SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I've been living in southern California for over 20 years, and it's only with the prospect of moving somewhere else next year that I thought to ask for California-centered SFF book recommendations.

I've thought of a few off of the top of my head, but I know there are a bunch more. Feel free to contribute!

- Borderline by Mishell Baker (and the rest of that series)
- Chaos Choreography by Seanan McGuire
- parts of the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton
- Philip K. Dick spent much of his life in CA - no need to list these, I know what they are
- same with Kim Stanley Robinson

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is the first the comes to my mind

Good one, CJ. I read it as a SFFBC selection a few years ago.

Seanan McGuire's October Daye series is set in the San Francisco Bay Area (and connected realms of fairy, of course). Starting with Rosemary and Rue.

Also by McGuire, writing as Mira Grant, the Parasitology trilogy (starting with Parasite) is in the SF Bay Area and Feed starts out there as well (and they travel around a lot in the series, but spend a bunch of time in California as I remember).

also
Light from Uncommon Stars
Zero Sum Game
Altered Carbon

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart?

also
Light from Uncommon Stars

Yes, Light from Uncommon Stars! The other day when I posted I was like "OK, I read another book a few months back set in CA, what in the world was it??"

I also ought to give Altered Carbon a second chance. I remember trying to watch the TV adaptation and hating it.

Erm...given what I know of you, CJ, I might recommend googling Richard Morgan before reading anything by him. =/

Yeah, I didn’t like the book (and I didn’t bother to watch the series).

The Fifth Sacred Thing, by Starhawk. It might be too “spiritual” for you. Also it is not overtly California but it seems like it to me.

Always Comjng Home, Ursula K. Le Guin, sort of California

Borderline, by Mishell Baker (LA)

Aren’t there any books by Kim Stanley Robinson that are set in California?

ripe

The Three California Triptych seems to fit the bill
https://www.goodreads.com/series/5857...

Allison wrote: "Erm...given what I know of you, CJ, I might recommend googling Richard Morgan before reading anything by him. =/"

I really didn't need anything else to parse that, lol. Thanks. Fortunately the world is full of plenty of other books and stories.

Hank wrote: "The Three California Triptych seems to fit the bill
https://www.goodreads.com/series/5857..."

The first book of this series is available in the "free" library with a US audible membership. Nice!

Here are another couple of possibilities. I haven't read either of these, so I wouldn't call them recommendations, though I've meant to read Weetzie Bat for quite some time.

The five books of Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block are collected in Dangerous Angels. A UF, I think?

Stranger by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith is set in a post-cataclysm California set back to a magical equivalent of the Gold Rush period.

I'm rereading I Am Legend aka The Omega Man by Richard Matheson which I haven't read since, idk, 1992 maybe, so the Will Smith film version had completely eclipsed it in my memory, but the novella is set in Los Angeles. I was like, "Compton Ave? Wait, that's not NYC" lol.

Would recommend Oath of Fealty by Niven and Pournelle. Living in an arcology just outside LA has to be fun, right?

I'm up for an arcology. Though I'm very wary of Pournelle.

I found a BR listopia for dystopians set in California. It appears a lot of them are older, and many have already been mentioned on this thread. But it's worth a look:

https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

The Bridge trilogy by William Gibson. Takes place in LA & SF (and Tokyo)
Ecotopia
Here and Now and Then
The Dreamers
Siren Queen
Golden State
I know there is more but they escape me right now...

Netanella wrote: "I found a BR listopia for dystopians set in California. It appears a lot of them are older, and many have already been mentioned on this thread. But it's worth a look:

https://www.goodreads.com/li..."

Thanks, Netanella. Makes me wonder why there are so many post-apoc stories set there? (not all post-apocs are dystopian, but I'm sure many of these are!)

It reminds me that I actually have a book to contribute to this thread, one I read eons ago. It's set in a post-apoc California, and if I remember correctly, there was a geological fissure between California and the rest of the US. If memory serves, that is.

False dawn by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Beth wrote: "I'm up for an arcology. Though I'm very wary of Pournelle."

That's fair.

A far-future setting, in which California has become Calavairn Island:
Speaker to Heaven. I re-read it recently and it's a decent read, even if Wolf gets annoying at times.