Top Five Science Fiction Novels
A while back, I posted a list of my top five, all-time favorite science fiction novels. A recent conversation made me realize that this needs revisiting. This list originated when my mom asked for a list of the best science fiction, so that she would not need to go through the oftimes perilous process of winnowing the wheat from the chaff.
As Ted Sturgeon pointed out, 95% of everything is crap. Here is the original list:
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein
Starship Troopers, by Robert Heinlein
Player of Games, by Iain Banks
The Stars My Destination, by Alfred Bester
Mote in God's Eye, by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
The Dosadi Experiment, by Frank Herbert
Dune, by Frank Herbert
A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge
A Deepness in the Sky, by Vernor Vinge
Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
Diamond Age, by Neil Stephenson
Cryptonomicon, by Neil Stephenson
Sundiver, by David Brin
Startide Rising, by David Brin
Lest Darkness Fall, by L. Sprague de Camp
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Mother of Storms, by John Barnes
Killing Star, by Charles Pellegrino and George Zebroski
Doorways in the Sand, by Roger Zelazny
The Greks Bring Gifts, by Murray Leinster
Pebble in the Sky, by Isaac Asimov
The City and the Stars, by Arthur C. Clark
I have never been able to narrow this list down I can only add to it. My top five list, it is large, it contains multitudes.
On further reflection, and by recommendation from Johno, I added these:
Canticle for Liebowitz, by Walter Miller
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
The Earth Abides, by George R. Stuart
Shockwave Rider, by John Brunner
Voice of the Whirlwind, by Walter Jon Williams
Pattern Recognition, by William Gibson
The Man In The High Castle, by Philip K. Dick
Schismatrix, by Bruce Sterling
Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson
Here are some new ones:
Norstrilia, by Cordwainer Smith
Bring the Jubilee, by Ward Moore
The Lensman Series, by E.E. "Doc" Smith
Cities in Flight, by James Blish
Tactics of Mistake, by Gordon R. Dickson
And as an added bonus, and actual list of five, for fantasy:
Lord of the Rings, by some guy, think his name begins with "D"
Freedom and Necessity, by Emma Bull and Steven Brust
American Gods, by Neil Gaiman
Age of Unreason series, by J. Gregory Keyes
The Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. Le Guin (and I do mean trilogy)
[wik] Here's a link to another page with a good top 100 list.
[alsø wik] Ted points out that Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus is a damn fine novel, and I agree that it is an oversight. He also gave me a couple new titles to hunt down. If anyone has any suggestions for the list, please leave them in the comments, and I will make additions to the list as needed.
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The Earth Abides???
The Earth Abides???
I don't think I've ever met anyone else who's read that book! Well, okay, I've never met you, either.
But anyway.
I read that when I was much younger, and I've recently wondered if I'd find a lot of good stuff I missed at the time if I read it again.
I think this makes up my mind.
Thanks!
You might consider Babel-13
You might consider Babel-13 by Samuel Delaney, People of the Wind by Poul Anderson and Orson Scott Card's Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus. Hmmm, now that I think about it, Dragon's Egg and Starquake by Robert L. Forward are pretty darn great too.
Ted, I never read the first
Ted, I never read the first two you mention. Pastwatch is a killer novel, and I think I did overlook it. It's second only to Ender's Game in my opinion among his novels. Card should do more Alternate history. Forward has great science in his SF, but as novels they don't quite match up. I did really enjoy both of those books though.
Murdoc, I usually find that rereading a book after twenty years or whatever is almost like reading it new. I don't know about you, but I certainly am a lot different (hopefully better) than the teenager who read that book the first time. I found it hit me in different ways. There was a series of really good apocalypse SF in the fifties. A couple are on that list, (Canticle, Earth Abides) but others include On the Beach, Alas, Babylon (a personal fave) and a lot of Ballard's stuff as well.
I've been trying to find old, classic science fiction that I never got around to reading when SF was all I read. That's how Smith's Norstrilia got on the list.