Best military science fiction books according to redditors
We found 610 Reddit comments discussing the best military science fiction books. We ranked the 111 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 610 Reddit comments discussing the best military science fiction books. We ranked the 111 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
I'm currently reading a series where a galactic federation of pacifist herbivores gets attacked by a massive army and just has no fucking idea what to do so they make first contact with earth (something they'd been pointedly avoiding, because we're terrifying) in hopes of arming us up with scifi tech and sending us to war against them.
EDIT: Legacy of the Aldenata by John Ringo (freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee)
I wouldn't call being verbose awesome. As for the message in the text you should either read The Forever War, or watch the film again to learn why it's flowery but wrong.
> War is not violence and killing, pure and simple; war is controlled violence, for a purpose.
The problem is that political purpose is often dictated by evil, power hungry, short sighted politicians (many of whom have had military experience and are often the worst when it comes to starting more pointless wars), and is counter productive to the continuation of the species (we came damn close to destroying the world many times during the cold war, like seconds away close). For a more contemporary example it was the chicken hawks elevated by military rhetoric that leveled Iraq just to hand out rebuilding contracts for their buddies, laying economic waste to both nations.
Plus I preferred Michael Ironside's delivery, juxtaposed with his missing hand. You don't need a bunch of prose to show violence as authority, "because fuck you" is it's own proof.
Other points that can be easily picked apart (and I'm not the first to do so).
> Liberty is never unalienable; it must be redeemed regularly with the blood of patriots or it always vanishes.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure" --Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was talking about rebellions and the rebellious as the patriots. The removal of tyrants, makes Heinlein's statement disingenuous at best. It's a reversal and celebration of authority, that is ironically only possible due to Jefferson's original rebellion.
> It's never a soldier's business to decide when or where or how—or why—he fights; that belongs to the statesmen and the generals.
This is the Nuremberg Defense, nobody should have to explain why it's wrong.
Too many people read Starship Troopers then praise it without reading it's critiques or counter examples. Heinlein's theories haven't held up well in the years following his book. It's a good story, and a great window into the mind set of a WWII soldier, but as a model for society it's woefully inadequate.
If you really want to understand war and it's wide ranging ramifications in an easily approachable format I would suggest starting with John Keegan's: A History of Warfare. Then read Joe Haldeman's: The Forever War as a Vietnam era perspective counter example to Starship Troopers. Then try watching Verhoeven's Starship Troopers again as it was intended to be viewed, as an intelligent satire.
Ender's Game, Revelation Space, Altered Carbon and a few other great series out of there have dedicated a lot to overcoming time dilation.
Joe Haldeman tackled it head on in The Forever War Amazon link, a fantastic book that as a fan of similar stuff, you might like it!
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413465938&sr=1-1&keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye
The Mote in God's Eye - Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. One of the greatest First Contact books ever. Hugo and Nebula nominee.
"Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Ringworld, Debt of Honor, and The Integral Trees. Together they have written the critically acclaimed bestsellers Inferno, Footfall, and The Legacy of Heorot, among others.
The Mote In God's Eye is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre."
Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land, both by Robert Heinlein; both amazing reads. "Stranger" being possibly on of the greatest Sci-fi novels ever written.
I'll skip over the classics (Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Philip K Dick) as they've already been covered.
Finally:
Seriously. No space combat, but without doubt one of the most entertaining fiction I've read in any genre, and a superb example of dystopian sci-fi. For god sakes, the hero - Hiro Protagonist (I know, right?!) - is a Hacker / Samurai that works for the mafia. Delivering pizzas. Trust me on this: Go with it, you won't be sorry.
Hope that helps and wasn't a Great Wall of Boring Text :-)
Sci-Fi Starters:
Starship Troopers by Heinlein
Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card
The Foundation series by Asimov: Foundation -> Foundation and Empire -> Second Foundation
The Robot series by Asimov: I, Robot...
Not necessarily my strong suit (my own stuff is roughly the opposite of what you're looking for, so I figure I'm safe to recommend things here) but I definitely have a few to check out
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Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga first and foremost. There is quite a bit of war and conflict, but it's not really the focus of the plot. The focus is the characters and their development, primarily the titular Miles Vorkosigan.
You can start with the first Miles Vorkosigan book ( https://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Apprentice-Lois-McMaster-Bujold/dp/1886778272 ) or with the duology around his mother (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BH9T86/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_2)
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Next up would be Nathan Lowell's Golden Age of The Solar Clipper. No wars at all, these cover the life story of a merchant shipper rising from a generic crewman to captain and owner of his own ship. Fascinating character studies and very well written. Start with Quarter Share ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AMO7VM4/ref=series_dp_rw_ca_1)
Lindsay Buroker's space opera has a bunch of war and conflict, but it's mostly background for a more general adventure SF story. The first three books of her Fallen Empire series are bundled up here: https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Empire-Omnibus-Books-prequel-ebook/dp/B06XK7HT4T
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I'm now going to lurk on this thread, as I should probably be reading stuff with a tad fewer explosions myself ;)
The first 2 books are free on Kindle.
https://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0
https://www.amazon.com/Honor-Queen-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00BBI9WD6
Old man's war
Here is a few:
Starship Troopers - the book, not the movie
https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441783589/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947608&sr=1-1&keywords=starship+troopers
Man's Search for Meaning
https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/080701429X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947637&sr=1-1&keywords=mans+search+for+meaning
Sapiens
https://www.amazon.com/Sapiens-Humankind-Yuval-Noah-Harari/dp/0062316117/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1522947665&sr=1-3&keywords=sapiens+a+brief+history+of+humankind
12 rules for life an antidote to chaos
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_8?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=12+rules+for+life+an+antidote+to+chaos&sprefix=12+rules%2Cstripbooks%2C199&crid=1I6JP76TCR7PC
First books that come to mind:
MHI is part of Baen's free library. There's a large number of book 1's for various Baen series that remain free permanently on Amazon and other places.
----
The last time this was brought up here's what I said:
So Baen is heavier on SciFi than Fantasy/Urban Fantasy...and their authors tend to display their Conservative/Libertarian philosophies a bit more. But they do tell some fun stories if you lean towards their politics or can roll your eyes at that.
There's some others out there that I can't think of, but these are favorites of mine other than MHI...
John Ringo has a fantasy series I haven't gotten to yet and the weakest of his SciFi series up for free. I wish they had Live Free or Die or Through the Looking Glass, which are much much better series, but alas:
http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
http://www.amazon.com/There-Will-Dragons-Council-Wars-ebook/dp/B00BER04VI/ref=la_B000APPSXE_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879886&sr=1-2&refinements=p_82%3AB000APPSXE
David Weber does great space navy battles in his Honor Harrington series.
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=la_B000APBAFE_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456879923&sr=1-1&refinements=p_82%3AB000APBAFE
Williamsons Freehold is a Libertarian's utopian heaven, but it's a favorite popcorn read of mine - the latter half is heavy military SF.
http://www.amazon.com/Freehold-Book-Michael-Z-Williamson-ebook/dp/B00BEQLTZY/ref=sr_1_1_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456879862&sr=8-1&keywords=freehold
The Ring of Fire series is about a 1990's era West Virginia coal mining town that gets thrown back into the year 1632 in Europe.
http://www.amazon.com/1632-Ring-Fire-Eric-Flint-ebook/dp/B00BEQLQNE/ref=sr_1_4_twi_kin_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456882709&sr=8-4&keywords=1632
If you haven't already, you should check out the SF classic novel 'The Forever War' ( https://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631 )
It deals with exactly this, with soldiers fighting on the other side of the galaxy struggling to remember what they are fighting for, because Earth changes so much in their decades-long tours.
