The Genre Explorers discussion

There will be specific genre threads, as there will be added one for each GOTM, but per Ally's suggestion here is a general thread where you can ask for recommendations for this or that genre you want to try and tackle.

So post your question here if you don't know where to start or where to go next :)

Great! Thanks, Aleta. I guess I'll get it started.

One genre I don't read enough of is science fiction. Thing is though, I don't like books to be very racy or heavy with profanity. So any recommendations, as long as they're clean, would me much appreciated!

I love sci-if! So far I've seen much more than I've read, something I want to change this year, but here are some suggestions:

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. This was one of the first I actually read in the genre. It's an easy read, but very serious and it's disconcerting how he actually predicted some things, it really makes you think about our world today.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. A very satiric, silly book that doesn't always make sense but is a lot of fun. Start with this, the first book only, not the Ultimate one, which contains all five in the series - you'll probably overdose on it lol!

Looking at what other books you've read, I think these could be to your taste, particularly Fahrenheit. I like clean reads the best as well, but sometimes I'll simply ignore the parts that aren't and solely judge them on everything else in the book, meaning I sometimes forget whether a book is a clean read or not. And sometimes those things actually serve a purpose in the story. But these two suggestions should be clean though! 99% sure of it :)

Science fiction books written before 1960 never contained elements you'd find objectionable, Ally.

I can also say that Isaac Asimovnever included such elements in his books in his entire career.

Come to think of it, you're quite right Shomeret, I've yet to read a pre 60s sci-fi that wasn't really clean.

I personally found Asimov a bit dull. Couldn't really sense the characters' personalities. Of course this is purely based on the volume of his collected robot short stories that I read this year, haven't gotten to the Foundation series yet. I could be wrong, but he might a bit too dry to start out with?

Aleta wrote: "Come to think of it, you're quite right Shomeret, I've yet to read a pre 60s sci-fi that wasn't really clean.

I personally found Asimov a bit dull. Couldn't really sense the characters' personali..."

One of the characteristics of pre-sixties science fiction is that they have very little characterization. The focus was on the concept. Some authors, like Asimov, continued to write with minimal characterization. (The most character oriented story by Asimov is The Bicentennial Man.) It has often been said that science fiction is a literature of ideas. In the sixties, younger writers appeared who insisted that style and character should also be important in science fiction. This was called The New Wave. New Wave writers also tended to have sex scenes in their work as part of the characterization. These were previously considered irrelevant to a science fiction story. Now the New Wave writers are no longer considered radicals. They are very well established writers.

I'm a very concept oriented reader myself. So if the author has an interesting concept or approach, I'm hooked. I prefer great characterization in addition, but concept is of paramount importance to me.

Very interesting, I was not aware of that. My experience with sci-if is as mentioned mostly with movies and tv, (which first really blossomed after Star Trek in the end 60s) and usually puts a lot weight on character building (even when they are stereotypes, they're at least that).
It's funny though, I don't remember either Fahrenheit 451 or Brave New World having a lot of character building, but I still cared about the people in the story. Perhaps that's what bugged me about Asimov - he just didn't make me care at all. I do still want to read Foundation though, so he must be doing something right to keep me interested ;)

A good concept is rarely enough for me, I need to feel invested in the characters, get a sense of the milieu and the writing needs to be thoughtful - that is the words need to be chosen with care, every single one, doesn't matter if it's sparse Hemingway prose or flowery poetry, there needs to be a purpose for the words used.

Also, funny you should mention The Bicentennial Man, that was one of the few stories I sort of liked :)

I'll add those to my TBR. Thanks!

Any suggestions for something more modern? It's nice to know that about the pre-60's fiction. But I don't have that guarantee when it comes to more recently published works.

Orson Scott Card is a devout Mormon and I don't think that his work contains sex scenes, but I haven't read much of his science fiction. I have read more of his fantasy and don't recall seeing any sex scenes in any of those. He's a very good writer, by the way. He's also very popular.

Agreed on Orson Scott Card, Fahrenheit 451 & The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Also The Kingslayer: Seven Steps to the Arbiter and Contact are two of my favorite sci fi.

♥,
Cat at Galaxy Press