Jul
16
Before the comments fill up with “Why didn’t you include this” and various slights against our personal and professional integrity, this is just a list of ten great science fiction novels, not in order, and by no means the top ten ever produced. ‘Ten of the best’, not ‘the ten best’. That being said, please post up your own favourites, as we’re always looking for new things to read.
10. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress
Published: 1966
Author: Robert Heinlein
Awards: Hugo (1967), Nebula (1966), Prometheus, (1983)
Heinlein’s elegantly constructed novel evokes some of the finest traditions in science fiction, with a near-future setting on the mongrel colony of Luna, which is preparing its revolution against the tyrannical rule of Earth. Although much of the novel doesn’t make the strictest sense in a sociological, political and creative way, it’s still one of the greatest works of SF.
9. Ender’s Game
Published: 1985
Author: Orson Scott Card
Awards: Hugo (1986), Nebula (1985)
Card’s seminal novel has been in and out of the news since its release, whether it’s for the long-mooted (and finally killed) idea of a film adaptation, through to the graphic novel version, through to it being a set text at US military academies. It’s worth reading, and relatively short, for those of us who are slightly word shy.
8. A Canticle For Leibowitz
Published: 1960
Author: Walter M Miller Jr
Awards: Hugo (1961)
It’s nigh-on impossible to talk seriously about the post-apocalyptic subgenre of science fiction without mentioning Walter M Miller Jr’s A Canticle For Leibowitz. Almost universally regarded as a bona fide classic, the novel spans many years in its fictional universe, and has done so as well in the real world through the raw power of Miller’s storytelling ability.
7. Flowers For Algernon
Published: 1966
Author: Daniel Keyes
Awards: Nebula (1966-tie with Babel-17 by Samuel R Delany)
Flowers For Algernon is one of those odd books that you often hear referenced in popular culture, and one that everyone seems to be familiar with the story of, but doesn’t seem to have been read by anyone. Those who haven’t are really missing out. Keyes’s searing, poignant and eloquent tale of a man thrust into situations he has no control over is still resonant, and ultimately, timeless.
6. We
Published: 1924
Author: Yevgeny Zamyatin
Awards: N/A
Widely credited with inspiring George Orwell’s 1984, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, and Kurt Vonnegut’s Player Piano, Yevgeny Zamyatin’s We also has the dubious distinction of being one of the first novels banned by the Soviet Union’s literary censorship bureau, finally seeing a Russian language version in the late Eighties. Do your brain a favour, and read it.
5. The Forever War
Published: 1974
Author: Joe Haldeman
Awards: Nebula (1975)
Joe Haldeman’s hypnotic account of an interstellar war, and returning home to find yourself unable to integrate into a changed culture is highly allegoric, and particularly sad when taken in the context that it serves as a loose metaphor for the author’s experiences in Vietnam. Ridley Scott seems to like it as well, due to the fact that he’s currently got an adaptation on his production slate.
4. Childhood’s End
Published: 1953
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Awards: N/A
Weaving macrocosmic concepts with a deft hand and a number of human characters to ground the story in a relative sense, Childhood’s End is often cited as one of Clarke’s best novels. It may not have the same level of fame as Rendezvous With Rama, or 2001: A Space Odyssey, but our copies are falling apart from all of the times we’ve read them.
3. A Fire Upon The Deep
Published: 1992
Author: Vernor Vinge
Awards: Hugo (1993), Nebula (1992)
Written in Vinge’s usual complex style, this novel covers an equally large array of subjects. Genocide, love, betrayal and more technological areas are touched on, contributing to the whole of this excellent novel. If some of you doubt the author’s pedigree in science fiction, he recently won another Hugo for his novel Rainbows End. Give it a whirl, it’s not for everyone, but we loved it.
