Tag: Books to Read

This is one of my favorite SF books. I read it, then Green Mars, and finally Blue Mars. A later book called The Martians came out separately but actually continues this series.

If you like geology, you'll love this book.

I Googled terms I'd never heard of, because the way Kim Stanley Robinson writes is so compelling that you want to know every single detail from accretions to karsts to veins of silica.

This book got me invested in geology. I still follow the topic today.

This near-future chronicle of interplanetary colonization ought to be a must read for anyone who wants to go to Mars.

The barren landscape of the red planet welcomes a group of one hundred colonists on a mission to transform Mars into a more Earthlike planet. But it doesn't make anything easy.

Are you a fan of the realism of The Expanse like I am? If you relished the side story about colonizing Mars, then Robinson's expertise in his field will appeal to you. Warning - the great storyline is liable to get you permanently hooked on the series.

Highly recommended. Available on Amazon.

The Left Hand of Darkness

50th Anniversary Edition (Ace Science Fiction)
by Ursula K Le Guin
Foreword by David Mitchell

50th anniversary edition—with a new introduction by David Mitchell and a new afterword by Charlie Jane Anders.

Ursula K Le Guin's groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

From the Amazon book page:

A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants' gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization.

But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters...

Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.

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I read this book the first time many years ago, when I was developing the concept of my Chiasmii people. A Chiasma would be fully male and fully female, but would alter between the two genderphases (San - female, and Pter - male) every three months or so. In the "between times" they would be gender fluid. Pregnancy was avoided by avoiding penetration during the female phase. They were telepathic, and universally blond-haired and blue-eyed.

Unknown to them, they had been created to be "genetic vessels" capable of being impregnated by their own seed, creating a single-parent host. This provided ample room for added DNA, which could turn them into other creatures.

In my current story universe, it's been thousands of years since their creator contacted them, and they have only fleeting memories of myths to remind them.

Reading this book inspired me in so many ways. I highly recommend it.

Available Everywhere

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