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Any ace-friendly sci-fi, fantasy, or mystery books?


girlwonder

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I'm a HUGE geek who basically devours any book I'm given, but somehow I woke up this morning and realized I am really, really sick of reading fantasy, sci-fi, and mystery books where everyone starts developing sexy feelings in book 2 of a series and then spends the rest of the series in gradually more tangled love triangles. I just feel uncomfortable reading the same schtick over and over again--all the "a thrill ran down her spine" stuff. It's like all of literature has turned into the shirtless Kylo Ren meme. Not even asking for representation--just any good, solid books that don't constantly shove romance in the reader's face.

 

Ideas???? I could use a new series to nerd out over! 

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That's one difficult request. Mostly everything gets romance on it. I know there are some, but nothing jumps to mind right now.

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SpeakoftheDevil

Ultraviolet and Quicksilver by RJ Anderson are pretty good. Ultraviolet has the romance as the first of the series but Quicksilver works on it's own and it's very ace friendly (ace rep yo).  All the necessary background information from the first book is explained, so you just have to be able to read between the lines a bit.

My favorite fantasy series when I was a bit younger (but they still hold up today) was the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce. Every character does get their own love interest or two, but it's not too in your face about it and it doesn't affect their overall goals or actions in the story. (The plot doesn't deviate just to cater to the romance)

I started reading the Nightblade Epic by Garrett Robinson, and it's a decent read so far. Three books in there's allusions to a past love interest but nothing so far. Plus it's got diverse characters. 

There's probably some better ones out there but these are all that come to mind :/

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I HATE it when stories divulge into focusing mainly on the romantic and sexual endeavors of the main characters.. I'm not sex or romance repulsed, but if I wanted to read a book about love triangles (and sex) I'd get out a romance book or erotic fiction or something!! In saying that, I am a prolific audiobook listener. Very little time to read, by listen to a minimum of one audiobook a week (usually it's more like 2 or 3) so here are some that really stood out to me over the years, as someone who utterly detests it when books that are MEANT to be fantasy, or adventure, or sci fi, or mystery, end up being mostly about the love struggles of the main characters. If you're serious about being a huge Geek, hopefully you'll seek all these out and give them a go!!! :P

 

Please note, these are all books aimed at ADULTS, so no kiddy or 'young adult' type stuff here :)

 

The Lord of the Rings, (though you've probably already read it). It's amaaaaazing, one of the best fantasy series ever written. The movies were an utterly abysmal ripoff job that ruined such an amazingly complex and truly beautiful story (also one of, if not THE first, fantasy series ever where a woman actually saves the day, this was in the 50s so pretty advanced for its time!!!) Edit! This one can definitely be enjoyed by kids as well! I loved it from when I was really young.

 

Under the Skin is an utterly FANTASTIC sci fi story. If you haven't read it then you NEED TO READ IT. She 'pretends' to lure guys into her care with sex (she has breast implants for that purpose) BUT there isn't actually any sex (or romance if I remember correctly) in that story. It's AMAAAZING and sooooo freaky!!! Absolutely love that book.

 

Another one is The Wasp Factory, no romance in that if I remember, just a very disturbing, twisted, quite magical story about a young man who is also a psychopathic muderer. Really, really strange story!

 

A Scanner Darkly was pretty darned good, can't remember much sex in that (it was about a detective trying to solve a mystery while slowly going insane, frikken brilliant) same with Catch 22 (the story focuses almost exclusively on the context of the Catch 22) and Slaughterhouse five (a time-travel story, I have the audio version read by Ethan Hawke OMG so good). Those are all written very strangely though so just keep that in mind!

 

American Gods is a sci fi fantasy that has some sort of romance because he is married, but the story is about him and the adventures he has with old gods left in America who are doing battle with the new gods - gods of industry, internet, that sort of thing. There are a couple of sex scenes, but they're minor and just trying to illustrate aspects of the powers some of the gods have. Absolutely brilliant and deeply moving story - often goes way back in time to when the Gods first came to America with the people who believed in them

 

Also Dreamcatcher, by Stephen King (that is a horror sci fi, really good, focuses on the platonic relationship between 4 men), !!!The Talisman!!! (you HAVE to read that if you love sci fi fantasy, BRILLIANT STORY with no romance, but has an amazing platonic bond between a boy and a werewolf, sounds silly but it's truly an amazing book) that one too is by Stephen King, and From a Buick 8, also by Stephen King - again, if I remember correctly, focuses heavily on the story itself and some sort of inter-dimensional machine thing some cops find in an old shed.

