Reddit mentions: The best science fiction anthology books

Hi! Welcome to the challenge! The more I read, the more books just seem to fall in my lap. As I read reviews, I do keep a list of books that sound interesting to me. However, I rarely read what I originally "planned" to read. I'm reading almost exclusively on my Kindle right now, and I'm trying to read almost everything for free. Most of my book choices are based on what's available at the library.

Don't feel like you HAVE to be bogged down in a genre, but if you want to try out some sci-fi and fantasy, there are some great books out there.

Good Omens might be a great start for fantasy. It's written as a collaboration between two of my favorite fantasy authors (Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman). It's a LOT of fun. It's also a good choice because it's a stand-alone book. It's not part of a long, complicated series. That way, you can get your feet wet without feeling obligated to read tons of books.

Neil Gaiman also wrote Stardust, American Gods, Neverwhere and lots of other great books in Fantasy. He's a wonderful storyteller.

Terry Pratchett wrote (and is still writing) a huge series of books called Discworld. They're very cleverly done, and they're a lot of fun. If that's a series you're interested in, there are guides that can give you an idea of where to start. Discworld Guide

Sci-Fi can be fun- they're doing a movie for Ender's Game soon. I enjoy the book even if I'm not a big fan of the author as a person.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is beloved by most Sci-Fi fans. Like Pratchett, it's more of a funny, witty approach to the genre.

You might even just want to try some of the Best of Sci-Fi short stories collections like this one here.

That's by no means a comprehensive list, but it's a good starting point.

Well, I have very different tastes than you when it comes to space opera (I hated Pandora's Star, loved Hyperion), but I'll throw out the more recent space opera that I've liked anyway. You can be the judge:

1. Iain M Banks. The Culture series is phenomenal, one of the best long-running SF series of the modern era. You'll probably dig Use of Weapons, that's a fine place to start, as is Consider Phlebas. Worth noting that while it's not a continuous story line and technically you can start with any of the books, Excession, Look to Windward, and the final Hydrogen Sonata all benefit from having read a few other novels first, since they're more focused on the deep lore of the world. Banks' non-Culture space operas are also very good, I particularly liked The Algebreist.
   
   
2. Peter Watts. In particular, Blindsight and his more recent novella, The Freeze-Frame Revolution, are his novels set entirely in space settings. Both are rather hard, philosophical SF.
   
   
3. The New Space Opera is a short story collection available on Audible. There are a tonne of different authors featured in it, most of whom also have novel-length space operas. Might be worth listening to that, keeping track of the stories you like, then going down rabbit holes with those authors.
   
   
4. Ann Leckie. I've only read part of one book, but her "Ancillary" novels have gotten a lot of praise.
   
   
5. Yoon Ha Lee. Ninefox Gambit is one of the best military space operas I've ever read. Honestly if you like Hamilton, this is probably the book I can give the most glowing recommendation for. It's really well written, has just phenomenal worldbuilding, is dark and almost kind of scary at points. Lee has also written a number of short stories if you want to try him out first.
   
   
6. David Brin. I've only read Startide Rising, but it's another "if you like Hamilton, Brin does it better". Like Lee, the books are much shorter than Hamilton's, but I think there's a similar sense of a huge, well-developed universe with lots of exploration of it. I also enjoyed his latest novel, Existence, although that's more Earthbound.
   
   
7. Finally, have you heard of Gregory Benford? I always place him in the same place in my head as Hamilton, big universe-spanning far-future space opera. But I haven't read anything from him in ages.

Composing this reply, I'm struggling to define "best".

The shortlist is:

1. Voice of the Whirlwind is basically cyberpunk with corporate intersystem space espionage, and it was the first of his books that I read.
   When I found this novel in a secondhand bookshop in Brighton, I'd never read anything like it and it blew me away. This was before the internet was commonplace, and I have a distinct memory of experiencing surprise and pleasure, upon rediscovering Voice of the Whirlwind, at the realisation that I was now able to search this guy on Amazon and find out what else he'd written.
   Simply because I'm such a fanboi of this book, I can't recommend it in any kind of unbiased way, but I think it should get more recognition.
   
   
2. Metropolitan and its sequel City on Fire are unique and either genre-defining or -defying. It's absolutely safe for me to again say that this is an under-recognised work of Williams' - someone will probably chine in to say "I see WJW recommended here all the time", but there are so many space flight / exploration books which are constantly mentioned by this subreddit that don't have a fraction of the originality of Metropolitan. With it WJW rips up the rules and recreates the universe on his own terms.
   
