The Sword and Laser discussion

Hey all, I have thinking the last while about putting together a small collection of classic sci-fi books. What books would you recommend I get?

*braces for opening of floodgates*

Hi James

Prepare for your TBR to grow massively. I think the word 'classic' will have quite a lot of variance here. Suggestions that immediately spring to mind are (with the caveat that I am limiting myself to sci-fi and may come back later):


Alfred Bester's The Stars My Destination & The Demolished Man

The Forever War

Ursula K. Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, The Lathe of Heaven

Brian W. Aldiss: Hothouse, Helliconia Trilogy

Philip K. Dick: The Man in the High Castle, VALIS



(hmm, the 'add' function seems to have busted; I'll post this and add an addendum)

Lord of Light

A Canticle for Liebowitz

Babel Seventeen

To Your Scattered Bodies Go

Gene Wolfe: especially his Solar cycle - Shadow & Claw, Sword & Citadel, Litany of the Long Sun, Epiphany of the Long Sun, On Blue's Waters, In Green's Jungles, Return to the Whorl

Kurt Vonnegut: The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle



I think I should stop there, tempted as I am to throw in some modern classics...

From my "Read" shelf...
Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
Dangerous Visions Edited by Harlan Ellison

And, I've been meaning to read this one...
Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon

Also, I found this list a useful resource.
David Pringle's Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels

The fact that Neuromancer is old enough for me to suggest it makes me feel incredibly old.

Hyperion by Dan Simmons Its 25 years old now which IMO makes it old enough to be classic.

Chronicles of the Lensmen, Volume 1
The Stainless Steel Rat

Dune, The Snow Queen, The Day of the Triffids.

(I somehow had two leatherbound copies of Dune.)

How are we defining "classic"?

25 years has always seemed too short a time to me, which is how classic cars are typically defined. That would make anything written before 1991 a potential classic.

Which would make my dress shoes "classic" and my wallet "antique."

A friend of mine once said that something is only a true timeless classic when the original audience is all dead and the work is still being enjoyed. (She meant from advanced age rather than one horrific bus crash.)

James - what do YOU mean by classic? We can all suggest things, but I'd be intrigued to know what you think of as 'classic'. For me, it's Heinlein, Herbert, etc. Stuff from the 50s and 60s with a smattering of older things.

I can see it meaning a few things: key works needed to understand the field and how it's evolved. Must Reads. Top works from the golden age or silver age of SF. Founding works (Frankenstein, Wells, etc).

Rick - I think you meaning of a classic would be spot on as I also think authors like Ursula K Le Guin, Frank Herbert, Arther C Clarke, Isaac Asimov etc would be classic scifi writers.

I think my problem is that there is just so much out there to choice from I have no idea where to start.

I'd start with those writers' best works. You can spread out from there to secondary writers, Niven, Pohl, etc but realize that even listing the top 3-5 works of a few writers gets you a lot of books. Here's some not at all comprehensive thoughts:

Asimov: The Foundation series (original 3) and the Robot series.
Herbert: Dune for sure. The next 3 if Dune itself grabs you.
Heinlein: The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, Stranger in a Strange Land, perhaps Puppet Masters. His juveniles, basically YA, can be fun too.
Clarke: 2001, Rendezvous with Rama, Childhood's End
Le Guin: Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed. Wizard of Earthsea for fantasy. The Lathe of Heaven.

Also, browse through Jo Waltons revisit of all of the Hugo awards, here http://www.tor.com/features/series/re... and don't just look at the winners, but her discussion of the nominees and other books she felt were worthy.

James (ObservantRaven) wrote: "I think my problem is that there is just so much out there to choice from I have no idea where to start. "

Yeah, I started with the Big Three (Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein). And when I finished reading all of their published work I branched out to other authors, like their contemporaries or sometime collaborators even, with varying success.

If you want to be well-read in the genre, you need to read the real classics like Frankenstein, Dracula (yes, it's part SF), War of the Worlds, etc. Read H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. These are the foundations on which modern SF is built.

