Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time (Brent Gaisford, Cody Troyer)
Explorez tous les épisodes de Hugonauts: The Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time
| Date | Titre | Durée | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 28 May 2024 | Your top 20 sci-fi books - listener survey results! | 00:36:52 | |
If you want to see the complete survey results, including all the top books, favorite authors, and short stories come find them on the discord. Video version of this episode available on YouTube. | |||
| 11 Oct 2022 | Blindsight - A haunting, mindblowing first contact book! | 00:29:35 | |
Aliens have taken a snapshot of the entire earth, down to 1 meter of resolution - we know because they lit the entire sky on fire to do it. Then, humanity detected something out at the very edge of the solar system sending a signal - but not to us. The signal is being sent out, into deep space, to another planet, or to something already on the way to Earth. A ship is dispatched with a crew of five - including two technical specialists who have been deeply biologically and technologically enhanced, a soldier, a resurrected Vampire who interfaces with the ship AI to lead the crew, and our protagonist, Siri, whose job is to understand those specialists and translate their insights for the people back home. What will they find, out in the darkness? As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend:
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube here. | |||
| 03 Oct 2023 | Spin - A first contact book that starts with a bang (and the stars going out)! | 00:49:14 | |
Tyler, Jason, and Diane are growing up together in the suburbs of Washington, DC. One night, as they are outside looking up at the sky, something shocking happens - all the stars go out at once. The 'Hypotheticals' have wrapped the earth in a spin membrane that isolates the Earth, making time move millions of times slower inside the barrier than outside. In Tyler, Diane, and Jason's lifetime the sun will turn into a red giant and consume the earth - unless they can figure out how to escape the Spin!
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 22 Mar 2022 | Ender's Game - The page turner where empathy is a superpower! | 00:41:11 | |
In this episode we review Ender's Game, what makes it so inspiring to generation after generation of readers, why Ender is so incredibly likeable, discuss empathy as a superpower, and talk about Orson Scott Card's bizarre and outspoken homophobia (and why you should get this book from the library or used book store as a result). As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Speaker for the Dead (the sequel to Ender's Game), Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein, The Giver by Lois Lowry, and The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Youtube link if you'd prefer to watch the episode. NO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: Ender’s Game is the story of Ender Wiggin, a boy who is recruited into the elite orbital Battle School. There, young men and women are trained into the next generation of military leaders to command the forces of humanity against the buggers. The buggers are insect-like aliens who have attempted to invade the solar system twice, nearly wiping out humanity in the most recent invasion, and now humanity has sent fleets to attack the bugger worlds and try to avoid a 3rd invasion. Ender is a brilliant, empathetic kid, but has felt mostly alone his entire life. His older brother Peter is a violent sociopath, and only Ender’s older sister Valentine prevented Peter from attacking Ender. Now, at battle school, Ender feels even more alone, surrounded by children older than himself and adults who are constantly pushing him to his limits and trying to force him to be violent in an attempt to either break him or mold him into the best military commander Earth has ever produced. NOTE - at the very end of this episode we discuss the twist and the ending of the book. We give you plenty of verbal notice before we talk about any spoilers, but we wanted to give you a heads up here as well just in case. Make sure to tune out at 30:44 if you haven't read the book yet and don't want to spoil anything. We're also excited to announce we've been named one of the best sci fi podcasts of 2022! | |||
| 26 Mar 2024 | The Martian - Poop, Taters, and Tenacity | 00:27:55 | |
Six days ago astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone. But Mark isn’t ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills — and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit — he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 02 Nov 2021 | A Canticle for Leibowitz: Who knew the nuclear apocalypse could be so funny? | 00:26:50 | |
A Canticle for Leibowitz is set in the aftermath of a horrible nuclear war. The survivors blamed science, and killed intellectuals and burned all the books they could get their hands on. A monastery in the desert of the western US is one of the few places on earth to preserve any knowledge, and the book follows the monks of the monastery in three sections over the following thousand years. The monks are witty, wry, and funny as hell, and they make the book into an incredibly fun read. It's an amazing exploration of the nature of knowledge and religion. The book is also an incredible window in the late 50s and early 60s, when nuclear weapons felt very real and we had to begin to come to terms with the horrible weapons we'd invented. That's two for the price of one folks - spend some time in the nuclear wasteland, and spend some time in 1959 too. And, as always, a few related books we love that we recommend: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, and Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (and Heinlein's Double Star too for good measure). | |||
| 05 Apr 2022 | Ted Chiang's short stories - Like the optimistic version of black mirror episodes! | 00:29:36 | |
In this episode we review and discuss Exhalation and Stories of Your Life and Others, Ted Chiang's two short story collections. These seventeen stories are full of novel scientific ideas, wonderful characters, and thoughtful takes on the morality of future technologies and how they will change society. We certainly aren't alone in thinking they're wonderful - Ted Chiang has won four Hugos, four Nebulas, and four Locus awards for his stories. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you're looking for more great sci fi short story collections to read. This week, we recommend The Paper Menagerie and other Stories by Ken Liu, The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu, I, Robot by Isaac Asimov, and Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut. If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can watch it here. | |||
| 04 Jul 2023 | Solaris - An intensely creative, mind-blowing first contact book! | 00:29:01 | |
Kris Kelvin is traveling to the ocean world of Solaris. For more than 100 years, scientists have been trying to understand and communicate with alien life. But Solaris is truly alien - the entire planet-wide ocean is a single living organism. As Kelvin arrives, he finds that things are going wrong. The science station is disturbing and nearly abandoned. Will he be able to unravel the mystery of Solaris? Or will he lose his mind in the attempt?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 27 Sep 2022 | Interview with Ken Liu - author of the Paper Menagerie! | 00:57:24 | |
This week we are so excited to interview Ken Liu! All of his writing and translation work is excellent, but if you haven't read his short story collection The Paper Menagerie we recommend you start there, it's full of incredibly memorable stories. We talked with Ken about:
We'll be releasing more bonus content from the Hugo Awards on YouTube over the next week - check those out on our YouTube channel if you haven't already subscribed! Next episode we'll be discussing Peter Watt's Blindsight - look forward to talking with y'all then. Happy reading everybody! | |||
| 09 Jul 2024 | 7 Amazing, Short Sci-Fi Books for when you need a quick read! | 00:20:30 | |
Over the years we've built up a pretty big backlog of short novels that we really liked but hadn't had a chance to cover on the show - so today we're bursting that dam.
