I'm partial to Orson Scott card books, even though they are slightly after your listed time period. He's a Latter-day Saint and his work is well-behaved. Also my mom is a huge science fiction fan and subscribes to a magazine called Analog, which are all science fiction short stories A quick Google search provided the old magazines online for free. Given that my grandpa used to read it and he was extremely straight-laced, I don't suspect there's anything inappropriate in there. Or if there is, it's quick enough to skip that story and move on to the next one.
It's a very good story and thought provoking, but *very* disturbing to read and not PG at *all*. The POV character is a serial abuser (including sexual abuse of a minor) who starts to develop a conscience after a series of frightening and unbelievable incidents start happening to him.
Another *really* disturbing story of his is *Kingsmeat*. A human colony on a remote planet is overseen by a 'shepherd' who cuts off people's body parts to feed to their alien conqueror overlords.
*A Thousand Deaths* is another disturbing story of his. Technology enabling rapid cloning and digital backup of people's memories has frightening implications for capital punishment...
He has lots of other disturbing stories, but I'd say those three are the most graphic. You can read all of his short fiction in an anthology titled *Maps in a Mirror*.
Card has some pretty strong sexual content in some stories I've read. Not porn but still strong.
The Seventh Son is one of his best books (it's historical fantasy). I don't remember a lot of sex focus in that.
This Alvin Maker series is are-telling of the Joseph Smith story in a world where folk magic is real.
The first three books (Seventh Son, Red Prophet, and Prentice Alvin) are fantastic.
The books start to lose their way after that, and the series was never finished.
OSC’s first book in the Homecoming books is basically The Book of Mormon with names changed and moved off-world.
I read some of t BoM years later and realized that OSC plagiarized the BoM.
I felt cheated.
The entire Homecoming series is a sci-fi retelling of the Book of Mormon down through Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah.
I quite like the entire series.
Not in your time period range but "Project Hail Mary" is easily my favorite sci-fi book. Similar vibes to the movie "Interstellar".
Rendezvous with Rama also mentioned already in this thread was enjoyable.
I've been meaning to read "Contact" by Carl Sagan but haven't gotten around to it yet.
How serious do you like your sci-fi?
It's been a few years since I read them, but at least the first few Expanse books don't have much sexual content. Though language is another matter. They're pretty good.
Foundation is pretty good. Or at least the ones I read were.
Ender's Game/Shadow books.
I like the Battletech universe novels, but they're not fine literature by any stretch. They can be downright cheesy, bad, and cliche. They're pulp action stories with stompy robots.
> Expanse books
There are multiple references to Mormonism in those books in part because the first book was adapted from a play-by-post in a community that started on the forum in Orson Scott Card's website.
Several of us were members, and the game runner (and one of the authors of the novels) knew quite a lot about the church and culture.
The Expanse:
I have only read part of the first book, but I think it talks about two characters having sex on the main ship at the beginning.
The TV version has several graphic nude scenes in it with people having slept together, which I'm pretty sure would have come from the books. The authors were also heavily involved in the TV show. There is at least one actual sex scene that I remember (I fast forward through that stuff, so I don't know how graphic it gets). I love this show, but it's R.
You'd probably like Michael Crichton. I haven't read all his books and can't speak for them all, but I've read "Sphere" and "Jurassic Park", and they're both engaging and thought-provoking. "Jurassic Park" should be clean. "Sphere" is 99% clean, with one scene lasting for about one page where a character under mind control tries to seduce another character, but fails and nothing happens. I highly recommend both books. He has several other series that are well-recommended, including "The Andromeda Strain". I haven't read that one, though, so I can't speak for its content
> Old Man's War
>
Great series, I wish I had that blood tech for mosquitos. I wish he'd write more. I wish he'd do a sequel to Kaiz=ju Preservation Society, too (or twelve).
>Pandoras star
All the Commonwealth stuff is great.
Fairly recent series is "red rising". Another one is the "three body problem".
Classics: "Foundation" series is onviously great, "forever war" is okay
enders games books are quite good - enders series for the harder sci-fi and philosophy, shadow series for the better story imo, dark tower series is great, Blake Crouch has some great books.
If you haven't read red rising that's a great one to go with. Writing starts off a bit rough but gets good after a few chapters. Great story.
