# Recommend "action" SF literature
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 28, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100 "2011-10-28T17:42:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/1 "2011-10-28T17:42:50Z")
Bouncing off of
> **[Help me find a fantasy novel like this...](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=629213)**
>
> I want mages throwing fireballs and dwarves smashing face with their battle axes. Shape shifting nature loving elves, and holy warriors. Gimme evil wizards summoning elementals and necromancers raising the dead. Orcs, trolls, and ogres. Hidden...
,
recommend to me some good quality “action” SF literature. I’m talking about things like huge capital starships, phaser banks, dropships, hotshot hoverboard knights, that’s-not-a-moon-that’s-a-space-station, warp drive, cloaking devices, titanium mines of Arcturus I, fancy futuristic military or other service uniforms, space pirates, ice planets, your mom, railguns, mecha, 10 teraton planet-killing nukes, transporter malfunctions, and the methane seas of Alpha Centauri VII.
I’ve read Heinlein’s Starship Troopers, and liked it. I’m not primarily interested in novelizations or novel extensions of the universes of SF movies or TV shows, so please don’t list your favorite Star Wars novel unless it’s really really good.
I’ve heard some good things about Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. Might that be up this alley?
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/2 "2011-10-28T17:46:57Z")
Start with the first and best - E. E. Smith’s [Lensman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series) saga. Doesn’t get any bigger than intergalactic war using whole planets as weapons.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/3 "2011-10-28T17:47:41Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I’ve heard some good things about Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. Might that be up this alley?
Yes. The earlier ones are more shooty; the later ones become more thinky and talky.
John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades (but not so much the third one) are good for this kind of thing, too.
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### Author:  [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/4 "2011-10-28T17:50:45Z")
How about the [Honor Harrington](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honorverse) books?
Plenty of battles and quite an enjoyable read.
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### Author:  [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/5 "2011-10-28T17:54:00Z")
_The Forever War_ by Joe Haldeman.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/6 "2011-10-28T17:57:11Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Start with the first and best - E. E. Smith’s [Lensman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman_series) saga. Doesn’t get any bigger than intergalactic war using whole planets as weapons.
I was going to say the same thing. Can’t go wrong with the classics.
Also, a lot of Larry Niven, especially when Jerry Pournelle is his co-author. Amazon keeps recommending John Ringo’s books for me when I rate a Niven book, and Ringo’s books are classified as Military SF, which is what I think you want. I’ve never read a Ringo book, though…just putting it out there for your consideration.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/7 "2011-10-28T17:58:47Z")
Niven/Pournelle’s books on the Moties fit the OP’s bill. Ringo’s books really don’t. They are much more micro than macro.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/8 "2011-10-28T18:02:41Z")
Ah. As I said, I haven’t read any Ringo.
I think that Footfall might make it, as well, even though it’s confined to one planet. The Man-Kzin anthologies might also interest the OP.
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### Author:  [@MobiusStripes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MobiusStripes)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/9 "2011-10-28T18:16:33Z")
Harry Harrison’s “Death World” series (I’ve only read 1,2 and 3… in fact I was only aware of 1,2 and 3). Lots of guns and action.
E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Family d’Alembert series.
Edmond Hamilton’s Starwolf trilogy.
I read them all as a kid so I’m not how well they hold up. They all use the “heavy world” trope – the main characters (mostly) all grew/evolved on worlds with 2-3x Earth gravity.
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### Author:  [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/10 "2011-10-28T18:20:32Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> Niven/Pournelle’s books on the Moties fit the OP’s bill. Ringo’s books really don’t. They are much more micro than macro.
Yep. _The Mote In God’s Eye_ is pretty damn good. The sequel is less good.
Asimov’s _Foundation_ is pretty space-opera-y, which is really what you want, but Asimov is much more interested in out-thinking enemies, not out-fighting them.
And of course, you simply must read _Dune_.
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/11 "2011-10-28T18:25:13Z")
John Ringo’s Posleen and Looking Glass series.
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### Author:  [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/12 "2011-10-28T18:29:26Z")
Deathstalker and sequels by Simon Greene might be just the ticket. Ck
Chock full of crazy action! IMHO he could not keep up the level of invention over the whole series, but the first book is amazing
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/13 "2011-10-28T19:04:39Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> I’ve heard some good things about Bujold’s Vorkosigan Saga. Might that be up this alley?
