Hugonauts: The Best Sci Fi Books of All Time

That said, there are some problems with this book too, which made this a fun one to talk about - Brent liked it a lot more than Cody did. Plus, love em or hate em, Asimov thought up some very alien aliens.As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. NEW THRU 2025-05-15: Fill out our listener survey to tell us your favorite fantasy novels and series, and see them covered in an episode soon!Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: The Foundation trilogy by Isaac AsimovThe Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry PournelleThe Expanse by James S.A. Corey

If you like gritty cyberpunk settings, a page-turning, action-driven plot, and a lot of visceral explorations of violence and sexuality, this one's for you. If you're looking for deep characters, a carefully crafted plot, or philosophical ideas, this might not be your next read.As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Neuromancer by William GibsonTitanium Noir by Nick HarkawayPermutation City by Greg Egan

Solid characters, amazing worldbuilding, and an epic plot that will keep you interested all the way through (and that's no mean feat in such a long book). If you've been thinking about trying out Peter F. Hamilton this is the right place to start.As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: The Salvation Series, Void Trilogy, and Pandora's Star by Peter F. HamiltonThe Culture Series by Iain M. BanksHouse of Suns by Alastair Reynolds

Ann is also the author of Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy, Translation State, Provenance (all set in her Imperial Radch universe), and the excellent stand-alone fantasy novel The Raven Tower.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoWe talked with Ann about: 1:12 Becoming a writer later in life5:06 The inspiration for the Radch and Ancillary Justice7:48 Creating a gender-less empire12:43 Writing from the POV of an AI16:56 Invisible exposition20:26 Space opera inspired by the real world26:16 Audiobooks and pronunciation34:14 Will we get to see inside the Radch Dyson sphere?35:49 Recent books Ann likes and her influences42:22 Blurbing Murderbot44:16 Ann's next book is set on a rogue planet!

We also each rank our top three first contact books at the end of the episode.This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoAll the books in the episode (with YT links to those we've got full episodes on, or search for them in your podcast app): Contact by Carl SaganEnder's Game by Orson Scott CardThe Sparrow by Mary Doria RussellThe Forever War by Joe HaldemanEmbassytown by China MiévilleRoadside Picnic by the Strugatsky BrothersThe War of the Worlds by H.G. WellsBlindsight by Peter WattsThe Expanse by James S.A. CoreyThe Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuinRendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. ClarkeThe Mote in God's Eye by Jerry Pournelle and Larry NivenSolaris by Stanislaw LemThe Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The book somehow manages to be optimistic at the same time that it realistically portrays horrific climate catastrophes - the opening chapter will stick with you forever. That said, it also suffers from some of KSR's usual writing quirks: weak characters and a pretty loosely defined plot. We talk about it all, the good, the bad, and the terrifyingly hot!As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: The Value of Everything by Mariana MazzucatoRed Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson The Great Transition by Nick Fuller Googins

The book is shocking, disturbing, entertaining, and unbelievably thought provoking all at once - no wonder Stanley Kubrick decided to turn the book into a movie (which is a must-watch classic in its own right). It's also an unforgettable masterwork of language, as the narrator, Alex, and his droogs speak in slang that is somehow entirely novel and comprehensible at the same time.As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by I Am Machine by Lex Van Der Ploeg, which is available in print or kindle edition here.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Lord of the Flies by William GoldingThe Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde1984 by George Orwell

Neuromancer is an incredible science fiction classic, a page turner full of gripping action sequences, wild futuristic ideas, and a unique, techno-criminal world populated by wildly imaginative characters. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by Mythos: The Origin of Gods by A.A., which is available on print, audiobook, or kindle hereJoin the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Altered Carbon by Richard MorganSnow Crash by Neal StephensonThe sequels to Neuromancer: Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive

 As always, no spoilers until the end when we clearly call it out before getting into the full plot explanation and discussion.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoThis episode is sponsored by The Song of Immaru: Earth's Door by PJ Dudek, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindle here.Similar media we recommend:Fallout: New Vegas (game)Horizon Zero Dawn (game)The Thirteenth Floor (movie)Severance (TV show)

