The Warhammer 40K universe is very large but the WH40K hobby breaks down into a few buckets.

You have lore, the mythology.

A good place to start is to read books like The Horus Heresy series of books.

You can find these on Amazon or The Black Library as well as many other places. Prices comparable to equivelant paperbacks.

If books aren't your thing, there are many youtube channels devoted to exploring the lore of every chapter, and race within the WH40K universe. Vaults of Terra was one that I found early on and have enjoyed a great deal.

Many people gain exposure to WH40K through video games like Space Marine and the DOW series.

The table top strategy game also is diverse and has its own skill trees. Some people prefer to spend much of their time painting amazing models, some even make their living doing so. Converting is its own thing, where people take bits from various models and sculpt them together to make their own amalgamations from their imaginations and nightmares.

Others just want to get a 6 foot long table top "chessboard" out, and play a game with your dudes. The table top game does require you to bring enough pieces to play, and you need to know the rules of the game, but there's a pretty accessible path to get there too.

In my personal experience, I watched a lot of videos on youtube of people playing. Youtube says there's about 150k videos of people talking through their games so you should be able to find what you're looking for.

To find a game a good step is to look for your friendly local game store. When I got started I just googled around until I found some people near me who played once a week, reached out and asked if I could come watch a few games. I painted up some guys, read a couple books and let them know I'm just learning, and asked if someone wanted to play against me .... and if they could help explain what I'm doing wrong in a friendly way. That worked great.

Now back onto the original question of expense. The books, games, and youtube part is pretty self explanatory. The table top gaming part is the grey area. Games played on the table top have a mechanism so that you don't show up with 5 dudes, and I come at you with 100 Godzillas. That wouldn't make for a fun game. This is the currency of points.

Games Workshop has preselected sets of models into starter kits that are available that give a beginner a box of dudes to make that make for a good place for a person to get started and have enough firepower to play a game and get a feel for it.

My personal experience was pretty organic. I like daemon, monster zombies from space with giant chain axes and plasma cannons. Sounds cool. I watched some youtube videos and figured out a modest list of models that I would need to play a game. I then went on Ebay and picked up the ones that I could as I could, learning how to paint as I went.

As I hung back and had fun with my hobby, I figured out more specifics, sometimes ordering from Games Workshop, Forgeworld, or Ebay and found that I really enjoyed the modeling aspect of the hobby.

I hope you have fun too!



Grandfather Nurgle is your friend and only wants to see you, your family, planet, species and Galaxy just as happy and jovial as all of the rest of the Plague Planet.

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!

I've been wanting to write something up about this because I love to pick up lesser-known works

The Golden Age trilogy by John C. Wright (amazon, goodreads)

The book follows a rich man in 10K years in the future. One night, he finds out he has vast gaps in his memory and those memories are locked away by the government. Should he unlock them, he could risk losing everything in his life. But if he doesn't, he can't be sure he is who he is. It's an amazing book series.

One concept it explores that I find relevant today was the distinction between government laws and "moral laws". Basically in the world of this book, the gov't secures basic rights while a coalition of large corps and businesses dictate "moral laws". Transgression of the "moral law" is judged by AIs and the punishment is refusal to do business. That might sound weird but imagine if no ISP would be willing to provide you with internet and no car company wanted to exchange a vehicle for your money.

Tip: Wright wrote two more series worth noting. Orphans of Chaos which is like a present-day fantasy mixed with sci-fi following greek gods, and it's fucking amazing. There is also the "Count to the Eschaton Sequence" series which is hard to digest but it basically follows a Texan hundreds of years in the future and the discovery of an alien object that propels humanity forward and away from its dystopian "present".

Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams (amazon, goodreads)

Again, set in the very far future, the book follows a very wealthy man. The best thing about this book is really the worldbuilding. It's set in a place where the "hyper rich" own entire planet systems and means of production for products. The story shows you some interesting tech ideas like merging virtual reality with reality (not augmented but experiencing both).

The really cool part (tech-wise) was the idea of controlling one's body and mind. One aspect of that was figuring out one's personality facets called "daemons" (think of it as your "creative self", your "fighting self", etc.), personifying them, and building an AI out of those personality facets to help guide one's actions or even letting one of the AIs take over your body and then share/merge memories with every other daemon as well as you.

pretty much anything by Jack McDevitt (amazon, goodreads)

I'm totally in love with Jack McDevitt's books. If you like series, and sci-fi that explores morality, puzzles, and humans that are exposed to those elements, this is the best you can get.

There are two main series that I read by McDevitt: Alex Benedict and Academy series.

The former (Alex Benedict) follows an antiques merchant thousands of years in the future that solves weird events, uncovers the truth, etc. while on the hunt for the most prized artifacts from the "past" (our future). Like a less-actiony Indiana Jones told from the point of view of his partner-in-crime, set in a sci-fi world.

The latter (Academy) follows Priscilla Hutchins in the near future. It's hard to describe what the series is about without spoiling much but the series follows Hutchins' career and the weird space anomaly stuff people encounter as they start to explore the stars.

If you like history, try the following.

The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes. Utterly fascinating and extremely well written. It reads almost like a novel.

Peter the Great and Dreadnought by Robert Massie. Both excellent.

Citizens is a jaw-dropping revisionist history of the French Revolution by Simon Schama.

Night Soldiers is a superb "historical spy" novel set in Europe before and during WWII. This novel by Furst is credited with reinventing and reinvigorating the espionage genre. Think Graham Greene crossed with John le Carré.

If you like science fiction, try Hyperion by Dan Simmons. A mind-bending book that, at its core and rather incongruously, is a retelling of Canterbury Tales.

Sticking with science fiction, try anything by Iain M Banks; especially his Culture novels. You could start with Consider Phlebas, or Use of Weapons.


I have many many more suggestions if you want.


You may also like LibraryThing, a great social networking site for those who love books and like to catalogue and discuss their personal libraries. Look me up if you want. I'm "omaca" there too.

My first translated from Russian - LitRPG and motivational book: Restart (Level Up Book #1) LitRPG Series

https://www.amazon.com/Restart-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB/

The idea of augmented reality isn’t new. The Google Glass project is in fact nearing its completion even as we speak. But the idea of digitized real-life stats, that’s a bit different. I had it in summer 2014. At the time, I was working hard trying to lose weight from my original “too-fat-to-tie-laces” 242 lb. to my current 175 lb. These days, I can’t even imagine my life without going to the gym.

It was in the gym that I first realized how effective weight training could be.Today you lift 45 lb, a week later it’s 55 lb, and six months later, it’s already 175! Or, speaking in RPG terms, you level up Strength from 2 to 8.

Then an idea struck me. What if we could see all these status bars, skills and characteristics in real life just as we can in MMORPG? It’s one thing to know you’ve learned something from a book - and it’s something quite different if you can clearly see that it’s added +2% to your Intellect. Or that a visit to a swimming pool gives you +5% to Stamina. Would that motivate you more?

I’m absolutely sure it would. This is exactly why I’ve always loved RPG and LitRPG as well as weight training. Three years ago, I couldn’t do a single pull up. Now I can do fifteen easily. It’s the same in business: whether you work your backside off or just go through the motions, your company’s earnings are the only accurate barometer of your activity.

I spent some time thinking about it until it all fell into a pattern. That’s when I came up with my MC Phil Panfilov and his story. I mapped out his development arc, added some key scenes, came up with support characters and started writing.

That’s how I finished "Level Up. Re-Start", the first book in a series which tells the story of a gamer who’s been a bit too lax with his life. By the time he’s thirty-something, he has a wife, a string of one-off freelance gigs, a powerful computer, a level 110 rogue character in a popular RPG game and a beer gut.

What could happen in the life of an overgrown nerd in order to change his attitude? Could his wife - whom he loves a lot - leave him? Or what if he somehow could see the world through a game interface? Would he be able to face the harsh reality if he could see that his Reputation with his wife is Unfriendly, his Agility is stuck at 4, Strength at 6, Stamina at 3 and that his most advanced skill is WoW playing? Isn’t it time he did something about it?

That’s basically a glimpse into my story which I wanted to share with my English-language readers. The finished book has already hit the bestseller list back in Russia. The English translation of the first book in the series is available in KU.

I'd like to give you an unbiased view of his books but I'm afraid when it comes Alastair Reynolds I suffer from a blatent case of fanboyism; he's the only good scifi writer novelist us Welsh have (nearly insulted all the Doctor Who fans there), it still amazes me how many great scifi writers Scotland produces in comparison.

I believe his characterisation improves, this was after all his first novel.

