'Clean' Sci Fi, Fantasy, or Classic Recommendations

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

..It's no worse then Monty Python's Life of Brian.

The Life of Brian - Blasphemy accusations

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Yeah, if you were going to read fantasy, Howard's 'low fantasy'/sword and sorcery style would fit the bill. Magic, when you see it at all, is always mysterious and scary and probably evil. There are no 'good' wizards. But the Conan stories could be pretty violent. He was a barbarian swordsman.

Also, due to the time they were written, they aren't the most culturally sensitive things ever written. It doesn't bother me, but given the other restrictions the OP mentioned, it is worth a mention.

Here are a few suggestions:

When Bad Wizards Have Too Much Time on Their Hands; or, Doggone Those Evil Wizards!

Cugel the Clever - Jack Vance
Brak the Barbarian - John Jakes
Kane - Karl Edward Wagner
Thongor - Lin Carter
Kothar the Barbarian - Gardner F. Fox
Gunthar - Steve Dilks
Elak - Henry Kuttner
Dorian Hawkmoon (and his evil sword) - Michael Moorcock

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Dorian Hawkmoon (and his evil sword) - Michael Moorcock

Oh boy. That is a new kettle of fish. Morcock can be quite confusing if you don't know the order to read his books.

[rantanplan]

So I was trying hard to find something that would meet your requirements and is more on the entertaining side of Sci-Fi. I'd like to recommend "Pandora's Legions" by Christopher Anvil.

The book from the perspective of an alien race that has just conquered earth. The beginning of the book is set in the early 20th century. What makes this book special is that the aliens quickly realize that, even though they have been able to conquer earth, the humans are acutally smarter than them. You could even say that they realize that they're bumbling idiots.

It's super entertaining and does comment on the human nature a bit in good fun. I think you'll like it.

[crossi]

In the same vein as above:
Wasp by Eric Russell
The Sleeping Planet by William Burkett
and in a different vein:
The Demon of Undoing by Andrea Alton (The "demons" are the descendants of an abandoned scientific study group on an alien planet, their new ideas caused such upheaval to the planet that they withdrew from all contact with them).

[Dr. Drib]

^

The Sleeping Planet, by William Burkett, Jr., was published in hardcover by Doubleday when the author was 18 years old.

It may contain content - adventure, fun, joking, humor, intelligent writing, love of life - not appropriate for an adult. Supervision by a child is recommended.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Oh boy. That is a new kettle of fish. Morcock can be quite confusing if you don't know the order to read his books.

I'm inclined to agree ... Moorcock is not someone that springs to mind for this request ... quite the reverse. Sure some of his books have evil wizards, but they also have lots of violence (physical and spiritual, implied and explicit) ... and lots of other good stuff . I don't remember that much about Hawkmoon in particular, Moorcock's "eternal champions" tend to blur together after a while.

[arjaybe]

Have you (OP) read The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell? I don't recall any bad language, sex or blasphemy, although I did read it a long time ago.

[Mikou]

I recommend these classics:

• Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
• Christy by Catherine Marshall

[Pilgrim86]

Naomi Novik: Temeraire (a series of eight or ten books or so). Napoleonic war with dragons. The dragons are sentient, but treated as something between slaves and valued servants, so in addition to war drama there's a lot of plot around human rights for dragons

Just a follow up- I read the first one and thought it was fare, but probably will continue looking for another series. Oh, and yes, I saw the "right of the worker/servant" theme built into it but didn't find it to be dealt with in such frequency that it became obnoxious.