Hello all! Moving along to survive another day. Hey, if any of you are into webcomics, Questionable Content is a long time favorite. I usually read it, get all caught up, forget about it for a couple months, then binge read again. He has been going since about 2004, and has almost 4,000 comics at this point. He has the main core cast of characters, but he keeps changing the situations, so it doesn't get stale. Much better to read from the beginning, as it is not one of those comics where each comic is self-contained. He's gotten to the point with Patreon that it is his full time job, and he sometimes will do live drawings of the strip online, which is really cool to watch. Just thought I would share that with you.

QOTD: Was actually reading two at once (not uncommon for me...usually one audiobook and one physical/ebook). Just finished 2 yesterday: Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan and Blue Hope by John Dreese.

Altered Carbon is the basis for the new Netflix series of the same name. Very cyberpunk, which is not my usual fare, but it was pretty good. I wanted to read it before I started to watch the series, and now I have to read the rest of the trilogy. It starts fairly straightforward, but then he starts peeling back all of the layers of what is actually going on. Warning though...a couple of very explicit sexy time scenes, just to let you know. Thankfully, they weren't major parts of the story, but just wanted to warn you.

Blue Hope is the second book of the Red Hope series. OK, so I take this two ways. Yes, the story was very good, and continues from where the first book (his freshman work) leaves off. The first book was fairly short, more like a novella, and had some good concepts, but you can definitely tell that this was his first novel, as there are some parts that easily could have been developed more, some parts which seemed a bit trite and unnecessary, etc. And Dreese is not subtle with his "cliffhangers". The part where, in a story arc, an author will usually take a few chapters to come down from the end of the main conflict, and maybe hint at a possible follow on story. Nope....60mph to 0 in about 3 pages. With that said, moving onto the second book, Blue Hope. This one seems like he took his time in doing. Still some scenes that he seemed to rush, and that could have been developed a lot more, but the storyline gets into more detail about the mission, the problems, etc. The climactic scene at the end is good, but again seemed rushed. But he did it again. Screeching halt at the end, and it screams for another story.

If you guys want to read Red Hope and Blue Hope, they are both on sale for $0.99 on Amazon.

For (currently) free Kindle books, David Weber's On Basilisk Station is the first book in the space-opera Honor Harrington series. The second book The Honor of the Queen, is one of my favorites in the entire series. Eric Flint's 1632 turned into a massive and awesome alternate-history series. If you'd like to delve into Alaskan-based murder mysteries, give Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day For Murder a try as the first in the some eighteen book Kate Shugak series.

For paid Kindle books, there's Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus is the beginning of the dystopian Silo series; the followup Shift Omnibus is actually a prequel trilogy that I haven't gotten yet but is very readable. Naomi Novik's first novel in the alt-history Temeraire series, His Majesty's Dragon, is currently $.99.

In print, Elizabeth Moon's military fantasy The Deed of Paksenarrion is available used for a very affordable price and is an epic series. The Cage was my introduction to a fantasy universe written by SM Stirling, Shirley Meier, and Karen Wehrstein. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander is a sort of alternate history/light romance series set in Scotland that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Brent Weeks' assassin-based (excuse me, wetboy) fantasy Night Angel Trilogy was recently released as an omnibus edition. Empire from the Ashes collects Weber's Dahak sci-fi trilogy into an omnibus edition. Weber and John Ringo co-wrote March Upcountry and the other three novels in the sci-fi Prince Roger quadrilogy. If you haven't tried Harry Turtledove's alt-history sci-fi WW2 'Worldwar' series, In the Balance starts off a little slow plot-wise but picks up good speed. EE Knight's sci-fi/futuristic fantasy Vampire Earth starts off with Way of the Wolf. Mercedes Lackey wrote the modern-fantasy Born to Run with Larry Dixon, and the rest of the SERRAted Edge books with various other authors. Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk and slightly dystopian Snow Crash is hilarious and awesome. Maggie Furey's Aurian is the first of a fantasy quadrilogy that I enjoyed many years ago.

If you're at all familiar with the Warhammer 40k universe, the Eisenhorn Omnibus is Dan Abnett's wonderful look into the life of an Imperial Inquisitor. He's also written a popular series about the Tanith First-and-Only Imperial Guard regiment starting with The Founding Omnibus. He also wrote the first book in the Horus Heresy series, Horus Rising (I highly recommend reading the first three novels together as a trilogy and then cherry-picking the rest).

... and if you've read all that already, I'll be impressed.

Edit: Why yes, I do read a lot. Why do you ask?

I know this post is 2 days old, which puts it in some sort of reddit graveyard, but I'll add my thoughts.

First, Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan is the definitive "modern" cyberpunk novel so check that out for sure.

Also, for more of a "5 minutes into the future" cyberpunk, check out the Nexus trilogy by Ramez Naam. The third book in the trilogy won the Philip K. Dick Award if that means anything to you.

