I've been around this site for just over a year (edit: much longer than that) now and in that time I've read every sci-fi story I could get my hands on. Sadly, I couldn't find nearly as many as I hoped for alone, and I'm sure there are others in the same position as me. So let's share our knowledge.

Basically I'm going to list every sci-fi story by genre. If I especially recommend it, I'll give it a star.

Sci-Fi VRMMO:

• The Gam3* (complete)
• Into the Black
• Black Space

Mecha:

• The Suit-Maker (2 volumes complete)
• A Super Robot Story
• Paladin (Mecha/survival)
• The story of how a Cultivation Universe was Conquered by an Interstellar Weapons Platform (comedy?)

Fanfic:

• The Voyager (feat. Starcraft)
• STAR WARS Edge of the Empire: Life & Death on the Rim

Military Sci-Fi (also see mecha):

• Two Worlds*
• Quod Olim Erat* (complete)
• Chain Worlds Series: The Third Fleet, In the Name of the Allfather, Rise of Three
• Tales of the Terrace Republic
• Digital Marine
• Human Altered
• The Last Woman on Earth
• The Academy: Year One

Survival (can be post-apocalyptic or whatever, but survival and/or exploration are key elements):

• The Bridge, a Science Fiction Survival Story* (the first half of the book is available, the rest is available for free on the author's site or published on Amazon)
• The Reaper's Legion
• Starsnatcher - Trapped In Another World (complete)
• Staying Human* (complete)
• Post Human (complete)
• Return to Sol System
• ShipCore

Romance/relationship focus

• Synth
• How Do You QA Test a Tsundere Android!? (complete)
• Song of the Depths (first volume complete)
• Coeus? (complete)
• Amie, Android
• Snipe (complete)
• The Last Man Standing (also military)
• The Last Man Standing (romance/mystery)

Mystery

• Twenty Minutes Into the Future
• The Scuu Paradox (complete, military elements)
• Azazel's Universe

And of the ones that don't fit into the above categories,

Individual-focus (can be on a crew or group, in comparison to empire-building below):

• The After Megiddo series
• Soulless (Apparently) (complete)
• The Taleweaver and its sequel (complete)
• Dim(5,5,5) (complete)
• The Murder Eternal series, starting with Prophecy Unfolding (book one and two complete, book three in progress)
• Endeavour
• Descendants of a Dead Earth, with only book one - A Tinker's Damn available so far
• Out of Space
• Myscreth (complete)
• Last Shadows of a Booming Sky
• Deeper Darker (sci-fi dungeon crawling)
• Vagrant (cyberpunk)
• Dark Wolf (pulp sci-fi)
• Artificial Mind (slice of life)
• Starsnatcher - Trapped In An Alien World (complete)
• Stampede! Legend of a Magical Space Cowboy
• Sleight of Nano (cyberpunk)
• Hattoran Chronicle
• Campaign: A Project Starfarer Sidestory
• For Irision
• Noblesse Oblige (comedy)
• Horizon Saga (science fantasy but in space)
• Prehistoric Barbarian (book one complete as a standalone)

Empire-Building/Space Opera:

• Shepherd Moon (complete)
• Grand Design (complete)
• Song of the Void (complete)
• The Space Legacy
• First Contact
• Saga of the Cosmic Heroes
• Aethereal Space
• A Theft of Stars (complete)
• Beast (believed to be complete)

Not sure how to categorise:

• Dirge (complete, some multidimensional shenanigans here so not sure what the story is)
• Imaginings (short stories)
• Stories of the Apex (connected short stories)
• Tales from the Sea of Stars (connected short stories)
• 0.1.0 (crowd-sourced novel, complete)

Inactive (stated by the author as dropped/hiatus, not updated in the last 6 months and believed to be incomplete, or less than 5 chapters and not updated for a month):

Sci-Fi VRMMO:

• Tidal Lock*
• The Nebula
• Ethereal Space
• World Servers
• Riftwords Online Book 1: Space Opera
• Star Cosmic
• The Costa Brava Scenario
• Out There