2. The Foundation Trilogy
Published:1951-1953
Author: Isaac Asimov
Awards: Hugo (1965)
There simply isn’t a more recognisable name in science fiction than Isaac Asimov, and Foundation is arguably his most popular series (if not itself the most recognisable). Indeed, Emmerich is doing a film version, and The Guardian even postulated a while back that Osama Bin Laden was influenced by Foundation. Perhaps not the best epitaph for SF’s most beloved author.
1. The Stars My Destination
Published: 1956
Author: Alfred Bester
Awards: N/A
I kill you filthy, Vorga! Bester’s best-known novel has had an indelible impact on the genre from the moment it was published, and still remains one of those hidden gems for the new generation that you only really find once you’ve become inextricably involved with SF. Joe Haldeman calls it a work of genius, and we’d be hard-pressed to disagree.
Starship Troopers is another essential, especially if you count The Forever War in the list.
I’d tend to disagree. While I like Starship Troopers and do count it as a classic of SF lit, I don’t think that it has the same level of complexity and emotional resonance as The Forever War. The novel is, after all, mostly set in a training camp.
I’m aware of the extraneous political arguments that accompany it, and I did debate including it, but in the end I decided The Forever War was the superior text.
Great list of books here. I’ve read many, and I’ll be checking out the ones I haven’t. As far as what’s missing, I was a little surprised not to find Dune here! Also, though it’s fantasy and not strictly sci/fi, I’d have liked seeing Roger Zelazney’s Chronicles of Amber as well.
While I agree with most all of your choices, my list would replace Heinlein’s “Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” with his epic “Time Enough For Love”. And, simply because I haven’t yet read “We”. I would replace it with Pat Frank’s amazing “Alas Babylon”.
Missed a couple:
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
Dune
Stranger in a Strange Land
@Pat Owens: Ah, Alas Babylon is fantastic! Good shout. However, We is far better.
@zaphod121: I seem to be alone in not rating Dune as highly as most people. Nevertheless, I imagine I’ll have to do a second list tomorrow. I probably wouldn’t include DA on it though, in all honesty.
@Harrison: I did debate Zelazny as well, but in as far as these things go, you can only put what you know thoroughly on them. I think I read Chronicles Of Amber about five years ago, and it didn’t make as much of an impression on me as these did. Maybe it’s time for a revisit?
James,
Definitely return to Zelazny’s Chronicles first chance you get. It is quality fantasy. Highly entertaining with some deeper subjects threaded throughout.
Oh, and as far as Heinlein goes… I’d probably have gone with Stranger also
.
Hey, James, I’ll take some of the heat off you so people can flame me instead. “Dune” is probably the most over-rated science fiction novel of all time…I’ve read it 3 times thinking I missed something. But I just get more disappointed each time.
Pat Owens, I flame thee.
@Harrison – There’s my weekend’s reading sorted then!
@Pat Owens – Well yeah, it just didn’t grab me the same way that it did others I suppose. Thanks for the assist!
Ähm – no Stanilaw Lem? No Solaris? No Tichy?
Also: No Douglas Adams and no Phillip K. Dick (at least Bladerunner?)
You’re freakin me out…
“Before the comments fill up with “Why didn’t you include this” and various slights against our personal and professional integrity, this is just a list of ten great science fiction novels, not in order, and by no means the top ten ever produced. ‘Ten of the best’, not ‘the ten best’. That being said, please post up your own favourites, as we’re always looking for new things to read.”
Good list! The only one I disagree with is ENDER’S GAME. I feel that it is as overrated as DUNE.
Others I would include:
DYING INSIDE by Robert Silverberg
LEFT HAND OF DARKNESS by Ursula K. LeGuin
LORD OF LIGHT by Roger Zelazny
NOVA by Samuel R. Delany
THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE by Philip K. Dick
HYPERION CANTOS (HYPERION and THE FALL OF HYPERION) by Dan Simmons
DOOMSDAY BOOK by Connie Willis
THE BOOK OF THE NEW SUN by Gene Wolfe
NATURAL HISTORY by Justina Robson
STAND ON ZANZIBAR by John Brunner
PARABLE OF THE SOWER by Octavia Butler
THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES by Ray Bradbury
THE CHILD GARDEN by Geoff Ryman
RIVER OF GODS by Ian McDonald
FAIRYLAND by Paul J. McAuley
THE SUMMER ISLES by Ian MacLeod
CHASM CITY by Alastair Reynolds
There’s lots more but that’s probably too many already.