This episode is sponsored by The Dawn series by Ray N. Kuili, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindle here.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoAll the books in the episode (with YT links to those we've got full episodes on, or search for them in your podcast app): The Hunger GamesRed RisingReady Player OneThe GiverNever Let Me GoThe Children of MenThe Machine StopsClockwork OrangeA Scanner DarklyKallocainFahrenheit 451The Handmaid's TaleBrave New World1984We

The Mercy of Gods follows a team of research scientists trying to survive an alien invasion. The Carryx are ruthless - killing 1/8 of the population immediately as they arrive to encourage the survivors to cooperate. Our team, along with many others, are then abducted and brought to a Carryx planet, where they are set loose in an open-air prison populated by hundreds of other alien races. They're told that if they want to survive they must be useful to the Carryx. Will they resist, or decide to serve the alien overlords? And what does service even mean to aliens who think totally differently?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend:Shards of Earth - Adrian TchaikovskyStartide Rising - David BrinA Fire Upon the Deep - Vernor Vinge

A radio astronomer discovers a signal coming from Alpha Centauri - strange, beautiful alien voices, singing. While the rest of the world is transfixed by the broadcast, a catholic order, the Jesuits, take action and launch a mission to the planet of Rakhat. But from the outset we know the mission is doomed to tragedy, because a second storyline follows Emilio Sandoz after his return to Earth. The only survivor of the mission, he struggles to heal his wounds and to reconcile his faith with the deaths of his friends, and prepare to tell the world the truth of what happened on Rakhat.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend:Children of God - Maria Doria Russel (Sequel)Chronicle of a Death Foretold - Gabriel García MárquezAnathem - Neal StephensonContact - Carl SaganA Canticle for Liebowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.

In the 23rd century Johnny Rico enlists in the Mobile Infantry, the heart of the human military. As he nears completion of an intensely rigorous training program to learn how to fight and use his power armor, war breaks out between humanity and the bugs. The bugs are aliens with a hive mind, who attack and destroy Buenos Aires, and Johnny and his friends must strive to survive and defend humanity through the brutal war. It's also full of deeply interesting (and controversial) ideas about duty, service, crime and punishment, and so much more. If you like military sci-fi this is a must-read, and if you are into philosophical SF you are going to be pleasantly surprised how much it will stick with you and make you think.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend:The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (listen to our interview with Joe)Columbus Day by Craig AlansonThe Parafaith War by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

We rank the nominees for the 2024 Hugo award, plus 6 more from last year!Join the book club on discord and read The Sparrow! https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2Video version of the show on YouTube https://youtube.com/@hugonautspodThe books:The Witch King - Martha WellsThe Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi - Shannon ChakrabortySome Desperate Glory - Emily TeshThe Saint of Bright Doors - Vajra ChandrasekeraStarter Villain - John ScalziTranslation State - Ann LeckieChain Gang All Stars - Nana Kwame Adjei-BrenyahThe Great Transition - Nick Fuller GooginsTitanium Noir - Nick HarkawayThe Marriage Act - John MarrsRed Team Blues - Cory DoctorowThe Ferryman - Justin Cronin 

Over the years we've built up a pretty big backlog of short novels that we really liked but hadn't had a chance to cover on the show - so today we're bursting that dam.Join the book club on discord (and vote for our next book club book!): https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2Video version of the show on YouTube https://youtube.com/@hugonautspod The seven books we recommend in this ep:This is how you Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max GladstoneThe Day of the Triffids by John WyndhamCat's Cradle by Kurt VonnegutBabel-17 by Samuel DelanyAll Systems Red by Martha WellsTusks of Extinction by Ray NaylerThe Way Station by Clifford D. Simak

There is only one human settlement on the planet of Arieka. There, in Embassytown, a young woman named Avice grows up in a strange world between worlds, where all that is human and all that is alien collide without ever really coming together. That's not much of a summary, but this is a book that really benefits from going in mostly blind, so we made sure to keep things really clean in the pre-spoilers section too.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend:Babel-17 by Samuel DelanyCity and the City or anything else by China Miéville A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

If you want to see the complete survey results, including all the top books, favorite authors, and short stories come find them on the discord.Video version of this episode available on YouTube.

