Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

Ranking and reviewing the best speculative fiction books of 2021! Here's the extremely abridged version of the list, with a one sentence summary of each:6. Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - A murder mystery set in a steampunk version of Cairo with lots of genies. 5. The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers - A bunch of aliens are stuck at an interstellar truck stop, hanging out with a cute kangaroo. 4. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - Mulan, but Mulan acts more like Walter White from Breaking Bad. 3. A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine - Translator needed to talk with scary aliens, but everyone has an ulterior motive. 2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - A high school science teacher is alone in space trying to save the world - no pressure. 1. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki - A young trans woman meets a violin teacher who owes the devil seven souls - oh and the donut lady down the block is a starship captain too. If you're excited about this year's Hugo, you can vote if you want to! You can either attend the annual convention, or buy a supporting membership for $50 to be able to vote. If you want to vote or attend, you can get your membership here: https://registration.chicon.org/memberships And if you are going to the convention, please drop us a line and let us know! We'll be there running a red carpet and interviewing authors, and we'd love to meet all the rest of the Hugonauts from around the world too! Shoot us a DM on twitter or instagram, or send us an email to hugonautspodcast@gmail.com to let us know you'll be in Chicago.Happy reading y'all!

Gentian line is one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy - one of the 'lines' of clones (called shatterlings) who have been traveling the galaxy since the start of the star-faring era six million years ago. The shatterlings of Gentian line travel alone, but they come together for a reunion every 200,000 years to compare what they have seen on their latest circuit around the galaxy.Campian and Purslane are two shatterlings who have fallen in love and are traveling together against the rules of the line. They are running late to the upcoming reunion when they get a terrifying message - someone has attacked the reunion and killed almost all of the Gentians. Now it is up to them to determine who, or what, their enemy is before the entire line is wiped out.This is a book that succeeds because of its incredible world building and engrossing plot. You are slowly but steadily introduced to new mind-bending concepts and mysteries, and learning the answers to those questions over the course of the book is a real pleasure. The scientific concepts and technologies that power the world (which are all rooted in real science) are also incredibly fun to explore, and are one of Reynolds strong suits - perhaps not surprising for a writer with a PhD in astrophysics.That said, if you are looking for dialogue-driven writing or unforgettable characters, this might not be the book for your current moment. It also slows down a bit in the middle of the book, but the final quarter picks up the pace again, and is propulsive, gripping, and answers all the big questions in very satisfying ways. This is a stand-alone novel, which is somewhat rare for space operas. If you want to enjoy a big, galactic adventure without the commitment of a long series, this is definitely up your alley.As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend:Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge,The Culture series by Iain BanksAnd Hyperion by Dan Simmons If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can find it at this link.

It is truly unbelievable that this story was written in 1909 - E. M. Forster's dystopian world feels all too real in our increasingly digitally connected and physically isolated real world. The story is about ritual & superstition, resistance to change, the dangers of reliance on an all-powerful authority, the origins of knowledge and creativity, and a tumultuous relationship between a mother and son who see the world in very different ways. We're joined to talk about the story by actor and writer Kiran Subramaniam, who also joined us to record our full cast, unabridged audiobook of this story! No spoilers here as usual, but we do highly recommend listening to the story as well, whether before or after the analysis & review. It's an incredible story and isn't too long - the audiobook episode is just over an hour. You should see that free audiobook available as our episode 19.  As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, and Foundation by Isaac Asimov.Or you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video.Happy reading y'all!

A world where everyone occupies a tiny cell, connected to each other only by machines, and where a parent's responsibility to their child ends at birth. Where all knowledge and experience comes secondhand, through the machine. A world where the machine rules everyone's lives.We absolutely love this classic short story, and we're lucky it's old enough to have entered the public domain so we can release this complete audiobook for free! We did a full cast recording with Kiran Subramaniam joining Cody and Brent to voice all the parts.Let us know if you liked (or didn't like) this episode so we can keep doing more (or quit doing) these free audiobooks! Drop us a message to let us know what you think on Instagram or Twitter (search 'Hugonauts Podcast'), or via email at hugonautspodcast@gmail.com.Keep reading y'all!