Another series I liked, which has a great dark humor to it, is the Avery Cates series by Jeff Somers. Seriously, just read the 'About the Author' section at the bottom of that page to get an idea of the humor.

Have you read William Gibson's The Peripheral? It's a neat update on Gibson's cyberpunk vision now that the world has changed.

Someone else recommended Cory Doctorow. I actually think Little Brother is his best work, though it's young adult so prepare yourself for that.

Finally, I feel weird recommending this, but if you were a child of the 80s, have you read Ready Player One? It's pretty polarizing in this sub since you either love it or you hate it, but it is a popular modern cyberpunk novel.

Yup, the womenfolk swept them Hugo Awards. Again. Manly men of SciFi writing, you really need to step up your game, if you want to get some recognition! As luck would have it, you can get a sneak peek at the works of your female betters without paying a dime! I urge you to read the first page of the literary juggernaut that swept the best novel category in 2019:

https://www.amazon.com/Calculating-Stars-Lady-Astronaut-Novel-ebook/dp/B0756JH5R1

Dude, that heady mix of a masterful plot in the making, the gripping prose and that unrelentless pacing really warms the cockles of my heart, it does!

Just for reference, you could read the first page of Barrayar, winner of the Hugo Award for best novel in 1992 for free on amazon, too. But that was written only by Lois McMaster Bujold. You know what, back in the day, a Hugo was a reward for high quality writing. Those days are gone.

MHI is part of Baen's free library. There's a large number of book 1's for various Baen series that remain free permanently on Amazon and other places.

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The last time this was brought up here's what I said:

So Baen is heavier on SciFi than Fantasy/Urban Fantasy...and their authors tend to display their Conservative/Libertarian philosophies a bit more. But they do tell some fun stories if you lean towards their politics or can roll your eyes at that.

There's some others out there that I can't think of, but these are favorites of mine other than MHI...

John Ringo has a fantasy series I haven't gotten to yet and the weakest of his SciFi series up for free. I wish they had Live Free or Die or Through the Looking Glass, which are much much better series, but alas:

http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE

http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Dragons-Council-Wars-ebook/dp/B00BER04VI/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-2&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE

David Weber does great space navy battles in his Honor Harrington series.

http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=la_B000APBAFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879923&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APBAFE

Williamsons Freehold is a Libertarian's utopian heaven, but it's a favorite popcorn read of mine - the latter half is heavy military SF.

http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Book-Michael-Z-Williamson-ebook/dp/B00BEQLTZY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456879862&sr=8-1&keywords=freehold

The Ring of Fire series is about a 1990's era West Virginia coal mining town that gets thrown back into the year 1632 in Europe.

http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456882709&sr=8-4&keywords=1632

For some more ancap fiction threads and posts I have assembled

I listend to a talk David D. Freidman gave at Duke on Stateless and Semi-Stateless Societies in Fiction and Semi-Fiction. (Blog post) (Audio)

I was curious about the pieces he mentioned, so I decided to make a list of them.

*****

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein

The Ungoverned - Vernor Vinge

True Names - Vernor Vinge

Oath of Fealty - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

The Syndic - C.M. Kornbluth

The Domination of Draka (series) - S.M. Stirling

Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin

The Probability Broach – L. Neil Smith

The Great Explosion – Eric Frank Russell

The Cassini Division (Fall Revolution Series) - Ken MacLeod (I don’t believe the books by this author are mentioned but I believe this is the one concerning the “Einstein” in the capitalist enclave.)

Harald - David D. Friedman

Salamander - David D. Friedman

**
Here are also some links to other threads on the subject that have been posted in this sub:

I need some help on compiling a reading list on Anarcho-Capitalist, Libertarian and techno-commercialist novels, plays, etc.

Any An-cap friendly novels out there?

A permanent catalog of fiction with AnCap themes (please feel free to contribute)

Any representations of a stateless society that is positive in fiction?

Agorist fiction?

Anarch Capitalist Fiction List?

I have provided Amazon links. Most of these pieces can be found online, but I will leave that to the reader.

A Time To Every Purpose by Ian Andrew is a great alternative universe book that has the Nazis ruling the world into 2020s. Great twists, great deviatons with a great climax. You have to love any book that mixes, nazis and science with desperate to fight against the regime people. This is a great book with a great twist at the end! http://www.amazon.com.au/A-Time-To-Every-Purpose-ebook/dp/B00IOSISHM

on the right: John Ringo is a guilty obsession of mine, but will make any classic liberal's eyes roll hard enough to detach corneas Do not read that book if you can't handle liberal bashing. In a weak defense, his best books, the Alldenata series, Looking Glass series, and Troy series are such a blast to read. While there are a few snipes in them, a forgiving person on the left can really enjoy if they like military sci fi.

The Honorverse books make caricatures of socialism, and diplomacy oriented foreign policy.

While not being the worst offenders, Ark and Flood illustrate a similar style on the left. I tore through them, which would seem to tell me I enjoyed them, but when I was finished I could not look back and say they were good books. Objectively, they probably are.