The 2024 Nebula awards are coming up, so we read  and ranked all the books for ya. And we've got good news, this was a great year for fantasy and sci-fi!Join the book club on discord: https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2Video version of the show on YouTube https://youtube.com/@hugonautspod The short listed books:Translation State by Ann LeckieShigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon by Wole TalabiThe Water Outlaws by S.L. HuangThe Terraformers by Annalee NewitzThe Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra ChandrasekeraThe Witch King by Martha Wells

The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The survivors live in the Moscow Metro - the biggest air-raid shelter ever built. It is humanity's last refuge. Stations have become mini-statelets, their people uniting around ideas, religions, water-filters - or the simple need to repulse an enemy incursion. VDNKh is the northernmost inhabited station on its line. It was one of the Metro's best stations and still remains secure. But now a new and terrible threat has appeared. Artyom, a young man living in VDNKh, is given the task of penetrating to the heart of the Metro, to the legendary Polis, to alert everyone to the awful danger and to get help. He holds the future of his native station in his hands, the whole Metro - and maybe the whole of humanity. Vote for your top 10 favorite SF novels by April 26! Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoThis is a unique book! So instead of our normal book recs, we recommend some similar video games:The Last of UsBioshockThe Witcher 3 (harhar)

Six days ago astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Project Hail Mary by Andy WeirWe Are Legion (We Are Bob) by Dennis E. TaylorReady Player One by Ernest Cline

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of the young rebels who venture illegally into the Zone, one of six areas on Earth that have been profoundly changed by the visitation of aliens to Earth. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And despite the danger, the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he'll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answers he's been looking for. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/rendezvous-with-rama)No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthyAnxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom by Ted Chiang (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/ted-chiang)

Space ships whip across the solar system, ice haulers burn in from the gas giants, stolen Martian corvettes sneak behind enemy lines, and very human characters tie it all together and make the incredible journey worth the ride. Miraculously all 9 books (plus a collection of short stories) are fun, well-done adventures that will keep you turning the pages and racing to find out what happens next. Seriously, if you haven't read the Expanse yet, it's time for a treat that goes down easy.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: House of Suns – Alastair Reynolds (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/house-of-suns)Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/children-of-time)Memories Legion – James S.A. Corey

In the One State of the great Benefactor, there are no individuals, only numbers. Life is an ongoing process of mathematical precision, a perfectly balanced equation. Primitive passions and instincts have been subdued. Even nature has been defeated, banished behind the Green Wall. But one frontier remains: outer space. Now, with the creation of the spaceship Integral, that frontier -- and whatever alien species are to be found there -- will be subjugated to the beneficent yoke of reason. Unless D-503 can find a space within himself - that disease the ancients called a soul.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: 1984 by George Orwell (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/1984)Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/brave-new-world)One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

A starship is taking off from Mars, and just before it does one of the crewman arrives with a strange new creature. What will the Wub bring to those on board, and the headstrong captain who can't stop thinking with his stomach?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!PS We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is still coming soon, but Brent had a family emergency, so Cody stepped up to bring y'all this gem in the meantime.

Rumors are swirling about a species of super-intelligent octopus living off the coast of Vietnam. As corporations and other non-state actors begin to investigate, it becomes clear that we are not alone in the universe - alien life has evolved right here on earth. DIANIMA, a giant tech company known for its machine learning prowess, buys the islands to study the octopuses and try to monopolize their unique brains for profit. They send Evrim, the world's first true android / AI, and Dr. Ha Nguyen, a brilliant marine biologist, to study the octopuses, and Altantsetseg, a battle-hardened drone operator, to defend the islands from rapacious automated fishing vessels. Can they learn to communicate with the octopuses? Or will this new intelligent life be destroyed by global corporations run amok?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoCheck out Ray Nayler's answers to your questions about the book!Similar books we recommend: Children of Ruin - Adrian TchaikovskyStory of Your Life - Ted Chiang (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/ted-chiang)The Windup Girl - Paolo Bacigalupi (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/the-windup-girl)

Ranking our top 15 sci fi books of all time:15 - Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu 14 - The Road by Cormac McCarthy13 - Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold12 - Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie11 - Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein10 - The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood9 - The Forever War by Joe Haldeman8 - Hyperion by Dan Simmons7 - A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick 6 - Exhalation by Ted Chiang5 - Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro4 - Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin3 - Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson2 - Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card1 - Contact by Carl SaganIf you think something deserves to be on the list, drop us a line on Discord!Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