 

Okay, this next one is a MUST READ: !!!!Pines!!!!, by Blake Crouch. DON'T LOOK IT UP or you might get plot spoilers, and never, ever watch the TV series (it's brutally horrendously bad) but the story is ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERIES I HAVE EVER READ!! It's a non-stop thrill-ride after an FBI agent wakes up in a strange town he can't escape from, and has no memories of how he got there or who he is. BRILLIANT STORY and no sexy kissyness, you MUST READ IT.

 

A Song of Ice and Fire does have some sex and romance in it, but there are a lot of characters who don't have sex and don't even think about sex or romance.. I personally think it's a lot more ace friendly than a lot of the crap I've read lately :P And yes, one or two of the characters have their 'romantic romps' but fortunately a lot of them DO NOT, and the story isn't consumed by their romantic endeavors, it actually focuses on the STORY the vast majority of the time. Also some of the characters who begin the story in a romantic or sexual relationship evolve out of that, which is also really nice to see. Also, this has an EXTREMELY intricate and twisted plotline, it took me THREE readthroughs to even begin to start seeing the true story underneath the story we are given on the surface - most people never get this far so don't understand what's really happening and you can tell the show creators fell into that trap. If you haven't seen the show DO NOT WATCH IT, it's shit, and if you have seen it, DO NOT WORRY. Only the first season closely follows the first book, the rest of the tv series is pretty much fanfiction and spoils very little of the actual story.

 

Divide and Rule by Jan Mark was a cool fantasy type story that didn't have any sexytimes in it.  it was more a look at a young man losing his mind in a religious temple type thing.. gosh, I need to read that again. It's been over a decade since I last read it :o

 

Argh, there are a lot more, but my head is killing me right now so I'm not thinking straight.. Give those a go though, you'll thank me if you're truly as into fantasy/sci fi/mystery type stuff as I am :lol:

 

(edit: I put a link to this in my signature because I often see this topic come up so it's obviously something a lot of people here are interested in!) ^_^

 

 

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Celyn: The Lutening

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron - zero sex, zero obvious romance. About a thief in a world where everything is sentient. Highly addictive.

 

The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch  - in the first two books, the main character Locke seems as asexual as anything, lots of references to a past romance though. Even in the third, it becomes clear he's demisexual. 5 star books. Also about a thief (are you sensing a theme in my reading taste?)

 

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon - a sheepfarmer's daughter runs away from home, becomes a mercenary then a paladin. She's the acest ace that ever aced.

 

When I think of more, I'll return. 

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Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard: Johannes has made a deal with the devil, his soul for necromancy. Unfortunately, not having a soul is causing the laws of nature to change around him and thus ruins his scientific endeavors. He must now try to get his soul back while running a traveling carnival.

 

Spoiler

He has a girlfriend, but she is dead and some chemical stasis. Also she is barely mentioned.

 

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2 hours ago, FictoVore. said:

I HATE it when stories divulge into focusing mainly on the romantic and sexual endeavors of the main characters.. I'm not sex or romance repulsed, but if I wanted to read a book about love triangles (and sex) I'd get out a romance book or erotic fiction or something!! In saying that, I am a prolific audiobook listener. Very little time to read, by listen to a minimum of one audiobook a week (usually it's more like 2 or 3) so here are some that really stood out to me over the years, as someone who utterly detests it when books that are MEANT to be fantasy, or adventure, or sci fi, or mystery, end up being mostly about the love struggles of the main characters. If you're serious about being a huge Geek, hopefully you'll seek all these out and give them a go!!! :P

 

Please note, these are all books aimed at ADULTS, so no kiddy or young adult stuff here :)

 

The Lord of the Rings, (though you've probably already read it). It's amaaaaazing, one of the best fantasy series ever written. The movies were an utterly abysmal ripoff job that ruined such an amazingly complex and truly beautiful story (also one of, if not THE first, fantasy series ever where a woman actually saves the day, this was in the 50s so pretty advanced for its time!!!)

 

Under the Skin is an utterly FANTASTIC sci fi story. If you haven't read it then you NEED TO READ IT. She 'pretends' to lure guys into her care with sex (she has breast implants for that purpose) BUT there isn't actually any sex (or romance if I remember correctly) in that story. It's AMAAAZING and sooooo freaky!!! Absolutely love that book.

 

Another one is The Wasp Factory, no romance in that if I remember, just a very disturbing, twisted, quite magical story about a young man who is also a psychopathic muderer. Really, really strange story!

 

A Scanner Darkly was pretty darned good, can't remember much sex in that (it was about a detective trying to solve a mystery while slowly going insane, frikken brilliant) same with Catch 22 (the story focuses almost exclusively on the context of the Catch 22) and Slaughterhouse five (a time-travel story, I have the audio version read by Ethan Hawke OMG so good). Those are all written very strangely though so just keep that in mind!

