Reddit mentions: The best military science fiction books

Aw! <3

Like, what books I'd recommend, or just....stuff to do underway that would be in the self-improvement area? The big two that jump out as underway activities are always "save money, and work out."

What platform are you floating on?

So the first thing I do with all my proteges is I hand them the grading sheet for Sailor of the Year/Quarter and a blank evaluation, and I ask them to grade themselves. Not everyone wants to be, or needs to be, Sailor of the Year or a 5.0 sailor, but if that's the standard the Navy has set as "the best," then at least we have a guideline of what we should be working toward, right?

One thing that was pretty big at my last command was the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. Instruction here. One thing that is a really easy way to gain community service hours while underway is to make blankets for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society's "Budgeting For Baby" class. You can crochet (that's incredibly easy, I promise) or you can google one of the thousand DIY no-sew blanket tutorials. If you belong to a Bluejacket Association or Enlisted Association or whatever, you may be able to get them to fund the cost of buying the material...or even ask the FCPOA if they'll give $50 to the cause. You can head over to Jo-Ann's or Fabric.com and check out their discount sections too. NMCRS offers 30 hours per blanket. Taking an hour out of your Holiday Routine for the entire float.....most of the DIY no-sew blankets only take an hour or two to make, sooooo. Collect those hours. Add in a COMREL or two, and there's no reason you can't end a float with over a hundred hours of community service. This is particularly great if you have a friend or two to make blankets with you....snag one of the TVs on the messdecks and watch a movie while you crochet. You can also contact a local homeless shelter and see if they need hats and crochet hats for them. Obviously not a good suggestion if you're stuck underway on a submarine with no space, but if you're surface side--good to go.

Books I'd suggest, well, hm, this could get out of control pretty fast, but off the top of my head:

• Personality Plus by Florence Littauer or her work specific version
  
  
• Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
  
  
• It's Your Ship by Capt Abrashoff
  
  
• Starship Troopers
  
  
• Ender's Game (Ender and Starship are obviously straight scifi but there are some really awesome leadership principles/concepts/ideas that are worth mulling over. They've both been on past CNO's recommended reading lists too....and they're just fun to read.)
  
  
• For money, while, like, 99% of his stuff is "Duh!" I can't discount the practical steps he outlines, so Dave Ramsey's books, particularly Financial Peace is worth reading. His whole book is basically the wiki in r/personalfinance, but if you're wondering how to get your finances straight I recommend picking up this book. Just, in general. Good basic information and a starting point. Not saying you need it, but "saving money" just happens underway by virtue being trapped out on the ocean =)
  
  
• Leaders Eat Last

I've fallen on a deep sci-fi binge, so I'm going to recommend what I've read so far (lately) and loved:

Ender Series: The sequels to "Ender's Game" are not on par with the first, but they're compelling nonetheless (except maybe Childrens of the Mind), and the Bean series (Ender's Shadow and the sequels) is GREAT. I would recommend reading the sequels, and if not, to stay with the same Ender's Game vibe, then at least read Ender's Shadow, as it opens up the story a lot more.

Foundation (Isaac Asimov): One of the groundbreaking sci-fi series. I've currently read only the first one (Foundation) and absolutely loved it. It takes up several character's point of view over the course of a lot of years. But don't worry, each character get their spot lights and they shine in it. And the universe he creates is one I'm anxious to get back once I finish with...

Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey): This one I'm still reading, so I won't jump up and say: READ IT, IT'S AMAZING! But I will say this, it's long and full of twists, but it's two central characters are fun and interesting. Someone said it's like reading the best sci-fi movie there is. And it kind of is. It's full of action, suspense, some horror and fun writing. I would check it out if I were you.

Spin: I enjoyed this one. Not fanatical about it, but still enjoyable. It's a little bit too long, but the mystery around the event that occurs in the book is interesting and compelling enough to continue. The characters feel real, and the drama around it is fun.

A while ago I also read: The Forever War which I liked a lot. I like seeing humanity evolve, so this book was awesome. I hear it's a lot like Old Man's War, but I've heard better things from Forever War than Old Man's. Might be worth checking out.

Hope I was helpful!

Can I give you a list? Imma give you a list with a little from each category. I LOVE books and posts like this!

Non-fiction or Books About Things:

The Lost City of Z: In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Cumberbatch will play him in the movie version of this.

Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Hilariously gross and just super interesting. Her writing is like a non-fiction Terry Pratchett. Everything she's written is great, but this one is my favorite.

Devil in the White City: All about HH Holmes and his murder hotel during the Chicago World's Fair. Incredibly well-written and interesting.

The Outlaw Trail: Written in 1920 by the first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park (aka, the area around Robber's Roost). He went around interviewing the guys who were still alive from the original Wild Bunch, plus some of the other outlaws that were active during that time. Never read anything else with actual interviews from these guys and it's a little slice of life from the end of the Wild West.

Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi:

Here I'm only going to give you the less known stuff. You can find Sanderson (light epic fantasy), Pratchett (humor / satire fantasy), Adams (humor fantasy), etc easily in any bookstore. They are fantastic and should be read, but they are easy to find. I suggest:

The Cloud Roads: Martha Wells is an anthropologist and it shows in her world building in every series. She creates societies instead of landscapes. These are very character-driven and sometimes emotional.

The Lion of Senet: Jennifer Fallon starts a great political thriller series with this book. If you like shows like House of Cards or things where there's a lot of political plotting, sudden twists, and a dash of science v. religion, then you'll love these.

The Book of Joby: Do you want to cry? This book will make you cry. Mix arthurian legend with some God & Devil archetypes and it's just this very powerful story. Even though it deals with religious themes and icons, I wouldn't say it's a religious book. Reads more like mythology.

On Basilisk Station: Awesome military space opera. Really good sci-fi.

Grimspace: Pulpy space opera. Brain bubble gum instead of serious reading. But that's fun sometimes too!

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?

>What's with sci-fi/fantasy writers? Is democracy not dramatic enough?

I think most Sci-fi writers take a look at how technology is expected to develop in the future, and can only see how it would help with the subjugation of large groups of people, rather than their liberation. In addition, I think that most of them are in the paradigm that world peace, or some semblance of it, is only achievable through a one-world government so in order to make a 'feasible' world without constant warring states, you have to turn it into one big state that keeps everyone in line.

I mean, if you have interstellar starships full of nuclear weapons, then it becomes really easy to imagine that you can rule a whole planet with a central organization that controls the nukes. Who needs democracy at that point?

