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This is not exactly what you're looking for but may be close enough.

Jack McDevitt has a series of novels about 2 antiquities dealers in future. Typically they come across an unusual artifact or story. They then have to work out the truth in a similar fashion to the detective mysteries you mention.

They are called the Alex Benedict novels. They are an easy read but raise interesting questions IMHO. All but the first are told from the PoV of Chase Kolpath, Alex Benedict's pilot and partner.

I started with the third novel, Seeker, which won the Nebula award.

I've read them all and found them entertaining, though somewhat repetitive in some plot devices. You don't have to start at the beginning of the series.

FWIW Jack McDevitt has a second group of books called The Academy series. I've read a few of them and liked them but prefer the Alex Benedict novels.

Hope this helps. You might also ask for help in /r/printsf - a sub dedicated to written scifi.

Edit: I also thought of another story that contains an pretty good mystery. It's called Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future. It has a great ending.

Walter Jon Williams is quite an underrated author, IMO.

I love Voice Of The Whirlwind, which is kinda William Gibson, but in some ways (not all) better IMO.

Metropolitan has a very original setting - Williams says that it's not really sci-fi, but then it's not really fantasy, either. It's just a totally awesome piece of imagining, and a good story and characters to boot.

Angel Station is a first-contact tale and I really like the way he has created an alien life that is properly alien and different to us. Not only that but he spends time exploring that difference - it's not just an aside amongst many other aliens seen in passing, but it's important to the interaction with the humans and to the story.

What's great about Williams' work is that its really diverse, so if you don't like these books, you may very well like some of his other stuff - don't let a bad experience put you off him. I really want the guy to break out and be really successful.

While not my favorite ever I really enjoyed the Otherland series (only four volumes but each book is fairly large).

It's entertaining cyberpunk and features some interesting looks at the future. Very enjoyable read.

Another (shorter) series that is good for a quick read and a lighter introduction to scifi is The Risen Empire. Split into two parts (although together they would have made an only slightly-large novel) it's along the border of Hard Scifi and "pulp scifi". I'd consider it as an okay introduction to hard scifi.

Which leads me to the third and forth series, Alastair Reynold's Revelation Space. Reynold's is hard scifi, meaning that there are points where he spends twice as much time describing the technical details when character advancement would be very much welcome. However, this also means he takes into account things like relativistic travel and how boring space battles would be to spectators. Awesome books though.

Last but not least is the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson. It's hard scifi that doesn't lose sight of character development. Also, out of all the books I've mentioned I'd have to call it the most "realistic" as the technological point at which it starts could conceivably be reached in the next decade or so.

All enjoyable reads, all enjoyable scifi. After (or during) these don't forget to check out classics like Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Banks, etc. Especially Asimov's Foundation books or the short(ish) story Nightfall, although the original short story can easily be considered better than the expanded version linked (so you might want to stop reading when you reach the end of the original).

Hey /r/scifi - greetings from a /r/fantasy reader/contributor, and huge thanks for the opportunity to shill my wares this Saturday afternoon :) If you're still around, here's my pitch:

The buzz is building as They Mostly Come Out At Night launches - it has been selected as one of the top 30 covers in Mark Lawrence's SPFBO, and a recent advance reviewer on Goodreads wrote: "They Mostly Come Out At Night is every dark fantasy reader's dream."

The book was released on Thursday, and is currently at the reduced price of 99 cents (99p in the UK). Here's the product description:

He locked himself away from the dark, but in the Magpie King’s forest nowhere is safe…

Lonan is an outcast, accused of letting the monsters that stalk the night into the homes of his fellow villagers. Now, he will not rest until he wins back the heart of his childhood love and reclaims the life that was stolen from him. However, locked safely in his cellar at night, in his dreams Lonan finds himself looking through the eyes of a young prince…

Adahy has a destiny, and it terrifies him. How can he hope to live up to the legend of the Magpie King, to become the supernatural protector of the forest and defender of his people? But when the forest is invaded by an inhuman force, Adahy must rise to this challenge or let the Wolves destroy his people.

Watching these events unfold in his sleep, Lonan must do what he can to protect his village from this new threat. He is the only person who can keep his loved ones from being stolen away after dark, and to do so he will have to earn back their trust or watch the monsters kill everyone that he holds dear.

