I remember giving up reading Patrick O’Brians’s Master & Commander because I was just lost in all that sailing lingo and definitely lacked the historic background knowledge to understand what was going on. Likewise I struggled with David Weber’s first Honor Harrington book, even though he provided pages upon pages explaining the tech - but I still don’t know how the aliens they fight in the end are supposed to look like… I settled on something like a giant praying mantis. And I’ve actually googled what an “artic” is because Terry Pratchett used it in a description (it’s an articulated lorry or what Americans call a “semi”) and I was just like wtf?! 🤣
I think finding a sci-fi book that is a good introduction is a tall order, because the genre is so varied? You can read a sci-fi book and never encounter spaceships or phasers at all. I can’t quite remember what the first science-fiction book was that I read - Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea maybe? 🤔 But like you, I’ve had seen enough Star Wars and Star Trek to have a grasp of what was going on when I encountered Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which definitely was the first book I read that had spaceships and aliens.
The Honor Harrington books were suggested by my whale-reader of a husband some years ago. I read a handful of them. He was reading, or rereading one recently. I think as adults we are more likely to discern what is important and what is just scenery, so we can sometimes skim the parts that we don't quite "get" - like all that sailing rigging. Whether Sci-fi, fantasy or historical contexts, if the story grabs us, we'll stick with it and build some of that data for ourselves. If it's too much for us, we abandoned ship. As writers, it's tricky because, a reader like my husband, is there for the sailing lingo as much as the story. Cool thing is, we have so many options these days.
Yeah, that's the thing they don't tell you about writing: You need to become a specialist in very random things sometimes - I just fell into a rabbit hole of computer history this week. 😂 And sometimes you get to turn your personal special interest into a novel, which is probably the best thing. Passion, knowledge and creativity merge into something totally new.
Lol! Very true. I mean, I cornered some poor woman last night at a gathering, telling her about the dearth of records from the 7th century Middle East and how I am having to extrapolate from the better recorded 6th and 8th centuries... Oy. Poor lady.
Hmmm for like hard sic-fi traditional tropes, I think Hyperion or Dune would do ya. If you want some fresh new hotness, I recommend Meagan O’Keefe’s The Protectorate series. Has a badass pilot chick, sentient space ships and epic battles.
I remember giving up reading Patrick O’Brians’s Master & Commander because I was just lost in all that sailing lingo and definitely lacked the historic background knowledge to understand what was going on. Likewise I struggled with David Weber’s first Honor Harrington book, even though he provided pages upon pages explaining the tech - but I still don’t know how the aliens they fight in the end are supposed to look like… I settled on something like a giant praying mantis. And I’ve actually googled what an “artic” is because Terry Pratchett used it in a description (it’s an articulated lorry or what Americans call a “semi”) and I was just like wtf?! 🤣
I think finding a sci-fi book that is a good introduction is a tall order, because the genre is so varied? You can read a sci-fi book and never encounter spaceships or phasers at all. I can’t quite remember what the first science-fiction book was that I read - Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues under the Sea maybe? 🤔 But like you, I’ve had seen enough Star Wars and Star Trek to have a grasp of what was going on when I encountered Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, which definitely was the first book I read that had spaceships and aliens.
The Honor Harrington books were suggested by my whale-reader of a husband some years ago. I read a handful of them. He was reading, or rereading one recently. I think as adults we are more likely to discern what is important and what is just scenery, so we can sometimes skim the parts that we don't quite "get" - like all that sailing rigging. Whether Sci-fi, fantasy or historical contexts, if the story grabs us, we'll stick with it and build some of that data for ourselves. If it's too much for us, we abandoned ship. As writers, it's tricky because, a reader like my husband, is there for the sailing lingo as much as the story. Cool thing is, we have so many options these days.
Yeah, that's the thing they don't tell you about writing: You need to become a specialist in very random things sometimes - I just fell into a rabbit hole of computer history this week. 😂 And sometimes you get to turn your personal special interest into a novel, which is probably the best thing. Passion, knowledge and creativity merge into something totally new.
Lol! Very true. I mean, I cornered some poor woman last night at a gathering, telling her about the dearth of records from the 7th century Middle East and how I am having to extrapolate from the better recorded 6th and 8th centuries... Oy. Poor lady.
Very humbled to see my name on this list - thank you!
Hmmm for like hard sic-fi traditional tropes, I think Hyperion or Dune would do ya. If you want some fresh new hotness, I recommend Meagan O’Keefe’s The Protectorate series. Has a badass pilot chick, sentient space ships and epic battles.