 

American Gods is a sci fi fantasy that has some sort of romance because he is married, but the story is about him and the adventures he has with old gods left in America who are doing battle with the new gods - gods of industry, internet, that sort of thing. There are a couple of sex scenes, but they're minor and just trying to illustrate aspects of the powers some of the gods have. Absolutely brilliant and deeply moving story - often goes way back in time to when the Gods first came to America with the people who believed in them

 

Also Dreamcatcher, by Stephen King (that is a horror sci fi, really good, focuses on the platonic relationship between 4 men), !!!The Talisman!!! (you HAVE to read that if you love sci fi fantasy, BRILLIANT STORY with no romance, but has an amazing platonic bond between a boy and a werewolf, sounds silly but it's truly an amazing book) that one too is by Stephen King, and From a Buick 8, also by Stephen King - again, if I remember correctly, focuses heavily on the story itself and some sort of inter-dimensional machine thing some cops find in an old shed.

 

Okay, this next one is a MUST READ: !!!!Pines!!!!, by Blake Crouch. DON'T LOOK IT UP or you might get plot spoilers, and never, ever watch the TV series (it's brutally horrendously bad) but the story is ONE OF THE BEST MYSTERIES I HAVE EVER READ!! It's a non-stop thrill-ride after an FBI agent wakes up in a strange town he can't escape from, and has no memories of how he got there or who he is. BRILLIANT STORY and no sexy kissyness, you MUST READ IT.

 

A Song of Ice and Fire does have some sex and romance in it, but there are a lot of characters who don't have sex and don't even think about sex or romance.. I personally think it's a lot more ace friendly than a lot of the crap I've read lately :P And yes, one or two of the characters have their 'romantic romps' but fortunately a lot of them DO NOT, and the story isn't consumed by their romantic endeavors, it actually focuses on the STORY the vast majority of the time. Also some of the characters who begin the story in a romantic or sexual relationship evolve out of that, which is also really nice to see. Also, this has an EXTREMELY intricate and twisted plotline, it took me THREE readthroughs to even begin to start seeing the true story underneath the story we are given on the surface - most people never get this far so don't understand what's really happening and you can tell the show creators fell into that trap. If you haven't seen the show DO NOT WATCH IT, it's shit, and if you have seen it, DO NOT WORRY. Only the first season closely follows the first book, the rest of the tv series is pretty much fanfiction and spoils very little of the actual story.

 

Divide and Rule by Jan Mark was a cool fantasy type story that didn't have any sexytimes in it.  it was more a look at a young man losing his mind in a religious temple type thing.. gosh, I need to read that again. It's been over a decade since I last read it :o

 

Argh, there are a lot more, but my head is killing me right now so I'm not thinking straight.. Give those a go though, you'll thank me if you're truly as into fantasy/sci fi/mystery type stuff as I am :lol:

 

(edit: I put a link to this in my signature because I often see this topic come up so it's obviously something a lot of people here are interested in!) ^_^

 

 

WOW!!! Thank you so much for this incredibly detailed reply!! I can hardly wait to start these! 

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1 hour ago, Celyn said:

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron - zero sex, zero obvious romance. About a thief in a world where everything is sentient. Highly addictive.

 

The Gentleman Bastards by Scott Lynch  - in the first two books, the main character Locke seems as asexual as anything, lots of references to a past romance though. Even in the third, it becomes clear he's demisexual. 5 star books. Also about a thief (are you sensing a theme in my reading taste?)

 

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon - a sheepfarmer's daughter runs away from home, becomes a mercenary then a paladin. She's the acest ace that ever aced.

 

When I think of more, I'll return. 

Yay!! These sound awesome, and I am so excited to start!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

 

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54 minutes ago, Correner said:

Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard: Johannes has made a deal with the devil, his soul for necromancy. Unfortunately, not having a soul is causing the laws of nature to change around him and thus ruins his scientific endeavors. He must now try to get his soul back while running a traveling carnival.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

He has a girlfriend, but she is dead and some chemical stasis. Also she is barely mentioned.

 

Wow, this sounds epic!! Thank you so much! 

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2 hours ago, SpeakoftheDevil said:

Ultraviolet and Quicksilver by RJ Anderson are pretty good. Ultraviolet has the romance as the first of the series but Quicksilver works on it's own and it's very ace friendly (ace rep yo).  All the necessary background information from the first book is explained, so you just have to be able to read between the lines a bit.

My favorite fantasy series when I was a bit younger (but they still hold up today) was the Tortall series by Tamora Pierce. Every character does get their own love interest or two, but it's not too in your face about it and it doesn't affect their overall goals or actions in the story. (The plot doesn't deviate just to cater to the romance)

I started reading the Nightblade Epic by Garrett Robinson, and it's a decent read so far. Three books in there's allusions to a past love interest but nothing so far. Plus it's got diverse characters. 