A couple suggestions I haven't seen yet:

More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon. The original gestalt superhero story.

The Seedling Stars by James Blish. Instead of terraforming planets to suit humans, Blish genetically engineers humans to suit alien planets.

Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler. This is the story every X-men comic wants to be.

Across Realtime by Vernor Vinge. This is comprised of two novels, The Peace War and Marooned in Realtime, in case you can't find this edition.

The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley. Varley really is as good as his reputation, and this was his breakout book.

There should probably be a Samuel R. Delany. I'm not sure whether to suggest Nova or Babel-17. I found them more accessible than The Einstein Intersection. Although Delany's still alive, may this state continue.

It's short stories, but uber-classic:

The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume I

Joanna wrote: "There should probably be a Samuel R. Delany. I'm not sure whether to suggest Nova or Babel-17. I found them more accessible than [book:The Einstein Inters..."


I have both waiting to be read...along with Dahlgren which I will probably pretend to have read.

Tamahome wrote: "It's short stories, but uber-classic:
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume I"

Another short story classic, Edited by Isaac Asimov-
The Hugo Winners Vol 1 and 2 1955-1972

He has been mentioned twice already, but I will mention again to help cement him as your first and most important option.

Asimov.
Really anything by Asimov is enjoyable, but I always tell people, "If you are only ever going to read one book(s) in the Sci Fi arena, read Foundation by Asimov" No collection is complete without it.

Robot Novels, and the Ends of Eternity were bother really awesome too.

Frank Herbert: Dune (the first one I couldn't put down, but disliked the rest)

Gordon Dickson's Dorsai series was superb as well, and his Hokas series was fun.

Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is wonderful

Marian Zimmer Bradley is great (hunters of the red moon)

Harry Harrison Bill the Galactic Hero is a hoot.

I really appreciate all the suggestions everyone :). I've looked up all the books that have been suggested and they sound awesome. Think I'm gonna need a new bookshelf for all off these :)

Sample these, too vs buying en masse. WE read Asimov's Foundation a year or two ago in the group and there was a lot of negative reaction both to the writing and to some of the attitudes shown. Some people can get past the 60+ year old social attitudes, others can't and it's worth figuring out where it fits for you before, say, buying 6 or 8 Asimov books. Same goes for Heinlein, etc.

Even Neuromancer is dated in some ways, mostly in the tech details. Again, this bothers some, not others.

With respect to Rick's reading group. I think if you read classic science fiction expecting modern mindsets, you will ALWAYS be disappointed. Were these group members all SciFi fans, or was it a general reading group.

But, I would agree with Rick about sampling first, as you never know if you will LOVE it or not, better safe than sorry! (though, at todays book prices, one read through of all these whether you like it or not is its moneys worth!)

Lonnie wrote: "With respect to Rick's reading group. I think if you read classic science fiction expecting modern mindsets, you will ALWAYS be disappointed. Were these group members all SciFi fans, or was it a ge..."

it was THIS group. See https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group...

I don't disagree with you, but some people have a harder time than others getting past that stuff and my point isn't to argue about that, but to say to James that he should sample some of these to see how they fit HIS reading preferences since the point of this thread is to help him check out stuff.

Some Wells and Verne surely. Frankenstein. John Wyndham. Flatland. Asimov, Bradbury and Clarke (ABC). Olaf Stapledon. Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Caspak series maybe. Arthur Conan Doyle. Stanisław Lem. Would all be considered classic, maybe even foundational.

Lots of the authors from the last fifty years have been mentioned already. There are plenty of good reads there. Someone not mentioned yet is Kurt Vonnegut.

Ars longa.

James (ObservantRaven) wrote: "Hey all, I have thinking the last while about putting together a small collection of classic sci-fi books. What books would you recommend I get?"

let me ask you this, what kind of Science fiction do you like?