Classic Sci-fi Novels

[Paul Monk]

After I finish my current book I thought I'd start reading some sci-fi classics to get me into sci-fi novels again.
But which ones? There are so many sci-fi novels out there which would you classify as classic must reads?

[SiHart]

I'm sure Steve will provide a much fuller to this than I can as he's been reading his way through the Sci-Fi masterwarks for the past couple of years and I haven't.

However, I will recommend A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C. Clarke, which I enjoyed a great deal. It was nice and tense with some very good characters in it.

Si xx

[Paul Monk]

I read loads of Clarke when I was a teenager and always enjoyed his stuff. Rendevous with Rama is probably my favourite. Enders Games be Orson Scott Card is a classic too.

[Rob McCow]

Ten great sci-fi novels? If I must indulge myself!

Dune Frank Herbert
Of course, it's reputation is getting increasingly tarnished as it's become the series that wouldn't die. I read the first book at primary school however and I can still remember bits of it now. The imagery and sci-fi sense of awe is magnificent, plus there's loads of family bickering and backstabbing. Let's head out to the desert and ride some sandworms

The Forever War Joe Hadleman
Why was this the first of Gollancz's SF Masterworks? Because it's sodding brilliant. Ostensibly there's little that's special about it, the story is quite straightforward, but the continually shifting viewpoint as society advances around William Mandela allows the book to be by turns moving and deeply satirical. It's also the purest kind of sci-fi, starting with a simple scientific theory and looking at it's possible effect on real people.

Foundation Issac Asimov
Asimov's writing style is absolutely basic. Fortunately, he's got loads of great ideas and the various methods that the Foundation employs to expand after the collapse of the Galactic Empire are wonderful.

The Left Hand Of Darkness Ursula K Le Guin
I re-read this recently, but I had forgotten that I had read it before, probably again at primary school. Yes, it would make no sense to anyone who was pre-pubescent! Because it's part-political, part-survival story, I didn't remember it as a sci-fi book at all. Oddly enough! At the other end of the scale from Asimov, this is probably the best written SF book I've ever read.

Grinny Nicholas Fisk
A children's book, but an absolutely terrifying one. Comparable to Neil Gaiman's Coraline or Philip K Dick's The Father Thing. Eek! Track a copy down, if you can.

Flowers For Algernon Daniel Keyes
A book about a simple man who becomes incredibly intelligent, told in the form of his diary. It's got to be a tragedy, but it's a damn fine one. Inspired Red Dwarf's White Hole, probably.

Air Geoff Ryman
The last unconnected village in the world finally joins the invidious world-wide-web of the mind. Superb, with some surreal and horrific goings-on.

Look To Windward Iain M Banks
This is Consider Phlebas 2 and slightly better in my opinion. Some decidedly oddly shaped characters discover a plot to destroy an Orbital, a super-planet sized ring around a sun. It's funny, action-packed and intelligent, like every other book he's done. This and the Algebraist are probably my favourites. And Excession. Damn!

Never Let Me Go Kazuo Ishiguro
Yes it is sci-fi. Don't read anything about this book, just read it, because any spoilers would ruin the mystery. Don't even read the blurb, dammit!

The Demolished Man Alfred Bester
How can you murder a man in a world where telepaths catch every criminal? Read this book and find out.

So there's ten books I like. Probably not my top ten, but I'm not very good at sticking to my lists.

[Pip Madeley]

The Day Of The Triffids is always a good choice.

[SiHart]

Air Geoff Ryman
The last unconnected village in the world finally joins the invidious world-wide-web of the mind. Superb, with some surreal and horrific goings-on.

Air is one of my favourite novels ever.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

Does anybody else remember a writer called EE 'Doc' Smith - it's a half-remembered name from school library books. Also, what about Galactic Warlord by Douglas Hill?

[Rob McCow]

EE 'Doc' Smith was not a real Doc! But he was best known for the Lensman series, I believe they were fairly straightforward space adventures, doing Star Trek before Star Trek did Star Trek. There are some radio adaptations too, that might still be available.

[WhiteCrow]

How can I, Robot not be on the list Steve?

The robot series is a joy, each mini-story and absolute joy. Isaac Asimov spun off all these stories using his 3 laws of robotics and then finding situations where they'd not quite work.

I never managed to really get into the Foundation series, despite many attempts.

I have to admit though the Demolished Man is a true classic, just a very inventive story.

I agree Dune is a very amazing journey to take in book form, the sequels less so.

One problem I find though is there is a lot of really badly written Sci-Fi out there. Larry Niven I consider one of the worst, and Arthur C Clarke can churn out a few clunkers. Rendevous With Rama, although a great tale of exploration has really poor characterisation - generally in his work, the computers usually come over as the most human!

[Rob McCow]

How can I, Robot not be on the list Steve?

Because I'm pretty sure Paul has read it! Plus I chose Foundation over I, Robot. Asimov is good, but he doesn't deserve to be on the list more than once!

Larry Niven's alright, Ringworld (not the sequels, haven't read those) is brilliant. I should also mention Eon by Greg Bear, which is pretty damn good too.

[Andrew Curnow]

I read Dune just last year, and agree that it is an amazing work. I then read the second one, which was a bit of a struggle but was thankfully much shorter. I then floundered midway through the third one, and decided to give up on the book before losing the will to live. But Dune itself, excellent.

[Captain Tancredi]

I don't know if anybody else finds this, but the problem I have with many sci-fi novels is that they tend to be written by ideas people rather than good novelists. For that reason, I think a couple of titles like A Clockwork Orange and The Handmaid's Tale deserve to be mentioned as the work of writers who have/had careers elsewhere.

Not [B]Neuromancer[B], though- I finished this last week and the second half took me twice as long as the first- it's painful.