There's probably some better ones out there but these are all that come to mind :/

Yay! Thank you so much! And actual ace rep!!!!!! I hardly ever see that lol. Thanks so much for the recs--these sound awesome and I am SO excited to start!

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3 minutes ago, girlwonder said:

Yay! Thank you so much! And actual ace rep!!!!!! I hardly ever see that lol. Thanks so much for the recs--these sound awesome and I am SO excited to start!

Another good book series (a extremely well written and long one at that) is Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland (I have no clue how many times I have recommended this to people), and all of the characters are definitely ace, and a good chunk of them are aro, (based off of how they act), I have not seen a single reference to sex. I recommend that you read the un-numbered book after book 8. The story and characters get better as it progresses, gradually developing a significant sense of realism mixed with good characters and occasional humor, all while being serious.

Did I mention that all of the characters are dragons?!

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28 minutes ago, Zenzencat104 said:

Another good book series (a extremely well written and long one at that) is Wings of Fire by Tui T. Sutherland (I have no clue how many times I have recommended this to people), and all of the characters are definitely ace, and a good chunk of them are aro, (based off of how they act), I have not seen a single reference to sex. I recommend that you read the un-numbered book after book 8. The story and characters get better as it progresses, gradually developing a significant sense of realism mixed with good characters and occasional humor, all while being serious.

Did I mention that all of the characters are dragons?!

OMG how is this everything I ever wanted in a single book?

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I've found that a large percentage of older sci-fi books don't really have any major romance, and when I say older, I'm talking Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, John Wyndham type thing. They're also just really good too.

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47 minutes ago, Sergeant_Turtle said:

I've found that a large percentage of older sci-fi books don't really have any major romance, and when I say older, I'm talking Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, John Wyndham type thing. They're also just really good too.

Love Asimov, but haven't read tons of Bradbury or Wyndham so will definitely check those out!! Thanks!

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In regards to Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451  is an absolute must if you haven't read it already, and Something Wicked this way Comes. Start with Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos for Wyndham. Frank Herbert's The Santaroga Barrier is also brilliant.

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40 minutes ago, Sergeant_Turtle said:

In regards to Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451  is an absolute must if you haven't read it already, and Something Wicked this way Comes. Start with Day of the Triffids and The Midwich Cuckoos for Wyndham. Frank Herbert's The Santaroga Barrier is also brilliant.

Copy that! Will do!

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Enjoy! :D

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2 hours ago, Sergeant_Turtle said:

I've found that a large percentage of older sci-fi books don't really have any major romance, and when I say older, I'm talking Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, John Wyndham type thing. They're also just really good too.

You have to be so darned careful with the older stuff though, some of the ones from around the 60's were horrendously sexual in a sexist way against women. Like for one I listened to, they were in this futuristic army type thing going to a different planet to fight some aliens. All good so far. Men and women were even in the army, great!! equality!!.. wait, wait... no Y_Y ..Okay, so the only women allowed in the army had to be promiscuous and hot, because the women soldiers had to serve every male soldier sexually even though they also had to do all the other hard training etc. So they were doing this horrendously difficult physical training during the day (and fighting in battles etc) and have to have sex with every man (sometimes even all at once) every night, and had to be willing and happy about that or they weren't allowed in the army!! There were only 3 women and like 28 guys, WTF??? This wasn't even an erotic fiction or anything, it was literally just a sci fi novel about a battle on an alien planet D: That's not the only time I've come across that sort of thing in 60s sci fi books so I'm super careful with them now!!! D:

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I think you're pretty safe with Asimov on that score (but I'm a guy and haven't read any of his books in ages). It is true that you can run into issues like sexism and other odd attitudes and ideas from the times older books were written in. I tried re-reading some stories that I vaguely recalled enjoying when I was much younger and found some issues like that (I'm talking about stuff I read 40 years ago and which was written 40 years before that, for example). Other stories hold up much better. A lot depends on the author (which is one reason I think Asimov is pretty safe, and I'm sure there are plenty of others).

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CJ Cherryh is an absolutely amazing author. She is perhaps the only author I have ever read that manages to create aliens who are actually alien mentally and emotionally rather than just looking different on the outside but reacting just like a human would. Best writer ever!! She is a very dense writer though so really not a collapse into bed read.

 

Anne Bishop's The Others series: starting with Written in Red. This is actually another amazing experience with properly alien thinking from the non-human species. Meg, the main character, is human but raised strangely so she gives a unique view into this alternate world. There is some romance later in the series but actually it pretty much non-sexual, solely romantic attraction.

