SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

Say you have an alien or Rip Van Winkle has just woken up and they're very curious about genre fiction. What SF book and Fantasy book would you recommend to them with no other knowledge of their tastes?

Lord of the Rings defined many tropes.

Lord of Light is good for both. It's definitely SF, but written like a fantasy & ends much like a myth.

Classics, both!

I love Lord of Light and gave it 5 stars, but I wouldn't start there -- it feels like one for someone more experienced within the genre and its a bit older so the writing might feel less modern/easy for a newer reader.

I think it really depends on what flavor of book the reader is curious about as there's such a broad range within either of the two categories. But since we can't ask them their favorite books to get a sense of their taste, I'd probably go with the following, trying for surefire hits as one bad first example could sour them on the genre in general:

SF: The Martian
Fantasy: The Name of the Wind

Both are very approachable, written recently enough that the style is very modern and have high Goodreads ratings (basically both around 4.5 with 750K+ ratings).

Early Heinlein Juvenile book for Sci Fi
The Hobbit for fantasy

you would want a fairly simple book without an extended number of characters and branching plots, especially if they're an alien

CBRetriever wrote: "Early Heinlein Juvenile book for Sci Fi
The Hobbit for fantasy"

That's pretty much where I started over 50 years ago.

Christopher, good point with LoL, although I think the format is more of an issue than the story. Your picks are excellent, though.

I think I started with The Sword of Shannara

For SciFi that is tough, maybe The Andromeda Strain - another early one for me.

Alien: Show it an old SF cover and say, "No! Bad! Keep your tentacles off our big-boobed women!"



Rip Van Winkle: Rip Van Winkle. Sit back and watch his head explode.

I'd have to go for something from Arthur C. Clarke for SF. That great sense of wonder and hope that appears in a lot of his books. Maybe The Fountains of Paradise or The City and the Stars for starters.

For Fantasy I have to agree that The Lord of the Rings has got to be the logical place to start.

hahaha

(sorry, laughing at Chris. Good selections Richard!)

I'mma be a bore? *ha*

Thinking of a first contact scenario: def nothing with (main focus on) war or conflict between two separate factions to give new ideas or fester preconceived notions in our alien friend's head.

My first thought is to introduce them to something dealing with human* inner conflicts, to show our cerebral capability and methods of reasoning.

*(Or, most likely in AI inner conflicts, since that's often the way of SF - such ruminations usually do involve some element of 'lording over ones creator' as well, but with proper rational context it could be a beneficial caveat: "this is how we can think, too, but are capable of not acting on such thoughts"). It has it's complications, too, but: When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One: Release 2.0?

Something dealing with taking care of our offspring / each other; The Human Son?

And definitely introduce them to books in several languages, to reach beyond inherent thought pattern limitations of one language alone.

Eventually, Le Guin The Dispossessed?

I agree with Christopher and would personally disagree with recommending classics: many younger or female readers are put off by them immediately, and many haven't aged well. I have SO many female acquaintances who tried one SF classic in their youth and forever swore never to read SF again. 😢 And many modern readers will see them as racist or sexist (or both), so they can be tricky to recommend universally.

In addition to The Martian and Name of the Wind, I'd recommend:

- Skyward (universal appeal, family-friendly, lovable characters and fast pace)
- All Systems Red
- The Ocean at the End of the Lane
- Momo
- Kindred

I think Lord of the Rings with all the characters and the split story lines would be a bit much for an alien and for someone who'd been asleep for decades.

and it needs to be something that would immediately grab their interest. As much as I love LotR, it takes quite a while to get going. Harry Potter might be simple enough - I'm not a big fan of the book, but it did get a lot of kids into reading who normally wouldn't read books

I agree with Eva about the classics. I haven't read LOTR and have absolutely no desire to for those reasons.

Playing it safe I'd recommend basically anything by Brandon Sanderson or Martha Wells. A treasure trove of inoffensive, enjoyable, and not overly challenging stories.

The farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. Thats what got me into fantasy, I did tryThe Final Empire (which was my fist in the genre and highly recommended by other people) but it didn't pull me in as much as Assassin's Apprentice did , So I totally recommend it with Kings of the Wyld

Even though Robin Hobb's writing tends to be difficult for me to digest (English isn't my first language). I got more used to it as I went on reading.

I would not start them with anything big heavy like LotR or Name of the Wind. The Martian would be fine for SF, but how about The Hobbit for fantasy?

Cheryl wrote: "I would not start them with anything big heavy like LotR or Name of the Wind. The Martian would be fine for SF, but how about The Hobbit for fantasy?"

that was my suggestion too

I'd third The Hobbit, or There and Back Again as an intro too.

For SF? I think I'd recommend Wool Omnibus and Ancillary Justice as great modern SF and second the Dispossessed and Way Station for classics.

I think that a safe bet would be Andre Norton, although picking a short list of titles would be difficult. See Wikipedia for the vast bibliography, and breakdowns into series and sub-series.

From relatively early in her long career, I would suggest the Time Agents stories, beginning with "Time Traders," although its Cold War opening is dated. (But less so than a few years ago, given Putin's Russia.)

A lot of them are YA/Adult, depending on the level on which you want to read them. The hardcover editions usually went into the juvenile sections of libraries, based on how the publishers marketed them, but in most cases the paperback reprints and originals were aimed a science fiction (and later fantasy) readership that very much included adults.

The early Witch World (alternate world / fantasy) stories definitely aren't for younger children, with the threat of rape as a theme in a couple of them: they were originally paperback only. The later "The Jargoon Pard," one of her many stories about growing up "different" might be a good choice, although it interlocks with other books which provide considerable background, which makes it easier to follow. (On the other hand, they can be considered spoilers for it.)

Not to dunk on anybody's else's experience: mine was attempting to read ER Eddison, Tolkien, Heinlein, Asimov as a teen and being either completely alienated or bored out of my mind. If I didn't enjoy them myself, I wouldn't recommend them to either an alien or Rip.

That aside, let's see. Tolkien may not be my thing, but he might be Rip's because of the writing style. Or any fantasy author who is more elaborate on the prose side. On the other hand, since he's a salt of the earth type, maybe he'd like something that's more grounded like an urban fantasy. Ilona Andrews?

As for the alien, what might their culture be like? Maybe they'd go for something inclusive like The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. Something with lots of other aliens in it. Maybe the alien came from thousands of light years away and has just awakened from a very long cold sleep. Children of Time, that has aliens and evokes a large scale of time, might be a good choice to show that we understand them.

For fantasy my introduction was The Final Empire. For sci-fi, I started with either The Martian or The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I can’t remember which one.

I think Mistborn and The Martian were good starting points, but I wouldn’t start with Hitchhiker’s Guide if I were to go at it again.

I like this question, it’s really making me think. So I typically would recommend either Old Man’s War or The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi cuz I’m a bit of a fan boy but I’m gunna try and recommend stuff outside of my typical realm. Would not recommend LOTR since I can’t even get through it and have attempted 2-3 times. Would recommend Ender’s Game but I’d fear it wouldn’t send a good message to aliens.

For Sci-fi:
All System Red (Murderbot Diaries) - Great main character with some soft Sci-fi. Recently got my fiancé reading with this one (well listening to it on audible).
Or
Jurassic Park - loved this book and it made so much more sense than the movie!

For Fantasy:
Name of the wind - I think it has a very grounded sense of magic and everything is well explained. I also think the concept of the main character narrating there own mythical tale to be really well executed.

For Both (kinda)
Off to be the wizard - Time Traveling Wizards that reads like a DND game where a Pro is teaching a New player. I’m not doing it justice here but I recommend as a light hearted sci-fi-fantasy story.