[Amazon.com page] (http://www.amazon.com/They-Mostly-Come-Out-Night-ebook/dp/B01DL8S8F6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1459363122&sr=8-2&keywords=they+mostly)

[Amazon.co.uk page] (http://www.amazon.co.uk/They-Mostly-Come-Out-Night-ebook/dp/B01DL8S8F6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459363505&sr=8-1&keywords=they+mostly)

I'm redonkulously excited right now - would love to hear any feedback from people about what's out there so far. I'm also /r/Fantasy's Author of the Day on Monday, so would love to chat with you guys then!

Hey Everyone!

I just finished and released my second novel in the Origo series called "Ghost". In celebration I am making "Ghost" FREE on the Amazon Kindle store for a limited time. It is part two of the Origo series. If you search for the book on Amazon, the easiest way to find it is to type in "Ghost Tucker French". It is a continuation of "Haven". For those of you who did not read "Haven", the premise of the first book was that Earth was unable to support itself and was slowly dying. Pollution and overpopulation has run rampant for decades and have caused irreparable damage to the planet. The first book focused on a select group of humans, who take it upon themselves to venture into space and look for a new home for the Human race.

"Ghost" picks up where "Haven" left off. Lieutenant Nicholas Snow and his squad are on Origo and are desperately looking for a way off the planet. Follow them through their journey as they face new obstacles on the foreign planet.

I hope those of you who do download "Ghost" enjoy the story as much as I did when I was writing it.

One thing that I do ask is that you please leave an honest review of the book on the Amazon page when you finish reading it. I would be extremely grateful! Even if you don't have time to read the book now, I still encourage you to download it and save it for later! Thank you all, and I hope you enjoy the book!

You can follow me on twitter @tuckerfrench117 or on facebook

You can also follow me on my blog

The aspects of Clarke's style that you seem to enjoy really shine in the short story format. You said you've read everything, does that include his short fiction? There's a great anthology which collects them all.

Asimov was also great at writing short fiction, and I like this collection of his works.

Many of the stories curated in those anthologies were published 50 or so years ago in weekly/monthly science fiction magazines, you might see if any one has created 'best of science fiction weekly' collections.

Tor publishes short fiction for free on its website regularly. It's fairly hit or miss, but it's a good way to window shop authors.

A novel you might enjoy is Leviathan Wakes. It's a hard sci-fi novel in which humanity has colonized Mars and the Asteroid Belt. At this point all have their own unique cultures because it takes so long to travel between them. Not a lot of character development, which you don't seem to be into anyway, just fun ride in a cool setting. First in a series, but I haven't read the sequels yet so I can't comment on those.


You also might like The Martian, by Andy Weir. An astronaut is stranded by himself on Mars and has to survive. Weir wrote a short story called "The Egg" which gets posted to reddit on a regular basis.

Thanks so much for reading it! The whole book was actually just published on the amazon kindle store today! It's $0.99 currently, but should be free starting tomorrow for 5 days (Amazon doesn't let me make it free permanently apparently).

Here is the link to the book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Z8QMQ6G

I have a twitter if you want to follow it for updates (https://twitter.com/SNPrasher)

Thanks again for taking a chance on the book and for your time reading it :)

Oh I hope Leviathan Wakes wins best novel. If anyone hasn't heard of it now's the best time to start. Quite a great read and the sequel comes out this summer.

It's pretty light reading, but if you like the idea of an Indiana Jones style adventure in space (but with a bit more science), I would check out 'Seeker' by Jack McDevitt.

It's a pretty fun and engaging read.

Lnk: http://www.amazon.com/Seeker-Jack-McDevitt/dp/0441013759/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1291709470&sr=8-1

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson. Stunning scifi grand idea payoff in the conclusion. If you like it, the sequels are also magnificent. The climax of the last book, in particular, is mind shattering. It isn't a twist ending, because you have all the clues before the denouement. When the author finally puts them together, I promise you will be amazed and thoroughly satisfied.

I can't think of 3, because most of the authors I love were never really "known" enough to become forgotten. But I will mention two of those:

• Raphael Carter - The Fortunate Fall was the only book he (she?) wrote, but it was a total masterpiece.
  
• George Stewart also wrote only one novel: the excellent post-apocalyptic story Earth Abides.

StarRisk is good fun as long as you arn't looking for deep hidden meanings in your writing, because other than a few story twists it's fairly straightforward. That doesn't make it any less entertaining thou.

The Evergence series is a considerably more sophisticated read and you'll likely get some good milage out of the story on that one. Everything from ascended beings to cyborgs and super soldiers.

The two I was trying to remember are

Seeker: It's an exploration and discovery novel, so not particularly military in approach but interesting.

