My favorite sci-fi work on this topic (and I dare say my favorite sci-fi work ever) is a series of posts on kuro5hin by localroger, together titled "Passages in the void." You can find them on http://localroger.com/ . The speed of light issue is solved without inventing new physics, which is extremely satisfying, but there is still enough of a leap of faith to make it satisfying sci-fi. Brilliant work.