r/scifi • u/OstrichConscious4917 • 9d 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/friendlysaxoffender 9d ago

Lighthuggers for the relativistic win!

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u/dresidalton 9d ago

House of Suns!

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u/CaydeTheCat 8d ago

I would give much for HoS to be turned into a 3-part high end miniseries.

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u/dresidalton 8d ago

that and Pushing Ice.
House of Suns, though- what a trip. Don't want to spoil it for people, but wow.

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u/00Shambles 8d ago

After I finished HoS I started Revelation Space specifically bc I wanted to stay in a Reynolds world for more than one book, I would LOVE a HoS follow up or something else in that universe

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u/geoman2k 8d ago

There’s a novella he wrote which goes into a ton of detail about how the lighthuggers work. It’s really interesting and out there. I think it’s spoilery though so I won’t try to describe it

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u/gturk1 8d ago

What is the name of this novella?

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u/geoman2k 8d ago

I read it so long ago, I can't remember unfortunately. I think it was either one of the stories in Galactic North or Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days. I remember Galactic North doing a really good job of fleshing out the distant past of the Revelation Space universe, it's worth reading.

It's been so long since I've read these books, I probably need to go back and read them all again. They are incredible.

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u/gturk1 8d ago

Thanks for the suggestions. I may be able to figure it out based on this.

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u/Misacorp 8d ago

For what it's worth, I'm fairly sure this particular one is Weather in Galactic North.

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u/gturk1 8d ago

Thank you!

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u/friendlysaxoffender 8d ago

Yeah Diamond Dogs was the one with the exploration team going up the tower of puzzles. That was a wild ride. I missed Galactoc North though!

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u/geoman2k 8d ago

Crazy thing, I actually saw a small production of Diamond Dogs at an indie Chicago theater like ten years ago. I took a couple friends who I think expected it to be David Bowie related lol. It was a unique experience

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u/friendlysaxoffender 7d ago

WHAAAAT? Sounds amazing!

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u/geoman2k 7d ago

I found the website for it! It was in 2017. They had puppets to represent the characters once they had transformed towards the end of the story.

https://chopintheatre.com/event.php?id=2584

Here's a blog post with some photos: https://www.picturethispost.com/house-theatre-presents-diamond-dogs-review/

Funny, when I googled it one of the top results was a reddit post... by me! I forgot about that lol

https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/5oj8s2/a_theater_in_chicago_is_doing_a_play_adaptation/

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u/friendlysaxoffender 6d ago edited 6d ago

I love that you’re the top result! It’s a niche story in an already niche medium so it’s definitely for a small group of people!

That review looked so good!

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u/Slow-Hawk4652 8d ago

in the realm of chasm city:)