#BooktubeSFF Babbles: Underrated Science Fiction & Fantasy

Time for one of my favorite topics - underrated science fiction and fantasy!

I also did two videos about underrated/overlooked SFF for last year's babbles

BooktubeSFF Awards Goodreads Group

The Tumblr page

THINGS MENTIONED

Gene Mapper by Taiyo Fujii (trans. Jim Hubbert)

Powers by Ursula Le Guin

Europe in Autumn by Dave Hutchinson

China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre

Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon

The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy

The Winged Histories by Sofia Samatar

ME ELSEWHERE:

[leticiatoraci]

I've read two of these books and they were very good, so I'm putting all these recs in my TBR.

[joeystett]

Thank you for putting links to each of the books in your description section, much easier to look up while watching or later on. Great list!

[SuperDiatonic]

You speak very well, and you talked me into reading Dreamsnake. Thank you - a hidden gem!

[marcusday]

Reading Dreamsnake now. Very good book. A hidden gem.

[vilstef]

China Mountain Zhang is one of my favorite books which I read in the 90s. Subtle and confident world building which is really matter-of-fact.

[alexanderwinfield]

Excellent choices! I'm always happy to recommend some underrated classics. See if you can find "The Genocidal Healer" by James White. White was a pacifist, and interested in creating exciting SF that didn't rely on violence as a plot device...so he created a space hospital. He's also renowned for his believably alien characters. TGH was the first book I read with an alien protagonist and it's great fun. There's also GOJIRO by Mark Jacobson, a sorta spoof of Godzilla movies, about two mutants (one a human survivor of Hiroshima, the other a giant fire breathing lizard) who come together to form a weird "atomic" family of outcasts. Very much in the vein of novels by Kurt Vonnegut or Pynchon, but with more giant monsters.

[vilstef]

Rachel-I like a number of underrated books by Roger McBride Allen. Allen has done some series and trilogies and he makes the individual segments quite stand-alone. He has an uncompleted trilogy, called the Hunted Earth, and book two, The Shattered Sphere is one which I read pretty much yearly, it's so good. His Caliban trilogy in which he does Asimovian robots are the best non-Asimov robot novels I've ever read. I also want to recommend a web comic strip called Free Fall. It has terraforming, masses of robots, (star system rather similar to the one in Caliban) some David Brin uplift of species and a felonious alien squid (he says sqid) as a general wildcard. The writer-artist has been doing the strip, three episodes a week for nearly 21 years. Highly recommended.

[ascientistreads]

You're so well spoken! A few of these I've read and a few are new but I need to bump Dreamsnake up in my TBR after your recommendation. I also really enjoyed your description of China Mountain Zhang. It's easy to get behind the revolutionary, but you lose a lot of the world and the way everyday people live when you view a plot through that lens. Great recommendations!

[karenkoutsoumbaris]

Thank you I enjoyed very much your reviews and will try to find these books in my library!

[LetsReadSFF]

There's no way I can ignore these recommendations.

[Spurs]

You first brought the fractured Europe series to my attention, I've enjoyed the whole series, . thanks!

[FinalBlowJoe]

I was looking forward to this video, knew you'd choose an interesting selection. I've read China Mountain Zhang as of last week and like the sound of all the other seven. My awards project will make a few of them automatic reads, like they were for you. Your enthusiasm is, as always, really nice to see and infectious, in a good way of course. I'm now debating on whether to do this myself, which books to choose will be interesting.

[victoriahoyle-publichistor]

Such a great video! I haven't read any of these, apart from Europe in Autumn, and my wishlist is groaning now. :) I have A Stranger in Olondria on my shelf but I haven't got around to it yet. I absolutely need to change that this year.  I think my top underrated book would have to be the Kit Whitfield I mentioned in my last video, In Great Waters.

[walkinthewoods]

Your review of Dream Snake made me thing about Monica Furlong's Wise Child.  I loved that novel.  I'm definitely going to give Dream Snake a read.

[teishabee]

Great Video. You always give me great suggestions. I have been so busy I haven't read anything for enjoyment in weeks. Going to jump into Binti this weekend. Can't wait.

[vilstef]

The only book on this list I've read is China Mountain Zhang. As you say, not a flashy book but the society is so slotted in there is conviction in it. I read it way back when, and it permanently put my eye on China for what may happen in the future. This has proven a bit scary and unnerving. The past several years have not lessened those feelings.

[robertmcelfresh]

Vonda Mcintyer and Elizabeth Moon - two of my favorites. I agree. Try "War for the Oaks" by Elizabeth Moon for a great urban read.

[jfvirey]

Gene Mapper is like Jurassic Park, but with rice.

[jessicadifelice]

so many books I need to read now! I'm always getting great recommendations from you. I recently read Ninth City Burning and I really enjoyed it! you should check it out 😊

[StephanieNics]

My wallet doesn't like this video. (I really should utilize my local libraries, but it is sometimes difficult to get to them.) I have already bought China Mountain Zhang because of your previous review.