10 Standalone Sci-Fi Books to Read in 2024

In this video I share 10 science fiction novels on my TBR for next year. There's a mix of modern and classic as well as hard and soft sci-fi!

Channel mentioned:
@thefantasynuttwork

My links:

Use code JONATHANFANS for 20% off book orders from the Tertulia online bookstore:

00:00 – Introduction
00:23 – The End of Eternity
01:21 – Blood Music
02:12 – Stories of Your Life and Others
03:41 – Mission of Gravity
04:27 – Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
05:32 – The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August
06:20 - Norstrilia
07:19 - Starfish
08:29 - The Carpet Makers
09:36 - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said

#ScienceFiction #Books

[matthewhockey]

Ted Chiang is phenomenal. His short stories are so good they changed my reading forever after.

[soumyajitmallik]

Thanks for the amazing recommendations this year !

[dalejones]

Wow that is a great list Jonathan. I haven't read one of them but I'll be adding most to my TBR list. Thanks buddy

[jenm]

I liked Blood Music, The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, and Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (which is much better than The Man in the High Castle). I plan to read Mission of Gravity and Norstrilia soon because I have them. I will have to check out the other books on your list. Alastair Reynolds has several standalones that I liked such as Pushing Ice, Permafrost, Terminal World, and House of Suns. Some are better than others but I have enjoyed them all. I haven't read Eversion or Century Rain yet but probably will in December.

[bartsbookspace]

I read Blood Music earlier this yr and it was a very good read. I was surprised by how dark the story became. I’ll be curious to hear your thought on it.
Strong list. Nostrilia is a book that I’ll want to read at some point next yr.

[BookishChas]

Thanks for these recommendations Jonathan! I’m always glad for some standalone sci-fi ideas. I’ve been curious about both Murakami and Chiang.

[steveeverett]

Mission of Gravity is one of the best worlds built ever, but I would suggest you look for the sequel called Starlight. I have a pb of Mission of Gravity, with the essay at the back how it was created and he joked with Asimov, he would title it Fried Egg in the Sky, as a friendly jab to Asimov's own work 'A Pebble in the Sky'

[jkitty]

One hard sci fi book I will recommend to everyone who will listen is The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect by Roger Williams. It's written as a sort of pseudo sequel to I Robot, but is much darker and really pushes the envelope in it's story telling. The tldr is it's about the Singularity, where a sentient AI takes over the universe, and takes place in the far, far future.

[thomasrockhoff]

I always love a good stand alone. Perfect timing too because some of these will be great to give/ask for at Christmas. Honestly part of the reason I don't read more fantasy is because so often what I get recommended is massive series and that's not always what I'm looking for.

[carlizinea]

Yeeeeah you finally mentioned blood music!!! Its one of my favorites and im excited to see what are your thoughts about it!!!

[RenkotheLibrarian]

This is a great list for a non-series reader like myself! Translated Sci-Fi is an underappreciated "sub-genre, " so seeing Murakami and Eschbach is wonderful, and I'll have to add them to my TBR.

[Yesica]

I'm pretty much avoiding series forever. (Okay, maybe an exception for 1-3 books long. Maybe.) But standalone recs are on my radar these days.
I loved Arrival too. I've been dying to get that short story collection just for that. Your gift edition is gorgeous! And loved your Not!Musical interlude. Gave me a smile, and I needed it this evening.

[sailorjbn]

4 1s Im ahead of you J. Im 1/4 into Blood Music & its really good!

[OmnivorousReader]

I read (and owned) Norstrillia years ago. I really liked it and I regreted having got rid of it when I moved away from Melbourn. I am delighted to have got my hands on it again just last week! And look forward to reading it again, maybe next year. Also look forward to hearing what you think of it.

[RedFuryBooks]

I hope you love Murakami! I call his brand of Magical realism Magical Surrealism because it's often quite bizarre. But I think you've picked a fantastic entry point.

[bookspin]

That's a solid line-up! Stories of Your Life, Hard-Boiled Wonderland, Harry August, End of Eternity, all excellent reads. Norstrilia is in my TBR. Never heard of Mission of Gravity before but it sounds intriguing!

[YourQueerGreatAuntie]

The only book on this list which I've read is Hardboiled Wonderland. A couple of friends had told me I'd like Murakami, and this was the first one I picked up. I still have a great emotional memory of inhabiting the two (ish) worlds of the book. Imagery that stays with you like dreams on waking. I listened to it on audiobook (can't read print), and there is one (and only one) moment in the recording where they use sound manipulation to great effect. It includes the sound of a cassette tape rewinding... Looking forward to your 2024 reviews!

[Joe-lbqn]

Nice selection will have to check many of these out, the ones I have read would be in my top rated SF books. (End of Eternity, Blood, First 15, Flow). End of Eternity is somewhat dated now but has a solid story so you can read past that.
There have been persistent rumours of a film of End of Eternity for what seems like, well, an eternity.
ETA realised after looking uo description that I read Mission of Gravity many years ago.

[halfogre]

I am on board for several of these books as read-alongs for 2024. Almost everyone of these is on my TBR.

[splifftachyon]

Blood Music is one of my all-time favourite books. Mind you, I read it back in the 80s, so it might be interesting to re-read it now and see if it still holds up for me. Eon and The Forge of God by Bear are both great too. The Chiang and Dick books are both on my bookshelf already and definitely on my TBR. Looking forward to reading 2024!