Science Fiction Aficionados discussion

HUGO AWARD WINNERS


The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester (1953)
They'd Rather Be Right by Mark Clifton (1955)
Double Star by Robert Heinlein (1956)
The Big Time by Fritz Leiber (1958)
A Case of Conscience by James Blish (1959)
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein (1960)
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller Jr (1961)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein (1962)
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (1963)
Way Station by Clifford Simak (1964)
The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber (1965)
This Immortal by Roger Zelazny (1966)
Dune by Frank Herbert (1966)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein (1967)
Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny (1968)
Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner (1969)
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin (1970)
Ringworld by Larry Niven (1971)
To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer (1972)
The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov (1973)
Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke (1974)
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. Le Guin (1975)
The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (1976)
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm (1977)
Gateway by Frederik Pohl (1978)
Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre (1979)
The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke (1980)
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge (1981)
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh (1982)
Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov (1983)
Startide Rising by David Brin (1984)
Neuromancer by William Gibson (1985)
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card (1986)
Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (1987)
The Uplift War by David Brin (1988)
Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh (1989)
Hyperion by Dan Simmons (1990)
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold (1991)
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold (1992)
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge (1993)
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis (1993)
Green Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1994)
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold (1995)
The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson (1996)
Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1997)
Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman (1998)
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis (1999)
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge (2000)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling (2001)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman (2002)
Hominids by Robert J. Sawyer (2003)
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold (2004)
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susannah Clarke (2005)
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson (2006)
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (2007)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon (2008)
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (2009)
The City & The City by China Mieville (2010)
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (2010)

NEBULA AWARD WINNERS


Dune (1966)
Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (1967)
Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delaney (1967)
The Einstein Intersection by Samuel R. Delaney (1968)
Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin (1969)
The Left Hand of Darkness (1970)
Ringworld (1971)
A Time of Changes by Robert Silverberg (1972)
The Gods Themselves (1973)
Rendezvous with Rama (1974)
The Dispossessed (1975)
The Forever War (1976)
Man Plus by Frederik Pohl (1977)
Gateway (1978)
Dreamsnake (1979)
The Fountains of Paradise (1980)
Timescape by Gregory Benford (1981)
The Claw of the Conciliator by Gene Wolfe (1982)
No Enemy but Time by Michael Bishop (1983)
Startide Rising (1984)
Neuromancer (1985)
Ender's Game (1986)
Speaker for the Dead (1987)
The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy (1988)
Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold (1989)
The Healer's War by Elizabeth Ann Scarborough (1990)
Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin (1991)
Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick (1992)
Doomsday Book (1993)
Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson (1994)
Moving Mars by Greg Bear (1995)
The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer (1996)
Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1997)
Forever Peace (1998)
The Moon and the Sun by Vonda McIntyre (1999)
Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler (2000)
Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear (2001)
The Quantum Rose by Catherine Asaro (2002)
American Gods (2003)
The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (2004)
Paladin of Souls (2005)
Camouflage by Joe Haldeman (2006)
Seeker by Jack McDevitt (2007)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union (2008)
Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin (2009)
The Windup Girl (2010)