The seven books we recommend in this ep:
| |||
| 14 Dec 2021 | A Fire Upon the Deep - Aliens and AI and Internet Trolls, oh my! | 00:22:05 | |
In A Fire Upon the Deep, A colony of humans sets up in the transcendence, the part of the galaxy where computers work so well AI can ascend and become godlike. The humans start tinkering with an old artifact, and naturally, they awaken an ancient power. The reborn AI sets off on a reign of destruction, and soon is killing even other deities. A single ship escapes with the secret to save the universe and jets off through the beyond to the very edge of the slowness, the sector of the galaxy where the speed of light is an immutable law and computers don’t work very well. It crash lands there on a primitive, medieval world populated by doglike aliens called Tines, and two children are the only survivors of the crash. Meanwhile, in the wider world, the race is on to reach the crashed ship. Two humans and two tree-like aliens called Scroderiders are alone, pursued by the agents of the death god, trying to reach the kids and save the galaxy. This is a book that is full of big, interesting ideas that are seamlessly woven into an incredibly entertaining story - it will absolutely keep you turning the pages and staying up too late reading. Similar books we recommend: Children of Time / Children of Ruin - Adrien Tchaikovsky Startide Rising - David Brin Ancillary Justice - Anne Leckie | |||
| 25 Feb 2025 | Interview with Ann Leckie - author of Ancillary Justice! | 00:46:34 | |
Ann is also the author of Ancillary Sword, Ancillary Mercy, Translation State, Provenance (all set in her Imperial Radch universe), and the excellent stand-alone fantasy novel The Raven Tower.
We talked with Ann about:
| |||
| 13 Feb 2024 | The Expanse - Full series review! | 00:50:37 | |
Space ships whip across the solar system, ice haulers burn in from the gas giants, stolen Martian corvettes sneak behind enemy lines, and very human characters tie it all together and make the incredible journey worth the ride. Miraculously all 9 books (plus a collection of short stories) are fun, well-done adventures that will keep you turning the pages and racing to find out what happens next. Seriously, if you haven’t read the Expanse yet, it’s time for a treat that goes down easy.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 22 Feb 2022 | Children of Time - A book so good it makes you root for the giant spiders! | 00:31:23 | |
In this episode we review Adrian Tchaikovosky's most popular book, talk about how he pulled off making giant spiders likeable, discuss how the book started off so strong, and debate whether a book's optimism or pessimism should impact how we view it. We're also joined by a guest - Hasan, a listener who reached out and we invited to guest host an episode - shoot us a message at hugonautspodcast@gmail.com if you're interested in apply to guest host a future episode! As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Startide Rising by David Brin, Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (and to a lesser extent the sequel A Deepness in the Sky), The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson, and Children of Ruin by Adrian Tchaikovsky (the sequel to this book). YouTube link if you prefer to watch the episode. NO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: Earth has been destroyed in an unknown cataclysm, but just before the fall, a scientific ship in a nearby system terraforms a planet and drops a super-evolutionary nanovirus onto the planet - where it starts working on spiders and ants. In the generations after the fall, humanity recovers enough to send out a few ark ships, one of which is heading toward the burgeoning spider world. We rotate between two narratives: one that describes the evolution of various spiders and spider characters across the generations, and one that details the events aboard the ark ship Gilgamesh as it’s human cargo wakes and sleeps over the eons. | |||
| 16 Nov 2021 | The Vorkosigan Saga: what INCREDIBLE main characters! | 00:23:39 | |
This series is beloved by its fans, but doesn't get enough recognition in the wider world. These are incredible, character-driven stories that are a breeze to read but beneath the surface have so much to say about what's most important in life and the meaning and definition of personal identity. That makes them the perfect intro to sci fi for anyone new to the genre, and a refreshing read for any longtime sci fi fan. 4.25 / 5 stars.
The Vorkosigan Saga is a series of 16 books by Lois McMaster Bujold, three of which won the Hugo award in 1991, 1992, and 1995. The Vor Game, Barrayar, Mirror Dance, and the rest of the saga follow the members of the Vorkosigan family, one of the feudal ruling families on the planet Barrayar. The books are digestible and concise by sci fi standards (350-600 pages, 11-18 hours of audiobook). The series is also loosely episodic, so you don't have to read them in order.
These are character-driven stories, and you're sure to remember these characters for years. The most important of them, Miles Vorkosigan, is clearly the inspiration for George R.R. Martin's Tyrion Lannister, and is even more likable than the knock-off Lannister version. He's a dwarf who suffers from several physical disabilities, but he's wildly brilliant, funny, and imperious, and is constantly throwing himself into danger to protect his friends and family (or just get himself out of a jam of his own making).
Across the generations, the Vorkosigan family are the main advisers to generations of Barrayaran emperors, and have to use their wits and intellect to get the empire out of trouble and slowly push Barrayaran society out of its backward nature. These are books about people, the stories that make them who they are, and how they create and define their identities in an unfriendly universe. | |||
| 19 Apr 2022 | The Three Body Problem - some of the biggest ideas in sci fi! | 00:45:07 | |
In this episode we review Cixin Liu's Hugo award winning Three Body Problem (the book that made him the first person from Asia to win the award), as well as the sequels. If you haven't read the first book yet, you should - it absolutely deserves all its acclaim, with a huge number of big tech ideas, an incredibly compelling character in Ye Wenjie, and even includes a section set during the Cultural Revolution in China to boot. Unfortunately, the sequels aren't as good - although the second book The Dark Forest does contain the single most disturbing solution to the Fermi Paradox we've ever read! As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you liked Three Body and are looking for more great sci fi to read. This week we recommend the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, Legends of the Galactic Heroes by Yoshiki Tanaka, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can watch it here. | |||
| 31 Jan 2023 | The Handmaid's Tale - A chilling, theocratic dystopian classic! | 00:36:04 | |
The story is told via the diary of a Handmaid - a young woman living in Gilead, an extremely repressive, patriarchal society that has taken over the United States. We explore the dark world through her eyes, and follow her struggle to express herself, escape, or just take control back over any part of her life. What are the rules of this brutal society? And will the Handmaid ever see the people she loves again?
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video. Keep reading y'all! | |||
| 23 Jan 2024 | We - The book banned by the Soviets that inspired 1984! | 00:36:53 | |
In the One State of the great Benefactor, there are no individuals, only numbers. Life is an ongoing process of mathematical precision, a perfectly balanced equation. Primitive passions and instincts have been subdued. Even nature has been defeated, banished behind the Green Wall. But one frontier remains: outer space. Now, with the creation of the spaceship Integral, that frontier -- and whatever alien species are to be found there -- will be subjugated to the beneficent yoke of reason. Unless D-503 can find a space within himself - that disease the ancients called a soul.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 07 May 2024 | 2024 Nebula nominees - 3 great books on this short list! | 00:32:29 | |
The 2024 Nebula awards are coming up, so we read and ranked all the books for ya. And we've got good news, this was a great year for fantasy and sci-fi!