   
3. The Green Leopard Plague is a relatively recent publication - perhaps I'm including it for that reason but it's also a shorter work, which is what WJW likes writing best.
   I'm not sure if WJW would consider short stories his "artistic calling", but certainly he's said that he'd like to write more of them and can't, because only full-length novels pay the bills.
   I do have reservations about Green Leopard Plague, but I think these boil down to an insubstantial feeling that it's somehow "not science fiction enough", yet I think that's actually a reflection of the literary quality of the writing, something which is in really short supply in the genre.
   There is something really enigmatic about the way events in this story are seen from different views, and I think its portrayal of data research is also really insightful.
   
   Additional, I think that Angel Station and Ambassador of Progress are worthy of mentioning, both really solid sci-fi, and that his short stories (another collection) deserve to be read.
   
   I'm sure I've read Aristoi twice now, but to be honest I find it a bit unmemorable.
   
   I have a bit of a theory about the eclectic range of William's work and that it divides his audience - if you loved Aristoi then you might not agree with my recommendations.
   
   Whereas some authors always carry a similar tone, flavour and vision throughout everything they write, I don't think it's possible to judge Williams properly or fairly without reading a good body of his work.

I too like books with anthro characters, but there is a lack of quality in what is available. Here is a short list of posted in an earlier thread:

I would recommend looking at the reviews on flayrah. Personally, I have not found much in the way of quality furry literature, but I have read a few.

The Sacred Book of The Werewolf by Victor Pelevin. There are two kinds of furry books: those writen by furries and those that are writen by non-furries. This is one of the latter. I do not have the time to give a full review, but if you like werewolves, kitsune, eastern philosophies, Russian culture (or at least curious about it) eastern and russian folklore, and supernatural romances, you might just like (I did). Furriness - 6, Quality - 10 [I want to add that this book has very mature scenes]

Ringworld by Larry Niven. This usually shows up somewhere on the top 100 sci fi novels. However, this is another book not written by a furry, and it shows since only one character could be classified as "furry". Furriness - 4, Quality - 10

Rise of the Wolf by Curtis Jobling. I have not read much of this so far, but from what I have seen it is high fantasy. So far, I have not been impressed with the writing, which is why I haven't finished it. Furriness >5, Quality <6

In Wilder Lands by Jim Galford. Another high fantasy novel, but this one was much better written. I will be buying the sequel when comes out, for whatever it is worth. It does have a few problems, namely that many characters and the world need to be fleshed out more. Furriness - 9, Quality - 7.

Spice and Wolf by Isuna Hasekura. Yes, I know it is not exactly furry, but OP may still like it. One of the main character is a wolf "god" who takes the form a young woman, and the other is a traveling merchant. The setting is largely inspired by post dark ages Europe and is not overwhelmed with fantasy brickabrack. Furriness - 2, Quality - 8

I am going to pick up Red Sails in the Fallout tomorrow for my kindle, since the sample is holding my interest. I might also pick up Argo and Ten Thousand Miles Up. These last two books are short stories not novels.

Edit: misspelled book

Oh man, this is hard.

• Zoo City - Lauren Beukes
  
• Redemption in Indigo - Karen Lord
  
• The Gate - Basma Abdel Aziz
  
• Boxers and Saints - Gene Luen Yang
  
• The Mall - SL Grey
  
• Escape from Baghdad! - Saad Hossain
  
• Osama - Lavie Tidhar
  
• Boy of Earth and Fire - Sami Shah
  
• Otared - Mohammed Rabie
  
• Things We Found During the Autopsy - Kuzhali Manickavel
  
  I think Yang was born in the US, everyone is 'non-Western'. Two (Otared, The Gate) are in translation.
  
  My editing partner is infinitely more widely read than I am, and her knowledge of all the contemporary literature that exists outside of the US/UK puts me to shame. I secretly study so I can catch up, but I am constantly stunned by how much good stuff is out there if I look for it. The challenge is, it is virtually never promoted (by retailers, reviewers or publishers), even when it comes from a mainstream publisher. Small presses and organisations like PEN are definitely doing great work though.
  
  For folks interested in sampling authors from all over, the Apex Book of World SF series is a terrific, global 'best of' series, and you can get the first four volumes for $11 or so.

