Sci-fi books which don't involve too much space travels and massive world builds?

How about The Expanse or The Martian? They’re both relatively hard sci-fi that focuses mostly on our own solar system.

The Martian tells the tale of a man stuck on Mars and his ability to survive on his own whilst those back on Earth figure out a way to get him back. Both the book and the film are great so you can’t go wrong with either.

The Expanse covers more of the local system. Earth and Mars are on the brink of war, whilst others live out near the asteroid belt, Jupiter and beyond. It goes a little sci-fi later on but it’s an inherently human story that has some great characters living in a time when space travel is still dangerous but achievable by humanity. It starts a little slow but ramps up brilliantly and has a nice conclusion that wraps everything up pretty neatly. You’ve got 9+ books, a 6 season TV series on Amazon Prime, and a newly released TellTale video game, all of which are well produced and worth investing time in.

Dune is an example of massive world-building with a tons of jargon, but you still liked it? It seems that this post is saying you don't like books like Dune, so how did you manage to enjoy it?

Have you tried Asimov's short stories? 'I, Robot' is mostly logic problems presented in a dramatic way. Good read.

Try some cyberpunk stuff, it’s great “local” sci-fi, with hardly any of that muck you don’t like.

“Neuromancer” - William Gibson
“Snow Crash” - Neal Stephenson
“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” - Philip K Dick

I suggest Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet. The whole series is good but each is stand alone. There is a world and it’s in space but the stories are people scale.

I’ll throw in Ursula K. Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness and The Dispossessed. Both classics that are great page turners. Take place against the backdrop of an intergalactic society but remain focused on singular planets and their societies (well if you include their anarchic moons). Great characters with meaningful relationships. Left Hand has more of an interpersonal focus, Dispossessed more societal, but both amazing in their own way.

A Canticle for Leibowitz

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This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Ursula K. Le Guin is an example of a writer that does deep but focused worldbuilding. Her sci-fi books tend to be about a single planet, sometimes two like in The Dispossesed. You could try that one or even better start with The Left Hand of Darkness. I like how she sets up various unusual alien factors (geopolitics, biology, society, natural environments) and lets them interplay but also without forgetting a plot.

Maybe take a look at post apocalyptic sci Fi (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction), as it includes a lot of interesting futuristic tech, but it is mostly limited to earth. There's probably another category where things like blade runner fit too

Red rising

Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead are both classics with little world building.

Oh there's just so many. A favorite of mine is Replay by Ken Grimwood. It's a kind of a time travel book, but different from most, and a lot of fun - written in 1986, so not new. Broad plot is that the main character, a middle aged man, dies on the first page and wakes up back in college, back in the 50s, I believe. It gets more interesting from there.

You might enjoy the Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells, which is a series that starts with All Systems Red. The first couple are novellas, and the first one was published in 2017, so much more recent. They won a lot of awards. It takes place in an unspecified time in the future, told from the perspective of a cyborg of sorts who is a security bot who has hacked his control unit and doesn't have to do what he's told, but he doesn't want people to know that so he can watch soap operas when he can. He's guarding a small group on an alien planet when things get weird.

I'll recommend one other, very different: Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge. I believe that was 2007. It's told from the perspective of a guy in near earth future who had late stage Alzheimer's but was given a cure, so is slowly getting back his mental function. Wearable computers are ubiquitous at the time. Also a big award winner.

I hope you find something you like.

I’m surprised no one has mentioned The Culture series by Iain M. banks. Much like Dune there is a ton of world building that occurs in the novels but it’s not the focus of any one novel. You can read them independently and still enjoy them. The concepts he tackles in the novels were way ahead of their time and his prose and s second to none. The novel Consider Phlebas is typically where most people start, but I started The Player of Games.

An oldy, but The day of the triffids by John Wyndham

Isaac Asimov: ( The Caves of Steel ) Next books in the series involve space travel. But nothing large the world building is very limited. All short reads. Was written in the 50s keep that in mind with some of the language.

Guant's Ghosts - Dan Abnett

it's warhammer 40k but it doesnt really focus on space too much, other than they always travel through space to get from one battlefield to the next. lots of mud & blood trench warfare.

