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Upbeat stories
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Asimov is optimistic and not tragic in many of his works. I'm thinking particularly of his Foundation novels and his robot novels with Olivaw.Timothy Zahn is another I'd recommend. The Icarus Hunt is one of my favorite books from him.
A Wrinkle in Time is great, even if the space travel is unconventional.
Let me know if you are interested in any Trek or Star Wars tie-ins, as that is my main reading jam.
Some books I've read that had interesting characters, a story to tell, some humor and to me are feel good reads.Douglas Adams books, especially
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.Harry Harrison Stainless Steel Rat series and Bill, the Galactic Hero series.
The Stainless Steel Rat for President is on my list of books to re-read during election years.Christopher Stasheff books starting with
The Warlock in Spite of Himself, though some are more planetary than space opera.James H. Schmitz books such as
A Tale of Two Clocks.
Scalzi is generally pretty light. His current Space Opera series definitely is. The Collapsing Empire & The Consuming Fire, with a third coming this year. Also, his take on the Fuzzies, Fuzzy Nation.A couple of the Vorkosigan books are fairly light adventures, such as A Civil Campaign.
My favorite upbeat story is Hellspark by Janet Kagan.
Of course, it depends on what you mean by upbeat. Many of the Honorverse books end positively.
And I consider most of Nathan Lowell's books upbeat.
Of course, it depends on what you mean by upbeat. Many of the Honorverse books end positively.
And I consider most of Nathan Lowell's books upbeat.
A couple others:The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers, which is solidly Space Opera and the closest to Firefly I’ve yet encountered,
The Martian by Andy Weir.
Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin, another super space adventure collection. Haviland Tuf is a cat-loving rapscallion who commands a giant alien starship with incredible abilities.
Thanks for all the suggestions. A lot of them are old friends. This crazy mood I’m in will pass eventually.
Books mentioned in this topic
Tuf Voyaging (other topics)The Martian (other topics)
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (other topics)
Hellspark (other topics)
The Collapsing Empire (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
James H. Schmitz (other topics)Douglas Adams (other topics)
Harry Harrison (other topics)
Christopher Stasheff (other topics)
Elizabeth Moon (other topics)
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All I’m coming up with right now are these:
I’m sure there are a lot more. I’d like something I haven’t (re)read recently.
What’s your own favorite upbeat SF?