Top 100 Science Fiction Novels

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One book per post please.

(I decided I did like this thread format after all.)

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:34 (twenty-two years ago)

War of the Worlds - H G wells

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:35 (twenty-two years ago)

2001 - Arthur C Clarke

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card

― JS Williams (js williams), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:38 (twenty-two years ago)

4. Christopher Priest - The Glamour

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

5. Walter M Miller Jr - A Canticle For Leibowitz

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

6 The Time Machine - H G Wells

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:50 (twenty-two years ago)

7 20000 leagues under the sea - Jules Verne

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:51 (twenty-two years ago)

8. philip kdick- a scanner darkly

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:51 (twenty-two years ago)

The Man In The High Castle - Phillip K dick

― Jamie Conway (Jamie Conway), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:51 (twenty-two years ago)

10. PKD- valis

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

11. PKD-radio free albermuth

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

12. PKD- flow my tears, the policeman said.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

13. PKD- Ubik

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

14 Needle in the groove - Jeff Noon

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:53 (twenty-two years ago)

15. Russell Hoban - Riddley Walker

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:53 (twenty-two years ago)

16. Kurt vonnegut- a cat's cradle

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:53 (twenty-two years ago)

17. PKD- do androids dream of electric sheep?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:54 (twenty-two years ago)

18. sam delany- nova

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:55 (twenty-two years ago)

19 (actually #1) : William Gibson, Neuromancer.

― Sommermute (Wintermute), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:55 (twenty-two years ago)

vernor vinge - across realtime

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:55 (twenty-two years ago)

21. PKD- martian time slip

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:55 (twenty-two years ago)

22. PKD- dr bloodmoney

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

23. PKD- now wait for last year

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

24. Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:56 (twenty-two years ago)

25- PKD- counter clock world

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:57 (twenty-two years ago)

26. Joanna Russ - The Female Man

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:58 (twenty-two years ago)

27. Gene Wolfe - The Book Of The New Sun

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, let someone else name some PKD will ya?

Alfred Bester - The Stars My Destination

― Andrew (enneff), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

28 Ursula K Le Guin - The Disposessed

― RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 10 July 2003 09:59 (twenty-two years ago)

29 Iain M Banks - Use Of Weapons

― RickyT (RickyT), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

29-Atwood-Handmaids tale
30 Capek-War With the Newts

― anthony easton (anthony), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

RickyT - snap!

27. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuin

― rener (rener), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

''Hey, let someone else name some PKD will ya?''

well that's all i have read so far so now its yr turn.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Greg Egan - Diaspora

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

31 Algis Budrys - Rogue Moon

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:01 (twenty-two years ago)

32. Angela Carter - The Passion of New Eve

(& triple snap RickyT, etc)

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Greg Bear - Blood Music

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry, that should be

33. The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula LeGuin

― rener (rener), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, actually

33. PKD- time out of joint (also have read solar lottery but won't put it here)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

38. Chris Priest - Inverted World

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

39. JG Ballard - High Rise

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:02 (twenty-two years ago)

blimxor xpost!
(not32 now) Christopher Priest - Inverted World

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

41. Kathy Acker - Empire Of The Senseless

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

42. Brian Aldiss - Brothers Of The Head

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:04 (twenty-two years ago)

43 Hergé - Destination Moon/Explorers on the Moon

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm resisting the urge to add "Doctor Who - Logopolis" etc. Doing quite well too.

― Alan (Alan), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Bruce Stirling - Schismatrix

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:04 (twenty-two years ago)

45. Octavia Butler - Wild Seed

― etc, Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:06 (twenty-two years ago)

46. Nicholas Fisk - Trillions

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 10 July 2003 10:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Skipping 90 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

haha as in DON'T DO IT YOU IDIOTS!!

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

What? Why not? Tell me and could you please do the work for me by adding a couple of workaround your arguments agains it?

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:17 (twenty-two years ago)

argument against it = THE FIST OF GOD!!

(Sébastien have you read Ringworld? Central to the plot is working out why the project failed — I can't give my reasoning w/o ruining the story!!)

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:23 (twenty-two years ago)

I haven't read Ringworld, but the title reminds me of an idea that Tesla once proposed in his younger years. He suggested that it would be possible to build a raised platform that completely circled the equator and then to remove the supports. This would create a ring that would either rotate at the same speed as the earth, or could be electromagnetically controlled to rotate at different speeds. He proposed using this for transportation.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:26 (twenty-two years ago)

our motto: "you may board but you can never disembark!"|

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:27 (twenty-two years ago)

plenty of room at the hotel california

― Ed (dali), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Ringworld is a trilogy. I haven't read the last book.
Niven himself would like everyone to have their own Ringworld if they ever wanted one :-)
What I retain from these 2 books (I'll d/l #3 today) is the vision of engines who, if done right, can last as long as the stars they were built around.

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 14:50 (twenty-two years ago)

the best science fiction is usually short stories.

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 10 July 2003 15:07 (twenty-two years ago)

Just want to second whoever voted in The Anubis Gates - fantastic book.