The Forever War by Haldeman https://www.amazon.com/dp/0312536631/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_zTFiDbR3EQFT2
Amazon Product Description: The Earth's leaders have drawn a line in the interstellar sand--despite the fact that the fierce alien enemy they would oppose is inscrutable, unconquerable, and very far away. A reluctant conscript drafted into an elite Military unit, Private William Mandella has been propelled through space and time to fight in the distant thousand-year conflict; to perform his duties and do whatever it takes to survive the ordeal and return home. But "home" may be even more terrifying than battle, because, thanks to the time dilation caused by space travel, Mandella is aging months while the Earth he left behind is aging centuries...
Anyone have any book recommendations for a 26 year old? No topic in particular, not necessarily financial/business or otherwise, just any suggestions?
I'm currently reading:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Be-Wrong-Mathematical/dp/0143127535
I'm not far into it, but it's basically on how to properly apply mathematics and logic to problem-solving. It's not exactly a new strategy for life or anything, but it's probably a good idea to read if you're analytical. I got it off Bill Gates reading list.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728
Found through the reading list- This one I've finished and can't recommend enough. It's from the 50's and it's intended reader were investment bankers. The main suggestion is hide yourself from bad information because you can't eliminate the impact it'll have on your decision making, and we aren't exactly equipped to know what's good or bad if we don't have experience in that realm already. It's a lot of common stuff people use stats for to push a product service policy etc.
https://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0441783589/
I'm really into it. I love sci-fi. I don't necessarily love philosophy, but I'm really enjoying this book. It's hard for me to read a lot of at once but I don't ever want to put it down. The mindset of the character and narration really gets me. Since reading this, I've heard or noticed many many recommendations for Heinlein, though I'm unsure. He seems to be a proponent of fascism, but I guess he could just be writing down the fantasy of the particular fascist society he created and not necessarily saying "ya know this is how we should be" I don't know. I see conflicting things.
On Basilisk Station
(Honor Harrington, Book 1) by David Weber is only $1.99 if you pick up the free Kindle version first and then add narration.
The Forever War. Many people compare it to Starship Troopers, which was also badass, but I liked this one better.
Okay so I think this might meet most of your criteria but it is two books that totals about 800 pages (I think - I'd have to run down to my bookshelf and check but I'm lazy). So it's a short read but I've read both books 3 times over and I always enjoy it. So here they are:
Book 1: The Mote in God's Eye
Book 2: The Gripping Hand
I've tried three times, and never made it more than 25 pages in. And there's a telepathic cat, for Pete's sake. That's the litmus test right there. If you're the type of person who thinks a telepathic cat would be a horrible thing to include in a book, this series is not for you.
The writing is mediocre; it's kid's stuff. The first few books are free at Tor, but you should be able to tell if this is for you in a few pages via Amazon preview.
Read the book.
Although it'll make you hate the movie. A lot like I Am Legend, World War Z, and countless other movies pretty much pissed on the book.
Edit: Why the downvotes, guys? Anyone who's read and seen any of those book/movie pairs knows exactly what I'm talking about. They're nothing alike.
The novel was a fun childhood beach read.
Nova is really just a sad little girl in an unforgiving world... A sad little girl with mind explosion powers.
It's truly a missed opportunity how she was forgotten in the resolution of LotV.
>What's with sci-fi/fantasy writers? Is democracy not dramatic enough?
I think most Sci-fi writers take a look at how technology is expected to develop in the future, and can only see how it would help with the subjugation of large groups of people, rather than their liberation. In addition, I think that most of them are in the paradigm that world peace, or some semblance of it, is only achievable through a one-world government so in order to make a 'feasible' world without constant warring states, you have to turn it into one big state that keeps everyone in line.
I mean, if you have interstellar starships full of nuclear weapons, then it becomes really easy to imagine that you can rule a whole planet with a central organization that controls the nukes. Who needs democracy at that point?
Edit: oh, and I should add that they emulate historical trends, where one big empire is generally the way large territories are governed, after one nation makes a large conquest of the surrounding ones. So this 'trend' is assumed to hold into the future, with larger territories held due to the better technology.
Additionally, the more technology develops, the more prosperous we tend to become. The more prosperous we become, the larger the government leech is able to grow, and the more the government leech can grow... the more powerful its military can become (+ technology). The more powerful a military becomes, the larger a population it can successfully control.
Thus, when you extrapolate technology/prosperity growth into the future, its easy to imagine a giant country like China or the U.S. building up a giant, technologically advanced army and conquering the planet or most of it (maybe doing so 'peacefully,' even. Which is to say "united under our banner or we nuke you.").
Anyone who is still in the statist paradigm will have a REALLY hard time imagining a free society being the dominant social organization since they don't think such a thing is feasible on any scale, much less a planetary/interplanetary one.
But with that said, you just need to seek out the right Sci-fi authors:
Others are certainly out there if you look.
OK, so your mother reminds me so much of Joyful.
Go on you all for taking the threat seriously and acting on it!
Many many hugs from Scotland if you would like them.
And finally, and a fellow lover of Sci-fi I would like to suggest that you check out this online, self published 'book'. There are some clunky bits, and a few bits where an editor could have pulled it together. But in terms of storyline, character progression and universe creation it is one of the better sci-fi books I have read in a long while.
(I have turned them into kindle files, if you want me to send them to you throw me a PM)
Oh and the Honor Harrington series by David Webber.
I made a list based on where you can purchase them if you want to edit it onto your post:
This Month's Book
January:
by Iain Banks]
(https://www.amazon.com/Consider-Phlebas-Culture-Iain-Banks/dp/031600538X)
by Aldous Huxley]
(https://www.amazon.com/Brave-New-World-Aldous-Huxley/dp/0060850523)
by Ray Bradbury
by Oscar Wilde
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
by Jordan B. Peterson]
(https://www.amazon.com/12-Rules-Life-Antidote-Chaos/dp/B0797Y87JC)
February:
by Richard Matheson
by Frank Herbert
by Haruki Murakami
by Bret Easton Ellis
by Max Tegmark
by Friedrich Nietzsche
March:
by Ernest Hemingway
by Herman Melville
April:
(https://www.amazon.com/Dice-Man-Luke-Rhinehart/dp/0879518642)
https://www.amazon.com/Stoner-York-Review-Books-Classics/dp/1590171993)
(https://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishment-Fyodor-Dostoyevsky/dp/0486415872)
https://www.amazon.com/No-Longer-Human-Osamu-Dazai/dp/0811204812)
May:
https://www.amazon.com/Spring-Snow-Sea-Fertility-1/dp/0679722416)
(https://www.amazon.com/Runaway-Horses-Sea-Fertility-2/dp/0679722408)
November
Books Pewds suggested but hasn't talked about in any of the episodes yet:
linking pewds to see this u/pewpewpewPEWdie
SEALs, no, but Special Forces are, by design, supposed to interact with and train local forces.
The problem with Barnett's suggestions of a split force is that in neither Iraq nor Afghanistan has there been a climate where a "SysAdmin" force could exist and operate. The SysAdmins would have to be doorkickers with more specialized training.
Removing the hitters from the theater would just invite resistance forces to increase their attacks. Barnett pretends like civil affairs forces don't already exist. The problem is, unprotected, they are just potential casualties. Barnett's solutions don't really show how to fix much of anything because they're strategies for a battlefield that will never exist. The difficulty of counterinsurgency operations can be seen dating back to antiquity. It's not like Barnett suddenly "solved it" with his idea of a split force.