Dungeon Crawler Carl

Aliens destroy earth and the protagonist must compete in an rpg style dungeon created underneath the earth with his (ex) girlfriends cat.

Funny, heart warming, and blood pumping

Most of the rest of Asimov is a lot more self contained than foundation. I like the rest of his stuff but Foundation is too abstract for me.

The Three Body Problem trilogy, especially the first two books.

Trying to avoid too many spoilers, the first book is about a Chinese scientist investigating a mysterious threat. It’s not too heavy on world building, and it’s set on present day earth.

Second book, The Dark Forest, is about how this impossible threat is dealt with, and I think it’s one of the most fascinating things I’ve read.

I think the third book, Death’s End, went overboard quite a bit, but it’s still a good one.

If you like grounded sci-fi that elicits a "it could happen in a few years" vibe firmly rooted on Earth, check out William Gibson. Most of his stuff is excellent, but "The Peripheral" and its followup "Agency" are recent highlights. From his older stuff I very much enjoyed "Virtual Light" the most. More than his acclaimed "Neuromancer" (he invented the word cyberspace in 1982 and popularized it in this 1984 novel) even.

Neal Stephenson - "Seveneves" One of my all time favorite sci-fi books. It is set mostly in space, but very realistic and never leaves the Earth's influence. Time setting is basically now or a few years from now.

Also by Stevenson: "Anathem" Marvellous alternate universe story with a few twists. It's on Earth, just ... different.

If you wanna go for the classics (1960 roughly), look into Stanislaw Lem. "Solaris", "Eden" and "Transfer" all left a lasting impression on me.

I really enjoyed Red Rising by Pierce Brown. I recommend it.

Stranger in a Strange Land.

It relies on a scifi premis for the first chapter then takes place on earth. It's a fun look at human culture from an outsider's perspective.

You also listed fantasy, so I'd like to recommend N.K. Jemisin. She won the Hugo award for a novel 3 years in a row for her first 3 books, and has I think 2 more? So 5 Hugo's on 7 years?

Oryx & Crake by Maraget Atwood was very interesting and fun to read. Dealt mostly with biological-related technology and human-scale drama. No spacemen.

I enjoyed the Stainless Steel Rat series by Harry Harrison - they're short, reasonably light comic sci-fi.

Nexus trilogy. It takes place on Earth, present day, a young neurologist discovers that a drug is actually nano machines and gives people the ability to share thoughts, communication, memories, and experiences. The researcher struggles to decide if this is good for all of humanity. Very good descriptions of technology, hacking, programming, exciting action (US gov is trying to reign in the nano machines.

The ultimate topic is transhumanism as technology gives us bigger than human abilities and posthumanism, where the changes we make now qualify us as so different in skills and abilities that we are no longer human.

I just finished the first book and I enjoyed it a lot.

Any of these?

• The windup girl
• roadside picnic
• God's war
• sand
• High Rise
• a scanner darkly

Just some non-space novels that have stuck with me.

Avoid Alastair Reynolds imo. Lots of jumping around and meeting new aliens but not engaging on the character level well.

You might like the Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews. It's a series of 6-9 books but they are good by themselves. Kinda fantasy, kinda sci-fi. The books are short and fun and will keep you entertained. My other favorites are Brandon Sanderson and David Dalglish.

I'd recommend finding collections of short stories. You often don't have a lot of time to write expansive world building details when you've only got a few thousand words and a brief plot to get through. And a collection of different authors can make sure you have a variety if some of the authors aren't your preference and then you can look at longer works by the authors you do like.

I'm really enjoying the Wool Trilogy my Hugh Howey. It's maybe more dystopia than sci-fi but in the same vein for sure.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

My recommend is Semiosis by Sue Burke, it's very different.

Also the commonwealth saga which is big but not overwhelming

I've read memory of empire lately, which is a political intrigue in a Sci Fi setting. It's centered around one city palace.

I second Lebowitz, the expanse and Ursula especially. Left hand of darkness is amazing.

If you enjoy project hail Mary and the generational aspect of 1000 years of solitude, you might enjoy children of time which has similar themes. It's my current favorite.