The short listed books:
| |||
| 14 Jun 2022 | Interview with David Brin - Hugo and Nebula award-winning author of Startide Rising and the Postman! | 00:58:54 | |
David Brin is an astrophysicist whose international best-selling novels include The Postman, Startide Rising, and the Uplift War. He consults for NASA, companies, agencies, and nonprofits about the onrushing future. His first nonfiction book, The Transparent Society, won the Freedom of Speech Award. His newest book is Vivid Tomorrows: Science Fiction and Hollywood. Startide Rising won both the Hugo and the Nebula in 1984 - one of a very short list of books to win both awards! If you haven't read it yet, here's the setup: Startide Rising follows a spaceship from Earth, named Streaker, that is primarily crewed and captained by dolphins. The main conceit of Brin’s uplift series is that humanity has ‘uplifted’ dolphins and chimpanzees by speeding up their evolution. Streaker’s crew has discovered something of great interest to the entire galaxy, and is trying to get back to Earth with the information. Unfortunately, the galaxy is not a friendly place, and when word gets out about what Streaker is carrying, the entire galaxy converges on Streaker to try and stop them. Streaker is damaged and lands on an ocean planet to hide and buy time to repair themselves, while meanwhile the forces of all the other galactic civilizations battle it out in the solar system above them, trying to be the last one’s standing so they can capture Streaker. It’s a plot driven space opera, with each chapter following one of many different characters (even including a few aliens) as the crew of the Streaker races to repair their ship, to understand the strange planet they’ve crashed on, and tries to come up with a plan to escape and get back to Earth. If you want to learn more about David Brin's recent books:
Or you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video. Happy reading y'all! | |||
| 28 Mar 2023 | Interview with Becky Chambers - author of The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet! | 00:37:53 | |
All of Becky's writing is excellent, but if you haven't read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet it's a great place to start. It's a wonderful, warm, and character-driven space opera that follows the tight-knit crew of a wormhole-drilling starship working their way across the galaxy. We talked with Becky about:
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week), or join the Hugonauts book club on discord! | |||
| 28 Feb 2023 | Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - The wildly entertaining book that invented the Metaverse! | 00:30:20 | |
Hiro Protagonist is a self-described hacker working as a pizza-delivery driver and living in a storage unit at LAX. He lives in a US that has been fully corporatized - from Judge Bob’s Judicial System to Pastor Wayne’s Pearly Gates. To get away, Hiro spends much of his free-time in the Metaverse, where he wrote many of the subroutines that underpin the virtual world. One of his hacker friends, Da5id, is given a new virtual drug called Snow Crash that not only crashes his computer, but also destroys his brain in the real world. Hiro (and a hilarious cadre of friends) are drawn ever deeper into the worldwide conspiracy that is spilling out of the virtual world to threaten the real world.
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video. Keep reading y'all! | |||
| 09 Aug 2022 | Ancillary Justice – A unique take on AI and a sprawling, complex galactic empire! | 00:40:24 | |
Breq used to be the Justice of Toren - the huge, complex AI that inhabited a colossal starship and all of its thousands of ancillaries in the service of the Radch, the largest of the human empires. Ancillaries are human bodies that were captured in previous Radchaai annexations (or colonizations) – those who resist the takeover are killed and their bodies frozen and stored, ready to be activated and controlled by Radchaai AI in future annexations. The ancillaries are terrifying soldiers – each one is protected by almost impenetrable armor, and the AI never miss a shot. But now Breq has been reduced to only one ancillary body. The book follows two parallel timelines – one as she closes in on the end of her quest for revenge, and the other showing how she was betrayed twenty years ago. There are two small things that hold this book back just a little bit. First, it’s fairly complicated – perhaps too much so. Second, it starts off slowly – but once it gets going, it is incredibly propulsive. So, push through the first 50-80 pages, and know that it’s an incredible experience once you are immersed in the world! We also talk a bit about the two sequels in the Imperial Radch trilogy – those books aren’t as good and are a lot smaller in scope, but if you absolutely love Ancillary Justice, they can still be worth a read. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend:
Or you can watch the show on YouTube here. | |||
| 13 Sep 2022 | Author interviews from the Hugo Awards - Seanan McGuire, Ryka Aoki, and Joe Haldeman! | 01:04:33 | |
We had a great time rolling out the red carpet in Chicago, and we're excited to release the first set of interviews! The Seanan McGuire interview starts at 2:10. Seanan is a multiple Hugo award winning fantasy and sci fi author, most well known for her Wayward Children series and her Newsflesh zombie series (published under her pseudonym Mira Grant). We talked with her about how she manages to create so much content, what made her want to write about zombies, and her approach to researching her stories (she once gave herself a tapeworm to prep for a book about parasites!) The Ryka Aoki interview starts at 15:47. Ryka's breakout novel Light from Uncommon Stars came second in the Hugo voting this year. We talked with her about the book, making music, why she loves donut shops (and how she managed to include them in a sci fi novel), and queerness and what it means to be 'normal'. The interview with Joe and Gay Haldeman starts at 42:13. Joe is most famous for his novel The Forever War (which we talked with him about in a previous episode), as well as the Nebula award winning book Camouflage. We talk with Joe and Gay about Camouflage, the Bataan death march, as well as hanging out with Arthur C. Clarke, Gene Wolf, and Robert Silverberg at sci-fi conventions over the years. If you want to see photos from the red carpet, check them out on twitter or instagram! And if you want to see the rest of the interviews from ChiCon with other content creators, we'll be releasing those on our YouTube channel. | |||
| 28 Dec 2021 | The Left Hand of Darkness - an incredible book that shattered the glass ceiling in sci fi | 00:29:38 | |
In this episode we review Left Hand of Darkness, talk about the things that make it so timeless and fun to read, Ursula K Le Guin's real life experiences that inspired the book, and how it transcends sci fi and becomes 'literary' fiction that everyone can and should enjoy. The Satanic Verses - Salman Rushdie Winter is a cold, hostile world in the depths of a never-ending ice age, and the Gethenians who live there are biologically different than most humans. They spend most of their lives as hermaphrodites, but enter kemmer once a month, the time when they become sexually active and express male or female sex organs depending on the month. Genly’s assignment is to get the nations of Winter to join the Ekumen, a loose collection of human worlds that share knowledge and try to improve the lives of all humankind. Genly has to navigate an alien culture, a mad king, and two feuding nations to try and complete his mission. Most importantly, he must learn who to trust, and how to build a relationship with people so different from himself. | |||
| 20 Aug 2024 | Starship Troopers: the deeply Philosophical classic of Military Sci-Fi! | 00:43:14 | |
