Books like Big Planet
29 science fiction books to read after Big Planet, by Vance, Jack, the closest match first.
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Big Planet book 2
1. Showboat World
by Vance, Jack
- Same series
- Same author
Showboat World is Jack Vance's second Big Planet novel, in which a showboat travels the rivers of a strange world full of dangers.
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2. The Dragon Masters
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
- On the same lists
On the rocky planet Aerlith, humans have managed to gain a spotty foothold. They live in the valleys with fertile soil and fight occasional battles for territory and general dominance....
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Null-a book 1 Start here
3. World Of Null-a
by A. E. Van Vogt
- On the same lists
Protagonist lives in one body and then dies, and awakens in another.
Aristotelian logic for dummies 101: "X results of necessity from Y and Z if it would be impossible for X to be false when Y and Z are true." Clear...
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4. The Deep Range
by Clarke, Arthur C.
- On the same lists
Most of the population is now fed from the sea--whale and plankton farms. Plausible adventures about the mysteries of the sea.
While we associate Clarke with stories about, or set in, space, this one's set underwater in the 21st century. Oceans are fenced off like fields and whales are cattle. Wardens...
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5. The Jupiter Legacy
by Harry Harrison
- On the same lists
A.K.A. The Plague From Space or The Jupiter Plague. The explorer ship Pericles returns from Jupiter. The single surviving crewman is infected with a deadly plague that has the potential...
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6. Seahorse In The Sky
by Edmund Cooper
- On the same lists
Like his later novel, Transit, this here is a story of—what looks like—an abduction of a bunch of humans by aliens (in this instance from the interior of a transatlantic...
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7. Macroscope
by Anthony, Piers
- On the same lists
Probably the most significant of Piers Anthony's SF (he did mostly fantasy). The Macroscope floats in orbit; it's like a super Hubble Space Telescope, only that it doesn't use light,...
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Lord Valentine book 1 Start here
8. Lord Valentine's Castle
by Silverberg, Robert
- On the same lists
First novel in the 'Majipoor' series, comprising a total of 11 novels and novellas. Majipoor is, one might argue, direct offspring of Vance's Big Planet (#3 in this list); a...
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9. Babel-17 (1967)
by Delany, Samuel R.
- On the same lists
The literary side of this Sci Fi book is high in its experimentation with language and its exploration of language's role in meaning, action, identity, politics, and culture.
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes won the 1967 Nebula Award for Best Novel along with Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. This is the only time since the start of...
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10. Lucifer's Hammer
by Larry Niven And Jerry Pournelle
- On the same lists
and Jerry Pournelle. Jerry Pournelle. The villainous asteroid has become a common trope of this sub-genre.
Its anticipated to zip close past Earth, so they send to a space-mission to visit it, and then end up realizing that the damn thing is going to hit us...
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11. Tales Of The Dying Earth
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
A series, and the reason there is a Dying Earth sub-genre.
Tale of the Dying Earth truly stands as one of the greatest works ever penned. Everything that's good and bad about the human condition is eloquently expressed within this tale....
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The Dying Earth book 2
12. The Eyes Of The Overworld
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
In the dim far future of Earth, when the sun had shrunk to a small red disk in the dark sky and the race of man lived in isolated cities...
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The Dying Earth book 3
13. Cugel's Saga
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
The roguish Cugel the Clever is stranded on a shore on the other side of the world by the Laughing Magic and must fight, bluff, and connive his way back...
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The Dying Earth book 4
14. Rhialto The Marvellous
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
Rhialto the Marvellous takes up the personal and political conflicts among a conclave of two dozen magicians of Ascolais and Almery in the 21st Aeon. The shocking appearance of the...
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15. The Blue World
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
A spaceship with a bunch of delinquents crashes on a water-covered planet. The survivors manage to adapt to the circumstances and rebuild a kind of civilization, living on the giant...
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16. To Live Forever
by Vance, Jack
- Same author
In a near utopian city lengthening someone's life is a reward the government bestows. And immortality is the highest honor, reserved for select few.
