this post was submitted on 24 Jun 2023
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Science Fiction

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Lemmy World Rules

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Looking for a good Sci Fi Novel available on Project Gutenberg (self.sciencefiction)
submitted 1 year ago by PlanetOfOrd to c/sciencefiction
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Been out of work for a while so buying books is out the question (yeah, I get there's always the library, but I don't like it for a lot of reasons).

I like how PG has free books. I realize I'm not going to find top-tier modern writers on PG, but I'm open to suggestions of good reads.

What I look for in sci fi:

  • An idea to chew on; something that stays with me even after I turn the last page.
  • Some emotional intrigue; I want to feel what the characters feel.

What I like to avoid:

  • Technobabble. I like a good story; I don't want to spend half the book understanding how the ship works. (I found Frank Herbet was good with avoiding technobabble...he often obeyed the rule of "show don't tell")

  • Stock characters. Gimme some depth.

A few I've read so far that I'd consider "passable" are Off on a Comet by Jules Vern (I only listen to about 2/3 of this on librivox) and Space Prison by Tom Godwin (although the plot is pretty simplistic).

I just finished Frankenstein. A lot of people think its The Greatest Novel. It was kinda meh. I see why people would get excited about it, but it didn't grab me like it does other people.

Any suggestions?

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[–] boredtortoise 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Library Genesis is also a good source for ebooks

[–] PlanetOfOrd 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thanks! Bookmarked. Kind of on the fence about the ethics of that one, though.

The site enables free access to content that is otherwise paywalled or not digitized elsewhere.

If something isn't free I don't like to find a way to make it free since that devalues it (for me and for others). Obviously if it's free / in the public domain, that's one thing. But I might see if there's stuff on there that's public domain but not on Gutenberg.

[–] boredtortoise 2 points 1 year ago

Sure. Sometimes it's a handy way to get something on your preferred reader that is otherwise blocked by DRM