Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

Hello, I’m looking for some good recommendations in books I can download (legally) as text or pdf files to read at work. I’ve been reading through quite a bit of what is on Gutenburg, but Sturgeon’s Law keeps kicking in. I don’t care if its long or short, if anyone knows any good ones I am more then willing to try them.

Thank you!

Try WattPad.com they also have an app.

https://www.wattpad.com

All of H.G. Wells and Lovecraft is Public domain. Can't get much better than that!

Charles Stross' Accelerando can be gotten free:
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-...

Is Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique in the public domain? Not sure, but if so that's really good.

A ton of H. Beam Piper's stuff is PD and on Gutenberg (and hey, he's wildly underappreciated if you ask me)

Cory Doctorow offers his books for free download, Craphound
I enjoyed Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

Thanks for the recommendations! I can't do Wattpad since the computer I have at work can't do apps or websites, email only (hence the PDF or .txt files only).

Lovecraft I read in full a few years back (so good, but so many nightmares), Wells I'm working through as we speak (12 Stories and a Dream) and enjoying it. Accelerando has been put in my queue and I don't see Zothique available, though I did read and enjoy all Clark Ashton Smith on Gutenberg.

I have Piper's A Planet for Texans in my queue. I did read about 12 of his stories of Gutenberg so far and enjoyed them.

Down and Out's description sounds great, downloaded.

Thanks again, if you think of any more keep them coming, I go through almost 1MB of .txt file a week.

Oh doh, don't know why I didn't think of it before (probably because it's not actually PD) - but it is free and legal: The Baen Free Library.

http://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-li...

You can get them in various formats, so should be something to entertain you there.

Re Piper: The Fuzzy books are absolute treats (in fact, John Scalzi just did a "Reboot" of the first in the series)

Some other big names I thought of that may be worth checking out as some or all their works in the PD:

A.E. van Vogt - Not in fact, to my taste, but he's considered a sci-fi giant by many, so ymmv.

Harry Harrison - I know him for the The Stainless Steel Rat books, which I loved as comics when they were serialised in 2000 AD a very long time ago (Wikipedia tells me that was about 1980. Boy that made me feel old). In any case, excuse my digression, because those aren't actually on PG, but several other of his books are. He's pretty funny. I'd try Deathworld, out of what's on offer.

E.E. "Doc" Smith - I expect you've heard of him. Triplanetary is first of the Lensman books, and a good place to start.

Krazykiwi wrote: "Oh doh, don't know why I didn't think of it before (probably because it's not actually PD) - but it is free and legal: The Baen Free Library.

http://www.baenebooks.com/c-1-free-li...

You c..."

You're right I completely forgot that site as well, I'd downloaded On Basilisk Station to decide if I'd be interested in reading the rest of the series. It's smart for authors of long series to give away the first book it might hook a reader to buying and finishing the series.

I'd forgotten about Baen, thank you! I did download quite a few books off there a few years ago (been reading like this at work on and off since 2011), may as well grab the rest.

I did read the first Fuzzy novel and enjoyed it, but I don't think I was able to find the rest of the series online.

Van Vogt I cleaned out Gutenberg (I loved them) and managed to find about 10 more of his vintage novels at the flea market which are on my physical to-read pile.

Harrison I read all of as well (see why I'm asking for help? With over 800 sci-fi books marked read on Goodreads all the obvious ones I've already done)

I tried two of Smith's (the first Lensman and Skylark of Space), but neither really caught my attention too much.

I guess I should clarify what I like? Some authors (besides big names like Asimov and Heinlein) I really like: Cordwainer Smith, A E Van Vogt, Clifford Simak, Theodore Sturgeon, Stanley Weinbaum, James P Hogan. So anything that is similar to what they have would be wonderful.

It is a very smart thing to do, its worked on me several times.

Cordwainer Smith! love seeing him mentioned

How about reading this one, free online? I think you will like it. It's a series with new chapters coming out every month like TV episodes. Its called Lightship Chronicles. Check it out.

I'll give it a look, thanks!

Despoilers of the Golden Empire is a gem. Don't read any reviews, though- it's very spoiler-sensitive.

Here is a site I just recently came across. It has PD pulps, comics, story papers and such on it. Quite a bit of early SF. I can suggest checking out the issues of Famous Fantastic Mysteries which despite the title was an SF/Fantasy magazine. I have three issues of that and a couple of Planet Stories in my too read list right now.
http://comicbookplus.com/

www.overdrive.com connects to your library

www.librivox.com has audiobooks