Invasion was excrutiating. The protagonists are disgusting people. You get lots of mocking of religion for being so silly and irrational, yet the main character has lots of prophetic spiritualism through his enlightened use of hallucinogens. The author(s)' have such a laughably exaggerated idea of what "country people" are (anyone who doesn't live in a major city on the coast), you would think they had never even had a long layover anywhere in flyover country, much less actually spent any time outside NY or LA.

I am a voracious reader, and promptly forget authors and titles so I am having problems justifying my comments with other (better) examples.

It may be easier for me to pick out all of this stuff. I spent the first half of my adult life being very conservative. I like to think I was an intellectual conservative and reasonable, but definitely solidly Republican. Over the past 10 years I have transitioned to what most would consider the opposite extreme. I would roughly place my ideology (with exceptions) in a "Northern European center-left" which would have me very far left in the US.

It isn't when authors advocate an ideology that irritates me. It is when they seem to refuse to admit there are intelligent, reasonable people on the other side.

Might be a little too mature for an 11 year old, but I'd recommend Little Brother and Homeland by Cory Doctorow.
I'd recommend you reading them as well. Some pretty good common-man explanations of some core security topics.

Your description seems to match my series of books. The first one has been on the Amazon top list since it was published in 2011, and Wil Wheaton Tweeted that it was "seriously one of the greatest things I've ever read." The backstory covers 78 millennia, but the modern timeline unfolds hour by hour, and each one continues exactly at the same spot the last book ends (like the television show 24). It's currently #29 on the Hard Sci-Fi list and #13 and #23 on two of the other Amazon Sci-Fi lists. Plus the first book in the series is free as an ebook. The God in the Clear Rock. I've already published four books in the series, and I'm writing the final two novels now. If you don't like Amazon, the series is available on B&N, Kobo, Smashwords, Google Play, and on iTunes. And it's available DRM free on all sites except Amazon and B&N.

Unexpected! Brent is a friend of mine and part of my writing group, and the feedback he has been providing on my own steampunk novel (currently a WIP) has been invaluable. I haven't read Gears of a Mad God, but his serial Black Dragon Blues is fantastic. I'd highly recommend it if steampunk with an Asian flavour is something that sounds interesting to you. :)

Thank you so much, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! I do have to say that it's a bit different than what I normally write (somehow, I don't think that sappy romance stories will do great on here), but I'm having fun with this band of military toughs!

I do have a couple books listed on Amazon:

• Convergence is one that I wrote on Reddit, of all places, and turned into an ebook! If you want to get a taste (or read the whole thing for free), it's on this subreddit under the name Planetary Reflections.
  
• Burning Eden is another that I haven't put on here yet; I wrote it for National Novel Writing Month (hah) last year.
  
  In any case, I'll keep on writing Dark America - the current plan extends out to ~30 chapters or so, although it may end up pushing closer to 40 with wrap-up. I've got a few devious twists ahead...

Are you interested in time travel? Do you like Dystopias? Have you ever wondered what life would be like today if the Axis had won World War 2? Are you happy with hard science fiction that doesn't skimp on action or character development? If you answered yes to any of these questions, Saving Hitler is the book for you! Recently edited by Josiah Davis, this novella is free to read on Kindle Unlimited and only 99¢ for everyone else. Click here to start reading now.

Teeth are the most common find when digging Hominem sites. Heck, when digging any site. This is going to be a game changer,

LOL. I know Robert Sawyer, the author of the Neanderthal Parallax series. His books which weren’t written all that long ago have been obsoleted by science. Bob thinks that’s great 😎😎😎


https://www.amazon.ca/Hominids-Neanderthal-Parallax-Robert-Sawyer-ebook/dp/B000FBJAI2/ref=sr_1_6?crid=3DYRQRGRAIJL7&keywords=robert+sawyer&qid=1572364770&s=books&sprefix=Robert+saw%2Caps%2C159&sr=1-6

Yeah, I downloaded this free ebook from Amazon (My great grandfather was Czech). My other favorite (besides the decapitation one I mentioned earlier, "Rattle rattle, Chink chink") was the story of Kubik and the Frog. That woulda made a good comic, too.

Children of Time and Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovksy both have strong sociological themes. If you enjoy these books you might also want to check out Semiosis: A Novel by Susan Burke.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov is about the fall and rise of a galactic empire. It is a bit dated in terms of science fiction but a classic in the genre.

Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang are collections of short stories and some of them contain strong sociological themes around communication and intersubjective understanding.

A Fire Upon the Deep and A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge also have some interesting speculative sociology.

Hominids: Volume One of The Neanderthal Parallax by Robert J. Sawyer also contains interesting speculative anthropology and sociology (but not a very interesting plot IMO) and is also worth a read.

I think it has something to do with an increase in global, human consciousness. Some contraption is generating those patterns as the expression of the collective consciousness if that makes sense, very much like what happens in Stanislaw Lem's Solaris.

