SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Curious about something. Say "science fiction," and a lot of readers immediately think of space ships and pew-pew-pew. What's your favorite sci-fi novel or series that takes place on Earth and doesn't feature spacecraft in any way, except perhaps a mention or two. My example is Michael Crichton's The Andromeda Strain, which is based on hard science, but has nothing to do with space (at least humans in space). Your example?

ooh, there's lots. immediately coming to mind is Kim Stanley Robinson's Three Californias trilogy, especially Pacific Edge. Geoff Ryman champions 'mundane SF', which has to fit the rules of physics as we understand them at present - so no FTL travel, etc - and his books are extraordinary. Gwyneth Jones often fits this category, too.

Of course, a lot of cyberpunk eschews space. William Gibson goes to low Earth orbit, but that's about it.

One of my favourites is David Brin's Earth. Really fun end of the world type book.

I'm sure I could think of a few, but my favorite is probably The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson.

Hi there, I really liked Republic's Chosen by Rori I. It's got action, sarcasm and military style characters that are relatable rather than two dimensional. It's pretty easy to read and the story is gripping so it's one of those books that once you start you can't put down. It's about two societies in a world that survived 'The Great Disaster' - or how I imagine the world post Trump - and how they interact with each other. It's got a bit of history, some humour, a lot of science and a lot of good sarcasm.

I suppose that most time travel stories would fill the bill, like The Time Machine, or Time Scout.

Of course there's the classic Earth Is Room Enough.

Alternate history would qualify, usually.
Much dystopia and post-apocalyptic would, too.

I actually have a shelf called scifi earth for just this topic. Usually the standouts for me are dystopian: Oryx and Crake, The Handmaid's Tale, Wool Omnibus, The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer and of course the classics: 1984, Brave New World

I did like I Am Legend

David wrote: "I'm sure I could think of a few, but my favorite is probably The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson."

That's definitely a contender. My favorite Stephenson.

There are some I like but I can't recall if they're strictly Earth-based, such as Across Realtime by Vernor Vinge.

A Calculated Life fits the bill. Quite good.

Also Machine Man and Jennifer Government by Max Barry, action satire about the future.

Flowers for Algernon is a huge one. Actually, quite a lot of SF classics and favorites take place on Earth. Slan, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The Hunt for Red October, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Frankenstein, etc.

Back in the 60's, I loved reading my mom's Doc Savage books!

Have you tried A Canticle For Leibowitz (Walter M Miller Jnr)?

Vernor Vinge's Rainbows End and Taiyo Fujii's Gene Mapper come to mind. I suppose Ernest Cline's Ready Player One counts too.

I enjoyed "The Windup Girl" by Paolo Bacigalupi

Trike wrote: "David wrote: "I'm sure I could think of a few, but my favorite is probably The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson."

That's definitely a c..."

The Hunt for Red October is SF?

It is considered sci-fi. The submarines are the reason, I believe.

I certainly wouldn't class Tom Clancy as SF, any more than James Bond. I think the term is techno-thriller.

Technothrillers are considered Sci-Fi. Here's the Wiki definition: "A techno-thriller (also known as technothrillers) is a hybrid genre drawing from science fiction, thrillers, spy fiction, action, and war novels."

I believe they would be considered "near future" sci-fi.

Paul wrote: "I certainly wouldn't class Tom Clancy as SF, any more than James Bond. I think the term is techno-thriller."

Yes, the Hunt for Red October is SF, as are most technothrillers.

The submarine of the title, the Red October, is a science fictional machine, every bit as imaginary as Nemo's Nautilus was in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Technology has since passed Red October by, as it has Nautilus, but at the time it was written the "worm drive" didn't exist except in theory.

Most technothrillers are what Isaac Asimov disparaged as "ripped from tomorrow's headlines" rather than the fanciful blue sky, anything-goes SF he preferred, and the touchstones with the real world do often disguise the fact that the tech doesn't yet exist.

The End of Eternity, 1984, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Flowers for Algernon, The Handmaid's Tale, The Lathe of Heaven, etc

Addenda:

If we're talking favorite Earth-based SF, mine personally would include The Pelbar Cycle by Paul O. Williams. https://www.goodreads.com/series/5541... Written in the early 1980s, it's a post-apocalypse series, but it is *very* post, on the order of hundreds of years. For most of the series we barely see any sort of technology beyond what one might find in the Middle Ages. In fact, we don't even know what caused the end of civilization for several books in the series.

