Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time

In this episode we review KSR's magnum opus, talk about the technology he includes that makes the terraforming project possible, discuss the decline in the quality of each successive book, and debate what makes a character feel real. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, the Expanse Series by James S. A. Corey, and The Martian by Andy Weir.YouTube link if you prefer to watch the episode.NO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: It is the year 2027, and humanity is colonizing Mars! 100 scientists, engineers, and astronauts take the first colony ship to cross the interplanetary gap. Red Mars follows ten of the first hundred colonists and tells the story of the first forty years of life on Mars through their eyes. They build towns and cities, establish industries, become self-sustaining, begin to terraform the red planet, and are joined by tens of thousands of additional immigrants from Earth. Green Mars similarly takes place over the next several decades, and resolves the conflict over the future of Mars and its relationship with Earth. Blue Mars follows those same characters after the events of Green Mars, and is largely a description of how they choose to spend the end of their lives.

In this episode we review this timeless classic, talk about the real-life risk of meteors and comets hitting Earth, discuss how much it feels like nonfiction covering an event that just hasn't happened yet, and debate what makes a book ending great. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Titan by John Varley, Ringworld by Larry Niven, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, and The Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.YouTube link if you prefer to watch the episode.NO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: Earth’s asteroid collision warning system detects a new object in the deep solar system, on an orbit that will take past Earth and close to the sun. As it gets closer, it becomes clear it is a massive cylinder, and it’s far too perfect to be natural object. An alien spaceship is heading deep into the solar system. There is only one human ship that can intercept the object before it whips around the sun, and we follow that crew as they arrive at the object and open its airlock door. Note that in this episode we talk about the ending of the book, starting at 19:30.

In this episode we review The City and The City, talk about the things that make it so interesting and fun to read, how 'weird fiction' fits into sci fi, and who makes the rules of society. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week, we recommend The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, LA Confidential by Elmore Leonard, and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari.YouTube link if you prefer to watchNO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: The City and the City (2010) by China Miéville is a murder mystery set in two cities at the same time. Inspector Borlu is a smart, likeable, no-nonsense detective from Beszel, a city that exists in the same geographic space as the foreign city of Ul Qoma. Despite sitting in the same place, with many streets and even some buildings existing in both cities, the two are fierce rivals with harsh penalties for those who ‘breach’, or cross between the two cities. Inspector Borlu is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman that quickly proves to have interested parties across both cities. As Inspector Borlu digs deeper into the case, it also exposes the workings of the two cities, and shadowy, all-powerful agents of Breach that patrol the border and arrest, expel, or execute interlopers. Who killed this young woman? And what exactly is Breach?

In this episode we review Left Hand of Darkness, talk about the things that make it so timeless and fun to read, Ursula K Le Guin's real life experiences that inspired the book, and how it transcends sci fi and becomes 'literary' fiction that everyone can and should enjoy. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read: The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie Any of Ted Chiang's short story collections City and the City - China Mieville Stranger in a Strange Land - Heinlein (this one is controversial) Spoiler-free book summary: Left Hand of Darkness follows Genly Ai, the first Envoy from the other human worlds of the galaxy to the planet Winter.Winter is a cold, hostile world in the depths of a never-ending ice age, and the Gethenians who live there are biologically different than most humans. They spend most of their lives as hermaphrodites, but enter kemmer once a month, the time when they become sexually active and express male or female sex organs depending on the month. Genly’s assignment is to get the nations of Winter to join the Ekumen, a loose collection of human worlds that share knowledge and try to improve the lives of all humankind.Genly has to navigate an alien culture, a mad king, and two feuding nations to try and complete his mission. Most importantly, he must learn who to trust, and how to build a relationship with people so different from himself.