In the 23rd century Johnny Rico enlists in the Mobile Infantry, the heart of the human military. As he nears completion of an intensely rigorous training program to learn how to fight and use his power armor, war breaks out between humanity and the bugs. The bugs are aliens with a hive mind, who attack and destroy Buenos Aires, and Johnny and his friends must strive to survive and defend humanity through the brutal war. It's also full of deeply interesting (and controversial) ideas about duty, service, crime and punishment, and so much more. If you like military sci-fi this is a must-read, and if you are into philosophical SF you are going to be pleasantly surprised how much it will stick with you and make you think.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 24 Dec 2024 | A Clockwork Orange - the classic dystopia of crime and punishment! | 00:36:54 | |
The book is shocking, disturbing, entertaining, and unbelievably thought provoking all at once - no wonder Stanley Kubrick decided to turn the book into a movie (which is a must-watch classic in its own right). It's also an unforgettable masterwork of language, as the narrator, Alex, and his droogs speak in slang that is somehow entirely novel and comprehensible at the same time. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by I Am Machine by Lex Van Der Ploeg, which is available in print or kindle edition here.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 20 Jun 2023 | The Expanse - Books 1 thru 3 - the biggest space opera of the modern era! | 00:32:47 | |
Jim Holden is XO of an ice hauler making runs from the rings of Saturn to the asteroid cities of the Belt. Out in the darkness, they detect a distress signal, and move to investigate. Holden leads the away team to check on the signal, and they find a dead ship called the Scopuli that seems to have been boarded with military precision. Moments later, a stealth ship fires nuclear torpedoes at the ice hauler, killing the entire crew, leaving Holden and his away team as the only survivors. All the evidence points to the Martian military, and system-wide war threatens to break out unless Holden can find out who set the trap, and why. Miller is a detective on Ceres, and he is looking for a girl. When the trail leads him to the Scopuli and Holden, they realize that this girl may be the key to everything. Holden and Miller must thread the needle between the Earth government, the Outer Planet revolutionaries, and secretive corporations—and the odds are against them. But out in the Belt, the rules are different, and one small ship can change the fate of the universe.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 03 Jan 2023 | Double Star - A hilarious, lighthearted book that is a perfect introduction to Robert Heinlein! | 00:23:15 | |
The story is told from the first person perspective of Laurence Smith—the self-styled “The Great Lorenzo”—a down-and-out actor who spends most of his time in bars. He's approached by a space-pilot who offers him a drink and, despite some trepidation about Lorenzo’s high opinion of himself, offers him a dangerous job at a very high pay rate. One of the solar system's most important politicians has been kidnapped, and they need someone to impersonate him until he's rescued. Lorenzo is quickly pulled deeper and deeper into the conspiracy, and has to keep up the act to avoid his own death and an all-out planetary war. Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video. Drop us a line: | |||
| 14 Feb 2023 | The Andromeda Strain - A scientific thriller about an alien virus! | 00:25:37 | |
Michael Crichton was fresh out of Harvard Medical School when he wrote the Andromeda Strain - and we're so glad he did! The book that launched his literary career and all that followed, from Jurassic Park to Sphere. Here's the setup: A US government program is sending satellites with scoops into orbit, looking for alien organisms that can survive the void of space. When one of the scoops comes down in the Arizona desert two soldiers are sent out to pick it up. But as they get closer, they realize the signal has moved - someone has already picked up the object and moved it into the tiny town of Piedmont. As the two men pull into town, bodies line the streets. In less than five minutes they are dead too. The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of the nation’s most elite biophysicists are summoned to a clandestine underground laboratory where they must race to understand and contain the crisis. But the Andromeda Strain proves different from anything they’ve ever seen - and what they don’t know could not only hurt them, but lead to unprecedented worldwide catastrophe.
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video. Keep reading y'all! | |||
| 25 Oct 2022 | Behind the scenes with Seth Fishman - agent for Cixin Liu, Ann Leckie & more! | 00:45:51 | |
Seth Fishman is one of the biggest movers and shakers in the world of sci-fi publishing, representing Cixin Liu, Ann Leckie, Mary Robinette Kowal, Becky Chambers, Mur Lafferty, River Solomon, P Djeli Clark, and many others (plus huge names in lots of other genres too, like Randall Munroe, the creator of XKCD). We had a great time talking with him about what's happening behind-the-scenes in sci-fi, what the publishers like are looking for, and an honestly inspiring speech about how to talk about your own work. After this episode we’re taking a break for the holidays and closing out our first season (and so Cody can take his honeymoon!) We'll be back on December 6th to talk about Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower, and then returning to our regular schedule every two weeks starting January 3rd. We'll be missing y'all till then! Drop us a line: hugonautspodcast@gmail.com https://twitter.com/hugonautspod https://www.instagram.com/hugonautspodcast/ | |||
| 02 Jan 2024 | Beyond Lies the Wub by Philip K. Dick - complete short story audiobook! | 00:16:05 | |
A starship is taking off from Mars, and just before it does one of the crewman arrives with a strange new creature. What will the Wub bring to those on board, and the headstrong captain who can't stop thinking with his stomach? PS We by Yevgeny Zamyatin is still coming soon, but Brent had a family emergency, so Cody stepped up to bring y'all this gem in the meantime. | |||
| 25 Jan 2022 | Rendezvous with Rama - What if an alien ship flew into the solar system? | 00:28:07 | |
In this episode we review this timeless classic, talk about the real-life risk of meteors and comets hitting Earth, discuss how much it feels like nonfiction covering an event that just hasn't happened yet, and debate what makes a book ending great. | |||
| 01 Aug 2023 | The Dispossessed - Anarchy, capitalism, and fighting for freedom across two planets! | 00:30:10 | |
Shevek is a brilliant physicist, working on a new theory that may be as transformative and foundational as the work of Einstein. In pursuing his theory, he discovers that his dry homeworld of Anarres is not as free as he believed it to be. His society of anarchists has grown rigid, bureaucratic, and resistant to change in the years since the revolution. In order to pursue his work, he must leave Anarres and be the first to travel back to the deeply unequal, capitalist planet of Urras. Will Shevek succeed at completing his theory and igniting the fires of change? Or will he be consumed in the struggle for freedom?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 17 Jan 2023 | Dark Matter - A sci-fi thriller that is way too fun to put down! | 00:25:33 | |
Jason Dessen is walking home one night when he realizes he is being followed. A strange man in a geisha mask abducts him at gunpoint, drives him to an abandoned building, takes his phone and clothes, and injects him with a strange drug. When Jason wakes up, he’s surrounded by strangers congratulating him for something he’s supposed to have achieved. In this world he’s not a college professor - they say he’s created something that seems impossible. He looks for his wife - but in this world she says she’s not his wife. His son was never born. Is this world real, or a dream? And no matter what this place is, how can he get back to the people he loves? Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video. We also launched three new things this week!