 

Of course the great Terry Pratchett for fantasy that involves little to no romance but a lot of poking fun at people. He is perhaps the most insightful writer into the weirdness of the human condition I have ever read.

 

Have you tried the free/ancient (:D) collections on Kindle? I'm thinking things like the Jules Verne collection, H. Beam Piper writes amazing shorts and I'd never heard of him before I stumbled across his collection on Amazon, G.K. Chesterton writes great mysteries - I don't know whether you have ever seen the TV show The Father Brown Mysteries - a complete rip off and not a good representation but that is one of his characters. Wilkie Collins is an old school mystery writer, his book Moonstone is considered the first detective novel. We also have Jonathon Swift of Gulliver's Travels fame.

 

Thomas DePrima is a modern author who has a strong female character who has little to no romance in his stories: start with A Galaxy Unknown. His stories have strong echoes of David Weber's Honor Harrington books (which I also recommend) and these in themselves hark back to the Hornblower series by CS Forrester. While these are action books they are so removed from our daily lives now that it is easy to treat them as the fantasy genre!

 

Lorena McCourtney writes PG romance in her other series but in her Ivy Malone mystery series, there is no romance. This is one of the few modern books I've read with a protagonist who isn't in the 20-30 age bracket.

 

Septimus Heap by Angie Sage - middle school or younger aimed but it is silly and therefore a fun read to break up some of the more hardcore sci-fi/fantasy reading. This is total magic fantasy-based story.

 

Modesitt Jr., L. E. writes brilliant fantasy worlds. There is a little romance but it is very subtle and there is no sexual content, really barely any romance content either(!) in his Imager series.

 

Katherine Kerr writes the most incredibly mind-bending series called Deverry (start with Daggerspell). This is a book that is focused around how past lives impact present interactions. The whole, very long, series is based on exploring relationships as the same personas are reborn through time and how their ongoing interactions impact the present timeline. I have honestly never read a series like it before. It does take a bit of getting used the time shifts and there are charts to help keep track of who is renamed who in each time frame. But honestly stick with it and you will have your mind blown!

 

I don't know if you have come across the new genre LitRPG which mostly a fantasy based genre (though there are some sci-fi orientation versions). The basic premise is that an individual is either born in or ends up in a world where you can gain points of some kind and level like in the online role-playing games. Pretty much all the books I've read like this have little to no romance in them. The dungeon core subset certainly doesn't. You might like to try The Slime Dungeon by Jeffrey 'Falcon' Logue or the seminal book The Land: Founding by Aleron Kong.

 

Fun and silly sci-fi can be found with Christopher L Anderson and his Alexander Galaxus series. I love these because they are light-hearted reads. The hardcore sci-fi stuff can get a bit much sometimes.

 

Karen Traviss has an amazing series called The Wess'har Wars (start with City of Pearl). There is reference to sex and/or romance in this books but it relates to how the aliens interact with each other so I found it interesting in that context.

 

Orson Scott Card and his Ender's game series - I haven't seen the movie to know if it vaguely resembles the books. This series is fascinating in its look into human psychology. The aliens join the series later and are amazingly well written. The concepts he explores across his different series are just incredibly thought-provoking but wrapped in fabulously exciting adventures.

 

Mark Robson and his Darkweaver series - lots of fantasy magic and sword swinging here.

 

Julia Golding - teen-aimed - but brilliant fantasy and no romance in sight. Has a very interesting core of Eco-protection and our personal responsibilities - set in amongst mythical creatures hiding here in our world to avoid extinction. 

 

Catherine Fisher - several different series but her Egyptian based series is very unlike the standard fantasy settings - start with The Oracle.

 

Cliff McNish and his Silver Sequence - start with The Silver Child - again a series in the superhero genre ish - but very different from the standard memes.

 

Eoin Colfer and his Artemis Fowl series for fun fantasy still semi-based in the real world - a mix of fantasy, magic, and tech, based in the semi-real world. The tech support centaur steals the series!

 

Helen Dunmore for an exploration of what merpeople culture might look like: start with Ingo.

 

Mysteries in a fantasy setting simply because most fantasies use this time frame as a base - Ellis Peter's Cadfael series - start with A Morbid Taste for Bones - this series involves a monk herbalist who ends up solving murders in his local area. It is a fascinating look into the life in that period. And MONK so no romance!

 

For rip-roaring, barreling from one bit of trouble to next try Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan adventures. As an added benefit his is not your standard 20-year-old athletic hero. In fact, in all her series she uses non-standard physical makeups in her protagonists.

 

Well anyway, that should be enough to be getting you started!