His biggest strength IMHO is his worldbuilding, I can't get enough of his Revelation Space universe. His second novel set in the Revelation Space universe (although can be read as stand-alone) Chasm City is my favourite as it started me on my journey through his universe and generally got me hooked on all his writing.

The last one The Prefect set before the melding plague was also excellent, I'm hoping he writes a few more over this time period after finishing 'Poseidons Children'.

TLDR; I'd recommend to keep on reading, you will be rewarded.

The Horus Heresy is a series of books which now numbers several dozen. Reading the entire Heresy series isnt quite required to get into 40k. Rather, the first three novels are a pretty good introduction to the universe, its conflicts, and its major players.

Now, there are also rule books for the Horus Heresy game, which was created to synergize with the novel series. Those have "fluff" (story) in them as well, but Id stay away from the rule books unless you find yourself super deep in. The HH codices are expensive, and even the 40k rule books came be a bit of a slog (theyre poorly written, IMO).

Honestly, if you dont want to buy anything right now, the best place to start is the Lexicanum. You can learn about the various factions, some of the lore, and all kinds of cool stuff. And the best part is, its FREE!

I just recently finished We Are Legion, (We Are Bob), and it's first squeal. They were both thoroughly enjoyable, and right up the alley of what you are looking for.

Bob is a smart guy who makes millions in Silicon Valley, and subscribes to a service which will freeze him upon death, so that he can be woken up again when technology is able to fix whatever is wrong.

Only, he wakes up some years later to find he hasn't been 'fixed', but rather has been selected as a candidate to be the artificial intelligence for a Von Neumann probe, a probe that is able to fly out to a star system, then find, collect, and process resources to build copies of itself (and/or whatever else it needs), to be sent out for further exploration. Bob's primary mission is to find habitable worlds for Humanity, so they can escape the dying Earth (though Bob does still have free-will, and undertakes many missions of his own choosing). Each new probe includes a new unique copy of Bob, so as time goes on, we end up with many Bob's exploring the Galaxy, each making their own discoveries. Over the course of both books, the Bob's encounter all kinds of stuff, including primitive intelligence, as well as hostiles, both from Earth, and from elsewhere. The Bob's stay in contact with one another, and with Humanity as the colonization of new worlds begins.

In terms of story telling, I found these somewhat similar to The Martian. The entire story is told form the perspective of the Bob's, which should be noted have a pretty good sense of humor. These are pretty light, fun reads, and I highly recommend.

Already been mentioned but:

Neuromancer - genre defining, gritty, required reading. ;)

Snow Crash - Excellent, hugely enjoyable characters, good sci fi



Also good and haven't been mentioned:

Headcrash by Bruce Bethke - bizarre, silly, fun cyberpunk (for instance, full sensoral cyberspace connection is done through a rectally inserted probe..)

The Mind's I by Douglas Hofstadter - Excellent collection of short stories about cognitive machines

Wyrm by Mark Fabi - "Interweaving mythology, virtual reality, role-playing games, chess strategy, and artificial intelligence with a theory of a Group Overmind Daemon susceptible to religious symbolism, first-timer Fabi pits a group of computer programmers and hackers against a formidable opponent who may fulfill end-of-the-world prophesies as the millennium approaches."

Oh man, a billion of 'em, but here's a handful:

If you like 2001 then I presume you've read Childhood's End and Rendevous with Rama (avoid the sequels), both by Clarke--if not, you're missing out on my two favorite books of his. Beyond that, I love big-concept sci-fi.

Somewhat similar in concept to Rama but more current is Greg Bear's Eon.

More rollicking and not as hardcore is anything by Larry Niven, but Ringworld is among his most famous and best-loved.

One of my very favorite hard sci-fi authors is Iain M. Banks. I randomly picked up his novel Excession and was blown away by the breadth and depth of it. It takes place in his "Culture" universe where he stages a number of other novels, almost all of them very good.

I also really, really enjoyed John C. Wright's Golden Age trilogy.

And I assume you've done your Herbert and Heinlein.

Midshipman's Hope by David Feintuch

Really flawed main character, but still, you want him to succeed. :) Excellent naval sf. The religious element is creative.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Not exactly military sf--the main character is more security personnel than military personnel--but it reads like good military sf. Nonstop action and the protagonist's running commentary is golden.

Yeah I read a lot of Fantasy and Sci-fi. Umm, if he likes more Military Scifi I would recommend:

• Dauntless It's the first in a really cool space/naval series about a fleet of spaceships far from home and fighting through enemy territory to get home. All the while the Fleet Commander is acclimating to being 100 years in his own future (without "timetravel")
  
  
• Starship Troopers Is a classic scifi by Heinlein and has very little to do with the movies. Similar war ideas, giant bugs, but totally different feel. No cheesyness.
  
  
• Ender's Game of course is a classic Scifi book. Young boy growing up in a Battle School where they train kids to be soldiers. Very deep, very perspective changing.
  
  
• Stranger in a Strange Land Is another Heinlein book. A human boy grows up being raised by an alien Martian race on Mars. Brought back to Earth as an adult human, but again raised and taught everything by Martians. Has no concept of earth, our beliefs, our morals, our actions, anything. An amazing story that gives a great perspective for a WASP like me to see what it's like to integrate into a society where nobody is like you, and you understand nothing.
  
  If he likes "high fantasy" (elves, wizards, knights, etc) then let me know and I throw out a few of those too.
  
  EDIT: Also I'll plug Audbile.com here because these all also have great Audiobooks with GREAT narrators and I love listening to my books on my Android phone all the time. And of course Amazon owns Audible! discounts for buying the audiobook and the kindle book (often cheaper than outright buying the audiobook!)

https://www.amazon.com/Perilous-Waif-Alice-Long-Book-ebook/dp/B01NBWXMP9

Scifi. The worldbuilding is very rational, but the protagonist isn't at all.

On the topics you mentioned:

• Young western guy: main character is a preteen asian girl.
  
• Good analytical but piss-poor social skills: she sort of doesn't fit on this axis. Her primary skillset is hurting things, being lucky, and stuff I can't mention because spoilers. Gets along well with basically everybody who knows her.
  
• Dearly held views on science and rationality: also sort of doesn't fit on this axis. Her thinking is more tactical and political. She has a very clannish right-wing attitude toward life. Likes learning things, but mostly because they help her succeed, rather than for love of learning.
  
• Meek but hardworking and philosophical: definitely not meek, very hardworking, not terribly philosophical.
  

I will recommend you probably one of the greatest and most realistic LITRPG book I've listened to recently. It's on my top 5 favorites right now

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Re-Start Level Up Book 1

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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CKRMLJB

So addictive, very refreshing with a solid narration. You just can't wait just how the mc develops and improves himself.

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It will probably even inspire and motivate you on how to be a better person in real life.
I can even say that many will probably relate to the scenario if this ever happened to you.

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It's that good

Don't feel lame. I went on a really long kick where I was reading a lot of franchise books - Dungeons and Dragons, World of Warcraft, Stargate, etc etc. Sometimes they're terribly written, but sometimes there are really good stories with some great character development.

I'm not really familiar with the other two books but from what I looked up of them (especially considering the Halo + Ben Bova) I think you'd like Ender's Game.

It's technically YA fiction, but it's good enough that you'll often find it in with the regular science fiction. It's also a series so if you like the first one that'll give you a few more to read.

In the classic Science fiction category The Foundation Series is worth looking into as well.

Let's see. Maybe The Sky People too. It's not exactly classic literature, but it's a fun romp in space - a what if there was life on Venus & Mars and it was dinosaurs and prehistoric humans sort of thing. Although not classic science fiction it has that same feel because it takes a stab at what type of life might exist on our neighboring planets.

I haven't read Edgar Rice Burroughs, but he might be up your alley too.

I recommend the author Jeff Noon.

Vurt is probably one of the best cross between sci-fi and fantasy. It reads like a cyberpunk Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters that takes place in a dream.

I wholly recommend reading it while listening to some dub or IDM music. I played Plaid's song "ManyMe" during the final chapters, and it fit perfectly to the tone of the book. Multimedia mind melding at it's finest.

I don't sell anything for less than 2.99. I don't know much about action/thrillers, but in SF/fantasy, publishers are starting to market novellas like novels.

Look at Martha Wells' Murderbot series, novellas, all. The first is 3.99, and all subsequents are 9.99. Oh, shit, the 5th one is 13.99; this has really taken off. My point is, they are pricing novellas just like novels.

I think you can't just write a book and publish it on Amazon and see what happens. Because if you do it like that, nothing will happen.