Edit: oh, and I should add that they emulate historical trends, where one big empire is generally the way large territories are governed, after one nation makes a large conquest of the surrounding ones. So this 'trend' is assumed to hold into the future, with larger territories held due to the better technology.

Additionally, the more technology develops, the more prosperous we tend to become. The more prosperous we become, the larger the government leech is able to grow, and the more the government leech can grow... the more powerful its military can become (+ technology). The more powerful a military becomes, the larger a population it can successfully control.

Thus, when you extrapolate technology/prosperity growth into the future, its easy to imagine a giant country like China or the U.S. building up a giant, technologically advanced army and conquering the planet or most of it (maybe doing so 'peacefully,' even. Which is to say "united under our banner or we nuke you.").

Anyone who is still in the statist paradigm will have a REALLY hard time imagining a free society being the dominant social organization since they don't think such a thing is feasible on any scale, much less a planetary/interplanetary one.


But with that said, you just need to seek out the right Sci-fi authors:

• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein is excellent.
  
• The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith portrays a world that operates as a free society
  
• The Freehold (ebook is free!) series by Michael Z. Williamson has a slightly different vision for how a free society would operate against the more standard Sci-Fi tyrannies.
  
  Others are certainly out there if you look.

Well, I'm almost 40, and I trade books with my 60+ neighbor.

If you're sticking with romance, Eloisa James is a good romance author; Courtney Milan is also amazing.



For science fiction and fantasy with a dose of romance - Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series (start here) is very very very good, and her Chalion series (here) is excellent for the first two books (you can easily skip the third book, it's a prequel and not as interesting all around.)Bujold tends to be very, very popular with women, and older women; she's a very sharp and insightful person who happens to write big, fun space operas.


I strongly recommend Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population; it has no romance but features an older woman, adn is very very thoughtfully done. Her The Speed of Dark is more challenging but still excellent work. Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds is also utterly amazing.

For nonfiction, try Bill Bryson. I recommend A Walk In The Woods.

>My dad passed away 10 years ago. I came home from school to a note on the kitchen bench, my mum crying on the phone and then I heard the ambulance sirens.
>
>As a kid remember he would stay up at night writing and saving the files on floppy disk. When he passed he had them saved but they were password protected. Thanks to the joys of the internet I was able to use a key gen to crack the password. One of the best parts of his legacy was finding my name as a main character in his series.
>
>I've just published his first book online. He has 3 more completed novels that I'll work on uploading soon.
>
>If anyone is interested here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WFCK32/...
>
>It's a military sci-fi.
>
>I loved my dad and I want to share his work with the rest of the world. I hope you are proud wherever you are dad x.

>My dad passed away 10 years ago. I came home from school to a note on the kitchen bench, my mum crying on the phone and then I heard the ambulance sirens.
>
>As a kid remember he would stay up at night writing and saving the files on floppy disk. When he passed he had them saved but they were password protected. Thanks to the joys of the internet I was able to use a key gen to crack the password. One of the best parts of his legacy was finding my name as a main character in his series.
>
>I've just published his first book online. He has 3 more completed novels that I'll work on uploading soon.
>
>If anyone is interested here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WFCK32/...
>
>It's a military sci-fi.
>
>I loved my dad and I want to share his work with the rest of the world. I hope you are proud wherever you are dad x.

>My dad passed away 10 years ago. I came home from school to a note on the kitchen bench, my mum crying on the phone and then I heard the ambulance sirens.
>
>As a kid remember he would stay up at night writing and saving the files on floppy disk. When he passed he had them saved but they were password protected. Thanks to the joys of the internet I was able to use a key gen to crack the password. One of the best parts of his legacy was finding my name as a main character in his series.
>
>I've just published his first book online. He has 3 more completed novels that I'll work on uploading soon.
>
>If anyone is interested here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WFCK32/...
>
>It's a military sci-fi.
>
>I loved my dad and I want to share his work with the rest of the world. I hope you are proud wherever you are dad x.

I'll skip over the classics (Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick) as they've already been covered.

• Peter F Hamilton is incredibly good, I'd suggest starting with the Confederation Universe series. Very long, and can get a little heavy, but in my opinion, absolutely superb hard sci fi. The universe is similar in size and scope to that of Tolkien's, the science is detailed and well constructed, the space combat is awesome, and I found the characters believable and easy to empathize with. Judging from your criteria, I have a feeling that this series may be just what you're looking for.
  
  
• As others have suggested, Alastair Reynolds is an absolute stand-out in today's sci fi line-up. His Revelation Space universe is complex, engaging and has some of the best science theory I've read. He also includes a lot of biotechnology / biological themes in his work - which is a refreshing change from the nanomachines / cyborg / tech-heavy staples that seem to dominate a lot of modern sci-fi. There's an incredible sense of tension that is maintained for the entire series, more-so than any other modern anthology I've read.
  
  
• Richard Morgan is another of my personal favorites. If you want action-heavy, quality sci fi, look no further. I'd recommend starting with the Kovacs series, (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies) they're equal parts Noir / Drama / Action / Sci-Fi / Awesome. Not much space combat, but the ground combat is really, really good.
  
  
• If you haven't read Robert Heinlen's original Starship Troopers (Don't judge it by the movie; seriously) I'd highly recommend it. Not much you can say about it, except that the movie cut entirely too much of the thought provoking content out.
  
  
• John Steakley's Armor is superficially similar to Starship Troopers, but it's far more weighted on the psychological trauma of war; the action is almost ancillary - in fact, where Starship Troopers tends to glorify war a touch, Armor tends to question the validity and purpose of war in an advanced society.
  
  Finally:
  
  
• I'm not going to say anything other than: "Do yourself a favor and read Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash."
  
  Seriously. No space combat, but without doubt one of the most entertaining fiction I've read in any genre, and a superb example of dystopian sci-fi. For god sakes, the hero - Hiro Protagonist (I know, right?!) - is a Hacker / Samurai that works for the mafia. Delivering pizzas. Trust me on this: Go with it, you won't be sorry.
  
  Hope that helps and wasn't a Great Wall of Boring Text :-)

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.

----

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

First contact is a whole subgenre of scifi, and it is one of my favorites!

​

In regards to your request. I have, but haven't read Artemis because it doesn't look that interesting. Rendezvous with Rama, is good, albeit kinda boring. If you like it, but wish it had more action, read Ringworld by Larry Niven.

​

Here are some of my favorite first contact books (with oversimplified plot summaries):

​

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - Humans discover an alien spaceship and set out to find the source.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu - Chinese centric first book in a trilogy of aliens invading. One of the best I have read in recent years. Don't want to give away too much. Features alien aliens, like in The Gods Themselves!