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Luftschlosseule

Discworld. Why hasn't anybody mentioned Discworld? It's a series by Terry Pratchett, with sub-series. The thing that holds all together is that they are set on Discworld, a flat world carried by four elephants which are standing on Great A'Tuins back as it floats through space.

 

Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus. Would it surprise you if I told you that it's about the Night Circus? It's the battleground for two mages locked in duel. The catch: They can't do anything themselves. They trained their successors, who don't know what's in for them.

 

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which was made in an awesome tv-series. Five hundred years ago, magic disappears. But in Yorkshire, there's a guy called Mr. Norrell who says he is a real magician, not just a theorist.

 

If you like a bit of horror, Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud. It's set in a London that is different to ours in a very significant way: Ghost are real. And only children and teenager are able to percieve them as one's senses dull with time. Lockwood & Co is the name of the only agency run by teenagers, their job: Finding sources of hauntings and destroying them so the ghosts kill nobody else.

Some romantic tension, but it's more about trust and how dangerous it can be to be distracted in crucial moments.

 

I am currently reading Catherynne Valente's Fairyland series, and so far, I'd recommend that, too. It reads like a crossover between Alice in Wonderland and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

 

Since American Gods already was mentioned, it has three books that belong to the same universe: Anansi Boys, Black Dog and Monarch of the Glen. Most other books by Neil Gaiman are ace-friendly, too. I particularly want to recommend the Ocean at the End of the Lane and Neverwhere.

 

You could take a peek into Percy Jackson, a series about greek demigods. And, if you like it, the author writes about two books per year, which means that his backcatalogue is gigantic.

 

Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin. The guy can write, and it hasn't to be about sex. Haviland Tuf is a pilot and his ship is able to terraform. He travels through space and tries to help planets in need with special solutions, like extra-fast growing algae for a planet that is on the brink of starvation. Also, he likes cats and tries to find new homes for his furry friends while most alien species regard cats as parasites. This book is made out of different short stories, but it doesn't really read like it. Should re-read that again soon. <3

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8 hours ago, FictoVore. said:

You have to be so darned careful with the older stuff though, some of the ones from around the 60's were horrendously sexual in a sexist way against women. Like for one I listened to, they were in this futuristic army type thing going to a different planet to fight some aliens. All good so far. Men and women were even in the army, great!! equality!!.. wait, wait... no Y_Y ..Okay, so the only women allowed in the army had to be promiscuous and hot, because the women soldiers had to serve every male soldier sexually even though they also had to do all the other hard training etc. So they were doing this horrendously difficult physical training during the day (and fighting in battles etc) and have to have sex with every man (sometimes even all at once) every night, and had to be willing and happy about that or they weren't allowed in the army!! There were only 3 women and like 28 guys, WTF??? This wasn't even an erotic fiction or anything, it was literally just a sci fi novel about a battle on an alien planet D: That's not the only time I've come across that sort of thing in 60s sci fi books so I'm super careful with them now!!! D:

 

8 hours ago, daveb said:

I think you're pretty safe with Asimov on that score (but I'm a guy and haven't read any of his books in ages). It is true that you can run into issues like sexism and other odd attitudes and ideas from the times older books were written in. I tried re-reading some stories that I vaguely recalled enjoying when I was much younger and found some issues like that (I'm talking about stuff I read 40 years ago and which was written 40 years before that, for example). Other stories hold up much better. A lot depends on the author (which is one reason I think Asimov is pretty safe, and I'm sure there are plenty of others).

 

6 hours ago, Correner said:

Asimov's earlier stuff is safer.

Yeah old sci-fi is sort of a boys' club...I definitely remember that. Wow that sounds incredibly awful to read!! Of Asimov I've read the first 3 Foundation books and enjoyed them...heard good things about I, Robot so will probably look into checking that out.

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5 hours ago, LouiseHope said:

CJ Cherryh is an absolutely amazing author. She is perhaps the only author I have ever read that manages to create aliens who are actually alien mentally and emotionally rather than just looking different on the outside but reacting just like a human would. Best writer ever!! She is a very dense writer though so really not a collapse into bed read.

 

Anne Bishop's The Others series: starting with Written in Red. This is actually another amazing experience with properly alien thinking from the non-human species. Meg, the main character, is human but raised strangely so she gives a unique view into this alternate world. There is some romance later in the series but actually it pretty much non-sexual, solely romantic attraction.

 

Of course the great Terry Pratchett for fantasy that involves little to no romance but a lot of poking fun at people. He is perhaps the most insightful writer into the weirdness of the human condition I have ever read.

