Outstanding and Uncommon Science Fiction & Fantasy
Explore a curated list of outstanding and uncommon science fiction & fantasy books. Discover hidden gems and unique reads in speculative fiction for every avid reader.
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The Etched City
by K.J. Bishop
Fleeing the ghosts of their past, a healer and a killer escape from the ruined Copper Country to the city of Ashamoil. But as they salvage new lives, they will discover that the ghosts of the past are also the ghosts of the future.
Book
Roadside Picnic
by ArkadiÄ Natanovich Strugatï¸ s︡kiÄ
Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those strange misfits who are compelled by some unknown force to venture illegally into the Zone and, in spite of the extreme danger, collect the mysterious artefacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the Zone and the thriving black market in the alien products. Even the nature of his daughter has been determined by the Zone. And it is for her that Red makes his last, tragic foray into the hazardous and hostile depths.
Book
City of Saints And Madmen
by Jeff VanderMeer
Set in the strange and ancient metropolis of Ambergris, a series of complex and interconnected stories and fantastical visions capture the bizarre lives and fates of the city's unusual inhabitants. Reprint. 20,000 first printing.
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A Fire Upon The Deep
by Vernor Vinge
A Fire Upon the Deep is the big, breakout book that fulfills the promise of Vinge's career to date: a gripping tale of galactic war told on a cosmic scale. Thousands of years hence, many races inhabit a universe where a mind's potential is determined by its location in space, from superintelligent entities in the Transcend, to the limited minds of the Unthinking Depths, where only simple creatures and technology can function. Nobody knows what strange force partitioned space into these "regions of thought," but when the warring Straumli realm use an ancient Transcendent artifact as a weapon, they unwittingly unleash an awesome power that destroys thousands of worlds and enslaves all natural and artificial intelligence. Fleeing the threat, a family of scientists, including two children, are taken captive by the Tines, an alien race with a harsh medieval culture, and used as pawns in a ruthless power struggle. A rescue mission, not entirely composed of humans, must rescue the children-and a secret that may save the rest of interstellar civilization. A Fire Upon The Deep is the winner of the 1993 Hugo Award for Best Novel.