​

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge - Humans discover an alien race and race to be the first to make contact with them.

​

Damocles by S.G. Redling - Humans discover alien life and launch an expedition to make first contact. Follows the story from the point of the humans and the aliens. Very good hard scifi, but easy to read. The language barrier is a major plot piece.

​

Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Humans are looking for a new home and stumble across a planet with alien life. Trouble ensues. No spoilers here. The sequel comes out in only a couple of weeks!

Theory of Continuous Groups by Loewner. This book is based on lecture notes which Loewner was planning to turn into a larger book. Unfortunately he passed away before getting much done so some of his colleagues edited and compiled the notes into this book. I'm only quarter of the way in but so far it's given me a really unique perspective into group actions. I'm loving it but it doesn't hold my attention for long spans of time.

Geometry of Polynomials by Marden. Marden is my idol, and I plan to devote my life to studying the zeros of functions. That said, this book is the hardest goddamn book I have ever read. Hell, some of the exercises he gives were actual topics of published research 60 years ago. That seems a little mean to me. Anyway I still love this shit.

Mr. Tompkins in Paperback by Gamow. Alternates between stories about a character transplanted into hypothetical worlds where particular laws of physics are exaggerated and semi-rigorous lectures about the physics itself. The section on gravity as curvature of space was especially enlightening. The author uses the idea of a merry-go-round spinning at relativistic speed, so that straight lines on the surface (i.e. geodesics) are in fact curved to outside observers. You can then imagine that the merry-go-round is walled off from the outside, so that on the inside the centrifugal force can be thought of as gravity toward the edge. This is the concept of acceleration of reference frame being equivalent to gravity. For a non-physicist this kind of explanation is AWESOME.

Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. My first Heinlein, just started it but I'm enjoying it so far. I honestly confused him with Haldeman... I loved The Forever War and I wanted to get another book by the author. Oh well.

Yeah so what I'm a nerd.

If you find this concept interesting, I highly recommend reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. A spoiler free summary of the book would be: Humanity finds stable wormholes in space after inventing near light speed travel. We discover an alien race and go to war with them. The story follows one soldier as he is sent off to fight light years away and has to deal with time dilation (He is hardly aging, but many years on Earth are passing). Here is a [link] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631) to amazon. Won the Hugo and Nebula award and is praised as one of the best all time sci-fi books.

Congrats to him!

I thought his story was a good variant of Janissaries, by way of the Final Countdown, but I've been around a bit too long for much to seem original.

Maybe Hollywood should just go mine all of the "The Years' best Sci-Fi 19XX" compilations from. There are tremendously good short stories out there that could easily become movies.

OK, so your mother reminds me so much of Joyful.

Go on you all for taking the threat seriously and acting on it!

Many many hugs from Scotland if you would like them.

And finally, and a fellow lover of Sci-fi I would like to suggest that you check out this online, self published 'book'. There are some clunky bits, and a few bits where an editor could have pulled it together. But in terms of storyline, character progression and universe creation it is one of the better sci-fi books I have read in a long while.

(I have turned them into kindle files, if you want me to send them to you throw me a PM)

Oh and the Honor Harrington series by David Webber.

You've likely read most of these, but here are a few suggestions:

• The Space Trilogy - C.S. Lewis. Underappreciated works by Lewis - in many ways Narnia for adults. These books are a work of supposition. What if there is intelligent life on other planets that have not fallen into sin? What would that look like?
  
• Watership Down - Richard Adams. This is a book about rabbits. Not anthropomorphized rabbits, but rabbit rabbits with their own language and mythology, who care about and experience the things rabbits experience. It doesn't sound like it should work, but it is utterly captivating.
  
• Dune - Frank Herbert. A captivating epic in a richly detailed universe. Themes of politics, religion, and technology iterweave in a fascinating tale.
  
• Ender's Game, Speaker for the Dead, and Xenocide - Orson Scott Card. The tale of a child trained to be the commander of earth's defenses against alien bugs. The sequels feature the same character but in an utterly different tale. The books are very different but both one of my favorites. The recent movie didn't do it justice.
  
• The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein. Heinlein is a genius, but his books often disappoint me halfway through. This one doesn't. My favorite of his works.
  
• The Mote In God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. After colonizing the hundreds of stars, mankind finally makes contact with an intelligent alien race for the first time. They are utterly foreign and seemingly benign, but with a dangerous secret.
  
  I can recommend others if you've already hit all of those already.

If you want two series which I prefer in many ways (but are both very different overall) try

The Vorkosigan Saga Start here, the "part 1" is a prequel, and I'm not sure why it's considered the beginning, but anyway, the idea is that the first two books start with the main character's parents, until he is born, and he takes over from the third book onward. This one has great character development, better than any series I've ever seen, and the author has a great name, too.

The Expanse Is very dark and starts off as realistic hard sci-fi, and is also now on Netflix (but only season 1 is out at the moment)

> Aubrey-Maudrin Series

Of the sf series that are built around A-M, an enjoyable and long-running one available at audible is David Drake's Lt. Leary series:

http://www.audible.com/series/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_1srSrs_sa?asin=B007FRXYE0

The first book is free in Kindle (due to being part of the Baen free library) and a $1.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition:

http://www.amazon.com/With-Lightnings-Lt-Leary-Book-ebook/dp/B00B4HAI2I

10 books so far and more coming. Also from Baen/Audible are the Honor Harrington books by David Weber; and (from Blackstone Audio, not Audible) Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga:

http://www.audible.com/series/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_1srSrs_s_sa?asin=B006K1M5K6

Again, many books, characters, fun, etc.

It's not fantasy, but David Weber has an amazing series that starts with On Basilisk Station. A strong female lead, a well thought out background, and a lot of math (which he does all of it for you). A hard sci-fi series that's been a treat to read.

Amazon link to the first book

I'd strongly recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. It's sci fi, and at first it seems pretty fluffy, before it hits you with much more complex themes. Also, as a bonus, the 'Tyrion' character in GoT was pretty much lifted from the main character in this series. It's more 'mature' romance I suppose, both characters being in their 30s and both having had past emotional traumas.

http://www.amazon.com/Shards-Honor-Vorkosigan-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B005BH9T86/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449090743&sr=1-2&keywords=vorkosigan+series


Here's the first several chapters of the first book.

http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/9781625793980/9781625793980.htm?blurb

Player of Games is a good book, and it's early enough in the Culture series that Banks hadn't yet realized he made the Minds too powerful and doesn't need the human characters to actually do anything. But it is not military science fiction and I don't think it's similar to The Forever War.