It has some sexuality in it but the book is intended for young adult audiences. I don't remember anything explicit, but living in the world we're in I must have become adept at retaining the good and expelling thr bad because I don't remember hardly any sexuality in the books at all. Lots of fighting and killing, yes. I'm sure you're right, I'm just saying I don't remember it
They didn't say no adult themes. I'd say Red Rising isn't like a Percy Jackson that you'll read with your kids, but it isn't pornographic either. The first series is lighter on language than the second too.
It's been a while since I read that one. I must have deleted the sex scenes from my memory because I don't remember that at all. Thanks for the follow up.
I read a lot of SF from that era in my 20s, and have a fairly decent collection of books and old *Galaxy* magazines to show for it. The result is that I'm still a big fan of writer Frederik Pohl especially, whose best work was published in the '60s and '70s, but many of his books have sex scenes, unfortunately, so he's likely a bit outside your wheelhouse. Philip K. Dick is probably my other favourite SF writer from that era, and most of his books are relatively asexual for the most part, so you should be good with him. He wrote more philosophical SF than hard SF, dealing more with themes of reality and human identity than with space travel stuff. A number of his works have been adapted into fairly famous movies (i.e. *Blade Runner* was loosely based on his novel *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?*), so you might already be familiar with him to some degree. My favourite Dick books are probably *The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch,* *Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said* and *VALIS.* *VALIS* especially is a very weird book (it's autobiographical, based on the author's own mental breakdown and subsequent religious epiphany) and deals heavily with Christian religious themes, but it's also very, very good.
I'd also recommend Larry Niven's book [Inferno.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZyQmX3FBJ8) I can't remember if there's any sexual content in it (I don't think so), but I recommend it to everyone anyway, because it's so fun. It's about a SF writer who dies, goes to Hell (which in the novel is inspired by the Hell from *Dante's Inferno*), and has to try and find his way out. It's a very fun read, and even has a sequel, [Escape from Hell.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iRQwVQ9wfI)
I second Inferno and its sequel by Niven and Pournelle. Also the way that >!we start to really admire his guide Benny, and can still feel compassion for him after learning his identity!< was masterful writing, imho.
Try Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 99% clean and amazing sci-fi
The three body problem (and its sequels) by cixin liu are also amazing and clean
I love sci fi. Yeah, I was a teen back in that time, and I finally gave up reading sci fi for a long time, due to sex content.
People seem to forget it's there - some of the books people are recommending here also have strong sex content, I believe.
These authors from that period are pretty safe, but I can't guarantee about all their books:
Clifford D. Simak
Asimov - must read: Foundation series
Philip K. Dick
Arthur Clark
I have picked out books I liked from that era from the Hugo and Nebula awards that I don't remember have much sex content:
Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers
Harry Harrison, Deathworld
Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
Larry Niven, Protector
Larry Niven, The Mote in God's Eye
Lois McMaster Bujold, The Vor Game
Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Orson Scott Card Seventh Son (fantasy)
Orson Scott Card Red Prophet (fantasy)
Orson Scott Card Ender's Game (the short story is better)
Orson Scott Card Speaker for the Dead
There are a few more that had a little more sexual content - but erred on the side of none or almost none (as I remember). Let me know if you want me to add those.
Most of the Vorlpsogan series is pretty good as far as the sex content is concerned. Frank, but not overly gratuitous (a bit more so than her fantasy ,but not grossly offensive). If there are depictions of assault or sexual violence, it is from the POV of rightly horrified observers. They're also very frank in their depictions of LGBT relationships (an ally of the main character in a number of the books is a hermaphrodite), and there are trans characters as well as same-sex attracted characters throughout.
If none of that is a deal breaker for you, and you use your discernment, they are very well written, and tell a very entertaining story of a deeply flawed man born with grievous disfigurements and disability, and it follows him throughout his life, trying to find his place in a society that rejects and mocks him for what he is, his struggles with mental and physical health, his search for love and a family of his own, and his efforts to escape the shadow of his father, a hero of his people, and be recognized for his own achievements.
Sure, let's hear your expanded list, please!
And I agree, based on my research some people seem to have forgotten about the sex scenes in certain books, though I haven't read much to know for myself. Maybe it's also due to the difference between explicit vs. not.