Paul Durham has begun experimenting on his own mind. He uploaded a copy of his neural patterns - everything that makes him who he is - into a computer simulation. The more he experiments, the more the lines between the real person and the virtual person begin to blur. What he discovers there, out at the edge of consciousness and the pattern that defines him, give him an impossible idea. A permutation city, where immortality might be possible.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: The Hidden Girl and other Stories - Ken Liu (our interview with Ken Liu: https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/ken-liu)The Last Question - short story by Asimov (available free here: https://users.ece.cmu.edu/~gamvrosi/thelastq.html)Diaspora - Greg Egan

We talked with Peter about:Why he quit science to write fictionThe real-world science that inspired BlindsightWhy vampires?!Blindsight movie(s) in the worksWhat's coming next (the sequel to Echopraxia!)Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video, or join the Hugonauts book club on discord!And if you haven't listened to our episode about Blindsight, check it out here.

Tyler, Jason, and Diane are growing up together in the suburbs of Washington, DC. One night, as they are outside looking up at the sky, something shocking happens - all the stars go out at once. The 'Hypotheticals' have wrapped the earth in a spin membrane that isolates the Earth, making time move millions of times slower inside the barrier than outside. In Tyler, Diane, and Jason's lifetime the sun will turn into a red giant and consume the earth - unless they can figure out how to escape the Spin!Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoThis week we were joined by Jonathan from Words in Time - check out his channel on YouTube!Similar books we recommend: Contact - Carl Sagan (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/contact)Childhood's End - Arthur C. ClarkeThree Body Problem - Cixin Liu (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/the-three-body-problem)

Winston Smith is a Party member living in London. He, like every other member of the Party, is under constant surveillance. Despite the risk, he dares to buy a blank book and begin to write down his thoughts. From the first moment he writes “down with Big Brother” he believes he is doomed to die in the torture chambers below the Ministry of Love. Will his deviance be caught, or will Winston succeed in finding a way to resist the totalitarian control of the Party?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Animal Farm - George OrwellCat's Cradle - Kurt VonnegutBrave New World - Aldous Huxley (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/brave-new-world)

Ranking the 2023 Hugo nominees: N/A: Nona the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir #5: Spare Man - Mary Robinette Kowal #4: Daughter of Doctor Moreau - Silvia Moreno-Garcia #3: Nettle and Bone - T Kingfisher #2: Kaiju Preservation Society - John Scalzi #1: Legends and Lattes - Travis Baldry And three amazing sci-fi books that should have made the list: The Mountain and the Sea - Ray Nayler Sea of Tranquility - Emily St. John Mandel Eyes of the Void - Adrian Tchaikovsky Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

Shevek is a brilliant physicist, working on a new theory that may be as transformative and foundational as the work of Einstein. In pursuing his theory, he discovers that his dry homeworld of Anarres is not as free as he believed it to be. His society of anarchists has grown rigid, bureaucratic, and resistant to change in the years since the revolution. In order to pursue his work, he must leave Anarres and be the first to travel back to the deeply unequal, capitalist planet of Urras. Will Shevek succeed at completing his theory and igniting the fires of change? Or will he be consumed in the struggle for freedom?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/the-left-hand-of-darkness)The City and the City - China Miéville (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/the-city-and-the-city)Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/the-mars-trilogy-colonizing-and-terraforming-mars)

The bombs fell, and the world ended. A man and his pregnant wife survived the blasts. Their son would be born into a world changed entire. It grew darker, and colder, and more violent. The new world was grim and grey and relentless, and the wife could not bear to live in it. The man and his young son had to set out on the road, alone, heading south. The road, though, is dangerous. Cannibals and slavers and men driven mad with hunger roam the hills. Even if the man can avoid marauders, will he be clever and lucky enough to find food and supplies in the picked-over remains of civilization to feed his son? And every day that they survive, they have to ask themselves if it is worth surviving. What awaits them in the south, on the coast?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Anything by Cormac McCarthy - Blood Meridian, All the Pretty Horses, No Country for Old Men, etc.Parable of the Sower - Octavia Butler (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/parable-of-the-sower)A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr. (https://hugonauts.simplecast.com/episodes/a-canticle-for-leibowitz-who-knew-the-nuclear-apocalypse-could-be-so-funny)