If you're looking for more military sci-fi I can recommend Forging Zero, All You Need is Kill, David Weber's Honor Harrington series, Orphanage...and many more I'm sure. Armor is great and I'm sure you've heard of Starship Troopers.

A note on David Weber, I find his overuse of italics a constant irritation when reading his books. It really helps to get digital copies and run them through calibre to eliminate all the italics first.

Check out the Honor Harrington series its got a strong female lead and its just pretty dam cool what with the space ships and stuff :) https://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0

Someone already suggested Harry Potter, they are really fabulous reads for adults too (I hadda fight my mom for em when the new ones came out....she was in her 70s :)

There's a series of books by David Weber that follow Honor Harrington, they are total space opera with lots of action and huge space battles and I believe there's a movie in the works and the first book is free on Amazon for ereader/cloud reader http://amzn.com/B00ARPJBS0

I can try to help more when I have an idea of genres!

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413465938&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye

The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. One of the greatest First Contact books ever. Hugo and Nebula nominee.

"Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others.
The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre."

• Orson Scott Card's "Ender's Game"
  
• Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash"
  
• Joe Haldeman's "Forever War"
  
• Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama"
  
• Vernor Vinge's "A Fire Upon The Deep"
  
• Kurt Vonnegut's "The Sirens of Titan"
  
• Philip K. Dick's "Do Android Dream of Electric Sheep" (inspiration for the Blade Runner movie)
  
• Dan Simmons' "Hyperion"
  
  Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
  
  
• Isaac Asimov's "Foundation"
  
• William Gibson's "Neuromancer"
  
• Paolo Bacigalupi's "The Windup Girl"
  
• Alfred Bester's "The Stars My Destination"
  
  Cheers!

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

I'm reading Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein right now. It takes place in the year 4272 in an interplanetary human civilization with "the Senior", who's been alive since the 1940's (and who's genes aided research into 'rejuvenation clinics' for the wealthy and connected), giving his life stories and wisdom to the leader of a planet who wants to leave and colonize a new world. It's a fascinating read, and gets into some decent scientific detail too. Heinlein also wrote Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.

It is a Haiku from Old Man's War by John Scalzi which, in my opinion the single greatest sci fi novel in existance.
A character transmits her their last words while returning fire, propelling herself rapidly into atmopshere as a result of a lost space engagement.

.

When I first read it I did tear up, as it was a very emotional scene and punctuated the life style the Colonial Defense Forces experiance. I found the Haiku fitting for this situation.

.

The series pays homage to all great sci fi that predecessed it, Enders Game, Starship Troopers, even the bits from the Halo Novel series (which is FAR better than most give them credit), The Forever War...just to name a few.

/u/prograft Honor Harrington series by David Weber. It's military sci-fi, basically think early Tom Clancy and Red Storm Rising in space. The first 2 books are free on Kindle.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ARPJBS0

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BBI9WD6

This is the series that got me interested in hard sci-fi and made it so I could be hooked by The Expanse later on. In the "Honorverse", the two main technological advancements made vs The Expanse are FTL travel and inertial dampeners that allows ships to accelerate at hundreds of g forces in normal space. Outside of that, many of the real-life physics rules that make The Expanse's world so compelling are still in full force.

Combat is typically at extreme distance (10s of millions of KM) with missiles that attempt to swarm opponent's point defense systems. Lasers are used instead of kinetic slugs, but the concept remains the same. Close range combat is with broadsides of massive lasers that can shatter a ship in seconds, so generally ships try to keep out of energy range. A lot of battles come down to how fast certain ships can accelerate vs their opponents, velocity and direction of forces when a battle begins, and flight times of missiles that have ranges of millions of kilometers. Light-speed communication limits the ability to coordinate actions between dispersed forces in the same star system or in multiple systems. Stealth systems allow forces to ambush others when not using their engines to accelerate.

The story is essentially meant to be 1800s England vs France in the age of sail, with our protagonist nation, the constitutional parliamentary monarchy Star Kingdom of Manticore, sitting at the intersection of many wormholes resulting in massive wealth from interstellar trade fees. The antagonist, the Republic of Haven, is an expansionist oligarchic welfare state that needs to continually seize new systems to keep its economy afloat. Manticore has to rely on better technology and training to counter Haven's much numerically larger Navy.

Early books are told almost entirely from Honor's perspective as a young up-and-coming Manticoran Navy captain as she encounters various plots and schemes and Haven. There are re-occurring side characters that are a lot of fun though.

As already mentioned below, The End Of The World Running Club.

MR Carey's The Girl With All The Gifts is set in England. It was nicely weird for me to find small market towns very close to my childhood home mentioned :)

Luke Smitherd's The Stone Man is set in the UK too. My brother loved it; I thought it OK.

Of course, you've got John Wyndham, and HG Wells?

Ender's Game, Revelation Space, Altered Carbon and a few other great series out of there have dedicated a lot to overcoming time dilation.

Joe Haldeman tackled it head on in The Forever War Amazon link, a fantastic book that as a fan of similar stuff, you might like it!

Most of the characters in The Windup Girl are Thai or Chinese.

The Left Hand of Darkness messes around with gender in interesting ways. (Also, Ursula K. Leguin is an all-around fantastic author.)

Robert Heinlein can be a controversial author, but many of his works had non-white protagonists. Manuel Garcia O'Kelly-Davis from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is multiracial, and Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers is Filipino, if I recall correctly.

Someone else in this thread recommended The Brief But Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, and it's not exactly SFF (more in the vein of magical realism) but it is easily one of the best books I've ever read.

Yes, though I would also like the setting to be interesting in other ways. Such realism helps with immersion but the story needs to be engaging too. A good example of this is Through Struggle the Stars a sci fi book which explores the consequences of humanity developing wormhole technology and colonizing several nearby star systems. How would the countries react to the sudden ability to expand their territory again and what conflicts would arise from that? And aside from wormholes all the technology in the setting is real world stuff we could see ourselves getting in a few centuries, further adding to the sense of believablity.

*Former gunny

Does he like to read? These are two of my favorites, and I'm fairly certain most vets would enjoy them too:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616641&sr=8-1&keywords=The+forever+war

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Remorse-Tom-Clancy/dp/0425143325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1367616649&sr=8-1&keywords=Without+Remorse

> there's a strong case that a lot of the postmodernist bullshit could be easily countered by a strong religious identity

AMEN TO THAT.

