Thread: Interested in Science Fiction?

Someone asked me what good science fiction authors I would recommend. So here you go.

E.E. "Doc" Smith was the creator of the sub-genre of the "space-opera", which included as an element "super-science", which is what we'd call an arms race. His debut novel, the "Skylark of Space" was also the first science fiction story to take Man outside the solar system to other stars. This novel may have been published in the 1920's (and you can tell), but it's thoroughly readable and very much a must read if you want a good grounding in SF. Also, his "Lensman" series is essential.

The thirties produced writers like Jack Williamson, who was still writing in the 1990's ("Terraforming Earth"), Frederick Pohl, who's still writing today ("Venus, Inc", "Gateway" et al, "Gem", "The Reefs of Space" (with Williamson) and A LOT of short stories).

Of course, there's Robert Heinlein, and you should read every word of his, but "Glory Road", "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", "Farnham's Freehold", and, of course, "Stranger in a Strange Land" are musts.

Asimov invented the "Foundation", and the three laws of Robotics. He wrote a number of robot stories, anthologized mostly in "I, Robot" and "The Rest of the Robots", but he aslo invented the basic rules of science fiction mystery, ie, establishing the technology limits of the society before positing the mystery itself, and again, his positronic robots play a role in "The Caves of Steel", "The Naked Sun", and the sequels he wrote thirty years later. Definitely worth a read, but don't miss "The God's Themselves".

Clarke is very pedantic, and his stories are tied strongly to reasonable extrapolations of the science of the time. His "Tales From the White Hart" are good examples of how his novels read. Clarke invented the concept of using the geo-stationary orbit for communications satellites. Twenty years later he wrote an article titled "How I Gave Away A Billion Dollars In My Spare Time". Co-founder of the British Interplanetary Society, too. Ain't dead yet.

Frank Herbert wrote quite a number of excellent stories, before "Dune" and after. "Whipping Star", "The Santaroga Barrier", and "The White Plague" are all excellent.

James P. Hogan put the science back into science fiction. "Inherit the Stars" is his first. "Code of the Lifemaker" is one of his finest, as is "Thrice Upon a Time", and "The Genesis Machine".

Larry Niven's Known Space series are classic, and excellent, including as they do the "Ringworld" saga. He also co-authored "The Mote in God's Eye" with Jerry Pournelle, and "Lucifer's Hammer", a classic tale of the Earth getting walloped by a comet. Niven also invented "The Integral Trees".

There's so many good writers out there, it's hard to pick them. If you can find a copy of John D. MacDonald's "The Wine of the Dreamers", "The Ballroom in the Sky", get it. Certainly his "The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything" will leave you laughing. And he's not even famous for his SF writing.

Time travel? John Varley's "Millenium" and "Mammoth", two totally unrelated but both excellent stories. Asimov's "The End of Eternity" is a classic. Yeah, read HG Wells, too.

That should get you started.

Ever read any H.P. Lovecraft?

Thanks for the list!

Have you read any Turtledove? Also I have read some J.G.Ballard and enjoy his work although it wasn't true science fiction. His short "Drowned Giant" is one of my favorites.

Would you say that most of your list is hard science fiction? If you had to pick one to start with which would it be?

"The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything" wasn't that made into a TV movie? The watch froze time or something?

Thanks

H.P. Lovecraft. I've read the anthology "The Black Seas of Infinity", and now I'm waiting for the Sci-Fi Channel to re-air "Dagon", so I can compare the show with the story.

But the request to me was science fiction, not fantasy. That's why I didn't list Lovecraft, or Howard, Tolkien, or Donaldson.

Originally Posted by conservative

Thanks for the list!

Have you read any Turtledove? Also I have read some J.G.Ballard and enjoy his work although it wasn't true science fiction. His short "Drowned Giant" is one of my favorites.

Would you say that most of your list is hard science fiction? If you had to pick one to start with which would it be?

"The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything" wasn't that made into a TV movie? The watch froze time or something?

