SF Tearjerkers

BenG · 11-20-2010, 11:26 PM

What Science Fiction have you read that had you reaching for the Kleenex?

neilmarr · 11-21-2010, 05:37 AM

Hya Ben. You read *The Ship Who Sang* by Anne McCaffrey in 1969? I just checked and it is available in ebook form now. A unique tale about a post-holocaust future in which babies born so physically deformed that their bodies are useless have their brains kept alive to intelligently control machines, IQ matched to complexity. Dummies might become household appliance, but the top brain is used to become a starship. The ship is female, the human capitain is male. Superb piece of writing. Cheers. Neil

dworth · 11-22-2010, 05:40 AM

Against A Dark Background by Iain M Banks is rather melancholy - lives and relationships torn apart by war, that sort of thing. It's also a bloody good read.

snipenekkid · 11-22-2010, 07:46 AM

For the life of me I cannot find a print edition of it but I swear that Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love" was, at one time, in print in a Volume 1 and Volume 2 because I owned them, or at least that is the way I remember it. My addled brain remembers reading Vol. 2 prior to Vol. 1 and that Vol 1 was by far my favorite of the two and had an ending that was just so painful yet a very wonderful observation about life and what a pointless thing this existence of ours may or may not be.

But all I can find reference to is a single title which would be about the right number of pages if the two volumes were combined. But given that I also have it in my memory that Vol. 2 was printed prior to Vol. 1, sort of an odd thing but if I am not misremembering, it could have just been the editions I owned were different eras is all.

Anyway, I don't know the order of the current volume. Meaning if what I remember as Volume 1 is in the book as the first part or the 2nd part, I feel it would be a travesty for that to be true as the reading order of Vol. 2 followed by Vol 1 was something I felt was perfect. Plus Vol. 2 did not have that emotionally complex ending.

No matter, as a whole, the stories, the meat of the whole Lazarus Long story line (Heinlein's Future History) do stretch limits of various subjects which are certainly not for those with strong moral beliefs and taboos. So, I recommend it, at least in part, as a book that evokes quite a strong and complex set of emotions.

Anyway, it's the best I can offer other than I know the audiobook version was at one time also out in two volumes and is not only a single volume, unless you find older versions on either Amazon or ebay. The reader was not easy for me to get used to, but now I am OK with it. I am collecting as many of Heinlein's books as audiobooks simply because I have read them all so many times I can use them as background distraction while working and not miss hours of a book when focused on work.

Hope to read some more more emotive titles offered as when you think about it, most SF does not offer enough of the human condition in the characters.

Supposedly Spider Robinson & his wife Jeannie wrote a couple trilogies together which could be of interest as well. However I have not read any of those titles yet.

pholy · 11-22-2010, 08:04 AM

Quote:

Hope to read some more more emotive titles offered as when you think about it, most SF does not offer enough of the human condition in the characters.

Theodore Sturgeon's stories and novels are mostly about the human condition as shaped by differing conditions. I'm not sure how many are available as ebooks; I've got about half of the 13 volume set of collected works on my shelf.

BenG · 11-22-2010, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

For the life of me I cannot find a print edition of it but I swear that Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love" was, at one time, in print in a Volume 1 and Volume 2 because I owned them, or at least that is the way I remember it. My addled brain remembers reading Vol. 2 prior to Vol. 1 and that Vol 1 was by far my favorite of the two and had an ending that was just so painful yet a very wonderful observation about life and what a pointless thing this existence of ours may or may not be.

But all I can find reference to is a single title which would be about the right number of pages if the two volumes were combined. But given that I also have it in my memory that Vol. 2 was printed prior to Vol. 1, sort of an odd thing but if I am not misremembering, it could have just been the editions I owned were different eras is all.

Anyway, I don't know the order of the current volume. Meaning if what I remember as Volume 1 is in the book as the first part or the 2nd part, I feel it would be a travesty for that to be true as the reading order of Vol. 2 followed by Vol 1 was something I felt was perfect. Plus Vol. 2 did not have that emotionally complex ending.

No matter, as a whole, the stories, the meat of the whole Lazarus Long story line (Heinlein's Future History) do stretch limits of various subjects which are certainly not for those with strong moral beliefs and taboos. So, I recommend it, at least in part, as a book that evokes quite a strong and complex set of emotions.

