Science Fiction

Heinlein. He far from unknown, but he should get even more recognition. Stranger in a strange Land is a deeply philosophical book wrapped in a scifi page turner.

Philip K. Dick is also not as famous as he should be. In particular with The Man in the high Castle, pure poetry!

I enjoy old timey golden age hard scifi series. They are a fascinating time capsule set in the future.

The following two are examples I enjoyed reading, even if they aren’t exactly excellent literature by modern (or really any) standards.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starwolf_(novel_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seetee_series

And, again, ignore this comment because it’s just here to force federation.

And also, Saga is really good.

Despite the first book winning the 2021 SPSFC (admittedly, a much less well-known competition than the SPFBO), I almost never see the Primaterre series by S.A. Tholin mentioned. They are doorstoppers, but very well paced, imo: I inhaled the first two books. If you like space opera that manages to avoid a lot of plot tropes, give the series a try!

(Sidenote: if you're put off by the "cosmic horror" label on the first book, I recall there being a couple of mildly gory scenes, but it's mostly in the realm of "unfathomably alien" rather than trying to scare.)

I was a bit disappointed by Saga, OP. Much preferred Y the Last Man!

I don't hear about "The Vorkosigan Saga" anywhere near enough for how good it is.

A scientist gets trapped on a planet with only a barbarian idiot warmonger to help her survive.

Eight or so books later and we get to read about the not quite scandal across her space empire when she takes a new lover and her star romping space knight sons can't quite figure out how to handle their new stepdad.

And a lot of star empire drama, ego, heroism, and compassion in between. It's so fun, y'all.

Stop trying to make fanpush happen. It's not going to happen.