I’m a huge, huge fan of Bujold, and highly recommend the Vorkosigan books. They’re more spy/commando stuff than intergalactic war - indeed, Miles Vorkosigan’s missions are often about trying to stop a war from breaking out.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/14 "2011-10-28T19:19:30Z")
> [@appleciders](#):
>
> And of course, you simply must read _Dune_.
Indeed.
I loved a series called the Paratwa Saga by Christopher Hinz, which started with the book **Liege Killer**. Fun, action pulp - why it never got made into a Terminator/Predator/Total Recall type of action flick is beyond me…
Basically, it is hundreds of years after an apocalyptic war; Earth is uninhabitable and humans live in orbiting stations. One type of weapon from that war were \*Paratwa \*- a single consciousness in two human-shaped entities, bred to be super assassins.
It turns out that one of the worst Paratwa has been recovered from stasis on the Earth’s surface and set loose on a station - suggesting that other Paratwa have been alive all along functioning as moles. So two Paratwa hunters are also woken from stasis to go after the weapon Paratwa, while other folks try to track down the moles.
It was a fun, fast-paced read - nothing but a good ride, but the ideas/world envisioned were interesting and it seems to have stuck with me a lot more than other SF pulp I have read, so I want to recommend it…
…I would second Scalzi’s Old Man’s War as wonderfully Heinlein-esque…
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/15 "2011-10-28T19:20:05Z")
> [@Miller](#):
>
> I’m a huge, huge fan of Bujold, and highly recommend the Vorkosigan books. They’re more spy/commando stuff than intergalactic war - indeed, Miles Vorkosigan’s missions are often about trying to stop a war from breaking out.
Great ideas, guys, keep 'em coming if you want to recommend your favorites or ones you’ve read.
I am interested in the Military SF/Space Opera kind of sub-genre, focusing on stuff that does have the Polaris Class Starcruisers with Mark V Plasma Guns but also has culture, talking about the nations or factions that exist, what makes them the way they are, what they believe or practice in terms of religion, public policy, fashion, and entertainment, what their technological or tactical focuses are (maybe one faction favors capital starships with plasma weapons and one favors smaller destroyers in larger numbers and massed fighters with missiles) and basically, are good, solid fun and MORE than an orgy of plasma rifle blasts.
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### Author:  [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/16 "2011-10-28T19:22:26Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#):
>
> Great ideas, guys, keep 'em coming if you want to recommend your favorites or ones you’ve read.
>
> I am interested in the Military SF/Space Opera kind of sub-genre, focusing on stuff that does have the Polaris Class Starcruisers with Mark V Plasma Guns but also has culture, talking about the nations or factions that exist, what makes them the way they are, what they believe or practice in terms of religion, public policy, fashion, and entertainment, what their technological or tactical focuses are (maybe one faction favors capital starships with plasma weapons and one favors smaller destroyers in larger numbers and massed fighters with missiles) and basically, are good, solid fun and MORE than an orgy of plasma rifle blasts.
Have you read Dune? Jeez, your post sounds like a summary of it, except most of the action takes place on a planet, not in space…
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### Author:  [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/17 "2011-10-28T19:25:43Z")
David Brin’s Uplift series. Start with ‘Startide Rising’
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### Author:  [@howye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/howye)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/18 "2011-10-28T19:31:23Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#):
>
> Yes. The earlier ones are more shooty; the later ones become more thinky and talky.
>
> John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades (but not so much the third one) are good for this kind of thing, too.
Agreed.
I would recommend anything by Scalzi, but that’s just me, but third and fourth books from the Old Man’s War universe may drift too far from what you are looking for. But, try The Android’s Dream, there is some nice space action later on. Next year’s Redshirts might be up worth your time as well.
More on point, try the The Lost Fleet series by “Jack Campbell”. More than enough space battle, laser shooty, naval type stuff. I found the later books to become a touch repetitive, but really wanted to know who the overall story turned out.
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### Author:  [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/19 "2011-10-28T19:33:32Z")
I thoroughly enjoied Walter Jon Williams’ _[Dread Empire’s Fall](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dread_Empire%27s_Fall)_ Lots of action, an interesting set up and battles galore, both planetary and space.
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### Author:  [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2011, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-action-sf-literature/601100/20 "2011-10-28T19:39:16Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#):
>
> David Brin’s Uplift series. Start with ‘Startide Rising’
YES! Fantastic books, \*Startide Rising \*in particular is great. I can also second the Vorkosigan books. Also if you are looking for military scifi in particular I can recommend \*Armor \*by John Steakley and _The Forever War_ pretty highly. Both have echos of _Starship Troopers_ though both are more personal and less space opera.
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