The Faded Sun Trilogy: This one is a retired military character that ends up in a fish out of water situation. It's admittedly very long and was a tougher read than I had anticipated when I picked it up but I enjoyed it even if I felt a bit burnt out at the end because there's so much going on and the pacing isn't that great since it's actually 3 books in one cover.

If you want to get absolutely insane milage out of a book series try the Otherland series. It's not a space opera but it's a heavy duty sci-fi regardless. For hard space sci-fi the Culture series is also really incredible and should probably be at the top of this list not the bottom.

A few other options (and these might have been mentioned in previous comments):

Clarke's Rama series (although the first two of the four, in my opinion, are the best).

Niven's Ringworld series -- Note: there is a great variety in the quality of these books-- some are great, some are not. The first one, Ringworld, is superb and definitely an anchor of the "Big Dumb Object" type of books. Protector is also great!

Peter Hamilton's Pandora's Star -- followed by Judas Unchained and the Void Trilogy ! Great world-building!

Greg Bear's Eon series

By the same author of Red Mars, pickup Icehenge -- a shorter read but definitely full of Kim Stanley Robinson's world-building depth.

If you want some "mind blowing" scifi, definitely look into the works of Greg Bear. He has a flair for writing stories that will make your jaw drop. Blood Music and Eon are good starters. Even tho both books do center around technology (nanotech and space travel, respectively), the writing is not tech heavy.

Two other books I strongly recommend are both collections of short stories that Orson Scott Card put together from various authors. The books are called Future on Fire and Future on Ice, and no the stories have nothing to do with temperature. Fire is supposed to have stories that get you fired up, Ice is supposed to be all stories that chill you to the bone. It's worth mentioning that Future on Ice contains the original Greg Bear story that Blood Music came from.

For something lighter hearted, my wife loves the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy books and, even tho it's more Fantasy then SciFi, you can't go wrong with the Discworld series. The early books can be a little rough, but the later novels are simply excellent writing. The city watch books are particularly thrilling reads.

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."

Mick Farren - The DNA Cowboys

Its got is all, fellowship, drugs, adventure, sex and buckets of general weirdness. Kind of DarkTowerish.


Allan Weisbecker - Cosmic Banditos

I had lots of awkward moments in public, trying (and failing) to stifle laughs. Great stuff. Worth it for the intro alone.


M. John Harrison - Light

This novel is unlike anything else I have read. That Harrison squeezes three stories in to this slim volume is a work of wonder.


John C. Wright - The Golden Age

If you like the Culture Novels, you will probably really like this.


Jeff VanderMeer - Veniss Underground

Disturbing and dark. Still haunts me.

Seriously, there's better fan-fic out there.

I like the Amazon reviews:
http://www.amazon.com/Paul-Dune-Brian-Herbert/dp/0765312948/

"KJA&BH understand nothing of this, or choses simply to ignore it - recasting Dune as an action romp with neat guns and overkill assasination attempts featuring blood and gore. "

"Again we have cardboard characters whose roles seem only loyal to the new Dune of the authors rather than their original characterization. Simpleton plots abound that a toddler could spot. Hardened warriors giggle like school girls. Fremen act like Viking invaders. All in all, this is not Dune. "

"I have read two chapters in this book and am ready to burn it together with all the other atrocities written by Kevin J Hackerson and the other guy.

This book is beyond bad ... way beyond bad. The number of ridiculous inconsistencies with the original books is already too high for any Dune fan to bear, and that just after two 2 page chapters!

The writers haven't grasped the tiniest bits of what Dune is about. Worse is that the character Paul Muad'Dib is changed from the tragic hero he was in Dune and Dune Messiah into a tyrant.

Let nobody be fooled that the only reason these books are published is because the name Dune is on the cover and its the name Dune that makes money ... it has nothing to do with literature or good science fiction."

<with a french waiters accent>

For madam,

I would propose either china miéville "Perdido..." or Robert Charles Wilson "spin". Both weave interesting believable characters within a good sf plot.

But If you want a page turner, I would say Eliantris or Warbreaker both by brandon sanderson. They're fantasy and really hard to put down.

In the end, I would propose "To say nothing of the dog" by connie Willis. Very clever and funny with a time travel theme.

</with a french waiters accent>

( Damn, I really liked to be a bookseller...)

The Egg is such a great story. It's not by Stephen King, though - it's by Andy Weir, who also wrote the excellent, excellent book The Martian

Since the top /r/scifi post right now is about Alastair Reynolds, maybe you can try his books. I think his books are one of the best in the Space Opera genre, and written very well.

