What are some clean science fiction books?

WHearth

WHearth

The Rak'nathid
Joined
Mar 31, 2010
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I really enjoy reading science fiction, but it's often difficult to find good science fiction that isn't too dark and that doesn't contain sex. What are some good science fiction authors/books that aren't dark and gloomy and that don't have sexual content?
 
If you stay pre 1960 you should be OK ;)

Seriously, I can't recall anything prurient in novels by Connie Willis or Isaac Asimov.

Dark and gloomy is tricky - one person's dark and gloomy is another's easy-going bright and breezy. Personally I found Cyberiad by Stanislaw Lem to be pretty good natured and sparkling, with no sexual content either.

Avoid Hyperion at all costs!
 
Ropie said:
Dark and gloomy is tricky - one person's dark and gloomy is another's easy-going bright and breezy.
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I could probably clarify that a bit :)

What I mean by dark and gloomy is that there often seems to be a trend of making science fiction include a brutal sense of realism by making there lots of brutality, gory deaths, and a general sense that life sucks. This is what I mean by dark - instead of a focus on the wonder of space or other things that science fiction brings, the focus seems to be on the brutal realism of how the lives of the characters are filled with misery, injustice, and brutal violence.
 
WHearth said:
instead of a focus on the wonder of space or other things that science fiction brings
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Well the recommendation for Cyberiad stands then. And I could also mention Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C Clarke, although there is a paragraph or two with some lovemaking in..
 
This is pretty subjective... I think most of Peter Hamilton's stuff would be alright, no? I mean there is violence and some sexual content, but it's not gratuitous in any way.
 
Although there is romantic interest in Connie Willis's "To Say Nothing of the Dog", there is no overt sexuaity.

It's a wonderful book, though its only "science fiction" elemant is time travel to the past from a time that seems approximate to our own or a least not too far in the future.
 
Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series, at least the first book anyway, seems fairly clean.

Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet series has some sex in it as of the second book (Fearless), but it's implied, insinuated and euphemised rather than detailed.
 
Is it all sex scenes you want to avoid, or just graphic ones? Because that narrows it down a lot more. I can't think of a book I've read recently that has absolutely no mention of sex.
 
A few scattered examples:

Most of these are older books, but should be readily available used. As to "aren't dark and gloomy and that don't have sexual content": some will have some sexual content, but in none is it either explicit or a dominant aspect (in life, people do occasionally have sexual relations), and some will have some dark passages, but are not dominantly grey or dystopian (not all of life is sunshine and rainbows).

This is quite a mix, from classic to obscure, from simple to complex, from fairly new to fairly old.

  • Adams, Douglas: the "Hitchhiker" series
  • Aldiss, Brian: Report on Probability A
  • Arnason, Eleanor: To the Resurrection Station
  • Attanasio, A. A.: the "Radix" tetrad
  • Barrett, Neal: the "Aldair" tetralogy
  • Bester, Alfred: The Demolished Man
  • Bisson, Terry: Wyrldmaker (grim but not dystopian)
  • Bradbury, Ray: anything sf
  • Bryant, Edward: Cinnabar
  • Carr, Terry; Cirque
  • Chapman, Stepan: The Troika (grim but not black)
  • Cherryh, C. J.: anything sf
  • Compton, D. G.: Chronocules
  • Conway, Gerard F.: The Midnight Dancers
  • Cook, Glen: The Dragon Never Sleeps
  • Cover, Arthur Byron: Autumn Angels
  • Crowley, John: The Deep and Engine Summer
  • Dowling, Terry: Rynosseros (& probably lots more)
  • Effinger, George Alec: What Entropy Means to Me
  • Finney, Jack: anything
  • Foster, M. A.: Waves; the "Transformer" trilogy; the "Ler" trilogy"
  • Geston, Mark S.: The Day Star
  • Grant, Richard: Saraband of Lost Time; Rumors of Spring; Through the Heart
  • Holdstock, Robert: Where Time Winds Blow
  • Jeter, K. W.: Farewell Horizontal
  • Knight, Damon: The World and Thorinn
  • Laumer, Keith: Knight of Delusions
  • Lee, Tanith: Days of Grass
  • Leiber, Fritz: The Big Time
  • Lieberman, Herbert: Sandman, Sleep
  • Lightman, Alan: Einstein's Dreams
  • McDonald, Ian: Desolation Road
  • McIntyre, Vonda N.: Dreamsnake
  • Norwood, Warren: the "Windhover Tapes" tetralogy
  • Ore, Rebecca: Becoming Alien
  • Palmer, Thomas: Dream Science
  • Panshin, Alexei: the "Anthony Villiers" books
  • Percy, Walker: Love in the Ruins
  • Piserchia, Doris: anything (a much under-appreciated author)
  • Priest, Christopher: Indoctrinaire; The Prestige
  • Read, Herbert: The Green Child
  • Resnick, Mike: Santiago
  • Roberts, Keith: Pavanne; The Chalk Giants
  • Shepard, Lucius: Kalimantan
  • Silverberg, Robert: any sf
  • Simak, Clifford: anything
  • Smith, Cordwainer: Norstrilia and The Rediscovery of Man
  • Stableford, Brian: a wealth of work--anything sf by him
  • Sucharitkul, Somtow: the "Inquestor" tetralogy
  • Tepper, Sheri S.: "The Awakeners" duology
  • Vance, Jack: more wealth--anything sf
  • Whitehead, Colson: The Intuitionist
  • Williams, Walter Jon: the "Drake Maijstral" trio
  • Wolfe, Gene: yet more wealth--anything sf
  • Wright, Austin Tappan: Islandia (social sf or alternate history)
  • Wyndham, John: The Kraken Wakes (aka Out of the Deeps)
  • Zelazny, Roger: any sf
  • Zindell, David: the "Neverness" cycle

