Science fiction books for beginners

Hi everyone – in this video I'm looking at a few books that I see as being great "gateway" books to get into reading science fiction. Hope you enjoy. I'd love to hear your recommendations.

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MY STUFF
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MY SCI-FI NOVELS

DELPHINE DESCENDS
After her family is killed and her homeworld occupied, young Kathreen Martin is sent to the distant world of Furoris for re-education. She will live the rest of her life as a serf – to be bought and sold as a commodity of the Imperial Network.

When her only chance of escape is ruined, a chance mistaken identity offers her a new life as the orphaned daughter of a First-Citizen Senator and heiress to a vast fortune.

She vows to claw her way into power to sit among the worlds’ elite. Then, with her own hands, she will reap bloody vengeance on them all.

But to beat them, she must play their game. And she must play it better than them all.

BLACK MILK
Prometheus has the chance to bring his wife back from the dead, but doing so will mean the destruction of Earth.

Spanning time, planets and dimensions, Black Milk draws to a climactic point in a post-apocalyptic future, where humanity, stranded with no planet to call home, fights to survive against a post-human digital entity that pursues them through the depths of space.

Five lives separated by aeons are inextricably linked by Prometheus’s actions:

Ystil.3 is an AI unit sent back in time from the distant future to investigate Prometheus’s discovery...

The mysterious Lydia has devoted her life to finding a planet that the last remaining humans can call home…

Tom Jones (he’s a HUGE fan!) is an AI trapped inside a digital subspace, lost and desperate to find his way back to his beloved in real-time…
Dr Norma Stanwyck is a neuroscientist from 24th Century Earth whose personal choices ripple throughout time...

Prometheus must learn the necessity of death or the entire universe will be swallowed by his grief.
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GOODREADS
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IMAGE USE
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[j.j.]

I would recommend these three short stories. They focus more on the human condition rather than hard sci-fi. All three are disturbing and pack a powerful punch.
I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream - Harlan Ellison
The Jaunt - Stephen King
Spectator Sport - John D McDonald
Good luck finding this last one it's difficult to find.

[Globovoyeur]

Heinlein's juveniles would top my list -- most of all Have Space Suit, Will Travel. A couple of novels in which the SF elements are minor are:

* A Mirror for Observers, by Edgar Pangborn. Elmis is assigned to Latimer, MA in our year 1963 to Observe a young prodigy named Angelo Ponteveccio. His goal is to guide Angelo to a productive, ethical life. There are forces working against him, known as the Abdicators. The SF angle is that Elmis and his adversaries are Martians who set up hidden colonies on Earth after their planet became uninhabitable.

* The Overman Culture, by Edmund Cooper. A group of children living in London gradually come to learn that their lives are a total fiction -- that their London is not the real London, and the adults who teach them are not what they seem. Their journey of discovery is fascinating.

[Makeyourselfbig]

My first interest in sci fi was when I was a kid. I loved the Gerry Anderson shows such as Supercar, Fireball XL5, Stingray etc. The first book I read was Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. After that the big names Asimov, Van Vogt, Clarke, Heinlein and so on. If you are starting I would suggest collections of short stories rather than entire books.

[andreasxanthros]

Hey Darrel, nice video! I would suggest to someone interested in getting into SF to start reading novels that have won the Hugo award. Perhaps they could start from the 1950s and then choose another from the 60s, and so on. You've got three picked already: Leguin's Left Hand of Darkness (1970), Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game (1986), and Gibson's Neuromancer (1985). Reading some of the SF from the 1940s through to the 1960s would also introduce new readers to many classic authors and SF tropes that would familiarize them with newer or more modern SF.

[jamesrich]

Great list I have many of these on my TBR but did not have under the skin or the left hand of darkness. Going to add those.

For the others I loved ready player one so much, mainly because of all the 80s references. As an 80s child myself I appreciated that. For those looking to read Enders game I would suggest reading it first before seeing the movie. I had watched the movie so many times before reading it and the the age difference between the children in both was really off putting for me.

[annbrookens]

I started reading ST in 6th grade with Isaac Asimov's YA Lucky Starr books, then moved into Andre Norton's books, especially Cat's Paw and Beastmaster, but she is one of the Masters of the Golden Age of Science Fiction.

[brunobrauer]

Obviously 'Gateway' by Frederik Pohl. 😊

[domir]

Im a big fan of both sci-fi and video games and to be honest i wouldn't call Ready Player One good from either point of view

[rashed]

Great video, i added three books to my list.
Side note: I’m pretty sure Skyward is published as YA

[Indypackrat]

I'am Legend & The girl with all the gifts were two of my recent favorite reads. Do you have another suggestion that is similar to those.

[danmathis]

Thd E E Doc Smith Skylark or Lensman series are classics, fun, & great sci fi. Notice you haven't noted Smith as a founder of modern sci fi! Old does not equal lame!!!

[thomasciarlariello]

Portfolio books by "Paper Tiger Ltd".

[paolagudino]

I am new to wanting to read science fiction after reading the halo series I was wondering if there’s any books of hard core sci-fi concepts but easy to understand?

Great videos btw I definitely subscribed!

[culturestudios]

This is the first time I have seen someone else with the same, A Clash of Kings, edition... For the longest time I thought mine was pirate or something.