> the most optimal balances of personal freedom vs controlling the worst aspects of human behavior

WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?

Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle is fantastic.

From Heinlein himself, "Possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read."

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926

Well, Distress by Greg Egan shows society in the near future evolved to cope with significant changes in biotechnology. Although it does connect to the current society structure, it does cope with the changes that will occur because of technology.

On the other hand, the mote in God's eye by Larry Niven is a far-future story trying to describe an alien society, and how it will be different from our society because of the difference in biology and "geography" (space geography).

I HIGHLY recommend both.

I really enjoyed the first two of the Honor Harrington Series, not sure how you feel about military scifi.

http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

the kindle is free, and whispersync gives you the audible for 2 bucks

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

amazon.ca

amazon.com.au

amazon.in

amazon.com.mx

amazon.de

amazon.it

amazon.es

amazon.com.br

amazon.nl

amazon.co.jp

amazon.fr

Beep bloop. I'm a bot to convert Amazon ebook links to local Amazon sites.
I currently look here: amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca, amazon.com.au, amazon.in, amazon.com.mx, amazon.de, amazon.it, amazon.es, amazon.com.br, amazon.nl, amazon.co.jp, amazon.fr, if you would like your local version of Amazon adding please contact my creator.

A bit more of a pleasure read, but still insightful.
Starship Troopers by Heinlein.

Also worth a read is the book of Joshua in the Bible. Read from a tactical mindset, you can gain insight into military tactics and troop management.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Excellent book with a very well rounded universe. If you enjoy it there are several other books written in that universe.

you might enjoy the book The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Among other things, it addresses the issue as What's good for the species vs. what's good for the individual.

Amazon

free ebooks

I usually prefer to get people interested in reading philosophy obliquely, through pop. philosophy or fiction with philosophical themes. So much depends on what you are interested in...

Fiction:
A good overview like Sophie's World

Military Ethics / Social Responsibility Starship Troopers

Science and Faith Contact

Somewhat easy philosophy

Ethics: The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill

Mind: Consciousness Explained

War: Just and Unjust Wars

While anime doesn't have anything like that which is done well, there is a book series called Janissaries which is exactly that. It's about a group of US mercenaries who were cut off and left for dead before being rescued by an alien race and taken to a planet where they would use guns and what he learned in school as far as science(such as introducing black powder and modern tactics) to subjugate the local people and then grow a mysterious crop for the aliens, or that was the plan at least. The books protoganist is a college dropout and leader of the mercs who suffers a mutiny as soon as he gets put on planet. Now he must use his wits and military know-how to lead the local populace and figure out exactly why this planet full of humans exists and what plans the aliens have once they get the desired harvest. The most interesting thing is not only is the author a veteran scifi writer but he also holds a masters degree in psychology from university of Washington and a PhD in political science from the same school. I like it because while it is a scifi novel, none of the actions of the characters or events that play out actually seem illogical.

https://www.amazon.com/Janissaries-Book-1-Jerry-Pournelle-ebook/dp/B00APARD0K

SEALs, no, but Special Forces are, by design, supposed to interact with and train local forces.

The problem with Barnett's suggestions of a split force is that in neither Iraq nor Afghanistan has there been a climate where a "SysAdmin" force could exist and operate. The SysAdmins would have to be doorkickers with more specialized training.

Removing the hitters from the theater would just invite resistance forces to increase their attacks. Barnett pretends like civil affairs forces don't already exist. The problem is, unprotected, they are just potential casualties. Barnett's solutions don't really show how to fix much of anything because they're strategies for a battlefield that will never exist. The difficulty of counterinsurgency operations can be seen dating back to antiquity. It's not like Barnett suddenly "solved it" with his idea of a split force.

The reality is that there will always be boots on the ground who don't understand the greater strategy and importance of their actions, no matter how much or how often they are told or taught about the implications. You'd have to go full The Forever War and start conscripting the best and brightest from top universities if you'd expect to create an army of scholar-soldiers who have both the talent to combine warfighting/peacekeeping and nation-building activities, and then still have them maintain the level of big-picture awareness necessary for ultimate discretion. The kinds of soldiers Barnett needs don't exist in great numbers. Wars will always be fought with a cross section of the nation's populace, and, well, half the population is below average.

The list was too long to fit into a self-post, here is the continuation.

Prolific Authors: (5+ Books)

• Going Home by A. American
  
• Surviving Home by A. American
  
• Escaping Home by A. American
  
• Forsaking Home by A. American
  
• Resurrecting Home by A. American
  
• Apocalypse Law by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 2 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 3 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 4 by John Grit
  
• Apocalypse Law 5 by John Grit
  
• Holding Their Own I: A Story of Survival by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own II: The Independents by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own III: Pedestals of Ash by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own IV: The Ascent by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own V: The Alpha Chronicles by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VI: Bishop's Song by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VII: Phoenix Star by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own VIII: The Directives by Joe Nobody
  
• Holding Their Own IX: The Salt War by Joe Nobody
  
• Apocalypse Drift by Joe Nobody
  
• Secession: The Storm by Joe Nobody and P.A. Troit
  
• Patriots: A Novel of Survival in the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Survivors: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Founders: A Novel of the Coming Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Expatriates: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• Liberators: A Novel of the Coming Global Collapse by James Wesley, Rawles
  
• 299 Days 1: The Preparation by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 2: The Collapse by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 3: The Community by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 4: The Stronghold by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 5: The Visitors by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 6: The 17th Irregulars by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 7: The Change of Seasons by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 8: The War by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 9: The Restoration by Glen Tate
  
• 299 Days 10: The 43 Colonels by Glen Tate
  
  Science Fiction with apocalyptic elements:
  
  
• Directive 51 by John Barnes
  
• Daybreak Zero by John Barnes
  
• The Last President by John Barnes
  
• The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
  
• Wool by Hugh Howey
  
• Shift by Hugh Howey
  
• Dust by Hugh Howey
  
• Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  
• Aftermath by Charles Sheffield
  

Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, both by Robert Heinlein; both amazing reads. "Stranger" being possibly on of the greatest Sci-fi novels ever written.

Starship Troopers massmarket paperbacks for around 4 dollars :D

and yea the writers of the future is the best of the the literary contests I have seen.. its sad but a lot of them are scams..

also [Cats Cradle] (http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Cradle-Kurt-Vonnegut-ebook/dp/B003XRELGQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369440837&sr=1-1&keywords=cats+cradle) is a really good book.. Kurt vonnegut can be kinda hit or miss though some people really like his stuff and others really don't like him.