Great read. Basically a team of scientists leaves on a planet-sized brain, trying to communicate with it, and the brain creates the objects and creatures that are the most prominent on the guys' minds.

Now for who or what is generating those shapes (other creatures like us, or in another dimension, or a machine somewhere) I haven't the slightest clue, and I find it quite frustrating to be honest.

Sci fi/fantasy books nearly always live up to the hype I find. Grabbed Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal which just won a Hugo Award and it’s super good. Also only $3 right now.

It’s an alt history sci fi where a meteorite hitting in 1952 increases the worlds efforts to go to space. It deftly handles racism and sexism without feeling preachy, with well realised characters and a fascinating concept.

Makes the bus commute so much better

There's a pretty great story that intersects the Radium Girls with the use of elephants for labour in the same era: "The Only Harmless Great Thing" by Bo Bolander

Sample.
The Course of Empire (Course of Empire Series Book 1) by Eric Flint
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Star Soldiers by Adre Norton
Oath of Swords (War God Book 1) by David Weber
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1) by David Weber
The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington Book 2) by David Weber
The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles Book 1) by R.E. Weber
The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Smith
Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars Book 1 by Mark E. Cooper
The Synchronicity War Part 1 by Dietmar Wehr
Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott
The Tank Lords by David Drake
Redliners by David Drake
A Desert Called Peace (Carrera Series Book 1) by Tom Kratman
Gunship by John Davis
With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary Book 1) by David Drake
Tales of Honor #1 by Matt Hawkins and Jung-Geun Yoon
The Fringe Worlds: (The Human Chronicles Saga Book #1) by T.R. Harris
Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1) by Michael Z. Williamson
The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) by Edward Crichton
The Sea Hag by David Drake
Forbidden The Stars (The Interstellar Age Book 1) by Valmore Daniels
FCBD 2015: Tales of Honor by Matt Hawkins and Linda Sejic
The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World Book 1) by Eric Flint
The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers
In the Heart of Darkness (Belisarius Saga Book 2) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake

Healers Suck! A GameLit Harem (Crystalia Online Book 1) Charles Andrews 2018/9/21 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HL8LTRL

The Hall: Book 1 of the Muraglen Saga Frank Albelo 2018/9/21 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HL8Y9K6

Princess Tamer 6: A LitRPG Harem Adventure Neil Bimbeau 2018/9/21 https://www.amazon.com/dp/J6FQVPT

Myth Protector: A Gamelit Harem Fairy Tale Adventure Jamie Hawke 2018/9/22 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HLQH975

Game of his life: A litrpg and gamelit mmo action adventure Jason Alters 2018/9/22 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HLRSQPV

Raid Slayer: A LITRPG Fantasy Adventure Riley Morrison 2018/9/22 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H7T8XWL

Trojan: An Epic LitRPG Adventure (Afterlife Online Book 3) Domino Finn 2018/9/24 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HMK5JBR

The Arena (The Adventures of Horc Book 2) Drew Seren and Robert Brownson 2018/9/24 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HMJPSL4

It Ain't Easy (The Valens Legacy Book 10) Jan Stryvant 2018/9/24 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HMR3WS8

Game Changer (Reality Benders Book #3) LitRPG Series Michael Atamanov 2018/9/24 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FQQGC83

The Idle System: The New Journey Pegaz A 2018/9/24 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HNKPKZ3

Phoenix World: Beta Test Zone 5 C.W. Dykes 2018/9/25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HPDZGWW

Trapped in a Video Game (Book 4): Return to Doom Island Dustin Brady and Jesse Brady 2018/9/25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FKFGGDR

Lord of the Flame: A LitRPG novel (Call of Carrethen Book 2) Stephen Roark 2018/9/25 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HNSWR7G

Solstice 2: A Gamelit Harem Adventure Harrison Shaw 2018/9/26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HR31YWH

Wicked Wager - A Gamer Girl Erotic LitRPG Adventure John Waylon 2018/9/26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HQY5Q3S

Freehaven Online: Lady Thunderlord, Into Hades: A LitRPG Adventure Jun Prince 2018/9/26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F37VFSJ

The Eight of Nights: An OmniWorld Adventure (OmniWorld Adventures) Randy Nargi 2018/9/26 https://www.amazon.com/dp/1724047663

A Troll's Curse: A Monster MC Adventure April O'Malley 2018/9/27 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HRW3HQ2

One More Last Time: A LitRPG/GameLit Novel (The Good Guys Book 1) Eric Ugland 2018/9/27 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HS2MP8D

Danger Knights: Part I Harrison Shaw 2018/9/27 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HRGSL94

CO-OP (Animus Book 2) Joshua Anderle and Michael Anderle 2018/9/27 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HRTM2M3

Banisher Reborn: A LitRPG Series (The Banisher Chronicles Book 1) Deck Davis 2018/9/28 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HSPTBXV

