I'm presently looking for the quieter type of science fiction with a slightly more literary fiction bent. Is there any books either coming out or already out that I should look out for?
I've sort of grown a taste for stuff like Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind. But I'm not really sure if there is a short story equivalent.
Welcome to the Monkey House, The Illustrated Man
Can't think of much. I can think of low-key books and literary books, but not necessarily low-key literary books. There's some urban fantasy stuff like that. Phillip K. Dick would be perfect, but he's far from a literary fiction writer. My favorite literary science fiction book may be Matthew Derby's Super Flat Times, which is really bizarre.
Maybe something by Ursula Le Guin like The Lathe of Heaven? I'm not that familiar with her.
Margaret Atwood? (though she distinguishes herself as speculative, not science). Never Let Me Go, by Ishiguro? Hearing Junot Diaz speak I think he might be working on something in that vein as well.
Have you read Starship Troopers? It's very philosophical/political, with some action mostly at the end, and opens with a scene, written in 1959 so it predates the girls in metallic bikinis phase of sci-fi.
Speaking of Ursula Le Guin, The Left Hand Of Darkness is great - I'd call it pretty literary scifi. The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury is also pretty good, but just slightly more 'pew pew' and a bit disjointed. Not as much as Slaughterhouse V, though.
What about Solaris? Or 2001: A Space Odyssey?
Jeff VanderMeer's Annihilation just got an intriguing review at Salon, for anyone interested:
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/23/annihilation_doomed_expedition_into_the_...
sounds like a dialled down, psychological science fiction
Anything by Octavia E Butler.
For sure.
Maybe, depends on what you mean by quite, the Last Policeman by Ben Winters.
Oh I meant quiet. Let me fix that. Thanks Dwayne.
Edit: Can't fix the post.:P But I clarified.
The Last Policeman does look awesome.
I wasn't calling out the typo, that one gets me all the time. As you can see. I just didn't know if you meant 'one slight change we might see' or 'more well thought out less flashy.'
I just got book 2, Count Down City so I'm excited about it.
I sometimes joke when I look for a read, I don't want to know the ghost. I'd rather know the point of view of the tape that records the ghost, then it hits you. "Hey wait a minute, your a cassette." I have a bit of an odd sense of humor.
Ooo, that Last Policeman does is intriguing...
@ karen- what's a good starter (gateway drug) for this octavia person?
I finished the second one the night I got it.
Erm, it depends largely on your own tastes. She was mega diverse, but always touching on the ideas of society vs the other, particularly re race and gender wars/rifts/struggles. I'd maybe try to get hold of one of her short story collections. 'Bloodchild' won Hugo and Nebula awards. (She was a major force in sci-fi. I'm surprised more people don't know about her.) If you want to just leap right in, maybe start with the Parable series...?
Her most famous novel was 'Kindred', just in case that rings any bells.
