Books like Timescape (1981)
30 science fiction books to read after Timescape (1981), by Benford, Gregory, the closest match first.
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1. The Aleutian Trilogy
by Gwyneth Jones
- On the same lists
Gwyneth Jones's first novel for adults, Divine Endurance, set in a richly imagined South East Asia, marked the arrival of a novelist intent on using science fiction to explore the...
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2. The Affirmation
by Priest, Christopher
- On the same lists
In contemporary Britain, a young man called Peter Sinclair loses his job and his girlfriend, and retreats to a remote cottage where he sets out to write his life story....
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The Sparrow book 1 Start here
3. The Sparrow
by Mary Doria Russell
- On the same lists
Few debut novels since Neuromancer have had the impact that Mary Doria Russell achieved with The Sparrow. After this novel and its sequel, Children of God, she turned to writing...
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4. The Time Ships
by Stephen Baxter
- On the same lists
1995 was the 100th anniversary of the publication of The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and in celebration Stephen Baxter produced one of the best novels in his long and...
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Fall Revolution book 1 Start here
5. The Star Fraction
by Ken Macleod
- On the same lists
Ken MacLeod was a lifelong friend of Iain Banks, and their interest in science fiction was parallel, though MacLeod's interest in Trotskyist politics gave his work a harder political edge...
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6. The Child Garden
by Geoff Ryman
- On the same lists
Imagine a London that has become semi-tropical, where people photosynthesise, where cancer has been cured but the human lifespan has been cut in half. Imagine a place where viruses are...
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7. The Martian Race
by Benford, Gregory
- Same author
When the rocket about to launch the first manned mission to Mars blows up at take off, NASA abandons the project. Instead, a $30 billion prize is offered for the...
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8. Lanark
by Alasdair Gray
- On the same lists
Back in the 1950s, a young Alasdair Gray entered a short story in a competition. It came second. That story was part of what would become, nearly 30 years later,...
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9. Riddley Walker, Expanded Edition
by Russell Hoban
- On the same lists
Hoban first made his name with books for children, such as the wonderful The Mouse and His Child. When he turned to writing novels for adults, although they seemed to...
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10. If the Stars are Gods
by Benford, Gregory
- Same author
and Gordon Eklund. This book will make you step outside of yourself when it proposes that stars, including our sun, have intelligence.
and Gordon Eklund. This book will make you step outside of yourself when it proposes that stars, including our sun, have intelligence.
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11. The Langoliers
by King, Stephen
- On the same lists
This novella was published in a collection of stories called 'Four Past Midnight'. Ten people awake on a red-eye flight, only to find that the other passengers and crew are...
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Culture book 3
12. Use Of Weapons
by Iain M. Banks
- On the same lists
Features a Utopian society (culture) that's post scarcity, controlled by benevolent A. I.'s who act for the good of the society. When Culture encounters less enlightened societies, the fun begins.
Iain Banks burst onto the literary scene with his controversial first novel, The Wasp Factory, the violent story of a girl who had been brought up as an emasculated boy....
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13. Thief Of Time
by Pratchett, Terry
- On the same lists
Time itself is threatened— and it's up to the History Monks to save it in Terry Pratchett's bestselling Discworld® series Everybody wants more time. Which is why, on Discworld, only...
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14. 1988: Replay
by Grimwood, Ken
- On the same lists
At the age of 43, Jeff Winston has a heart attack in his office... and wakes up to discover that he is 18 and a college student again. It's 1963,...
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15. Bid Time Return (1976)
by Matheson, Richard
- On the same lists
Bid Time Return by Richard Matheson won the 1976 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel
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16. The Door Into Summer
by Heinlein, Robert A.
- On the same lists
1970. A.D. Daniel Boone Davis is an inventor of household robots, who's been cheated out of his patents and company by a conniving friend and girlfriend, who stop just short...
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17. The Accidental Time Machine
by Haldeman, Joe
- On the same lists
Imagine inventing a time machine by accident! Well, Matt does, and it's a doozie. Built-in safety: can only travel into the future. Built-in quirk: every subsequent jump will be longer...
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18. Lightning
by Dean Koontz
- On the same lists
The second best of Koontz's novels (the best was 'Strangers') uses time-travel as a device by Adolf Hitler to change the outcome of WW2. (It didn't end too well for...
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19. Thrice Upon A Time
by James P. Hogan
- On the same lists
Sending objects back in time—that is, from the 'now' to somewhere before the 'now'—is pretty much the same things as sending 'information' in general. Same goes for the future. The...
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20. A Sound Of Thunder
by Bradbury, Ray
- On the same lists
An example of time tourism, this novel is the source of the phrase, "butterfly effect" because a butterfly dies and the traveller's future is altered.
The future, not so far away. Neo-fascists are still battling it out with liberals. Time machines exist. Eckles, hunter extraordinaire, wants to go back in time on a safari to...
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21. The End Of Eternity
by Asimov, Isaac
- On the same lists
Guardians of time steer history along safe paths, ultimately stagnating humanity--an example of the common theme of time police.
'Eternity' is an organization that's kind of 'above time', is that makes any sense at all. I mean, how can you be? Still, they are, and they can go here...
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22. Millennium
by John Varley
- On the same lists
Another story about things gone bad in the future (the story's present). A gazillion nuclear wars, general pollutions and what-have-you, and the human gene-pool doesn't look too good by now. ...
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23. A Rebel In Time
by Harry Harrison
- On the same lists
Colonel McCulloch is a good old-fashioned white racist. Agent Troy Harmon, who is black, is supposed to find out what's going on when McCulloch becomes a murder suspect. McCulloch is...
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24. Hawksbill Station
by Silverberg, Robert
- On the same lists
Prison's overflowing, costing taxpayers too much money and occasioning bleeding-heart liberals to bemoan the terrible state of the penal system? Here's the solution: get rid of the blighters; without killing...
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25. The Proteus Operation
by James P. Hogan
- On the same lists
Unlike Hogan's 'Thrice Upon A Time' (#6), here we have people going back in time physically. The story is set in a universe in which the Axis countries (Germany, Italy,...
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26. The Chronoliths
by Robert Charles Wilson
- On the same lists
Scott and his buddy Hitch chance upon a huge monolith, made of an indestructible material, that suddenly appears in the Thai jungle. And it doesn't just appear quietly, but with...
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27. Snow Crash
by Stephenson, Neal
- On the same lists
Considered by some as a parody of Cyberpunk. This novel popularized and cemented its use of the term avatar to describe online virtual bodies
Meet Hiro Protagonist: hacker, samurai swinging swordsman and pizza delivery boy. When his best friend dies of a brain fry and his ex girlfriend asks for his help, Hiro switches...
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28. Downbelow Station
by Cherryh, C. J.
- On the same lists
A space opera about a rebellion between Earth and its colonies.
Downbelow Station is well known among science fiction readers. It's part of a sprawling set of novels - though each reads as a standalone, it's worth reading a few should...
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Mars Trilogy book 1 Start here
29. Red Mars (1994)
by Robinson, Kim Stanley
- On the same lists
A mission is launched to terraform Mars in this scientific epic.
In 2026, a hundred colonists set off on the first long voyage to Mars. Among them are John Boone, the first man to walk on the planet, and his rival...
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30. Behold The Man
by Moorcock, Michael
- On the same lists
A story that is inspired by the Gospel of John and is about a man who travels back in time with the intent of meeting Jesus.
The grandfather paradox – which states that if you go back in time and accidentally kill your grandfather you will never be born, so you cannot travel back in time...
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 Timescape (1981).
The shortlist
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