Thanks

Turtledove...I find "alternate history" hard to read. I'm too incliined to question the author's conclusions on what the history really was to enjoy his extrapolations. But I did just find a set of his novels, the ones that appear to be about an alien invasion interrupting WWII, that looks promising.

I posted a list that I hope was exclusively Science Fiction, as opposed to Fantasy or "Science Fantasy", because they're not really the same.

Read MacDonald's book, it's nothing like the movie. No teenagers, for example. And it has MacDonald's wonderful talent.

Which is the first one I should read?

no...........

Originally Posted by conservative

Which is the first one I should read?

Eeek!

Varley's "Mammoth" is easily available, and it's light and easy.

If you want something with meat...Ian Stewart and Jack Cohen's "Wheelers", or "Heaven".

But hey, Fred Saberhagen wrote an excellent Moby Dick story, called "Berserker: Blue Death".

Originally Posted by Freedom for All

Someone asked me what good science fiction authors I would recommend. So here you go.

E.E. "Doc" Smith was the creator of the sub-genre of the "space-opera", which included as an element "super-science", which is what we'd call an arms race. His debut novel, the "Skylark of Space" was also the first science fiction story to take Man outside the solar system to other stars. This novel may have been published in the 1920's (and you can tell), but it's thoroughly readable and very much a must read if you want a good grounding in SF. Also, his "Lensman" series is essential.

The thirties produced writers like Jack Williamson, who was still writing in the 1990's ("Terraforming Earth"), Frederick Pohl, who's still writing today ("Venus, Inc", "Gateway" et al, "Gem", "The Reefs of Space" (with Williamson) and A LOT of short stories).

Of course, there's Robert Heinlein, and you should read every word of his, but "Glory Road", "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress", "Farnham's Freehold", and, of course, "Stranger in a Strange Land" are musts.

Asimov invented the "Foundation", and the three laws of Robotics. He wrote a number of robot stories, anthologized mostly in "I, Robot" and "The Rest of the Robots", but he aslo invented the basic rules of science fiction mystery, ie, establishing the technology limits of the society before positing the mystery itself, and again, his positronic robots play a role in "The Caves of Steel", "The Naked Sun", and the sequels he wrote thirty years later. Definitely worth a read, but don't miss "The God's Themselves".

Clarke is very pedantic, and his stories are tied strongly to reasonable extrapolations of the science of the time. His "Tales From the White Hart" are good examples of how his novels read. Clarke invented the concept of using the geo-stationary orbit for communications satellites. Twenty years later he wrote an article titled "How I Gave Away A Billion Dollars In My Spare Time". Co-founder of the British Interplanetary Society, too. Ain't dead yet.

Frank Herbert wrote quite a number of excellent stories, before "Dune" and after. "Whipping Star", "The Santaroga Barrier", and "The White Plague" are all excellent.

James P. Hogan put the science back into science fiction. "Inherit the Stars" is his first. "Code of the Lifemaker" is one of his finest, as is "Thrice Upon a Time", and "The Genesis Machine".

Larry Niven's Known Space series are classic, and excellent, including as they do the "Ringworld" saga. He also co-authored "The Mote in God's Eye" with Jerry Pournelle, and "Lucifer's Hammer", a classic tale of the Earth getting walloped by a comet. Niven also invented "The Integral Trees".

There's so many good writers out there, it's hard to pick them. If you can find a copy of John D. MacDonald's "The Wine of the Dreamers", "The Ballroom in the Sky", get it. Certainly his "The Girl, The Gold Watch, and Everything" will leave you laughing. And he's not even famous for his SF writing.

Time travel? John Varley's "Millenium" and "Mammoth", two totally unrelated but both excellent stories. Asimov's "The End of Eternity" is a classic. Yeah, read HG Wells, too.

That should get you started.

Odd that you should mention The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, as I just finished rereading it.

I would also suggest the following:

Soylent Green by Harry Harrison
Collossus by DE Jones
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep Philip K. Dick
A Scanner Darkly Philip K.Dick
Planet of the Apes Pierre Boulle
Armor by John Steakly
Final Blackout by L Ron Hubbard
Master of the World by Jules Verne