Sci fi recommendations

[Netti]

I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner.

I need sci-fi recommendations. I recently finished my first sf novel after having read very little of the genre and want to educate myself. The problem is I'm looking for something very specific and while my searching has turned up lots of interesting books that I will hopefully someday read, they're not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for something that takes place on another planet and has absolutely nothing to do with humans. At. All.

Maybe I've missed something but any help would be much appreciated.

[dios4vida]

Sci-fi sans humans is really, really rare. I remember reading Orson Scott Card's book on how to write sci-fi (great read, plus his Ender books are pretty good) said that having no humans makes writing aliens very hard - mind you, he was talking about very non-human aliens, because trying to explain extreme alien features using no human correlations is really difficult.

I'll see if I can dig anything up from my memory, but right now I can't think of any no-humans-allowed sci-fi clubs. Sorry!

Good luck!

[Mira]

I agree, I think it's rare. You may need to go back to some of the old time sci fi writers.

But I did find this link. Hope it has some good suggestions:

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/sho ... p?t=130412

[Netti]

I found a book called The Snow Queen by Joan D Vinge (I think). There are possibly humans but it doesn't look like they're Earth humans and luckily my library has it. So, yay! Breakthrough.

[Cookie]

Netti,

The Snow Queen does have humans, but they are not earth humans. There is also Foundation by Isaac Asimov, which has non-earth humans.

[Guardian]

The sci-fis of Iain M. Banks; Consider Phlebas, The Player of Games, Use of Weapons, The State of the Art, Excession, Inversions, Look to Windward, Matter, Surface Detail (These are all part of the Culture series). Then the rest of his novels that are not playing in the Culture universe... Against a Dark Background, The Algebraist and Feersum Endjinn. Only this last one, Feersum Endjinn plays in the far future Earth. All the others has a different culture, different creatures, different universe. Some of the novels has cross reference with humans or have human characters, such as Against a Dark Background. But as I recall all Culture novels fits to your criteria and they're really good novels with twisted, good stories, detailed worlds and memorable characters (Banks and his works are one of my favorites.).

Or if you want easier ones, yet quality sci-fi... Harry Harrison's Deathworld trilogy. There, only the MC is a real human. The rest of the characters, while they're also humans, they're from different planets and have different traits. Deathworld 2 and 3 also plays on different planets, in different alien civilizations.

[Netti]

Thank you all for the help! I was able to pick up a couple books from the library and will check out some of the others when I'm done with these two.

[kwnewton]

I loved Martha Wells' new book THE CLOUD ROADS. The world is not earth and there are very alien beings living on it, and no humans. It does have magic, thought, so it's a nice mix of fanasty with sci-fi. Very original!

[Sommer Leigh]

This isn't *exactly* what you're looking for, but I think you'll find it a good substitute. Check out Mary Doria Russell's The Sparrow. There are humans in it, but the focus is on the aliens. It is a very powerful book. It was also the only sci-fi I was required to read in college, so it has a special place in my heart.