More like Sidewise in Time

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Fifth PlanetNovel
Fred Hoyle & Geoffrey Hoylestandalone novel1963
First contact.
Known SpaceUniverse
universe142 books1964
Set in far future.
“Give a clever species a few centuries and a working fusion drive, and it will fill the sky with problems.”
from the catalogue
Start with Ringworld →
includes Ringworld, Fleet of Worlds, Man-Kzin Wars
Have Space Suit - Will TravelNovel
Robert A. Heinleinstandalone novel1958
Space opera, about survival, set in near future.
“One minute Kip Russell was walking about in his own backyard, testing out an old space suit and dreaming about going to the moon - and the next he was out cold and the captive of an insidious space pirate.”
from the catalogue
UpliftUniverse
universe13 books1980
Space opera, about uplift, set in far future.
“No species, the Galactics insist, ever climbs to sapience alone.”
from the catalogue
Start with Sundiver →
includes Uplift, Uplift Storm
Fifth ImperiumSeries
series3 books1991
Space opera, about war, set in far future.
“The three novels were later collected as the omnibus Empire from the Ashes.”
from the catalogue
Start with Mutineers' Moon →
Humanx CommonwealthUniverse
universe39 books1972
Set in far future.
“Two species that ought, by every buried instinct, to recoil from one another instead clasp hand to truhand and build a galaxy together.”
from the catalogue
Start with For Love of Mother-Not →
includes Pip & Flinx, Icerigger Trilogy, The Founding of the Commonwealth