SF MASTERWORKS SERIES


1. The Forever War
2. I am Legend by Richard Matheson
3. Cities in Flight by James Blish
4. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
5. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
6. Babel-17
7. Lord of Light
8. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
9. Gateway
10. The Rediscovery of Man by Cordwainer Smith
11. Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
12. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
13. Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
14. The Demolished Man
15. Stand on Zanzibar
16. The Dispossessed
17. The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
18. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut
19. Emphyrio by Jack Vance
20. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
21. Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon
22. Behold the Man by Michael Moorcock
23. The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg
24. The Time Machine/The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
25. Flowers of Algernon
26. Ubik by Philip K. Dick
27. Timescape
28. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
29. Man Plus
30. A Case of Conscience
31. The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
32. Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
33. Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss
34. The Fountains of Paradise
35. Pavane by Keith Roberts
36. Now Wait for Last Year by Philip K. Dick
37. Nova by Samuel R. Delaney
38. The First Men in the Moon by H.G. Wells
39. The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
40. Blood Music by Greg Bear
41. Jem by Frederik Pohl
42. Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
43. VALIS by Philip K. Dick
44. The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin
45. The Complete Roderick by John Sladek
46. Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick
47. The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells
48. Grass by Sherri Tepper
49. A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke
50. Eon by Greg Bear
51. The Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
52. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
53. The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
54. The Space Merchants by Cyril Kornbluth & Frederik Pohl
55. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
56. Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
57. The Simulacra by Philip K. Dick
58. The Penultimate Truth by Philip K. Dick
59. Dying Inside by Robert Silverberg
60. Ringworld
61. The Child Garden by Geoff Ryman
62. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
63. A Maze of Death by Philip K. Dick
64. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
65. Rendezvous with Rama
66. Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard
67. Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
68. Roadside Picnic by Arkady & Boris Strugatsky
69. Dark Benediction by Walter Miller Jr.
70. Mockingbird by Walter Tevis
71. Dune
72. The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress
73. The Man in the High Castle

The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Inverted World by Christopher Priest
Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells
Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney
Helliconia: The Classic Epic Trilogy in One Volume by Brian Aldiss
The Food Of The Gods by H.G. Wells
Invasion of the Body Snatchers by Jack Finney
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
Arslan by M.J. Engh
The Difference Engine by Bruce Sterling & William Gibson
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
Greybeard by Brian Aldiss
Sirius by Olaf Stapledon
City by Clifford D. Simak
Hellstrom's Hive by Frank Herbert
Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn
The War with the Newts by Karel Capek
The Affirmation by Christopher Priest
Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland
Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
Dangerous Visions by Harlan Ellison
Odd John by Olaf Stapledon
The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Synners by Pat Cadigan
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Unsleeping Eye by D.G. Compton
Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
Take Back Plenty by Colin Greenland
Wasp by Eric Frank Russell
Unquenchable Fire by Rachel Pollack
Drowning Towers by George Turner
The Caltraps of Time by David Masson

SF MISTRESSWORKS https://worldswithoutend.com/lists_sf...


Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
Swastika Night by Katherine Burdekin
The Sword of Rhiannon by Leigh Brackett
Pilgrimage: The Book of the Peopleby Zenna Henderson
Memoirs of a Spacewoman by Naomi Mitchison
Witch World by Andre Norton
Sunburst by Phylis Gotlieb
Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore
Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter
Ten Thousand Light-Years From Home by James Tiptree Jr.
Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
Missing Man by Katherine MacLean
Islands by Marta Randall
False Dawn by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Shikasta by Doris Lessing
Kindred by Octavia Butler
Benefits: A Novel by Zoe Fairbairns
The Silent City by Elisabeth Vonarburg
The Silver Metal Lover by Tanith Lee
The Many-Colored Land by Julian May
Darkchild by Sydney J. Van Scyoc
Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey
Native Tongue by Suzette Elgin
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Jerusalem Fire by R.M. Meluch
The Children of Anthi by Jay Blakeney
The Dream Years by Lisa Goldstein
Queen of the States by Josephine Saxton
Lear's Daughters by Marjorie Kellogg
Kairos by Gwyneth Jones
Pennterra by Judith Moffett
In Conquest Born by C.S. Friedman
Angel At Apogee by S.N. Lewitt
A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
The Journal of Nicholas the American by Leigh Kennedy
The City, Not Long After by Pat Murphy
The Steerswoman's Road (The Steerswoman, #1-2) by R.A. MacAvoy
Heritage of Flight by Susan Shwartz
Falcon by Emma Bull
The Archivist by Gill Alderman
Winterlong by Elizabeth Hand
Hermetech by Storm Constantine
A Woman of the Iron People by Eleanor Arnason
Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress
Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
He, She and It by Marge Piercy
Polar City Blues by Katherine Kerr
Red Spider White Web by Misha
A Gift Upon the Shore by M.K. Wren
China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh
Fools by Pat Cadigan
Correspondence: A Novel by Sue Thomas
Lost Futures by Lisa Tuttle
Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan
The Holder of the World by Bharati Mukherjee
Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell
Alien Influences by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Primary Inversion by Catherine Asaro
Legacies by Alison Sinclair
Shadow Man by Melissa Scott
Happy Policeman by Patricia Anthony
Looking for the Mahdi by N. Lee Wood
An Exchange of Hostages by Susan Matthews
Fool's War by Sarah Zettel
Black Wine by Candas Jane Dorsey
Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman
Dreaming in Smoke by Tricia Sullivan
Ash: A Secret History by Mary Gentle
Vast by Linda Nagata
Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson
Hand of Prophecy by Severna Park
Grass by Sherri S. Tepper
The Female Man by Joanna Russ
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh
The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm
Floating Worlds by Cecelia Holland
The Dispossessed: An Ambiguous Utopia by Ursula K. LeGuin
Arslan by M.J. Engh