― Jamie Conway (Jamie Conway), Thursday, 10 July 2003 17:25 (twenty-two years ago)

High points of "the anubis gates":

1/time traveler, stranded in victorian london, walks past someone whistling a tune that seems familiar. It takes him a couple of seconds to work out it's the beatles' "yesterday"

2/the whole paradox abt who wrote the poems.

It is a fantastic book!!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Thursday, 10 July 2003 18:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I wouldn't have nominated Dhalgren, much as I adore it, since what SF elements there seem to be are small and unimportant. Since we're past the 100, and since I'm composing this offline, I won't stick to the one nomination per post rule. Sorry...

Best hard SF missed out: Hal Clement's Mission Of Gravity, a brilliant exploration of extreme gravity.

Most puzzling author omission: Fred Pohl. Particularly his early satires with Kornbluth, but all his stuff is good.

Most revered SF omission: Cordwainer Smith. Was Norstrilia the only novel? I can't recall...

Best prose ever in SF: M. John Harrison. We'll have all his Viriconium books please.

Best book by an SF superstar: The City And The Stars by Arthur C. Clarke.

Should be next to Solaris (Lem should have more, but most of his best is not really in the novel form): Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky (Tarkovsky made it into Stalker).

Maybe best SF novel ever: The Glass Bead Game by Gunter Grass.

I'm fairly inclined to claim that Philip Pullman's trilogy is more SF than fantasy. If it is SF, it belongs high up here, but I'm not too fussed where it belongs generically.

Also, in something like order of preference:
John Barth's Giles Goat-Boy (pomo, but certainly SF) (I'll resist nominating more Erickson, as they mostly depart some way from SF)
The Rose (a genuine masterpiece) and The Paradox Men by Charles Harness
Red Shift by Alan Garner
Gods Of The Greataway and The Celestial Steam Locomotive by Michael Coney
nearly any Ballard pre-Empire Of The Sun
The Man In The Tree by Damon Knight
Kiteworld, probably, by Keith Roberts
a few by Theordore Sturgeon, starting with More Than Human and The Dreaming Jewels
The Man Who Fell To Earth and The Steps Of The Sun by Walter Tevis
Mick Farren's DNA Cowboys series and The Song Of Phaid The Gambler
Stand On Zanzibar by John Brunner
ET novelisation and its sequel, The Book Of The Green Planet, by William Kotzwinkle (I've not seen the film)
Joanna Russ - The Female Man (looks a bit dated now)
A.A. Attanasio - The Last Legends Of Earth
John Sladek - The Reproductive System
Who by Algis Budrys

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 10 July 2003 20:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The ET novelisation was fantastic, wasn't it? I remember enjoying it more than the film as a kid. Never read the second one though.

― Jamie Conway (Jamie Conway), Thursday, 10 July 2003 20:10 (twenty-two years ago)

It's just about as good! (His Superman III novelisation is good too.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

The Glass Bead Game is by Herman Hesse. Looks interesting - I'd like to read it at some point.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:11 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.worldoftile.com/Jet/Wereld/ladysci.jpg

― Dada, Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Octavia Butler - 'Adulthood Rites'
Marge Piercy - 'He, She and It'

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I do apologise for getting my Germans mixed up! I feel very stupid. Sorry!

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Quite understandable. It's remarkable that you could remember so many titles and authors in the first place.

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

(I've probably forgotten the names of 90% of the SF novels that I've read.)

― o. nate (onate), Thursday, 10 July 2003 21:25 (twenty-two years ago)

100. steve jackson - starship traveller

nuh uh!

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:16 (twenty-two years ago)

now that we have +-100 titles we get to vote on the one that is the most popular.. oh ILX don't have this kind of module zut!

― Sébastien Chikara (Sébastien Chikara), Thursday, 10 July 2003 23:37 (twenty-two years ago)

gotcha russ covered, martin - why would you think it more dated than (for the brainless comparison) le guin?

(& since the list is over - the PKD should have included The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch & Clans Of The Alphane Moon)

(& thank you ILx for not mentioning Frankenstein!)

― etc, Friday, 11 July 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Chip surely you would not prefer Space Assassin??

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Friday, 11 July 2003 09:07 (twenty-two years ago)

''(& since the list is over - the PKD should have included The Three Stigmata Of Palmer Eldritch & Clans Of The Alphane Moon)''

yeah, haven't read those yet.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 11 July 2003 09:22 (twenty-two years ago)

If there haven't been any mentions of James Tiptree Jr yet then there should be!

― dave q, Friday, 11 July 2003 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)

#64 DQ.

Stigmata wasn't in there? I didn't read the PKD entries or I'd have put that one in. I hope Dr Bloodmoney was there too.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Friday, 11 July 2003 09:25 (twenty-two years ago)

starstrider or even rebel planet methinks!

― Chip Morningstar (bob), Friday, 11 July 2003 09:34 (twenty-two years ago)

''I didn't read the PKD entries or I'd have put that one in. I hope Dr Bloodmoney was there too''

tom hasn't read my posts. i am hurt by this :-(

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 11 July 2003 09:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it should be only one per author. In which case with the 20 dick entires we can keep going.

No Stephen Baxter I note, whither the claim of him as the new ACC.