David Brin is an astrophysicist whose international best-selling novels include The Postman, Startide Rising, and the Uplift War. He consults for NASA, companies, agencies, and nonprofits about the onrushing future. His first nonfiction book, The Transparent Society, won the Freedom of Speech Award. His newest book is Vivid Tomorrows: Science Fiction and Hollywood.Startide Rising won both the Hugo and the Nebula in 1984 - one of a very short list of books to win both awards! If you haven't read it yet, here's the setup:Startide Rising follows a spaceship from Earth, named Streaker, that is primarily crewed and captained by dolphins. The main conceit of Brin’s uplift series is that humanity has ‘uplifted’ dolphins and chimpanzees by speeding up their evolution. Streaker’s crew has discovered something of great interest to the entire galaxy, and is trying to get back to Earth with the information. Unfortunately, the galaxy is not a friendly place, and when word gets out about what Streaker is carrying, the entire galaxy converges on Streaker to try and stop them. Streaker is damaged and lands on an ocean planet to hide and buy time to repair themselves, while meanwhile the forces of all the other galactic civilizations battle it out in the solar system above them, trying to be the last one’s standing so they can capture Streaker. It’s a plot driven space opera, with each chapter following one of many different characters (even including a few aliens) as the crew of the Streaker races to repair their ship, to understand the strange planet they’ve crashed on, and tries to come up with a plan to escape and get back to Earth.If you want to learn more about David Brin's recent books: davidbrin.com/vividtomorrows.htmldavidbrin.com/outoftime.htmlringoffirepress.com/shop/melody-of-memoryOr you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video. Happy reading y'all!

These books are among the most popular works of the Golden Age of sci fi, and for good reason. The overall story arc established in the first book is very, very good.  Hari Seldon combines mathematics and psychology to create the new science of psychohistory and predicts that the galaxy-wide empire that has ruled and kept the peace for tens of thousands of years will collapse within 500 years. The collapse is inescapable, but Seldon sees a single, narrow path that could shorten the dark ages after the collapse from 30,000 years to 1,000 years, and establishes a Foundation at the barren edge of the galaxy to enact that plan. The books are essentially organized as collections of short stories, each story detailing the story of a new generation of foundationers as they seek to navigate a crisis that threatens the plan and the very existence of the Foundation.The technology holds up as well - Asimov was a master of making things futuristic without being too specific about how they worked, and its made his series into a timeless classic. Asimov's view of history as the result of the collective work of humanity rather than the actions of a few great men is also very refreshing and real - a nice change of pace from the typical hero's journey.As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend I, Robot by Isaac Asmiov, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.Or you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video.

Douglas Adams passed away 21 years ago this week, so it seemed like a good time to revisit his amazing work. These are short, digestible books that are jam-packed full of jokes and mad-cap adventures. The first book in the series (the eponymous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is especially full of non-stop zaniness - the chapters are only a few pages long, but every single one feels like it has something big happening in it, and every page has a joke. The books also raise big philosophical questions, but answers them in a truly unique way. Instead of trying to dispense wisdom or tell you how to live your life, the books poke fun at the entire notion of universal answers to life's big questions. Instead, Adams suggests we could all do with taking life a little less seriously and finding our own answers to those big questions.As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.Later on this week we'll also be giving away a complete set of all five HGTTG books, as well as Adam's final, posthumously published work, The Salmon of Doubt. Find us on twitter or instagram @hugonautspodcast to enter to win!If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can find it at this link.

Despite the grim nature of a story about a pandemic that destroys civilization, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is full of subtle optimism and deep characters. It jumps between timelines and between characters, and builds mystery about how all these people are going to be connected. It tells a tense story about the dangers posed by other survivors in a post-apocalyptic world, while at the same time its characters try to hold on to art and music. It even manages to explore the narcissism created by celebrity in the 'present' timeline. The book was first published as sci-fi, but after the release of the TV show has been moved to the general fiction section in most book stores, so this also seemed like the right episode go deep on what exactly counts as sci-fi. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Barrayar (or any book in the Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Glass Hotel  by Emily St. John Mandel, any book by Mario Vargas Llosa, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy.If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can watch it at this link.

In this episode we review Cixin Liu's Hugo award winning Three Body Problem (the book that made him the first person from Asia to win the award), as well as the sequels. If you haven't read the first book yet, you should - it absolutely deserves all its acclaim, with a huge number of big tech ideas, an incredibly compelling character in Ye Wenjie, and even includes a section set during the Cultural Revolution in China to boot. Unfortunately, the sequels aren't as good - although the second book The Dark Forest does contain the single most disturbing solution to the Fermi Paradox we've ever read! As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you liked Three Body and are looking for more great sci fi to read. This week we recommend the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, Legends of the Galactic Heroes by Yoshiki Tanaka, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and House of Suns by Alastair ReynoldsIf you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can watch it here.

In this episode we review and discuss Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang's two short story collections. These seventeen stories are full of novel scientific ideas, wonderful characters, and thoughtful takes on the morality of future technologies and how they will change society. We certainly aren't alone in thinking they're wonderful - Ted Chiang has won four Hugos, four Nebulas, and four Locus awards for his stories. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you're looking for more great sci fi short story collections to read. This week, we recommend The Paper Menagerie and other Stories by Ken Liu, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, and Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut.If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can watch it here.