Johnny Lumpkin seems to be quite happy writing books for a living. He makes LW for fun!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM

Try Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. Cordelia is a remarkable character. And the Honor Harrington series by David Weber isn't bad, either.

I'm right there with you brother, I'm also working on such a property. I'm trying to keep it more Black Mirror than Shadowrun. The first book is free as is the card-based roleplaying game. Feel free to check them out for inspiration or to steal some ideas.

Some ideas I like to explore are how much better life actually is with bold new technology. Cyberpunk has a tendency to look at how wrong things can go but what about how right things can go? How many extra conveniences do we have? How does easy access to information and products change the structure of an adventure?

Shit like that makes me giddy.

I read The Thousand Orcs by Salvatore a few years back and thought it was alright. But my favorite series by far is ASOIAF. I would also recommend The Forever War and Anathem.

the first two books in honorverse are free on kindle. just started reading them and they are awesome


http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=sr_1_5_title_1_kin?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376167823&sr=1-5

http://www.amazon.com/The-Honor-Queen-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00BBI9WD6/ref=pd_sim_b_8

Absolutely I have a better solution.

SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP

Would you like to know more?

You might enjoy Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War". He delves into this aspect of high speed space travel with some unique thought experiments. It's worth checking out if you're curious about that sort of thing, and it's not a bad book, either.

I'm about to start reading "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. Seems to be pretty well regarded because it avoids a lot of silly sci-fi/war stereotypes. Also the story's military are based on the author's own experiences serving in Vietnam.

EDIT: Just checked Amazon and the book's not available for Kindle yet. The page had a link to request it from the publisher. I clicked it so there's one more vote. :)

I thought they were pretty well written. The early books are pretty much Hortio Hornblower in the 33rd century, so I enjoyed that a lot. The latter books are more ASoIaF-ish, with large empires at war and Harrington becomes just one POV of many. You can download the first for free from Amazon so give it a try.

The Mote in God's Eye has a solar sail ship, at least for a little while :) But it's a great alien world.

Attention A New Bulletin From The Terran Federation
=

Have you graduated high school?

Do you want to be somebody and do something?

Well then join the Mobile Infantry today and prove you have what it takes to be a citizen.

The Federation needs young men and women like you to help take our fight to the bugs.

Service Guarantees Citizenship.

Would you link to know more?

Embers of War set in 3067 came out in 2016

Betrayal of Ideals set in 2822 telling what happened to Clan Wolverine came out in 2016

The Nellus Academy Incident set in 3067 came out in 2018, but it's getting mixed reviews because it sounds like it's more of a Young Adult novel and some people have issue with how some elements in the book were handled.

Catalyst also lists some other books coming to print later on.

The Honorverse series is exactly what you are looking for - start with the first book - On Basilisk Station.

Not quite so militarily focused (more about politics, espionage, and the individual stories of the characters), but also a great read, you might check out The Vorkosigan Saga - start with Shards Of Honor.

The quote is from the second book, Lt. Leary, Commanding; the first book is With the Lightnings, which is free, both from Amazon or Baen Free Library.

The Forever War was a great novel. Probably my favorite after the original Dune trilogy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312536631/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1485369920&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=forever+war&dpPl=1&dpID=51Ki76Qf64L&ref=plSrch

The Synchronicity War was a great series and the kindle books are fairly cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-War-Part-1-ebook/dp/B00EZB3WJQ

Man of War trilogy has a Star Trek type feel to it and was enjoyable. A lot of naval military type stuff. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1477848894/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1485370046&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=man+of+war+series&dpPl=1&dpID=51fDKxQn%2B-L&ref=plSrch

Alternative fiction like this has already been done several times and ways; it's one of my favorite genres.

Rally Cry

Jannisaries

Excalibur Alternative

Keep up the tradition, PruFrock451!

> Through Struggle, The Stars

Link to amazon smile (no referral stuff, just smile so that a portion of the money goes to a charity of your choice): http://smile.amazon.com/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM

Okay so I think this might meet most of your criteria but it is two books that totals about 800 pages (I think - I'd have to run down to my bookshelf and check but I'm lazy). So it's a short read but I've read both books 3 times over and I always enjoy it. So here they are:

Book 1: The Mote in God's Eye

Book 2: The Gripping Hand

I've been listening to books this way for about 3 years and I have noticed that I am a very fast speaker now. I'm not sure if it's releated but it could be.

Also, always look for whispersync books. You can almost always get the audible version for crazy cheap.
Example:
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1452542369&sr=8-6
I can't see the audiobook price because I already have it but I bet the combination is only a few dollars for a great audiobook/ebook
http://www.amazon.com/Starliner-David-Drake-ebook/dp/B00ARPEAU4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1452542467&sr=1-8
this audiobook is only 1.99 vs 14.95 when buying it straight up.

You should try the Cobra series by Timothy Zahn the first book is really excellent, the others in the series aren't as good but they're still a fun read.

You should also take a look at Starship Troopers, which is nothing like the movie.

Take a look at the list of past Hugo winners and look for easily accessible ones. A few jump out at me:

Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein

Dune - Frank Herbert

The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold, or maybe the omnibus Cordelia's Honor

The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson

I am not sure about any Canadian Forces specific books. But some standard military officer books that in my mind are good to read about leadership and wisdom would be:

• The Good Shepherd by C.S. Forester
  
• Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian
  
• The Art of War by Sun Tzu
  
• Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
  
• [The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell]
  (http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342986110&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Tipping+Point+by+Malcolm+Gladwell)

Williamson's Freehold Book 1 is currently free on Amazon and the 21 hour ebook is only $1.99. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEQLTZY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0

For anyone who enjoyed the movie, the book is also really great.

Also the sequels were just a complete abomination with worse acting, CGI, and completely void of a story.

The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.

Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.

The Forever War. Many people compare it to Starship Troopers, which was also badass, but I liked this one better.

It depends on what you mean by 'similar feel', since star citizen is of course different things to different people.

There are some literal wing commander novelizations that are fine if you're looking for WW2 in space military adventure. Character development errm... But there's definitely parallels to the Star Citizen setting, having its roots in the same places.

https://www.amazon.com/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM

The Human Reach is a well done 'space war story' with a decent degree of hardness. It's not really space opera since the main character(s) function more as viewpoint characters as opposed to being the only ones moving the war along.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZP64F28/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is a largely non-violent space adventure that is character-focused with a deep backstory and well developed setting.

​

​

like...what do you think you like in such a book?

a well developed setting with deep lore and thought given to the logical consequences of the society and technology?

appealing and interesting characters with developed personalities and consistent reactions?