I'm a hardcore hard science fiction guy.
Tons of good "new" stuff but you're still going to get the occasional romance, and/or sex, but not overly graphic.
I love all of the stuff from these folks:
- My friend Mike Luoma https://amzn.to/3V0xvoF
- Nathan Lowell's science fiction stuff which starts with this series and has a spin off https://amzn.to/4bGB9JK
- B.V. Larson
- Craig Alanson
- Marko Kloos
- Joshua Dalzelle
- Dennis E. Taylor
- Daniel Suarez
- Peter F. Hamilton
- Scott Brick
- Greg Bear
- John Ringo's Troy Rising and Looking Glass series
- Mike Shepherd's Kris Longknife books and their spinoff
etc.
Here are some of my favorites:
Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein
Foundation - Isaac Asimov
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
War of the Worlds - HG Wells
One of my favorite authors is Jack McDevitt; I have yet to find a book of his that I don't like. Most of his stories take place in a universe where there once was extraterrestrial civilizations, but they disappeared long ago and all that are left are ruins and artifacts, so the narrative is generally focused around that aspect. He's a somewhat newer author (I think his first novel was published in the late 1980's) but his style is close to Heinlein. He keeps the sex scenes and swearing down to a minimum, sometimes non-existent, so that's my recommendation.
By far and away the best sci-fi that has ever been written was by Vernon Vinge. He was 80’s to 2000’s so he might be slightly past your time period but his books will rock your world and have no or very little sex.
A deepness in the sky (97) is his best book but doesn’t get good until chapter 10.
A fire upon the deep (93) is nearly as good but has a little sex (not explicit).
The peace war (84) is his most accessible book and has no sex at all.
—-
Since you’re a church member I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “the worthing saga” by Orson Scott card. It’s basically an endowment fan fiction and explores many of the ideas found in the temple. Every LDS science fiction fan should read it. I believe it was written in the 70s
A planet called treason by orson scott card is awesome but has some sex… but not too much I think.
And of course Enders Game is great too.
My brother introduced a series to me, "The Expanse" and it has "space mormons!" Though I am pretty sure it is making fun of us, it's still cool, I don't remember it's rating though
As an avid sci fi reader since highschool, this is something that’s bugged me too.
“Oh cool, a “biography” of a man who couldn’t die of old age! He grows up in the Great Depression, fights in wars, lives to see man colonize the stars. Neat neat. Oh the challenges he’s overcome outliving everyone he’s ever loved, how sad. aaaaaaand he goes back in time to have an affair with his mom……”
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979).
It's a sci-fi comedy. I'm pretty confident there's no sexual content.
"The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
"During a recitation by their poet master of his poem "Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning"
four of his audience died of internal haemorrhaging and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off."
"Don't Panic"
Lois McMaster Bujold
Martha Wells
David Weber
Larry Correia
David Drake
Andre Norton
Anne McCaffery (mostly)
Clifford Simak
Ryk Spoor
Terry Pratchett
Jack Campbell
Brandon Sanderson
Terry Brooks
Timothy Zahn
Lawrence Watt-Evans
Alan Dean Foster
Jack McDevitt
Isaac Asimov
Douglas Adams
Ray Bradbury
Margaret Weis
Tracy Hickman
Eoin Colfer
Stephen Brust
Some of these are newer, some have a questionable book or two and some are more fantasy than SF (but first impressions may be deceptive for many series)
Big fan of Dune trilogy, Enders’s Game, and Star Wars EU, but most of my time lately has been more fantasy, like Sanderson, Rothfuss, GRRM. Oh, and Tom Clancy.
I like Ted Chiang. He’s a modern writer. His collection of short stories, Exhalation, is really good. It can get kinda dark but like PG 13 dark. But still very mature writing style.
Yeah the old school sci-fi stories were pretty much guaranteed to have a sex scene. It can be hard to avoid. Unfortunately remembering which books had a scene and which were safe is very difficult. You may be forced to just flip past the bad part, as you usually don't lose anything.
Here are some authors and books I have enjoyed, and I \*think\* are safe, but I may not remember right.
Terry Pratchett - not sci-fi, obviously, but WELL worth reading his entire corpus.
Phillip Reeve - Mostly classified as YA, but always enjoyable. His "Mortal Engines" was turned into a big budget hollywood flop, but it's still a great read.
