u/ProfessionalLeek2152

Looking for ethical and sociological speculative fiction recommendations

Hello!

Another recommendations post.

Some context: I have always been an avid reader. But after high school, studying history at a very crunchy, left wing university (as much as such a thing exists) for both undergrad and grad school, haven't really been reading fiction for the past decade or so. I have historically read a lot of dense social history, political theory, anthropology, etc. Something about turning 30 made me really want to start reading fiction again.

Since October 2025, I've read the following books, largely science fiction. I guess I'm looking for recommendations in the vein of those same texts.

What I've been reading:

April

Blue Mars (KSR)

March

Green Mars (KSR)

Red Mars (KSR)

Railsea (Mieville)

A Scanner Darkly (PKD)

February

Always Coming Home (LeGuin)

Perdido Street Station (Mieville)

January 26

The City and The City (Mieville)

Aurora (KSR)

Man in the High Castle (PKD)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)

Worker Student Action Committees, France May 1968 (Fredy Perlman and Roger Gregoire)

Dune (Frank Herbert)

December 25

Deaths End (Cixin Liu)

Left Hand of Darkness (LeGuin)

Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson)

The Dispossessed (LeGuin)

Embassytown (Mieville)

The Situation Room (Stephanopoulos -- grandmas Christmas gift lol)

The Lathe of Heaven (LeGuin)

The Trial (Kafka)

The Ministry for the Future (Kim Stanley Robinson)

October / November 25

The 3 Body Problem

Dark Forest

Of these, LeGuin is definitely my favorite, and I have The Word for World is Forest and Searoad on deck, as well as Mieville's King Rat. I'm less interested in hard sci fi (though not opposed), and more the sociological and ethical speculative fiction side of things. Obviously I need to read Butler, NK Jemison, but looking for all recommendations in the lefty vein of things.

Thanks!

reddit.com
u/ProfessionalLeek2152 — 17 hours ago
▲ 14 r/printSF

Where do I go next?

Hello!

Another recommendations post.

Some context: I have always been an avid reader. But after high school, studying history at a very crunchy, left wing university (as much as such a thing exists) for both undergrad and grad school, haven't really been reading fiction for the past decade or so. I have historically read a lot of dense social history, political theory, anthropology, etc. Something about turning 30 made me really want to start reading fiction again.

Since October 2025, I've read the following books, largely science fiction. I guess I'm looking for recommendations in the vein of those same texts.

What I've been reading:

April

Blue Mars (KSR)

March

Green Mars (KSR)

Red Mars (KSR)

Railsea (Mieville)

A Scanner Darkly (PKD)

February

Always Coming Home (LeGuin)

Perdido Street Station (Mieville)

January 26

The City and The City (Mieville)

Aurora (KSR)

Man in the High Castle (PKD)

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Mark Twain)

Worker Student Action Committees, France May 1968 (Fredy Perlman and Roger Gregoire)

Dune (Frank Herbert)

December 25

Deaths End (Cixin Liu)

Left Hand of Darkness (LeGuin)

Years of Rice and Salt (Kim Stanley Robinson)

The Dispossessed (LeGuin)

Embassytown (Mieville)

The Situation Room (Stephanopoulos -- grandmas Christmas gift lol)

The Lathe of Heaven (LeGuin)

The Trial (Kafka)

The Ministry for the Future (Kim Stanley Robinson)

October / November 25

The 3 Body Problem

Dark Forest

Of these, LeGuin is definitely my favorite, and I have The Word for World is Forest and Searoad on deck, as well as Mieville's King Rat. I'm less interested in hard sci fi (though not opposed), and more the sociological and ethical speculative fiction side of things. Obviously I need to read Butler, NK Jemison, but looking for all recommendations in the lefty vein of things.

Thanks!

reddit.com
u/ProfessionalLeek2152 — 17 hours ago