SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Hello, everyone!

I read mostly YA since that's the genre I wish to write for, but most of what I've read is fantasy. Can anyone recommend some good YA science fiction?

I've been reading "Matched," and it's a cool concept.

This avid reader would appreciate any direction! =)

Thanks!

If you've been reading Matched, then have you read The Giver? Very similar style dystopia (so much so that some people have accused Condie of plagiarizing, either consciously or unconsciously) and absolutely beautiful.

Depending on what age-range YA you like, maybe The Silver Metal Lover, by Tanith Lee? Romantic SF, and therefore suitable for the older teen audience (there's some sex), but I thought it really captured the appropriate angst level.

Moon-Flash is quite beautiful science fiction that starts out looking like fantasy. . .

And of course, the classic Ender's Game was originally marketed for the adult audience but is eminently suitable for YA.

The Starry Rift has some good short stories. (Though like most anthologies, it's a mixed bag.)

Cory Doctorow has written some YA books. The only one I've personally read is Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. (Actually, it is not YA but I remember it as being suitable for older teens.)

Robert A. Heinlein wrote some books that were intended for non-adult readers. The only one I can think of is Space Cadet — my elementary school library had a copy of it.

What, no mention of The Hunger Games yet? :) Really excellent, first of a much-hyped trilogy. Also check out anything by Scott Westerfeld, Peeps is a good place to start. (Edit: Peeps might technically be urban fantasy, I don't remember. It's been a while. But it's got a lot of science in it!).

Scott Westerfeld's series Leviathan and Behemoth are YA steampunk taking place during a World War I-ish time and place...

I heartily recommend Cory Doctorow's Little Brother.

Heinlein juveniles, let's see ... I can also recall Have Space Suit-Will Travel, Red Planet,The Star Beast ... come on, help me out here, folks... :)

I would highly recommend Sylvia Engdahl's Enchantress from the Stars. Great coming of age story mixed in with first contact and how myths come to be.

You might try Charles Sheffield. I read Godspeed awhile ago, and a couple others, whose titles escape me at the moment.

Some of Heinlein's shorter works from early years would probably qualify, like The Menace from Earth. There was a series of juvenile SF issued as a series with various authors but the same publisher back around the 50's--anyone else remember them? I can think of Trouble on Titan, but no idea if it's even available now. My mental image is of a shelf in the bookmobile that used to park in front of my elementary school, so they made it into libraries.

I think the Heinlein juveniles were published by Schribners (sp?). They were some of my favorites as a kid. Some were:
Have Space Suit-Will Travel
Citizen of the Galaxy
Tunnel in the Sky
Podkayne of Mars
Red Planet
Farmer in the Sky
Space Cadet
Starman Jones
Rocket Ship Galileo
The Star Beast
The Rolling Stones
Between Planets
Each of the above featured kids as heroes & heroines, usually the former.

The Green Hills of Earth, The Man Who Sold the Moon, & The Menace From Earth were all about the same reading level, but short stories. Most had adults as heroes, though.

I don't think Double Star, The Puppet Masters, The Door into Summer, & Glory Road were part of the juveniles, but I read them about the same time. All were written well before he got weird circa 1970.

Jim wrote: "I think the Heinlein juveniles were published by Schribners (sp?). They were some of my favorites as a kid. Some were:
Have Space Suit-Will Travel
Citizen of the Galaxy
[..."

Don't forget, that when [book:Starship Troopers|5259125] first came out it was a YA novel, it even stated on the front flap of the dust jacket, along with the same publisher, Charles S. Scriber, the last of his YA novel, but as time went on it changed into something for adults, especially with the three movies that came out.

I agree with Phoenixfalls about The Giver, and Gathering Blue which is in the same universe. They also have a mutual sequel which I didn't like as well.

And of the Heinlein juveniles, I read Tunnel in the Sky and liked it fairly well. It's a frontier adventure kind of situation and though the attitude puts me off a little it's well-written as far as I can remember.

Andre Norton wrote a great many YA books--both SF and fantasy.

I will say I haven't seen much YA science fiction around, in contrast to fantasy where I usually like it better than what's marketed to adults.

Zoe's Tale has a distinctly YA flavor, now that I think about it.