I omitted a few authors well worth reading, on vatious grounds. For example, the estimable M. John Harrison can seem gloomy or worse, but I recommend him highly anyway.

You can see more on these (and many other) books here.
 
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WHearth said:
I really enjoy reading science fiction, but it's often difficult to find good science fiction that isn't too dark and that doesn't contain sex. What are some good science fiction authors/books that aren't dark and gloomy and that don't have sexual content?
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What is good science fiction?

http://www.lunch.com/Reviews/book/Citizen_of_the_Galaxy_by_Robert_Heinlein-1558854.html

http://www.lunch.com/reviews/d/User...Methuselah_s_Children_by_Robert_Heinlein.html

http://www.lunch.com/Reviews/book/The_Door_into_Summer-1721631.html

Science fiction became more sexy since the 60s. I don't know where you draw the line on that.

The Vor Game by Bujold isn't very explicit about sex, neither is Cetaganda.

psik
 
JustaStaffer said:
This is pretty subjective... I think most of Peter Hamilton's stuff would be alright, no? I mean there is violence and some sexual content, but it's not gratuitous in any way.
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Some of Peter Hamilton's books have pretty explicit scenes, very descriptive and bordering on pornographic in some cases. In fact I've read his three most popular series and they all have it. Great books though.

For non-gloomy, no sex scifi, I highly recommend Jack McDevitt. His adult characters do have adult relationships, however he avoids the graphic descriptions. I would definitely rate his books a PG with the rare PG-13.
 
As has been said earlier, most of the SF from the 1950's and early 1960's would fit the bill. Heinlein's juveniles, Arthur C Clarke. There was a positivism in much of this work that isn't there these days.

Mark
 
How strict do you want this non-sexuality to be? I love the Vorkosigan series (Bujold). There are occasional mentions of sex throughout the series, but they are never graphic. But if you want absolutely no sex at all, you'd have to leave some of the books out. Lessee.....Warrior's Apprentice has one kissing scene and one or two mentions that off-screen sex has happened...I don't remember any sex at all in The Vor Game, but it's possible I'm forgetting something....there's no sex in the novella Mountains of Mourning....don't remember about the others right now...
 
Lazerus said:
Some of Peter Hamilton's books have pretty explicit scenes, very descriptive and bordering on pornographic in some cases. In fact I've read his three most popular series and they all have it. Great books though.

For non-gloomy, no sex scifi, I highly recommend Jack McDevitt. His adult characters do have adult relationships, however he avoids the graphic descriptions. I would definitely rate his books a PG with the rare PG-13.
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Fair enough. I'm sure they just don't stick out to me since I'm so depraved :D
 
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