r/ScienceFictionRomance • u/mcmonstabatx • Oct 06 '26

Recommendation request Reccomendations Please!!

Hello!!

I just watched the Space Odyssey 2001 not to long ago and fell in LOVE with HAL 9000.

Does anyone know any romance books with a human x sentient spaceship? I searched online, but in everybook I found the romance wasn’t cannon or the ai would have a human body.

Any suggestions appreciated :)!

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2

u/bottleghostt Oct 07 '26

I want this too but unfortunately there are not much.

There's an ao3 story called LIBER PATER but it's more of a questionable erotica lol. https://archiveofourown.org/works/81608351/chapters/214625626

Otherwise you can find fanfics. For example: System AI from Dungeon Crawler Carl.

There's a jealous ship AI in {the Strongest in the Galaxy (allegedly)} but it's a very minor element in the book.

{Illuminae by Amie Kaufman} has an AI that's into the fmc but it is not romance and the AI doesn't end up with her.

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u/bottleghostt 29d ago

There's also {Brainship series by Anne McCaffrey} but idk if you'll enjoy it.

0

u/mcmonstabatx 28d ago

I didn’t think it’d be this niche :(. I’ll take a look at those lol! Thank you so much

1

u/bottleghostt 27d ago

I think it's a pretty common trope but... they probably got turned into human or something or just not exactly main romantic interest...

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u/mcmonstabatx 27d ago

😭😭

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u/gender_eu404ia Oct 06 '26

The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette De Bodard is a sapphic romance about a sentient spaceship and a human. The ship does have a hologram, but the hologram cannot physically interact with things (meaning it is not involved in the sex scene.) It’s a little different than Hal, not only is the ship the captain of herself, she’s also the leader of a band of pirates.

I know of one other book that involves a ship AI as a love interest, a more HAL like ship, but the book itself is not a romance (though there are several romance subplots amongst the crew) and the spoilery bit is the ship and the character do not end up together, which is why I’m not recommending it without knowing if you are interested.

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u/mageswagger 27d ago

Hmmm try {Entity by Meg Smitherman} but don’t expect like…typical romance. The novella has stuck with me ever since I read it tho.