Couch Potato Chaos: Gamebound Erik Rounds and David Debaene 2018/9/28 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FDTPN2R

Danger Knights: Part II Harrison Shaw 2018/9/28 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HTXYLW2

First Level (Replay Book 1) John Gunningham 2018/9/28 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HG3TQGW

Build-A-Harem: The Island Collection: Books 1-3 Zachariah Dracoulis and Elisha Dracoulis 2018/9/28 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HVT9MWT

Black Flame in the Barren Steppe: Epic LitRPG (Realm of Arkon, Book 8) G. Akella and Mark Berelekhis 2018/9/29 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HJ6LMK4

Mine Shaft: A LitRPG Sci-Fi Harem Adventure (Venus Online Book 4) Jeremy Zenith 2018/9/29 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HVY2GFY

Chosen: A Sexy LitRPG Novella (The Harémon Master Book 1) A.V. Kern 2018/9/30 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HX36MJ7

Rebirth Online: A litRPG Adventure Michael James Ploof 2018/9/30 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H7SNL7G

The Heroine Collector, super bundle #1: a GameLit harem saga V.R. Harimenko 2018/9/30 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HXNDP94

Ghosts of Smoke: A LitRPG Novel Yuli Ban 2018/9/30 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HWLDC6B

El Sexorcisto!: Harems and Ultraviolence Yuli Ban 2018/9/30 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07HX4Z1NS

For anyone interested in completely fictional speculation about what a world ruled by Neanderthals would look like, this series is pretty interesting and entertaining.

I don't know if it still is, but for the longest time it was Free on Amazon.

EDIT: Still is free on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Download the kindle app somewhere and get reading if you don't have a kindle.

So far it's very good. It is the sequel to one of my favorite books Little Brother, so read that first.

EDIT: I goofed the link.

EDIT 2: You can legally download LB for free from the author's website. Enjoy!

EDIT 3: When done with that, you can download Homeland here.

Great.

Is anyone here that likes Sci-Fi and alternative history?

I'd like to recommend to you the Belisarius Saga by Eric Flint and David Drake. Book 2 is as a kindle edition to be had for 0,00 Euro.

I love reading other Redditor's work as well. I am currently reading The God in the Clear Rock by another /r/writing member. It's sci-fi, pretty inventive, but it is a little graphic.


Here is the Smashwords page for my debut novel, it's a post-apocalyptic sci-fi. I also have a couple short stories posted on Smashwords as well. Both are modern science fiction.

Withur We
Bonus points that it is scifi and FREE for download. Not only does the author present a "big brother" government but he also offers a solution.

Also check out anything by Cory Doctorow. Little Brother
Found the epub for free also.

>Imagine if instead of Homo Sapiens it was the Neanderthals that became the dominant species, I wonder what kind of world would exist at this point in time. Would they have developed agriculture? Technology?

You might enjoy the book series Hominids by RJ Sawyer who explores this idea in his sci-fi novel. "We are one of those species; the other is the Neanderthals of a parallel world where they became the dominant intelligence. The Neanderthal civilization has reached heights of culture and science comparable to our own, but with radically different history, society and philosophy."

>I find it all fascinating. All the millions upon millions of people who exist now and before us, each and every one was a real individual with lives and thoughts just as nuanced and unique as mine or yours is now. They were all as real as you or I.

Me too, its very interesting to think about all the past lives of humans and how, I think at the root of it all their struggles probably weren't so different from ours. Lots has changed over the millennia but we still have the same basic needs, wants, and desires.

I'm not going to call any of them "literature", but I've read and enjoyed a bunch of new-ish books recently.

• Ready Player One
  
  
• Little Brother/Homeland
  
  
• John Dies at the End
  
  
• Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates (and pretty much anything else by Tom Robbins)

A little off topic, but if you are interested in this kind of stuff, you will really enjoy Robert Sawyer's Neanderthal series, starting with "Hominids". It discusses a parallel earth where Neanderthals became the dominant species and incorporates much of the known science about Neanderthals into the storyline.

Ready, Player One is a great read, and there is nothing like it. I'll give you something similar. Cory Doctorow, who is mentioned in Ready, Player One has two YA novels. Little Brother is very apt considering the whole Snowden situation. For the gamer in you I recommend For the Win, it's the modern day successor to Upton Sinclair's, The Jungle.

There exists an excellent series of sci-fi novels in which this happened. Everything went better than expected.

Edit: People on the internet don't like books? I should have expected as much.

What's your favorite manga/anime?

I'm not sure what genres they are, but my current favorites are The Martian by Andy Weir, The Monster Hunters Series by Larry Correia, and Little Brother and Homeland by Cory Doctorow.

On the fantasy end of things (since you mention Neil Gaiman), is City of Dreaming Books. German author so there's a good chance she hasn't read it and this isn't the only one in the series.

Cory Doctrow also writes YA, Little Brother, comes to mind.

