Hello,

I’ve been trying to keep my anxiety and negativity in check and have been looking for short novels that lean toward positive feelings. Something like “Star Trek The Next Generation”: inspiring, encouraging; even though there are difficulties we learn, adapt and make mistakes. But at the end we’ll make it and we’ll get out of it better than we got into it. 😅

Possibly sci-fi or scientific, or adventure (eg the Hornblower saga)

(Sorry couldn’t find a better way to describe it 😅)

Thank you for any suggestion!

  • Mastema
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    4 months ago

    I highly recommend anything by Becky Chambers. Her Monk and Robot series is the definition of cozy fiction and the space series is also very low stakes, but engaging. I would also recommend the fantasy books, Legends and Lattés, about an orc who stops adventuring to open a coffee shop, and the prequel, Bookshops and Bonedust, which should actually be read after Legends.

    • F0h@beehaw.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      Thank you Mastema! That seems exactly what I was looking for.

      (Great moniker though! One of my workstations is called “Mastema” 😅)

      • Mastema
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        4 months ago

        Great minds, as they say! 😁 Once you read one of those, send me a message and let me know how you like it!

        • F0h@beehaw.orgOP
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          4 months ago

          Will certainly do! I’ve already signed up at my local library: I’m on the waiting list for the first installment of the saga.

          • Mastema
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            4 months ago

            Ooh! Which one? I’m now excited on your behalf!

            • F0h@beehaw.orgOP
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              4 months ago

              As you and others have suggested I’ve signed up for The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet: https://share.libbyapp.com/title/2245998

              Seems a rather popular title: my library has a waitlist of 22 weeks. 😅

              I’ve also signed up for Legends and Lattes! That sounds so silly and fun!

  • apotheotic(she/they)@beehaw.org
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    4 months ago

    As Mastema said, Becky Chambers. Her Wayfarers series (first book being A Long Way To A Small, Angry Planet) is sublime. I can’t recommend it enough

  • dudinax@programming.dev
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    4 months ago

    Also, Startide Rising by David Brin is “Uplifting”. It’s about the first interstellar starship captained by a dolphin, with a dolphin and human crew.

    They make a momentous discovery which puts them on the run from formidable alien fleets with the fate of all Earthlings hanging in the balance.

  • frank@sopuli.xyz
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    4 months ago

    I enjoyed Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldtree. It’s about a retired adventuring orc who decides to open a coffee shop instead of murdering people

    • F0h@beehaw.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      I’ve signed up for that at my local library. Thank you! It’s the kind of thing that I may be looking for!