Read by Sci Fi Aficionados


A Canticle for Leibowitz
Stranger in a Strange Land
Dune
Rendezvous with Rama
Neuromancer
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Day of the Triffids
The Forever War

Joint winners of both the Hugo and Nebula Awards:

1966/1965 Novel: Dune by Frank Herbert [1] [2]
1970/1969 Novel: The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin [3] [4]
1971/1970 Novel: Ringworld by Larry Niven [5] [6]
1973/1972 Novel: The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov [7] [8]
1974/1973 Novel: Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke [9] [10]
1975/1974 Novel: The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin [11] [12]
1976/1975 Novel: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman [13] [14]
1978/1977 Novel: Gateway by Frederik Pohl [15] [16]
1979/1978 Novel: Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre [17] [18]
1980/1979 Novel: The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke [19] [20]
1984/1983 Novel: Startide Rising by David Brin [21] [22]
1985/1984 Novel: Neuromancer by William Gibson [23] [24]
1986/1985 Novel: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card [25] [26]
1987/1986 Novel: Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card [27] [28]
1993/1992 Novel: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis [29] [30]
1998 Novel: Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman [31]
2002 Novel: American Gods by Neil Gaiman [32]
2004 Novel: Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold [33]
2008/2007 Novel: The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon [34] [35]
2010/2009 Novel: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi [36] [37]
2011/2010 Novel: Blackout/All Clear by Connie Willis [38][39]

Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985. The foreword is by Michael Moorcock.

1.Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1949)
2.Earth Abides, George R. Stewart (1949)
3.The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury (1950)
4.The Puppet Masters, Robert A. Heinlein (1951)
5.The Day of the Triffids, John Wyndham (1951)
6.Limbo, Bernard Wolfe (1952)
7.The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
8.Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury (1953)
9.Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
10.The Paradox Men, Charles L. Harness (1953)
11.Bring the Jubilee, Ward Moore (1953)
12.The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
13.Ring Around the Sun, Clifford D. Simak (1953)
14.More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon (1953)
15.Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement (1954)
16.A Mirror for Observers, Edgar Pangborn (1954)
17.The End of Eternity, Isaac Asimov (1955)
18.The Long Tomorrow, Leigh Brackett (1955)
19.The Inheritors, William Golding (1955)
20.The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1956)
21.The Death of Grass, John Christopher (1956)
22.The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1956)
23.The Door into Summer, Robert A. Heinlein (1957)
24.The Midwich Cuckoos, John Wyndham (1957)
25.Non-Stop, Brian Aldiss (1958)
26.A Case of Conscience, James Blish (1958)
27.Have Space Suit—Will Travel, Robert A. Heinlein (1958)
28.Time Out of Joint, Philip K. Dick (1959)
29.Alas, Babylon, Pat Frank (1959)
30.A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr. (1959)
31.The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1959)
32.Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys (1960)
33.Venus Plus X, Theodore Sturgeon (1960)
34.Hothouse, Brian Aldiss (1962)
35.The Drowned World, J. G. Ballard (1962)
36.A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess (1962)
37.The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick (1962)
38.Journey Beyond Tomorrow, Robert Sheckley (1962)
39.Way Station, Clifford D. Simak (1963)
40.Cat's Cradle, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (1963)
41.Greybeard, Brian Aldiss (1964)
42.Nova Express, William S. Burroughs (1964)
43.Martian Time-Slip, Philip K. Dick (1964)
44.The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, Philip K. Dick (1965)
45.The Wanderer, Fritz Leiber (1965)
46.Norstrilia, Cordwainer Smith (1965)
47.Dr. Bloodmoney, Philip K. Dick (1965)
48.Dune, Frank Herbert (1965)
49.The Crystal World, J. G. Ballard (1966)
50.Make Room! Make Room!, Harry Harrison (1966)
51.Flowers for Algernon, Daniel Keyes (1966)
52.The Dream Master, Roger Zelazny (1966)
53.Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner (1968)
54.Nova, Samuel R. Delany (1968)
55.Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick (1968)
56.Camp Concentration, Thomas M. Disch (1968)
57.The Final Programme, Michael Moorcock (1968)
58.Pavane, Keith Roberts (1968)
59.Heroes and Villains, Angela Carter (1969)
60.The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (1969)
61.The Palace of Eternity, Bob Shaw (1969)
62.Bug Jack Barron, Norman Spinrad (1969)
63.Tau Zero, Poul Anderson (1970)
64.Downward to the Earth, Robert Silverberg (1970)
65.The Year of the Quiet Sun, Wilson Tucker (1970)
66.334, Thomas M. Disch (1972)
67.The Fifth Head of Cerberus, Gene Wolfe (1972)
68.The Dancers at the End of Time, Michael Moorcock (1972)
69.Crash, J. G. Ballard (1973)
70.Looking Backward, from the Year 2000, Mack Reynolds (1973)
71.The Embedding, Ian Watson (1973)
72.Walk to the End of the World, Suzy McKee Charnas (1974)
73.The Centauri Device, M. John Harrison (1974)
74.The Dispossessed, Ursula K. Le Guin (1974)
75.Inverted World, Christopher Priest (1974)
76.High Rise, J.G. Ballard (1975)
77.Galaxies, Barry N. Malzberg (1975)
78.The Female Man, Joanna Russ (1975)
79.Orbitsville, Bob Shaw (1975)
80.The Alteration, Kingsley Amis (1976)
81.Woman on the Edge of Time, Marge Piercy (1976)
82.Man Plus, Frederik Pohl (1976)
83.Michaelmas, Algis Budrys (1977)
84.The Ophiuchi Hotline, John Varley (1977)
85.Miracle Visitors, Ian Watson (1978)
86.Engine Summer, John Crowley (1979)
87.On Wings of Song, Thomas M. Disch (1979)
88.The Walking Shadow, Brian Stableford (1979)
89.Juniper Time, Kate Wilhelm (1979)
90.Timescape, Gregory Benford (1980)
91.The Dreaming Dragons, Damien Broderick (1980)
92.Wild Seed, Octavia E. Butler (1980)
93.Riddley Walker, Russell Hoban (1980)
94.The Complete Roderick, John Sladek (1980)
95.The Shadow of the Torturer, Gene Wolfe (1980)
96.The Unreasoning Mask, Philip José Farmer (1981)
97.Oath of Fealty, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (1981)
98.No Enemy But Time, Michael Bishop (1982)
99.The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica, John Calvin Batchelor (1983)
100.Neuromancer, William Gibson (1984)

Dan wrote: "Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949-1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985. The foreword is by Michael Moorcock.

1.Nineteen E..."

If nothing else, I am glad to see The Martian Chronicles getting some deserved praise.

Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels 1985 – 2010 by Damien Broderick:



1. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
2. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
3. Radio Free Albemuth by Philip K. Dick
4. Always Coming Home by Ursula K. Le Guin
5. This Is the Way the World Ends by James K. Morrow
6. Galápagos by Kurt Vonnegut
7. The Falling Woman by Pat Murphy
8. The Shore of Women by Pamela Sargent
9. A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
10. Soldiers of Paradise by Paul Park
11. Life During Wartime by Lucius Shepard
12. The Sea and Summer (aka "Drowning Towers) by George Turner
13. Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh
14. Neverness by David Zindell
15. The Steerswoman by Rosemary Kirstein
16. Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
17. Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks
18. Queen of Angels by Greg Bear
19. Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
20. Synners by Pat Cadigan
21. Sarah Canary by Karen Joy Fowler
22. White Queen by Gwyneth Jones
23. Eternal Light by Paul J. McAuley
24. Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
25. Timelike Infinity by Stephen Baxter
26. Dead Girls by Richard Calder
27. Jumper by Steven Gould
28. China Mountain Zhang by Maureen F. McHugh
29. Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
30. A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge
31. Aristoi by Walter Jon Williams
32. Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
33. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
34. Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
35. Chimera by Mary Rosenblum
36. Nightside: The Long Sun by Gene Wolfe
37. Brittle Innings by Michael Bishop
38. Permutation City by Greg Egan
39. Blood: A Southern Fantasy by Michael Moorcock
40. Mother of Storms by John Barnes
41. Sailing Bright Eternity by Gregory Benford
42. Galatea 2.2 by Richard Powers
43. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
44. The Transmigration of Souls by William Barton
45. The Fortunate Fall by Raphael Carter
46. The Sparrow/Children of God by Mary Doria Russell
47. Holy Fire by Bruce Sterling
48. Night Lamp by Jack Vance
49. In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
50. Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman
51. Glimmering by Elizabeth Hand
52. As She Climbed Across the Table by Jonathan Lethem
53. The Cassini Division by Ken MacLeod
54. Bloom by Wil McCarthy
55. Vast by Linda Nagata
56. The Golden Globe by John Varley
57. Headlong by Simon Ings
58. Cave of Stars by George Zebrowski
59. Genesis by Poul Anderson
60. Super-Cannes by J.G. Ballard
61. Under the Skin by Michel Faber
62. Perdido Street Station by China Miéville
63. Distance Haze by Jamil Nasir
64. Revelation Space/Redemption Ark/Absolution Gap by Alastair Reynolds
65. Salt by Adam Roberts
66. Ventus by Karl Schroeder
67. The Cassandra Complex by Brian M. Stableford
68. Light by M. John Harrison
69. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan
70. The Separation by Christopher Priest
71. The Golden Age by John C. Wright
72. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
73. Natural History by Justina Robson
74. The Labyrinth Key by Howard V. Hendrix
75. River of Gods by Ian McDonald
76. The Plot Against America by Philip Roth
77. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
78. The House of Storms by Ian R. MacLeod
79. Counting Heads by David Marusek
80. Air by Geoff Ryman
81. Accelerando by Charles Stross
82. Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
83. My Dirty Little Book of Stolen Time by Liz Jensen
84. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
85. His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
86. Blindsight by Peter Watts
87. Harm by Brian W. Aldiss
88. The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
89. The Secret City by Carol Emshwiller
90. In War Times by Kathleen Ann Goonan
91. Postsingular by Rudy Rucker
92. Shadow of the Scorpion: A Novel of the Polity by Neal Asher
93. The Hunger Games/Catching Fire/Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
94. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
95. The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia
96. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
97. Steal Across the Sky by Nancy Kress
98. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest
99. Zoo City by Lauren Beukes
100. Zero History by William Gibson
101. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi

thanks for adding the list, Goji!

What an excellent list! Lots of favorites mixed up with lots of books I've never read - what could be better?!

Thank you for the list. Looking at it I see I'm well behind with my reading.

My eyes just bugged out.

Great SFF Sentences

Earlier this year, Claire Armitstead in the Guardian newspaper posed the question whether genre fiction sentences can equal those found in literary writers such as Joyce or Beckett. Science fiction writers like Gibson, Banks and M. John Harrison were mentioned as possible genre sources for great sentences.

I have thought quite a lot about this since then and I think that genre fiction did not show its best side in the ensuing debate. But then, Ms Armitstead only put the question to a bunch of Guardian readers (joke), whereas I am lucky enough to be able to call on the collective mind of the SFF community!

So let's show what our genres can offer and then go back to planet Guardian with the genuinely greatest sentences in SFF.

I will start off with a brief selection from Theodore Sturgeon's novel "More Than Human", because I have just re-read it and noted candidate sentences along the way. I think these are examples of simple language creating beautiful imagery and often embodying deep insights:

1. A drawstring could not have pulled the fat man's mouth so round and tight and from it his lower lip bloomed like strawberry jam from a squeezed sandwich.

2. The sap falls and the bear sleeps and the birds fly south, not because they are all members of th same thing, but only because they are all solitary things hurt by the same thing.

3. Wrong as a squirrel with feathers or a wolf with wooden teeth; not injustice, not unfairness - just a wrongness that, under the sky, could not exist ... the idea that such as he could belong to anything.

4. The corn stretched skyward with such intensity in its lines that it seemed to be threatening its roots.

5. The open mouth was filled with carrot chips and gave her rather the appearance of a pot-bellied stove with the door open.

6. So it was that Lone came to know himself; and like the handful of people who have done so before him he found, at this pinnacle, the rugged foot of a mountain.

7. The blood was beginning to move in my hands and feet and they felt like four point-down porcupines.

8.He was as uncaring as a cat is of the bursting of a tulip bud.

9. You were the reason for the colors on a bantam rooster, you were a part of the thing that shakes the forest when the bull moose challenges; you were shining armor and a dipping pennant and my lady's girlde on your brow, you were, you were ... I was seventeen, damn it, Barrows, whatever else I was.

10. And here, too, was the guide, the beacon, for such times as humanity might be in danger; here was the Guardian of Whom all humans knew - not an exterior force nor an awesome Watcher in the sky; but a laughing thing with a human heart and a reverence for its human origins, smelling of sweat and new-turned earth rather than suffused with the pale odor of sanctity.

from Delany's Nova:

They passed the hundred-meter column. Scales, burnished under the dawn, bled the mists scarfing the plateau: the Serpent, animated and mechanical, symbol of this whole sequined sector of night, writhed on his post. As the crew stepped onto the moving roadway, an oblate sun rouged away night's bruises.

Katin tried to look reservedly doubtful. The expression was too complicated and came out blank.

"I was born," the Mouse said. "I must die. I am suffering. Help me. There, I just wrote your book for you."

Thanks, Mark; single sentences were the original requirement, though!

It's a little long, but:

“And in her ears the little seashells, the thimble radios tamped tight, and an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk and music and talk coming in, coming in on the shore of her unsleeping mind. The room was indeed empty. Every night the waves came in and bore her off on their great tides of sound, floating her, wide-eyed, toward morning. There had been no night in the last two years that Mildred had not swum that sea, had not gladly gone down in it for the third time.”
― Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

As a fan of dystopian science fiction, I decided to do some research to find the best books in the genre. I searched previous curated lists from the Huffington Post, Wired and several other publications, took suggestions from individual readers on Goodreads and Reddit, and solicited recommendations from dystopian fiction authors like Neal Shusterman, Joelle Charbonneau, David Brin and Lois Lowry to produce this list of The 110 Best Dystopian Novels: http://www.greghickeywrites.com/best-...

As a bonus, I’ve also created two PDF downloads: 1) dystopian recommendations from fourteen dystopian fiction authors, and 2) a one-page guide to the 110 Best Dystopian Novels. Happy reading!

Thanks, Greg!! I am a big fan of dystopias, even some of the silly ones.

You're welcome! Hopefully this list weeds out the unbelievably silly titles.

excellent, thank you Greg! I will be spending literally hours going through your lists. my favorite sort of blog post.

Thanks Mark. I hope you find some great new reads on the list.

Greg wrote: "As a fan of dystopian science fiction, I decided to do some research to find the best books in the genre. I searched previous curated lists from the Huffington Post, Wired and several other publica..."
Interesting list and topic divisions. Thanks!

You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed it, and I hope you find a ton of great reads on the list. As an author, I especially liked hearing from other authors about their favorites.

Well, I am in the phase of re-reading a lot of old sci-fi and I am curious as to why no one seems to list Anne McCaffrey anywhere. You know? first woman Nubula winner? Sci-fi writer since the 50's? First person to write about dragons?

No takers?

The only book from her I have read is the first Dragonriders novel. Not sure she is the first to write about Dragons but she would be one of the best known.

Deborah wrote: "Well, I am in the phase of re-reading a lot of old sci-fi and I am curious as to why no one seems to list Anne McCaffrey anywhere. You know? first woman Nubula winner? Sci-fi writer since the 50's?..."

I have read at the time what I thought was a trilogy, Anne McCaffrey Freedom Collection: Freedom's Landing, Freedom's Challenge, Freedom's Choice.

But now learn there is a fourth book in the "Catteni" series.
Freedom's Ransom.

Probably the only books by her that did not have dragons in them.

I loved Dragonflight when I first read it, though back then it was a standalone novel and I was a good deal younger. I read quite a few of the sequels over the years and remember enjoying them and The Ship Who Sang, though could no longer tell you anything more about it. So I wouldn't say underappreciated but it is now quite a few years since I read any of her books.

As near as I can determine her last work was published in 2012. There is a book listed as forthcoming but when that will be published, if ever, who knows. I think part of the problem is that two types of authors seem to get talked about frequently. Those are the ones who are currently publishing material and those who form a sort of pantheon of SF writer-gods.

I've just begun a list of nineteenth century science fiction. My goal is to include works that are true science fiction, not proto-science fiction, and to have a complete list of all science fiction works 1800-1899: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

we read a book of hers in here once.... The Rowan, and it didnt go over well! Like Juniper said, they are a product of her time. Every book I read by her is about some fantabulously talented woman who is going to do great things but then meets her 'equal' male and decides to stay home and have kids.

It is not my speed at all

Dan wrote: "I've just begun a list of nineteenth century science fiction. My goal is to include works that are true science fiction, not proto-science fiction, and to have a complete list of all science fictio..."

May have missed it but I didn't see Garrett P. Serviss' Edison's Conquest of Mars: The Original 1898 Sequel to The War of the Worlds on your list.

Deborah wrote: "Well, I am in the phase of re-reading a lot of old sci-fi and I am curious as to why no one seems to list Anne McCaffrey anywhere."

I loved her books when I was a teen. She was my #1 (and still remains one of my most read authors)! However as an adult I cannot tolerate her writing style at all. Whether her writing changed over the years or it's simply my tastes that have changed, I really couldn't say.

I still enjoy Anne McCaffrey, but I can see how newer readers might struggle. Despite her (at the time) revolutionary inclusion of women, she does have a thing about fulfilment only coming within the confines of having children.

Having said that, the Dragonsinger trilogy pretty well escapes that. It begins with Dragonsong.

Yes, I loved the Harper Hall trilogy. I would recommend that, the original Dragonriders trilogy, and the "historical" novel Moreta: Dragonlady of Pern, and stopping there (at least as far as the Pern books go.)