At that age I was working my way through the Golden Age authors (Heinlein, Bradbury, Clark, Asimov, etc). Even if I didn't understand all the finer points, I really enjoyed them.

Well, I don't have any other classics I'd be willing to give away but I have Driftless by David Rhodes, Little Brother by Cory Doctorow, and a signed copy of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, if you're interested in any of those.

Also, they're all in superb condition, no folded corners or anything.

Did you know Amazon will donate a portion of every purchase if you shop by going to smile.amazon.com instead? Over $50,000,000 has been raised for charity - all you need to do is change the URL!

Here are your smile-ified links:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00J1HDEH4/ref=dp-kindle-redirect

https://smile.amazon.com/Cast-Under-Alien-Destinys-Crucible-ebook/dp/B01I8DTAKQ/ref=sr_1_1

https://smile.amazon.com/Aebeling-Casere-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00JS8VRV6/ref=sr_1_1

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0U4B3S/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1

https://smile.amazon.com/How-Avoid-Death-Daily-Basis-ebook/dp/B01H5G6ZR8

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^^i'm ^^a ^^friendly bot

Awesome! Thank you so much for this, I'll be sure to write a review as soon I'm done. Drop a link in /r/printsf too, if you haven't already.

Link for the lazy UKers

A couple of Meta posts: List of good fantasy hfy stories and Request for 'thrown into fantasy' subgenre and Fantasy is welcome, but where is it?

ones listed therein:

• A World Away from Yesterday - no magic, but the main character finds himself transported to another world inhabited by a relatively medieval species. It's ongoing at the moment with much more to come but what's there so far should tide you over for a bit.
  
• The Bathroom Adventures - not at all serious
  
• Burning/Building of Ashenvale - Novel length.
  
• A Heros War - Morey is summoned to a fantasy world under siege by the forces of darkness, called a Hero by the natives. Unknown to them, they got two 'Heroes' for the price of one. Dumped into a strange and dangerous fantasy world, Cato struggles to find out what happened to him and where he is. And perhaps there are advantages to not being a Hero. And perhaps not all the legends are true...
  
• JaketheSnakeBakeCake's Guide to Promt Jumping - Novel length. (also check out his Snake Report story, a bit different but still well received)
  
• Harry Potter and the Nat 20 - Milo, a genre-savvy D&D Wizard and Adventurer Extraordinaire is forced to attend Hogwarts, and soon finds himself plunged into a new adventure of magic, mad old Wizards, metagaming, misunderstandings, and munchkinry. Novel length
  
• the webcomic Erfworld
  
• Blessed are the Simple - basically Zero no Tsukima if Master Chief was the one summoned. Novel length.
  
• Blessed are the Simple: Lords of the Red Star - a spinoff set in the same universe written by a different author... possibly discontinued
  
• Release that Witch - An engineer takes over the body of a worthless prince and tries to introduce industrialization. Novel length.
  
• Stranded in Fantasy copied over 4Chan story. Novel length.
  
• I love this story - A man gets thrown into an alternate world after what was supposed to a harrowing escape from death. Follow him as he uses his knowledge from his previous life of research to adapt and survive in a place that is void of human contact, only to find out later how absurdly ridiculous his abilities are. Journey alongside this man as he attempts to change the new world for a better place, to turn it into one that he loves. Novel length.
  
  
• Spellslinger Series by RegalLegalEagle - he's not stranded in fantasy, but aside from that it's a lot like OTHNGW
  
  Published books, try: (Lol, all of these are "Novel Length")
  
  
• Schooled in Magic - this has a remarkably similar feel, but is less HFY more general fantasy (all the major characters are human)
  
• The Warslayer - think "Galaxy Quest goes fantasy"
  
• Centaur of the Crime - a crime scene analyst is kidnapped to solve a fantasy world murder
  
• 1632 - not into a fantasy world (or necessarily HFY) but a modern Appalachian town is suddenly transported to Germany, the year 1632AD
  
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality - Harry Potter fanfic, where he applies the scientific method to magic (complete with the occasional explosion...) (not necessarily HFY, but...) - Personally recommended by the author of OTHNGW
  
• Critical Failures - D&D group gets magicked into their game
  
• Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere
  
• Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions
  
• Dresden Files - It mostly deals with the supernatural, humans are generally seen as a prey species, but most of the denizens are secretly afraid of humanity.
  
• The Wiz Biz - a programmer gets summoned into a fantasy realm.
  
• Nightlord: Sunset starts off with this premise, although the main character got turned into a vampire before getting stranded in fantasy, so it's not necessarily HFY... still a fun read though
  
• The Soprano Sorceress also not necessarily HFY, still fun. A down on her luck singer gets transported to a world where music is magic, and tries to bring the world at least a little bit into the modern age
  
  More general fantasy:
  
  
• The Forest - now actually a published work, but still up for your enjoyment. Novel length.
  