 

Have you tried the free/ancient (:D) collections on Kindle? I'm thinking things like the Jules Verne collection, H. Beam Piper writes amazing shorts and I'd never heard of him before I stumbled across his collection on Amazon, G.K. Chesterton writes great mysteries - I don't know whether you have ever seen the TV show The Father Brown Mysteries - a complete rip off and not a good representation but that is one of his characters. Wilkie Collins is an old school mystery writer, his book Moonstone is considered the first detective novel. We also have Jonathon Swift of Gulliver's Travels fame.

 

Thomas DePrima is a modern author who has a strong female character who has little to no romance in his stories: start with A Galaxy Unknown. His stories have strong echoes of David Weber's Honor Harrington books (which I also recommend) and these in themselves hark back to the Hornblower series by CS Forrester. While these are action books they are so removed from our daily lives now that it is easy to treat them as the fantasy genre!

 

Lorena McCourtney writes PG romance in her other series but in her Ivy Malone mystery series, there is no romance. This is one of the few modern books I've read with a protagonist who isn't in the 20-30 age bracket.

 

Septimus Heap by Angie Sage - middle school or younger aimed but it is silly and therefore a fun read to break up some of the more hardcore sci-fi/fantasy reading. This is total magic fantasy-based story.

 

Modesitt Jr., L. E. writes brilliant fantasy worlds. There is a little romance but it is very subtle and there is no sexual content, really barely any romance content either(!) in his Imager series.

 

Katherine Kerr writes the most incredibly mind-bending series called Deverry (start with Daggerspell). This is a book that is focused around how past lives impact present interactions. The whole, very long, series is based on exploring relationships as the same personas are reborn through time and how their ongoing interactions impact the present timeline. I have honestly never read a series like it before. It does take a bit of getting used the time shifts and there are charts to help keep track of who is renamed who in each time frame. But honestly stick with it and you will have your mind blown!

 

I don't know if you have come across the new genre LitRPG which mostly a fantasy based genre (though there are some sci-fi orientation versions). The basic premise is that an individual is either born in or ends up in a world where you can gain points of some kind and level like in the online role-playing games. Pretty much all the books I've read like this have little to no romance in them. The dungeon core subset certainly doesn't. You might like to try The Slime Dungeon by Jeffrey 'Falcon' Logue or the seminal book The Land: Founding by Aleron Kong.

 

Fun and silly sci-fi can be found with Christopher L Anderson and his Alexander Galaxus series. I love these because they are light-hearted reads. The hardcore sci-fi stuff can get a bit much sometimes.

 

Karen Traviss has an amazing series called The Wess'har Wars (start with City of Pearl). There is reference to sex and/or romance in this books but it relates to how the aliens interact with each other so I found it interesting in that context.

 

Orson Scott Card and his Ender's game series - I haven't seen the movie to know if it vaguely resembles the books. This series is fascinating in its look into human psychology. The aliens join the series later and are amazingly well written. The concepts he explores across his different series are just incredibly thought-provoking but wrapped in fabulously exciting adventures.

 

Mark Robson and his Darkweaver series - lots of fantasy magic and sword swinging here.

 

Julia Golding - teen-aimed - but brilliant fantasy and no romance in sight. Has a very interesting core of Eco-protection and our personal responsibilities - set in amongst mythical creatures hiding here in our world to avoid extinction. 

 

Catherine Fisher - several different series but her Egyptian based series is very unlike the standard fantasy settings - start with The Oracle.

 

Cliff McNish and his Silver Sequence - start with The Silver Child - again a series in the superhero genre ish - but very different from the standard memes.

 

Eoin Colfer and his Artemis Fowl series for fun fantasy still semi-based in the real world - a mix of fantasy, magic, and tech, based in the semi-real world. The tech support centaur steals the series!

 

Helen Dunmore for an exploration of what merpeople culture might look like: start with Ingo.

 

Mysteries in a fantasy setting simply because most fantasies use this time frame as a base - Ellis Peter's Cadfael series - start with A Morbid Taste for Bones - this series involves a monk herbalist who ends up solving murders in his local area. It is a fascinating look into the life in that period. And MONK so no romance!

 

For rip-roaring, barreling from one bit of trouble to next try Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan adventures. As an added benefit his is not your standard 20-year-old athletic hero. In fact, in all her series she uses non-standard physical makeups in her protagonists.

 

Well anyway, that should be enough to be getting you started!

Wow this is amazing! How have I never heard of half of these?? I didn't even know there were more Ender's Game books lol. THANK YOU!!!

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2 hours ago, Luftschlosseule said:

Discworld. Why hasn't anybody mentioned Discworld? It's a series by Terry Pratchett, with sub-series. The thing that holds all together is that they are set on Discworld, a flat world carried by four elephants which are standing on Great A'Tuins back as it floats through space.