You can start with his most popular series, Revelation Space, but his other books are stellar (ha) as well, like House of Suns, or Century Rain.

Those Amazon reviews are brilliant... you can see exactly the mentality behind the reviews.

For example, a reader that gave Paul of Dune 5 big shiny stars:

> OMGGGGGGGGG.. I'm only on page 77.. and I LOVE it.
...And I beleve that Frank Herbert would be soooo proud of ALL of your books. I cherish mine. I ordered my Paul of Dune waaaaaay back in May and just got it the other day.

OMG, indeed.

On the other hand, one reviewer gave it 0 stars, calling it a 'travesty':

>I sat down to read Paul of Dune with much trepidation, Hunters and Sandworms were atrocious examples of writing that I debated long and hard if i should even attempt to slog through the moronic prose and cardboard characterization that are earmarks of Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson.

I was actually going to suggest the entire Old Man's War series. It's very good. Actually, all of Scalzi's books are great. Just finished Lock In for the 4th or 5th time. And Forever War was amazing.

I'd also suggest Eon by Greg Bear if you're into high scifi concepts.

And I haven't seen it on the comments, but I'm sure it's there. The Expanse Series by James S.A. Corey. The Syfy series is doing a wonderful job adapting it to the small screen.

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

US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZTXWSY8

UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZTXWSY8

CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07ZTXWSY8

Cheers!

FYI: You can get Kindle ebooks on iPhone/iPad if you purchase them on Amazon through your browser (Safari), then download them with the Kindle app (free in the app store). Android users can buy/download directly through the Kindle app, and Kindle for PC is free for Windows users.

> I think Harlan Ellison wrote a screenplay for an actual direct adaptation of I, Robot that's in print actually.

He certainly did! Complete with an introduction by Isaac Asimov himself - where Asimov says he loved Ellison's treatment of his book.

I have a copy of this on my bookshelf. :)

Sorry you're having trouble. Here's a link that a couple of friends used for the UK.
Amazon UK.
Let me know if that works. Otherwise, I'll try another link. Thanks again. Merry Christmas :)

Harlan Ellison made it work.

An illustrated screenplay he wrote was published several years ago, and it's actually pretty good. It shouldn't be too hard to find at a library.

All the short stories are tied together by a journalist who's investigating Susan Calvin. So over the course of the movie, we would have gotten flashbacks to all the stories as the reporter conducted interviews. And the movie would have had an interesting twist ending that wasn't in the book.

I dunno if these will float your boat but you can try:

Traitor - Amazing standalone book set in the starwars universe

Ender's saga - Philosphy, strategy

Dune series - Abstract philosophy, higher concepts

Ringworld - Haven't read it but I've heard it's worth a go. I'm going to start it as soon as I finish the bloody Sword of Truth series.

Hitchhikers - Need I explain?

Spin by Robert Charles Wilson is pretty great.

Grow Up is a comedy sci-fi with giant mechs and aliens pretending to be human. It's a sequel to another book of mine (Level Up), but can be enjoyed standalone.

Here's the blurb:

Up until this morning, the biggest thing Josh had to worry about was completing Shadow Souls on sadistic difficulty. Oh, and his upcoming exams.

That was before he caught the attention of a planet of intergalactic trial-by-combat lawyers that use giant mechs to fight their legal battles. Now he has bigger things to worry about. Much, much bigger. The only advantage he has is his trusty games controller, but will it be enough to beat a Level 10 Behemoth?

Josh isn’t the only one having a rough day. Gargle was your run-of-the-mill, body swapping, ethereal alien courier. Everything was going great, until he was dropped off on Earth and asked to blend in with a crowd of teenagers. Josh only has to save the world, Gargle has to survive puberty.

USA: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VWLQL6N

Uk: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VWLQL6N

Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07VWLQL6N

Australia: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B07VWLQL6N

I think everyone wants to like the idea of what Gravity is - SurvivorMan in space.
If you want that, but in a more technical and hard sci-fi kinda way I have got to recommend you read the Martian by Andy Weir. Really very well done!

For a newish, highly entertaining read, I'd recommend Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey. Do it soon, Syfy is making a TV series out of it next year, and you don't want the crappy photo reprint cover with the embossed "NOW A HIT TV SERIES" burst.

Sci-fantasy is what you're after! I have a (adult) series written just in that vein. First book free. Have a looksee if it's your kinda thing :) https://www.amazon.com/WULF-Weird-Sci-Fantasy-Western-Fifth-ebook/dp/B01NBLPFZF

I'm reading The Golden Age right now and it's pretty good.