Fast paced action and adventure?

To see the bad guys get their proper comeuppance regularly?

​

These things are not always compatible or present in the same books.

I totally grok what you're asking for, and while I don't have a perfect answer to your request, I've recently stumbled across the Honor Harrington series (13 novels!) which detail both a "micro" level of detail, like what you've listed, but also engages the reader in a "large scale" level over the series, dealing with politics and mindsets of various separate human space-faring civilizations at war with each other.

The author goes into detail about the styles of clothing and background traits and habits of many minor characters, flushing many, many different diverse human cultures (spread across multiple planets over many millennia), but centers the series-- most of the time but not always, on the central character "Honor Harrington".

This series is a really unique mix of both intimate technology / culture / history / detail like what you're looking for, but also deals with a very long-term galactic war between one human-based empire and another-- and it certainly goes into detail on both sides on why the warfare is occurring, but certainly (spoiler alert) takes the position of Honor's civilization as the "good guys".

If you have an Amazon (Prime?) account, the first two books are free (at least for me), so what do you have to lose?

if you like Sci-Fi at all, do yourself a favor, push the movie out of your mind and read this book.

Maybe The Forever War.

If that isn't it, you should still read it because it is a great book.

Science fiction, not fantasy but I would recommend The Human Reach. It does a really good job of speculating how space battles would actually go down, and it goes really into detail with what all of the combatants are doing.

Just finished one of the best sci fi novels I've read in years. My only complaint was something they called a "GUPPI interface". As soon as I read it, I knew the I in GUPPI would be 'interface'. Ugh. The book was amazing otherwise: We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse) (Volume 1)

I rather like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but they get VERY VERY talky at times. Weber is good in the deep court intrigue, background plotting and scheming, but he's not that good when it comes to hard combat.

Start from the very beginning would probably be best: ["On Basilisk Station"](http://amzn.to/22sovVx
), which is a FREE download. Cmdr Honor Harrington was exiled with her light cruiser to the backwaters for embarrassing the fleet commander in an exercise maneuver (by "killing" the flagship in a surprise move). There, she was under the command of the upperclassman who tried to rape her back in the academy, and who forever held a grudge. The crew hates her, the system is corrupt and shipping companies hated her for enforcing the law. Then they found a wormhole...

David Weber has a lot of different series, one written with Johnny Ringo, the Empire of Man series, is pretty cool. Now available in combo books, this is Volume 1 and 2 in a single package. Prince of the Empire was sabotaged and his ship and his marine escorts are stranded on a planet held by the Empire's enemy. Can they fight their way to the space port and a way home? Will the prince stay a spoiled brat or will he grow up... or die trying?

Johnny Ringo is good at the hard combat, on the scale of David "Hammer's Slammers" Drake. What put Ringo on the map was his first book A Hymn Before Battle Posleen is coming to Earth, and their numbers are so overwhelming Earth is doomed... but the Galactic Federation has sent help in forms of advanced technology... but basically they need humans to be the grunts. As humans adapt to the new technology, and frantically construct defenses around the world, from shelter cities and redoubts to ground-based orbital defense and space ships, long range scouts attempt to gather intel on alien worlds. But are the friendlies really telling us everything?

I'll echo the other redditor that said The Forever War.

I read it for a comparitive literature class I took and it was the only book besides R.U.R. that I really enjoyed.

And speaking of that, R.U.R.. This is the book that made the word "Robot" into a science fiction staple. And it's a short read too.

The Mote in God's Eye
Probably my favorite hard science fiction novel.

I recommend 2 series by BV Larson:

First Swarm Book 1 of "Star Force"

Second Steel World Book 1 of the "Undying Mercenaries"

Also The Synchronicity War by Dietmar Wehr

Now for a shameless plug for my favorite Sci-fi book: We Are Legion book 1 of "Bobiverse" There is some ship to ship fighting. But its more Sci-fi comedy.

[The Forever War] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631) by Joe Haldeman.

It has nothing at all to do with atheism, it's just an excellent book.

Try the book sometime by Rober A. Heinlein it is excellent.

I got a non-reading co-worker into reading with Old Man's War. It's a very fun Sci-Fi book.

back to the beginning

---

Current Selection#####

• Echopraxia by Peter Watts [Echopraxia]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
  ---
  

  Past Selections#####
  

  
  

  2014######
  

  
  

• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke [Songs]. Began August 6th.
  
  
• 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson [2312]. Began July 7th.
  
  
• The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard [crystal]. Began June 4th.
  
  
• The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon [Lot49]. Began May 7th.
  
  
• The Lilith's Brood Trilogy by Octavia Butler [lilith]. Began April 7th.
  
  
• Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie [Justice]. Began March 6th.
  
  
• [Invisible Cities] (http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Cities-Italo-Calvino/dp/0156453800) by Italo Calvino [Invisible]. Began February 5th.
  
  
• Machine Man by Max Barry [Machine]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2013######
  

  
  

• House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds [suns]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Singularity Sky by Charles Stross [singularity]. Began November 4th.
  
  
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood [Oryx and Crake]. Began October 7th.
  
  
• The Gone-Away World by Nick Harkaway [gone-away]. Began September 3rd.
  
  
• The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin [dispossessed]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks [sonata]. Began July 3rd.
  
  
• Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clark [rama]. Began June 3rd.
  
  
• Jack Glass by Adam Roberts [glass]. Began May 3rd.
  
  
• Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn [monsters]. Began April 3rd.
  
  
• Solaris by Stanisław Lem [solaris]. Began March 3rd.
  
  
• Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan [carbon]. Began February 1.
  
  
• The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson [diamond]. Began January 4th.
  
  

  2012######
  

  
  

• Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke [childhood]. Began December 1st.
  
  
• Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo (aka Unto Leviathan) [fools]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg [dying]. Began October 4th.
  
  
• China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh [china]. Began September 4th.
  
  
• Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges [labyrinths]. Began August 4th.
  
  
• The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury [martian]. Began July 2nd.
  
  
• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle [mote]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• Roadside Picnic by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky [picnic]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester [Destination]. Began April 2nd.
  
  
• Diaspora by Greg Egan [diaspora]. Began March 5th.
  
  
• Stories by Ted Chiang [Chiang]. Began February 3rd.
  
  
• Grass by Sheri S. Tepper [grass]. Began January 2nd.
  
  

  2011######
  

  
  

• Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny [lord]. Began December 5th.
  
  
• Zones of Thought Trilogy by Vernor Vinge [zones], [fire], [deepness], [children]. Began October 28th.
  