 

Erin Morgenstern's Night Circus. Would it surprise you if I told you that it's about the Night Circus? It's the battleground for two mages locked in duel. The catch: They can't do anything themselves. They trained their successors, who don't know what's in for them.

 

Susanna Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which was made in an awesome tv-series. Five hundred years ago, magic disappears. But in Yorkshire, there's a guy called Mr. Norrell who says he is a real magician, not just a theorist.

 

If you like a bit of horror, Lockwood & Co by Jonathan Stroud. It's set in a London that is different to ours in a very significant way: Ghost are real. And only children and teenager are able to percieve them as one's senses dull with time. Lockwood & Co is the name of the only agency run by teenagers, their job: Finding sources of hauntings and destroying them so the ghosts kill nobody else.

Some romantic tension, but it's more about trust and how dangerous it can be to be distracted in crucial moments.

 

I am currently reading Catherynne Valente's Fairyland series, and so far, I'd recommend that, too. It reads like a crossover between Alice in Wonderland and the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

 

Since American Gods already was mentioned, it has three books that belong to the same universe: Anansi Boys, Black Dog and Monarch of the Glen. Most other books by Neil Gaiman are ace-friendly, too. I particularly want to recommend the Ocean at the End of the Lane and Neverwhere.

 

You could take a peek into Percy Jackson, a series about greek demigods. And, if you like it, the author writes about two books per year, which means that his backcatalogue is gigantic.

 

Tuf Voyaging by George R.R. Martin. The guy can write, and it hasn't to be about sex. Haviland Tuf is a pilot and his ship is able to terraform. He travels through space and tries to help planets in need with special solutions, like extra-fast growing algae for a planet that is on the brink of starvation. Also, he likes cats and tries to find new homes for his furry friends while most alien species regard cats as parasites. This book is made out of different short stories, but it doesn't really read like it. Should re-read that again soon. <3

OMG I love Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell! That is probably among my top 10 faves and not enough people have read it. Have read Fairyland as well and absolutely adore those books. And I legitimately had ZERO idea that GRRM had books outside of ASOIAF, so will have to check out Tuf Voyaging! Thank you so much!

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7 hours ago, LouiseHope said:

Of course the great Terry Pratchett for fantasy that involves little to no romance but a lot of poking fun at people. He is perhaps the most insightful writer into the weirdness of the human condition I have ever read.

Agreed

 

7 hours ago, LouiseHope said:

G.K. Chesterton writes great mysterie

His stories are among the ones that have some racism and such, that turned me off.

 

2 hours ago, girlwonder said:

Yeah old sci-fi is sort of a boys' club

That's true. But there were exceptions, like Ursula K. Le Guin (who just passed away recently), Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradly, Tanith Lee, CL Moore, Diana Wynn Jones, and quite a few others. If you don't mind older books it could be worth looking for some of these authors and others like them.

 

8 hours ago, LouiseHope said:

H. Beam Piper

His "Little Fuzzy" stories are fun. As well as some of his other stuff.

Keith Laumer is another who wrote a variety of stories, both sci-fi and fantasy, time travel, military sci-fi, etc., some humorous and some more serious.

 

8 hours ago, LouiseHope said:

Ellis Peter's Cadfael series

Excellent series (and the Derek Jacobi tv series based on the books is really well done, too)

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Luftschlosseule
2 hours ago, girlwonder said:

And I legitimately had ZERO idea that GRRM had books outside of ASOIAF, so will have to check out Tuf Voyaging! Thank you so much!

Ice Dragon by him is also ace-friendly. I have read the first part of his collected short stories, and some were and some were not without sex. He edites anthrologies which are awesome! That guy has been writing for centuries, still haven't got through most things. Have fun! (:

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29 minutes ago, daveb said:

That's true. But there were exceptions, like Ursula K. Le Guin (who just passed away recently), Andre Norton, Marion Zimmer Bradly, Tanith Lee, CL Moore, Diana Wynn Jones, and quite a few others. If you don't mind older books it could be worth looking for some of these authors and others like them.

 

 

Love Le Guin! Haven't heard of the others except for Bradley, but feel like I should put it out there (in case anyone is reading this) that her books (meaning Mists of Avalon, which is the only one I read) contain a lot of sex, and a few scenes bordering on pedophilia, which is hard to read knowing that her daughter has accused her of sexually abusing her.

 

But geez, I need to go reread Earthsea. What an incredible series!

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2 minutes ago, girlwonder said:

Bradley, but feel like I should put it out there (in case anyone is reading this) that her books (meaning Mists of Avalon, which is the only one I read) contain a lot of sex, and a few scenes bordering on pedophilia, which is hard to read knowing that her daughter has accused her of sexually abusing her.

Yikes

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