You want to research your genre and find a market. You need to find out Amazon's subcategories for your genre and see how each is selling. There will be a couple hot categories where the competition is fierce, and there will be some cold categories. You want to find a category somewhere in the middle that syncs with you and what you like to write.

Then you want to research the books that are selling in that category, and emulate them. Readers are jonesing for a fix, and they want a certain type of narrative that's going to satisfy their particular craving. You want to have a cover that tells your readers instantly that you've got what they're looking for. This is very important, because people are searching by looking at thumbnails of book covers. If you're no good with a graphics editor, you can buy premade book covers for ~$30-100.

Some premade book covers are so good, I've bought the cover first and then written the story to match the cover.

Robin Mckinley - anything by her though specifically Sunshine. If you haven't read Mercades Lackey than you would probably like her since you like Tamora Pierce. Start with Arrows for the Queen or Magic's Pawn. Raymond E Feist writes another good fantasy series that has tons of books in it. You might even like the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books since you like the Game of Thrones. If you haven't read the Ender's Game books by Orson Scott Card they are very good. Some classical sci-fi - Foundation series by Issac Asimov.

edit: also because it looks like you like some historical romance The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and Peony in Love.

Thanks! I'm a huge fan of the subtle sometimes. There is another book that was written by Mark Fabi titled Wyrm.

I highly recommend it, though its older and centers around a MUD.

http://www.amazon.com/Wyrm-Mark-Fabi/dp/0553578081

It's not the straight up cyberpunk style but its a great cyber/hack style that was great back in the late 80's early 90's wand has a lot of fun technical stuff.

Great series of books. You do not need to read them in order; I read book 4 first, and it spoils nothing.

Supposedly, Amazon Prime wants to do a miniseries of this, or at least the first book, to the level of quality of Game of Thrones. I'll... believe it when I see it.

Anyway here are Amazon/Audible links! (Or hit up your local library, etc.)

1. Consider Phlebas paperback / Audible
   
   
2. The Player of Games paperback / Audible
   
   
3. Use of Weapons paperback / Audible
   
   
4. The State of the Art (collection of short stories) paperback / Audible
   
   
5. Excession (I read this one first, it's great) paperback / Audible
   
   
6. Inversions (sort-of a Culture book) paperback / Audible
   
   
7. Look to Windward paperback / Audible
   
   
8. Matter paperback / Audible
   
   
9. Surface Detail paperback / Audible
   
   
10. The Hydrogen Sonata (my favorite - Vyr Cossont is my hero) paperback / Audible
    
    I really like this stuff as space opera type stuff. It's usually not "hard" sci-fi like Asimov or even Philip K. Dick or anything, but I rather hope humanity heads in the direction of the Federation, and then ultimately to The Culture.
    
    Fun fact!! Elon Musk named the autonomous drone barge ships (the ones that SpaceX rockets land on) after some Culture ships. Namely the Of Course I Still Love You, and the Just Read The Instructions. I also rather like the full name of the ship Mistake Not… (Don't Google it! It's a spoiler!!!)

Most of them are pretty drab, but I read them anyway. Almost all of them feel like fan fiction for Aliens 1986.

I'm not a fan of the AVP movie franchise, but the very first AVP book (which was written long before the movies) was pretty excellent. It's called Aliens Vs Predator: Prey

If you like reading graphic novels, check out Aliens: Labyrinth. The novel adaptation wasn't as good.

Use of Weapons and, everything else by Iain M. Banks. Amazing stuff. Trust me.

The Blade Itself and the rest of that series by Joe Abercrombie.

Altered Carbon and the rest of that series as well as Thirteen and The Steel Remains, and it's sequel (still waiting on book 3) by Richard K. Morgan. He's pretty amazing.

That would keep you busy for a long time and are all pretty amazing. Seconding Dune, which is amazing, and the Name of the Wind which is great but very popcorn.

But really, if you were to read everything by Iain M. Banks you would be a better person.

Edit: The Sparrow

My favorite post-singularity fiction is the Golden Age trilogy by John C. Wright. Superintelligent AI, virtual reality, and mind uploading, and he still manages a deeply human tale of epic heroism. It's a little hard to get into for the first three or four chapters, but then it really takes off. I've read it three times.

Greg Egan's work is pretty interesting, eg. Permutation City, which is mainly about uploading etc.

For more of the near-future speculation side of Accelerando, Cory Doctorow writes a lot of good stuff. And there's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom which is post-singularity.

Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age is pretty much a classic, covering nanotech, AI-based education, and all sorts of craziness. One of my favorites.

And They Shall Reap The Whirlwind is a self insert into the life of bomber harris. It's long and well done.

Set in Stone A rational/ist Stonepunk story set in the future on planet controlled by an AI in an agrarian society. A very interesting and enjoyable story. /u/farmerbob1 's other story Symbiote was also pretty good.

Savage Divinity I remember the start being a little slow, but seriously awesome world-building. Has a fair amount of romance
> A modern man finds himself reincarnated in the body of a young slave with no skills and quickly fading memories. Follow his journey to find normalcy while living in a savage world, filled with myth and legends, monsters and Demons. In a land where the strong rule, the weak serve, and bloodshed is a way of life, peace is a luxury few can afford... Less action, more character and world driven is my aim. Mature language and themes, but no raunchy sex.

Updates 3 times a week usually, currently I get more excited by updates from this than from MOL.

The Last Angel is a story where humanity lost a war and was conquered, but humanities most powerful weapon, an AI Battleship, continues the war 1500 years later. It's been 4 years since I've read it and from what I remember it switches genres to a survival horror novel about halfway in for 20 chapters or so. Really good and apparently there is a sequel that I am going now going to have to check out.

The Gam3 is an extremely well done Litrpg. If its something you like the author has published an edited version of the first book Opening Moves with some extra content. Its the best LitRPG I've read, feels smooth and not clunky.

Most of these are very early cyberpunk, the progenitors of the genre if you will. As such I'm not sure if they can be described as necessarily obscure but I don't see many of them mentioned that often (admittedly I'm somewhat new to /r/cyberpunk so you guys might talk about them all the time, in which case please disregard). As a final note not all of these are available on the Kindle market. Nevertheless here's a few that leap to mind -

1. When Gravity Fails by George Alec Effinger which has two sequels if you enjoy it, the third being better than the second imo.
   
   
2. The Ware Tetrology by Rudy Rucker
   
   
3. Islands in the Net by Bruce Sterling. He also edited the early cyberpunk anthology Mirrorshades which is worth checking out along with a several of his other works.
   
   
4. Mindplayers by Pat Cadigan who also wrote a few others worth looking at.
   
   
5. Frontera by Lewis Shiner.
   
   
6. I hesitate to mention this one as it's hardly obscure but if all you have seen is the film which is based off it, it is definitely worth getting Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Philip K Dick.
   
   
7. Vurt by Jeff Noon.
   
   
8. Farewell Horizontal by K W Jeter along with his other novels Glass Hammer and Dr. Adder.
   
   
9. Someone else mentioned Walter Jon Williams novels which I would also highly recommend.
   
   
   
   
   
   

I'VE READ OVER 50 BOOKS IN THIS GENRE OVER THE PAST YEAR. SOME ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS, BUT I DO LIKE THEM. THINK SWORD ART ONLINE, BUT A BOOK, AND NOT WEEB. GIVE THE GAM3 A TRY, IT'S A FREE READ HERE (ALSO AVAILABLE ON AMAZON IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR).

I'm gonna stretch the rules and include some comics on this list:

1. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Perfect in tone, pacing, characters, exposition and humour.
   
   
2. Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. One of the greatest sci-fantasy epics of all time.
   
   
3. The Outlaw King by S.A. Hunt. More sci-fantasy, but with the sort of trippy, psychological, anything-goes attitude that elevates it above most of the genre.
   
   
4. Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis. Exceptional political satire contained inside in a painfully real near-future scifi wrapper. Ellis's best work, IMO.
   
   
5. Saga by Brian K. Vaughan. Yeah, I have a soft spot for sci-fantasy, but this comic series is all about the characters, and every one of them is pure gold. Exceptional writing, great art, compelling storytelling. The complete package.

If I understand correctly, you're implying there won't be fantastic new MMO games? And implying that in /r/futurology? ;)

I'm not saying I'll be an MMORPG either, hence the MMO (short for Massively Multiplayer Online).

Let me share a vision of an extremely immersive mmo game, from the book Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks:

> The first night away, he linked into one of their direct-link sensory entertainments, lying on the bed with some sort of device activated under the pillow.

