Let's Talk Science Fiction If You're In The Mood

[bullmikey]

Twenty-five works of science fiction that I consider pivotal to the genera:

The Time Machine H. G. Wells

Who Goes There John W. Campbell

Foundation Isaac Asimov

Childhood’s End Arthur C. Clark

The Mote in God’s Eye Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell

The Left Hand of Darkness Ursula K. Le Guin

A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M. Miller, Jr.

The Last Castle Jack Vance

The Stars Are My Destination Alfred Bester

The Moon is A Harsh Mistress Robert A. Heinlein

Dune Frank Herbert

The Man in the High Castle Philip K. Dick

Neuromancer William Gibson

Bable-17 Samuel R. Delany

Ender’s Game Orson Scott Card

Stand on Zanzibar John Brunner

The Weapon Shops of Isher A. E. van Vogt

Nightwings Robert Silverberg

Hyperion Dan Simmons

Dragonflight Anne McCaffrey

The Forever War Joe Haldeman

Gateway Federik Pohl

Flowers for Algernon Daniel Keyes

More Than Human Theodore Sturgeon

Ringworld Larry Niven     

I’ve been reading science fiction ever since I moved from comics to the printed page. Say seriously from about the age of 8 or 9 on (I'm 67 now). I’ve read a lot of it, though nowhere nearly all of it. I’ve read through the various ages, from the Golden Age, through the 2nd Golden Age, through Dangerous Visions, all the way past Cyberpunk. It’s my favorite genera and I’ll never fall out of love with it. There is no other form of literature that can do what it does. The best way I can describe what it does is to say it makes you put the book down in the middle of reading it, look up, and mutter “Wow!” When that happens you know you got a game changer.

Lately I’ve been considering listing the works I’ve read that I consider pivotal to the genera. There are lots of top 10, 20, 100 lists on the internet. Some I’ve agreed with, some not so much. Anyway, here’s 25 works (books/stories) that I consider to be pivotal to my love of science fiction. This list is by no means all inclusive – it’s just what I came up with off the top of my head – and the order of the list has no bearing on the importance of the works (they are all equally important to me).

Anyway, I’m sure I’ve missed a lot of good stuff, so anyone else out there that’s a lover of good science fiction and has an idea of what’s missing, please enlighten me. Or if you wish to discuss any of these works or any others, I welcome the opportunity.

[Deleted]

Wot! No Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams?

[bullmikey]

Sept 18, 2015 18:24:31 GMT -5 @baldeagle said:

Wot! No Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Douglas Adams?

It would have been included in my top 100 for sure. 

[Evil Yoda]

The SyFy channel is about to ruin Childhood's End.

I believe Rendezvous with Rama belongs on that list, but I'm not sure what I'd replace with it.

[Deleted]

Shouldn't 'The Day Of The Triffids' and some of John Wyndham's other work be in that list... and didn't you guys get any of the 1950's BBC TV, 'Quatermass' series by Niger Kneale over there, if not I suggest that you look them up?

[Bartman]

Big Larry Niven fan here. 1st SF book I think I picked up was his Neutron Star short story collection and I was sold. Have sampled lots of other writers but Niven's Known Space series I still like best. Rumors still pop up now and then about a Ringworld Movie or Mini-Series but I think the scope is just too big and doubt it will ever happen. Super impressed with Andy Wier's "The Martian" that I stumbled across last year. The book was great, the Audiobook Outstanding and the CAM I saw of the movie wasn't bad either. Though the ending was a bit different from the book, I'll still get the BR Rip when it shows up on usenet.

[Evil Yoda]

Nov 25, 2015 7:25:17 GMT -5 @wkdwzd said:

Shouldn't 'The Day Of The Triffids' and some of John Wyndham's other work be in that list... and didn't you guys get any of the 1950's BBC TV, 'Quatermass' series by Niger Kneale over there, if not I suggest that you look them up?

Haven't read "Triffids" in years, so it's hard to say. But if we're discussing Brits, Moorcook belongs on there before Wyndham, in my view. For kids, Christopher Youd (who wrote as John Christopher) wrote an excellent series of YA books: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, the Pool of Fire. His later attempt a prequel for that series was less interesting (mostly because you knew the ending ahead of time). I still enjoy a re-read of those from time to time.

[bullmikey]

Nov 24, 2015 20:30:02 GMT -5 Evil Yoda said:

The SyFy channel is about to ruin Childhood's End.

I believe Rendezvous with Rama belongs on that list, but I'm not sure what I'd replace with it.

For my top 25 I wanted to represent 25 works by 25 different authors.  Rendezvous would be in my top 100 though.  Also, many more works by Vance, Asimov, Delany, Dick, Silverberg, Pohl, Sturgeon, Gibson, and a great many others. 

[bullmikey]

Nov 27, 2015 22:04:13 GMT -5 Bartman said:

Big Larry Niven fan here. 1st SF book I think I picked up was his Neutron Star short story collection and I was sold. Have sampled lots of other writers but Niven's Known Space series I still like best. Rumors still pop up now and then about a Ringworld Movie or Mini-Series but I think the scope is just too big and doubt it will ever happen. Super impressed with Andy Wier's "The Martian" that I stumbled across last year. The book was great, the Audiobook Outstanding and the CAM I saw of the movie wasn't bad either. Though the ending was a bit different from the book, I'll still get the BR Rip when it shows up on usenet.

Niven rocks. But I don't see Hollywood doing him justice. I'm not sure any film could. Though they did do "The Martian" without screwing it up like I thought they would. So maybe there's hope. 

[bullmikey]

Nov 29, 2015 18:02:58 GMT -5 Evil Yoda said:

Nov 25, 2015 7:25:17 GMT -5 @wkdwzd said:

Shouldn't 'The Day Of The Triffids' and some of John Wyndham's other work be in that list... and didn't you guys get any of the 1950's BBC TV, 'Quatermass' series by Niger Kneale over there, if not I suggest that you look them up?

Haven't read "Triffids" in years, so it's hard to say. But if we're discussing Brits, Moorcook belongs on there before Wyndham, in my view. For kids, Christopher Youd (who wrote as John Christopher) wrote an excellent series of YA books: The White Mountains, The City of Gold and Lead, the Pool of Fire. His later attempt a prequel for that series was less interesting (mostly because you knew the ending ahead of time). I still enjoy a re-read of those from time to time.

I've always considered Moorcook more fantasy than science fiction.


Wyndham is a mixed bag. He did a lot of pulpy stuff (space cowboys with ray guns and such) back in the pre-Campbell days, but he definitely improved with age, though off the top of my head I can’t think of anything groundbreaking that actually helped to shape modern science fiction as the works of the above authors.


There are literally hundreds of great authors within the genre, but when drawing up my list I was considering those authors who actually defined the genre and then tested its limits, taking it to the next level.

[bullmikey]

Nov 24, 2015 20:30:02 GMT -5 Evil Yoda said:

The SyFy channel is about to ruin Childhood's End.

I believe Rendezvous with Rama belongs on that list, but I'm not sure what I'd replace with it.

I saw the SyFy channel's Dune way back when, and I've been trying to forget it ever since. 

[bullmikey]

Brits worthy of honorable mentioning are Ian M. Banks and Peter F. Hamilton; both have produced some outstanding hard science fiction.