The Sword and Laser discussion

simple enough, though this isn't strict rule try to avoid TV and movies spaceships (to many lists already have serenity and enterprise)

Aww, but the spaceship I like from a movie isn't either of those! Actually, I'm having issues remembering too many of the spaceships from books I've read but I definitely liked the tree ships in Hyperion.



(My favorite movie spaceship is the alien ship in Flight of the Navigator. Compliance!)

The Heart of Gold from Hitchhiker's Guide.

Nostalgia for Infinity from the Revelation Space series

When I read the title of this topic, I immediately thought of the Shakespeare and Proust obsessed moravecs, Mahnmut and Orphu, from Dan Simmons Ilium and Olympos. AI spacecraft obsessed with literature.

Since I don't read enough science fiction to know any spaceships by name, I'm going to have to go with the airship Leviathan from Leviathan as the closest comparison.

Okay, who's going to rattle off a list of all the fabulous ship names from Iain M. Bank's Culture series :)

The Lady Macbeth, captained by Joshua Calvert in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy.

Defiant >> Enterprise. Just saying.

Rob wrote: "Defiant >> Enterprise. Just saying."

Oooooh, them's fighting words!

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

hehehehe ;)

Rocinante, from the Expanse series. James S. A. Corey

terpkristin wrote: "Rob wrote: "Defiant >> Enterprise. Just saying."

Oooooh, them's fighting words!

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!

hehehehe ;)"

It has a cloaking device. Nuff said.

Enterprise Class A, B, or C?

The Ship Who Sang. Great personality.

I'm suprised no one said Justice of Toren yet.

Since you said literary, I'll go with the Rocinante from the Expanse series.

But for real, it's a about the Normandy SR-2 (Alliance. Cerberus made the SR-2 but the Alliance version is best).

SDF-1. I read all the Jack McKinney novels when I was a kid, so it counts!

Tamahome wrote: "I'm suprised no one said Justice of Toren yet."

I was rather ambivalent on JoT.

The time-travelling spaceship from Urth of the New Sun.

Gay Deceiver from Number of the Beast by Heinlein.

Eddie / Heart of Gold from Hitchhiker's Guide.

David Sven wrote: "Nostalgia for Infinity from the Revelation Space series"

Absolutely without question.

Tamahome wrote: "The Lady Macbeth, captained by Joshua Calvert in Peter F. Hamilton's Night's Dawn Trilogy."

A worthy runner up.

I loved the flying Italian restaurant from Life, the Universe and Everything.

And mostly ships in novels aren't interesting unless they themselves are actual characters. I love snarky/sarcastic AI systems on ships.

The ship in Nightflyers.

*cough* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_...

Tamahome wrote: "I'm suprised no one said Justice of Toren yet."

I came here to mention Justice of Toren. She's awesome. Sentient ships are always better than the non-sentient ones.

Mark & Kevin both have it right - I can think of several AI / sentient ships that are interesting characters, but I can't think of any lifeless hunks of metal that are interesting settings.

Part of that may stem from many spaceships being either one-off transport ships or military ships of one sort or another, and the characters who travel on such ships are only on them for a limited time. The ships which are long-term settings tend to be merchant ships with long-serving crew or passengers, like Serenity or the Millennium Falcon.

Do any of you have thoughts on that? Can you think of any military ships that are longtime settings?

Helen wrote: "Do any of you have thoughts on that? Can you think of any military ships that are longtime settings?"

I can't think of any offhand, but I imagine there must be a couple in the Warhammer 40k universe. They seem to fetishize everything else. If the literary universes of Star Wars and Star Trek are allowed, there are probably a couple to be found there, as well.

Aurora CV-1 from the Frontiers Saga by Ryk Brown

The ship from the spaceship forrest in the comic Saga. Really beautiful design.

My favourite ship (purely on name) is Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The. Love that name!

Although my favourite ship, based on AI personality is probably The Sleeper Service. Both of those ships are from Iain M Banks book, Excession.

I do have a soft spot for Justice of Toren, as well.

Ooh another ship I just remembered as I was looking through some of my old reviews is "Ship" from the Seed series (starts with Earthseed, though I didn't like the second book as much and didn't read the third).

Ship was a mother, a long-term habitat, a teacher/mentor...really a character just as the kids in the story are.

Mark wrote: "I loved the flying Italian restaurant from Life, the Universe and Everything."

I think of Bistro Math whenever divvying up a group's restaurant tab. Sadly it hasn't transported me anyplace yet.

I'm partial to Big Yellow from Tanya Huff's The Better Part of Valor.

Violating the rules a bit, but "The Bebop" from Cowboy Bebop was always a favorite of mine, and yes I have read a couple of the comics (not nearly as good as the show).

And for a working military ship I always liked "Dauntless" from the lost fleet. I was the never in the Navy, but this just felt like a real military ship (a bit idealized).

I've been pondering overnight and I think my favorite literary spaceship is probably the Hot Needle of Inquiry from The Ringworld Engineers. Talk about safe at any speed! Any ship that can remain functional as a home base after being buried in lava that hardens into rock is aces in my book. (No pun intended.)

Dahak from Empire from the Ashes by David Weber.

HMAMC Wayfarer from Honor Among Enemies, Also the Nike from The Short Victorious War in the same series.