Mecha (also in space):

• Left the World as Villager A. Came Back a Mecha Pilot.
• Mancers Grimoire
• Titan Warriors - a Mech LitRPG
• Steel Hearts

Fanfic:

• The Grey Imperium (various)
• The Chosen Stars (Transformers)
• Life In A Galaxy Far, Far Away (SW: TOR)
• Star Trek: Sidereal
• Star Wars: Lost Hope
• Starcraft Unbound (Starcraft, maybe others)

Military Sci-Fi:

• The Soul Onboard
• Warring Stars
• Silently We Dream (character is eventually transported to a fantasy world)
• Nebulous Fate (short, so category might be wrong)
• The Legend of Paul J. Raizer
• Weapons Don't Have Names
• Armor Corps
• Legacy of Terra (first book complete)

Survival:

• Every Planet We Reach Is Dead (first volume complete, on break before second volume is started)
• The Vessel
• Once Human
• The Outsider
• Scavenger
• The Scourged Earth

Romance/relationship:

• Nothing?!? You dedicated sci-fi romance writers

Mystery:

• Dreaming Horizon
• Metallic Mind
• Nowhere Island University (6 volumes complete, more spy action than mystery)
• Cyberworld (cyberpunk)
• Who Killed My Body?
• Shadow and Dust

Individual-focus:

• Deep Space Combat School: Nexus*
• Desolate Stars
• The Galactic Salt Road: Albert's Kitchen
• Tales of the Void Traveler (A Frozen Soul story)
• Wandering Immortals
• P.I.R.A.T.E.S. (Profiteering by Instigating Random Accidents To Embezzle Shipment)
• Splinter
• The Journal: Gliese 581c
• Star Captain Annie
• Apex Predator
• Space Dragon
• John Doe: A Nobody in Space
• The Stowaway
• The Zone
• M.S. Fortune (comedy)
• The Future That Never Was (80s scifi)
• The Lord of the Stars
• Neon (cyberpunk)
• Black Sun Rising
• Liveship
• Richard "Quickdraw" McCallister: A Eulogy (western sci-fi)

Empire-Building/Space Opera:

• Archon* (haven't read, but it's in the OoPA so that counts for something)
• An Empires Rising
• Infected Life
• Psycho Space
• Ashes of Eternity
• VIRTUS: Empire Among the Stars
• Burning Stars, Falling Skies
• Immense Space
• Post War Rules

Not sure how to categorise, often very short:

• Surviving Space
• Princess Royale (book one and two complete, no idea what this story is)
• The Last Walker (kind of sci-fi fantasy, but heavy sci-fi elements)
• Saving Earth

Deleted (These fictions have been removed from RRL, either for author profit or regret. History shall forever remember the fallen/ascended, or at least I shall):

• Universe Online* (mostly removed from RRL, now available on Amazon)
• Once Giants (now removed from RRL but available on, of course, Amazon)
• A Conquest of the Stars: The Heart's Anguish (now removed from RRL but available on the author's site)
• Frozen Soul (first chapters kept on RRL and the rest available on Amazon)
• Daedalus (first and last chapters kept on RRL and the rest available on Amazon)
• Lings (first chapter kept on RRL and the rest available on Amazon)
• Bastion Academy series (first chapters of each volume on RRL and the rest available on Amazon)
• A Lesser Dark series, starting with Salt in the Water
• Vigil Until Dawn
• Starblade
• Drive
• Divergent Cosmos
• Space Junk
• Intergalactic Convicts
• Steel Glory
• Exosolar
• The Madman's Clock
• Symbiote - link still works but no chapters there
• Reach for the Stars
• PSI Mercs
• Cinderella's Spaceship (sci-fi fairy tale)
• Origini - Book I and II
• Forgotten Relic
• Chronicles of the StarFighters

• The Lost Legionary

The inactive list was last updated 30th June 2021. PM me if you want a fiction moved back to the active list.