Keep reading y'all! | |||
| 21 Nov 2023 | The Top 15 Sci-Fi Books of All Time! | 00:37:05 | |
Ranking our top 15 sci fi books of all time:
If you think something deserves to be on the list, drop us a line on Discord!
| |||
| 06 Dec 2022 | Parable of the Sower - A very real dystopia that helped launch Afrofuturism! | 00:28:37 | |
It’s the year 2025, and society is descending into anarchy in the face of climate change and other disasters. We see the world through the diary entries of Lauren Olamina, a teenager living in a walled-in neighborhood in the exurbs of Los Angeles. Jobs are scarce, food and water are increasingly expensive, and armed gangs and drug addicts control the streets outside. Lauren’s father, a pastor and professor at a local college, tries to keep their little community safe, but Lauren feels things going to pieces and is always preparing for things to get worse. When it all comes crashing down, will she be ready? Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video. Drop us a line:
| |||
| 06 Jun 2023 | Fahrenheit 451 - book propaganda or flamethrower celebration? | 00:36:19 | |
Guy Montag is a fireman - one whose job is to burn books, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag and his wife, Mildred (who spends all day with her television ‘family’) had never questioned his life as a fireman, until he meets his eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse. Clarisse introduces him to a bigger world and new ideas, and Montag begins to question everything he has ever known.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 19 Oct 2021 | Dune: Do you like sand? | 00:22:57 | |
This is a no-spoiler review. In advance of the new Dune movie, we thought it would be fun to revisit Dune and remember what made it great (and the things that aren't so great). If you haven't the read Dune and want to decide whether to read it - this one's for you. Or, if you want to dig back into the book without re-reading the whole thing - this one's for you too. | |||
| 14 Jan 2025 | Ministry for the Future - Heatwaves, Super-Storms, and Cutting-Edge Climate Tech! | 00:45:04 | |
The book somehow manages to be optimistic at the same time that it realistically portrays horrific climate catastrophes - the opening chapter will stick with you forever. That said, it also suffers from some of KSR's usual writing quirks: weak characters and a pretty loosely defined plot. We talk about it all, the good, the bad, and the terrifyingly hot! As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 22 Oct 2024 | The Best Dystopian Books of All Time | 00:55:46 | |
This episode is sponsored by The Dawn series by Ray N. Kuili, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindle here.
All the books in the episode (with YT links to those we've got full episodes on, or search for them in your podcast app):
| |||
| 11 Apr 2023 | Providence by Max Barry - an AI battleship, a hapless crew, and black-hole spewing aliens! | 00:38:24 | |
Four soldiers are serving a four year tour of duty as the only crew members on a super-advanced AI battleship, dispatched to fight the alien Salamanders who have been spewing black holes everywhere and killing humans in space. The ship is fully controlled by AI, and as the mission goes on our heroes feel more and more like window dressing - they sure are killing a lot of aliens, but are they anything more than passengers on this ship? Or are they just window-dressing for the military industrial complex? Thanks to Lori from the Hugo, Girl podcast for joining us for this episode! Hugo, Girl is a monthly show featuring three very funny space feminists reading and discuss Hugo Award-winning fiction. Cody joined them on their most recent episode, talking about the hugely underrated book Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang.
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week) | |||
| 18 Jun 2024 | Embassytown - Aliens who are truly alien and a wild, techno-organic world! | 00:36:55 | |
There is only one human settlement on the planet of Arieka. There, in Embassytown, a young woman named Avice grows up in a strange world between worlds, where all that is human and all that is alien collide without ever really coming together. That's not much of a summary, but this is a book that really benefits from going in mostly blind, so we made sure to keep things really clean in the pre-spoilers section too.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 12 Dec 2023 | The Mountain in the Sea - Octopuses, AI, and the struggle to communicate! | 00:28:50 | |
Rumors are swirling about a species of super-intelligent octopus living off the coast of Vietnam. As corporations and other non-state actors begin to investigate, it becomes clear that we are not alone in the universe - alien life has evolved right here on earth. DIANIMA, a giant tech company known for its machine learning prowess, buys the islands to study the octopuses and try to monopolize their unique brains for profit. They send Evrim, the world’s first true android / AI, and Dr. Ha Nguyen, a brilliant marine biologist, to study the octopuses, and Altantsetseg, a battle-hardened drone operator, to defend the islands from rapacious automated fishing vessels. Can they learn to communicate with the octopuses? Or will this new intelligent life be destroyed by global corporations run amok?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 26 Jul 2022 | Ranking the best sci-fi books of 2021! Who are the frontrunners to win the Hugo award? | 00:39:12 | |
Ranking and reviewing the best speculative fiction books of 2021! Here's the extremely abridged version of the list, with a one sentence summary of each: 6. Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark - A murder mystery set in a steampunk version of Cairo with lots of genies. 5. The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers - A bunch of aliens are stuck at an interstellar truck stop, hanging out with a cute kangaroo. 4. She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan - Mulan, but Mulan acts more like Walter White from Breaking Bad. 3. A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine - Translator needed to talk with scary aliens, but everyone has an ulterior motive. 2. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir - A high school science teacher is alone in space trying to save the world - no pressure. 1. Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki - A young trans woman meets a violin teacher who owes the devil seven souls - oh and the donut lady down the block is a starship captain too. If you're excited about this year's Hugo, you can vote if you want to! You can either attend the annual convention, or buy a supporting membership for $50 to be able to vote. If you want to vote or attend, you can get your membership here: https://registration.chicon.org/memberships And if you are going to the convention, please drop us a line and let us know! We'll be there running a red carpet and interviewing authors, and we'd love to meet all the rest of the Hugonauts from around the world too! Shoot us a DM on twitter or instagram, or send us an email to hugonautspodcast@gmail.com to let us know you'll be in Chicago. Happy reading y'all! | |||
| 12 Nov 2024 | The Silo Series by Hugh Howey - Wool, Shift, and Dust | 00:40:57 | |
As always, no spoilers until the end when we clearly call it out before getting into the full plot explanation and discussion.
This episode is sponsored by The Song of Immaru: Earth's Door by PJ Dudek, which you can get on print, audiobook, or kindle here. Similar media we recommend:
| |||
| 16 Apr 2024 | Metro 2033 - The book that inspired the hugely popular video games! | 00:38:09 | |
The year is 2033. The world has been reduced to rubble. Humanity is nearly extinct. The survivors live in the Moscow Metro - the biggest air-raid shelter ever built. It is humanity's last refuge. Stations have become mini-statelets, their people uniting around ideas, religions, water-filters - or the simple need to repulse an enemy incursion. VDNKh is the northernmost inhabited station on its line. It was one of the Metro's best stations and still remains secure. But now a new and terrible threat has appeared. Artyom, a young man living in VDNKh, is given the task of penetrating to the heart of the Metro, to the legendary Polis, to alert everyone to the awful danger and to get help. He holds the future of his native station in his hands, the whole Metro - and maybe the whole of humanity.