>He did not actually sleep that night; instead he was a bold pirate prince who’d renounced his nobility to lead a brave crew against the slaver ships of a terrible empire amongst the spice and treasure isles; their quick little ships darted amongst the lumbering galleons, picking away the rigging with chain shot. They came ashore on moonless nights, attacking the great prison castles, releasing joyous captives; he personally fought the wicked governor’s chief torturer, sword against sword; the man finally fell from a high tower. An alliance with a beautiful lady pirate begot a more personal liaison, and a daring rescue from a mountain monastery when she was captured . . .

>He pulled away from it, after what had been weeks of compressed time. He knew (somewhere at the back of his mind) even as it happened that none of it was real, but that seemed like the least important property of the adventure. When he came out of it — surprised to discover that he had not actually ejaculated during some of the profoundly convincing erotic episodes — he discovered that only a night had passed, and it was morning, and he had somehow shared the strange story with others; it had been a match, apparently. People had left messages for him to get in touch, they had enjoyed playing the match with him so much. He felt oddly ashamed and did not reply.

Honestly it depends what you are interested in. If you are into the Imperial Guard, then you can't go wrong with the Gaunt's Ghosts series, which narrates story of Colonel-Commisar Ibram Gaunt and his crack team of Guardsmen. The first book in the series is First and Only by Dan Abnett

If you are interested in 40k's crazy [sci-fi take on the Spanish Inquisition] (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Inquisition), then the [Eisenhorn Trilogy] (https://www.amazon.com/Xenos-Eisenhorn-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849708738/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1466481737&sr=1-1&keywords=eisenhorn) might be your kind of thing.

If you are into more the cataclysmic galaxy spanning warfare, the sprawling Horus Heresy series of novels may be worth looking into. These are set 10,000 years before the normal 40K setting, and detail the fall and betrayal of Warmaster Horus, and the massive civil war that it sparks, which is instrumental in setting the stage for the world as it is in 40k. The first book in this series is [Horus Rising] (https://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&dpID=519sDhjvfXL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR99%2C160_&psc=1&refRID=522C5CJ8ECDM71RF2P9S). While there are literally dozens of novels in the series, by several different authors, the first three (Horus Rising, False Gods, and Galaxy in Flames) will give you a pretty solid overview of the events of the Heresy.

Really, you can start with pretty much any series within the universe that sounds interesting to you, and there are literally a hundred or hundreds of books set in the universe, there isn't any set order outside of individual series that should be read. If you run into something you don't understand, the [Lexicanum] (http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page) has articles on literally anything within the universe that you could think of.

It's a really fun universe to get into honestly, if you have any questions feel free to send me a message!

Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, and Use of Weapons

These three were written by Iain M. Banks and they're all sci-fi novels set in a far off future Earth where we live in a post-scarcity, stateless, classless, communist paradise. Banks uses the alien societies we encounter in the future as a means of criticing our actual, modern society today.

I absolutely love those novels. The Culture (what we now call the united humans of earth + their colonies) is fascinating. I won't spoil it for you. But go for it. Read until your eyes bleed.

Also, if you're looking for something fun and innocent. You can't go wrong with The Smurfs. I shit you not, I grew up on these so don't any of you dare insult them >.>

You'll want the comics, of course, not the cartoons.

That would be cool. I used to frequent r/freeebooks quite a bit but have stopped due to the fact I have everything for the most part already (people post there as frequently as possible based on the subreddit rules). So this will help fuel my ebook addiction. 800 kindle books seems to be in my future....

Edit: Though The Breaker Series (books 1-3) is currently free and posted there, looks pretty good. Edward W. Robertson is the author, who people really seem to like here.

I like any and all of these! I sadly do not have an iphone, so the case would be no use to me.
The other day I added quite a few wallets to my wishlist, my current wallet is torn to shreds! One of these would be absolutely perfect!
Best thing I've ever purchased on Amazon? This book. It's my absolute favorite. I found it the summer after high school in the local library. It was one of those books that really caught my eye. I didn't think I would get sucked in so fast. It's pretty brilliant.

Dr. Max Tegmark, cosmologist and physics professor at MIT

• Permutation City, by Greg Egan (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Jane Goodall, Primatologist
  
  
• The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Miracle of Life (not listed)
  
  Dr. Sean Carroll, Theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology
  
  
• Dragon's Egg, by Robert Forward (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Temple Grandin, Animal scientist
  
  
• "I’m a Star trek fan..."
  
  Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior astronomer and director at the Center for SETI Research
  
  
• Golem XIV, by Stanislaw Lem (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Chris Stringer, Anthropologist at the Natural History Museum in London
  
  
• Brazil, the movie (YouTube)
  
  Dr. Jack Horner, Paleontologist at Montana State University
  
  
• Jurassic Park, the movie) (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Adam Riess, astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University
  
  
• Contact, by Carl Sagan (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Fountains of Paradise, by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Childhood's End, by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Martian Chronicles, by Ray Bradbury (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Silo saga, by Hugh Howey (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Stand, by Stephen King (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Watership Down, by Richard Adams (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Steven Strogatz, professor of mathematics at Cornell University
  
  
• The Andromeda Strain, by Michael Chriton (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Colossus: The Forbin Project, the movie (IMDB)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, materials scientist
  
  
• Parable of the Sower, by Octavia Butler (Powells) (Amazon)
  
  Dr. Mario Livio, astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute
  
  
• Around the World in Eighty Days, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Journey to the Center of the Earth, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne (Powells) (Amazon)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, the movie (IMDB)
  
• Dr. Strangelove, the movie (IMDB)
  
• Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the movie (IMDB)
  
  Olympia LePoint, rocket scientist
  
  
• Gravity, 2013 (IMDB)
  
• Back to The Future, 1985 (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Danielle Lee, biologist
  
  
• Dune, 1984 (IMDB)
  
  Dr. Michael Shermer, historian of science
  
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 (IMDB)
  
  Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist
  
  
• The Day the Earth Stood Still, 1951 (IMDB)
  
• 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968 (IMDB)
  
• Planet of the Apes, 1968 (IMDB)
  
• The Terminator, 1984 (IMDB)
  
• The Quiet Earth, 1985 (IMDB)
  
• Contact, 1997 (IMDB)
  
• Deep Impact, 1998 (IMDB)
  
• The Matrix, 1999 (IMDB)
  
• The Island, 2005 (IMDB)
  
• Watchmen, 2009 (IMDB)
  

Young Miles

I love the Vorkosaigan series. Miles is like a whirlwhind of chaos, dragging awesomeness and interesting events wherever he goes behind him.

I also love the Honor Harrington series.

Honor is a bit like a female Miles, but more awesome, because she has a telepathic tree cat, and can singlehandly kick your ass, and the army you brought with you.

The City That Fought.

This one is a bit older, and is harder to find, but worth it. The story revolves around a city run by a person who's basically the ship's computer, and his Brawn. (Girl who does all the manual type things because he's literally stuck in a tube monitoring things). Just about anything by Ann McCaffery is good, though. I was introduced to her via her "Dragonriders of Pern" series, which is the best damn sci fi disguised as Fantasy I've read.

Dauntless, by jack Campbell (Dauntless is the first book out of six)

Lots of fun action...not sure how it rates in regards to staying power or intelligence. It'll probably be forgotten in 10 years. But as far as a military action/drama goes, it's pretty awesome

Yea the lore they are building\built in the halo universe is awesome. If you have finished the books try looking for the spartan ops season 1 on youtube. Runs for almost an hour and is a pretty fun watch.

Also The Lost Fleet is a nice easy read.

^(Note: these are all books I've read and can recommend from experience.)

David Brin's Sundiver is a detective mystery. Likewise his Existence is a mystery about a recently discovered artifact, though its presentation with multiple perspectives lacks the singular detective tone of Sundiver. It's not as much of a mystery/thriller more of a mystery/adventure. It is also one of the overall best science fiction novels I've ever read; the writing is top notch, the characters superbly lifelike, the tone excellent, and the overall reading experience enjoyable and filled with a realistic optimism.

Gregory Benford's Artifact is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact. His Timescape is about a strange phenomenon.

Jack McDevitt's The Engines of God is an investigative mystery about a strange artifact.

Asimov's The End of Eternity is a classic mystery/thriller.

Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect and Chasm City are both standalone detective mysteries. His Revelation Space is similar, but does not have the same classic mystery tone.

Greg Bear's Queen of Angels and Slant are both standalone detective mysteries.

I seem to recall the Second Foundation (Foundation's Fear, Foundation and Chaos, Foundation's Triumph) trilogy by Greg Bear, Gregory Benford, and David Brin having some mystery aspects. I think one of them at least is a detective mystery, but I can't remember which right now.

