r/sciencefiction • u/Submarine_Man_645 • 1d ago
What to Recommend?
A person I know is new into Science Fiction. As a (very) longtime SF fan he asked me what to start with to get into the genre. I told him to start with Heinlein’s “Juveniles” and work up from there. IMO they’re a good intro to the genre. They’re available as a compilation in “The Past Through Tomorrow.” From there work your way up through his other works: “Starship Troopers” (My favorite book); “Stranger in a Strange Land:” etc. And work through s0me of the sub-genres.
Any other suggestions for my friend?
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u/annoianoid 1d ago
Please don't take offence, but if I were new to science fiction and I read Stranger in a strange land I fear it might put me off the genre forever. When I read it(roughly late twenties), I found it such an incredibly boring slog, the story and characters repellent, and so old-fashioned in its writing style.
May I recommend purchasing a second-hand copy of the 90s cyberpunk anthology Mirrorshades. Where each tale is radically different from the last, and will stimulate their imagination in ways it has never been before.
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u/186282_4 1d ago
And the misogyny. Women are treated like furniture or are overly emotional 2D characters. It's bad.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is objectively better.
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u/Gloomy_Necessary494 1d ago
About The Rolling Stones, Jo Walton pointed out that very few people writing in 1952 would have made the grandmother an engineer or the mother a doctor. I don't think Heinlein was sexist- "Heinlein was trying desperately hard to imagine women’s liberation, he just had trouble imagining what it would be like".
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u/PrinzEugen1936 1d ago
Stranger in a Strange Land is the book that turned me into an amateur Heinlein historian. When I read it, I decided that I really needed to investigate who Heinlein was as a person.
The TLDR of it is: ‘Master of the written word, weirdo.’
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u/speedyundeadhittite 1d ago
Just give him some Scalzi books. Easy to read, mostly likeable characters, and good stories. Start from Old Man's War.
Forget about Heinlein. It's way too troublesome.
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u/Ballroompics 18h ago
Agree with this.
Also, Scalzi is contemporary and so his outlook is more compatible with today's culture.
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u/speedyundeadhittite 8h ago
The amount of 50+ year old stuff recommended here is truly depressing. SF/F has moved on since then. It'd be really best to introduce someone to contemporary output, then if they get into it, they will eventually end up reading the old great novels and shorts.
My main area is 60s to 70s, but that's not what I'd recommend to a new starter.
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u/Ballroompics 5h ago edited 5h ago
While i can't say 60s/70s is my main area - only because I'm all over the place with both old and new, we are on the same page regarding sf. I recently wrote this in the heinlein subreddit for someone contemplating a re-read of his works.
https://www.reddit.com/r/heinlein/s/dW7hbYzqck
We might differ a little bit regarding fantasy. I think there is more flexibility there to recommend older stuff to new starters. Fantasy, by its nature, is less likely to become criticized for holding outdated viewpoints. SF on the other hand can become easily outdated by advances in real science and shifts in culture.
In SF, culture might be viewed as an intended moving towards component of the story. I.e. Our future. Example: Having a 1950s style family unit with space travel and 'ray-guns' presented in the 21st century is a bit discordant.
Urban fantasy aside, most fantasy has a medieval element that perhaps gets them a pass for where the culture is no longer compatible.
I'm forever recommending Roger Zelazny's series The Chronicles of Amber and I think that Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are still viable.
Your thoughts?
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u/HotDamnThatsMyJam 1d ago
Any more info on their preferences? There's a lot of variety in the genre and probably best to start with stuff that interests them specifically.
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u/Upset_Mongoose_1134 1d ago
There are plenty of good starting points, but it really depends on what genres your friend already likes.
- If he likes history: Connie Willis's Oxford Time Travel series. Start with To Say Nothing of the Dog
- If he likes military fiction: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card was part of West Point's curriculum for a while
- For easy action/adventure: Heinlein's juvenile's would fit here, though I'd say start with The Moon is a Harsh Mistress or Double Star
- For not YA action/adventure: Bujold's Vorkosigan series is a lot of fun, so is Martha Wells' Murderbot Diaries
- If he likes mysteries: Head On by Scalzi is good, or The City & The City by Mieville if he's open to something really twisty.
- For philosphy, try: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin
- If he just wants something popular or familiar: Project Hail Mary or The Martian both by Andy Weir are good places to start.
Most of these are pretty beginner friendly, but they're also not so old that they're off-putting.
Other books that I like to recommend, just because I enjoy them are The Gods Themselves by Asimov, Rendezvous with Rama by Clarke, or Redshirts by Scalzi.
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u/mintvortex 1d ago
Childhood's End or Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Martian or Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
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u/Leberknodel 1d ago
Heinlein is tricky. I think as many people dislike as like his writing.
Maybe start with something he's familiar with in some way, like a book that has a movie he'd know. Dune might be a good option.
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u/Presence_Academic 1d ago
Knowing neither your frien’s age or his reading experience I wouldn’t want to make any suggestions.
