SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Can anyone suggest a couple of good underwater science fiction books?
I've already enjoyed reading Startide Rising by David Brin & Sphere by Michael Crichton. Thank you.

A toughie. Lessee. Humanity Prime by Bruce McAllister (long out of print). Under Pressure by Frank Herbert. Dolphin Island by Arthur C. Clarke (borderline SF, but quite entertaining for all that). Parts of the Skylark series take place on an ocean planet with water-dwelling alien/humanoids. 20,000 Leagues Beneath the Sea and Mysterious Island by Verne (of course). Out of the Deeps by Wyndham (same guy who wrote Day of the Triffids, kind of a water-holocaust-alien story that actually resonates with Startide Rising. The Deep and White Shark by Benchley are both arguably SF. Sundry Clive Cussler ditto, although somewhere in there the connection to "SF" gets sketchy. Cradle by Lee and Clarke. There's an old book called IIRC Spawn of the Vortex by Gayle, a RAF pilot or flight engineer or something, written post WWII that echoes once again a sort of a war of the worlds nuclear ting like Out of the Deeps (same basic plot if you like -- a nuclear test in the ocean wakens something that should not have been awakened and makes us very sorry as they interpret the blast as an 'attack' and attack us back with devastating consequence). Out of print, available used, got my personal copy upstairs, heh.

That is (as usual) far from exhaustive but is what comes to mind in the short run. To do better I'd have to go sift my shelves. I think I'm still missing some bio-SF with smart dolphins and so on, but this isn't my primary genre of personal interest and names aren't coming back to me offhand.

HTH, rgb

Robert's post lists a few good ones. Some from my kidhood: Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter, Tom Swift and His Deep-Sea Hydrodome, Tom Swift and His Spectromarine Selector all by Victor Appleton. Then there's The Abyss by Orson Scott Card (which is a novel based on the movie)and the prehistoric shark - MEG -books by Steve Alten.

Thanks for your reply, Robert. I heartily agree that there are very few underwater science fiction books available. I read Dolphin Island and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea many years ago & loved them. I will look into Cradle, Out of the Deep, Humanity Prime, Under Pressure and the Skylark series.

Tim, thanks for your posting. I have very fond memories of reading the Tom Swift series when I was in elementary school. I'll look into The Abyss book because I really enjoyed the movie.

Catchelot by Alan Dean Foster is pretty good. It takes place on a water world although most of the action takes place above the waterline.

Raise the Titanic and Night Probe by Clive Cussler are two of his best books. While not traditionally considered science fiction they both have a lot of gadgets and science and have a lot of action under water

Door into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski is good. I do not recall her other book -- Daughter of Elysium by Joan Slonczewski, but it is in the same universe

Oceanspace by Allen Steele was good

Zodiac by Neil Stephenson was a decent eco thriller with a water theme

Burning the Ice by Laure Mixon was a good one

Reefsong by Carol Severance was her first novel I think and was very good

Endless Blue by Wen Spencer has a lot of action take place on ships

I'm trying to find an adventure/sci-fi book I read as a child/teenager (so sometime in the 70s or 80s) about a family who live in a habitat underwater.

They've had an adaptation to have gills so they can breathe underwater, but also have masks that can do the same thing for people that don't have the gills. The habitat comes under attack / sabotage and one 'scene' I remember vividly is where one of the children has to help a dolphin friend who's got caught under water (in a net I think?) and has to press the 'gill mask' against the dolphin's breathing hole so they can breathe until they manage to untangle them.

I'm normally really good at tracking these things down but I'm stumped on this one - can anyone help?

Gordon wrote: "I'm trying to find an adventure/sci-fi book I read as a child/teenager (so sometime in the 70s or 80s) about a family who live in a habitat underwater.

They've had an adaptation to have gills so..."

I've been looking for this book for ages too! I'm pretty sure I read it in the seventies as a kid, here in Australia. One of the children was called Cleo. I'm pretty sure she was the one who had to help the dolphin with the breathing mask. I've had a thread on one of the other groups (What's the name of that book) for a couple of years now, with no luck.

Ah - I think I stumbled across your question on the other forum. Damn - I loved that book! I'm hoping it's still in a box somewhere, and that I'll stumble across it...

Can you remember anything else about the book? I'm good at searching so any other plot points or names or anything you can remember would help. Thanks.

Aquarius Mission by Martin Caidin.

Super sub based on negative buoyancy, an unknown undersea civilisation.

The Deep Range, by Arthur C. Clarke -- both sf and underwater. If you go back in time you can hardly miss with 40,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Gordon wrote: "I'm trying to find an adventure/sci-fi book I read as a child/teenager (so sometime in the 70s or 80s) about a family who live in a habitat underwater.

They've had an adaptation to have gills so..."

There was a book that I loved as a kid (sometime in the 1970s) along these same lines, but the only thing I really remember about it is that people could be transformed through a process to become mermen. Unfortunately, that describes a lot of books. I also vaguely recall it had schematics for a sub or underwater city in it. It was a library book, so I have no idea what it might be.

Here are some underwater novels and stories: Part 1 and Part 2.

There's also this entry in the Science Fiction Encyclopedia.

The Seas of Venus by David Drake.

The Undersea Trilogy by Frederik Pohland Jack Williamson. (Don't know if the plot/character points are in there; but the setting is for the sake of the thread in general.)

The Watch Below by James White

The crew and passengers of a sinking ship manage to survive for generations under the sea as if in a space ship, and accidentally make first contact with a migrating race of aliens.

A Darkling Sea

Thanks for the suggestions but don't believe it's any of those

Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick.

Okay, I cheated, most of it takes place above the waterline. But it's a world where the inhabitants live in the tidal zone, and the tide is coming in.

Gordon wrote: "Can you remember anything else about the book? I'm good at searching so any other plot points or names or anything you can remember would help. Thanks."

I think there were two or maybe three children - Cleo was the youngest. I'm also pretty sure it was set in Australia, and that the family lived in an underwater habitat.

Thanks but still not turning anything up... :-(

Gordon wrote: "Thanks but still not turning anything up... :-("

One day...

Paul wrote: "A Darkling Sea"

I was coming to recommend this one as well.

Two others I can think of, not Gordon's hoped for book, but novels with native beings who live in the (mostly) water world: Undertow and one where some humans have chosen modifications to live permanently in the ocean: Blue Remembered Earth and On the Steel Breeze (there's a new, third related book that I haven't read yet).

Well, I doubt the original poster cares anymore since he hasn’t been active for 6.5 years, but I’m surprised this one hasn’t been mentioned: Starfish

Sorry Gordon, this definitely isn’t the book you’re looking for. You might have better luck if you created a separate thread in this group. Since you added your question onto a thread from 2008, many of us are seeing this thread for the first time. A lot of people are just responding to the original recommendation request without seeing your question.

Gordon wrote: "I'm trying to find an adventure/sci-fi book I read as a child/teenager (so sometime in the 70s or 80s) about a family who live in a habitat underwater.

They've had an adaptation to have gills so ..."

It's "Farm Beneath the Sea" by Mary Patchett
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?...

It's probably revealing my age, but I thought Stingray!

As noted, the original interest in this thread was years back, but if anyone is looking for an underwater story that would have been near-future SF when written, try The Dragon in the Sea by Frank Herbert.