The reality is that there will always be boots on the ground who don't understand the greater strategy and importance of their actions, no matter how much or how often they are told or taught about the implications. You'd have to go full The Forever War and start conscripting the best and brightest from top universities if you'd expect to create an army of scholar-soldiers who have both the talent to combine warfighting/peacekeeping and nation-building activities, and then still have them maintain the level of big-picture awareness necessary for ultimate discretion. The kinds of soldiers Barnett needs don't exist in great numbers. Wars will always be fought with a cross section of the nation's populace, and, well, half the population is below average.
Science Fiction / Classic War Sci-Fi Novel sounds like Forever War.
The Mote in God's Eye also features a solar sail ship powered by giant lasers.
https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926
The concept is called a photonic laser thruster by scientists and engineers I'd you want to look up more about systems from a real world point of view.
Another different take: http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926. It's a first-contact book with a military side, but with a twist.
I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" to that list (along with it's sequel.)
Edit: Also Hamilton's other space opera, the "Night's Dawn" trilogy.
And of course the follow-up trilogy to Pandora's Star, The Void series, but I consider that part of the same story as Pandora's Star.
Well, Distress by Greg Egan shows society in the near future evolved to cope with significant changes in biotechnology. Although it does connect to the current society structure, it does cope with the changes that will occur because of technology.
On the other hand, the mote in God's eye by Larry Niven is a far-future story trying to describe an alien society, and how it will be different from our society because of the difference in biology and "geography" (space geography).
I HIGHLY recommend both.
Freehold Book 1 is currently free on Amazon and the 21 hour ebook is only $1.99. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BEQLTZY/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i0
Here are the links:
A Hymn Before Battle (Book 1 of the Legacy of the Aldenata)
Gust Front (Book 2 of the Legacy of the Aldenata
Readable on Kindles and any device with the Kindle app
Sample.
The Course of Empire (Course of Empire Series Book 1) by Eric Flint
1632 (Ring of Fire Series) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Star Soldiers by Adre Norton
Oath of Swords (War God Book 1) by David Weber
On Basilisk Station (Honor Harrington Book 1) by David Weber
The Honor of the Queen (Honor Harrington Book 2) by David Weber
The Star Agency (The Star Agency Chronicles Book 1) by R.E. Weber
The Last Praetorian (The Redemption Trilogy Book 1) by Mike Smith
Hard Duty: Merkiaari Wars Book 1 by Mark E. Cooper
The Synchronicity War Part 1 by Dietmar Wehr
Dark Space by Jasper T. Scott
The Tank Lords by David Drake
Redliners by David Drake
A Desert Called Peace (Carrera Series Book 1) by Tom Kratman
Gunship by John Davis
With the Lightnings (Lt. Leary Book 1) by David Drake
Tales of Honor #1 by Matt Hawkins and Jung-Geun Yoon
The Fringe Worlds: (The Human Chronicles Saga Book #1) by T.R. Harris
Freehold (Freehold Series Book 1) by Michael Z. Williamson
The Last Roman (The Praetorian Series Book 1) by Edward Crichton
The Sea Hag by David Drake
Forbidden The Stars (The Interstellar Age Book 1) by Valmore Daniels
FCBD 2015: Tales of Honor by Matt Hawkins and Linda Sejic
The Philosophical Strangler (Joe's World Book 1) by Eric Flint
The Creatures of Man by Howard L. Myers
In the Heart of Darkness (Belisarius Saga Book 2) by Eric Flint
Northworld Trilogy by David Drake
Starliner by David Drake
Attention A New Bulletin From The Terran Federation
=
Have you graduated high school?
Do you want to be somebody and do something?
Well then join the Mobile Infantry today and prove you have what it takes to be a citizen.
The Federation needs young men and women like you to help take our fight to the bugs.
Service Guarantees Citizenship.
Would you link to know more?
The Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, Children of the Mind) and The Mote in God's Eye all have a lot of soft science. This is probably true for a lot of stories involving first contact.
Edit - Snow Crash deals a lot with linguistics as well.
I'll echo the other redditor that said The Forever War.
I read it for a comparitive literature class I took and it was the only book besides R.U.R. that I really enjoyed.
And speaking of that, R.U.R.. This is the book that made the word "Robot" into a science fiction staple. And it's a short read too.
I am not sure about any Canadian Forces specific books. But some standard military officer books that in my mind are good to read about leadership and wisdom would be:
(http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342986110&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Tipping+Point+by+Malcolm+Gladwell)
Absolutely I have a better solution.
SERVICE GUARANTEES CITIZENSHIP
Would you like to know more?
You've likely read most of these, but here are a few suggestions:
I can recommend others if you've already hit all of those already.
there's also "The Mote in God's Eye "
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1300456314&sr=1-5
May i add suggest a mote in gods eye
https://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=nodl_
The Mote In God's Eye is one of my favourite sci-fi, first contact, deep space war novels.
Try Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. Cordelia is a remarkable character. And the Honor Harrington series by David Weber isn't bad, either.
Yes, though I would also like the setting to be interesting in other ways. Such realism helps with immersion but the story needs to be engaging too. A good example of this is Through Struggle the Stars a sci fi book which explores the consequences of humanity developing wormhole technology and colonizing several nearby star systems. How would the countries react to the sudden ability to expand their territory again and what conflicts would arise from that? And aside from wormholes all the technology in the setting is real world stuff we could see ourselves getting in a few centuries, further adding to the sense of believablity.
Old Man's War
The Forever War
The list was too long to fit into a self-post, here is the continuation.
Prolific Authors: (5+ Books)
Science Fiction with apocalyptic elements:
Most of the characters in The Windup Girl are Thai or Chinese.
The Left Hand of Darkness messes around with gender in interesting ways. (Also, Ursula K. Leguin is an all-around fantastic author.)
Robert Heinlein can be a controversial author, but many of his works had non-white protagonists. Manuel Garcia O'Kelly-Davis from The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress is multiracial, and Johnny Rico from Starship Troopers is Filipino, if I recall correctly.
Someone else in this thread recommended The Brief But Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao, and it's not exactly SFF (more in the vein of magical realism) but it is easily one of the best books I've ever read.
Aw! <3
Like, what books I'd recommend, or just....stuff to do underway that would be in the self-improvement area? The big two that jump out as underway activities are always "save money, and work out."
What platform are you floating on?
So the first thing I do with all my proteges is I hand them the grading sheet for Sailor of the Year/Quarter and a blank evaluation, and I ask them to grade themselves. Not everyone wants to be, or needs to be, Sailor of the Year or a 5.0 sailor, but if that's the standard the Navy has set as "the best," then at least we have a guideline of what we should be working toward, right?
One thing that was pretty big at my last command was the Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal. Instruction here. One thing that is a really easy way to gain community service hours while underway is to make blankets for the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society's "Budgeting For Baby" class. You can crochet (that's incredibly easy, I promise) or you can google one of the thousand DIY no-sew blanket tutorials. If you belong to a Bluejacket Association or Enlisted Association or whatever, you may be able to get them to fund the cost of buying the material...or even ask the FCPOA if they'll give $50 to the cause. You can head over to Jo-Ann's or Fabric.com and check out their discount sections too. NMCRS offers 30 hours per blanket. Taking an hour out of your Holiday Routine for the entire float.....most of the DIY no-sew blankets only take an hour or two to make, sooooo. Collect those hours. Add in a COMREL or two, and there's no reason you can't end a float with over a hundred hours of community service. This is particularly great if you have a friend or two to make blankets with you....snag one of the TVs on the messdecks and watch a movie while you crochet. You can also contact a local homeless shelter and see if they need hats and crochet hats for them. Obviously not a good suggestion if you're stuck underway on a submarine with no space, but if you're surface side--good to go.