Dan Simmons' Ilium/Olympos is a sort of detective mystery, but its tone is much more action/adventure despite the protagonist's undertakings to determine what in the world is going on.

Joan D. Vinge's Cat Trilogy (Psion, Catspaw, and Dreamfall) are detective mysteries.

Julian May's Perseus Spur is a detective mystery. It's pretty light-hearted and a lot of fun to read. Something you would pick up at an airport bookstore and not be at all disappointed with. I can't speak for the other two books in the trilogy, haven't read them yet. Just ordered them off Amazon for $4 a piece.

I could go on, but I think that should keep you busy for a while.

 

^(Edited to clarify the tone of some suggestions. Some are more traditional mystery/thriller, while others are more adventure/mystery, more alike to Indiana Jones than a noir detective.)

You might enjoy checking out The First Immortal, by James L. Halperin [https://www.amazon.com/First-Immortal-Novel-Future/dp/0345421825] - he does an incredible job of exploring this kind of thing while telling an engaging story. His other major book, The Truth Machine, runs in the same universe and interweaves well.

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.

You can always write a web novel in the style of light novels.

The Gam3 sold here started off as a series on Royalroad and went to publish in amazon. It's a more western novel, but still has some of that light novel characterization feel to it.

Mother of Learning is another fantastic english web novel though I don't believe it has any commercial releases.

Read 1984 for the dystopian aspect, for sci-fi pick up Isaac Asimov as mentioned by the_thinker.. And if you want a good, fun and captivating read, pick up Chuck Palahniuk's works, I'm a big fan of those. Try Survivor, Lullaby, Choke, any of those are amazing

It's not game lit, but if you want something similar and REALLY good, read "We Are Legion (We Are Bob)." It's great.

https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/B01L082SCI/ref=sr\_1\_1?keywords=we+are+bob&qid=1574690939&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

A fun mix of far-future SF with what I can only call Buddhist fantasy. Set on a world where technology has been implemented that makes real Hindu philosophy, where surveillance, mind-uploading, and biotechnology mean that everyone is reincarnated after death to a body due from the Karma of their past life, where the rich take the on the identities of Hindu gods, one man has been reincarnated from the past to wage war on the status quo and build a utopian, Buddhist society.

Winner of the Hugo award for best Novel in 1968.

I'm certainly glad I tried his stuff out. His Breakers pack of books 1-3 for free is one of the best deals out there. (Turns out that deal is on Amazon.co.uk, not in the US.

I know there are some lame ones in the numbered book series, but the stand-alone novels seem to have a much higher success rate. Diane Duane, the Reeves-Stevens, and Peter David were my favorites. I guess David is a little divisive. He's known for taking tiny threads from canon and tying them together in his own stories, but sometimes he goes overboard. Even so, Q-Squared is one of my favorite Trek books ever.

The Vorkosigan books by Lois McMaster Bujold are a lot of fun. First collection is Young Miles. You can get the whole series off of one of the free Baen cds.

The Mageworlds series is also enjoyable, in a "clearly riffing on Star Wars" way. First book is The Price of the Stars, and is a mere $3 on Kindle nowadays. (Which is nice, since the early books spent a fair while being not-terribly-in-print.)

Perilous Waif by E. William Brown hits the sweet spot for me. Great characters and setting, and just enough mystery to keep the bigger picture interesting. He really sets up some promising ideas for the future.

Vurt by Jeff Noon. Possibly my favorite book. A cyberpunk story based around a drug taken by shoving a feather down your throat, and a search for a lost sister in some form of reality or another. From amazon:
> Vurt is a feather--a drug, a dimension, a dream state, a virtual reality. It comes in many colors: legal Blues for lullaby dreams. Blacks, filled with tenderness and pain, just beyond the law. Pink Pornovurts, doorways to bliss. Silver feathers for techies who know how to remix colors and open new dimensions. And Yellows--the feathers from which there is no escape. The beautiful young Desdemona is trapped in Curious Yellow, the ultimate Metavurt, a feather few have ever seen and fewer still have dared ingest. Her brother Scribble will risk everything to rescue his beloved sister. Helped by his gang, the Stash Riders, hindered by shadowcops, robos, rock and roll dogmen, and his own dread, Scribble searches along the edges of civilization for a feather that, if it exists at all, must be bought with the one thing no sane person would willingly give.

Ummmm well it isn't everyday I can be Santa but here you go. Best Star Trek book ever written. Probably one of my favorite sci fi books period.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Q-Squared-Star-Trek-Next-Generation/dp/0671891510

Great story. I would love to see a sequel series for the Terrans. (gotta go back through and make sure all chapters have an upvote)

Also, this series reminds me of a book series I started reading midway through your first chapter and the last one. If you are interested in reading about what you wrote about.

The series is called "We are Legion; We are Bob" it also involves a human becoming a von Neumann spaceship. No alie...no spacefaring aliens in that series yet, though.

1. Foundation - Isaac Asimov
   
2. 9/10
   
3. Science Fiction
   
4. The first book in the series properly known as the cornerstone of all science fiction. Absolutely incredible as are the next 3 (that's as far as I am). Great characters, writing, twists, fascinating plot, little bit of philosoophy, just incredible all around.
   
5. Amazon also on nook/kindle with good formatting.

Damn, just one?!? I don't think I can cut it down to less than three, and even that list would change year by year.

The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester

Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny

Orphans of Chaos, John C. Wright

(And sorry for the Amazon links, I really freakin' hate Amazon but don't know of a better/more convenient link to offer people.)(Um, if anyone has a better kind of link to provide, I'd love to hear it, thanks.)

The Breaker series, best self published thing I've ever read. Huge number of positive reviews, this is no hobbyist, this guy has chops.

Just going to mention that the Aliens VS Predator novel was amazing, and so were the graphic novel follow ups, pretty cool. Forget that horrible movie you saw. The original was the shit.

Here's a little bit of reference fiction for you:

Ship of Fools by Richard Paul Russo

• takes place on a generation ship. There are distinct upper and lower classes based on heritage. The original purpose of the mission has long been forgotten and the records been destroyed in revolutions past. An attempted mutiny takes place and is shutdown by the ruling party which elevates their position since preventing mutinities is the primary concern of the aristocracy. Lots of abandoned sections of the ship since the population is less large and less resourced than in generations past.
  
  Chasm City by Alistair Reynolds
  
  
• Half of the book involves flashbacks to a character's experience of being the last group of a 3-generation genship flight. A fleet of genships are sent on an interstellar migration. The fleet devolves into extreme prejudices, military rule, political intrigue, and activities contrary to the purpose of the mission: safely transporting their frozen human cargo to the target settlement planet. The hatred's developed during the flight transform into centuries-long warfare after the planet has been settled. Funnily enough, the settler's became oddity's in the human space world because sub-FTL flight is developed soon after they departed earth and the rest of the stars were settled with more sane people who could make the trip in a single lifetime.
  
  Analogue: A Hate Story
  
  
• An interactive fiction game where your job is to reconstruct what happened on a derelict generation ship. You learn that the idiotic descendants of the original ship crew have long forgotten what the ship was for, that they are even on a ship, and all the skills necessary to operate and maintain the ship. However, the root access for the ship's computer is owned by the emperor. The people mimic a Korean Josun Dynasty society. An inhabitant of a sleep pod is awakened from a much earlier generation and is bewildered by what's become of the ship. She's also the only one that knows anything about the ship's system. Also, there's a ship AI. The story ends with everyone on the ship being spaced and suffocated.
  
  
  Honestly, I think the best potential for a generation ship game is trying to keep things from devolving into chaos, barbarism, totalitarianism and cannibalism. Of course, if you actually make it to your destination, did you manage to retain the skills and resources necessary to survive or actually accomplish the mission objective when you get there?
  
  Maybe you could have a partial win to the game if your crew completely dies out, but you were able to make an AI to complete part of the objectives when you arrive at your destination. So, it would be a score-based game, trying to see how much achievements you can make or how high a score you can accomplish.
  
  Again, I'm curious what your take is on this game setting.
  
  
  Edit:
  
  Thought of one more.
  
  Passages Series by localroger.
  
  
• The universe and human's are controlled and ruled by AI's and AI ships. I can't remember but in one of the stories, an AI wants to carry people across space and he requires them to meet a certain societal model before he will carry them. So, a cult is formed with very rigid social rules and requirements. After several generations, the cult is ready and he takes them through space. After many many generations, it's a sort of religious village existence, trying to find and take care of any discontents and dissidents before they cause trouble. Finally they arrive at their destination and they parachute to the planet and start a colony.

