Looking for science fiction similar to Alpha Centauri

[Aleksey_aka_al]

So I must confess, I am an addict. Fiction addict. Of very narrow and discriminating tastes. From time to time (and as time comes, more often than before), I get this overwhelming thirst for science fiction or a drama story of a specific kind, and it drives me crazy because usually I can't fulfill the desired as subtle as it is. And even if I do, the story ends sooner or later, leaving empty space imminent to be filled with withdrawal if nothing else comes there.

As an addict with some record I came to specific practices of how to satisfy and deal with the thirst... well, it is more of forced behaviour patterns than organized practices. Anyway, there are perfect stories and "snack" ones. Perfect stories are those able to satisfy the thirst just perfectly (supposedly), and snack stories are those to fill the post-perfect story empty space.

Lately, both are mostly movies/shows, those usually get you higher and in less time, books are too slow injection and games require you to pedal them. When my mind finally discerned this fact, an addiction in addiction formed, craving for intense. And I had to feed it with dozens of movies and shows until no more of them left which are able to satisfy my sophisticated (or spoilt by surfeit) tastes.

The last one was Walking Dead. And now when the game is finished and the next episode of the show is weeks ahead, I've been left with no perfect stories, nor snacks to say, and so the thirst crawls out again, and it asks for a specific kind of fiction, and it burns from the inside...

***

Now, when I've made a snack story out of this...

I've played Alpha Centauri (and the mod for Civ4) so many-many times — to the point of distaste. The setting, atmosphere, philosophy are still so appealing, and yet unique, you long for it but you can't take it anymore.

Please, advise a book or other media which would bear close resemblance to this game!

The following is desirable about it:

- Distant future; space colonization or a world under colonization.
- Factions (at least 2); deep ideological differences which make those factions' ways truely divergent.
- Unique (yet believable) alien environment (might be lifeless too).
- Tiny interludes of world's media or documentaries (like all those faction leader quotes in SMAC).
- No Startrekish kind of races or ship representation.
- Story world is in succession to our world and history (this one is of less importance).

 

[Borachio]

How about Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed? Still, maybe too sociological for your taste. And it doesn't tick all your boxes.

I think yours may be a sad case!

 

[Aleksey_aka_al]

Ha! This book's review page was bookmarked in my browser. Guess, gonna give it a try now. Thanks!

 

[Leifmk]

I always recommend Blindsight by Peter Watts. Even if it does not prefectly fit your criteria. It's an intense story of first contact with an alien intelligence. You can find it free and legal online if you google for it (alongside the rest of Watts' stuff).

Warning: Contra-indicated in case of depression or similar. (This goes for everything Watts writes).

 

[Cutlass]

It doesn't fit all of those criteria, but you might look at The Legacy of Heorot

 

[Ajidica]

Legacy of Heorot was pretty good. If you are looking for colonization fiction, I would reccomend Larry Niven's A Gift from Earth.
You might also give a try to John Varley's Gaea trilogy (Titan, Wizard, and Demon). It has some of the best characters and lines I've ever read. There is quite a bit of colonization/exploration going on and Cirocco Jones makes all the video game action heros look rather pathetic.
I would also reccomend Larry Niven's Ringworld. It has some neat exploration stuff going on, interesting philosophical ideas, and a totaly awsome enviroment.

 

[Ziggy Stardust]

"Recon Rovers: Unsafe At Any Speed"
"The Little Terraformer That Could"
"Boreholes I Have Known"
"I'm OK, You're A Drone"
"For I Have Tasted The Fungus"
"We Must Consent: 100 Surefire Pick-Up Lines Of Colonel Santiago"
"Colonel Santiago's Big Book Of Recycling Tanks Humor"

Resist, I could not

 

[warpus]

It doesn't fit all of those criteria, but you might look at The Legacy of Heorot

This looks interesting. I tried reading Niven before, but didn't really enjoy his writing style. I might give this one a go after I get sick of Iain M. Banks.

 

[Cutlass]

This looks interesting. I tried reading Niven before, but didn't really enjoy his writing style. I might give this one a go after I get sick of Iain M. Banks.

I have found over the years, having read multiple books by Niven and Pournelle, that any of the books they collaborated on are twice as good as any of the books they wrote separately. Either is a successful author alone. combined, they are greater than the sum of their parts.

 

[History_Buff]

"Recon Rovers: Unsafe At Any Speed"
"The Little Terraformer That Could"
"Boreholes I Have Known"
"I'm OK, You're A Drone"
"For I Have Tasted The Fungus"
"We Must Consent: 100 Surefire Pick-Up Lines Of Colonel Santiago"
"Colonel Santiago's Big Book Of Recycling Tanks Humor"

Resist, I could not

If somebody wrote any of those achievement books, I would buy them.