― Pete (Pete), Friday, 11 July 2003 10:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I think that was just the Voyager publicity department.

― Alan (Alan), Friday, 11 July 2003 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

''I think it should be only one per author''

but if that was the case my climb up the statscock would be severely affected ;-)

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Friday, 11 July 2003 10:12 (twenty-two years ago)

the 20 dick entires

As opposed to the partials.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 11 July 2003 11:58 (twenty-two years ago)

I've forgotten most of the SF I've read too. I reviewed them for years, and got sent loads.

I think The Female Man is the kind of explicitly feminist novel that does read as very much a period piece now. That's not a bad thing, but I do think this dates a lot more than LeGuin, whose purposes were broader.

As for James Tiptree, there was a famous article written explaining that women could only write soft SF, and could not hope to match men at hard SF (i.e. with lots of techy stuff). The example used throughout the article of an unmistakeably masculine author was Tiptree. Those who don't know how the story ends can undoubtedly still guess that this turned out to be a nom de plume for a woman.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Friday, 11 July 2003 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

can i add 'alastair reynolds'? the two i've read have been great and i'll order the third this weekend. his stuff is pitched somewhere between gibson and banks ('revelation space' is like a long version of gibson's, er, 'hinterlands' from burning chrome and they are all set in the same universe like banks' culture novels).

there should be more banks and gibson on the list too.

oh, and ira levin's 'this perfect day' is out of print in england and shouldn't be.

andy

― koogs (koogs), Friday, 11 July 2003 19:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Hinterlands was a great. I'll check him out.

― Dale the Merciless (cprek), Friday, 11 July 2003 19:34 (twenty-two years ago)

If I'd gotten on this thread earlier, I totally would have listed one of the following Lawrence Miles books:

Christmas on a Rational Planet
Alien Bodies
Interference
Down
The Adventuress of Henrietta Street

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 11 July 2003 19:44 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked Lethem's Amnesiac Moon. More than Gun anyway.

― s1utsky (slutsky), Saturday, 12 July 2003 18:45 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't think anyone has said "the divine invasion" by pkd yet - it's my favourite.
also ben marcus - sf or just plain autistohallucinatory gibberish?

― bob snoom, Saturday, 12 July 2003 18:57 (twenty-two years ago)

No mention of Haldeman's Forever War?!

Can we count Vonnegut?

― ben welsh (benwelsh), Sunday, 13 July 2003 05:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i think so. why wouldn't we?

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 13 July 2003 10:10 (twenty-two years ago)

Am v shocked to see people nominated ALGIS BYDRYS. I have a book of his entitled SOME WILL NOT DIE which I have never dared to crack open as it looks so awful. Bought entirely on subtitle and jacket design:

HERE IS YOUR TOMORROW, MORE TERRIBLE THAN ATOMIC DOOM, A NOVEL OF DARKNESS AND LIGHT!!

This Is For You, The Ones Who Lived: CAN YOU SPARE A MOMENT TO PUT DOWN YOUR GUN AND READ THIS PAGE?

Me: eee-URP.

Hem hem I seem that a load of not-scifi appears to have been listed in which case I see no reason not to mention House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson feat. Swine Creature Cru. Also I nominate GHOST PIRATES and BOATS OF THE GLEN CARRIG (feat. killer ghosties and weed men respectively hurrah).

― Sarah (starry), Sunday, 13 July 2003 10:21 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't really know what the difference between science fiction and fantasy is?

― A Nairn (moretap), Sunday, 13 July 2003 10:39 (twenty-two years ago)

I think with science fiction you have imagined futures. it reads more like a distorted version of reality. you can sort of recognise it.

with fantasy you can't, really (but this is from the very little fantasy i've read).

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 13 July 2003 11:21 (twenty-two years ago)

Scifi = more robots and COMPUTERS, fantasy = SWINE CREATURES and probably dungeons chiz.

― Sarah (starry), Sunday, 13 July 2003 11:31 (twenty-two years ago)

or what sarah said.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 13 July 2003 12:04 (twenty-two years ago)

It doesn't have to be in the future, Julio. And I don't think the line is always at all easy to draw (I struggled above with Philip Pullman's trilogy), but I think if things are presented as having an apparently scientific basis/explanation/derivation rather than a magical one, it's SF. Obviously it has to depart from the current state in some way, by a new world, a future setting, new technology or something.

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Sunday, 13 July 2003 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, agreed that it needn't be in the future.

the line is hard to draw. genre names only go so far but I've said that enough times on ILM.

― Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Sunday, 13 July 2003 13:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Iain Banks - Consider Phlebus

― toraneko (toraneko), Sunday, 13 July 2003 14:13 (twenty-two years ago)

The Michael Coney boox are so spot on.

Also the "Cities in Space" quartet and The City At The End Of Time.

More delany could be thrown in too, obv.

Niven's whole ringverse was pretty magnificent but what about his ones with the floating trees?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 13 July 2003 15:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh and the best hard-conceptual alien-civ sf author i recall = Robert L. Forward.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Sunday, 13 July 2003 15:50 (twenty-two years ago)

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