Kris Kelvin is traveling to the ocean world of Solaris. For more than 100 years, scientists have been trying to understand and communicate with alien life. But Solaris is truly alien - the entire planet-wide ocean is a single living organism. As Kelvin arrives, he finds that things are going wrong. The science station is disturbing and nearly abandoned. Will he be able to unravel the mystery of Solaris? Or will he lose his mind in the attempt? Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer videoSimilar books we recommend: Blindsight - Peter Watts (https://youtu.be/7GSLFAU_CFk)Ubik - Philip K DickAnnihilation - Jeff VanderMeer

Jim Holden is XO of an ice hauler making runs from the rings of Saturn to the asteroid cities of the Belt. Out in the darkness, they detect a distress signal, and move to investigate. Holden leads the away team to check on the signal, and they find a dead ship called the Scopuli that seems to have been boarded with military precision. Moments later, a stealth ship fires nuclear torpedoes at the ice hauler, killing the entire crew, leaving Holden and his away team as the only survivors. All the evidence points to the Martian military, and system-wide war threatens to break out unless Holden can find out who set the trap, and why. Miller is a detective on Ceres, and he is looking for a girl. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and Holden, they realize that this girl may be the key to everything. Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week)Similar books we recommend: House of Suns - Alastair Reynolds - https://youtu.be/qTKm46YrIiQ The Mars Trilogy - Kim Stanley Robinson - https://youtu.be/D7OrjGfKUj4 Murderbot Series - Martha Wells

Guy Montag is a fireman - one whose job is to burn books, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag and his wife, Mildred (who spends all day with her television ‘family') had never questioned his life as a fireman, until he meets his eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse. Clarisse introduces him to a bigger world and new ideas, and Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week)Similar books we recommend:Brave New World - Aldous HuxleyCanticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller Jr.The Giver - Lois Lowry

Substance D is a new drug sweeping the nation and slowly destroying the minds of its users. As the connection between the two halves of their brains degrades, they grow increasingly disoriented and confused before suffering irreversible brain damage. Fred is an undercover narcotics agent working to uncover where the new drug is coming from. But to find the source he has to pose as Bob Arctor, a user, and soon Arctor is as addicted as the junkies around him. Can he see through his psychosis long enough to tell which leads are real and which imagined? Or will he be consumed, like his friends, by substance D?Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video

For all six of the nominated books we'll give you a quick summary (with no spoilers), a review, and a rundown of what kind of reader is likely to love (and who might hate) each book.Featuring: The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler Babel by R.F. Kuang Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree Spear by Nicola Griffith Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher Nona the Ninth by Tamsyn MuirAnd join us for our next episode on A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick!Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week)

Set in a futuristic, unified World State, Brave New World tells the story of a very different kind of dystopia. The population is not tightly controlled in the traditional sense - instead they are free to do what they choose, and live phenomenally happy lives. However, people are born in test tubes and modified in-vitro to fulfill their role in the caste system, to love their work, and to love the hedonistic lifestyle that the World State provides. Bernard Marx is not perfectly happy though. He arranges a trip to a reservation to see a different way of living, and there meets someone born outside the system - The Savage - who begins to question the social order and chafe against the World Controllers who mastermind the system.Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week)

Four soldiers are serving a four year tour of duty as the only crew members on a super-advanced AI battleship, dispatched to fight the alien Salamanders who have been spewing black holes everywhere and killing humans in space. The ship is fully controlled by AI, and as the mission goes on our heroes feel more and more like window dressing - they sure are killing a lot of aliens, but are they anything more than passengers on this ship? Or are they just window-dressing for the military industrial complex?Thanks to Lori from the Hugo, Girl podcast for joining us for this episode! Hugo, Girl is a monthly show featuring three very funny space feminists reading and discuss Hugo Award-winning fiction. Cody joined them on their most recent episode, talking about the hugely underrated book Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang. Join the Hugonauts book club on discord!Related books we recommend:The Forever War by Joe HaldemanBlindsight by Peter WattsLexicon by Max BarryOr you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week)

All of Becky's writing is excellent, but if you haven't read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet  it's a great place to start. It's a wonderful, warm, and character-driven space opera that follows the tight-knit crew of a wormhole-drilling starship working their way across the galaxy. We talked with Becky about:Growing up in a 'space' familyGoing from self-publishing to winning a Hugo Her process for creating her wonderful characters Using the search for identity as central conflict Becky's biggest influencesOr you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week), or join the Hugonauts book club on discord!

