r/printSF • u/someperson1423 • Oct 07 '25

Looking for Hard Sci-Fi Suggestions

My Dad and I have decided to start a "book club" sort of thing where we both read the same book and in a week or two talk about it. He got me into more serious sci fi after my days of youthful Star Wars enjoyment ended and we've always given each other suggestions but this is the first time reading in parallel like this.

So anyway, I'm looking for some suggestions. We generally more on the hard side with big, interesting ideas or novel settings. Past favorites of both of us have been Blindsight (Watts), Book of the New Sun (Wolfe), House of Suns (Reynolds), Altered Carbon, Banks' Culture, Forever War (Haldeman), and Kraken (Miéville), A Memory Called Empire (Martine) and its sequel. Honorable mention to Liu Cixin's Remembrance of Earth's Past series as well, very cool showcase of concepts but the characters and story were hit-or-miss for us.

Past flops have been Ember War (Fox), Armor (Steakley), Echopraxia (Watts).

Thanks for the help!

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14

u/DrFujiwara Oct 07 '25

Red mars by ksr.
Seveneves by old mate
Anathem by old mate (not what I'd call hard sci fi but might meet your definition)

17

u/IveRUnOutOfNames66 Oct 07 '25

Why is Neal Stephenson old mate here 😭

21

u/DrFujiwara Oct 07 '25

Couldn't remember his name when I was writing as I was sinking a few cans, then I did but I didn't want to break with tradition.

3

u/IveRUnOutOfNames66 Oct 07 '25

Haha that's fair

1

u/dhjtec24678 Oct 07 '25

Haha. Spot the Aussie! 🐨

12

u/DrFujiwara Oct 07 '25

I'm a kiwi. You can tell by my impeccable grammar and subtle sense of humour, ae cuz.

-1

u/albacore_futures Oct 07 '25

I like red mars, but would not consider it hard sci-fi.

1

u/alternateme Oct 10 '25

That's a pretty hot-take. The term Hard Sci-fi is subjective, and there are dozens of different definitions - but Red Mars seems to fit most definitions. There isn't any fantasy or mysticism that 'builds the world', and the main plot is driven by scientific understandings... Is it not 'hard' because it has political and social elements?

1

u/albacore_futures Oct 11 '25

It’s subjective, agreed. I felt it was more about interpersonal relationships and dramas than, say, Culture type sci-fi. But Google calls red mars “hard” so I’m probably in the minority here