Outside of literature, I have to go with Serentiy, followed by the Andromeda Ascendant (the Ship Made Flesh), and lastly, the Bounty (from Star Trek IV), which also had a cloaking device.

Helen wrote: "Do any of you have thoughts on that? Can you think of any military ships that are longtime settings?"

In the 9 years since this was posted, I’ve noticed a marked uptick in the publication of massive, sprawling, epic stories in the Military Sci-Fi/Space Opera genres that feature just these sorts of ships. Many of them are perpetually on sale for 99 cents, which is an incredible bargain if you’re into that sort of thing. 3-to-12 full-length novels for a buck? Crazy.

I’ve bought a bunch just because they were a dollar, and I’ve noticed that these books all feature space navies duking it out with enemies in enormous Star Warsian style, and many ships become mainstays throughout their respective series. Some are even elevated to characters in their own right, in the vein of Millennium Falcon/Serenity/Enterprise.

I haven’t read these books beyond the samples to see if the writing is good enough for me to invest my couch cushion change, but here are the collections I’ve bought:

Blackbeard Superbox
Star Kingdom Boxset
Forgotten Colony: The Complete Series
Battlegroup Z: The Complete Series
Gunn and Salvo Box Set: Books 1-4: Galaxy Run, Friendly Fire, Calypso End, Bygone Star
The Belt - Complete Series
Drop Trooper Books 1-4: A Military Sci-Fi Box Set
Cade Korbin Chronicles: The Complete Series (Books 1-4)
Interstellar Gunrunner: The Complete Series: A Space Opera Box Set
Blackout: The Complete Series (Books 1-9)

That’s 51 books for $10. I mean, c’mon. And these are the tip of the iceberg, because naturally Amazon recommends these to me every other day now. And there are LOTS of them. Oodles, even. Loads, scads, many.

Surely among these there must be military ships that meet Helen’s question.

I also have a list of spaceship names I encounter, and one of the series recommended to me was the Expeditionary Force series, starting with Columbus Day. These *aren’t* on sale, so I haven’t bought them (yet), but someone pointed me to the fan wiki listing the names and histories of the various ships in the books and OMG. He’s taken Banks’ ship-naming from The Culture and turned it up to 11: https://expeditionary-force-by-craig-... Click on the headings to see the various alien ships. I gotta think some of those ships are major settings/characters.

I don't know why, but for some reason the spaceships of film and TV speak to me more than those of books. The Millenium Falcon jumped to mind first, followed by Moya from Farscape, and Battlestar Galactica from the eponymous show.

Finally, in support of other posters, I must agree that Bistromath, Eddie in the Heart of Gold, and Justice of Toren are awesome. And yeah, Defiant >> Enterprise!

Syrinx's bitek voidhawk Oenone from The Night's Dawn trilogy https://www.goodreads.com/series/4331... . Wish I had these diagrams while reading. Eat your heart out, Spacedock.

Trike, I always thought of necromancy as being more of a Halloween activity, but I guess it works for Valentines Day as well ? ;-)

The titular spacecraft configuration from Project Hail Mary, with a make-shift atmospheric separation for (view spoiler)[passengers of different species (hide spoiler)] comes to mind.

Papa MRF wrote: "I don't know why, but for some reason the spaceships of film and TV speak to me more than those of books."

Might be because you can see them. I’m not being flippant - it’s just easier to embrace and understand a space visually than through text.

That might also be why I like The Lying Bastard and Hot Needle of Inquiry from the Ringworld series: the ships on the covers of the books I read accurately depicted them, and at some point I saw diagrams of them. (Besides the fact they’re cool.)

But yeah, I do love me some movie/TV spaceships: the original Jupiter 2, the Eagle/Hawk, Starfury, Gunstar….

John (Nevets) wrote: "Trike, I always thought of necromancy as being more of a Halloween activity, but I guess it works for Valentines Day as well ? ;-)"

You love it, admit it.

Jemppu wrote: "The titular spacecraft configuration from Project Hail Mary, with a make-shift atmospheric separation for [spoilers removed] comes to mind."

That was my favorite book from 2021 but I have no idea what the ship looked like.

Trike wrote: "But yeah, I do love me some movie/TV spaceships: the original Jupiter 2, the Eagle/Hawk, Starfury, Gunstar…."

…Valley Forge, Cygnus, Normandy SR-2, Tydirium, Reliant, NSEA Potector…

Trike wrote: "Jemppu wrote: "The titular spacecraft configuration from Project Hail Mary, with a make-shift atmospheric separation for [spoilers removed] comes to mind."

That was my favorite boo..."

I thought I listened to it, but I know I saw basic images of the ship in it's different configurations. I think they were printed in the book/ ebook. Oh, I know. I got the kindle version on a deal, and added the audible for cheap as well, that way I had both. It was sort of a basic rocket ship, but it did the job well.

Well, I completely agree with the others who have said rocinante from the expanse and the heart of Gold from hitchhikers guide. Also, Venetia’s sword from finder by Susanne Palmer. I became fond of the asshole research transport in artificial condition by Martha wells. I guess I share that with murderbot! And last, but definitely not least there is the wayfarer from a long way to a small, angry planet by Becky chambers.