So that's all of it. I did leave out cyberpunk and apocalyptic sci-fi from my personal recommendations, because I'm not sure where that stops and other genres end. If you're annoyed your fiction or your favourite author's fiction isn't on here, please let me know - I'd be happy to have more sci-fi to read. I have also left off links outside RRL for simplicity's sake, but if you feel adventurous there are a few external novels which have been linked in the comments.

I hope now I won't have to search "sci-fi" and scream when I see all the fantasy MMORPG stories with sci-fi in the tags.

Thanks for recommending my fic :D

There are a few others I would suggest adding onto the list:
Staying Human *I strongly recommend this one*
How Do You QA Test a Tsundere Android!?
Princess Royale - A Novel Series

I haven't read these yet, but based on what I've heard, they probably belong as well:
Archon
Nowhere Island University
Deep Space Combat School: Nexus

Also, I'm not entirely sure why, but Viken has pulled most of Universe Online from RRL. For what it's worth, RRL still benefits from the remaining Amazon links as Amazon Associates, but people looking for something to read may be disappointed.

Of the ones on your list, I believe The Soul Onboard has also been dropped.

Noted. I can't believe I forgot about DSCS: Nexus...
There are a few on there that might have been dropped, I haven't seen a new chapter for a few of these for a while, but I still hold onto hope... I know the author of Splinter, for one, recently messaged me and said he was considering coming back to it. I hadn't looked at Universe Online's RRL chapters for ages, either, so I wouldn't know... shame :/ I think he was looking at writing as a full-time job, though, so fair enough if he feels he's losing money.

Taleweaver + sequel (links in sig) is science fantasy. Hence mostly planetbound. Might not suit your tastes though -- the space ship action, while there, is minimal.

Sci-fi doesn't need spaceships, and if it's there at all that's more than some fictions. It's worth a recommend.

On the subject of categorizing things, both Staying Human and QA Test are highly character focused.

I'd also suggest you link your fic directly :P

Meh, might as well throw out my few thousand words worth of stuff then...

if you want sci-fi then you can try A Numbers Game.... that was my attempt at sci-fi..... when will it update? who knows.....

if you want a soft VRMMO try Legends of Zyantra: Immortals.... more of a lighthearted story though.... also has to wait a long time for some updates....

anyway thats my lot, check them out if you like....

AaronDragon out....

Thank you for the recommendations. Is LoZ:I a sci-fi VRMMO. or a Fantasy VRMMO produced by a Sci-Fi society? Because I'd prefer not to include the latter, due to their sheer number and how little a role the science fiction actually plays in the story. I tend to categorise LitRPG novels by the genre of the game, given how much of a role it often plays - or just leave them as LitRPG if the genre is less obvious.

'bubbleduck' pid='786922' dateline='1473222172' Wrote: Thank you for the recommendations. Is LoZ:I a sci-fi VRMMO. or a Fantasy VRMMO produced by a Sci-Fi society? Because I'd prefer not to include the latter, due to their sheer number and how little a role the science fiction actually plays in the story. I tend to categorise LitRPG novels by the genre of the game, given how much of a role it often plays - or just leave them as LitRPG if the genre is less obvious.

L.Z:I is definitely the latter, I like to think of it as a high fantasy story where the advanced society of realty outside of the game world breaks in occasionally just to remind us that said game world is still JUST a game world.....

A.N.G on the other hand is definitely a sci-first almost space opera level story.... just I'm probably not going to update it very often or regularly.....

My fiction appears on the surface to be a fantasy vrmmorpg novel, but there is actually a lot of science involved and is more science fiction than anything.  I actually went to a physics forum and checked that some of my ideas had basis in reality, and used a lot from both my biology and psychology classes. 

If you want to get a sense of where the actual science comes in rather than just the fantasy and whatnot... start here http://royalroadl.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=82927  Also keep in mind that I already have a computer science degree so there is a lot of that involved.