Books I'd suggest, well, hm, this could get out of control pretty fast, but off the top of my head:
Johnny Lumpkin seems to be quite happy writing books for a living. He makes LW for fun!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM
Armor by John Steakley. It's what I wanted Starship Troopers to be.
Also The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Ship to ship space combat at relativistic speeds!
The Forever War books by Joe Haldeman.
Try:
Hmm, apparently anything written by a John something or the other will work...
> Fiction is just a mirror of reality for the most part. Many things that happen in fiction don’t even happen here. But as far as pain and sadness. Joy and love, life and death, it’s all real here. Here it’s real. - Lucian Bane
Fiction that mirrors reality and challenges the reader is more of what we need, the books i listed below have shaped my view of the world in a very thought-provoking way.
Other stuff out there, the pop-fiction, the garbage or crack cocaine for the brain is as bad as TV. Hollywood panders to the masses. Did you know Hollywood usually has two different versions for films released in America and Europe? Yep, that's right - Hollywood dumbs down movies for American audiences. Everything in media these days is centered around comic books and video games - the modern day opiates of the masses.
Some notable fiction that should be required reading:
> there's a strong case that a lot of the postmodernist bullshit could be easily countered by a strong religious identity
AMEN TO THAT.
> the most optimal balances of personal freedom vs controlling the worst aspects of human behavior
WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE?
Take a look at the list of past Hugo winners and look for easily accessible ones. A few jump out at me:
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
Dune - Frank Herbert
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
Barrayar - Lois McMaster Bujold, or maybe the omnibus Cordelia's Honor
The Diamond Age - Neal Stephenson
For anyone who enjoyed the movie, the book is also really great.
Also the sequels were just a complete abomination with worse acting, CGI, and completely void of a story.
if you like Sci-Fi at all, do yourself a favor, push the movie out of your mind and read this book.
You should check out Starship Troopers if you haven't yet. I think it was a big influence on the forever war IIRC.
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Mote in God's Eye by Niven and Pournelle is fantastic.
From Heinlein himself, "Possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read."
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926
The Mote in God's Eye
If we were ever to make contact with extra-terrestrial intelligence, I would consider this book required reading for those who had to talk with the aliens. It is a very thought provoking and original take on first contact.
this one? https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Books/Old-Mans-War-John-Scalzi/0765309408
First contact is a whole subgenre of scifi, and it is one of my favorites!
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In regards to your request. I have, but haven't read Artemis because it doesn't look that interesting. Rendezvous with Rama, is good, albeit kinda boring. If you like it, but wish it had more action, read Ringworld by Larry Niven.
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Here are some of my favorite first contact books (with oversimplified plot summaries):
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The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle - Humans discover an alien spaceship and set out to find the source.
The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu - Chinese centric first book in a trilogy of aliens invading. One of the best I have read in recent years. Don't want to give away too much. Features alien aliens, like in The Gods Themselves!
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A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge - Humans discover an alien race and race to be the first to make contact with them.
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Damocles by S.G. Redling - Humans discover alien life and launch an expedition to make first contact. Follows the story from the point of the humans and the aliens. Very good hard scifi, but easy to read. The language barrier is a major plot piece.
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Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky - Humans are looking for a new home and stumble across a planet with alien life. Trouble ensues. No spoilers here. The sequel comes out in only a couple of weeks!
Player of Games is a good book, and it's early enough in the Culture series that Banks hadn't yet realized he made the Minds too powerful and doesn't need the human characters to actually do anything. But it is not military science fiction and I don't think it's similar to The Forever War.
If you're looking for more military sci-fi I can recommend Forging Zero, All You Need is Kill, David Weber's Honor Harrington series, Orphanage...and many more I'm sure. Armor is great and I'm sure you've heard of Starship Troopers.
A note on David Weber, I find his overuse of italics a constant irritation when reading his books. It really helps to get digital copies and run them through calibre to eliminate all the italics first.
The Honorverse series is exactly what you are looking for - start with the first book - On Basilisk Station.
Not quite so militarily focused (more about politics, espionage, and the individual stories of the characters), but also a great read, you might check out The Vorkosigan Saga - start with Shards Of Honor.
It's not fantasy, but David Weber has an amazing series that starts with On Basilisk Station. A strong female lead, a well thought out background, and a lot of math (which he does all of it for you). A hard sci-fi series that's been a treat to read.
Amazon link to the first book
I just grabbed it for free on Amazon
the first two books in honorverse are free on kindle. just started reading them and they are awesome
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=sr_1_5_title_1_kin?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1376167823&amp;sr=1-5
http://www.amazon.com/The-Honor-Queen-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00BBI9WD6/ref=pd_sim_b_8
Maybe it's John Ringo's A Hymn Before Battle?
He did publish a story on Amazon here
Free in the US, too, replace ".co.uk" with "'.com" in the URL:
The fall of Union (Rise of the Union Book 1)
https://www.amazon.com/fall-Union-Rise-Book-ebook/dp/B06W9J7XJY/
Mutiny in the skies (Rise of the Union Book 2)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9MJK14/
The fall of Union (Rise of the Union Book 1) https://www.amazon.com/fall-Union-Rise-Book-ebook/dp/B06W9J7XJY/
The secrets of Mars (Rise of the Union Book 2) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X9MJK14/
Free in all countries on all Amazon platforms (time difference may cause some hours delay in when it's free to download in your country)
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07NNQLP5X
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07NNQLP5X
Synopsis:
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf – to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.
When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.
She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.
But, to beat them she must play their game. She must become worse than them all.
Review from Amazon.co.uk:
5.0 out of 5 stars - Gripping!
"I got an early chance to read Delphine Descends as I read the author's previous book, Black Milk, and begged to get hold of an early copy. This is an absolutely brilliant book with a lot of ultra violence. This is an origin story of a complicated and damaged person that could be described as an anti-hero or even a super villain like character. I loved the politics and the world building was well thought out. The protagonist is someone you'll route for throughout, despite her misguided actions and questionable motives. This is not a story about heroes and villains, where the good guy wins and the bad guy gets what they deserve. Read this book, I highly recommend it."
I've been listening to books this way for about 3 years and I have noticed that I am a very fast speaker now. I'm not sure if it's releated but it could be.
Also, always look for whispersync books. You can almost always get the audible version for crazy cheap.
Example:
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1452542369&amp;sr=8-6
I can't see the audiobook price because I already have it but I bet the combination is only a few dollars for a great audiobook/ebook
http://www.amazon.com/Starliner-David-Drake-ebook/dp/B00ARPEAU4/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1452542467&amp;sr=1-8
this audiobook is only 1.99 vs 14.95 when buying it straight up.
Also available on kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=sr_1_1_bnp_1_kin?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1375910784&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=On+basilisk+station
http://www.baenebooks.com/p-304-on-basilisk-station.aspx
For multiple formats.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ARPJBS0
For kindle.
Someone already suggested Harry Potter, they are really fabulous reads for adults too (I hadda fight my mom for em when the new ones came out....she was in her 70s :)
There's a series of books by David Weber that follow Honor Harrington, they are total space opera with lots of action and huge space battles and I believe there's a movie in the works and the first book is free on Amazon for ereader/cloud reader http://amzn.com/B00ARPJBS0
I can try to help more when I have an idea of genres!
> Aubrey-Maudrin Series
Of the sf series that are built around A-M, an enjoyable and long-running one available at audible is David Drake's Lt. Leary series:
http://www.audible.com/series/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_1srSrs_sa?asin=B007FRXYE0
The first book is free in Kindle (due to being part of the Baen free library) and a $1.99 Whispersync upgrade to the Audible edition:
http://www.amazon.com/With-Lightnings-Lt-Leary-Book-ebook/dp/B00B4HAI2I
10 books so far and more coming. Also from Baen/Audible are the Honor Harrington books by David Weber; and (from Blackstone Audio, not Audible) Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga:
http://www.audible.com/series/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_1srSrs_s_sa?asin=B006K1M5K6
Again, many books, characters, fun, etc.
The quote is from the second book, Lt. Leary, Commanding; the first book is With the Lightnings, which is free, both from Amazon or Baen Free Library.
Here are two great zero cost books:
A Hymn Before Battle: http://www.amazon.com/Hymn-Before-Battle-Legacy-Aldenata-ebook/dp/B00BEQP50Y/
Gust Front: http://www.amazon.com/Gust-Front-Legacy-Aldenata-Book-ebook/dp/B00BEQP2R0/
Then get the audiobooks for only $1.99 each with Matchmaker: https://www.amazon.com/gp/audible/matchmaker
John Ringo goes over some of the reasons in his first Legacy of the Aldenata book: A Hymn Before Battle
Free kindle e-book version: Amazon Link
I rather like David Weber's Honor Harrington series, but they get VERY VERY talky at times. Weber is good in the deep court intrigue, background plotting and scheming, but he's not that good when it comes to hard combat.
Start from the very beginning would probably be best: ["On Basilisk Station"](http://amzn.to/22sovVx
), which is a FREE download. Cmdr Honor Harrington was exiled with her light cruiser to the backwaters for embarrassing the fleet commander in an exercise maneuver (by "killing" the flagship in a surprise move). There, she was under the command of the upperclassman who tried to rape her back in the academy, and who forever held a grudge. The crew hates her, the system is corrupt and shipping companies hated her for enforcing the law. Then they found a wormhole...
David Weber has a lot of different series, one written with Johnny Ringo, the Empire of Man series, is pretty cool. Now available in combo books, this is Volume 1 and 2 in a single package. Prince of the Empire was sabotaged and his ship and his marine escorts are stranded on a planet held by the Empire's enemy. Can they fight their way to the space port and a way home? Will the prince stay a spoiled brat or will he grow up... or die trying?
Johnny Ringo is good at the hard combat, on the scale of David "Hammer's Slammers" Drake. What put Ringo on the map was his first book A Hymn Before Battle Posleen is coming to Earth, and their numbers are so overwhelming Earth is doomed... but the Galactic Federation has sent help in forms of advanced technology... but basically they need humans to be the grunts. As humans adapt to the new technology, and frantically construct defenses around the world, from shelter cities and redoubts to ground-based orbital defense and space ships, long range scouts attempt to gather intel on alien worlds. But are the friendlies really telling us everything?
The book "Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" by Joel Woodard is one I enjoyed. It was actually authored on this subreddit. Just a warning, it's very depressing.
Link to Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Comes-Marching-Home-Again-ebook/dp/B010KWD9KU/ref=mp_s_a_1_12?keywords=johnny+comes+marching+home&amp;qid=1559318937&amp;s=books&amp;sr=1-12
Reddit link: https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/371u4n/oc_johnny_comes_marching_home/
not necessarily - Johnny Comes Marching Home from the Must Read section is on amazon. Mind you, he specifically made it DRM-free, but I believe that was out of personal preference (Here is the link where he discusses it).
Note also that just because it is being published DRM-free doesn't mean that he isn't getting money for it either.
/u/bellumaster could probably PM /u/semiloki about what he did
If you want to finish the series, the final book All These Worlds is available as a whispersync deal. $4.99 for the kindle book, an additional $1.99 for the audiobook.
https://www.amazon.com/All-These-Worlds-Bobiverse-Book-ebook/dp/B0736185ZL/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1511521717&amp;sr=1-1
Checkout the Bobiverse they are all a copy but the "live" in VR, so they have virtual bodies, etc. To me, that would be even better than an "...extension of their current existence."
Some light reading, perhaps?
Every single one of these books has something different to offer you from the genre of scifi. Those three at the top are great entries into the genre. As what I perceive to be "deeper cuts", allow me to suggest my four favorite scifi novels:
Cheers!
Theory of Continuous Groups by Loewner. This book is based on lecture notes which Loewner was planning to turn into a larger book. Unfortunately he passed away before getting much done so some of his colleagues edited and compiled the notes into this book. I'm only quarter of the way in but so far it's given me a really unique perspective into group actions. I'm loving it but it doesn't hold my attention for long spans of time.
Geometry of Polynomials by Marden. Marden is my idol, and I plan to devote my life to studying the zeros of functions. That said, this book is the hardest goddamn book I have ever read. Hell, some of the exercises he gives were actual topics of published research 60 years ago. That seems a little mean to me. Anyway I still love this shit.
Mr. Tompkins in Paperback by Gamow. Alternates between stories about a character transplanted into hypothetical worlds where particular laws of physics are exaggerated and semi-rigorous lectures about the physics itself. The section on gravity as curvature of space was especially enlightening. The author uses the idea of a merry-go-round spinning at relativistic speed, so that straight lines on the surface (i.e. geodesics) are in fact curved to outside observers. You can then imagine that the merry-go-round is walled off from the outside, so that on the inside the centrifugal force can be thought of as gravity toward the edge. This is the concept of acceleration of reference frame being equivalent to gravity. For a non-physicist this kind of explanation is AWESOME.
Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. My first Heinlein, just started it but I'm enjoying it so far. I honestly confused him with Haldeman... I loved The Forever War and I wanted to get another book by the author. Oh well.
Yeah so what I'm a nerd.
There is a lot of stuff in interstellar :D
Marooned in Realtime Deals with long time spans
Spin deals with dying earth and people dealing with it scientifically and not, ways to surpass it.
The Forever War deals with the human effects of time dilation
I've fallen on a deep sci-fi binge, so I'm going to recommend what I've read so far (lately) and loved:
Ender Series: The sequels to "Ender's Game" are not on par with the first, but they're compelling nonetheless (except maybe Childrens of the Mind), and the Bean series (Ender's Shadow and the sequels) is GREAT. I would recommend reading the sequels, and if not, to stay with the same Ender's Game vibe, then at least read Ender's Shadow, as it opens up the story a lot more.
Foundation (Isaac Asimov): One of the groundbreaking sci-fi series. I've currently read only the first one (Foundation) and absolutely loved it. It takes up several character's point of view over the course of a lot of years. But don't worry, each character get their spot lights and they shine in it. And the universe he creates is one I'm anxious to get back once I finish with...
Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey): This one I'm still reading, so I won't jump up and say: READ IT, IT'S AMAZING! But I will say this, it's long and full of twists, but it's two central characters are fun and interesting. Someone said it's like reading the best sci-fi movie there is. And it kind of is. It's full of action, suspense, some horror and fun writing. I would check it out if I were you.
Spin: I enjoyed this one. Not fanatical about it, but still enjoyable. It's a little bit too long, but the mystery around the event that occurs in the book is interesting and compelling enough to continue. The characters feel real, and the drama around it is fun.
A while ago I also read: The Forever War which I liked a lot. I like seeing humanity evolve, so this book was awesome. I hear it's a lot like Old Man's War, but I've heard better things from Forever War than Old Man's. Might be worth checking out.
Hope I was helpful!
I'm about to start reading "The Forever War" by Joe Haldeman. Seems to be pretty well regarded because it avoids a lot of silly sci-fi/war stereotypes. Also the story's military are based on the author's own experiences serving in Vietnam.
EDIT: Just checked Amazon and the book's not available for Kindle yet. The page had a link to request it from the publisher. I clicked it so there's one more vote. :)
Have you read The Forever War?
