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|  04-09-2010, 04:37 AM | #1 | 
| Zealot            Posts: 126 Karma: 1826 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2 |  Suggest First contact SF novels and more Verner Vinge like authors please 
			
			Hi all I have read almost all of verner vinge's stuff and I keep coming back to his A Fire Upon the Deep. I would like to read more of the above kind of novels. Please suggest  Specially for two things - 1. First contact related - new kind of life and discovery and understanding and communication and comparison etc for e.g. the Tines understanding the children and their dataset 2. Space civilizations and Technology similar in vinge's work doesn't have to be exactly same   | 
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|  04-09-2010, 08:56 AM | #2 | 
| Maratus speciosus butt            Posts: 3,292 Karma: 1162698 Join Date: Sep 2009 Device: PRS-350 | 
			
			For first encounters with weird aliens, you should give James White's Sector General books a try-- though it is older material with an older writing style. For the type of civilizations, try Iain Bank's Culture books, or Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga, or Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space books, or Gregory Benford's Galactic Center Saga books, or Dan Simmon's Hyperion Cantos series, or Charles Stross'eses Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise. What you are looking for (for the sake of googling) is post-human, post-singularity settings. | 
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|  04-10-2010, 02:28 AM | #3 | 
| Zealot            Posts: 126 Karma: 1826 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2 | 
			
			@ardeegee thanks I will look into them. Hope I find some real interesting stuff    | 
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|  04-10-2010, 01:52 PM | #4 | 
| Unsullied            Posts: 249 Karma: 759693 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Israel Device: Kindle 2i | 
			
			James White is a great recommendation and I second it.  I'd also go for Ursula LeGuin's Hanish Cycle. Left Hand of the Darkness is Hugo award winner. The Word for World is Forest is another gem not to be missed. | 
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|  04-10-2010, 03:34 PM | #5 | 
| Wizard            Posts: 2,409 Karma: 4132096 Join Date: Sep 2008 Device: Kindle Paperwhite/iOS Kindle App | 
			
			The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell is an excellent 'first contact' novel with a literary/philosophical flavour. Basically, while the government is arguing about what to do when they discover another sentient life, the Jesuits send a private ship out. One survivor comes back, disfigured and traumatized. The novel goes back and forth between his treatment in the 'present day' and flashbacks to where exactly everything went wrong.
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|  04-10-2010, 03:51 PM | #6 | 
| Home Guard            Posts: 4,730 Karma: 86721650 Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Alpha Ralpha Boulevard Device: Kindle Oasis 3G, iPhone 6 | 
			
			All Seated On The Ground by Connie Willis is an amusing first contact novella that won a Hugo award a couple of years ago.
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|  04-10-2010, 04:10 PM | #7 | 
| Addict            Posts: 322 Karma: 1592 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: PRS-600 EB-1150 | 
			
			I don't think that these will be of the same intricacy but others may like them. The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle Worldwar: In the Balance by Harry Turtledove | 
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|  04-10-2010, 04:14 PM | #8 | 
| -            Posts: 2,602 Karma: 16748808 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: At the Baltic Sea Device: Some | 
			
			What came to my mind instantly are the Brothers Strugatzki and their story "Baby" or "Little One" which was published in the US under the telling title "Space Mowgli" in: Strugatsky, Arkady and Boris. Escape Attempt (Best of Soviet Science Fiction) translated by Roger DeGaris. New York: Macmillan Pub Co, May 14, 1982, 321 pp. ISBN 0-02-615250-9. LCCN: 82000029. Sadly there seem to be no ebooks of this story or the other writings of the Strugatzkis available (yet).  It's the same with the works of the late Polish grandmaster of SF - Stanislaw Lem. A real pity! | 
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|  04-10-2010, 05:45 PM | #9 | 
| The Dank Side of the Moon            Posts: 35,930 Karma: 119747553 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Denver, CO Device: Kindle2 & PW, Onyx Boox Go6 | 
			
			Just went looking to see if Fire Upon the Deep was available in ebook form and found this on Amazon: A Fire Upon The Deep (Kindle Edition) by Vernor Vinge (Author) Kindle Price: $7.99 & includes wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet Sold by: Macmillan This price was set by the publisher ,,,,,, Apparently it was about $1.50 cheaper earlier according to Inkmesh search (which has the "old" price). | 
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|  04-10-2010, 06:17 PM | #10 | 
| Readaholic            Posts: 255 Karma: 1058454 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Swindon, UK Device: Sony PRS-T2 (previously 505 and 650) | 
			
			+1 for Iain Banks' Culture novels. For a first contact novel, my personal favourite is Contact by Carl Sagan. | 
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|  04-11-2010, 02:18 AM | #11 | 
| Zealot            Posts: 126 Karma: 1826 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2 | 
			
			@everyone Gosh! thanks you everyone. I am really happy and now I have so much stuff to add to my reading list  I have an event coming and I will be telling my firiends which books/ebooks to gift me   | 
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|  04-11-2010, 02:20 AM | #12 | |
| Zealot            Posts: 126 Karma: 1826 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2 | Quote: 
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|  04-15-2010, 02:41 PM | #13 | 
| Leaver of Hoofmarks            Posts: 207 Karma: 24077 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Northern Alabama Device: Kindle Scribe, Kindle Paperwhite 4 | 
			
			My favorite first-contact story is The Color of Distance by Amy Thompson. It has a sequel, which was OK, but I liked the first book the best. | 
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|  04-15-2010, 03:17 PM | #14 | 
| Grand Sorcerer            Posts: 11,732 Karma: 128354696 Join Date: May 2009 Location: 26 kly from Sgr A* Device: T100TA,PW2,PRS-T1,KT,FireHD 8.9,K2, PB360,BeBook One,Axim51v,TC1000 | 
			
			James Blish - A case of Conscience Isaac Asimov - The Gods Themselves - First contact between two civilizations that don't exactly meet James Gunn - The Listeners - Depends on what kind of contact contact means.  (And yes, THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE rocks!) Hard to believe its 40 years old. | 
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|  04-23-2010, 03:18 AM | #15 | 
| Zealot            Posts: 126 Karma: 1826 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Kindle 2 | 
			
			I started reading James White's "Hospital Station". I am on the second story 'Sector General' and it makes me sad when the station is hit by the spaceship.  It is an oddly engaging book. Thanks @ardeegee Only the word 'educator tape' gives away its era. I wonder what people in the future will think when current memory technology is replaced by something radically differnt   Last edited by rollercoaster; 04-23-2010 at 03:21 AM. | 
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