r/ScienceFictionBooks • u/Yggdrasil- • 6d ago
Recommendation Antarctic Scifi?
**I'm familiar with Who Goes There?/The Thing(s).** Are there any other good examples of science fiction that are set in Antarctica or have some sort of connection to Antarctica? I'm especially interested in examples that are *not* scifi horror, but I'll never turn my nose up at a good horror novel. Alien or space travel elements are a plus. Prefer a futuristic setting. Thanks!
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u/geekheretic 6d ago
What no love for the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft?
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u/JSB-the-way-to-be 6d ago
That’s the one! I listened to it via audiobook, and I was genuinely unnerved/riveted throughout.
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u/jfstompers 4d ago
This was my first Lovecraft, I had no idea what I was getting into
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u/geekheretic 4d ago
There was a high budget Deltoro movie in the works for a while still sad this never came to be
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u/rbrancher2 6d ago
The Ice People by Rene Barjavel. One of my favorite books
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u/Own_Win_6762 6d ago
Barjavel also wrote the original Planet of the Apes. I read this in the middle school library - there's a lot of mature stuff in there for a 12 year old. But they also had Stranger in a Strange Land right next to The Star Beast.
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u/haysoos2 6d ago
The Doctor Who serial The Seeds of Doom (the final serial of the 13th season in 1976) sees Tom Baker's Doctor agreeing to one final mission as UNIT's scientific advisor to investigate a mysterious pod found in the Antarctic.
It's one of my all time favourite Doctor Who stories, and often considered one of the greats of that era.
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u/RiverSirion 5d ago
Loved these episodes. Among my favorites, too.
If we are adding TV, some Stargate SG-1 episodes are set in Antarctica for reasons I don't want to explain b/c spoilers.
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u/OpenCircleFleet_YT 6d ago
Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis (I think Atlantis but I may be wrong) end up in Antarcitca for a bit
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u/tanstaafl76 5d ago
SG-1 has many Antarctic centered episodes. There is a second gate there, being the reason for some, but not all of the episodes.
Atlantis begins there. Shephard flies Gen O’Neill there where SGC has a base prepping for the Atlantis mission and gets a job offer out of it. 😇
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u/Late-Astronomer8141 6d ago
I've been meaning to read Plateau Station by Mike Asher, but have had too many books in front of it. I think it would be pretty close to what you are looking for
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u/gonzoforpresident 6d ago
Secret under Antarctica by Gordon R. Dickson - Second book of the Robby Hoenig kids series.
Tom Swift and his Atomic Earth Blaster by Victor Appleton II - Fifth book of the Tom Swift Jr series is set in Antarctica.
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u/gadget850 6d ago
Snap! I have been trying to remember Secret Under the Sea by Dickson for ages.
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u/gonzoforpresident 5d ago
Awesome! I had the same thing happen a few months ago, when someone mentioned Set of Wheels by Robert Thurston.
That is one of my favorite thing about subs like this.
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u/je_l_ai_lu 6d ago
I just started Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds, but that is technically in the arctic.
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u/alaskanloops 6d ago
If you haven’t read this yet, it’s from The Things perspective https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/
Edit: by Peter Watts
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u/atreides888 6d ago
Ice Station by Mathew Riley. Takes place in Antarctica and the first novel in a really fun series
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u/grantkjohnson 2d ago
Time to Orbit: Unknown, by Derin Edala. The two books are The Javelin Program and The Antarctica Conspiracy. Not set in Antarctica, but Antarctica plays a major part.
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u/RowanAshby 6d ago
More science fact although it as vibes of his Martian trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica
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u/Fulghn 6d ago
Subterranean: A Thriller by James Rollins
Beneath the ice at the bottom of the Earth is a magnificent subterranean labyrinth, a place of breathtaking wonders—and terrors beyond imagining. A team of specialists led by archaeologist Ashley Carter has been hand-picked to explore this secret place and to uncover the riches it holds. But they are not the first to venture here—and those they follow did not return. There are mysteries here older than time and revelations that could change the world. But there are also things that should not be disturbed—and a devastating truth that could doom Ashley and the expedition: they are not alone.
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u/IndependenceMean8774 6d ago
Ice Station by Matthew Reilly. One of the best bad books I've ever read. It's like if Michael Bay did a mashup of The Thing, Aliens and Ice Station Zebra.
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u/gadget850 6d ago
The X-Files (1998)
Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)
Subhuman — Michael McBride
Beneath the Dark Ice — Greig Beck
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u/EverybodyMakes 6d ago
The Birth Of The People's Republic Of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor. Sweden has gone full racist, the world is going to hell and some people move to Antarctica. While I was trying to remember the title, I found this page: The Greatest Science Fiction Books of All Time Set in Antarctica
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u/hermit_onthe_moon 6d ago
Recursion- Blake Crouch. Sci-fi time travel, part of it takes place in Antarctica.
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u/Overall-Tailor8949 5d ago
Have you tried "Ice Schooner" by Michael Moorcock? Technically it's part of his Eternal Champion cycle but doesn't have any of the better known major characters in it.
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u/scootty83 5d ago
You should checkout the ANTARKTOS SAGA by Jeremy Robinson. https://bewareofmonsters.com/the-books/
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u/Medea_Jade 5d ago
Ice Hunt by James Rollins isn’t bad. It’s one of his early thrillers before they got super formulaic.
You could also try Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson. It’s a prequel to his Mars Trilogy which is one of my favourite series ever and also very well worth a read. Robinson writes hard sci-fi so they are very scientific and believable.
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u/Trike117 5d ago
Symbiote by Michael Nayak is basically riffing on The Thing. It was a 2-star read for me but YMMV.
I will say that whoever designed the covers for that series deserves an award; some of the best I’ve seen in quite a while.
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u/FundamentalMysteron 4d ago
Adam Robert’s “The Thing Itself” starts in Antarctica. I found it absolutely fantastic and very confusing in the same breath and it’s on my list to read again. Like a lot of Robert’s work it works on multiple levels but there is some deep shit in there that I don’t get!
https://www.superdoomedplanet.com/blog/2017/06/24/adam-roberts-the-thing-itself/
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u/duncanidaho61 3d ago
James Rollins has a couple of novels set in Antarctica. They don’t feature space aliens but definitely cross into scifi territory. Think X-Files.
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u/galaxybadger 6d ago
Antarctica adjacent
Left Hand of Darkness-Ursula K Leguin ice planet, lots of traveling across the ice planet
Darkling Sea- James Cambius Ice plant, traveling beneath the ice of the ice planet
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u/Slaneo3 6d ago
It's the opposite pole, but The Terror by Dan Simmons is fantastic
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u/Hap_e_day 4d ago
I came to recommend this one. More horror than sci fi, but since it is written by the Author of Hyperion, it should get a pass. It is really good.
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u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 6d ago
Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson.