Reviving a 15 yr old John Scalzi thread in modified form

[james_davis_nicoll]

(Modified because the thread is 15 yrs old):

Good, recent science fiction for people who don't read science fiction.

A: Audience is adult, intelligent, and literate.
B: No YA
C: No books before 2010.
D: Book has to be primarily SF, not fantasy.
E: Recommend a book that you would actually recommend to someone.

Comments

[dsrtao]

Naomi Novik, Uprooted.

If the definition of SF excludes fantasy, then Nathan Lowell, Quarter Share.

[dsrtao]

Let's dance, James.

[penndavies]

Murderbot. Suck them in with the novellas and go from there.

[sturgeonslawyer]

Delany. Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders. Subtly science fiction, featuring one of the most powerful (gay) love stories I've ever read.

[(Anonymous)]

The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

To Be Taught, If Fortunate by Becky Chambers

Providence by Max Barry

(My tastes run a bit to space opera.)

--Janice in GA

[cgbookcat1]

A Pale Light in the Black -- K.B. Wagers

Finder -- Suzanne Palmer

[(Anonymous)]

Murderbot series
Ancillary Justice series
Dark Eden (trilogy, but first one stands alone)

Ray

[rpresser]

The Martian -- Andy Weir

The Silo series (Wool, Shift, Dust) - Hugh Howey

[pfflyernc]

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. Reads like litfic.

The Murderbot series by Martha Wells, if they've got a sarcastic sense of humor.

One Way, by S.J. Morden. It's "And then There Were None" on Mars.

[petrea_mitchell]

Depending on where they're coming from, maybe one of...

A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine
Goodbye For Now by Laurie Frankel
Provenance by Anne Leckie
Stupid Computer by Mark Niemann-Ross
New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson
Waypoint Kangaroo by Curtis C. Chen

I'd prefer not to recommend entire series if they're just looking for something to try out, so no Expanse, Hexarchate, or Ancillary series.

[(Anonymous)]

The Quantum Thief trilogy by Hannu Rajaniemi, whose name I have never managed to spell correctly on the first try, even with the book in front of me. Also, very good 8-)

Riderius

[sraun]

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison

Anything by Glynn Stewart - it's all less than ten years old.

Penric's Demon and sequels - Lois McMaster Bujold

[helen_keeble]

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Time (and the sequel, Children of Ruin)

[helen_keeble]

Also, The Martian by Andy Weir
(most of the non-SF readers in my family/friends have already watched the movie)

For non-SF readers who enjoyed the movie Hidden Figures, The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler (arguing that it’s SF-lite in its exploration of something-plausible-that-didn’t-actually-happen)

[gingicat]

Murderbot. The themes are universal and the technology is oddly recognizable.

[jreynolds197]

Another voice for Murderbot. Hench is good if you consider superheroes SF rather than fantasy.

[(Anonymous)]

Unconquerable Sun, Kate Elliott

I’d love to recommend Lockstep by Karl Schroeder, but I think it is YA.

[jessie_c]

Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy;
If you're okay with a bit of queerness, Alex Acks' Murder on the Titania and Wireless Steampunk short story collections;
Chuck Wendig's Aftermath Trilogy or for a Pandemic thriller story complete with an utterly loathsome US President, Wanderers;
Rebecca Roanhorse's Trail of Lightning;
Another vote for Murderbot;
Becky Chambers' A Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and the follow-up A Closed and Common Orbit

[sushiflop]

The Stars Are Legion, by Kameron Hurley, especially if body horror is your jam.

[fred_mouse]

If they are a reader of so-called 'literary' fiction, Book of Joan by Lidia Yuknavitch, which I finished and immediately turned around and shoved under the nose of a friend.

For a mystery reader, Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty.

[voidampersand]

That is a tough question because much of what we consider to be good in SF is an acquired taste, or requires specific reading protocols, or both. Here are three novels that I highly recommend, that are absolutely SF but not typical, and might be accessible to the right reader:

The City & The City, by China Miéville
Among Others, by Jo Walton
Arctic Rising, by Tobias S. Buckell

One more that is classic space opera SF, but it is so excellent in every way, I would recommend it anyway:

Finders, by Melissa Scott

[(Anonymous)]

Actually, I think the 2 Lock-in books by Scalzi are pretty strong contenders. And if they're reasonably sophisticated, Gibson's Peripheral, while kind of challenging, is rewarding. And, of course, Murderbot.

Suggestions for you

[(Anonymous)]

Jacob’s Ladder series by Elizabeth Bear

The John Varley Reader by Varley (Eight Worlds stories)

Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams

Distraction by Bruce Sterling

Permanence by Karl Schroeder

Burning Bright by Melissa Scott

[davidgoldfarb]

Echoing a number of others:
Well, Murderbot series
Leckie, Ancillary Justice.
Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet.
"Corey", Leviathan Wakes.
Sanderson, Skyward. (Has a teenage protagonist, but is at least not marketed as YA.)
Palmer, Too Like the Lightning.
Scalzi, The Collapsing Empire.

[(Anonymous)]

The red trilogy from Linda Nagata: near future, accessible to a variety of readers.

[cathrowan]

Echoing The Peripheral & A Memory Called Empire.

Kameron Hurley, The Light Brigade.

Yoon Ha Lee's short story collection, Conservation of Shadows, might be a good way for a reader to check out their style without committing to a trilogy. I love it.

Also if your test subject is willing to read shorter work, any of Ted Chiang's novellas.

[(Anonymous)]

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (The Thorne Chronicles, #1) by K. Eason
Reading the sequel now. Not quite as good as the first, but still fun.

Lots of fun with many kick-ass females.

[jsburbidge]

Stross, Rule 34

Harkaway, Gnomon

Older, Infomocracy and sequels.

If it weren't out of scope by a couple of years I would add Stephenson's Anathem.

[ffutures]

The Second Sleep by Robert Harris (2019, and already a bit depressing considering recent events)
The Hydrogen Sonata (2012) and possibly Surface Detail (2010) by Banks.

[jreynolds197]

Yes! The Light Brigade is a keeper - I've read it twice so far. The second time through let me see things I'd missed the first time around.

Nobody's voted for Heinlein's The Pursuit of the Pankera (2020). I can't think why...

(Note: I haven't actually read TPotP - I don't think it would be my cuppa these days. So I'm a snob.)

[bravolimapoppa3]

Patrick Tomlinson 's Gate Crashers and Starship Repo
Karl Schroeder - Stealing Worlds
L.X. Beckett's Gamechanger
Max Gladstone's Empress of Forever
Derek Künsken's Quantum Magician
Sam Hughes Ra (grim, but good)
Todd McAulty's The Robots of Gotham
Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire
Linda Nagata's Red series

[petrea_mitchell]

I put this question to the military sf fan in my household, and the answer was "whichever of David Drake's Republic of Cinnabar books have been published since 2010", plus an assurance that the series is episodic enough that starting in the middle doesn't matter.

V

[(Anonymous)]

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz.

[oh6]

About the only SF novel recommended to me by non-SF-reader family members is The Three-Body Problem.