Jasper Fforde - funny and creative, but not exactly sci-fi?
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - a historical fantasy, I guess, but one of the best written books ever. Period.
Jack McDevitt - I'm surprised to see him already mentioned TWICE in this thread, since nobody brings him up in r/scifi. His stuff is fun and safe (I think).
Timothy Zahn - I haven't read his stuff in years, but I don't recall getting caught by anything sexual.
Michael Crichton - the granddaddy of consumable scifi.
Foundation - The series always mentioned alongside Dune, well worth a read.
Wool by Hugh Howey - very creative dystopian future books with nothing sexual that I recall.
Three Body Problem - amazing hard sci-fi.
Oh man, I need to read more Pratchett. He's fantastic! And somehow can make a single sentence that's like 5 jokes at once and also an insightful thought about something.
I'm partial to Orson Scott card books, even though they are slightly after your listed time period. He's a Latter-day Saint and his work is well-behaved. Also my mom is a huge science fiction fan and subscribes to a magazine called Analog, which are all science fiction short stories A quick Google search provided the old magazines online for free. Given that my grandpa used to read it and he was extremely straight-laced, I don't suspect there's anything inappropriate in there. Or if there is, it's quick enough to skip that story and move on to the next one.
>He's a Latter-day Saint and his work is well-behaved. Lol, maybe don't read his short story *Euminides in the Fourth Floor Lavatory* then...
Lol noted. I've only read a few of his books, so maybe it was an uninformed opinion...
It's a very good story and thought provoking, but *very* disturbing to read and not PG at *all*. The POV character is a serial abuser (including sexual abuse of a minor) who starts to develop a conscience after a series of frightening and unbelievable incidents start happening to him. Another *really* disturbing story of his is *Kingsmeat*. A human colony on a remote planet is overseen by a 'shepherd' who cuts off people's body parts to feed to their alien conqueror overlords. *A Thousand Deaths* is another disturbing story of his. Technology enabling rapid cloning and digital backup of people's memories has frightening implications for capital punishment... He has lots of other disturbing stories, but I'd say those three are the most graphic. You can read all of his short fiction in an anthology titled *Maps in a Mirror*.
Card has some pretty strong sexual content in some stories I've read. Not porn but still strong. The Seventh Son is one of his best books (it's historical fantasy). I don't remember a lot of sex focus in that.
This Alvin Maker series is are-telling of the Joseph Smith story in a world where folk magic is real. The first three books (Seventh Son, Red Prophet, and Prentice Alvin) are fantastic. The books start to lose their way after that, and the series was never finished.
My wife is a huge fan of the Ender Game series, and most of what he writes. I got her some Ironman comic that her wrote before Ironman was a big deal.
OSC’s first book in the Homecoming books is basically The Book of Mormon with names changed and moved off-world. I read some of t BoM years later and realized that OSC plagiarized the BoM. I felt cheated.
The entire Homecoming series is a sci-fi retelling of the Book of Mormon down through Alma the Younger and the sons of Mosiah. I quite like the entire series.
Not in your time period range but "Project Hail Mary" is easily my favorite sci-fi book. Similar vibes to the movie "Interstellar". Rendezvous with Rama also mentioned already in this thread was enjoyable. I've been meaning to read "Contact" by Carl Sagan but haven't gotten around to it yet.
I read project hail Mary a while back but don't remember it. I'm gonna give it another read
Project Hail Mary works great as an audiobook too
How serious do you like your sci-fi? It's been a few years since I read them, but at least the first few Expanse books don't have much sexual content. Though language is another matter. They're pretty good. Foundation is pretty good. Or at least the ones I read were. Ender's Game/Shadow books. I like the Battletech universe novels, but they're not fine literature by any stretch. They can be downright cheesy, bad, and cliche. They're pulp action stories with stompy robots.
> Expanse books There are multiple references to Mormonism in those books in part because the first book was adapted from a play-by-post in a community that started on the forum in Orson Scott Card's website. Several of us were members, and the game runner (and one of the authors of the novels) knew quite a lot about the church and culture.