Interesting idea.
Anywho, I don't have any books, but I do have a bunch o' short stories, almost all available online to read for free, over here: http://jeremyszal.wordpress.com/short-stories/

Choose which ones you'd like to read and where you'd like to read it, but I'd personally recommend this one: http://www.onthepremises.com/issue_23/story_23_h1.html

Also, if you do want to buy my stuff, I'm in a magazine with a few other authors, one of which was a creative director behind Dragon Age: Origins and a few other Bioware titles. So you'll know it'll be good. (I'm using him as a scapegoat pitch for my stuff.) It be here: http://www.amazon.com/Robot-Raygun-2-Brent-Knowles-ebook/dp/B00J3519O4/ref=la_B00J48JU6O_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1406031549&sr=1-1

Cheers!
Jeremy Szal

What genre are you looking for? Fiction, non-fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.? Also, about reading digitally: try the Kindle Paperwhite. It's cheap at like $120 ("cheap" here may still be expensive, I know you said funds are limited - maybe Christmas request from mom/dad?) and has a pretty nice "natural" e-ink display. E-readers overall are really good for eye strain vs. reading on a LCD. If you prefer print, then stop into your local bookstore. You can also get print copies of things like Asimov's or Clarkesworld at amazon.com and they're only a few bucks. The Kindle versions are a lot cheaper of course, but the print version is still like 7 bucks - see: http://www.amazon.com/Clarkesworld-Issue-88-Neil-Clarke/dp/0615946283/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1397864771&sr=8-4&keywords=clarkesworld

As far as finding markets open to submissions: check out www.duotrope.com. Quite a large database with some excellent sorting features and metrics, but requires $5 month cost. Other places like www.ralan.com are free.

You should read Wool I can't even describe how awesome this book is. Over 7,000 people have reviewed it and most of them loved it like I did. Everything by Hugh Howey that I've read I've loved. I'd like this book which is also a dytopia type book which is what Wool is. Thanks for the contest.

Stand On Zanzibar, The Jagged Orbit and The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner. Dystopian Science Fiction, but they are three of the best out there.

I am currently re-reading his book The Shockwave Rider, and it is very likely I might re-read these after it. He was such a unique writer of this genre and much of it is quite prescient.

This novel has been republished as a trade paper back recently too. I hope it will spark interest in all of his work.

**I just realized that I may have not been on topic, but these three books have been coined John Brunner's "American Trilogy" by some.

I don't know about awe-inspiring, but I think 'The Crossing' by Cormac McCarthy is one of the most moving pieces of fiction I've ever read.

'Blood Meridian' is usually considered his best and most literary work, however, and it is quite good.

'Stand on Zanzibar' by John Brunner is really good and surprisingly predictive of our current world.

One, if you've read the big Tales from the Dying Earth omnibus with the original short stories, two Cugel novels and the Rhialto stuff, you've read all the Dying Earth stuff written. (And I'd be surprised if you didn't, because that's the only edition that's widely available for sale.

Two, magic in the original stories is basically based on magic in traditional fairy tales. Our hero goes on an adventure and meets three people who give him three very specific magic items and later on it just so happens the three seemingly impossible challenges can be solved by them. It's a structure that is kinda hard to replicate in a RPG, where the story isn't pre-written to neatly resolve like that...

Three - but the Dying Earth RPG, which, as you might surmise, is the RPG based on the series, tries. AFAIR, they just go "ok, you have X casting slots, you could have potentially memorized the following spells, when you want to cast something you just go 'oh I happened to memorize The Nipple Dissolving Whimsy earlier today' and mark off one slot'. (Although this might not be the case in every edition of the game?)

Anyway, in conclusion, read more Vance, he's fantastic. I recommend Demon Princes.

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds is a really good read, though it's a bit more "hard" sci fi than a lot of other sci fi out there. I'm a guy, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the motivations behind each female lead (there are 2!), but they both felt very strong and well characterized to me.

In fact, all of his novels tend to have very strong female characters, I can't think of a single book I've read of his that didn't have a a female co-lead (or villain!) at the very least.

I think the Amber series is probably my favorite, but The Doors of His Face, The Lamps of His Mouth is a close second. "This Immortal" is my favorite novella of his it's chock full of Greek mythology.

Still I think Lord of Light might be his best 'technical' story, if that makes sense.

Yes, I admit I didn't retype the entire theme of Vance's work. It's too complicated for me to do justice to it by doing so. If you're interested, Amazon has the entire collection on Kindle! I really recommend it.

Not a new book yet, but a new story was just released in this anthology. Just borrowed it for free as a Prime member, but I haven't read it. According to his blog, the story "In the Air" takes place in the Wool world.

Edit: just read it. Definitely in the Wool universe, and very good. It's short... Read it in about 15 minutes

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds

or

Blindsight by Peter Watts

Depends on what sort of stuff you like, Blindsight is darker and pretty philosophical, focusing especially on consciousness and perception, while Pushing Ice is more classical sci-fi on a grander scale with a good helping of technical stuff and character drama/politics.