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. Even non sci-fi readers that I've recommended it to have enjoyed it and been intrigued by the future warfare that the book describes.
You sure are getting defensive now, but I'm okay with everyone having their own opinion on matters. I would suggest reading Stranger in a Strange land if you are looking for some more philosophy from Heinlein (it's not boogey man fascist communist killing material I swear).
Also check out Forever War, which is probably the harshest criticism of SST from one of Heinleins peers, which ironically became Heinleins favorite book of all time.
The Forever War might be to your liking.
Armor by John Steakley.
Well, it's not actually my favorite book, but it has really stuck with me and taught me a few cool writing devices. I see some Forever War and Starship Troopers fans in this thread, and Armor kind of rounds out a military sci-fi trilogy for me. Thought it worth mentioning.
There was a scene in the new uncut version of The Forever War where, when William Mandella gets to go home on leave, already very sick of the war, he gives an interview to the media about how bad the situation is, how the war sucks, etc., and later hears it on TV, chopped, reedited, and with new words of his added in (not coincidentally, always when the camera is showing the reporter nodding sagely or something) saying how great the war is, how high the soldiers morale is, how much he believes in it, etc. It's only a matter of time.
If you're interested in reading a book with a somewhat similar theme as the movie (who even started the fight? war is not pretty, etc...), I highly recommend The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. It's sort of an anti-Starship Troopers story where the main character is drafted to war rather than volunteering. Still scifi with bizarre alien creatures but, IMHO with a more memorable story.
*Former gunny
Does he like to read? These are two of my favorites, and I'm fairly certain most vets would enjoy them too:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1367616641&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=The+forever+war
http://www.amazon.com/Without-Remorse-Tom-Clancy/dp/0425143325/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1367616649&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=Without+Remorse
I'm reading Time Enough For Love by Robert Heinlein right now. It takes place in the year 4272 in an interplanetary human civilization with "the Senior", who's been alive since the 1940's (and who's genes aided research into 'rejuvenation clinics' for the wealthy and connected), giving his life stories and wisdom to the leader of a planet who wants to leave and colonize a new world. It's a fascinating read, and gets into some decent scientific detail too. Heinlein also wrote Stranger in a Strange Land and Starship Troopers.
After loads of reading on the bus to work every day, here follows my reading list for military aviation:
Modern
Vietnam
WWII
Overall/Other
Bonus non-military aviation
I highly second the recommendations of Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, and Diamond Age. I would also recommend:
I usually prefer to get people interested in reading philosophy obliquely, through pop. philosophy or fiction with philosophical themes. So much depends on what you are interested in...
Fiction:
A good overview like Sophie's World
Military Ethics / Social Responsibility Starship Troopers
Science and Faith Contact
Somewhat easy philosophy
Ethics: The Basic Writings of John Stuart Mill
Mind: Consciousness Explained
War: Just and Unjust Wars
Try the book sometime by Rober A. Heinlein it is excellent.
Hard science fiction I liked are:
Old, and famous authors:
The Mote in God's Eye [series] (Niven, Pournelle)
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926
New, and unknown authors:
Allopoly: The Cycle of Civilization (Hadges)
http://allopoly.com
David Brin's Uplift series. Some invasion novels, a lot of first contact/conflict.
Also, The Mote in God's Eye, and The Legacy of Heorot. More first contact than first invasion, but they have the same effect.
The book is The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. I'm not very far into it, but I've also already seen a character named Jock (as in Jock Fireblast).
> ('remove the log from your own eye before you bother with the splinter in your brother's eye')
As a complete aside, The Mote in God's Eye, is a really good book.
I'll recommend three!
An exploration of how biology affects culture, framed in a hard science first contact story:
The Mote in God's Eye
In the near future scientists discover a dead astronaut on the moon... who died 50,000 years ago.
Inherit the Stars
A sci-fi classic with great characters along the way. The over-crowded Earth is heavily reliant on the food created by a prison colony on the moon, which decides to declare its independence, with the help of the first A.I.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
http://www.amazon.com/Mote-Gods-Eye-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Excellent book with a very well rounded universe. If you enjoy it there are several other books written in that universe.
It is a Haiku from Old Man's War by John Scalzi which, in my opinion the single greatest sci fi novel in existance.
A character transmits her their last words while returning fire, propelling herself rapidly into atmopshere as a result of a lost space engagement.
.
When I first read it I did tear up, as it was a very emotional scene and punctuated the life style the Colonial Defense Forces experiance. I found the Haiku fitting for this situation.
.
The series pays homage to all great sci fi that predecessed it, Enders Game, Starship Troopers, even the bits from the Halo Novel series (which is FAR better than most give them credit), The Forever War...just to name a few.
I got a non-reading co-worker into reading with Old Man's War. It's a very fun Sci-Fi book.
Well, I'm almost 40, and I trade books with my 60+ neighbor.
If you're sticking with romance, Eloisa James is a good romance author; Courtney Milan is also amazing.
For science fiction and fantasy with a dose of romance - Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan series (start here) is very very very good, and her Chalion series (here) is excellent for the first two books (you can easily skip the third book, it's a prequel and not as interesting all around.)Bujold tends to be very, very popular with women, and older women; she's a very sharp and insightful person who happens to write big, fun space operas.
I strongly recommend Elizabeth Moon's Remnant Population; it has no romance but features an older woman, adn is very very thoughtfully done. Her The Speed of Dark is more challenging but still excellent work. Karen Lord's The Best of All Possible Worlds is also utterly amazing.
For nonfiction, try Bill Bryson. I recommend A Walk In The Woods.
I'd strongly recommend Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan series. It's sci fi, and at first it seems pretty fluffy, before it hits you with much more complex themes. Also, as a bonus, the 'Tyrion' character in GoT was pretty much lifted from the main character in this series. It's more 'mature' romance I suppose, both characters being in their 30s and both having had past emotional traumas.
http://www.amazon.com/Shards-Honor-Vorkosigan-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B005BH9T86/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1449090743&amp;sr=1-2&amp;keywords=vorkosigan+series
Here's the first several chapters of the first book.
http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/9781625793980/9781625793980.htm?blurb
It depends on what you mean by 'similar feel', since star citizen is of course different things to different people.
There are some literal wing commander novelizations that are fine if you're looking for WW2 in space military adventure. Character development errm... But there's definitely parallels to the Star Citizen setting, having its roots in the same places.
https://www.amazon.com/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM
The Human Reach is a well done 'space war story' with a decent degree of hardness. It's not really space opera since the main character(s) function more as viewpoint characters as opposed to being the only ones moving the war along.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZP64F28/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Long Way to a Small Angry Planet is a largely non-violent space adventure that is character-focused with a deep backstory and well developed setting.
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like...what do you think you like in such a book?
a well developed setting with deep lore and thought given to the logical consequences of the society and technology?
appealing and interesting characters with developed personalities and consistent reactions?
Fast paced action and adventure?
To see the bad guys get their proper comeuppance regularly?
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These things are not always compatible or present in the same books.
There's Koban by Stephen Bennett. The writing can get rough (and it needs some serious editing - it's a self published ebook) but the idea is fun. Basically, humans are captured and taken to a planet to help with some alien warrior training by being hunted by said aliens. Shenanigans ensue. You'd dig it.
The Koban series was a hoot
Can I give you a list? Imma give you a list with a little from each category. I LOVE books and posts like this!