The Expanse: I have only read part of the first book, but I think it talks about two characters having sex on the main ship at the beginning. The TV version has several graphic nude scenes in it with people having slept together, which I'm pretty sure would have come from the books. The authors were also heavily involved in the TV show. There is at least one actual sex scene that I remember (I fast forward through that stuff, so I don't know how graphic it gets). I love this show, but it's R.
Yeah... Like I said, it's been a few years and that stuff doesn't really stick with me
Rendezvous with Rama doesn't have any (note: I'm speaking of the first book - the sequels were awful and should be ignored). Ender's Game
Whenever I look at a spider, I wonder if it's thinking at me in colors.
I read the book and played the computer game!
You'd probably like Michael Crichton. I haven't read all his books and can't speak for them all, but I've read "Sphere" and "Jurassic Park", and they're both engaging and thought-provoking. "Jurassic Park" should be clean. "Sphere" is 99% clean, with one scene lasting for about one page where a character under mind control tries to seduce another character, but fails and nothing happens. I highly recommend both books. He has several other series that are well-recommended, including "The Andromeda Strain". I haven't read that one, though, so I can't speak for its content
Good call
You'll love these 1. Old Man's War 2. Enders Game series 3. Bobiverse series 4. Pandoras star (if you like long books with lots of detail)
Old man’s war has some sex but it’s not too graphic
The first part of the book is has a sex obsessed section about people having sex.
Pandoras Star: The author is known for having sex in his books, I believe. This one doesn't? I haven't read it.
> Old Man's War > Great series, I wish I had that blood tech for mosquitos. I wish he'd write more. I wish he'd do a sequel to Kaiz=ju Preservation Society, too (or twelve). >Pandoras star All the Commonwealth stuff is great.
I’m on book two of the Bobiverse, it’s really fun!
Fairly recent series is "red rising". Another one is the "three body problem". Classics: "Foundation" series is onviously great, "forever war" is okay enders games books are quite good - enders series for the harder sci-fi and philosophy, shadow series for the better story imo, dark tower series is great, Blake Crouch has some great books. If you haven't read red rising that's a great one to go with. Writing starts off a bit rough but gets good after a few chapters. Great story.
Red Rising has lots of sex, prostitution, rape, etc.
It has some sexuality in it but the book is intended for young adult audiences. I don't remember anything explicit, but living in the world we're in I must have become adept at retaining the good and expelling thr bad because I don't remember hardly any sexuality in the books at all. Lots of fighting and killing, yes. I'm sure you're right, I'm just saying I don't remember it
And it's very, very, very violent.
They didn't say no adult themes. I'd say Red Rising isn't like a Percy Jackson that you'll read with your kids, but it isn't pornographic either. The first series is lighter on language than the second too.
The pinks are an entire class of people dedicated to sex. How does that jive with “no sexual content”?
Forever War talks about sex a lot, including homosexuality.
It's been a while since I read that one. I must have deleted the sex scenes from my memory because I don't remember that at all. Thanks for the follow up.
I read a lot of SF from that era in my 20s, and have a fairly decent collection of books and old *Galaxy* magazines to show for it. The result is that I'm still a big fan of writer Frederik Pohl especially, whose best work was published in the '60s and '70s, but many of his books have sex scenes, unfortunately, so he's likely a bit outside your wheelhouse. Philip K. Dick is probably my other favourite SF writer from that era, and most of his books are relatively asexual for the most part, so you should be good with him. He wrote more philosophical SF than hard SF, dealing more with themes of reality and human identity than with space travel stuff. A number of his works have been adapted into fairly famous movies (i.e. *Blade Runner* was loosely based on his novel *Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?*), so you might already be familiar with him to some degree. My favourite Dick books are probably *The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch,* *Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said* and *VALIS.* *VALIS* especially is a very weird book (it's autobiographical, based on the author's own mental breakdown and subsequent religious epiphany) and deals heavily with Christian religious themes, but it's also very, very good. I'd also recommend Larry Niven's book [Inferno.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZyQmX3FBJ8) I can't remember if there's any sexual content in it (I don't think so), but I recommend it to everyone anyway, because it's so fun. It's about a SF writer who dies, goes to Hell (which in the novel is inspired by the Hell from *Dante's Inferno*), and has to try and find his way out. It's a very fun read, and even has a sequel, [Escape from Hell.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iRQwVQ9wfI)
I second Inferno and its sequel by Niven and Pournelle. Also the way that >!we start to really admire his guide Benny, and can still feel compassion for him after learning his identity!< was masterful writing, imho.
