Book picks similar to
Fifth Planet by Fred Hoyle
science-fiction
sci-fi
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The Songs of Distant Earth
Arthur C. Clarke - 1986
And suddenly uncertainty and change had come to the placid paradise that was Thalassa.
The Engines of God
Jack McDevitt - 1994
Now, as faster-than-light drive opens the stars to exploration, humans are finding other relics of the race they call the Monument-Makers - each different, and each heartbreakingly beautiful. But except for a set of footprints on Jupiter's moon Iapetus, there is no trace of the enigmatic race that has left them behind. Then a team of scientists working on a dead world discover an ominous new image of the Monument-Makers. Somehow it all fits with other lost civilizations, and possibly with Earth's own future. And distant past. But Earth itself is on the brink of ecological disaster - there is no time to search for answers. Even to a question that may hold the key to survival for the entire human race...
Cities in Flight
James Blish - 1970
Named after the migrant workers of America's Dust Bowl, these novels convey Blish's "history of the future," a brilliant and bleak look at a world where cities roam the Galaxy looking for work and a sustainable way of life.In the first novel, They Shall Have Stars, man has thoroughly explored the Solar System, yet the dream of going even further seems to have died in all but one man. His battle to realize his dream results in two momentous discoveries anti-gravity and the secret of immortality. In A Life for the Stars, it is centuries later and anti-gravity generations have enabled whole cities to lift off the surface of the earth to become galactic wanderers. In Earthman, Come Home, the nomadic cities revert to barbarism and marauding rogue cities begin to pose a threat to all civilized worlds. In the final novel, The Triumph of Time, history repeats itself as the cities once again journey back in to space making a terrifying discovery which could destroy the entire Universe. A serious and haunting vision of our world and its limits, Cities in Flight marks the return to print of one of science fiction's most inimitable writers.A Selection of the Science Fiction Book Club
Assignment in Eternity
Robert A. Heinlein - 1953
Heinlein: two classic novellas and two short stories with speculation on what makes us human."Gulf": in which the greatest superspy of them all is revealed as the leader of a league of supermen and women who can't decide on quite what to do with the rest of us. The prequel to Heinlein's later New York Times best seller, Friday."Lost Legacy": in which it is proved that we are all members of that league of the superhuman–or would be, if we but had eyes to see.Plus two great short stories: Two of the master's finest: one on the nature of being, the other on what it means to be a Man. The second story, "Jerry Was a Man," was adapted for the TV series Masters of Science Fiction, and is now available on DVD.1 online resource (8 hr., 40 min.), MP3 audiobook in 9 parts
Nightfall and Other Stories
Isaac Asimov - 1969
The title comes from Asimov's breakthrough short story.CONTENTS:Nightfall - Astounding, Sept 1941Green Patches - Galaxy, Nov 1950Hostess - Galaxy, May 1951Breeds There a Man . . . ? - Astounding, June 1951C-Chute - Galaxy, Oct 1951In a Good Cause - "New Tales of Space & Time", 1951What If--- - Fantastic, Summer 1952Sally - Fantastic, June 1953Flies - F&SF, June 1953Nobody Here But--- - Star SF #1, 1953It's Such a Beautiful Day - Star SF #3, 1954Strikebreaker - Original SF Stories, Jan 1957Insert Knob A in Hole B - F&SF, Dec 1957The Up-to-Date Sorcerer - F&SF, July 1958Unto the Fourth Generation - F&SF, April 1959What is this Thing Called Love? - Amazing, March 1961The Machine That Won the War - F&SF, Oct 1961My Son, the Physicist - Scientific American, Feb 1962Eyes Do More Than See - F&SF, April 1965Segregationist - Abbottempo, Book 4, 1967
Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days
Alastair Reynolds - 2003
. . Alastair Reynolds burst onto the SF scene with the Arthur C. Clarke Award-shortlisted REVELATION SPACE, British Science Fiction Award-winning CHASM CITY, and REDEMPTION ARK. Now experience the phenomenal imagination and breathtaking vision of 'The most exciting space opera writer working today' (Locus) in these two tales of high adventure set in the same universe as his novels. The title story, 'Diamond Dogs', tells of a group of mercenaries trying to unravel the mystery of a particularly inhospitable alien tower on a distant world; 'Turquoise Days' is about Naqi, who has devoted her life to studying the alien Pattern Jugglers.
