Looking for some NON-military sci-fi

[JeremyR]

And I forgot one of my favorites, James White's Sector General series.

Basically it's about a giant space hospital. I guess it's vaguely military, because the hospital is run by something like a quasi-military organization, but the focus is on strange aliens with medical problems.

[OneandonlyDoc]

Originally Posted by JeremyR

And I forgot one of my favorites, James White's Sector General series.

Basically it's about a giant space hospital. I guess it's vaguely military, because the hospital is run by something like a quasi-military organization, but the focus is on strange aliens with medical problems.

....sounds like House or something, but with aliens.

[Nancy Fulda]

Originally Posted by WillAdams

Timothy Zahn's _Ikarus Hunt_ is quite good.

EVERYTHING by Timothy Zahn is pretty good. I got hooked on his Star Wars books, which I considered excellently done with the exception of Thrawn's death scene, and then proceeded to check out every other Zahn book at my local library.

[BillSmithBooks]

Not as well versed in the subject as I should be, but I second the suggestion of Tim Zahn's _Icarus Hunt_ (Indiana Jones...in space!) and Robert Heinlein's 1950s era juvies ... great space adventure.

Oddly enough, quite a few of the Star Wars novels are not military sf, just action adventure space fantasy. In particular, the Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy is excellent.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by BillSmithBooks

Not as well versed in the subject as I should be, but I second the suggestion of Tim Zahn's _Icarus Hunt_ (Indiana Jones...in space!) and Robert Heinlein's 1950s era juvies ... great space adventure.

Oddly enough, quite a few of the Star Wars novels are not military sf, just action adventure space fantasy. In particular, the Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy is excellent.

speaking of rah, there are quite a few novels and stories in his 'future history series' (which is not really a series, a separate discussion would be necessary to clarify this) that are non-military.

here's a (probably incomplete) list i keep:

Future History of Robert A. Heinlein

1. Life-Line (1939 in the original published version, 1951 in book collections)
2. "Let There Be Light" (soon after Life-Line)
Word Edgewise (Never written)
3. The Roads Must Roll
4. Blowups Happen
5. The Man Who Sold the Moon
6. Delilah and the Space Rigger
7. Space Jockey
8. Requiem
9. The Long Watch (1999)
10. Gentlemen, Be Seated!
11. The Black Pits of Luna
12. "It's Great to Be Back!"
13. "--We Also Walk Dogs"
14. Searchlight
15. Ordeal in Space
16. The Green Hills of Earth
Fire Down Below (Never written)
17. Logic of Empire
18. The Menace from Earth
The Sound of His Wings (Never written)
Eclipse(Never written)
The Stone Pillow (Never written)
19. "If This Goes On--"
20. Coventry
21. Misfit
Universe (prologue only) (2119)
22. Methuselah's Children (2136-2210)
23. Universe (~3500)
24. Common Sense (~3500)
25. Time Enough for Love (4272- and earlier time periods)
26. To Sail Beyond the Sunset

and here's a list of the juveniles that bill mentioned (imho most are not really very juvenile, also a subject for seperate discussion):

Scribner's juveniles by Robert A. Heinlein
1. Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947
2. Space Cadet, 1948
3 .Red Planet, 1949
4. Farmer in the Sky, 1950
5. Between Planets, 1951
6. The Rolling Stones (Space Family Stone) 1952
7. Starman Jones, 1953
8. The Star Beast, 1954
9. Tunnel in the Sky, 1955
10. Time for the Stars, 1956
11. Citizen of the Galaxy, 1957
12. Have Space Suit--Will Travel, 1958
(not Schribner's)
13. Starship Troopers (1959)
14. Podkayne of Mars, 1963

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by alansplace

and here's a list of the juveniles that bill mentioned (imho most are not really very juvenile, also a subject for seperate discussion):

Scribner's juveniles by Robert A. Heinlein
1. Rocket Ship Galileo, 1947
2. Space Cadet, 1948
3 .Red Planet, 1949
4. Farmer in the Sky, 1950
5. Between Planets, 1951
6. The Rolling Stones (Space Family Stone) 1952
7. Starman Jones, 1953
8. The Star Beast, 1954
9. Tunnel in the Sky, 1955
10. Time for the Stars, 1956
11. Citizen of the Galaxy, 1957
12. Have Space Suit--Will Travel, 1958
(not Schribner's)
13. Starship Troopers (1959)
14. Podkayne of Mars, 1963

Indeed, not really juveniles, and to some minds, his best work.

[BillSmithBooks]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Indeed, not really juveniles, and to some minds, his best work.

I agree...I didn't discover Heinlein's juvies until I was in my late 20s...always passed right by them on library shelves when I was a kid.

You can tell they were written in the great heyday of "We're going to go to the Moon and have flying cars and robots and stuff and the future's going to be AWESOME...as long as we don't nuke ourselves back to the Stone Age. Duck and cover!"

Great stuff.

As for his older work...just not my cup of tea.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Indeed, not really juveniles, and to some minds, his best work.

to that

[CRussel]

Somehow I knew you'd agree, Alan.

I find them still enjoyable now, and they've stood the test of time, even though some of the technology doesn't always work out quite that way.

[Harper Kingsley]

I can't believe nobody mentioned these guys:

Joan D. Vinge--Cat series. He's a psion
Alan Dean Foster--Flinx is cute
Susan R. Mathews--maybe milSci?
Catherine Asaro--kinda milSci, mostly romance w/fighting
Andre Norton--the grand dame herself. More YA now, but classic
Katie Waitman--"The Merro Tree" is awesome
Asimov--robots doing stuff

[bshar489]

Originally Posted by BillSmithBooks

Not as well versed in the subject as I should be, but I second the suggestion of Tim Zahn's _Icarus Hunt_ (Indiana Jones...in space!) and Robert Heinlein's 1950s era juvies ... great space adventure.

Oddly enough, quite a few of the Star Wars novels are not military sf, just action adventure space fantasy. In particular, the Brian Daley Han Solo trilogy is excellent.

I just looked on Amazon and found that _Icarus Hunt_ isn't available for Kindle Indiana Jones in Space sounds like my kind of book Oh well, I clicked the link that said I want this in Kindle or something to that affect. And I agree about the Heinlein '50s books. When other little girls were playing with Barbie dolls I was reading Heinlein and the Lucky Starr series by Paul French (it was years later before I found out it was Asimov

Bergette

[Apache]

I grew up reading Heinlein's books. And even though I was a juvie he did not write down to kids. I need to reread Podkayne of Mars. I keep meaning to after I found out that the original unedited version is available.
Apache

[BillSmithBooks]

Originally Posted by Harper Kingsley

I can't believe nobody mentioned these guys:

Joan D. Vinge--Cat series. He's a psion
Alan Dean Foster--Flinx is cute
Susan R. Mathews--maybe milSci?
Catherine Asaro--kinda milSci, mostly romance w/fighting
Andre Norton--the grand dame herself. More YA now, but classic
Katie Waitman--"The Merro Tree" is awesome
Asimov--robots doing stuff

Definitely agree on Andre Norton and Alan Dean Foster...will have to check out the other authors.

C.J. Cherryh's stuff is also great.

Tried and tried to like Asimov and his style is just dry enough that it just doesn't do much for me.