This is a unique book! So instead of our normal book recs, we recommend some similar video games:
| |||
| 30 Jul 2024 | 12 Books - the best of last year! Ranking the Hugos plus Six More | 00:43:03 | |
We rank the nominees for the 2024 Hugo award, plus 6 more from last year!
The books:
| |||
| 08 Feb 2022 | The Mars Trilogy - colonizing and terraforming Mars! | 00:29:17 | |
In this episode we review KSR's magnum opus, talk about the technology he includes that makes the terraforming project possible, discuss the decline in the quality of each successive book, and debate what makes a character feel real. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke, the Expanse Series by James S. A. Corey, and The Martian by Andy Weir. YouTube link if you prefer to watch the episode. NO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: It is the year 2027, and humanity is colonizing Mars! 100 scientists, engineers, and astronauts take the first colony ship to cross the interplanetary gap. Red Mars follows ten of the first hundred colonists and tells the story of the first forty years of life on Mars through their eyes. They build towns and cities, establish industries, become self-sustaining, begin to terraform the red planet, and are joined by tens of thousands of additional immigrants from Earth. Green Mars similarly takes place over the next several decades, and resolves the conflict over the future of Mars and its relationship with Earth. Blue Mars follows those same characters after the events of Green Mars, and is largely a description of how they choose to spend the end of their lives. | |||
| 14 Mar 2023 | Contact by Carl Sagan - a scientifically grounded and totally ground-breaking first-contact story! | 00:36:55 | |
Ellie is a brilliant radio astronomer who has often felt alone in the world. When she detects an indisputably intelligent signal emanating from the Vega system, that all changes - for her and for the entire human race. The nations and people of the world begin to come together in the face of the alien intelligence, and humanity faces a simultaneous revival and crisis of faith. Ellie works with an international team of scientists to decode the layers of the Message, and eventually, they realize the Message contains plans for some kind of Machine. Should humanity invest the resources to build the Machine? And if they do, what will happen when they turn it on?
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video (and see the short videos we've started posting every other week). Hope you love it, keep reading y'all! | |||
| 28 Jun 2022 | The Machine Stops - A dystopian short story that feels almost too real! (analysis episode) | 00:16:08 | |
It is truly unbelievable that this story was written in 1909 - E. M. Forster's dystopian world feels all too real in our increasingly digitally connected and physically isolated real world. The story is about ritual & superstition, resistance to change, the dangers of reliance on an all-powerful authority, the origins of knowledge and creativity, and a tumultuous relationship between a mother and son who see the world in very different ways. We're joined to talk about the story by actor and writer Kiran Subramaniam, who also joined us to record our full cast, unabridged audiobook of this story! No spoilers here as usual, but we do highly recommend listening to the story as well, whether before or after the analysis & review. It's an incredible story and isn't too long - the audiobook episode is just over an hour. You should see that free audiobook available as our episode 19. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend 1984 by George Orwell, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut, and Foundation by Isaac Asimov. Or you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video. Happy reading y'all! | |||
| 17 May 2022 | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - The funniest thing to ever happen to sci fi! | 00:31:56 | |
Douglas Adams passed away 21 years ago this week, so it seemed like a good time to revisit his amazing work. These are short, digestible books that are jam-packed full of jokes and mad-cap adventures. The first book in the series (the eponymous Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) is especially full of non-stop zaniness - the chapters are only a few pages long, but every single one feels like it has something big happening in it, and every page has a joke. The books also raise big philosophical questions, but answers them in a truly unique way. Instead of trying to dispense wisdom or tell you how to live your life, the books poke fun at the entire notion of universal answers to life's big questions. Instead, Adams suggests we could all do with taking life a little less seriously and finding our own answers to those big questions. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. Later on this week we'll also be giving away a complete set of all five HGTTG books, as well as Adam's final, posthumously published work, The Salmon of Doubt. Find us on twitter or instagram @hugonautspodcast to enter to win! If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can find it at this link. | |||
| 05 Mar 2024 | Roadside Picnic - the book that inspired Stalker and Metro 2033! | 00:43:44 | |
Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of the young rebels who venture illegally into the Zone, one of six areas on Earth that have been profoundly changed by the visitation of aliens to Earth. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And despite the danger, the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answers he's been looking for.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 10 Sep 2024 | The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell - A doomed mission to an alien planet! | 00:37:24 | |
A radio astronomer discovers a signal coming from Alpha Centauri - strange, beautiful alien voices, singing. While the rest of the world is transfixed by the broadcast, a catholic order, the Jesuits, take action and launch a mission to the planet of Rakhat. But from the outset we know the mission is doomed to tragedy, because a second storyline follows Emilio Sandoz after his return to Earth. The only survivor of the mission, he struggles to heal his wounds and to reconcile his faith with the deaths of his friends, and prepare to tell the world the truth of what happened on Rakhat.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 01 Oct 2024 | The Mercy of Gods - Reviewing James S. A. Corey's new book | 00:33:13 | |
The Mercy of Gods follows a team of research scientists trying to survive an alien invasion. The Carryx are ruthless - killing 1/8 of the population immediately as they arrive to encourage the survivors to cooperate. Our team, along with many others, are then abducted and brought to a Carryx planet, where they are set loose in an open-air prison populated by hundreds of other alien races. They’re told that if they want to survive they must be useful to the Carryx. Will they resist, or decide to serve the alien overlords? And what does service even mean to aliens who think totally differently?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 15 Aug 2023 | 2023 Hugo Nominees - plus 3 great SF books that should have made the list! | 00:25:53 | |
Ranking the 2023 Hugo nominees:
And three amazing sci-fi books that should have made the list:
| |||
| 31 Oct 2023 | Permutation City - A mind-bending look at the singularity, consciousness, and immortality! | 00:32:29 | |
Paul Durham has begun experimenting on his own mind. He uploaded a copy of his neural patterns - everything that makes him who he is - into a computer simulation. The more he experiments, the more the lines between the real person and the virtual person begin to blur. What he discovers there, out at the edge of consciousness and the pattern that defines him, give him an impossible idea. A permutation city, where immortality might be possible.