N-Space
Larry Niven - 1969
talk show Arthur C. Clarke was once asked to name his favorite writer. His answer was "Larry Niven." Countless others agree. The Baltimore Sun and Kirkus Reviews have both dubbed Niven "the premier writer of hard SF," and Gregory Benford has hailed him as "the paradigm of SF personality of the last several decade."Now Larry Niven presents us with his undisputed masterwork. N-Space contains, very simply, the best SF of his career--marvelous fiction, a wealth of anecdotes and gossip, plus Niven's own special brand of wit and excitement.Contents:1 • Introduction: The Maker of Worlds • (1990) • essay by Tom Clancy3 • On Niven • (1992) • essay by Frederik Pohl and Steven Barnes and David Brin and John Hertz and Wendy All and Gregory Benford15 • Dramatis Personae • (1990) • essay by Larry Niven25 • Foreword: Playgrounds for the Mind • (1990) • essay by Larry Niven31 • From World of Ptavvs (excerpt) • (1990) • shortfiction by Larry Niven36 • Bordered in Black • (1966) • shortstory by Larry Niven56 • Convergent Series • (1967) • shortstory by Larry Niven (variant of The Long Night)62 • All the Myriad Ways • [Time Travel - Parallel Universe] • (1968) • shortstory by Larry Niven73 • From A Gift From Earth (Excerpt) • (1990) • shortfiction by Larry Niven90 • The Meddler • (1968) • novelette by Larry Niven112 • Passerby • [State] • (1969) • shortstory by Larry Niven126 • Down in Flames • (1969) • essay by Larry Niven139 • From Ringworld (Excerpt) • (1990) • shortfiction by Larry Niven148 • The Fourth Profession • (1971) • novelette by Larry Niven195 • "Shall We Indulge in Rishathra?" • (1978) • shortfiction by Larry Niven195 • "Shall We Indulge in Rishathra?" • (1978) • interior artwork by William Rotsler199 • Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex • (1969) • essay by Larry Niven208 • Inconstant Moon • (1971) • novelette by Larry Niven234 • What Can You Say About Chocolate Covered Manhole Covers? • (1971) • shortstory by Larry Niven245 • Cloak of Anarchy • [Known Space] • (1972) • shortstory by Larry Niven269 • From Protector (excerpt) • (1990) • shortfiction by Larry Niven279 • The Hole Man • (1974) • shortstory by Larry Niven293 • Night on Mispec Moor • [State] • (1974) • shortstory by Larry Niven305 • Flare Time • (1978) • novella by Larry Niven347 • The Locusts • (1979) • novelette by Larry Niven and Steven Barnes389 • From The Mote in God's Eye (excerpt) • (1990) • shortfiction by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle394 • Building the Mote in God's Eye • [A Step Farther Out] • (1976) • essay by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle420 • Brenda • (1988) • novella by Larry Niven465 • The Return of William Proxmire • (1989) • shortstory by Larry Niven475 • The Tale of the Jinni and the Sisters • (1988) • shortstory by Larry Niven491 • Madness Has Its Place • [Man-Kzin Wars] • (1990) • novelette by Larry Niven519 • Niven's Laws (1990 version) • (1990) • essay by Larry Niven528 • The Kiteman • [Integral Trees] • (1990) • novelette by Larry Niven571 • The Alien in Our Minds • (1987) • essay by Larry Niven580 • Space • (1990) • essay by Larry Niven597 • Bibliography of Larry Niven • (1990) • essay by uncredited
The Seeds of Time
John Wyndham - 1956
For the ten short stories collected here, John Wyndham turns his imagination to, among other subjects, body-snatching, time-travel and mind-travel, and the the tricky business of interplanetary colonization.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: A Trilogy in Four Parts
Douglas Adams - 1986
For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very very very large and startling place.THE RESTAURANT AT THE END OF THE UNIVERSE.When all questions of space, time, matter and the nature of being have been resolved, only one question remains --- "Where shall we have dinner?" The Restaurant at the End of the Universe provides the ultimate gastronomic experience, and for once there is no morning after to worry about.LIFE, THE UNIVERSE AND EVERYTHING.In consequence of a number of stunning catastrophes, Arthur Dent is surprised to find himself living in a hideously miserable cave on prehistoric Earth. However, just as he thinks that things cannot possibly get any worse, they suddenly do. He discovers that the Galaxy is not only mind-boggling big and bewildering but also that most of the things that happen in it are staggeringly unfair.SO LONG, AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH.Just as Arthur Dent's sense of reality is in its dickiest state he suddenly finds the girl of his dreams. He finds her in the last place in the Universe in which he would expect to find anything at all, but which 3,976,000 people will find oddly familiar. They go in search of God's Final Message to His Creation and, in a dramatic break with tradition, actually find it.
Catseye
Andre Norton - 1961
He didn't understand how he could communicate with the animals or why they were contacting him. But from the moment he began work at Kyger's pet emporium on Korwar he was enmeshed in a perilous intrigue... an intrigue that would leave more than one man dead, an entire government in jeopardy, and Horan himself both master and captive of the most extraordinary band of warriors his world had ever known.
Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina
Kevin J. AndersonDave Wolverton - 1995
Anderson * Doug Beason * M. Shayne Bell * David Bischoff * A.C.Crispin * Kenneth C. Flint * Barbara Hambly * Rebecca Moesta * Daniel KeysMoran * Jerry Oltion * Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens * Jennifer Roberson* Kathy Tyers * Tom Veitch & Martha Veitch * Dave Wolverton * TimothyZahn
Nightflyers
George R.R. Martin - 1985
Nine misfit academics on an expedition to find the volcryn, a mythic race of intersteller nomads, and the only ship available for this strange quest is the Nightflyer, a cybernetic wonder with a never-seen captain...Nine innocents are about to find themselves in deep space, trapped with an insane murderer who can go anywhere, do anything, and intends to kill them all.
Berserker
Fred Saberhagen - 1967
The sole legacy of that war was the weapon that ended it: the death machines, the BERSERKERS. Guided by self-aware computers more intelligent than any human, these world-sized battlecraft carved a swath of death through the galaxy--until they arrived at the outskirts of the fledgling Empire of Man.These are the stories of the frail creatures who must meet this monstrous and implacable enemy--and who, by fighting it to a standstill, become the saviors of all living things.
Under Pressure
Frank Herbert - 1956
Twenty subtugs had been lost in the attempt to bring back oil from the undersea fields on the enemy's borders.A brilliant psychologist-electronics expert is planted in the crew of the subtug Ram to find out what is happening.And theory becomes terrifying reality when, miles deep under the ocean, the minds of the crew begin to crack...
Sphere
Michael Crichton - 1987
What they find defies their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently, undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old...."The suspense is real."THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW"A page-turner...Chichton's writing is cinematic, with powerful visual images and nonstop action. This book should come with hot buttered popcorn."NEWSWEEK