Ellie is a brilliant radio astronomer who has often felt alone in the world. When she detects an indisputably intelligent signal emanating from the Vega system, that all changes - for her and for the entire human race. The nations and people of the world begin to come together in the face of the alien intelligence, and humanity faces a simultaneous revival and crisis of faith. Ellie works with an international team of scientists to decode the layers of the Message, and eventually, they realize the Message contains plans for some kind of Machine. Should humanity invest the resources to build the Machine? And if they do, what will happen when they turn it on?Join the book club on discord!Related books we recommend:Cosmos by Carl SaganSolaris by Stanislaw LemThe Three Body Problem by Cixin LiuOr you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week).Hope you love it, keep reading y'all!

Hiro Protagonist is a self-described hacker working as a pizza-delivery driver and living in a storage unit at LAX. He lives in a US that has been fully corporatized - from Judge Bob's Judicial System to Pastor Wayne's Pearly Gates. To get away, Hiro spends much of his free-time in the Metaverse, where he wrote many of the subroutines that underpin the virtual world. One of his hacker friends, Da5id, is given a new virtual drug called Snow Crash that not only crashes his computer, but also destroys his brain in the real world. Hiro (and a hilarious cadre of friends) are drawn ever deeper into the worldwide conspiracy that is spilling out of the virtual world to threaten the real world.Link to buy the book (and help support the show!)Join the book club on discord!Written (and more shareable) reviewRelated books we recommend:Neuromancer by William GibsonBabel-17 by Samuel DelanyGood Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil GaimanOr you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video.Keep reading y'all!

Michael Crichton was fresh out of Harvard Medical School when he wrote the Andromeda Strain - and we're so glad he did! The book that launched his literary career and all that followed, from Jurassic Park to Sphere.Here's the setup:A US government program is sending satellites with scoops into orbit, looking for alien organisms that can survive the void of space. When one of the scoops comes down in the Arizona desert two soldiers are sent out to pick it up. But as they get closer, they realize the signal has moved - someone has already picked up the object and moved it into the tiny town of Piedmont. As the two men pull into town, bodies line the streets. In less than five minutes they are dead too. The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of the nation's most elite biophysicists are summoned to a clandestine underground laboratory where they must race to understand and contain the crisis. But the Andromeda Strain proves different from anything they've ever seen - and what they don't know could not only hurt them, but lead to unprecedented worldwide catastrophe.Link to buy the book (and help support the show!)Join the book club on discord!Related books we recommend:The Hot ZoneJurassic ParkChildren of RuinRendezvous with RamaRed MarsOr you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video.Keep reading y'all!

The story is told via the diary of a Handmaid - a young woman living in Gilead, an extremely repressive, patriarchal society that has taken over the United States. We explore the dark world through her eyes, and follow her struggle to express herself, escape, or just take control back over any part of her life. What are the rules of this brutal society? And will the Handmaid ever see the people she loves again?Link to buy the book (and help support the show!): https://amzn.to/3DqPTxPJoin the book club on discord! https://discord.gg/fHejh3PpR2Related books we recommend:1984 - https://amzn.to/3Y71TMOThe Testaments - https://amzn.to/3XTM1OaBrave New World - https://amzn.to/3kW4CKMNever Let Me Go - https://amzn.to/3DsPFWPOr you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video.Keep reading y'all!

