Thursday, April 19, 2012

Top 15 Sci-fi Novels or Series

Since my last post was the top ten fantasy novels or series, I might as well follow up with my favorite sci-fi books or series. Again, these are only from the many that I have read. I have a huge bookcase filled with ones I hope to get to someday.

1. Orson Scott Card -- Ender's Game should be required reading in high school, as far as I'm concerned. I liked all the other novels set in Ender's universe, too, but this first one is incredible. I dislike many of Card's personal views and I wouldn't want to know him in real life, but that doesn't stop me from loving this first book.
2. Richard K. Morgan -- Altered Carbon and it's sequels is right up my alley with its dark, gritty storytelling. I hate putting Morgan here, because I find his opinions of readers who love Tolkien to be despicable, so that's two writers in a row leading off my list with whom I have issues.
3. Larry Niven (often with Jerry Pournelle) -- They may not be my favorites, but Niven produces so many that I really, really like that he deserves this spot. Lucifer's Hammer, The Mote in God's Eye, and Ringworld are just a few.

4. Scott Westerfeld -- Few seem to have heard of The Risen Empire and Killing of Worlds, but these are exactly the kinds of hard sci-fis that I love most. His space battle scenes are mind blowing.
5. John Scalzi -- Old Man's War is funny and clever while maintaining a sense that it could truly happen. Keep your eyes on Scalzi, as he has lots more to come, I imagine.

6. Philip K. Dick -- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? is good but not a favorite of mine, but I had to move Dick up here because Blade Runner is the most awesome movie of all time, and it was lightly based upon this short novel.

7. Joe Haldeman -- The Forever War is a believable tale of the future horrors of war. It's considered an all time classic by many.

8. Alan Dean Foster -- Okay, so he may not be quite as great a writer as many of these others, but he sure can tell a cracking good tale. Some of my favorites are Alien and Aliens, since I love the movies so much.
9. Alistair Reynolds -- Chasm City (a mixture of gritty dark sci-fi and space opera) is the best I've read by him so far, though the first book, Revelation Space, wasn't bad either. I've purchased all of his many books, so I have loads of reading ahead of me.

10. John Varley -- I own a bunch of his novels but have only read loads of his short stories and one novel, Red Thunder, but Varley writes sci-fi with the best of them.

11. William Gibson -- Neuromancer is the classic that started cyberpunk. I'm not quite as enamored of it as the critics, but I liked it.

12. Isaac Asimov -- His Foundation Trilogy had many unrealistic elements, but the story was so fantastic that I willingly suspended my disbelief.

13. Frederick Pohl -- Gateway is a fun and imaginative space romp, though I haven't read the sequels yet.

14. Frank Herbert -- Dune is another classic that I didn't like nearly as much as the critics did, but it's still quite good. It took me two tries to finally get through it, though, so it might not have been a good idea to try as a young teen. The sequels didn't do much for me.

15. George R.R. Martin -- Since he's my favorite living author for his fantasy series (see yesterday's post), I'll close this top 15 with his Tuff Voyaging series. It doesn't approach the greatness of A Game of Thrones, but then nothing does these days.

8 comments:

  1. I don't mind getting so surprise myself with some of my own choices. I have to pore over my bookshelves and make lists and see which ones I truly want up top or not!

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  2. Of those, I've only read Ender's Game, which I loved, Neuromance, which impressed me, and Dune, which may have introduced me to the genre.

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  3. I've read most of Alan Dean Foster's books, and while they aren't deep, they are fun and accessible. (Which is the way I like to write as well.) I need to read Ender's Game some day since so many say CassaStar has the same feel. Tried another of his books though and just didn't get into it.

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  4. Alex, because of his twisted politics, Card has some really lame books. You can't judge the Ender books based on those.

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  5. I've read a couple of them. John Varley for one and my son has a few of the others on his shelf. Why do some authors put personal opinions out there that cost them fans?

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  6. The only things on your list I've read are some of Alan Dean Foster's fluff, and Asimov's Foundation trilogy. I...should brush up on my sci-fi, shouldn't I? >.>

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  7. I neglected sci-fi for a while, reading mostly fantasy for several years. I'm glad I got back into sci-fi, especially lately while writing one myself.

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