I'm surprised that there's no mention of rotation for "artificial gravity". Peter Watts, for example, uses some realistic designs in his work. So does Alastair Reynolds.
It popped up in The Martian, but some of the early 'hard sci-fi' I read - Stephen Donaldson's The Gap series - described similar designs. Rendezvous with Rama would be an earlier, more famous example. I've been surprised that it doesn't show up way more often.
Edit: And I do love Watts' design, because it handles the acceleration to coast transition so well.