Non-fiction or Books About Things:
The Lost City of Z: In 1925, the legendary British explorer Percy Fawcett ventured into the Amazon jungle, in search of a fabled civilization. He never returned. Over the years countless perished trying to find evidence of his party and the place he called “The Lost City of Z.” In this masterpiece of narrative nonfiction, journalist David Grann interweaves the spellbinding stories of Fawcett’s quest for “Z” and his own journey into the deadly jungle, as he unravels the greatest exploration mystery of the twentieth century. Cumberbatch will play him in the movie version of this.
Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers: Hilariously gross and just super interesting. Her writing is like a non-fiction Terry Pratchett. Everything she's written is great, but this one is my favorite.
Devil in the White City: All about HH Holmes and his murder hotel during the Chicago World's Fair. Incredibly well-written and interesting.
The Outlaw Trail: Written in 1920 by the first superintendent of Capitol Reef National Park (aka, the area around Robber's Roost). He went around interviewing the guys who were still alive from the original Wild Bunch, plus some of the other outlaws that were active during that time. Never read anything else with actual interviews from these guys and it's a little slice of life from the end of the Wild West.
Fiction, Fantasy, Sci-Fi:
Here I'm only going to give you the less known stuff. You can find Sanderson (light epic fantasy), Pratchett (humor / satire fantasy), Adams (humor fantasy), etc easily in any bookstore. They are fantastic and should be read, but they are easy to find. I suggest:
The Cloud Roads: Martha Wells is an anthropologist and it shows in her world building in every series. She creates societies instead of landscapes. These are very character-driven and sometimes emotional.
The Lion of Senet: Jennifer Fallon starts a great political thriller series with this book. If you like shows like House of Cards or things where there's a lot of political plotting, sudden twists, and a dash of science v. religion, then you'll love these.
The Book of Joby: Do you want to cry? This book will make you cry. Mix arthurian legend with some God & Devil archetypes and it's just this very powerful story. Even though it deals with religious themes and icons, I wouldn't say it's a religious book. Reads more like mythology.
On Basilisk Station: Awesome military space opera. Really good sci-fi.
Grimspace: Pulpy space opera. Brain bubble gum instead of serious reading. But that's fun sometimes too!
Check out the Honor Harrington series its got a strong female lead and its just pretty dam cool what with the space ships and stuff :) https://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0
Here are all the local Amazon links I could find:
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
amazon.ca
amazon.com.au
amazon.in
amazon.com.mx
amazon.de
amazon.it
amazon.es
amazon.com.br
amazon.nl
amazon.co.jp
amazon.fr
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The Forever War was a great novel. Probably my favorite after the original Dune trilogy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0312536631/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1485369920&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=forever+war&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51Ki76Qf64L&amp;ref=plSrch
The Synchronicity War was a great series and the kindle books are fairly cheap. https://www.amazon.com/Synchronicity-War-Part-1-ebook/dp/B00EZB3WJQ
Man of War trilogy has a Star Trek type feel to it and was enjoyable. A lot of naval military type stuff. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1477848894/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1485370046&amp;sr=8-3&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&amp;keywords=man+of+war+series&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=51fDKxQn%2B-L&amp;ref=plSrch
If you find this concept interesting, I highly recommend reading The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. A spoiler free summary of the book would be: Humanity finds stable wormholes in space after inventing near light speed travel. We discover an alien race and go to war with them. The story follows one soldier as he is sent off to fight light years away and has to deal with time dilation (He is hardly aging, but many years on Earth are passing). Here is a [link] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631) to amazon. Won the Hugo and Nebula award and is praised as one of the best all time sci-fi books.
It's in the foreword John Scalzi wrote for the latest edition of Forever War, which you can read here: http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1323872336&amp;sr=8-1
(Click on "Click to look inside!").
You might enjoy Joe Haldeman's "The Forever War". He delves into this aspect of high speed space travel with some unique thought experiments. It's worth checking out if you're curious about that sort of thing, and it's not a bad book, either.
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
>Private William Mandella is a reluctant hero in an interstellar war against an unknowable and unconquerable alien enemy. But his greatest test will be when he returns home. Relativity means that for every few months' tour of duty centuries have passed on Earth, isolating the combatants ever more from the world for whose future they are fighting.
Maybe The Forever War.
If that isn't it, you should still read it because it is a great book.
[The Forever War] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631) by Joe Haldeman.
It has nothing at all to do with atheism, it's just an excellent book.
This one or this one?
I'm not a huge sci-fi book fan (Dune was cool), but read The Forever War (http://www.amazon.com/Forever-War-Joe-Haldeman/dp/0312536631/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1293510846&amp;sr=8-1). It's great.
Archives for the links in comments:
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You mean like in this book?
FUCK YES THERE IS!
http://www.amazon.com/Starship-Troopers-Robert-A-Heinlein/dp/0441783589
You should try the Cobra series by Timothy Zahn the first book is really excellent, the others in the series aren't as good but they're still a fun read.
You should also take a look at Starship Troopers, which is nothing like the movie.
A bit more of a pleasure read, but still insightful.
Starship Troopers by Heinlein.
Also worth a read is the book of Joshua in the Bible. Read from a tactical mindset, you can gain insight into military tactics and troop management.
Starship Troopers massmarket paperbacks for around 4 dollars :D
and yea the writers of the future is the best of the the literary contests I have seen.. its sad but a lot of them are scams..
also [Cats Cradle] (http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Cradle-Kurt-Vonnegut-ebook/dp/B003XRELGQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1369440837&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=cats+cradle) is a really good book.. Kurt vonnegut can be kinda hit or miss though some people really like his stuff and others really don't like him.
you might enjoy the book The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle. Among other things, it addresses the issue as What's good for the species vs. what's good for the individual.
Amazon
free ebooks
I'd also add "The Mote in God's Eye" by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle.
That book reminded me of [The Mote in God's Eye] (http://www.amazon.com/The-Mote-Gods-Larry-Niven/dp/0671741926/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1382107573&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+mote+in+god%27s+eye) by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Worth checking out.
The Mote in God's Eye
Probably my favorite hard science fiction novel.
If you can still find this novel, I highly recommend it, especially if you want the backstory stuff.
I'm going to suggest The Mote in God's Eye too. It has a truly imaginative and extremely inhuman take on an alien culture. Unfortunately mixed up in that is some of the most terribly drawn human characters I've ever encountered in a book.
But it is worth reading through those parts because the aliens are brilliant.
I don't think that really fits. Crazy Eddie had good ideas, they were just impractical at the time and socially disruptive.
Killing a predatory bird without considering the effect on its prey is just plain stupid.
For those who aren't getting the reference, read A Mote in God's Eye.
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle have the same problem as mentioned in the article. But! It has a very alien, alien species in the book and it's the book I point to whenever I'm asked (I have never been asked this yet) for an alien species that are truly different from humans.
Anyone else have other books that involve alien aliens? Or alien humans?
If you want two series which I prefer in many ways (but are both very different overall) try
The Vorkosigan Saga Start here, the "part 1" is a prequel, and I'm not sure why it's considered the beginning, but anyway, the idea is that the first two books start with the main character's parents, until he is born, and he takes over from the third book onward. This one has great character development, better than any series I've ever seen, and the author has a great name, too.
The Expanse Is very dark and starts off as realistic hard sci-fi, and is also now on Netflix (but only season 1 is out at the moment)
Science fiction, not fantasy but I would recommend The Human Reach. It does a really good job of speculating how space battles would actually go down, and it goes really into detail with what all of the combatants are doing.
I will give you reading advice - if you want to read proper hard SF with physics laws obeyed and war portrayed realistically then you must check out "Through Struggle, the Stars". link
Read it a week ago and it's a good read. I appreciate realism in space operas.
