where a small group of people wake up in a place with no memory and don’t know where they are or why they are there. This series is like that only everybody who has ever lived is there with you, and you retain all your memories from your first life. Also, the entire planet seems to be one long river.
Things get weird pretty fast. The Riverworld series focuses on human interaction, starting from a science fiction premise. There are aliens and such, but no interstellar space battles. The series is very engaging and the idea of putting together famous figures from the entire history of humanity was, for me, extremely compelling.
All those who ever lived on Earth have found themselves resurrected--healthy, young, and naked as newborns--on the grassy banks of a mighty river, in a world unknown. Miraculously provided with food, but with no clues to the meaning of their strange new afterlife, billions of people from every period of Earth's history--and prehistory--must start again.
Sir Richard Francis Burton would be the first to glimpse the incredible way-station, a link between worlds. This forbidden sight would spur the renowned 19th-century explorer to uncover the truth. Along with a remarkable group of compatriots, including Alice Liddell Hargreaves (the Victorian girl who…
This zombie apocalypse novel puts a retired entrepreneur and his farm country spouse in the path of zombie hordes numbering in the millions. My goals in writing this book were 1) Apart from zombies being real, make everything make sense–no stupid character decisions and 2) Write a zombie novel that added to the genre–a book that’s different.
Even how the apocalypse started is based on fact. While the main characters express progressive views, the book explains why a reconstituted Federal Government will be conservative. Does the survival of humanity depend on cannabis? Even the terrain is real. You can follow it on a map! My book is a different take on the zombie genre. Finally, a zombie novel where you say, “Yeah, that makes sense!”
A fast-paced literary thriller with a strong sci-fi element and loaded with existential questions. Beyond the entertainment value, this book takes a hard look at the perilous world of publishing, which is on a crash course to meet the nascent, no-holds-barred world of AI. Could these worlds co-exist, or will they destroy each other? And more importantly, how will humans tolerate their own creations, the robots, on this planet?
In this, his latest speculative fiction novel, Shane Joseph, returns to the “what if” questions facing humanity that he raised in After the Flood, a book that won him the…
With Chatbots and Large Language Models changing the world of writing and publishing dramatically, what happens when we introduce a sentient robot capable of feelings into the mix?
Phil Kruger, inventor, and serial womanizer, believes he has the answer in his creation, Victoria, the first sentient robot in the world, imbued with beauty, knowledge, and strength and on a crash course to acquire human feelings through massive infusions of data. Arrayed against him are independent trade publisher Artemius (Art) Jones and his rebellious and sexually starved daughter, Paula, an editor herself, who is determined to take her father's failing press,…