Jason Dessen is walking home one night when he realizes he is being followed. A strange man in a geisha mask abducts him at gunpoint, drives him to an abandoned building, takes his phone and clothes, and injects him with a strange drug. When Jason wakes up, he's surrounded by strangers congratulating him for something he's supposed to have achieved. In this world he's not a college professor - they say he's created something that seems impossible. He looks for his wife - but in this world she says she's not his wife. His son was never born.Is this world real, or a dream? And no matter what this place is, how can he get back to the people he loves?Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video.We also launched three new things this week!A website - hugonauts.org - where you can read written reviews & see related books!A Hugonauts book club discord to talk about books together (and everything else)! We're giving away 8 great sci-fi books to kick off the channel, enter to win on the discord channel.Providing links to buy the books we recommend. It doesn't cost you any extra, but a percentage of anything you buy after clicking these links goes to the show, and the support really means a lot!Keep reading y'all!

The story is told from the first person perspective of Laurence Smith—the self-styled “The Great Lorenzo”—a down-and-out actor who spends most of his time in bars. He's approached by a space-pilot who offers him a drink and, despite some trepidation about Lorenzo's high opinion of himself, offers him a dangerous job at a very high pay rate. One of the solar system's most important politicians has been kidnapped, and they need someone to impersonate him until he's rescued. Lorenzo is quickly pulled deeper and deeper into the conspiracy, and has to keep up the act to avoid his own death and an all-out planetary war.Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video.Drop us a line:https://twitter.com/hugonautspodhttps://www.instagram.com/hugonautspodcast/https://www.tiktok.com/@hugonautspodcast hugonautspodcast@gmail.com

It's the year 2025, and society is descending into anarchy in the face of climate change and other disasters. We see the world through the diary entries of Lauren Olamina, a teenager living in a walled-in neighborhood in the exurbs of Los Angeles. Jobs are scarce, food and water are increasingly expensive, and armed gangs and drug addicts control the streets outside. Lauren's father, a pastor and professor at a local college, tries to keep their little community safe, but Lauren feels things going to pieces and is always preparing for things to get worse. When it all comes crashing down, will she be ready?Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video.Drop us a line: https://twitter.com/hugonautspod https://www.instagram.com/hugonautspodcast/ https://www.tiktok.com/@hugonautspodcast hugonautspodcast@gmail.com

Seth Fishman is one of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of sci-fi publishing, representing Cixin Liu, Anne Leckie, Mary Robinette Kowal, Becky Chambers, Mur Lafferty, River Solomon, P Djeli Clark, and many others (plus huge names in lots of other genres too, like Randall Monroe, the creator of XKCD). We had a great time talking with him about what's happening behind-the-scenes in the world of sci-fi publishing, as well as getting some great tips on how to get published. We also wanted to let everyone know we're taking a short break for the holidays this year (and so Cody can take his honeymoon!) - we'll be back on December 6th to talk about Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, and then returning to our regular schedule every two weeks starting January 3rd. We'll be missing y'all till then!

Aliens have taken a snapshot of the entire earth, down to 1 meter of resolution - we know because they lit the entire sky on fire to do it. Then, humanity detected something out at the very edge of the solar system sending a signal - but not to us. The signal is being sent out, into deep space, to another planet, or to something already on the way to Earth. A ship is dispatched with a crew of five - including two technical specialists who have been deeply biologically and technologically enhanced, a soldier, a resurrected Vampire who interfaces with the ship AI to lead the crew, and our protagonist, Siri, whose job is to understand those specialists and translate their insights for the people back home. What will they find, out in the darkness? As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend: The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry PournelleChildren of Ruin by Adrian TchaikovskyThe Dark Forest by Cixin LiuOr you can watch the episode on YouTube here.

This week we are so excited to interview Ken Liu! All of his writing and translation work is excellent, but if you haven't read his short story collection The Paper Menagerie  we recommend you start there, it's full of incredibly memorable stories.We talked with Ken about:Growing up in both China and AmericaRobo-Ken - the neural network he built to help write a storyThe singularity and uploading your consciousnessHis background as a programmer and lawyerThe importance of family in his storiesThe meaning of silkpunk and his series The Dandelion DynastyWe'll be releasing more bonus content from the Hugo Awards on YouTube over the next week - check those out on our YouTube channel if you haven't already subscribed!Next episode we'll be discussing Peter Watt's Blindsight - look forward to talking with y'all then. Happy reading everybody!