• The Demon Hunter Series (as well as several of this author's other works) probably *Novel length** by now.
  
• My Name isn't Bon Bon Series - finished, if you like atmosphere more than any idea of what's going on - FINISHED
  
• Orcish Blood Series - closer to standard fare for fantasy
  
• Empire Series
  
• The Hero Series
  
• The Gardener - One shot.
  
• Mage - One shot.
  
• The Curious creature One shot.
  
• On the nature of warfare - One shot.
  
• survivor wanderers and Wanderers ashes - There's a host of others, but /u/Meatfcker writes tasty things.
  
• /u/Radius55 did a 'what happens when fantasy bad guys meets modern humanity'- you can find it in his history.
  
• /u/Haenir has some several such things.
  
• No Magic Required - One shot.
  
• Our Lack hereof - One shot.
  
• WP: Alien Battles and the series 501st Mind Games that came from it
  
• Steve Irwin's Fantasy Adventure - One shot.
  
• Bloodrunners Series - a guy who was a delivery man for the underworld which consisted of goblins, vampires and other creatures.
  
• Who the Hell are You - (sort of the fantasy equivalent of the Veil of Madness). Humans are "magic sinks" and thus are able to live in the dangerously magically charged forest at the edge of elf civilization. The current elf government has been going all Third Reich on non-elves and non-high-elves for a while now. The humans know this and proceed with caution, before getting Allies and setting up beachheads. ^(sorry, I'll stop with the WW2 references now) :) we're also the only ones who invented dogs, and dey scary man.
  
• Steel and Sarcasm - a long buried human space ship is unburied, and the resident AI/kickass power suit personality adopts the human who found her and they proceed to fuck things up. (Her long time alone has led to some... interesting personality quirks, thus the "Sarcasm")
  
• Swords of Te'ra was fun.
  
• Red Blood Series - Every other species in the galaxy lives in a perpetual high fantasy state due to magic being the handwavium of the setting. Humans, by contrast are non-magical, but are so inherently toxic to magical systems (due to the iron content of their blood and equipment) that the very ground dies where they walks, and our blood is basically xenomorph blood. Sci-fi humans meets high fantasy everything else.
  
• All Sapiens Go To Heaven Series - a human wakes up in Hell and is dissatisfied with the service

Little Brother

I love that book!

I can't contribute on the what if question, but I did enjoy a trilogy of books a bunch of years ago by Robert J Sawyer on a similar subject.

https://www.amazon.com/Hominids-Neanderthal-Parallax-Robert-Sawyer/dp/0765345005

I have read both, and count them among my favorite books. In the real world today governments already exercise control over us in ways that even Orwell could never have imagined. These novels, however are works of fiction that necessarily predict a dystopian future for dramatic effect.

Since we're recommending books now, I would suggest you read the works of Robert J. Sawyer specifically the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, and the WWW trilogy to see how 100% surveillance society may not be a bad thing.

Little Brother

/smartass

It really is quite good, though.

Just got caught up with A Hero’s War it’s a pretty fun fantasy uplift story similar to Destiny’s Crucible , but with magic.

Currently looking for anything similar.

Pretty much anything by Robert Sawyer. And they're not just set here. Canadian-ness is essential to most of the plots. Start with his Neanderthal Parallax (Hominids, Humans, Hybrids). You don't get a lot of SF set in Sudbury.

Amazonia by James Rollins

Actually, Rollins writes a lot of entertaining archeological thrillers.

Also, The Ancients of Earth series by fellow Redditor Lucian Randolph, a.k.a. luciantv.

Thanks for that. Commenting to placemark the thread.

Here's the link for amazon.co.uk

Cory Doctorow is my boy. Good memories of reading him when younger. That man knows how to sell books to young teenagers with his "nerd fucks not-so-attractive-but-also-nerd-girl-with-female-body-parts" side narrative.

https://smile.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-brother-cory-doctorow/1100352914#/

(corporations are all evil but there's not exactly an anarchist publisher that carries this and B&N donates to Dems and doesn't make workers piss in bottles)

and

https://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/ - free pdf

I would like to think this is part of the reason Eric Flint used a coalmining town in his novels (The book is free and awesome and full of coalmining, gun nuts destroying European nobility). http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-of-Fire-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/

Or just read this book. At one point, you find out that parallel-Earth has all the women living together in a community, and their periods are synced. I think the character thought something like "An entire planet on the rhythm method!"

It's a good book, but a bit weird sometimes.

I like the 1632 series - first book available free for Kindle http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Series-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE (and other formats elsewhere for free)

A West Virginia mining town gets sent back in time to, you guessed it, 1632, and they jump start the industrial revolution during the 30 years war.

Explored in "1632" by Eric Flint.

https://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Book-1-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/

In the year 2000, the small town of Grantville (a small mining town in West Virgina) is transported by a mysterious "ring of fire" to Germany in 1632, in the middle of the Thirty Years' War.

I thought it was a very enjoyable read.