The Plagiarist. He writes some amazing stories. I read Wool even though I'm not into apocalypse fiction and was hooked immediately but not prepared for the last two thirds of the book, and Shift and Dust in that trilogy were equally as awesome.

Nice guy, too.

Humans wanted.

> Twelve authors provide their perspectives on human ingenuity and usefulness as we try to find our place among the stars. From battletested to brokenhearted, humans are capable of amazing things. Humans Wanted shows not only what we are, but how awesome we can be.

A friend lent me the novella The Plagerist by Hugh Howey on kindle and it was incredible. So tight and such a cool concept told in really wonderful language. It's not a full length novel but definitely worth a read! [http://www.amazon.com/The-Plagiarist-Hugh-Howey-ebook/dp/B004ZUZT5W]

It's a short story, but Mary Robinette Kowal's For Want of a Nail should fit the bill.

Also, it's free on her website! (Or you can pay for it here )

If you like hard(ish) sci-fi, Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds has two strong female leads.

It's one of my favorite books and I probably read it once every year.

There's a wonderful piece by Hugh Howey called The Plagiarist about this very thing.

The guy descends into the simulated worlds and copies great works of art from them into our world. He has a girlfriend in one of the worlds that's getting too expensive to run, since they started running simulations in their world...

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


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.

My recommendation would be: Exile's Return

Rick Griffin has also done a short or two.

If you want to go old school, Sholan Alliance series is a good choice

For free stuff, I would check out Sunset of Furmankind by Ted R. Blasingame If you dont mind simpler writing Blue Horizon is also worth a look at.

I could look though my physical books and likely come up with a few more, but there isn't a whole lot of scifi.

Edit: A few more:
Otters in space, it is a bit better then the title suggest.

John Van Stry used to write stuff. Not to fond of his current model, and hes not really targeting furs anymore.

On a little different note, its worth mentioning the deathless series when talking about Audio Books. Its not really targeted at furries, but its a post-apocalyptic tongue in cheek scifi/horror that starts out with "No such thing as werewolves"

I may read to much.

Thanks for posting the link to the podcast, looks interesting and can't wait to give it a listen. You might enjoy Hugh Howey's story The Plagiarist https://www.amazon.com/Plagiarist-Hugh-Howey-ebook/dp/B004ZUZT5W which deals with the death of a virtual world. Well worth the $0.99!

The book is by Karl Schroeder. Very underrated author, I would definitely recommend him to anyone who likes scifi.

Which is the plot to the very good sci-fi novel of Pushing Ice

Couldn't find the post but apparently, the post inspired a book and I'm assuming it has at least some of the stories that were posted.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074N1R65F/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

I'm still looking for the post but the title of the book is the same as the post. Humans Wanted

The Undesired Princess and the Enchanted Bunny

The Reluctant Shaman and Other Fantastic Tales

The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories

Deathbird Stories

Shatterday

I'm reading Karl Schroder's Lady of Mazes right now, and it has a lot to do with this idea. So far I'm really loving the book, about 2/3 through it now.

Pushing Ice meets the most of your requirements.

Forever Peace was a good read.

And Steal Across the Sky was worth reading.

Rather than the Revelation Space story itself, I actually prefer some of his "stand-alone" books. I quite liked Pushing Ice and The Prefect (which happens to take place in the Revelation Space universe.

If I wasn't clear - I really am not agreeing with that, I'm saying those are things that everyone can agree are terrible.

One of my favorite authors is Mary Robinette Kowal, I certainly don't think that women can't write hard SF.

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)

Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds should fit the bill. http://www.amazon.com/Pushing-Ice-Alastair-Reynolds/dp/0575083115

I second Alastair Reynolds. I'd say with most of his work, you're due for some seriously epic timespans. I recommend his tome Pushing Ice — from near-present to the vastly distant reaches of the end of time.

UK link

Swan Song by Robert McCammon

Earth Abides by George Stewart

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

Z for Zachariah Robert O'Brien

Deathlands series 116 books so far.

The Last Ranger by Craig Sargent. "Good" is debatable

The Road Cormac McCarthy

The Postman David Brin

The End is Nigh Ed. by John Joseph Adams. This just came out.

source: The Storyboard (e621 | fA)

artist: Rick Griffin (twitter | tumblr | e621 tag)

characters: Ateri and Jakari from Hayven Celestia/Ten Thousand Miles Up (amazon listing). they're Geroo, a sci-fi kangaroo race made up by Rick, but they're tagged as just "kangaroo" on e621.