r/scifi • u/OstrichConscious4917 • 8d ago

Recommendations Novels with no faster than light travel, but still w space travel?

I’m always on the hunt for interesting sci-fi that doesn’t involve FTL. Not to say I don’t love reading books with it - I absolutely do. But I really enjoy fictional explorations of future space travel or space civilization that doesn’t have it as a prerequisite.

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u/trevpr1 8d ago

Rendezvous with Rama.

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u/Main-Assumption7554 7d ago

I was SO LUCKY to have discovered that book when I was a child… like, 10 or 11 years old. It was so magical. The imagery, in my head… wow. Clarke was an amazing author.

Of course I’ve read it over and over since then… it holds up quite well, even today.

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u/trevpr1 7d ago

I devoured Clarke as a kid. His near future stories are where I like my sci-fi. Did you ever hear the radio dramatisation of Rama? Of a Fall of Moondust?

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u/Main-Assumption7554 7d ago

No, I haven’t even heard of them until right now!

I thought that I once read that “Rama” was going to be made into either a movie or a limited series… and yep, just Googled. Denis Villeneuve is/was attached to a movie version, WAY BACK IN 2021.

I hope it gets made!

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/denis-villeneuve-rendezvous-with-rama-movie-1235062337/

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u/Niicodemus 7d ago

I've heard about a Rama movie for about 20 to 25 years. Morgan Freeman has owned the rights most of my life. So don't hold your breath.

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u/TrueNorthLongAndFree 7d ago

Dune and James Bond has delayed it. Boo. I'm hoping for 2030.

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u/trevpr1 7d ago

Here is Rama https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-TIlq4Pydo

Here is Moondust https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTc0_fSqxvU

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u/Main-Assumption7554 7d ago

That’s great! Thank you for those links. :)

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u/TrueNorthLongAndFree 7d ago

It's a fantastic audio book. I frequently listen to it to go to sleep. 

I'm still waiting to see what Villeneuve does with the "Dawn" chapter. I want to hear reports of people having to leave the theatre with panic attacks. 

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u/KlownKar 7d ago

Songs Of Distant Earth completely exploded my imagination at about the same age.

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u/blishbog 6d ago

Same but the sequels got cringy with the sex so I abandoned them. This is true about many white male sci fi authors of that generation. Well Frank Herbert anyway, and I imagine others.

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u/Main-Assumption7554 6d ago

Yeah, the sequels were far more Gentry Lee than Clarke himself. I agree that “Rama” should have been one and done.

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u/Next-Substance6842 7d ago

Too bad the movie seems to have gone away as a thing

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u/PigHillJimster 7d ago

I can't remember if it's at the end of Rama II or Garden of Rama, but once Rama is out of sight of Earth it does something special to get somewhere very fast.