[WhiteCrow]

Because I'm pretty sure Paul has read it! Plus I chose Foundation over I, Robot. Asimov is good, but he doesn't deserve to be on the list more than once!

I think really I, Robot plays more to Asimovs strength than Foundation.

It seems these days Sci-Fi and Fantasy writing always aims at the huge tome book, and has seemed to have lost the art of writing tight, well paced short stories.

I think the problem of many a Sci-Fi writer, is that they're writing about their ideas, and so their characters often feel poorly sketched and minimal. In Foundation, the main character is actually dead, and it's his prophicies/calculations about the future. In I, Robot the robots often have more personality than say Susan Calvin.

In the same way at the end of 2001, we come away knowing a lot more about Hal and his motivation than say Dave Bowman.

Larry Niven's alright, Ringworld (not the sequels, haven't read those) is brilliant. I should also mention Eon by Greg Bear, which is pretty damn good too.

Again I've tried to read a couple of Larry Niven's books, and found Eon truely awful. Similarly I felt the characters were all kind of dull and 2-dimensional.



Of course some true old school classics would have to be Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, and War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells.

[Rob McCow]

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley?! I hate Frankenstein by Mary Shelley! The only good Frankenstein is a Young Frankenstein by Mel Brooks!

Did I mention Olaf Stapledon's First And Last Men? The entire history of the human race in 400 pages! It rocks!

[Andrew Curnow]

My favourite Asimov short story is one called (I think) Fois Gras, and is simply about the goose that lays the golden egg. It's such a simple idea, but is neatly done.

[Paul Monk]

I have read I, Robot!
Dune I've always struggled with. I've got a audio book of it. I've always meant to check out Geoff Ryman. Years ago I read a short story by him (I can't remember which one) and thought he was good.
Neuromancer is a pile of poo though. Cyberpunk was very 80's and has had its day I reckon.
Never liked Frankenstein either. Its very dull and the best bit, the creation of the monster, is completely glossed over.

[Paul Clement]

Try some books by A E Van Vogt. Darkness on Diamondia and Voyage of the Space Beagle were quite good.

[MacNimon]

The Mote In God's Eye (by Larry Niven, I think) I read this novel about mankind's first contact with extraterrestrials about 20 years ago, and found it gripping stuff. Also I'd agree with those Arthur C Clarke novels, A Fall Of Moondust being my favourite.

I remember reading those EE Doc Smith novels at school, they'd be fun to read again. Also from my schooldays I remember an excellent novel by Patrick Moore (although I forget it's title) about the first settlers on Mars which he wrote in the 50s or 60s, it was quite an old library book when I read it (in the late 70s)

I've got to mention my favourite sci-fi novel of them all, HG Wells The Time Machine...I just love that novel. Also a couple of old pulp sci-fi novels worth checking out...When Worlds Collide (it's miles better than the 50s film version) - I forget the authors though - and The Man Who Awoke, by Lawrence Manning. Both these were originally serials in those old pulp magazines of the 20s and 30s. With When Worlds Collide, the title speaks for itself, but TMWA is about a businessman who (for reasons I forget) builds a machine which can put him into suspended animation, and then goes to sleep for ten thousand years at a time. Each time he wakes up the world has changed greatly (and not always for the better) and he gets himself into such a dangerous predicament that his only real escape is to get back to his chamber for another ten thousand year sleep, and hope for a better world next time he awakes. Pure pulp stuff, but great fun!

[Paul Monk]

I had a load of pulpy 50's /60's sic-fi books once. They had names like The Coins of Murph! Never read them though. I suspect that they were rubbish.

[MacNimon]

More than likely! I have a fascination with that sort of stuff though...but I reckon that you're better off with reprints of those old 50s EC sci-fi comics than much of the pulp stuff. Not that the pulp stuff was all bad, though...

[Paul Monk]

I love those sorts of novels too but mainly for the covers, titles and plot synopsises. You can always tell them by the horrible toilet roll grade of paper they're printed on. I would love to get hold of some of the 50's sci-fi though but I'm guessing they're expensive.

[Paul Monk]

Have just bought some Robert Heinlein books. Never read any of his books before but he's supposed to be a classic sci-fi writer, as long as you don't get him in his religious period.
Its Star Beast, Assignment in Eternity Vol 1 & 2

[Rob McCow]

I'm going to put my foot in it now... I read Heinein's Stranger In A Strange Land and didn't think it was that great. I also read his 'anti-novel' Report on Probability A which describes a garage and a painting in brain numbing detail. It was ghastly.

There was an astounding second hand book store in Hamilton in New Zealand that seemed to have the country's entire output of discarded sci-fi books. I picked up 'A Mote In God's Eye' by Niven, plus 'Destination: Universe!' by Van Vogt, among a couple of others. The choice was bewildering and I spent quite a time looking through the titles on display!

I also read Rendezvous With Rama, mostly on the plane on the way home. It wasn't as good as A Fall Of Moondust, but it lacked the comedy and every-dayness of that book and went for shock and awe instead. It was such a good SF book though that even Si enjoyed it when he read it, years ago. The concepts make it gripping and the sheer filmatic-but-unfilmable quality of the story.

[Jon Masters]

Have just bought some Robert Heinlein books. Never read any of his books before but he's supposed to be a classic sci-fi writer, as long as you don't get him in his religious period.
Its Star Beast, Assignment in Eternity Vol 1 & 2

An ex-girlfried was very into Heinlein but I found him a bit overrated really - esp his obsession about sex !

[Paul Monk]

I'm a good few chapters into Ring World by Larry Niven and I'm enjoying it lots. I wonder if Iain Banks is a fan because it reminds me a lot of his Culture books.