1632 by Eric Flint (Author released to to be free on Kindle)

Very well researched historical fiction about an American town from W. Virginia that gets dropped into the middle of Thuringia, Germany in the middle of the 30-years war.

Author Robert J Sawyer wrote a fiction called Hominoids which speculates on a world where Neanderthals lived among humans, after separately achieving their own cultural and scientific achievements.

This isn't an adaptation but it might be what you're looking for..? http://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117

Also on sale in Canada for the same price: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B0756JH5R1/ref=tmm_fbs_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1563651779&sr=8-1

Little Brother by Corey Doctorow https://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117

I really enjoyed Cast Under an Alien Sun. It has been since The Martian and HPMOR that I haven't loved a book this much.

The story is about a chemistry PhD student who is catapulted into another planet (no real spoilers there since it happens at the very beginning) where humans have been mysteriously "planted" many thousands of years ago and have developed into a culture akin to the Europeans in the 17th century. While it's a bit west-biased, it's really cool to see the main character using science and rational reasoning to get him out of troubles. There's a lot more to it but I can't recommend it enough.

"Little Brother", Cory Doctorow
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Brother-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765323117/
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Little_Brother_%28Cory_Doctorow_novel%29
"He helps develop a clandestine wireless network, X-Net, that avoids DHS monitoring using anonymity and encryption. Using the X-Net as a secure communications medium, he organizes teenagers and twenty-somethings who are upset with the police state tactics imposed after the bombing. They develop innovative uses of existing technologies to foil DHS monitoring and cause mass confusion and embarrassment to law enforcement."

Also:
http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/b4t4m/fight_acta_with_the_darknet_plan_establish_our/
http://mesh-net.org/wiki/The_Darknet_Plan

Couple new ones not mentioned:

M.C. Planck - "Sword of the Bright Lady"

Olan Thorensen - "Cast Under An Alien Sun"

Michael Oneill - "The Casere"

It's also a popular theme among the LitRPG crowd. Like the following:

Blaise Corvin - "Delvers LLC"

V. Moody - "How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis"

While all the anime/manga relations I can think of have already been mentioned, I can think of a number of Novels.

1) 1632 (aka The Ring Of Fire) Series.

Consists of roughly 40 books, with branching timelines. All the Timelines start with 1632 and 1633.

TLDR: The small american town of grantzvile and everything in a 2 mile circle is dumped in Germany during the middle of the cluster fuck that was the 30 years war.

[Summary of the first Novel.](/s "First thing they do is intervene in the pillaging of a nearby farm, second thing they do is rofl stomp a formation of ~600 french cavalry thanks to a nam vet and his M60 he had taken home with him , along about half the town arming themselves with bolt action hunting rifles and a few AR's. They then go on to form an alliance with Sweden, teaching them how to build and manufacture weapons that Sweden is realistically capable of mass producing like early 1800's era muzzle loading rifled muskets and breach loading cannons")

And they don't just go rofl stomping everything like the JSDF does, (Remember while gunpowder in the 15th century was still in it's early stages and melee combat was still the norm, it is still perfectly capable of killing someone) Such as when [Spoilers for 1633 & 1634: The Bavarian Crisis](/s "the spanish armada shows up, they manage to repel them with rocket artillery and napalm put together in the high school science lab, but they lose one of the 2 Fighter bombers they had built (Imagine a hellcat built with the Wood & Canvas materials of a WW1 Bi-plane and a Toyota Camry engine) and The only water craft that had come through with them, a speed boat with a jury-rigged knock off Katyusha launcher bolted to the deck. (Crew was almost all killed by 4 frigits broadsiding the speedboat with grape shot until they got lucky, then the only survivor Kamikazed the sinking boat into one of said frigits")

2) The Axis Of Time Trilogy

Consists of 3 books (In order); Weapon of choice, Designated Targets, and Final Impact. The first two books are available online in PDF format (Just ask and you'll get some dank links fam), the third book is paperback only as far as I can tell.

(W.I.P)

People here often complain about how stuff posted on /r/futurology almost never becomes reality. Well, rejoice! It seems the exact kind of thing Cory Doctorow predicted in his anti-surveillance book Little Brother from eight years ago has now become reality.

A paragraph from a summary of the book:

> The government has control over people in the form of surveillance which then exploits their privacy. The gait recognition system from the novel capture the privacy of individual on a visual level. This system recognizes your walking stance and corresponds your stance to one on the database.

https://www.bartleby.com/essay/Little-Brother-by-Cory-Doctorow-PKNUVRATC

If I remember right from the book, the system could also be easily abused, as people could just start "walking funny" to fool it.

You should check out Eric Flint's 1632 series. Basically a West Virginia coal town gets transplanted to 1632.

1632 (Ring of Fire Series) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_Xv0DAbX15Z157

Relevant

Quote: "after a terrorist attack in San Francisco, he and his friends are swept up in the extralegal world of the Department of Homeland Security. "