The First Immortal by James Halperein is a novel all about the ramifications of cryonics. It's been years since I read it, but I remember finding it enjoyable and thought-provoking. However, it is not available as an audiobook, or even an ebook.

It's not exactly what you are looking for, but The Dead Zone by Stephen King is about someone who wakes up after several years in a coma. Also quite good.

Best,

Geoff Jones

Author of The Dinosaur Four

I highly suggest Vurt by Jeff Noon. When anyone ever asks me for a book to read I start them out with this, and for one reason. The book Nymphomation is my favorite novel of all time. But to truly understand all parts of it you need to read Vurt first. I'm not trying to say that Vurt isn't worth reading, I've read it at least 5 times, but Nymphomation is pure pleasure.

Use of Weapons, by Iain M Banks.

E: Dunno how to recommend it and its plot twist without spoiling said twist, but I'll try. It's two stories, told simultaneously and in reverse chronological order; in the one, mercenary Cheradenine Zakalwe is pulled out of retirement by the Culture to do one more job for them, and demands/is offered as payment a chance to see his sister one more time before she dies, while in the other we see his past and what made him the man he is today, including a civil war in which (medium-small and gorey twist) [spoiler:](#s "his adopted brother butchered his sister and turned her into a chair"). Really good, super shocking, strongly recommend.

E2: That spoiler, BTW, is not The Twist, that comes a bit later.

Let's say people started using minor cybernetic implants. Better sight, hearing, physical strength. Then someone figures out how to make brain augmentation implants that interface directly with the cerebral cortex. These could greatly enhance every aspect of mental function. And they might also be able to give an individual direct access to global information networks and even direct mental access to the brains of others. An optimistic version of this is described in John C. Wrights' Golden Age Trilogy.

Later, groups of enhanced individuals find that they can greatly enhance their processing power if they temporarily join their consciousnesses into a vast network. Individual identity could be temporarily subsumed into the whole for the purpose of a particular project.

At some point, one of the group consciousnesses might decide that it is better off never releasing its constituents. Maybe the rest of the world is horrified by this and tries to destroy the network, but it fights back and wins. Then it's free to assimilate the whole planet.

I'd recommend the Miles Vorkosigan Adventures omnibuses by Lois McMaster Bujold, starting with Young Miles (there's an omnibus before it, but with Miles' mother as the protagonist).

Miles is similarily intelligent as Ender, and a very driven person. The first omnibus is a firework of genius. You follow Miles from one impossibility into the next and can enjoy his mad planning that somehow manages to save the day, but rides him and his entourage deeper into various problems.
Especially the first books about Miles have their fair share of action and spacebattles, but later parts go deeper into the psychology of Miles and various other characters.
The series spans over ten years in Miles' adventurous life and the omnibuses are cheap to get.

If you choose to get any, I'd suggest you don't read the descriptions on amazon or on the back of the books. I'd things spoilered for me, which was annoying. Oh, and the order of the omnibuses is kinda screwed up, with the last two swapped for some reason, which was another spoiler for me, since I realized it too late.

Give The Golden Age trilogy a try. Link. I really enjoyed it. Another similar one is The Quantum Thief but you have to be patient with it because it does not hold your hand when it comes to introducing you to the world. Some people like that though, including me.

You might like This Alien Shore as well.

Possibly of interest, an older book by James Halperin, The First Immortal.

It's somewhere between speculative fiction and an ad for Alcor, but it does touch on a number of interesting ideas around cryo, both around the logistics of maintenance in perpetuity and what revival might be like.

He supposedly wrote it while considering the option himself, so it's pretty well-researched albeit now probably a little quaint as pre-smartphone futurism tends to be.

I liked sea of rust, which amazon recommended after All Systems Red. It was a short read but it was the best thing I've read in quite a while.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MYZ8X5C/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1517790536&sr=8-1

Ask JIDF-Shill.


But in Horus Rising on pages 354-355, Horus says the Emperor was born in Anatolia (spelled Anatoly in Horus Rising), and shows a ring the Emperor gave him made a year before he (the Emperor) was born.


>The dreadful Sagittary, he said. Most warlike of all. Strong, relentless, unbridled, swift and sure of his mark. In ancient times, he told me, this was the greatest sign of all. The centaur, the horse-man, the hunter-warrior, had been beloved in the old ages. In Anatoly, in his own childhood, the centaur had been a revered symbol. A rider upon a horse, so he said, armed with a bow. The most potent martial instrument of its age, conquering all before it. Over time, myth had blended horseman and steed into one form. The perfect synthesis of man and war machine. That is what you must learn to be, he told me. That is what you must master. One day, you must command my armies, my instruments of war, as if they were an extension of your own person. Man and horse, as one, galloping the heavens, submitting to no foe. At Ullanor, he gave me this.’

>Horus set down his cup, and leaned forward to show them the weathered gold ring he wore on the smallest finger of his left hand. It was so eroded by age that the image was indistinct. Loken thought he could detect hooves, a man’s arm, a bent bow.

>‘It was made in Persia, the year before the Emperor was born. The dreadful Sagittary.



https://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448

I am a fan of this style also.

The Novice: Summoner: Book One (The Summoner Trilogy 1)

​

Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) This series takes place in a school like environment.

​

The Hound of Rowan: Book One of The Tapestry Very YA, but Fun.

​

The Emperor's Blades: Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne, Book I A lot of the book takes place in a "school"

Wyrm by Mark Fabi is a really good book. I read it back in high school, and I haven't been able to find it again since, besides on Amazon. Give it a try, I think you'll love it.

Btw, my city name is from an awesome book called "Permutation City" by Greg Egan. If you like hard SCI-FI I highly recommend It https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FDWCPV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_dfJCzb6GT5D20

Try Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds. First of all, probably my favourite space epic of all time, the Revelation Space story arc is amazing and I love his focus on technology and space travel/combat. That said, Chasm City is more of a self-contained story that takes place primarily around a particular planet, and is one of the best twisty narratives I've had the pleasure of reading.

Specifically, Chasm City itself was a "golden age" style metropolis of kilometre-high skyscrapers and technology before a nano-plague took hold and transformed everything into a grotesque caricature of what it was. The city as it is "now" consists of the upper echelons existing in their now-dampened utopia while the slums far below have fallen to the poor and criminal.

...it's about time I read it again.

Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet series is pretty good.

Also, Jack Campbell is a pen name for author John G Hemry, who wrote another, slightly less space opera-y series beginning with Stark's War.

Also, several military SF anthologies are out there, some with annual volumes. They're a great way to get exposed to new material!

Non-canon, but I really like Q Squared (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Q-squared-Star-Trek-Next-Generation/dp/0671891510) - incorporates a couple of alternate realities and a really good story.

The First Immortal: cryonics, with a great undercurrent of cultural and psychological changes.

Peter F. Hamilton's The Night's Dawn is a space opera with a well constructed history, but A Second Chance at Eden is the real reason I'm mentioning him in /r/futurology. It felt like a realistic look at the future.

I’ve been listening we are bob in my free time. It a good book just a bit different. Would recommend. https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/B01L082SCI/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=we+are+bob&qid=1573307969&sprefix=we+are+bo&sr=8-2

It's an old one, but my hands-down favorite Star Trek novel is Q-Squared by Peter David.

I should mention that I haven't read any Star Trek novels published since 1998, but if you like Q it's hard to imagine you wouldn't enjoy this book.

Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:


amazon.com

amazon.co.uk

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If you're at all interested in Science Fiction, I'd try picking up "Foundation" by Issac Asimov. It's a series, but the first book is a good stand-alone as well. I find Asimov is easy to read and really sucks you into the story - probably due to the fact that almost all of his narrative occurs through dialogue.

I’ve recently been enjoying “The Gam3” series by Cosimo Yap : it was recommended to me after I finished RP1 and I was looking for something new.

While it’s not the same as RP1 I’ve found it to be an amazing read - loads of depth to the world(s) in it and just really draws you in.

Description from Amazon
> The Earth is changing. The alien invasion brought social upheaval, advanced technology, and an armada of peacekeeping robots. But Alan, a college student pursuing a now-useless degree, cares little about all of this. He has only one thing on his mind: the Game.
>
> A fully immersive virtual reality, the Game appears to be a major part of the invading civilization. Alan can't wait to play, recklessly diving into the digital universe. Soon though, Alan realizes the Game is anything but simple, and the stakes are higher than he ever imagined.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Opening-Moves-Gam3-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01DFCNAPG

I am a big fan of Alastair Reynolds' Chasm City because it has a pretty good twist.

The Vorkosigan Saga, by Lois McMaster Bujold - quite a long series full of fantastic books and amazing characters. Start with Young Miles.

