Lists
50 Essential Science Fiction Books
Wikipedia – List of science fiction authors
The 100 Best Sci-Fi Books to Take You to Infinity and Beyond
The stars of modern SF pick the best science fiction
The Best Science-Fiction Authors
We Think These Are The BEST Science Fiction Authors
Top 10 Most Influential Science Fiction Writers
All the science fiction and fantasy books we’re looking forward to in 2019
Tau.Neutrino said:
Lists50 Essential Science Fiction Books
Wikipedia – List of science fiction authors
The 100 Best Sci-Fi Books to Take You to Infinity and Beyond
The stars of modern SF pick the best science fiction
The Best Science-Fiction Authors
We Think These Are The BEST Science Fiction Authors
Top 10 Most Influential Science Fiction Writers
All the science fiction and fantasy books we’re looking forward to in 2019
Tamb said:
Tau.Neutrino said:
mollwollfumble said:
How many of those have you read?
When I was a teen I read Asimov, EE Doc Smith, Michael Moorcock, Philip K. Dick, John Wyndham, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke….Dr Who books
All except Dr Who.
There used to be a really good list of top SciFi books. A list not written by one person but polled from perhaps many thousand responses. I voted for my favourites including:
EE Smith “Galactic Patrol”,
Herbert “Dune”
Joan D Vinge “Catspaw”
Sherry S Tepper “Grass”
Stross “Glasshouse”
Heinlein “Moon is a harsh mistress”
Douglas Adams “HHGTTG”.
I also have some favourites that nobody votes for:
Rotsler “The far frontier”
Poul Anderson “After doomsday”
Maccaffrey and Moon “Sassinak”
Philip E High “Come, hunt an earthman”
Piers Anthony “Mercycle”
Donal Moffitt “The Jupiter theft”
Andre Norton “Voorloper”
Steve Perry “The man who never missed”
All the above, IMHO, are better than “Enders game” which itself isn’t too bad.
mollwollfumble said:
Tamb said:When I was a teen I read Asimov, EE Doc Smith, Michael Moorcock, Philip K. Dick, John Wyndham, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke….Dr Who books
All except Dr Who.
There used to be a really good list of top SciFi books. A list not written by one person but polled from perhaps many thousand responses. I voted for my favourites including:
EE Smith “Galactic Patrol”,
Herbert “Dune”
Joan D Vinge “Catspaw”
Sherry S Tepper “Grass”
Stross “Glasshouse”
Heinlein “Moon is a harsh mistress”
Douglas Adams “HHGTTG”.
I also have some favourites that nobody votes for:
Rotsler “The far frontier”
Poul Anderson “After doomsday”
Maccaffrey and Moon “Sassinak”
Philip E High “Come, hunt an earthman”
Piers Anthony “Mercycle”
Donal Moffitt “The Jupiter theft”
Andre Norton “Voorloper”
Steve Perry “The man who never missed”
All the above, IMHO, are better than “Enders game” which itself isn’t too bad.
In order to know whether a SciFi book is good, you have to read it twice. Some books I thoroughly enjoyed on first reading, but not on second reading. The following fail the “second reading” test.
Asimov – all
Arthur C Clark – “Rendezvous with Rama”
Arthur C Clark – “A fall of moondust”
Anne McCaffrey – “The ship who sang”
Madelaine Le Engel – “A wrinkle in time”
Joan D Vinge – “The Snow Queen”
C J Cherryh – “Cyteen”
“Enders game”
“Neuromancer”
Some SciFi books I really want to read a second time but haven’t yet.
Dr Who series – “Spiral Scratch”
Anne McCaffrey – “Crystal Singer”
Sherri S Tepper – “The True Game”
Heinlein – “Time enough for love”
There are some good postmodern 21st century SciFi writers, see:
“Twenty-First Century Science Fiction: An Anthology”
There is one good-bad book I want to mention. It’s CJ Cherryh “Forty Thousand in Gehenna”. The book is abysmally badly written, but the concept of a new method of alien communication is superb.
> Anne McCaffrey – “Crystal Singer”
> Sherri S Tepper – “The True Game”
> Heinlein – “Time enough for love”
Just bought them, from A&R, along with Heinlein “For us the living”, total $71 incl. postage.
moll – are any of your favourites not space based? I particularly like Wyndham and Bradbury because they take ordinary things and stretch them further. Web, for instance. Michael Crichton does a similar thing in Andromeda Strain. I’m not much into the space stuff.
mollwollfumble said:
> Anne McCaffrey – “Crystal Singer”
> Sherri S Tepper – “The True Game”
> Heinlein – “Time enough for love”Just bought them, from A&R, along with Heinlein “For us the living”, total $71 incl. postage.
Time enough for love is one of my favourite books.
buffy said:
moll – are any of your favourites not space based? I particularly like Wyndham and Bradbury because they take ordinary things and stretch them further. Web, for instance. Michael Crichton does a similar thing in Andromeda Strain. I’m not much into the space stuff.
Bradbury’s a hack.
Witty Rejoinder said:
buffy said:
moll – are any of your favourites not space based? I particularly like Wyndham and Bradbury because they take ordinary things and stretch them further. Web, for instance. Michael Crichton does a similar thing in Andromeda Strain. I’m not much into the space stuff.Bradbury’s a hack.
I find his writing disturbs me. I don’t often read his stuff these days. As a teenager, I was impressed with The Illustrated Man and Fahrenheit 451. I reread 451 last year and it wasn’t as good as I thought. And I reread Something Wicked This Way Comes a couple of years ago and was really upset by it.