My favorite cult sci-fi and fantasy books you may not have heard of before

Post by ndsipa_pomu » Sun, Oct 26, 2025, 6:15 PM UTC

idoubtit wrote: post #52

I've read 3 out of those 5 books, and I see our preferences differ. For instance, I've a few books from Van Vogt, and I can't imagine I could like anything he wrote. - "A voyage to Arcturus" tried hard at being strange and philosophical, but it seemed shallow and I did not feel interested. - "The worm Ouroboros" was better, with a very unusual epic style, both in writing style and in the story. But some points made m…

Post by mikkupikku » Sun, Oct 26, 2025, 7:27 PM UTC

bondarchuk wrote: post #92

mikkupikku wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How would you classify The Foundation? Classic sci-fi novel, right? But it has telepaths.. By modern standards, telepathy, empaths, telekinesis.. that's all magic. Fantasy. But in 20th century science fiction it was extremely common.

I don't see the problem. You yourself seem to have no trouble at all identifying The Foundation as sci-fi.

Post by MattPalmer1086 » Sun, Oct 26, 2025, 10:08 PM UTC

edanm wrote: post #88

bondarchuk wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the criterion is that it's to some extent imaginary, we already have a word for that: Fiction.

That's inaccurate. SF/Fantasy contains elements which are not possible under the laws of physics, not anything imaginary. Literary fiction is also imaginary, but taking place in "our world". (The lines get blurrier when talking about imagined historical fiction, or even things like alternative fiction.)

Post by a_bonobo » Sun, Oct 26, 2025, 11:10 PM UTC

raddan wrote: post #64

a_bonobo wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love Stanislaw Lem. Solaris is his most famous and it has many of his core themes; I'd also try Fiasco. I'm also a huge fan of R.A. Lafferty, but his stuff his harder to find, mostly out of print. Peter Watts' Blindsight is amazing recent-ish hard SF. (the follow-up, I did not like at all). Anything from the Strugatsky brothers you can get your hands on!

I also love Solaris. I remember reading it the first time as a teenager. It is so matter-of-fact in its telling, but the facts are so bizarre, that I found it to really induce terror. It has always struck me as more of a horror novel than as a sci-fi novel although it is clearly the latter. There are now multiple English translations of Solaris available. I know that there’s been a lot of praise for the newer transla…

Post by Frotag » Mon, Oct 27, 2025, 12:26 AM UTC

bwb wrote: post #2

Anyone got some favs to share? I need to read the new Peter Hamilton book (book 2 due out soon). And I am ashamed to admit I haven't read any Greg Egan yet, need to get on that :)

  - Adiamante by Modesitt (1996), pacifist environmentalists vs cyberpunk warmongers. It's a lot of philosophy and a bit preachy at that but the world building was pretty thorough.
  - Last and First Idol by Gengen Kusano (2018). Similar to Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon, it parodies various aspects of Japanese culture over a period of eons. (It's a set of three ~70pg stories).
  - Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by Eliezer Yudkowsky (2010). Parody where the main character investigates how to exploit magic. Kind of like xkcd / what-if but in the Harry Potter universe. Author is controversial and the story's pompous /r/iamverysmart vibes can be offputting but I enjoyed it.

  - Greg Egan's stuff
  - There is No Antimimetics Division by qntm
  - Sequels to Enders Game and the Ender's Shadow spinoffs by Orson Scott Card.
  - Dragon's Egg and its sequel by Robert L. Forward.