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey!! It's the first book in The Expanse series and it has seriously every thing you're looking for, and is a great, well written space opera.

Eon by Greg Bear

Maybe Neverness by David Zindell. Though the "mysterious artifact" in it isn't exactly an artifact. Still, it's a crime that this novel has been out of print for over a decade.

Frederik Pohl's Heechee series, beginning with Gateway. Pulpy, but enjoyable.

Ringworld of course, but I'm sure you've already heard of that one.

edit: Whoops. You mentioned Pohl already.

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

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.

If you liked Rendezvous with Rama, you will also like Ringworld by Larry Niven. https://www.amazon.com/Ringworld-Del-book-Larry-Niven/dp/0345333926

You will love anything by Jack McDevitt. Especially http://www.amazon.com/Seeker-Jack-McDevitt/dp/0441013759

The Golden Age is the best far-future book I've ever read.

Theres actually a current Science workaround to FTL communication.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement

If we can find a way to artificially induce quantum entanglement in a pair of trapped particles, then we can communicate information between the pair by way of sending spin through the entanglement.

||I think a good story could be told about a human society who gets FTL technology after a few millennia of "shot-in-the-dark" ark ships. Let's go visit the cousins, somebody says, but the isolation has caused them all to develop in very unique ways...and whatever breakthrough led to the heroes getting FTL may have led the other systems to develop stranger things.

http://www.eveonline.com/
http://www.amazon.ca/Spin-Robert-Charles-Wilson/dp/076534825X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1314037179&sr=8-3

Both those 'stories' play with the idea of a divergent species due to relativistic separations

I've just finished Leviathan Wakes, an excellent hard sci-fi space opera. A sequel should come out this summer

Hull Zero Three by Greg Bear

Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds - this is a /r/scifi favourite but in this case, at least for this book, it's a very similar setting to the original Alien

I'm still waiting for Ellison's screenplay of I, Robot to be made into a movie.

One faithful rendition, that's all I ask.

Thanks for that. Commenting to placemark the thread.

Here's the link for amazon.co.uk

I seriously enjoyed the entire The Golden Age trilogy (John C. Wright).

If I had to choose one Robert Charles Wilson novel, I'd probably opt for Spin.

Walter Jon Williams has an interesting take on this, in his novel Voice Of The Whirlwind

In the future, a brutal war between rival space-faring corporations is ended by the arrival of The Powers, an alien species with advanced technology to trade. The corps engage in covert ops, industrial espionage and assassination in order to gain advantage with The Powers, and access to their technology. The Powers, in turn, play one corp against the other for their own reasons...

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.

If you want a future in which time is currency, try the Golden Age series by John C. Wright.

Leviathan Wakes has the ships flip around backwards. But I think the difference you may be looking for is one of the dividing lines between hard(ish) and soft(ish) SF.

Check this book out http://www.amazon.com/Leviathan-Wakes-James-S-A-Corey/dp/0316129089/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414424976&sr=8-1&keywords=leviathan+wakes

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0316129089

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

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.

>You can't base a movie on I robot because it is a collection of short stories showing how anomolies can occur in the 3 laws...

I beg to fucking differ.

Encounter with Tiber

Spin

Julian Comstock

Domain / Resurrection

Dragon's Egg / Starquake

The Golden Age series by John C. Wright.

Having read Harlan Ellison's screenplay years before this Will Smith vehicle came out, all I can say is I was very very sad thinking about what it should have been. Visually it was a good sci-fi popcorn action movie, but I just wish...

The Golden Age trilogy by John Wright.

http://www.amazon.com/Golden-Age-Book/dp/0812579844

Thousands of years in the future, sorry. But, hard sci fi it is.

Have you read Spin?

http://www.amazon.com/Spin-Robert-Charles-Wilson/dp/076534825X

Give it a shot is you haven't... its fairly short anyway, so it not a huge commitment.

Also, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

http://www.amazon.com/The-Name-Wind-Kingkiller-Chronicles/dp/0756404746

I can hear you saying OOOOOH i don't like fantasy much! Well, neither do i, but I read name of the wind, wise mans fear, and am anxiously awaiting number 3.

Ringworld by Larry Niven is a classic. Take a handful of primary characters and dump them in a mind-boggingly huge, alien, breath-taking world... sit back and absorb the awesome...

EDIT: Oppps... just noticed you already mentioned Ringworld. I'm dumb. Sorry.