I have read six of the ten. I recently read ‘City’ by Clifford D. Simak, and rate it as my new all time favorite. I love these kind of posts. They are how I choose what classics I want to read. Thanks.
Versions of a few from your list are online too:
Yevgeny Zamyatin’s “We”: MP3.
“Childhood’s End”: audio (probably radio adaptation).
“Ender’s Game”: Text of original short story.
Shakespeare’s Planet by Simak.
Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys.
War Of Two Worlds by Poul Anderson.
And my introduction to science fiction, This Perfect Day by Ira Levin
[...] SciFi Now has a really excellent list of Ten of the Best Science Fiction Novels. [...]
I could possibly make one or two changes but they are definitely all right up there.
1953 for Childhoods End? – I had forgotten it was that long ago.
If you get a chance maybe check out my own modest contribution at:
http://www.StrategicBookPublishing.com/ScienceFictionandAlternateHistory.html
Cheers
DUNE was a very overrated book in my opinion as well , not bad , but not as epic as everyone else makes out.
Why not read something from Peter.F Hamilton, England’s best selling sci fi author , i suggest reading
“Pandora’s Star then Judas Unchained” (its other half of the series of 2)
great books , and any of his other series are fascinating
These sort of lists will always disappoint more people than they satisfy as everyone will have their own list which they think is definitive – me inlcuded. Here’s a few that I was surpirsed to see missed.
Thomas M Disch – The Seedling Stars
Robert Silverberg – Tower of Glass
Michael Moorcock – Behold The Man
Clifford D Simak – Ring around the Sun
Phillip K Dick – Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep
Ray Bradbury – Damnation Alley
J G Ballard – High Rise
I agree with most of the greats but having been an avid sf reader for more than 50 years I must add the following:
John Wyndham – The Chrysalids. Read more more often than I can remember and so real it’s fresh every time.
Linda Nagata – Vast. The best hard sf ever written by a woman – or anyone. Stunning vision.
Dean R. Koontz – Lightning. His best. Not just neat time travel but his best characters ever. Shades of Terminator but much more substance.
Robert Silverberg – Thorns. Once read never forgotten and can be addictive.
Theodore Sturgeon – The Dreaming Jewels. An old classic full of charm and wonderful surprises. Even knowing the plot it is still readable time and again.
A lot depends on your definition of SF, but for hard SF I cannot imagine anything better than Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos. (Hyperion is so good it is in my all-time list for serious fiction.) I also loved reading Benford’s Great Sky River and Tides of Light.
For me it will always be Frank Herberts Dune series. x
Good list, but, with the exception of A Fire Upon the Deep and Ender’s Game (which was really published in 1985? Sheesh!)it seems to stop circa ‘75. Not much representing Cyberpunk here – I think that Neuromancer would get onto most people’s lists (I think that the Sprawl trilogy has had a massive influence on the genre).
Well there are a lot of great titles that have already been mentioned and i now have a very large list of new authors to investigate. However i am a little shocked that WILLIAM GIBSON has not been mentioned “Neuromancer” is a stunning book. My other fav by him is “pattern Recognition” Definately worth a look.
John Varley ‘The Ophiuchi Hotline’- superbly clever and engaging science fiction!
Greg Bear ‘Eon’- wow- worlds within worlds, memories, intersections…
George R R Martin ‘Dying of the Light’.
Christopher priest ‘A Dream of Wessex’.
I won’t go on- I’m getting all nostalgic!
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