this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
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Science Fiction

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December book club canceled. Short stories instead!

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Lemmy World Rules

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Looking for a good Sci Fi Novel available on Project Gutenberg (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 year ago by PlanetOfOrd@lemmy.world to c/sciencefiction@lemmy.world
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Been out of work for a while so buying books is out the question (yeah, I get there's always the library, but I don't like it for a lot of reasons).

I like how PG has free books. I realize I'm not going to find top-tier modern writers on PG, but I'm open to suggestions of good reads.

What I look for in sci fi:

  • An idea to chew on; something that stays with me even after I turn the last page.
  • Some emotional intrigue; I want to feel what the characters feel.

What I like to avoid:

  • Technobabble. I like a good story; I don't want to spend half the book understanding how the ship works. (I found Frank Herbet was good with avoiding technobabble...he often obeyed the rule of "show don't tell")

  • Stock characters. Gimme some depth.

A few I've read so far that I'd consider "passable" are Off on a Comet by Jules Vern (I only listen to about 2/3 of this on librivox) and Space Prison by Tom Godwin (although the plot is pretty simplistic).

I just finished Frankenstein. A lot of people think its The Greatest Novel. It was kinda meh. I see why people would get excited about it, but it didn't grab me like it does other people.

Any suggestions?

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[–] philgraves@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Three books I can happily recommend:

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs One of the many influences on Star Wars https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62

Gladiator by Philip Wylie Supposedly an influence on the creation of Superman and modern superheroes https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42914

Flatland by Edwin Abbott Abbott Philosophical and mathematical and kinda touching all at once https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/201

And while not sci-fi, if you're into superheroes, Scarlet Pimpernel and Zorro are fun early secret-identify stories:

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60

Mark of Zorro https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61620