# sci-fi without faster-than-light?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 26, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212 "2002-03-26T18:30:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/1 "2002-03-26T18:30:39Z")
I was just thinking about this–what are some examples of sci-fi without faster-than-light _anything_? Travel or communication which means no hyperspace, no warp drive, no transporter, no ansible–nothing. I think it would be interesting to read what some authors’ interpretations of that would be. Because it seems a lot of them take the easy way out and fabricate some way around it.
If it’s “good” sci-fi, so much the better.
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### Author:  [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/2 "2002-03-26T18:40:21Z")
Arthur C. Clark’s _2001 A space odyssey_
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### Author:  [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/3 "2002-03-26T18:44:40Z")
You know, I thought of that, but what about after Bowman enters the monolith orbiting Saturn ('cause it’s Saturn, not Jupiter, in the first book)? Sounds like FTL to me.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/4 "2002-03-26T18:47:45Z")
Right. Go back to the old masters. Asimov has a ton of old short stories that deal strictly with stuff inside the solar system, or just on earth (like many of the robot stories).
Clifford Simak’s _City_ is a good one, too (although, technically, there is a FTL drive in there, but it has no real impact on the stories … one character pilots the experimental FTL ship and is never heard from again), about mankind gradually being superseded by its offspring–robots and genetically engineered talking dogs.
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### Author:  [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/5 "2002-03-26T18:48:58Z")
And I assume those Red Mars, Blue Mars, Green Mars books are all sublight, but I haven’t read them. Any Robinson fans?
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### Author:  [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/6 "2002-03-26T18:52:42Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by GIGObuster \*
> \*\*Arthur C. Clark’s _2001 A space odyssey_ \*\*
oooooh…close, but, no cigar. That l’il bouncing baby boy at the end sure could get around.
How about Cradle of Saturn by James Hogan?
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/7 "2002-03-26T18:55:47Z")
Arthur C. CLarke’s _ **The Songs of Distant Earth** _ is 100% FTL-free.
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### Author:  [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/8 "2002-03-26T18:59:40Z")
H.G.Wells _First Men in the Moon_ and \* War of the Worlds\*
Jules Verne _From the Earth to the Moon_
Ray Bradbury_The Martian Chronicles_
_Silent Running_
The film version of _2001_ specifically mentions that the time lags in the television interview have been deleted, so other than the open-to-interpretation ending, I’d say it counts.
Of course, all these examples remain within our solar system. Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any stories dealing with interstellar travel that don’t have some high-tech workaround to keep the story moving, either some means of folding space, going faster than light, or putting crews into suspended animation.
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### Author:  [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/9 "2002-03-26T19:01:20Z")
Two that pop to mind are _Tau Zero_ by Poul Anderson and _Orphans of the Sky_ by Robert Heinlein.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/10 "2002-03-26T19:01:40Z")
The list for fiction goes on for pages and pages. Some are:
Arthur C. Clarke’s _Rendezvous with Rama_
John Varley’s stories in _The Persistence of Vision_ and his trilogy _Titan_, _Wizard_, and _Demon_, “Press ENTER” and “The Pusher” (which does have star travel, but does not go FTL).
Octavia Butler, “Speech Sounds,” “Bloodchild,” and _Wild Seed_ and the early Patternmaster novels, not to mention _The Parable of the Sower_ and _The Parable of the Talents_
William Gibson’s _Neuromancer_ and his other cyberpunk novels.
Neil Stephenson’s _The Diamond Age_
Some of Larry Niven’s work – “Wait it Out,” “The Coldest Place,” “Inconstant Moon,” “Becalmed in Hell,” “The Organleggers”
Asimov’s “Marooned off Vesta.” His anthology _Earth is Room Enough_ is a collection of stories set on Earth with FTL, including “The Fun They Had.”
Most of Ray Bradbury’s “Martian” stories.
Hal Clement’s _Half Life_
R.A. Lafferty’s “What Was the Name of that Town?”
Harlan Ellison’s “Replent Harlequin, Said the Ticktockman” “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” and “A Boy and His Dog.”
Fred Pohl’s _Man Plus_ and “The Gold at Starbow’s End” (space travel, too, but not FTL).
Harold Waldrop’s “The Ugly Chickens”
Pam Sargent’s “Danny Goes to Mars” (about Dan Quayle, BTW).
Kim Stanley Robinson “Mars” trilogy – _Red Mars, Blue Mars,_ and _Green Mars_
Terry Bisson’s “macs”
Robert Silverberg’s “Good News from the Vatican” and his novel
_Dying Inside_
John Wynham’s _The Day of the Triffids_ and _The Kraken Wakes_.
Edgar Pangborn’s _Davy_
If you’re talking about movies, there are fewer, but some include:
_Deathwatch_
_Johnny Mnemonic_ (You didn’t say it had to be good 🙂 )
_The Day the Earth Caught Fire_
_Day of the Triffids_ (Though the book is infinitely better)
_Them!_
_Tarantula_
I’ve barely scratched the surface.
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### Author:  [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/11 "2002-03-26T19:14:36Z")
Vernor Vinge’s _Deepness in the Sky_ has some really great STL stuff. Also a very, very good read.
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### Author:  [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/12 "2002-03-26T19:31:47Z")
A lot of Robert Heinlein’s early books deal with a non-FTL universe. I don’t think that he did any that were exo-solar, but they’re all pretty accurate as far as the “hard” science goes (i.e. drive systems, space suits, etc.). You should read his _ **The Moon is a Harsh Mistress** _, _ **Space Cadet** _, _ **The Rolling Stones** _, or _ **The Man Who Sold the Moon** _ if you want good SF that doesn’t have any FTL.
Philip K. Dick’s _ **A Scanner Darkly** _ is another one that comes to mind, now that I think about it.
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### Author:  [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/13 "2002-03-26T19:34:12Z")
I can’t remember for sure, but I think the movie **Silent Running** had no FTL technology. All of the books/stories I can think of have already been mentioned.
RR
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/14 "2002-03-26T19:39:46Z")
ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness wrote:
> [@](#):
>
> I can’t think of any stories dealing with interstellar travel that don’t have some high-tech workaround to keep the story moving, either some means of folding space, going faster than light, or putting crews into suspended animation.
What’s wrong with suspended animation?
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### Author:  [@Sauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sauron)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/15 "2002-03-26T19:55:36Z")
If I remember correctly, the ship in the movie _Alien_ (the _Nostradamus_?) used a slower-than-light propulsion system.
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### Author:  [@ricecake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricecake)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/16 "2002-03-26T19:56:47Z")
snow crash by Neil Stevenson is a great sci-fi book, all based here in earth in the not so distant future.
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### Author:  [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/17 "2002-03-26T19:58:46Z")
Specifically, inter-stellar travel _without_ FTL:
Time For The Stars (Heinlein)
Orphans of the Sky (Heinlein, already mentioned)
Tau Zero (Pohl, also already mentioned)
I highly recommend these!
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/18 "2002-03-26T20:00:32Z")
No chance, there. They clearly go between stars in a finite amount of time. Remember that it was only going to take 10 months to get back to earth at one point.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/19 "2002-03-26T20:03:29Z")
That Ben Bova trilogy about the scientists that are exiled from Earth and take a few generations to reach a nearby star…
The Exiles trilogy? That might be what it’s called. I forget.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sci-fi-without-faster-than-light/100212/20 "2002-03-26T20:29:21Z")
Whaddabout **Blade Runner**?
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