> Through Struggle, The Stars
Link to amazon smile (no referral stuff, just smile so that a portion of the money goes to a charity of your choice): http://smile.amazon.com/Through-Struggle-Stars-Human-Reach-ebook/dp/B005FGNLDM
[heres one] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ABAXFCY/?tag=kbsig-20#nav-subnav)
[and another] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008YNZC0I/ref=s9_acsd_al_bw_c_x_3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&amp;pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&amp;pf_rd_r=YSW5VZ563ZBGGZQEX76F&amp;pf_rd_t=101&amp;pf_rd_p=2612251942&amp;pf_rd_i=7078878011#nav-subnav)
[and a really bad one] (https://www.amazon.com/Zombies-versus-Aliens-Vampires-Dinosaurs-ebook/dp/B018XQAA98/ref=sr_1_55?s=digital-text&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1473779767&amp;sr=1-55#nav-subnav)
all those books have a lot of reviews so are clearly being read.
And if those aren't bad...then it's like I was saying... are we talking a kid drawing the cover in crayons to qualify as bad?
I'm not disagree that covers matter, I stated that up front. Just that they do not matter as much as everyone likes to think. I repeat though, they do matter... and one should care.
The books I listed above would probably have sold even more copies with better covers... but even with their bad covers they still managed to get a reader base going.
I really enjoyed the first two of the Honor Harrington Series, not sure how you feel about military scifi.
http://www.amazon.com/Basilisk-Station-Honor-Harrington-Book-ebook/dp/B00ARPJBS0/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&amp;sr=&amp;qid=
the kindle is free, and whispersync gives you the audible for 2 bucks
I don't finish books that are that bad. But the worst books I've ever read more than ~25 pages of are:
Galaxy 666 by Pel Torro (Lionel Fanthorpe).
The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook.
On Basilisk Station by David Weber.
Moan for Bigfoot by Virginia Wade. This last is cryptoerotica, which is like paranormal romance taken to the next level and then some. I tried it just to see...
Full disclosure: I've talked about these books before. It's hard not to talk about them again, because I love reading books!
The dated but still fun modern-fantasy SERRAted Edge series written by Mercedes Lackey and others starts with Born to Run. They tackle some serious issues and have serious moments, but they're generally a nice light read.
Dana Stabenow's Alaskan murder mystery Kate Shugak series starts off with A Cold Day For Murder -- and it's free if you have a Kindle/other e-reader. The main character Kate and her half-wolf Mutt have a lot of suspenseful, yet occasionally hilarious, moments. There's even a bit of romance thrown in here and there.
David Weber writes a space-opera series that's on its ... twentieth? novel. It all started off with On Basilisk Station and The Honor of the Queen -- both of which are free as well through the Kindle store! (HotQ is probably my favorite in the entire series.) This series is less humor and a little more cerebral (especially once you get to 'recent events' and end up re-reading the entire series to spot the plot setups...) but honestly, how can you argue with a main character whose primary companion is a six-limbed, arboreal, prehensile-tailed, thumb-wielding, telepathic cat?
Maggie Furey wrote a magic-fantasy quadrilogy that I discovered years ago when I read Aurian. It's actually been long enough since I've read it that I don't remember tons of the details, but it's currently very high on my to-read (again) list.
Naomi Novik writes an alternate history Napoleonic-era Britain (with dragons!) that starts with His Majesty's Dragon. I highly recommend the first three. It's sort of sea-and-sky-opera with some lighthearted fun thrown in.
A new addition to my recommended list is the modern-fantasy Dresden Files, written by Jim Butcher and starting with Storm Front. Private investigation meets spellslinging, with sometimes unpredictable and often hilarious results.
I totally grok what you're asking for, and while I don't have a perfect answer to your request, I've recently stumbled across the Honor Harrington series (13 novels!) which detail both a "micro" level of detail, like what you've listed, but also engages the reader in a "large scale" level over the series, dealing with politics and mindsets of various separate human space-faring civilizations at war with each other.
The author goes into detail about the styles of clothing and background traits and habits of many minor characters, flushing many, many different diverse human cultures (spread across multiple planets over many millennia), but centers the series-- most of the time but not always, on the central character "Honor Harrington".
This series is a really unique mix of both intimate technology / culture / history / detail like what you're looking for, but also deals with a very long-term galactic war between one human-based empire and another-- and it certainly goes into detail on both sides on why the warfare is occurring, but certainly (spoiler alert) takes the position of Honor's civilization as the "good guys".
If you have an Amazon (Prime?) account, the first two books are free (at least for me), so what do you have to lose?
I thought they were pretty well written. The early books are pretty much Hortio Hornblower in the 33rd century, so I enjoyed that a lot. The latter books are more ASoIaF-ish, with large empires at war and Harrington becomes just one POV of many. You can download the first for free from Amazon so give it a try.
Well, you can read it. The Honor Harrington series by David Weber really opened my eyes to how badly done space combat is done in most sci-fi. First two books are free on Kindle.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ARPJBS0
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BBI9WD6
There was a planned movie but the company doing it went bankrupt.
Book #2 is $0.00 as well.
OP and others might be interested in John Ringo's series on this very topic. The series is referred to as the "Legacy of the Aldenata" or the "Human Posleen War Series". Whichever you choose to say, it begins with A Hymn Before Battle.
tldr: There is an alien federation with loads more tech than we have. Unfortunately for a lot of assorted reasons (ranging from ultra-pacifism to a brain alteration that kills the person engaging in violence) every single member of the federation is completely incapable of engaging in violent acts. So they come to us for help.
This is also free. The first one in the series.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00BEQP50Y/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1504727541&amp;sr=8-1&amp;pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&amp;keywords=john+ringo&amp;dpPl=1&amp;dpID=61erO6oqYBL&amp;ref=plSrch
Free on kindle for us Englanders.
>My dad passed away 10 years ago. I came home from school to a note on the kitchen bench, my mum crying on the phone and then I heard the ambulance sirens.
>
>As a kid remember he would stay up at night writing and saving the files on floppy disk. When he passed he had them saved but they were password protected. Thanks to the joys of the internet I was able to use a key gen to crack the password. One of the best parts of his legacy was finding my name as a main character in his series.
>
>I've just published his first book online. He has 3 more completed novels that I'll work on uploading soon.
>
>If anyone is interested here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WFCK32/...
>
>It's a military sci-fi.
>
>I loved my dad and I want to share his work with the rest of the world. I hope you are proud wherever you are dad x.
>My dad passed away 10 years ago. I came home from school to a note on the kitchen bench, my mum crying on the phone and then I heard the ambulance sirens.
>
>As a kid remember he would stay up at night writing and saving the files on floppy disk. When he passed he had them saved but they were password protected. Thanks to the joys of the internet I was able to use a key gen to crack the password. One of the best parts of his legacy was finding my name as a main character in his series.
>
>I've just published his first book online. He has 3 more completed novels that I'll work on uploading soon.
>
>If anyone is interested here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WFCK32/...
>
>It's a military sci-fi.
>
>I loved my dad and I want to share his work with the rest of the world. I hope you are proud wherever you are dad x.
>My dad passed away 10 years ago. I came home from school to a note on the kitchen bench, my mum crying on the phone and then I heard the ambulance sirens.
>
>As a kid remember he would stay up at night writing and saving the files on floppy disk. When he passed he had them saved but they were password protected. Thanks to the joys of the internet I was able to use a key gen to crack the password. One of the best parts of his legacy was finding my name as a main character in his series.
>
>I've just published his first book online. He has 3 more completed novels that I'll work on uploading soon.
>
>If anyone is interested here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073WFCK32/...
>
>It's a military sci-fi.
>
>I loved my dad and I want to share his work with the rest of the world. I hope you are proud wherever you are dad x.