In A Fire Upon the Deep, A colony of humans sets up in the transcendence, the part of the galaxy where computers work so well AI can ascend and become godlike. The humans start tinkering with an old artifact, and naturally, they awaken an ancient power. The reborn AI sets off on a reign of destruction, and soon is killing even other deities. A single ship escapes with the secret to save the universe and jets off through the beyond to the very edge of the slowness, the sector of the galaxy where the speed of light is an immutable law and computers don’t work very well. It crash lands there on a primitive, medieval world populated by doglike aliens called Tines, and two children are the only survivors of the crash. Meanwhile, in the wider world, the race is on to reach the crashed ship. Two humans and two tree-like aliens called Scroderiders are alone, pursued by the agents of the death god, trying to reach the kids and save the galaxy. This is a book that is full of big, interesting ideas that are seamlessly woven into an incredibly entertaining story - it will absolutely keep you turning the pages and staying up too late reading. Similar books we recommend: Children of Time / Children of Ruin - Adrien Tchaikovsky Startide Rising - David Brin Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie 

Hyperion by Dan Simmons is one of the best sci fi books of all time, and won the Hugo and the Locus awards in 1990. We give it a 4.5 / 5. The book is a space epic in the form of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales. Hyperion is a colony world at the edge of Hegemony space, and home to some of the greatest mysteries of the galaxy. A network of giant labyrinths crisscrosses underground across the whole planet, the Time Tombs are surrounded by an anti-entropic field that makes time run backwards, and a fearsome, three-meter-tall metal monster with truly terrifying superpowers called the Shrike that emerges periodically to murder innocent passerby. 7 pilgrims travel to Hyperion from humanity’s various portal-connected “web worlds” to return to the strange planet in advance of an alien invasion. Like in Chaucer, the story largely consists of each pilgrims’ self-narrated back story, intercut with their return journey to Hyperion and hence, the Time Tombs. The book is a masterful mashup of both real-world literary history and science fiction tropes. The form of the novel engages you deeply in the overall mystery, and some of the pilgrim's stories will stick with you for years to come. As always, we also recommend a few similar books to check out if you loved Hyperion: Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie

This series is beloved by its fans, but doesn't get enough recognition in the wider world. These are incredible, character-driven stories that are a breeze to read but beneath the surface have so much to say about what's most important in life and the meaning and definition of personal identity. That makes them the perfect intro to sci fi for anyone new to the genre, and a refreshing read for any longtime sci fi fan. 4.25 / 5 stars. The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of 16 books by Lois McMaster Bujold, three of which won the Hugo award in 1991, 1992, and  1995. The Vor Game, Barrayar, Mirror Dance, and the rest of the saga follow the members of the Vorkosigan family, one of the feudal ruling families on the planet Barrayar. The books are digestible and concise by sci fi standards (350-600 pages, 11-18 hours of audiobook). The series is also loosely episodic, so you don't have to read them in order. These are character-driven stories, and you're sure to remember these characters for years. The most important of them, Miles Vorkosigan, is clearly the inspiration for George R.R. Martin's Tyrion Lannister, and is even more likable than the knock-off Lannister version. He's a dwarf who suffers from several physical disabilities, but he's wildly brilliant, funny, and imperious, and is constantly throwing himself into danger to protect his friends and family (or just get himself out of a jam of his own making). Across the generations, the Vorkosigan family are the main advisers to generations of Barrayaran emperors, and have to use their wits and intellect to get the empire out of trouble and slowly push Barrayaran society out of its backward nature. These are books about people, the stories that make them who they are, and how they create and define their identities in an unfriendly universe.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is set in the aftermath of a horrible nuclear war. The survivors blamed science, and killed intellectuals and burned all the books they could get their hands on. A monastery in the desert of the western US is one of the few places on earth to preserve any knowledge, and the book follows the monks of the monastery in three sections over the following thousand years.The monks are witty, wry, and funny as hell, and they make the book into an incredibly fun read.It's an amazing exploration of the nature of knowledge and religion. The book is also an incredible window in the late 50s and early 60s, when nuclear weapons felt very real and we had to begin to come to terms with the horrible weapons we'd invented. That's two for the price of one folks - spend some time in the nuclear wasteland, and spend some time in 1959 too.And, as always, a few related books we love that we recommend: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (and Heinlein's Double Star too for good measure).

This is a no-spoiler review. In advance of the new Dune movie, we thought it would be fun to revisit Dune and remember what made it great (and the things that aren't so great).The names are incredible - who can forget the Fremen, the Gom Jabbar, or the Reverend Mother? The writing, on the other hand - we wish we could forget the constant repetition, horrific dialogue, and ending that comes so fast it's over before you know it was even really happening.If you haven't the read Dune and want to decide whether to read it - this one's for you. Or, if you want to dig back into the book without re-reading the whole thing - this one's for you too.And, if you like Dune, we also recommend a few related books at the end of the episode: The Void Trilogy, Ender's Game, and The Vorkosigan Saga.