The characters in the novels explore the North American continent, starting along the banks of the Mississippi River (although I don't think they ever call it that), going west, north and south, and, eventually, east. We encounter several groups who are descended from various isolated survivors, some of whom have built major cities, others who live the way Native Americans and First Nations people did a thousand years ago, either in small tribes or as nomads.

It's a sprawling, epic story that takes place over the course of a generation as the isolated groups start reconnecting and conflict ensues. For me it combined a lot of the publishing things happening in the late '70s and early '80s, with the rise of multigenerational sagas like those of John Jakes (Kent Family Chronicles, complete set: The Bastard + The Rebels + etc.) or Howard Fast with the fascinated dread of the end of the world, the interest in Native American ways, and novels of prehistory such as The Clan of the Cave Bear.

Nexus, Daemon or really anything by Philip K. Dick

I like all of the land-based Orson Scott Card books.

Agree with Ramez Naan's NEXUS series or Marcus Sakey's BRILLIANCE saga.

Adam wrote: "Have you tried A Canticle For Leibowitz (Walter M Miller Jnr)?"

Right up there with A Canticle for Leibowitz (a gem) is (in my opinion) Earth Abides (another classic). Another gem (that's mostly on earth) is When Worlds Collide.

Pygmalion's Spectacals" by Stanley G. Weinbaum

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6...

Virtual Reality technology in 1935 !!! A must read.

All Our Yesterdays is an amazing one. I love the whole time travel inevitability kinda thing

I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake

So have been mulling this over. And I think that maybe I will have to go with either

or


both are good and other than Neuromancer having some near earth travel, exclude space ships.

Yefim wrote: "The End of Eternity, 1984, A Canticle for Leibowitz, Flowers for Algernon, The Handmaid's Tale, The Lathe of Heaven, etc"

Excellent calls, all. Thanks for the memories.

One of my favorites is a real old one. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, I've read it a few times and really enjoy it.

I am reading Ready Player One by Ernest Cline - there are a couple of spaceships but only in VR :)

Ron wrote: "One of my favorites is a real old one. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, I've read it a few times and really enjoy it."

Another gem. Read it as a child and reread it a few years back. Realized my childhood read was abridged (scenes were excised, such as (view spoiler)[the Martians eating the humans (hide spoiler)]. Gave me chills as an adult.

Another one I really likes was Stranger in a Strange Land. I know it's received bad publicity on this site, but, I still liked it back in the day. But, being originally published in 1961, it gets a bad reputation because it doesn't adhere to 2000+ ideals.

Ron wrote: "Another one I really likes was Stranger in a Strange Land. I know it's received bad publicity on this site, but, I still liked it back in the day. But, being originally published in 1961..."

Too True, Ron.

A number of these, in addition, take place prior to the 21st century (though I can't think of any written recently that do that which aren't time travel stories.) A number of good examples came out of the "New Wave" movement anthologised in Harlan Ellison's "Dangerous Visions" series of collections a decade before Star Wars captured the popular notion of the genre.

Peter wrote: "A number of these, in addition, take place prior to the 21st century (though I can't think of any written recently that do that which aren't time travel stories.) A number of good examples came out..."

Can you clarify which "these" you're referring to?

Peter wrote: "A number of these, in addition, take place prior to the 21st century (though I can't think of any written recently that do that which aren't time travel stories.) A number of good examples came out..."

Not sure why 21st century is any kind of criteria considering we're less than 2 decades into it. A lot of today's best SF writers were well active in the 20th century.

Contemporary writers like Ken MacLeod have done Earth-based non-space ship books, like The Star Fraction and some of its associated works. Yeah, The Stone Canal has parts on another planet and some of them are alternate history books, but they're way more about politics, oppression, revolution, and how no matter what form of government people adopt it's going to be prone to all the old human foibles.

Then you've got some of the works by John Scalzi like his very first novel Agent to the Stars which only has one UFO scene.

Then you have Greg Bear's work like The Forge of God, my favorite first contact story. All of it is set on Earth. And his Darwin's Radio duology, as well as his Quantico duology, not to mention Queen of Angels, and Psychlone, Blood Music, Vitals, and Dead Lines.

And then we have Neal Stephenson's Snow Crash, The Diamond Age: or, A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer, Zodiac, and Cryptonomicon ...

These are all works set on Earth written by living, working, contemporary authors. Some of them are even 21st Cent.

I really enjoyed The Amtrak Wars!Cloud Warrior
Definitely sci-fi, but totally earth based.

Trike wrote: "Peter wrote: "A number of these, in addition, take place prior to the 21st century (though I can't think of any written recently that do that which aren't time travel stories.) A number of good exa..."