Try Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. 99% clean and amazing sci-fi The three body problem (and its sequels) by cixin liu are also amazing and clean
I love sci fi. Yeah, I was a teen back in that time, and I finally gave up reading sci fi for a long time, due to sex content. People seem to forget it's there - some of the books people are recommending here also have strong sex content, I believe. These authors from that period are pretty safe, but I can't guarantee about all their books: Clifford D. Simak Asimov - must read: Foundation series Philip K. Dick Arthur Clark I have picked out books I liked from that era from the Hugo and Nebula awards that I don't remember have much sex content: Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers Harry Harrison, Deathworld Robert A. Heinlein, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress Larry Niven, Protector Larry Niven, The Mote in God's Eye Lois McMaster Bujold, The Vor Game Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Orson Scott Card Seventh Son (fantasy) Orson Scott Card Red Prophet (fantasy) Orson Scott Card Ender's Game (the short story is better) Orson Scott Card Speaker for the Dead There are a few more that had a little more sexual content - but erred on the side of none or almost none (as I remember). Let me know if you want me to add those.
All Heinlein, Niven, and Pournelle is great stuff.
All early Heinlein maybe, his later stuff is sex-obsessed
Be careful with some of Niven and later Heinlein.
Most of the Vorlpsogan series is pretty good as far as the sex content is concerned. Frank, but not overly gratuitous (a bit more so than her fantasy ,but not grossly offensive). If there are depictions of assault or sexual violence, it is from the POV of rightly horrified observers. They're also very frank in their depictions of LGBT relationships (an ally of the main character in a number of the books is a hermaphrodite), and there are trans characters as well as same-sex attracted characters throughout. If none of that is a deal breaker for you, and you use your discernment, they are very well written, and tell a very entertaining story of a deeply flawed man born with grievous disfigurements and disability, and it follows him throughout his life, trying to find his place in a society that rejects and mocks him for what he is, his struggles with mental and physical health, his search for love and a family of his own, and his efforts to escape the shadow of his father, a hero of his people, and be recognized for his own achievements.
Sure, let's hear your expanded list, please! And I agree, based on my research some people seem to have forgotten about the sex scenes in certain books, though I haven't read much to know for myself. Maybe it's also due to the difference between explicit vs. not.
I'm a hardcore hard science fiction guy. Tons of good "new" stuff but you're still going to get the occasional romance, and/or sex, but not overly graphic. I love all of the stuff from these folks: - My friend Mike Luoma https://amzn.to/3V0xvoF - Nathan Lowell's science fiction stuff which starts with this series and has a spin off https://amzn.to/4bGB9JK - B.V. Larson - Craig Alanson - Marko Kloos - Joshua Dalzelle - Dennis E. Taylor - Daniel Suarez - Peter F. Hamilton - Scott Brick - Greg Bear - John Ringo's Troy Rising and Looking Glass series - Mike Shepherd's Kris Longknife books and their spinoff etc.
Be careful with some of Ringo's though.
Yeah, that's why I mentioned the specific ones. The Kildar series definitely isn't for 99% of this sub and I've totally not read them 4x.
Here are some of my favorites: Starship Troopers - Robert Heinlein The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - Robert Heinlein Foundation - Isaac Asimov Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams War of the Worlds - HG Wells
One of my favorite authors is Jack McDevitt; I have yet to find a book of his that I don't like. Most of his stories take place in a universe where there once was extraterrestrial civilizations, but they disappeared long ago and all that are left are ruins and artifacts, so the narrative is generally focused around that aspect. He's a somewhat newer author (I think his first novel was published in the late 1980's) but his style is close to Heinlein. He keeps the sex scenes and swearing down to a minimum, sometimes non-existent, so that's my recommendation.
Yes good call.