I read 'Time Enough For Love" when it first came out in the 70s. It was published as one large book at that time, though Lazarus Long was a character in the earlier "Methuselah's Children" and Heinlein followed it up with 'The Notebooks of Lazarus Long." It was one of my favorite books in high school.

Connie Willis' "The Doomsday Book" is another tearjerker and not just a couple of sniffles. The book is devastating. It's about an Oxford historian sent back in time to medieval England. She is sent to the wrong time and arrives in the middle of the Black Death.

Peadar Ó Guilín · 11-23-2010, 06:39 AM

Tanith Lee's "Silver Metal Lover". A classic, but sadly, I cannot find an e-book edition.
Same problem with Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon"

nyrath · 11-23-2010, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by snipenekkid

For the life of me I cannot find a print edition of it but I swear that Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love" was, at one time, in print in a Volume 1 and Volume 2 because I owned them, or at least that is the way I remember it.

The chapter of that book which always makes me misty-eyed is "The Tale of the Adopted Daughter."

AHMavrick · 11-23-2010, 04:34 PM

Check out the Honor Harrington series. Good sci fi and yanks on the emotions as well.

tomereader · 11-23-2010, 10:24 PM

Robert A. Heinlein The Man Who Traveled in Elephants
(has a description of story, so might be considered spoiler?)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man...d_in_Elephants
a short story where the master evokes tears and laughter at almost the same time

I can only think of short stories Robbie by Asimov is kind of sad as it unfolds...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_%28short_story%29

JSWolf · 11-23-2010, 10:43 PM

I would have to go with

Wildfire, Book One by David Mack
Wildfire, Book Two by David Mack

These are short stories in the Star Trek SCE/CoE series. They are number 23 & #24. It's best to read all that come before. But when you finish these, hold on to your tissues.

JaneD · 11-24-2010, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peadar Ó Guilín

Tanith Lee's "Silver Metal Lover". A classic, but sadly, I cannot find an e-book edition.

Agree with this recommendation: lovely, engrossing book that made me weep. I wish I could find it in ebook form, too.

elemenoP · 11-24-2010, 01:35 PM

Not sure if it'll be a tearjerker for you, but The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell is pretty tragic.

eP

tyche · 11-24-2010, 01:46 PM

Margaret Weis wrote a trilogy called Star of the Guardians (the fourth book later doesn't count). It's more space fantasy than hard sci-fi but the ending is a real tear jerker.

ATDrake · 11-24-2010, 05:00 PM

Second the Doomsday Book rec. Marvelous and poignant. Willis' novella Fire Watch set in the same universe also has that quality and is available to read free online, courtesy of Infinity Plus.

Another surefire tearjerker is Mike Resnick's award-winning Kirinyaga story "For I Have Touched the Sky", readable online as a sample chapter from the DRM-free collection at Baen's Webscriptions.

And from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, I'd add Mirror Dance and Memory, in which you get to see two men essentially destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. Mind you, the effect works better if you've read the previous books, though the other recs above are standalone.

11-20-2010, 11:26 PM	#1
BenG Home Guard Posts: 4,730 Karma: 86721650 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard Device: Kindle Oasis 3G, iPhone 6	SF Tearjerkers What Science Fiction have you read that had you reaching for the Kleenex?

11-21-2010, 05:37 AM	#2
neilmarr neilmarr Posts: 7,215 Karma: 6000059 Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Monaco-Menton, France Device: sony	Hya Ben. You read The Ship Who Sang by Anne McCaffrey in 1969? I just checked and it is available in ebook form now. A unique tale about a post-holocaust future in which babies born so physically deformed that their bodies are useless have their brains kept alive to intelligently control machines, IQ matched to complexity. Dummies might become household appliance, but the top brain is used to become a starship. The ship is female, the human capitain is male. Superb piece of writing. Cheers. Neil

11-22-2010, 05:40 AM	#3
dworth Zealot Posts: 140 Karma: 2094632 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Bradford, UK Device: kindle pc	Against A Dark Background by Iain M Banks is rather melancholy - lives and relationships torn apart by war, that sort of thing. It's also a bloody good read.