Yeah man... I've been broadening my horizons. Not sure why I'm so addicting to this genre but I keep searching for that next fix. I stumble upon some litrpg-adjacent novels that scratch the itch, like Persephone Rising and Perilous Waif, (those were pretty good) but then I feel the need to read more cybernetics-enhanced battle women books like those and it's back to square one.

I'll got a list I think is reasonably obscure.

Coils by Fred Saberhagen.

Tactics of Mistake by George R Dickson. Interstellar politics and the warrior of the future. A little bit stiff at times.

Wasp by Eric Frank Russel. The original one man against the planet story. This is probably the most well know on the list.

Fires of Paratime by LE Modesitt Jr. Time travel society done well with a bit of Norse mythology thrown in.

All of an Instant by Richard Garfinkle. Time travel done oddly. And well.

Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel. Stross before Stross. Unfortunately the last book of the trilogy was never published.

Wyrm by Mark Fabi. One of the better books on computer virus and early internet shenanigans.

Do you mean this book series https://www.amazon.com/Prey-Aliens-Vs-Predator-Book/dp/0553565559? I remember it being pretty awesome.

Golden Age of the Solar Clipper - Nathan Lowell

The Lost Fleet - Jack Campbell

Both were enjoyable reads. The Golden Age series follows an average guy as he gets a job on a space freighter and slowly rises through the ranks. The main character isn't some long-lost cousin to a space prince, or the only person that can save the universe, he's just a guy trying to make a living for himself. There aren't any space battles, so it might be a good change of pace for you, depending on what you read. The main character is a bit of a Mary Sue, though, so be warned if that sort of thing turns you off. There are about 6 books in this series.

The Lost Fleet series does include space battles. It's a story about a long-lost hero returning from cryosleep to a government and a war so unlike what he left behind. It's a story of how Geary, the protagonist, handles his new setting (fighting off politicians, lovers, and assassins) all while trying to return his fleet (which, through dumb luck, he commands) back home from deep in enemy territory. It's pretty good, and the space battles are well thought out. There are bout 10 books in this series.

I'd highly recommend Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny

It's one of the greatest works of science fiction in my opinion. Other great ones to read are Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke (the end left me completely amazed) and The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

I recommend We Are Legion (We Are Bob) [Bobiverse Book 1] and its sequels, by Dennis E. Taylor. Narrated by Ray Porter, it was an Audible exclusive. He does a great job of the voice of Bob. :D

Try out the Culture books by Iain M. Banks. Use of Weapons is my personal favorite and more militaristic than the others (which are still amazing scifi!).

A great military/space opera sci-fi series is the Miles Vorkosigan books. They're action-adventure-drama-mystery-comedy. Really excellent. Start with Young Miles, when Miles is 17 and flunks out of military academy.


The Talisman by Stephen King & Peter Straub completely captured me around your age. It's dark fantasy, and ties in with King's The Dark Tower series. Which you also could give a shot.

Sometimes you can get lucky and find an author that writes both in the YA and adult range, like Neil Gaiman.
I'd suggest Neverwhere and American Gods (which is a bit more adult than Neverwhere, but you should be fine to read it).

You convinced me to add permutation city to my kindle wish list but then i saw it was on sale for $2.99 and went ahead and bought it. I hope you didn't hype it up too much!

Seriously, I could see your concept working as a movie script, and I think you could write with that in mind, especially as you develop your character's personalities.

You might shoot for novella length rather than short story or novel, so maybe 40,000-50,000 words. Bang out the first one and you're already into your first sequel by the end of the year.

Look at the recent success of Martha Wells' Murderbot series. Novellas. Sequels. They are competently written, lighthearted short novels, and people are downloading them.

Wyrm by Mark Fabi. Very dated now but still a great comfort-read. Especially if you're into chess, Alice in Wonderland, Monty Python, RPGs, virtual reality, and MUDs (I said it was dated).

First Chapter

You said you weren't looking for fiction, but other people might come to your thread looking for those kinds of suggestions, so sorry to leave you hanging, but I'll put a few out there, because I've enjoyed this genre.

Opening Moves Aliens have taken over and ostensibly done away with war, but the main character finds out the stakes in the aliens' "Game" may be just as high.

Solarversia We've got a sort of reality show VR game where a hundred million players duke it out over the course of a year to win a big prize. It's easy to get sucked into this one as a gamer, because the author really captures this sens of video game action. There's pseudo-ai personality modeling based on social media, and even a fanatical AI doomsday cult.

Survival Quest Don't let the name turn you off here. In this trilogy the biggest MMO has become so big that prisoners are actually sentenced to server their time in VR capsules mining resources for paying non-prisoner characters. Where standard players get to choose their class and have access to outside materials like guides and wikis, the protagonist here (who's unjustly charged, of course!) gets his class selected for him, and must learn the nuances to this underplayed Shaman class, as well as figure out how to earn respect, while simultaneously earning his way out of prison. The third book just came out on the 10th, and I wouldn't have found out about it if not for writing this, so thanks! And enjoy!

Foundation - Isaac Asimov

I've never been more immersed, surprised, and blown away by a book. The whole series is good and Foundation starts it off with a bang. When I read Foundation I literally take breaks to take in the awesomeness of what I just read. It is the bar for sci-fi novels and it is written by one of the smartest men to ever live. Seriously. Read about Isaac Asimov.

I can't praise this book enough.

These are great recommendations. Here are some other futuristic scifi books that explore the concept of identity like Altered Carbon does.

• Any of Greg Egan's books (Quarantine, Permutation City)
  
• Icon-Violet
  
• The Demolished Man
  
• Blindsight
  
• Recursion

This is essentially the scenario that takes place in one of my favorite sci-fi novels ever, Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny. Would definitely recommend people check it out, it's considered a classic.

Here's the synopsis from Amazon:

"The gods are a starship crew who subdued a colony world; developed godlike--though often machine-enhanced--powers during successive lifetimes of mind transfer to new, cloned bodies; and now lord it over descendants of the ship's mere passengers. Their tyranny is opposed by retired god Sam, who mocks the Celestial City, introduces Buddhism to subvert Hindu dogma, allies himself with the planet's native "demons" against Heaven, fights pyrotechnic battles with bizarre troops and weapons, plays dirty with politics and poison, and dies horribly but won't stay dead. It's a huge, lumbering, magical story, told largely in flashback, full of wonderfully ornate language (and one unforgivable pun) that builds up the luminous myth of trickster Sam, Lord of Light. Essential SF reading."

For the love of what ever deity you worship, do NOT read any product descriptions for second foundation since some publishers(http://www.amazon.com/Foundation-Novels-Isaac-Asimov/dp/0553382578/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1345604106&sr=8-3&keywords=Foundation as in this publisher of this version) put a major spoiler for Foundation and Empire in it.

http://www.amazon.com/Prey-Aliens-Vs-Predator-Book/dp/0553565559/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1373827814&sr=8-3&keywords=predator+vs+alien%3A+prey

this book has a large section told from a predators POV, and sometimes their youngest hunters get too enthusiastic to remember the honor code.

This is a thread full of those who loved SOMA, so I definitely need to recommend Permutation City by Greg Egan to people as many times as I can

I've enjoyed both of those authors, so I guess I'll recommend some books I've liked.

In no particular order (links to the first book in the series, on amazon):

The Lost Fleet by Jack Campbell

Spinward Fringe by Randolph Lalonde

Star Force by B.V. Larson

Honor Harrington series by David Weber

Valor series by Tanya Huff

The Lost Fleet series had pretty good fleet battles. Viewed through the eyes of the main commander, and slowly building up in complexity of description/execution because of plot points.

Randomly picked it up cause I liked the title for whatever reason.

The First Immortal by James Halperin changed my beliefs on "the afterlife" and cryogenic freezing. Really fucking awesome book.

http://www.amazon.com/First-Immortal-Novel-Future/dp/0345421825/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1346266183&sr=1-1&keywords=the+first+immortal

Just finished The Myriad on the recommendation of r/scifi and while it was good i wish it had more fleet combat. I guess i have just been spoiled by Honor Harrington.
The next book i am gonna read is The Dauntless and we will see how it goes

I'd add that the article is well structured and consistently provides a non-scientist point of view that seems approachable by the general audience of Time Magazine (e.g. my parents).