By far and away the best sci-fi that has ever been written was by Vernon Vinge. He was 80’s to 2000’s so he might be slightly past your time period but his books will rock your world and have no or very little sex. A deepness in the sky (97) is his best book but doesn’t get good until chapter 10. A fire upon the deep (93) is nearly as good but has a little sex (not explicit). The peace war (84) is his most accessible book and has no sex at all. —- Since you’re a church member I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention “the worthing saga” by Orson Scott card. It’s basically an endowment fan fiction and explores many of the ideas found in the temple. Every LDS science fiction fan should read it. I believe it was written in the 70s A planet called treason by orson scott card is awesome but has some sex… but not too much I think. And of course Enders Game is great too.
I second fire upon the deep, some of the best sci fi ever
Fire Upon the Deep - has a sex scene
You’re right it definitely does… I just don’t remember it being too explicit but it’s been a few years since I’ve read it.
Try the Sector General series. It's basically House M.D. in space.
Alfred Bester’s *The Stars My Destination* has no sex. Except for a rape that happens “off-camera”.
The Martian Project Hail Mary (this one is better to listen to - audiobook - than to read, you will understand why after listening to it).
😂 love that at least one of these only really has a solitary protagonist. That's one way to avoid the risque stuff
My brother introduced a series to me, "The Expanse" and it has "space mormons!" Though I am pretty sure it is making fun of us, it's still cool, I don't remember it's rating though
As an avid sci fi reader since highschool, this is something that’s bugged me too. “Oh cool, a “biography” of a man who couldn’t die of old age! He grows up in the Great Depression, fights in wars, lives to see man colonize the stars. Neat neat. Oh the challenges he’s overcome outliving everyone he’s ever loved, how sad. aaaaaaand he goes back in time to have an affair with his mom……”
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1979). It's a sci-fi comedy. I'm pretty confident there's no sexual content. "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't." "During a recitation by their poet master of his poem "Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty I Found in My Armpit One Midsummer Morning" four of his audience died of internal haemorrhaging and the president of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off." "Don't Panic"
Lois McMaster Bujold Martha Wells David Weber Larry Correia David Drake Andre Norton Anne McCaffery (mostly) Clifford Simak Ryk Spoor Terry Pratchett Jack Campbell Brandon Sanderson Terry Brooks Timothy Zahn Lawrence Watt-Evans Alan Dean Foster Jack McDevitt Isaac Asimov Douglas Adams Ray Bradbury Margaret Weis Tracy Hickman Eoin Colfer Stephen Brust Some of these are newer, some have a questionable book or two and some are more fantasy than SF (but first impressions may be deceptive for many series)
Left off L. E. Modesitt jr, Fred Saberhagen and James P. Hogan
Big fan of Dune trilogy, Enders’s Game, and Star Wars EU, but most of my time lately has been more fantasy, like Sanderson, Rothfuss, GRRM. Oh, and Tom Clancy.
I love Michael Crichton's books. They're all so thought-provoking.
I like Ted Chiang. He’s a modern writer. His collection of short stories, Exhalation, is really good. It can get kinda dark but like PG 13 dark. But still very mature writing style.
Yeah the old school sci-fi stories were pretty much guaranteed to have a sex scene. It can be hard to avoid. Unfortunately remembering which books had a scene and which were safe is very difficult. You may be forced to just flip past the bad part, as you usually don't lose anything. Here are some authors and books I have enjoyed, and I \*think\* are safe, but I may not remember right. Terry Pratchett - not sci-fi, obviously, but WELL worth reading his entire corpus. Phillip Reeve - Mostly classified as YA, but always enjoyable. His "Mortal Engines" was turned into a big budget hollywood flop, but it's still a great read. Jasper Fforde - funny and creative, but not exactly sci-fi? Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell - a historical fantasy, I guess, but one of the best written books ever. Period. Jack McDevitt - I'm surprised to see him already mentioned TWICE in this thread, since nobody brings him up in r/scifi. His stuff is fun and safe (I think). Timothy Zahn - I haven't read his stuff in years, but I don't recall getting caught by anything sexual. Michael Crichton - the granddaddy of consumable scifi. Foundation - The series always mentioned alongside Dune, well worth a read. Wool by Hugh Howey - very creative dystopian future books with nothing sexual that I recall. Three Body Problem - amazing hard sci-fi.
Oh man, I need to read more Pratchett. He's fantastic! And somehow can make a single sentence that's like 5 jokes at once and also an insightful thought about something.
The John Cater of Mars series is clean but it may be a bit too old for your parameters.
Thanks for the recommendation!