Trike wrote: "Peter wrote: "A number of these, in addition, take place prior to the 21st century (though I can't think of any written recently that do that which aren't time travel stories.) A number of good exa..."

Quite a few of these are set in the past, but only because they were written in the past in which they were set. I couldn't think of any that were set significantly before the period in which they were written that were not either time travel stories or stories where that part is simply explaining a character's backstory.

In retrospect, I suppose a number of steam punk stories don't involve spaceships, though they do add the aspect of alternate history.

Micah wrote: "Peter wrote: "A number of these, in addition, take place prior to the 21st century (though I can't think of any written recently that do that which aren't time travel stories.) A number of good exa..."

Simply saying if you write one now, you will be writing in the 21st century and will probably not set the story prior to that, except possibly in part to give a character's backstory. Some of the examples given obviously occur in our past, but they were also written back when they are set.

I was recently re-reading "The Persistence of Vision" which is set in our past, but in the future of the period in which it was written. While never 100%, it can be eerie to see some of the things such authors got right, or close to right. "Fahrenheit 451" in particular holds up even better than when I read it back in grade school, given its presentation of reality media.

Joseph wrote: "Ron wrote: "Another one I really likes was Stranger in a Strange Land. I know it's received bad publicity on this site, but, I still liked it back in the day. But, being originally publi..."

I really liked the expanded version released after his death when the rights reverted to his widow and she was able to get it published. Something like 40,000 words were removed, mostly by shortening individual sentences and cutting a few scenes, one of which I really loved and was glad to see it had been added to the story I had originally read.

Peter wrote: "Quite a few of these are set in the past, but only because they were written in the past in which they were set."

Maybe we should start with a simpler question: which drugs do I need to take to understand what you're saying?

I mean, I *think* I know what you're trying to say, but it's open to interpretation.

Tell me if this is what you mean:

A book written in 1972 that is set in 1999 is set in the author's future but occurs in our past.

And that somehow invalidates it? Or are you just bringing up a data point?

If the former, I don't see how. If the latter, that is accurate but only because there were 100 years in the 20th century and only 17 years in the 21st so far, so we have some catching up to do in terms of volume.

Lots of authors are currently writing SF set on our world that doesn't involve spaceships. Almost the entire dystopia craze, for one, and the vast majority of technothrillers, for another.

Recently I enjoyed All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders, which is from 2016. It's sort of half sci fi and half fantasy, but it's completely set on Earth.

I read this a long time ago, and still like it a lot. No spaceships.

Sinister Barrier by Eric Frank Russell

I don't tend to have favourites, but like a number of people here, I really enjoyed Ready Player One which I listened to on audio. Back when I was in high school I enjoyed one that is very difficult to find in English now but that I always remembered (I have forgotten most of the books I read, I think, since I was a bookworm) is The Ice People which was originally published in French. Of course, as a kid I liked Journey to the Center of the Earth, but I doubt I'd like it now :(

In no particular order, here are a few earthbound titles that I have enjoyed.

A couple of notes/disclaimers...

- Outside of the pesky asteroid that plays a significant role, I don't really consider the Winters trilogy to be Science-Fiction but am including it because it's tagged as such - and it's a pretty great story, IMHO.

- There are aliens in the Le Guin and the Wolfe but they are somewhat incidental to the narratives and world-building.


The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Book of the New Sun Tetralogy by Gene Wolfe
Earth Abides by George Stewart
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
Elleander Morning by Jerry Yulsman
Sims by F. Paul Wilson
Mockingbird by Walter Tevis
The Difference Engine by William Gibson & Bruce Sterling
The Last Policeman Trilogy by Ben H. Winters
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm


I could keep going... ;)

ScoLgo wrote: "In no particular order, here are a few earthbound titles that I have enjoyed.

A couple of notes/disclaimers...

- Outside of the pesky asteroid that plays a significant role, I don't really consid..."


Oh, yes, I forgot about Fahrenheit 451, which I still. I haven't yet reread Brave New World to see if I'll still like it, but I certainly did when I was a teen.

Trike wrote: "Peter wrote: "Quite a few of these are set in the past, but only because they were written in the past in which they were set."

Maybe we should start with a simpler question: which drugs do I need..."

You're overthinking this. Take your example. Is anyone in 2017 writing science fiction set in 1999? (Like that person was who was writing in 1972.)

Peter wrote: "Trike wrote: "Peter wrote: "Quite a few of these are set in the past, but only because they were written in the past in which they were set."

Maybe we should start with a simpler question: which d..."

I imagine someone is, but it would be something along the lines of one out of who knows how many authors their are out there.