Rainbows end, windup girl and scanner darkly are also great suggestions with no space travel.

Many sci-fi and fantasy authors spend so much time world-building that they seem to forget the plot for 20 pages or so. On the other end some just put in sequences of action with only a token plot like many movies today. Finding one that has the right balance is very difficult. Back when before electronic books, more than a few paperbacks ended up being tossed across the room in frustration.

Since you've gotten a lot of recommendations for more popular works, I'll toss in few less commonly mentioned ones. All of these have a decent balance of world-building and plot.

Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey.

The Madness Season & This Alien Shore - C.S. Friedman.

The Parafaith War - L. E. Modesitt Jr.

Murderbot series - Martha Wells - lots of space travel and world building, but it's funny as hell so it's worth it.

@giriinthejungle

Anything by Harry Harrison (Stainless Steel Rat, Bill the Galactic Hero). Fun kind of silly but mostly challenge authority.

Spider Robinson (Callahan's Cross Time Saloon). Fun stories mostly about relationships.

Philip k. Dick ' Do androids dream of electric sheep?' and 'Ubik'. He also made some great short novels.

I just want to put this out here, to ponder...it's essentially a skill to be able to juggle and take in new jargon and stuff. It's something you learn. I learned it as a child, so it's second nature to me--but there was absolutely a time when I struggled!

So the question is: Do you want to develop that skill? (You don't have to answer me, I'm just proposing the question so you can ponder it.) I'm assuming here when you say the complexity is what puts you off, that this is accurate. And maybe it is. But there's a bit of a slog initially when reading SFF where you have to power through to gain the skill to follow these things--you're literally training your mind to take in new data in a way that doesn't much happen outside of SFF.

But also...what if the reason you bounced off the books listed is something else? What if it's not complexity, but the delivery? The style of narration or prose? A lot of the works you list MANY people bounce off, not due to complexity but due to the authors' voice and delivery.

I myself can't get into WoT or the book version of Game of Thrones or Foundation. I can't get into Tolkien either. Which is an abject sin in some circles!

But it's not because those books are complicated. Or because of the jargon. I'm fine with both in many other books, and disliking certain well-known behemoths of SFF doesn't negate that I read things like The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi (which was pretty darn confusing and complicated) or Gideon the Ninth. Or all the stuff I read as a kid.

It's because the specific writing style turns me off. Asimov, for example, is kinda known for his cardboard characters. Tolkien world-builds like an academic, and a lot of his stuff is a huge slog like much dry research in academia. Wheel of Time likewise doesn't have that "something" in style or voice to make his worldbuilding engaging, nor does George R. R. Martin's Game of Thrones.

But I am a huge fan of authors who make big, complicated worlds who have a more interesting/engaging way of presenting what they have created. It's not the complexity or jargon that puts me off in those other books, it's the writing style.

Maybe it's the same with you?

Check out The Greg Mandel trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton. A lot of sci-fi, not focused on space travel.

I also love his large Commonwealth universe with several trilogies and novels in it that can be read independently, but these are definitely space based. I would start with the Void Trilogy. It is defined as a space opera. There are just so many cool sci-fi concepts though :)

Lots of the classics aren't super space travel-y. Stranger in a Strange Land, Childhoods End, War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, Ender's Game.. Animorphs 😄

Possibly Existence by David Brin? There’s some stuff around space travel and alien contact, and it ain’t exactly a short, but is mostly set on a future earth.

There’s also a lot of “future jargon” which grates a little, but is quite fun to look at something written in 2012(?) about a future involving wearables and AI among others.

Clifford d Simak wow a lot of very relatable stories that feature interaction as well as the tech. Kind of like Stephen King in relation to horror.

Nathan Lowell's The Golden Age of the Solar Clipper series is great, it's a space opera following normal people trying to make a living in space. It's a nice break from the hard scifi where everything goes wrong and the hero fixes everything, it's just a nice entertaining stress free read.

