Reading SF in August 2026

[Fryan]

Also read by some in one of my Book Clubs. Dystopian seems to be on an upward trend at the moment, doesn't it?

As too the ragged endings.... had a few of those lately!

I feel like dystopian stuff is never that far out of fashion. The challenge nowadays is keeping ahead of the current reality!

A few years back I read The Deluge by Stephen Markley. I went and saw him at a local author event and he said that in one of his later drafts he had to make his ultra conservative climate denier president more outrageous because Trump was making his character look too mundane.

 

[Ropie]

I read I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman.

This was the best book I read last year, despite being an older book. I loved it, and the new cover

 

[Ropie]

This and the Foundation Trilogy are my next classic SF reads.

You've never read it?? Rama is the greatest SF book of the 70s, and Clarke's best book IMO.

 

[dannymcg]

You've never read it?? Rama is the greatest SF book of the 70s, and Clarke's best book IMO

I beg to differ, nothing compares to the awesomeness of the Mote

 

[Westy]

I read I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman. It’s about an unnamed woman who, along with 39 other women are held captive for unknown reasons in a large cell, kept in check by silent whip cracking guards. One day, due to sheer luck, they are able to escape and they start to carve out a life for themselves on a monotonous landscape that maybe isn’t earth.

I really enjoyed the book, as it posed lots of questions that you just have to keep reading in hopes of getting answers. So I plowed through the book. There aren’t actually all that many SF elements to the book, it starts out seeming like a dystopia, but eventually you could argue it turns into a utopia. I actually can’t fully put my finger on what the book is “about” but that’s sometimes the best when you just have to ponder a book after you turn the last page.

Anyone looking for closure and a neat and tidy plot will be left wanting more from this but I enjoyed that it doesn’t give you a clean ending. I think my biggest complaint about the book was the final line, which kind of cheapened what seemed to me to be a big overarching theme.

Anyway, bonus points for being a book club book I actually liked!

I thought it was pretty good too..apart from the ending!

 

[Hobbit]

I beg to differ. Clarke is one of my favourite authors, and one of the first SF authors I ever read, but Rama really disappointed when I reread it; and Foundation has dated quite badly, although I do enjoy reading it on repeat. (The later books are better though, in my opinion.)

Danny: I love Mote; I have a signed Easton Press edition as well as my old paperback. (not my picture, but that edition.) That one's due a reread too.

 

[Fryan]

I beg to differ. Clarke is one of my favourite authors, and one of the first SF authors I ever read, but Rama really disappointed when I reread it; and Foundation has dated quite badly, although I do enjoy reading it on repeat. (The later books are better though, in my opinion.)

Danny: I love Mote; I have a signed Easton Press edition as well as my old paperback. (not my picture, but that edition.) That one's due a reread too.

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I haven’t read Mote yet, but it looks like I need to move it up the priority list.

So, Hobbit, what is your favorite SF book from that era?

I’m probably not as well read as many here from this time period, as I’ve only been reading stuff from the 60’s and 70’s the last year or so, but for me Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness or Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep are two of my favorites so far.

 

[Westy]

I liked The Mote in God's Eye, but did find, especially earlier in the novel, there's a fair but of sexism and arrogance from some of the (male) characters, and clunky dialogue. Definitely a product of it's time but ultimately a bit detracting. Apart from that a great novel and worth checking out; I found the second half of the book to be a lot better.

 

[Ubergeek]

STEALING LIGHT Gary Gibson , 1st book in the Shoal series .

Enjoyed it . Great page turner , relentless action , good world building . And I appreciated the I M Banks Easter eggs .

Straight on to 2nd one .

 

[oberon55]

I’m probably not as well read as many here from this time period, as I’ve only been reading stuff from the 60’s and 70’s the last year or so, but for me Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness or Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep are two of my favorites so far.

I would recommend any of these from the 1970s:

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
Deathbird Stories (short story collection) by Harlan Ellison
The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

 

[Ropie]

I liked The Mote in God's Eye, but did find, especially earlier in the novel, there's a fair but of sexism and arrogance from some of the (male) characters, and clunky dialogue. Definitely a product of it's time but ultimately a bit detracting. Apart from that a great novel and worth checking out; I found the second half of the book to be a lot better.

I remember trying Mote 4 or 5 years ago and not being able to get past the first 100 pages or so for those same reasons.

I beg to differ. Clarke is one of my favourite authors, and one of the first SF authors I ever read, but Rama really disappointed when I reread it;

To be honest I haven't read it since I was about 16 but at the time it was the greatest thing I'd ever read, and I've never been anything more than lightly entertained by any of Clarke's other books, except Fountains of Paradise, which is excellent. I still haven't read 2001 or 2010 though.

 

[Hobbit]

I remember trying Mote 4 or 5 years ago and not being able to get past the first 100 pages or so for those same reasons.


To be honest I haven't read it since I was about 16 but at the time it was the greatest thing I'd ever read, and I've never been anything more than lightly entertained by any of Clarke's other books, except Fountains of Paradise, which is excellent. I still haven't read 2001 or 2010 though.

Yes. Same here when I first read Rama. A few decades on it read/felt different. I was surprised by that.

I have a feeling Mote might be the same!

 

[Fryan]

I would recommend any of these from the 1970s:

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
Gateway by Frederik Pohl
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
Deathbird Stories (short story collection) by Harlan Ellison
The Faded Sun Trilogy by C. J. Cherryh
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Again, Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison
The Word for World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin

Thanks for your recommendations! I’ve read The Forever War, Ringworld and The Word For World is Forest. (Which is one of my favorite Le Guin books.)

The Cherryh series, and Again, Dangerous Visions are on my epic list of books to read some day. I’ll look into the Pohl and Ellison titles you mentioned!