Julia wrote: "Scott Westerfeld's series Leviathan and Behemoth are YA steampunk taking place during a World War I-ish time and place...

I heartily recommend Cory Doctorow's Little Brother"

I will second Little Brother one of my favorite books of the noughties. It is compelling for adults too, esp as the sequel to 1984

Thanks, everyone. I will definitely be checking these out!

Hi Krystle. One book I liked that I don't see mentioned is The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.

It also occurs to me that Isaac Asimov wrote a YA science fiction series back in the day. Look for a series of titles starting with Lucky Starr and the...

Margaret wrote: "It also occurs to me that Isaac Asimov wrote a YA science fiction series back in the day. Look for a series of titles starting with Lucky Starr and the..."

I tried re-reading one of those a couple of years ago. I couldn't do it & I like a lot of his writing.

by Scott Westefield. It starts a trilogy that continues with and . Then, the trilogy has a companion book .

William Sleator wrote a lot of YA science fiction. I suggest trying and .

Margaret Peterson Haddix has a lot for younger YA, such as and . She also has a series that starts with .

I also want to mention the Gone series, which starts with .

It's not specifically YA, but one of the primary characters is a young man, and I've taught it in HS...

The Warrior's Apprentice or the series could start with Shards of Honor or The Mountains of Mourning a space opera/ military science fiction/ mystery/ humor/ romance no capital "R" and lots of other 'slashes.' It's by Lois McMaster Bujold.

I quite liked Feed by M.T. Anderson, which is a a dystopia sci-fi revolving around advancing technology.

Did anyone mention John Christopher? The Guardians & his Tripods trilogy were YA SF that I liked as a kid.

Wow, that's a nostalgia bomb. I second John Christopher's Tripod trilogy, I really enjoyed those as a kid.

One of my favourite authors growing up was Caroline MacDonald. She wrote a few future dystopias like The Lake at End of the World and The Eye Witness.

The Tripod trilogy is fantastic. Not sure if it's YA or Mid-grade, but a teacher read it to us (a million years ago) and it was one of my first introductions to sci-fi. Yolen and LeGuin do some great YA as well, if we're talking classics. ;-)

I really loved the Tripod books

I've read all Le Guin's novels, and I can't remember any science fiction - as opposed to fantasy - that I would have thought was YA. If she has any I'd be curious about it, as I would for Yolen. I read an excerpt from a Tripod book once, I really should read them sometime.

Since I last posted I read Iron Cage by Norton and liked it.

Another author I'd add is Neal Shusterman. Unwind was a good one.

Maybe more juvenile SF than YA.. but as a kid I did read some of the Tom Swift and His Giant Robot books by Victor Appleton.

I recommend Patrick Ness. His Chaos Walking trilogy is pretty good.

Classic science fiction that is appropriate for YA:

Anne McCaffrey's Pern series, beginning with either Dragonsong or Dragonflight

Anything by Andre Norton, but especially the The Beast Master series, the Time Traders series (beginning with Galactic Derelict), the Solar Queen series (beginning with Sargasso of Space) and the Moon Magic series (beginning with Moon of Three Rings).

Frances wrote: "The Tripod trilogy is fantastic. Not sure if it's YA or Mid-grade, but a teacher read it to us (a million years ago) and it was one of my first introductions to sci-fi. Yolen and LeGuin do some gre..."

I had saw the BBC series which did not include book 3, so got the books to see what happened and loved them. I have heard a new miniseries of the books is in development.

A Wrinkle in Time may be a bit younger than what you are looking for, but I think the series holds up well.

I know that I also read Fahrenheit 451 around high school as a summer reading choice (we discussed it when classes were back in session).

Honestly, I can't think of many scifi novels that were specifically designated as YA, but a lot of scifi that would be appropriate for YA audiences exists.

There's a MG (middle grade)version of Fahrenheit 451 called The Last Book in the Universe.

Flowers for Algernon exists as a novel, but was first a short story. A similar story is The Speed of Dark.

Silvio, I am always on the lookout for Yolen YA. Here are a few:
Briar Rose, The Devil's Arithmetic, Queen's Own Fool, Prince Across the WaterSister Light, Sister Dark.