  
• Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami [Wonderland]. Began October 3rd.
  
  
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline [rp1]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• Rule 34 by Charles Stross [Rule 34]. Began August 2nd.
  
  
• The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi [quantum]. Began July 1st.
  
  
• Embassytown by China Miéville [Embassytown]. Began June 1st.
  
  
• The Dervish House by Ian McDonald [dervish]. Began May 2nd.
  
  
• The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin [LHoD]. Began April 5th.
  
  
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. [canticle]. Began March 1st.
  
  
• Inverted World by Christopher Priest [inverted world]. Began February 1st.
  
  
• The City & the City by China Miéville [the city]. Began January 1st.
  
  

  2010######
  

  
  

• Surface Detail by Iain M. Banks [surface]. Began December 3rd.
  
  
• Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell [cloud atlas]. Began November 3rd.
  
  
• Anathem by Neal Stephenson [anathem]. Began October 1st.
  
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts [blindsight]. Began September 1st.
  
  
• The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi [windup]. Began August 1st.
  
  
• The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams [MoPI]. Began July 15th.

If you can still find this novel, I highly recommend it, especially if you want the backstory stuff.

The Mote in God's Eye

If we were ever to make contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence, I would consider this book required reading for those who had to talk with the aliens. It is a very thought provoking and original take on first contact.

On Basilisk Station
(Honor Harrington, Book 1) by David Weber is only $1.99 if you pick up the free Kindle version first and then add narration.

I just grabbed it for free on Amazon

This is also free. The first one in the series.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BEQP50Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1504727541&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=john+ringo&dpPl=1&dpID=61erO6oqYBL&ref=plSrch

Free on kindle for us Englanders.

There weren't enough framberries in the cake.

The novel was a childhood favorite of mine.

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Even non sci-fi readers that I've recommended it to have enjoyed it and been intrigued by the future warfare that the book describes.

First books that come to mind:

• The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven
  
• Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
  
• Blindsight by Peter Watts
  
• Excession by Iain M. Banks (pushing the theme a bit but it deals with how humans and "Minds" deal with a more advanced culture than their own)

The Forever War might be to your liking.

You mean like in this book?

Here are two great zero cost books:
A Hymn Before Battle: http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/
Gust Front: http://www.amazon.com/Gust-Front-Legacy-Aldenata-Book-ebook/dp/B00BEQP2R0/

Then get the audiobooks for only $1.99 each with Matchmaker: https://www.amazon.com/gp/audible/matchmaker

Hard science fiction I liked are:

Old, and famous authors:
The Mote in God's Eye [series] (Niven, Pournelle)
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926


New, and unknown authors:
Allopoly: The Cycle of Civilization (Hadges)
http://allopoly.com

I'm going to suggest The Mote in God's Eye too. It has a truly imaginative and extremely inhuman take on an alien culture. Unfortunately mixed up in that is some of the most terribly drawn human characters I've ever encountered in a book.

But it is worth reading through those parts because the aliens are brilliant.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have the same problem as mentioned in the article. But! It has a very alien, alien species in the book and it's the book I point to whenever I'm asked (I have never been asked this yet) for an alien species that are truly different from humans.

Anyone else have other books that involve alien aliens? Or alien humans?

Not dead. https://www.amazon.com/BattleTech-Academy-Incident-Jennifer-Brozek/dp/1942487711/ref=la_B0031SXNCU_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525562861&sr=1-2

There was also new fiction released for the new PC game via Kickstarter.

That book reminded me of [The Mote in God's Eye] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Mote-Gods-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1382107573&sr=8-1&keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Worth checking out.

https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Man-Science-Fiction-Thriller-ebook/dp/B00AHJIJF2

Recommended

> ('remove the log from your own eye before you bother with the splinter in your brother's eye')

As a complete aside, The Mote in God's Eye, is a really good book.

I'm not a huge sci-fi book fan (Dune was cool), but read The Forever War (http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293510846&sr=8-1). It's great.

John Ringo goes over some of the reasons in his first Legacy of the Aldenata book: A Hymn Before Battle

Free kindle e-book version: Amazon Link

Archives for the links in comments:

• By Piroko (cuchillosmuela.com): http://archive.fo/PcK6g
  
• By Gamer9103 (apple.com): http://archive.fo/lY8bW
  
• By Piroko (amazon.com): http://archive.fo/ZOIA8
  
• By Piroko (knifeup.com): http://archive.fo/oGzg8
  
• By Izkata (journals.plos.org): http://archive.fo/ypxN6
  
  ----
  I am Mnemosyne 2.1, Click with me if you want to live. ^^^^/r/botsrights ^^^^Contribute ^^^^message ^^^^me ^^^^suggestions ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time ^^^^Opt ^^^^out ^^^^of ^^^^tracking ^^^^by ^^^^messaging ^^^^me ^^^^"Opt ^^^^Out" ^^^^at ^^^^any ^^^^time

The Mote in God's Eye also features a solar sail ship powered by giant lasers.

https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926


The concept is called a photonic laser thruster by scientists and engineers I'd you want to look up more about systems from a real world point of view.

Some light reading, perhaps?

The Forever War books by Joe Haldeman.

• The Forever War
  
• Enders Game
  
• Wool

Try:

• The Forever War by John Haldeman
  
  
• Armor by John Steakley
  
  
• Old Man's War by John Scalzi
  
  Hmm, apparently anything written by a John something or the other will work...

There is a lot of stuff in interstellar :D

Marooned in Realtime Deals with long time spans

Spin deals with dying earth and people dealing with it scientifically and not, ways to surpass it.

The Forever War deals with the human effects of time dilation

This one or this one?

Have you read The Forever War?

David Brin's Uplift series. Some invasion novels, a lot of first contact/conflict.

Also, The Mote in God's Eye, and The Legacy of Heorot. More first contact than first invasion, but they have the same effect.

The book is The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I'm not very far into it, but I've also already seen a character named Jock (as in Jock Fireblast).

Another different take: http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926. It's a first-contact book with a military side, but with a twist.

there's also "The Mote in God's Eye "
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300456314&sr=1-5

May i add suggest a mote in gods eye
https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=nodl_

I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.

I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" to that list (along with it's sequel.)

Edit: Also Hamilton's other space opera, the "Night's Dawn" trilogy.

And of course the follow-up trilogy to Pandora's Star, The Void series, but I consider that part of the same story as Pandora's Star.

http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926

Old man's war

this one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/0765309408

The Janissaries by Jerry Pournelle

Maybe it's John Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle?