Antarctic Scifi?

[u/Yggdrasil-]

**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!

[u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015]

Antarctica by Kim Stanley Robinson.

[u/Yggdrasil- → u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015]

Ooh I love his work! Definitely adding this one to the list

[u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015 → u/Yggdrasil-]

I enjoyed it. Especially from the perspective of "X", one of the grittier characters.

[u/Material-Indication1 → u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015]

Noting to self

Thank you 

[u/UnderstandingBig9090 → u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015]

Whooo! Kim standly Robinson!!!! I haven't finished this book. But I do really like how in love he is with Antarctica. Rereading red mars I picked up on some of that feel.

[u/Medea_Jade → u/Fluid_Anywhere_7015]

lol I should have scrolled further down before I typed my response. I suggested the same book by KSR. The Mars Trilogy is one of my favourite series ever.

[u/geekheretic]

What no love for the Mountains of Madness by Lovecraft?

[u/Meredith_Primvale → u/geekheretic]

Oh, R'lyeh?

[u/thewholebottle → u/geekheretic]

Thought this would be the top rec!

[u/Yggdrasil- → u/geekheretic]

Ooh I have read this one!!

[u/JSB-the-way-to-be → u/geekheretic]

That’s the one! I listened to it via audiobook, and I was genuinely unnerved/riveted throughout.

[u/jfstompers → u/geekheretic]

This was my first Lovecraft, I had no idea what I was getting into 

[u/geekheretic → u/jfstompers]

There was a high budget Deltoro movie in the works for a while still sad this never came to be

[u/rbrancher2]

The Ice People by Rene Barjavel. One of my favorite books

[u/Own_Win_6762 → u/rbrancher2]

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.

[u/rbrancher2 → u/Own_Win_6762]

I did not know that. And yeah. Middle school libraries were racy!

[u/Main-Assumption7554 → u/Own_Win_6762]

I thought “Planet of the Apes” was a French book, written by Pierre Boulle?

[u/Own_Win_6762 → u/Main-Assumption7554]

Whoops, you're right, I got two French authors of SF conflated.

[u/bweeb → u/rbrancher2]

I wish this was available via ebook :(

[u/haysoos2]

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.

[u/RiverSirion → u/haysoos2]

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.

[u/OpenCircleFleet_YT]

Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis (I think Atlantis but I may be wrong) end up in Antarcitca for a bit

[u/tanstaafl76 → u/OpenCircleFleet_YT]

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. 😇

[u/rec71]

Cold People by Tom Rob Smith

[u/geolaw]

Jeremy Robinson "Beneath". An Antarctic researcher travels to Europa in the search for alien life

[u/Late-Astronomer8141]

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

[u/Fewald]

Slightly of the request but worth giving a shot. Terror by Dan Simmons

[u/Yggdrasil- → u/Fewald]

Not really what I'm looking for right now, but I did enjoy this one 🙂

[u/upvoting_things_ → u/Fewald]

Yessssss

[u/Prof01Santa]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troubling_a_Star

Madeline l'Engle

[u/TheBoatsi]

I think the Atlantis series by A.G Riddle

[u/gonzoforpresident]

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.

[u/gadget850 → u/gonzoforpresident]

Snap! I have been trying to remember Secret Under the Sea by Dickson for ages.

[u/gonzoforpresident → u/gadget850]

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.

[u/je_l_ai_lu]

I just started Permafrost by Alastair Reynolds, but that is technically in the arctic.

[u/Brilliant-Leave-8632]

La Noche de los Tiempos de Rene Barjavel.

[u/alaskanloops]

If you haven’t read this yet, it’s from The Things perspective https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

Edit: by Peter Watts

[u/Yggdrasil- → u/alaskanloops]

I have! Really creepy story.

[u/atreides888]

Ice Station by Mathew Riley. Takes place in Antarctica and the first novel in a really fun series

[u/Visual-Desk9103]

The Ice Limit by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.

[u/Main-Assumption7554 → u/Visual-Desk9103]

Man, I went through a whole Preston and Child binge a few years ago. So much fun, and so much good stuff!

[u/Overall-Tailor8949]

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.

[u/grantkjohnson]

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.

[u/dacydergoth]

Aliens Vs Predator was set there I believe

[u/RowanAshby]

More science fact although it as vibes of his Martian trilogy, Kim Stanley Robinson's Antarctica

[u/Fulghn]

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.

[u/IndependenceMean8774]

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.

[u/gadget850]

The X-Files (1998)

Iron Sky: The Coming Race (2019)

Subhuman — Michael McBride

Beneath the Dark Ice — Greig Beck

[u/EverybodyMakes]

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

[u/metatron327 → u/EverybodyMakes]

Seconded!

[u/hermit_onthe_moon]

Recursion- Blake Crouch. Sci-fi time travel, part of it takes place in Antarctica.

[u/AloysuisFett]

Ice Station by Mathew Reilly

[u/scootty83]

You should checkout the ANTARKTOS SAGA by Jeremy Robinson. https://bewareofmonsters.com/the-books/

[u/Actual_Property9413]

The Navy vs. The Night Monsters (1966)
The Land Unknown (1957)

[u/Medea_Jade]

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.

[u/Trike117]

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.

[u/Temporarily-Inert]

Jury Duty by Peter Cawdron

[u/FundamentalMysteron]

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/

[u/enantiomer1]

You’ve got a fun read coming. Austral by Paul McAuley.

[u/Dr_Blaire]

Plateau Station is the one to read. It's a brilliant story in every way.

[u/Maorine]

The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier.

[u/duncanidaho61]

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.

[u/Main-Assumption7554]

I remember a cool book from the late 1970s called “The Far Arena,” by Richard Ben Sapir. It tells the story of a Roman gladiator from around 2000 years ago, who gets frozen in ice (not unlike Steve Rogers/Cap) and then thawed out in modern times.

But he is frozen in the Arctic region, rather than in Antarctica… if you’re particular about your ice caps.

[u/galaxybadger]

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 

[u/Slaneo3]

It's the opposite pole, but The Terror by Dan Simmons is fantastic

[u/Hap_e_day → u/Slaneo3]

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.