In a near utopian city lengthening someone's life is a reward the government bestows. And immortality is the highest honor, reserved for select few.
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18. To Your Scattered Bodies Go
by Farmer, Philip Jose
- On the same lists
This series can also be considered Science Fiction. Humanity is resurrected (from across all of history) on the banks of a constructed world.
There are some problematic things about this series, but it's an interesting concept and the action scenes are some of the most fun to come out of the 70s. The...
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19. Stranger In A Strange Land
by Heinlein, Robert A.
- On the same lists
A Martian visits Earth and teaches humanity a few things--some believe it to be a guide to social change.
An expedition to Mars is lost. Twenty five years later, a second expedition finds there is one survivor of the first expedition, Valentine Michael Smith, who was raised by Martians....
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20. The Disappearance
by Philip Wylie
- On the same lists
The apocalypse here is kind of personal. The world's just fine to start with, but... From one moment to the next all the women disappear from the world of men—and...
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21. Fahrenheit 451
by Bradbury, Ray
- On the same lists
A classic "What if?" story about book banning, happiness, and knowledge.
Everyone loves the idea of the thinking man's fireman (particularly middle aged women who read Fifty Shades of Grey), but that's not why Fahrenheit 451 made it to second on...
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The Age Of Discovery book 2
22. The New World
by Stackpole, Micheal A.
- On the same lists
A startling look at the role of government, including eugenics.
The three grandchildren of the royal cartographer Qiro Anturasi, a mapmaker whose magic can reshape reality, must save their world from destruction. Nalenyr is besieged on all sides by those...
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23. Stand On Zanzibar
by John Brunner
- On the same lists
In the 1960s, when overpopulation was a common worry for the future, it was often said that the entire population of the world could stand on the Isle of Wight....
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Dune Chronicles book 1 Start here
24. Dune
by Herbert, Frank
- On the same lists
The whole series over time shows the colonization and taming of the wild planet Dune over thousands of years.
A blend of sci-fi and fantasy, Frank Herbert's Dune created a foundation for many of the themes in modern genre fiction. Its exploration of ecology, pacifism, and mysticism pairs with...
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25. Foundation
by Asimov, Isaac
- On the same lists
Some softer elements, like FTL and antigrav cars, but otherwise a rational series.
Book Flap Description One of the great masterworks of science fiction, the Foundation novels of Isaac Asimov are unsurpassed for their unique blend of nonstop action, daring ideas, and extensive...
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Ringworld book 1 Start here
26. Ringworld (1971)
by Niven, Larry
- On the same lists
One of the most famous books of the genre, that follows the pros and cons of living on a spinning ring instead of a round planet. The fact that makes this book so famous is that after the author’s ideas were proven impracticable, he wrote a sequel explaining the inadequacies.
In the year 2850, Louis Wu turns 200 and is bored with life. Then a two-headed alien Puppeteer called Nessus offers him a job: join a small expedition to a...
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The Forever War book 1 Start here
27. The Forever War (1976)
by Haldeman, Joe
- On the same lists
In this novel, time travel is a kind of side effect of space travel at near light speeds.
William Mandella is a physics student drafted into an elite force to fight an alien enemy on the far side of the galaxy. Travel between the front lines takes a...
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Triffids book 1 Start here
28. The Day Of The Triffids
by John Wyndham
- On the same lists
The world changes when a meteor shower leaves most of the world's population blind. The event is augmented by the flesh-eating and mobile plants.
In Billion Year Spree, his epic history of science fiction, Brian Aldiss coined the term "cosy catastrophe" for the sorts of novels that John Wyndham wrote. Well, they are certainly...
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29. 1984
by George Orwell
- On the same lists
A classic novel that is definitively a dystopia.
The words have become so commonplace we hardly realise we are using them: Big Brother is watching you, the Ministry of Truth, Room 101, Newspeak, thoughtcrime. George Orwell gave us...
Matches come from series and authors, from the lists the books share, and from the books readers open together. They are rebuilt every night. Back to Big Planet.
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