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 28 Jun 2022 | The Machine Stops - Complete Short Story Audiobook with Full Cast! | 01:07:55 | |
A world where everyone occupies a tiny cell, connected to each other only by machines, and where a parent's responsibility to their child ends at birth. Where all knowledge and experience comes secondhand, through the machine. A world where the machine rules everyone's lives. We absolutely love this classic short story, and we're lucky it's old enough to have entered the public domain so we can release this complete audiobook for free! We did a full cast recording with Kiran Subramaniam joining Cody and Brent to voice all the parts. Let us know if you liked (or didn't like) this episode so we can keep doing more (or quit doing) these free audiobooks! Drop us a message to let us know what you think on Instagram or Twitter (search 'Hugonauts Podcast'), or via email at hugonautspodcast@gmail.com. Keep reading y'all! | |||
| 31 May 2022 | Foundation - The rise and fall of a galactic empire! | 00:36:12 | |
These books are among the most popular works of the Golden Age of sci fi, and for good reason. The overall story arc established in the first book is very, very good. Hari Seldon combines mathematics and psychology to create the new science of psychohistory and predicts that the galaxy-wide empire that has ruled and kept the peace for tens of thousands of years will collapse within 500 years. The collapse is inescapable, but Seldon sees a single, narrow path that could shorten the dark ages after the collapse from 30,000 years to 1,000 years, and establishes a Foundation at the barren edge of the galaxy to enact that plan. The books are essentially organized as collections of short stories, each story detailing the story of a new generation of foundationers as they seek to navigate a crisis that threatens the plan and the very existence of the Foundation. The technology holds up as well - Asimov was a master of making things futuristic without being too specific about how they worked, and its made his series into a timeless classic. Asimov's view of history as the result of the collective work of humanity rather than the actions of a few great men is also very refreshing and real - a nice change of pace from the typical hero's journey. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend I, Robot by Isaac Asmiov, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu, and A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr. Or you can watch the show on YouTube here if you prefer video. | |||
| 12 Jul 2022 | House of Suns - An epic space opera with solid science! | 00:39:33 | |
Gentian line is one of the most powerful forces in the galaxy - one of the 'lines' of clones (called shatterlings) who have been traveling the galaxy since the start of the star-faring era six million years ago. The shatterlings of Gentian line travel alone, but they come together for a reunion every 200,000 years to compare what they have seen on their latest circuit around the galaxy. Campian and Purslane are two shatterlings who have fallen in love and are traveling together against the rules of the line. They are running late to the upcoming reunion when they get a terrifying message - someone has attacked the reunion and killed almost all of the Gentians. Now it is up to them to determine who, or what, their enemy is before the entire line is wiped out. This is a book that succeeds because of its incredible world building and engrossing plot. You are slowly but steadily introduced to new mind-bending concepts and mysteries, and learning the answers to those questions over the course of the book is a real pleasure. The scientific concepts and technologies that power the world (which are all rooted in real science) are also incredibly fun to explore, and are one of Reynolds strong suits - perhaps not surprising for a writer with a PhD in astrophysics. That said, if you are looking for dialogue-driven writing or unforgettable characters, this might not be the book for your current moment. It also slows down a bit in the middle of the book, but the final quarter picks up the pace again, and is propulsive, gripping, and answers all the big questions in very satisfying ways. This is a stand-alone novel, which is somewhat rare for space operas. If you want to enjoy a big, galactic adventure without the commitment of a long series, this is definitely up your alley. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend:
If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can find it at this link. | |||
| 12 Sep 2023 | 1984 - The techno-surveillance dystopia that keeps coming true! | 00:38:39 | |
Winston Smith is a Party member living in London. He, like every other member of the Party, is under constant surveillance. Despite the risk, he dares to buy a blank book and begin to write down his thoughts. From the first moment he writes “down with Big Brother” he believes he is doomed to die in the torture chambers below the Ministry of Love. Will his deviance be caught, or will Winston succeed in finding a way to resist the totalitarian control of the Party?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 09 Mar 2022 | An interview with Joe Haldeman, author of The Forever War! | 00:54:27 | |
This week we were so excited to interview Joe Haldeman and his wife Gay! The Forever War is absolutely one of the best sci fi books of all time, and we were excited to discuss the origins, real-life inspiration, and message of the book, as well as sci-fi and writing more broadly. In addition to writing more than 30 novels, Joe was also a professor at MIT (as was Gay) where he taught science fiction writing for decades. This week, instead of us recommending similar books, we asked Joe and Gay to recommend their favorite sci-fi books. Among Joe's books, they recommended Camouflage, the World's Trilogy, and The Accidental Time Machine. For books by other writers, they recommended anything by Vonnegut, The Murderbot series by Martha Wells, Ted Chiang, N.K. Jemisin's Broken Earth trilogy, and Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga (as well as some love for John Dos Passos and Ernest Hemingway if you want to read some non science fiction). YouTube link if you prefer to watch the episode. NO SPOILERS SUMMARY OF THE FOREVER WAR: William Mandella was a physics student when he was conscripted into the UNEF. Human colony ships had been disappearing, apparently at the hands of a newly discovered alien species called the Taurans, and humanity is conscripting the best and brightest to go out and fight the aliens in deep space. Mandella and the rest of the recruits undergo dangerous and brutal training to learn how fight for control of the collapsars that greatly speed interstellar travel. During training and through the difficult fighting that follows, Mandella falls in love with another member of his unit, a woman named Marygay Potter. Mandella and Marygay do everything they can to survive the war, but even if they survive, they still can’t return to the world they left behind. Even with the collapsars to speed their interstellar journeys, travelling through the gaps between the stars still requires accelerating to near lightspeed, and the resulting time dilation means every trip takes them farther and farther into the future, away from their families and the society they knew. | |||
| 04 Feb 2025 | The 14 Best First Contact Books | 00:43:58 | |
We also each rank our top three first contact books at the end of the episode. This episode is sponsored by The Pythagorean by Alexander Morpheigh, which is available in print or kindle edition here.
All the books in the episode (with YT links to those we've got full episodes on, or search for them in your podcast app):
| |||
| 17 Oct 2023 | Interview with Peter Watts - Author of Blindsight! | 00:43:55 | |
We talked with Peter about:
Or you can watch the episode on YouTube if you prefer video, or join the Hugonauts book club on discord! And if you haven't listened to our episode about Blindsight, check it out here. | |||
| 18 Jul 2023 | The Road - the best post-apocalyptic book ever written?! | 00:30:46 | |
The bombs fell, and the world ended. A man and his pregnant wife survived the blasts. Their son would be born into a world changed entire. It grew darker, and colder, and more violent. The new world was grim and grey and relentless, and the wife could not bear to live in it. The man and his young son had to set out on the road, alone, heading south. The road, though, is dangerous. Cannibals and slavers and men driven mad with hunger roam the hills. Even if the man can avoid marauders, will he be clever and lucky enough to find food and supplies in the picked-over remains of civilization to feed his son? And every day that they survive, they have to ask themselves if it is worth surviving. What awaits them in the south, on the coast?