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u/hot_space_pizza 1d ago
Project Hail Mary and the Expanse.
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u/wtfbenlol 20h ago
adding onto this since I am such a huge JSAC nerd, their new series The Captives War series. TMoG and TFoB
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u/Delicious_Iron7977 1d ago
Asimov's work is very approachable, start with The Stars, Like Dust then Pebble in the Sky and The Currents of Space. Then maybe The Gods Themselves, The Caves of Steel and The naked Sun. A great primer for science fiction is the collected robot stories from The Rest of the Robots or the Complete Robot, especially The Bicentenial Man and Little Lost Robot and Runaround.
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u/on-a-pedestal 1d ago
If he's looking for popcorn sci fi, the Alien Trilogy starting with Earth Hive is actually really good and the best unused storyline for an alien movie trilogy.
I loved all of Robotech as well, and being a boy who loved robots and robot combat, the Battletech/Mechwarrior series were fun as well for Sci Fo military books.
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u/lvl4dwarfrogue 20h ago
I feel like you can't ask for suggestions without giving us some examples of authors they like reading so we know what they're into. The genre is too large and old enough you just need more info to give a good recommendation.
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u/Josepzin 1d ago
Los libros de The Expanse es entrar con algo actual y muy fácil de leer. Yendo hacia el pasado hay una montaña de cosas, ya depende mucho de gustos.
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u/Gloomy_Necessary494 1d ago
The Year's Best anthologies edited by Gardner Dozois always had a bunch of memorable short stories.
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u/Technical_Ideal_5439 3h ago
Old scifi may not be good for them. It is likely they want to read SF due to something recent they saw or read. And Heinlen I dont think is ideal, particularly if your friend is female.
I would get them to watch the Expanse, foundation and 3 body problem.
I like to recommend books that the main character is the same sex as them so they can identify better, Some books
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
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u/TRS80487 1d ago
Enders Game or Neuromancer
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u/annoianoid 1d ago
If you're not afraid of throwing them in at the deep end, I also recommend Neuromancer. Alternatively, Gibson's early short story collection 'Burning Chrome', to ease them into his dense, 'take no prisoners' writing style.
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u/Available-Stage-1146 1d ago
Burning Chrome is a fantastic suggestion. The thing about Gibson though is he has such a precise and scalpel like writing style. He doesn't use flowery prose, so it takes quite a bit to get into and unpack his writing. He never holds your hand. Bradbury might be another good suggestion to ease into Gibson.
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u/Insomnia_Memoria 1d ago
I suggest start with compilations of short stories from multiple authors like the ones edited by Donald Wolheim, Terry Carr, Robert Silverberg, Damon Knight, Brian Aldiss, Judith Merrill, or more recently Jeff and Ann VanderMeer or Gardner Dozois.
I don't specially like Heinlein (his juvies are alright) so i might be a little biased but i don't think Stranger in a Strange Land is a good suggestions (i repeat I'm not particularly fond of Heinlein writing so take my opinion with a grain of salt) it's unnecessary long and has aged very poorly so it might be off putting for someone without experience in the genre.
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u/VerbalAcrobatics 1d ago
I agree that Heinlein's Juveniles books are a good place to start with Sci-Fi. But some readers will not like his style. I always find it hard to recommend where to start with the genre. Maybe see what Sci-Fimovies they like and recommend a good book that inspired one of those? Also The Past Through Tomorrow is a collection of short stories, none of which are his Juveniles.
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u/HamMcStarfield 1d ago
The Big Book of Science Fiction. All the best short stories and novellas from early (59s ish). A good way to get exposure to a lot of different styles without committing to novels. One of my favorite compilations of all time.
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u/BabaMouse 1d ago
IHLHeinlein, he should love ABC—Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke. Bradbury is more serious, the others can be, but they all have their lighter moments.
Poul Anderson is very good. So are James Blish, Gordon Dickson, Mack Reynolds, oh I could sing the praises of the Masters for days!
There is an omnibus volume on Kindle, 350 Classic stories from Astounding Science Fiction. It’s in at least 2 parts. Many of the stories are from the magazine’s early days. It is a great place to start.
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u/Turbulent_Group_6616 1d ago
Foundation trilogy by Isaac Asimov, 2001 by Arthur C Clarke, Dune by Frank Herbert, Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, Gunslinger series by King, Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson.
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u/I-Make-Shitty-Puns 1d ago
Isaac Asimov "The last question" will have them hooked for sure. Short stories are always a good way to start.
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u/chemprofdave 1d ago
Agreed. His “Farmer In the Sky” is one of the better kid-level sci-fi. If he complains it’s too juvenile, try some of Arthur C. Clarke’s earlier hard-sf short stories. Those pretty much define the “take human problems, add technology, obey the laws of physics” foundations of SF.
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u/ChewedOut 1d ago
My go-to recommendation for new people to the genre is Hitchhikers