 

[AdamCrock]

For I have tasted the fungus ...

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Now, when I've made a snack story out of this...

I've played Alpha Centauri (and the mod for Civ4) so many-many times — to the point of distaste. The setting, atmosphere, philosophy are still so appealing, and yet unique, you long for it but you can't take it anymore.

Please, advise a book or other media which would bear close resemblance to this game!

Have you read the trilogy of SMAC-based novels? They start with the initial landing, introduce the leaders of the 7 factions, and the story goes from there. I enjoyed them.

 

[AdamCrock]

New developement ! I should read those books !

 

[Petek]

In the Alpha Centauri manual, designer Brian Reynolds lists the following books as being worth a read:

The Jesus Incident by Frank Herbert
Dune by Frank Herbert
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear
Slant by Greg Bear
The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Real Story by Stephen R. Donaldson
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robertson

 

[AdamCrock]

Dune by Frank Herbert

Epic ! It is a shame on me I need to read it ...

 

[warpus]

Hey Aleksey,

I just looked through my sci-fi novel collection (about 160 books, so not huge, but there's a lot of good stuff there) to see if I had anything that fits your description, and I have found something... and I do think that it is a very good book. To be honest, I don't even remember reading it, but it won a bunch of awards and I am getting a tingly "re-read this NOW" sensation..

It might be just what you were looking for

It's called Learning the World: A scientific romance, and it's about the human colonization of the galaxy. Sort of. The story takes place on a colony ship headed .. ahh, screw it, here's the description I copied from another site:

Humanity has spread to every star within 500 light-years of its half-forgotten origin, coloring the sky with a haze of habitats. Societies rise and fall. Incautious experiments burn fast and fade. On the fringes, less modified humans get on with the job of settling a universe that has, so far, been empty of intelligent life.

The ancient starship But the Sky, My Lady! The Sky! is entering orbit around a promising new system after a four hundred year journey. For its long-lived inhabitants, the centuries have been busy. Now a younger generation is eager to settle the system. The ship is a seed-pod ready to burst.

Then they detect curious electromagnetic emissions from the system's Earth-like world. As the nature of the signals becomes clear, the choices facing the humans become stark.

---

On Ground, second world from the sun, a young astronomer searches for his system's outermost planet. A moving point of light thrills, then disappoints him. It's only a comet. His physicist colleague Orro takes time off from trying to invent a flying-machine to calculate the comet's trajectory. Something is very odd about that comet's path.

They are not the only ones for whom the world has changed.

"We are not living in the universe we thought we lived in yesterday. We have to start learning the world all over again."

I totally can't remember reading this, but I'm pretty sure that I have.. I remember the basic setup of the story but not the characters or details.. so far. I'm going to try re-reading it starting tomorrow.. I've been looking for a new book to read before my giant Banks shipment arrives on Christmas Eve, and this seems like the perfect candidate. I can let you know if it's any good in a week or two if you want.

Edit: I checked another site and found this bit

The discovery of an Industrial Age alien race upsets the established protocols of the ship, leading to uncertainty and delays in habitation, which in turn leads to societal unrest and conflict aboard the ship.

This might help satisfy the other point you had on your list that the previous description didn't. I don't remember the details though, but.. there's gotta be factions! right? On a spaceship, heading for an alien planet? Factions are pretty much a given, I'd think. so *shrug*, I don't know if the differences are going to be deep and/or ideological, but there is probably going to be some of that. Like I said I can get back to you with more details after I've done a bit of reading of the first chapter to see what I remember.

double edit: I remember now that throughout the book are relevant sections from one of the character's "biolog", which is some sort of a futuristic blog type thing. He has readers, etc. Some of this is coming back now. There are DEFINITELY factions and politics btw.

 

[Borachio]

One of the best, imo, is Stanislaw Lem's Solaris. Novel and film.

 

[Aroddo]

Dune by Frank Herbert

Epic ! It is a shame on me I need to read it ...

it's a shame how Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson ruined the series.
all time low: giant killer robot titan gets embarrassed telling a human kid about the birds and bees ....

 

[Kozmos]

it's a shame how Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson ruined the series.
all time low: giant killer robot titan gets embarrassed telling a human kid about the birds and bees ....

Since it is on my to-do list where should one stop reading the Dune series?

 

[Aroddo]

the original novels by Frank Herbert are all fine ... although it gets quite religious heavy.

For the love of god, don't touch the prequels that take place during the butlerian Jihad.

The sequels to the original novels are ... well, decent, I guess. One can assume that they broadly went into the direction Frank Herbert intended, although their execution has the mark of the star wars generation.