While not directly Kurzweil, I'd note that my favorite fiction book on the subject is The First Immortal by James Halperin (link to Amazon)

There's a TNG novel called "Q Squared" where Trelaine and Q run into each other and bother Picard. It's pretty farcical, but an entertaining read nonetheless.

https://www.amazon.com/Q-Squared-Star-Trek-Next-Generation/dp/0671891510

You should join the Bobiverse. Not really LitRPG, but the main character isn't human. I think anyone in this sub would enjoy it alot.


https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/B01L082SCI/ref=tmm_aud_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

https://www.amazon.com/Re-Start-Level-Up-Book-LitRPG-ebook/dp/B07CKRMLJB Is finished. Good read to, though i wish there was more!

If you don't mind sci-fi try Perlious Waif.Alice is most definitely a Mary Sue, and yet this has a pretty good in story justification.

I think this is closer to munchkin fiction than rational fiction.

It's fun, though, and I also recommend Perilous Waif which I believe is by the same author.

If you like to read, consider Young Miles. It's an extremely good sci fi story where the main character has something resembling OI.

I just released my first novel, The Gam3: Opening Moves!


The Earth is changing. The alien invasion brought social upheaval, advanced technology, and an armada of peacekeeping robots. But Alan, a college student pursuing a now-useless degree, cares little about all of this. He has only one thing on his mind: the Game.


A fully immersive virtual reality, the Game appears to be a major part of the invading civilization. Alan can't wait to play, recklessly diving into the digital universe. Soon though, Alan realizes the Game is anything but simple, and the stakes are higher than he ever imagined.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DFCNAPG

You should read The First Immortal. The timeline is off, but the science is pretty sound, especially in the corrected edition.

Those people didn't do their research. I posted a comment which is currently awaiting moderation. I'll cross post it here:

I disagree. I’ve been a member of the Web fiction community on Webfictionguide since 2014 and have seen many, MANY of my fellow web fiction writers serialize successfully. Wildbow’s serialized novel, Worm, earns him a couple thousand a month from Patreon alone. https://www.patreon.com/Wildbow?ty=h

Personally, I sold 500 books the first month after release thanks to my web fiction following.

There are several others who make a few hundred a month, and again others who launched ebook versions of their serialized novels and earned more than most trad published debut novelists do. Some examples:

https://www.amazon.com/Opening-Moves-Gam3-Book-1-ebook/dp/B01DFCNAPG (was originally posted on Royal Road Legends)

https://www.amazon.com/MageLife-Tale-Punch-Clock-Magelife-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B00SPA212W (was originally linked on Webfictionguide)

https://www.amazon.com/End-Online-2nd-D-Wolfin-ebook/dp/B00RJHKH82 (again, Webfictionguide and other places)

I could post many more.

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

My favorite science fiction book... well, series: The Golden Age:

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

This may be off base, but if you're looking for some character-driven, some action, space opera, with probably my favorite written character ever, try the Vorkosigan Series, which starts with Young Miles. This compilation is two books and a short story, so it's worth the $8 in my opinion.

If you like that, you'll like Permutation City by Greg Egan.

Series of books by Jack Campbell. They are excellent and you should read them!

https://www.amazon.com/Dauntless-Lost-Fleet-Book-1/dp/0441014186

Eisenhorn is for the most part an investigation type driven story with many literary devices and themes of duality. Out of all the books in my Warhammer Library, this one by far is my favorite, mainly because of the wide-array of relatable characters. Anyone with no background knowledge of the Warhammer universe can pick up and read this book. However, if you want something more action packed oriented where the story focuses more on the Emperor and all his Primarchs and how they all fell from grace, start with the Horus Heresy novels.
I'll provide you with links to both books:

Eisenhorn by Dan Abnett: http://www.amazon.com/Eisenhorn-Warhammer-40-000-Omnibus/dp/1844161560

Horus Heresy Book 1: "Horus Rising" by Dan Abnet:http://www.amazon.com/Horus-Rising-Heresy-Dan-Abnett/dp/1849707448/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464468488&sr=1-1&keywords=horus+rising

Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny is an excellent example of sci-fi+religion.

your name isn't Dan Sugralinov is it ;)

I haven't read it, but Re-Start sounds exactly like what you're looking for

Closest I can think of are SciFi-ish.

Re-Start Level Up. Guy gets a computer program uploaded into his brain that does some magic-like stuff, but through techie mumbo-jumbo means.

Emerilia's Michael Chatfield does some SciFi litRPG that isn't great, but fits. I'm currently reading book two of the Harmony War series, and no magic just tech.

Reality Benders has magic, but not really in the human faction, and very very minorly in the MC (he gets some psionic stuff with rather limited use).

Limitless Lands in a VR story with magic, but the MC doesn't use any. He's basically playing a strategy game while everyone else is playing an RPG. Works out well, story wise.

Survive Week One is right up your alley, though again, the non-Earth folks seem to have a not-quite-magic, and of course the MC is obviously going to eventually get it. Even then, I think it fits your bill for now.

I'm trying to remember, but I don't think the MC in Feedback Loop uses magic, and some of the VR worlds he travels through don't seem to have magic. Not that absurd things don't still happen, they just generally are because of game-mechanics (like pulling bombs/guns/cars from your inventory).

The comics were all dark horse. The novels were written by Steve and/or Stephanie Perry. The novels aren't particularly well written, but they are far better than the movie. Here is a link to the first in the series of novels: http://www.amazon.com/Prey-Aliens-Vs-Predator-Book/dp/0553565559

I won't spoil it for you but you should read the second AvP book Hunter's Planet. The first book Prey is very good and seems to have influenced the grand story arc (not the details) of the Prometheus move. When you get to book 2 shit gets real.

this surprised me. Im not sure why I rented it, but it was cool.

While not exactly sysadmin based Wyrm was in the same vein and pretty decent.

Book

Thanks!

Edit: My goal is to volunteer and to read more than I did in 2014.

Edward W Robinson's Breakers Series is incredibly good, I can't believe he couldn't find a publisher for this stuff.

Ohh. I see.

Cradle Series

Overgeared

Red Mage

The Gam3

Limitless Lands

Divine Dungeon

Mirror World

The Good guys

War Aeternus

Dest March

Bushido Online

Dark Elf Chronicles

Djinn Tamer

Hero of Thera

Morning Wood

The Two Week Curse

Party Hard

Axe Druid

Ryan DeBruyn
Equalize: A Post-Apocalyptic LitRPG (Ether Collapse Book 1)

The way of the shaman

Galactagon

I heartily second /u/nebulousmenace recommendation. I would recommend starting with The Warrior's Apprentice which can also be found in the omnibus edition Young Miles.

The Culture books by Iain M Banks.
Many books, various points in time in the "history" of The Culture.
Warning: sci-fi

Some of the best writing ever.

Right, because this 'fantheory' of yours absolutely had nothing to do with Q-Squared by Peter David, released in 1995. Right?

https://www.amazon.com/Q-Squared-Star-Trek-Next-Generation/dp/0671891510

lol at the downvotes. Jimmies have been rustled.

Was just about to recommend this! The first book is All Systems Red

>I'm a Big fan of these tongue-in-cheek sci-fi books.

ill take a look im a sci-fi fan too. if you considered a dip into fantasy books that dont take themselves to seriously try the breed series in sci fi im sure you know of murderbot?

The Truth Machine by James L. Halperin.
(I'd suggest The First Immortal by the same author, but it doesn't look like there is a Kindle version.)

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

Well something like that was to be expected.

I chose the name because of this, though.

Ha that's random, I'm reading that book right now

Pollen - Jeff Noon

Masterfully written but extremely unusual / fucked up.

Vurt by Noon is better IMO but not quite as fucked up. A completely different reading experience though.

Both highly recommended!

I will always show up for post-apocalyptic suggestions.

Station Eleven is incredibly well written (award winning) though may be less of a "thriller" than you're looking for.

The Breakers series is technically YA but it's so well done it doesn't feel like it, plus there's a ton of action. There are NINE books in this series AND a series that continues this series.

You might also look at Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam series if you haven't already, it's brilliant and probably a cornerstone of post-postmodern apocalypse fiction.

Hugh Howey's Wool trilogy is also worth checking out.

The First Immortal: https://www.amazon.com/First-Immortal-Novel-Future/dp/0345421825

Alright let’s get the Bob’s involved. Bobiverse Series

The first half is fun to read, but the effort it takes to get past the second half is hard. I did it on my third try.

And for a sci-fi recommendation...

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

I picked up The Breakers 1-3 for $0.99 just for the hell of it. It's pretty good for a buck.

Wyrm by Mark Fabi will be much harder to find and is more formulaic, but mirrors the idea of adventuring in the MMORPG to advance real life more than Snow Crash.

You might want to check out Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light.

This is the best movie AvP candidate IMO. AvP: Prey

Sort of sets the stage for the war series

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