Dan_Simmons : ( Hyperion ) Also has world building nothing crazy. Involves multiple timelines. But written as a space opera. Think ( The Canterbury Tales )

The Windup Girl
The Water Knife

Both by Paolo Bacigalupi - I'd describe both as ecological dystopian near-future sci-fi - both books are exceptional and based on Earth.

Rendezvous with Rama by A. C. Clarke. Honestly, anything by Clarke fits your criteria very well. Very little world building or character development, just straight to the point hard (but still amazing!) sci-fi. His short stories are fun too.

P.S. You may stumble across legends that Rama has three sequels. Don't believe them, there is only one book. And even if it were true, the sequels wouldn't be written by Clarke despite him being listed as a co-author.

The All Guardsmen Party.

I Thoroughly enjoyed The Dispossessed by Ursle leGuin. Just enough world building to destroy it all in the narrative.

Eon by Greg Bear. It’s a bit dated as it takes place during the cold war, but it’s an excellent read.

isn't world building the whole point of sci-fi?

Ann Lecke’s “Imperial Radch” does happen in multiple locations, but revolves primarily around people relationships and de-genders English language for a delightful effect.

Peter Watts will make you learn a lot of words and concepts, will have you read author notes at the end of his books, and will have you take a look at the list of scientific literature used in writing said books. Main overarching topic - consciousness might not be as central to intelligence as we default to thinking it to be.

Charles Stross’ books can take you into space, but are hardly about space or new worlds. Hell, the most space travel heavy book of his I read - Neptune's Brood - explores the ideas of money and debt.

Greg Egan’s everything, but there are two that I immediately remember when I think about his bibliography. “Diaspora” explores weird space times, consciousness bootstrapping, and problems of communication. “Orthogonal” trilogy is “math of spacetime: what could be” as a novel.

Cory Doctorow explores problems of identity and privacy. Start with “Little brother” (yes, it is a 1984 reference) and “Down and out in the Magic kingdom” and expand further.

John Meaney’s “Nulapeiron sequence” is an easy read that builds its world alongside shedding its main character ignorance.

I recently read and really enjoyed Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers. The book is more of a solarpunk future with a heavy focus on the characters. It's pretty short too! All takes place on a single planet, felt very grounded after I just finished with a Culture book.

Dune but I'm not that far in yet

The imperial Rachd series.

Ancillary justice has a deep dive on three cultures. There is space travel but the books openly mock common sci-fi tropes of planets having one language and one government.

Also A Memory Called empire is another deep dive into a world.

The Three Body Problem trilogy, especially the first two books.

Trying to avoid too many spoilers, the first book is about a Chinese scientist investigating a mysterious threat. It’s not too heavy on world building, and it’s set on present day earth.

Second book is about how this impossible threat is dealt with, and I think it’s one of the most fascinating things I’ve read.

I think the third book went overboard quite a bit, but it’s still a good one.

Late to this party and I have to agree to Ian M Banks, Ursula K Le Guin, Philip K Dick (very weird, discontinuous, but free-floating and fascinating) and many more. Just to add a couple of things that HAVEN'T been mentioned, that really may get your sci-fi juices flowing: Brian Aldiss's expansive "Helliconia" trilogy is a cracker - and I think you may see echoes of it in the premise of "Game of Thrones". I'd also like to plug John Brunner - his work "The Shockwave Rider" is dated now, but essential reading. It is the first book to ever feature the idea of a computer virus. Also DO follow up on "The Machine Stops" by EM Forster - full text available online for free. If it doesn't BLOW YOUR MIND that it features social media overload, and was written in 1909, well, nothing will.

In new wave sci fi, you might also want to check out J.G. Ballard - too weird and hardcore for many, but the missing link between Moorcock-style sci-fi and mainstream fiction - think 1960s to 1990s Black Mirror. One last recommendation. If you have time and interest, check out the much neglected and ultra-weird work of C.L. Moore. Her "Northwest Smith" character is the prototype for Han Solo for sure, (Space Pirate and smuggler with a concealed heart of gold, flies a deceptively fast ship with just one crewman, who's an alien. Carries a "heat blaster" which is also configurable as a energy sword. Too many coincidences!)

Short stories are the best way to go, anything by Ted Chiang for example

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