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 11 Jan 2022 | The City and the City - A Mystery in a Mystery! | 00:17:01 | |
In this episode we review The City and The City, talk about the things that make it so interesting and fun to read, how 'weird fiction' fits into sci fi, and who makes the rules of society. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar stories if you're looking for more great books to read. This week, we recommend The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K Le Guin, LA Confidential by Elmore Leonard, and Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari. YouTube link if you prefer to watch NO SPOILERS BOOK SUMMARY: The City and the City (2010) by China Miéville is a murder mystery set in two cities at the same time. Inspector Borlu is a smart, likeable, no-nonsense detective from Beszel, a city that exists in the same geographic space as the foreign city of Ul Qoma. Despite sitting in the same place, with many streets and even some buildings existing in both cities, the two are fierce rivals with harsh penalties for those who ‘breach’, or cross between the two cities. Inspector Borlu is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman that quickly proves to have interested parties across both cities. As Inspector Borlu digs deeper into the case, it also exposes the workings of the two cities, and shadowy, all-powerful agents of Breach that patrol the border and arrest, expel, or execute interlopers. Who killed this young woman? And what exactly is Breach? | |||
| 30 Nov 2021 | Hyperion - A space epic with a classic literary twist | 00:25:21 | |
Hyperion by Dan Simmons is one of the best sci fi books of all time, and won the Hugo and the Locus awards in 1990. We give it a 4.5 / 5. The book is a space epic in the form of Chaucer’s Canterbury tales. Hyperion is a colony world at the edge of Hegemony space, and home to some of the greatest mysteries of the galaxy. A network of giant labyrinths crisscrosses underground across the whole planet, the Time Tombs are surrounded by an anti-entropic field that makes time run backwards, and a fearsome, three-meter-tall metal monster with truly terrifying superpowers called the Shrike that emerges periodically to murder innocent passerby. 7 pilgrims travel to Hyperion from humanity’s various portal-connected “web worlds” to return to the strange planet in advance of an alien invasion. Like in Chaucer, the story largely consists of each pilgrims’ self-narrated back story, intercut with their return journey to Hyperion and hence, the Time Tombs. The book is a masterful mashup of both real-world literary history and science fiction tropes. The form of the novel engages you deeply in the overall mystery, and some of the pilgrim's stories will stick with you for years to come. As always, we also recommend a few similar books to check out if you loved Hyperion: Sirens of Titan by Vonnegut Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge Ancillary Justice by Anne Leckie | |||
| 09 May 2023 | Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of 2022: Part 1 - The Nebula Nominees | 00:23:47 | |
For all six of the nominated books we'll give you a quick summary (with no spoilers), a review, and a rundown of what kind of reader is likely to love (and who might hate) each book. Featuring:
And join us for our next episode on A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick!
| |||
| 23 Aug 2022 | The Windup Girl - A gene-hacking dystopia full of anti-heroes! | 00:33:30 | |
The vast majority of the world's fossil fuels have been expended, leading to a climate and economic catastrophe. In the aftermath, calories from food become the world's most important energy source, not only for human consumption, but also to power industry and technology. A few mega-corporations produce almost all the world's food, and have become the most powerful entities on earth, thriving by genetically engineering new foods, while also trying to destroy the competition by biohacking diseases to attack other sources of nutrition they don't control. The novel is set in a future version of Bangkok. Thailand is one of the few countries that has maintained its sovereignty from the calorie companies, but it has it's own troubles, and is plagued by corruption, rent-seeking, and factions struggling for control over the kingdom. The cast of characters is complex and full of deeply flawed people, all trying to get a piece of the pie in this land of relative prosperity. We can't remember ever reading a book so thoroughly populated by people who feel both real and so ruthlessly self-interested - it's brutal, but also so refreshing to read something so out of the ordinary! This book calls for a trigger warning - there are two fairly brutal sexual assault scenes that are quite disturbing. If you are reading a chapter with some bad things happening at a sex club, know that it will get worse before it gets better - you can skip to the next chapter to avoid those scenes. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read:
Or you can choose to watch this episode on YouTube here instead. | |||
| 23 May 2023 | A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick's best book? | 00:36:16 | |
Substance D is a new drug sweeping the nation and slowly destroying the minds of its users. As the connection between the two halves of their brains degrades, they grow increasingly disoriented and confused before suffering irreversible brain damage. Fred is an undercover narcotics agent working to uncover where the new drug is coming from. But to find the source he has to pose as Bob Arctor, a user, and soon Arctor is as addicted as the junkies around him. Can he see through his psychosis long enough to tell which leads are real and which imagined? Or will he be consumed, like his friends, by substance D?
| |||
| 25 Apr 2023 | Brave New World - Sex, Drugs, and Dystopia | 00:40:07 | |
Set in a futuristic, unified World State, Brave New World tells the story of a very different kind of dystopia. The population is not tightly controlled in the traditional sense - instead they are free to do what they choose, and live phenomenally happy lives. However, people are born in test tubes and modified in-vitro to fulfill their role in the caste system, to love their work, and to love the hedonistic lifestyle that the World State provides. Bernard Marx is not perfectly happy though. He arranges a trip to a reservation to see a different way of living, and there meets someone born outside the system - The Savage - who begins to question the social order and chafe against the World Controllers who mastermind the system.
| |||
| 03 Dec 2024 | Neuromancer by William Gibson - an unforgettable world of sleek techno-criminals, AI, and body mods! | 00:37:00 | |
Neuromancer is an incredible science fiction classic, a page turner full of gripping action sequences, wild futuristic ideas, and a unique, techno-criminal world populated by wildly imaginative characters. As always, no spoilers until the end when we get into the full plot explanation and discussion. This episode is sponsored by Mythos: The Origin of Gods by A.A., which is available on print, audiobook, or kindle here
Similar books we recommend:
| |||
| 03 May 2022 | Station Eleven - A character-driven post-apocalyptic survival story! | 00:33:21 | |
Despite the grim nature of a story about a pandemic that destroys civilization, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel is full of subtle optimism and deep characters. It jumps between timelines and between characters, and builds mystery about how all these people are going to be connected. It tells a tense story about the dangers posed by other survivors in a post-apocalyptic world, while at the same time its characters try to hold on to art and music. It even manages to explore the narcissism created by celebrity in the 'present' timeline. The book was first published as sci-fi, but after the release of the TV show has been moved to the general fiction section in most book stores, so this also seemed like the right episode go deep on what exactly counts as sci-fi. As always, we also recommend and discuss some similar books if you are looking for more great books to read. This week we recommend Barrayar (or any book in the Vorkosigan Saga) by Lois McMaster Bujold, The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel, any book by Mario Vargas Llosa, and The Road by Cormac McCarthy. If you'd prefer to watch the video version, you can watch it at this link. | |||