11-22-2010, 07:46 AM	#4
snipenekkid Banned Posts: 760 Karma: 51034 Join Date: Feb 2009	For the life of me I cannot find a print edition of it but I swear that Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love" was, at one time, in print in a Volume 1 and Volume 2 because I owned them, or at least that is the way I remember it. My addled brain remembers reading Vol. 2 prior to Vol. 1 and that Vol 1 was by far my favorite of the two and had an ending that was just so painful yet a very wonderful observation about life and what a pointless thing this existence of ours may or may not be. But all I can find reference to is a single title which would be about the right number of pages if the two volumes were combined. But given that I also have it in my memory that Vol. 2 was printed prior to Vol. 1, sort of an odd thing but if I am not misremembering, it could have just been the editions I owned were different eras is all. Anyway, I don't know the order of the current volume. Meaning if what I remember as Volume 1 is in the book as the first part or the 2nd part, I feel it would be a travesty for that to be true as the reading order of Vol. 2 followed by Vol 1 was something I felt was perfect. Plus Vol. 2 did not have that emotionally complex ending. No matter, as a whole, the stories, the meat of the whole Lazarus Long story line (Heinlein's Future History) do stretch limits of various subjects which are certainly not for those with strong moral beliefs and taboos. So, I recommend it, at least in part, as a book that evokes quite a strong and complex set of emotions. Anyway, it's the best I can offer other than I know the audiobook version was at one time also out in two volumes and is not only a single volume, unless you find older versions on either Amazon or ebay. The reader was not easy for me to get used to, but now I am OK with it. I am collecting as many of Heinlein's books as audiobooks simply because I have read them all so many times I can use them as background distraction while working and not miss hours of a book when focused on work. Hope to read some more more emotive titles offered as when you think about it, most SF does not offer enough of the human condition in the characters. Supposedly Spider Robinson & his wife Jeannie wrote a couple trilogies together which could be of interest as well. However I have not read any of those titles yet.

11-23-2010, 06:39 AM	#7
Peadar Ó Guilín Author of The Inferior Posts: 121 Karma: 200001 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Ireland Device: Sony PRS-505, Kindle 3 (soon...)	Tanith Lee's "Silver Metal Lover". A classic, but sadly, I cannot find an e-book edition. Same problem with Daniel Keyes' "Flowers for Algernon"

11-23-2010, 04:34 PM	#9
AHMavrick Enthusiast Posts: 25 Karma: 10000 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: none	Check out the Honor Harrington series. Good sci fi and yanks on the emotions as well.

11-23-2010, 10:24 PM	#10
tomereader Zealot Posts: 124 Karma: 664461 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: North Coast of Ohio Device: Ectaco JBL, Archos 5, 7, 70, Kindle DXG, Craig 7, Vizio Vtab	Robert A. Heinlein The Man Who Traveled in Elephants (has a description of story, so might be considered spoiler?) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man...d_in_Elephants a short story where the master evokes tears and laughter at almost the same time I can only think of short stories Robbie by Asimov is kind of sad as it unfolds... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_%28short_story%29

11-23-2010, 10:43 PM	#11
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 79,625 Karma: 145864617 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I would have to go with Wildfire, Book One by David Mack Wildfire, Book Two by David Mack These are short stories in the Star Trek SCE/CoE series. They are number 23 & #24. It's best to read all that come before. But when you finish these, hold on to your tissues.

11-24-2010, 01:35 PM	#13
elemenoP Wizard Posts: 1,717 Karma: 3790058 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: NYC Device: Kindle Paperwhite, Sony 650	Not sure if it'll be a tearjerker for you, but The Sparrow by Maria Doria Russell is pretty tragic. eP

11-24-2010, 01:46 PM	#14
tyche Addict Posts: 227 Karma: 2530 Join Date: Dec 2009 Device: PRS-505, iPad	Margaret Weis wrote a trilogy called Star of the Guardians (the fourth book later doesn't count). It's more space fantasy than hard sci-fi but the ending is a real tear jerker.

11-24-2010, 05:00 PM	#15
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Second the Doomsday Book rec. Marvelous and poignant. Willis' novella Fire Watch set in the same universe also has that quality and is available to read free online, courtesy of Infinity Plus. Another surefire tearjerker is Mike Resnick's award-winning Kirinyaga story "For I Have Touched the Sky", readable online as a sample chapter from the DRM-free collection at Baen's Webscriptions. And from Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan saga, I'd add Mirror Dance and Memory, in which you get to see two men essentially destroyed and rebuilt from the ground up. Mind you, the effect works better if you've read the previous books, though the other recs above are standalone.

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