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Sci-fi books which don't involve too much space travels and massive world builds?
(self.sciencefiction)
this post was submitted on 26 Aug 2023
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Oh there's just so many. A favorite of mine is Replay by Ken Grimwood. It's a kind of a time travel book, but different from most, and a lot of fun - written in 1986, so not new. Broad plot is that the main character, a middle aged man, dies on the first page and wakes up back in college, back in the 50s, I believe. It gets more interesting from there.
You might enjoy the Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells, which is a series that starts with All Systems Red. The first couple are novellas, and the first one was published in 2017, so much more recent. They won a lot of awards. It takes place in an unspecified time in the future, told from the perspective of a cyborg of sorts who is a security bot who has hacked his control unit and doesn't have to do what he's told, but he doesn't want people to know that so he can watch soap operas when he can. He's guarding a small group on an alien planet when things get weird.
I'll recommend one other, very different: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. I believe that was 2007. It's told from the perspective of a guy in near earth future who had late stage Alzheimer's but was given a cure, so is slowly getting back his mental function. Wearable computers are ubiquitous at the time. Also a big award winner.
I hope you find something you like.
Murderbot is good
Agreed!
Omg this comment is so beautiful. Thank you so much! I think I am going to start with your first option, just got it on kindle (I am a total sucker for time/dimension travels, from 11/22/63 (one of my all time favorites) to Time Traveler's wife to Blake Crouch).
Please, please write back and let me/us know what you think!
Hey I just finished the Replay and came to thank you again for mentioning it. Such an amazing book, absolutely one of my best reads so far. Cannot believe it is not more popular. Not only the plot got me, but also the way it was written, so... Human and intelligent. Also there is often quite some interesting info and emotional maturity in the dialogs, and yet they never felt forced, as those well-thought-through-exchanges sometimes tend to be. Just excellent. But gotta say: for once, for freaking once, the main character of time travel invests in stocks. I mean, come on, finally!
Anyways, you literally nailed it with recommending me this one. Will also look up now the other two from the list. Thanks again!
Oh, great! I'm so glad you liked it. I really appreciate your coming back to let me know. Like you, I'm not sure why it isn't more widely known - it's such a fun read.
I have a friend who was a reviewer for a major science fiction magazine back in the day. When I was going through a bad time and needed some escapism, he'd take me to the bookstore and pick things he thought I'd like; Replay was one of those. I'm so glad to be able to point someone else to it.
So I'll make this recommendation a little more hesitantly. There's another time travel book I really like - one that is is more well known - The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold. It's really great and really well written, but it's also... very, very strange. It's the kind of time travel where, if you go back a little, then there are two of you at that point. The character does some odd things. One to consider.
Let me know what you think of the others!
I recently finished The Psychology of Time Travel, not sure if you’ve read it, but it was really good and interesting! And totally unique