Hey, I've got a Transformers story you might be interested in! It's pretty soft sci-fi, but sci-fi nonetheless.

http://royalroadl.com/fiction/8257

I don't see Coeus? on the list. Maybe we could fix that? It's a mix of sci-fi and magic. It's basically, what would happen if technology advanced along side magic where all the mages of Earth left a long time ago and are now living in a bunch of hyper-advanced hidden colonies on other planets and moons within the Solar System. Might not be every sci-fi nut's cup of tea, but it does raise that question of how other alien species could advance if they went along a different tech tree than ours.

Ah, thanks. I've read a few of Andur's works and they tend to go full fantasy with hints to future tech. I guess this one breaks the mould in terms of setting, it certainly seems like it from the description.

Hey Guys! Galactic Dark Net is quite good. I'd describe it as a sci-fi xuanhuan novel. Just binge read it. Around 170 chapters translated so far.

I probably won't link that one, since it's both off this site and a non-amateur translated novel, but thanks for the recommendation nonetheless.

Hi!

I write a Sci-fi/Cyberpunk novella series named "Once Giants".

Once Giants is post-cyberpunk novella series that features the lives of former starlets of a failed bio-augmented wrestling league, who are forced to use their superhuman bodies (in new and creative ways) to survive in the real world after the sport collapses.

Could you have a look and include it on your list if possible?

http://royalroadl.com/fiction/7654

Thanks!

Kirk of Team Contract

I've actually read the first few chapters of your work... I really mean I read everything I could get my hands on. It didn't interest me, in part because the sci-fi was less prevalent than I expected in the beginning. That's most of the reason I didn't include it initially, for the reasons stated at the end of my initial post. But if you're willing to classify the series as Sci-Fi/Cyberpunk, I suppose I judged too early. The one who knows their work best is, after all, the author.

Thanks for adding my fiction, Bubbleduck. Once Giants definitely has a much different take on the genre, than most cyberpunk or Sci-fi. The elements are there, but its focus is more on the characters than the tech.

Thanks again!

There is something that has been bothering me a long time for now, I have a epic war story/space opera that has been translated to vietnamese(my langauge ) that really stood out form the rest of the chinese novel, It actually remind me of epic space opera like Legends of the Galatic Heroes. I have been keep this story out of my recomadation list because I don't know it's chinese name( I am really ashamed of this TT), It's name in vietnamese(if you can read it) is M?o Bài Anh Hùng . It has all thing related to sci fi like Mecha , EPIC fleet battle, Dog fights, planetary siege and defence,..... MC is a Anti-Hero who is Badass and Disgusting at the same time.
This is the opinion of the translater about this novel.
(this is my translation of the summary so garma mistakes is inbound) ps: war stories in here mean chinese ones and doesn't include others
When reading about war stories or stories that has a large amount of war in it, Most of us only felt the anderline rush,the exciteness, the boiling drama or the impressive strategic brilliantness. Most probally read stories that has Asshole-ish MC for fun,but in this story what we see is.....
Behind the romantic comedy is Blood and Tears,Stood side by side with the floor-rolling humor is the tragicness-Tear jerking and Epic as the same time..... A small nation, a facile and perhaps weak race struggle to protect thier land.
MC is a coward, a pervert, a underhand fat asshole,.. overall a scum but he is a GOOD scum, Even thourgh he is afraid of death,he don't run form it when needed, Even thourgh he is a coward, he stand tall and proud when other fled,Even thourgh he is underhand, he don't afraid to face his enemies head on, Even thourgh he is a asshole, he can be perfect gentalman that every girl want, Even thourgh he is fat, he is one of the best COMMANDO, Mecha pilot, strategician,engineer in the galaxy. That what the MC is, a guy full of contradiction.

i have started to post a hard scifi that i had written and i am posting them as i edit them

http://royalroadl.com/fiction/8724 

let me know what you think i have 20k words written i just have to edit them and get them up.