SciFi and Fantasy Book Club discussion

I am looking for either sci fi or fantasy books with a communication theme. That is communicating with and developing an understanding of others.

"Children of Ruin" by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Here it is communication between 4 different species with 4 different modes of communication (not all of them verbal)

ETA: link now that I'm on the desktop version again.

Children of Ruin

Gabi wrote: ""Children of Ruin" by Adrian Tchaikovsky."

Good call, it's well worth reading the previous book, Children of Time, as well.


I'd also recommend Embassytown by China Miéville

Oh yes, Embassytown is a perfect fit.

I've heard Babel-17 is about this, as well.

I have to mimic Eva: Oh yes, Embassytown! This one was genius!

Babel-17 is one of the most brilliant books on language/communication I've ever read in SFF.

Also from the group shelf:

The Sparrow (CONTENT WARNING)
The Left Hand of Darkness

And I think This Alien Shore...some very interesting ideas on communicating in this.

A Desolation Called Peace
Axiom's End

It's not the exact same thing, but we had a language theme a couple of years ago, and here is the list of books that were nominated and/or recommended.

Great theme, looking forward to finding some new gems. Assuming that failed attempts to communicate are also on the table for a few of mine, as well as short stories:

Title story of Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang (basis for the film Arrival)

Solaris by Stanislaw Lem. Many of Lem's works are about attempts (and frequently failures) to communicate with alien species.

Equilateral by Ken Kalfus

Blindsight and The Things by Peter Watts

"Amnesty" from Bloodchild and Other Stories by Octavia Butler.

And for a bit of levity, To Serve Man by Damon Knight, the story that was the basis for the famous Twilight Zone episode.

I also recommend Embassytown and Babel-17!

I’m about halfway through Project Hail Mary and it also has communication themes.

How about Native Tongue by Suzette Haden Elgin, the communicating with others may be a secondary theme depending on how you look at it.

Or The Embedding by Ian Watson, linguistic scifi with aliens.

Anna wrote: "It's not the exact same thing, but we had a language theme a couple of years ago, and here is the list of books that were nominated and/or recommended."

Just had a quick look at the list and would highly recommend Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon off of it.

I’d also recommend a book from our shelves, Forty Thousand in Gehenna by C.J. Cherryh. Fascinating stuff around sentient beings learning to communicate with one another not using spoken or telepathic language.

Weir's new Project Hail Mary is all about communication and understanding between species with no common language. A thoroughly uplifting read, too.

great thread!

I imagine looking over "First Contact" lists would be worth the time, too.

Thanks for all the great recommendations.

It's been a while since I read it, but I think Jack Vance's "The Moon Moth" might qualify, too.

Becoming Alien by Rebecca Ore

The Guild of Xenolinguists by Sheila Finch

And definitely, as mentioned above,
"Story of Your Life" by Ted Chiang, available in his collection Stories of Your Life and Others and many anthologies.

City of Pearl is about a group of Earth-humans trying to understand and basically negotiate with both human colonists and an alien species.

C.J. Cherryh's Foreigner series is about a human ambassador to a non-human culture and communication is an important element. Their language structure is based in mathematics and many human concepts don't exist to them.

Rider at the Gate, also by C.J. Cherryh, isn't exactly what you're looking for but you might be interested because the main character lives on a planet where all the native animals are telepathic and communicate in images instead of words. He has to work closely with one intelligent, sentient species and this is something that most humans can't figure out how to do.

And one more by Cherryh (can you guess my favorite author? lol) is The Pride of Chanur. It's dated in some ways but there are multiple alien species on merchant ships and on space stations, including two species that are methane breathers who have languages, and brain structures, that are so completely unlike humans than basically no one can communicate with them. Everything in the series hinges on the protagonist learning to understand and communicate with all these very different species in terms of language, culture, politics, interspecies etiquette, and nebulous motives.

I LOVE that someone else has read Rider at the Gate!! Such a great mind bender

Rachel wrote: "I LOVE that someone else has read Rider at the Gate!! Such a great mind bender"

I wish that it'd been a continuing series instead just two books.

Richard wrote: "Just had a quick look at the list and would highly recommend Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon off of it."

Yeah I second that. A great read on this theme. Yeah, first contact too. Quite an original take.

Some of Jack McDevittt's Academy series might fit your brief too, Odette. e.g. The Engines of God. Who are the Monument Makers? What do the monuments signify?

I'm currently reading Project Hail Mary so can second that one too.

So many books to choose from. Communicating in images and by telpathic means fits in. However, Rider at the Gate is not available as an ebook or at the library.

I’ve heard mixed things about REMNANT POPULATION.

Sue Burke’s SEMIOSIS/INTERFERENCE has a large plot thread about communicating between species.

This Is How You Lose the Time War
The Postman
Fluency
Failure to Communicate

As Cheryl suggests, first contact stories tend to have a focus on communication.

I'm going to once again recommend the brilliant The Steerswoman series which has a premise based on knowledge and how its communicated by some and not by others. There is a storyline that centres exactly what you're seeking but it's not in the first book and this is a series best experienced in publishing order.