Science Fiction: Difference between revisions
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| style="text-align: center;"|A Fire Upon the Deep | | style="text-align: center;"|A Fire Upon the Deep | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Vinge, Vernor | | style="text-align: center;"|Vinge, Vernor | ||
| | |Three tiers of galactic civilisation face a common threat from a malicious, sentient super-AI. Hard to describe. Basically a must read. Sequels not that great. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|624 | | style="text-align: center;"|624 | ||
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| Line 360: | Line 360: | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|The Algebraist | | style="text-align: center;"|The Algebraist | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Banks, Iain M. | | style="text-align: center;"|Banks, Iain M. | ||
| | |Guy looks for secret formula to unlock wormhole travel in a varied and imaginitive universe. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|434 | | style="text-align: center;"|434 | ||
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| Line 390: | Line 390: | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Blood Music | | style="text-align: center;"|Blood Music | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Bear, Greg | | style="text-align: center;"|Bear, Greg | ||
| | |Hard science-fiction microbiology about a strange microorganism that a guy creates and willingly infects himself with. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|294 | | style="text-align: center;"|294 | ||
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| Line 414: | Line 414: | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Darwin's Radio | | style="text-align: center;"|Darwin's Radio | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Bear, Greg | | style="text-align: center;"|Bear, Greg | ||
| | |Hard science-fiction. Hard to get into if you don't know anything about molecular biology, but this makes it awesome. Retrovirus based disease changes the genetic code of sex cells in women. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|544 | | style="text-align: center;"|544 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Dune | | style="text-align: center;"|Dune | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Hebert, Frank | | style="text-align: center;"|Hebert, Frank | ||
| | |Fueding families fight over a precious resource that is only avaliable on a single planet. This resource, spice, is essential to galactic civilisation. Spice must flow. Classic. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|544 | | style="text-align: center;"|544 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Ender's Game | | style="text-align: center;"|Ender's Game | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Card, Orson Scott | | style="text-align: center;"|Card, Orson Scott | ||
| | |Young boy selected for military service to fight off an invading force of alien ant like creatures. Must read. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|352 | | style="text-align: center;"|352 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|The Forever War | | style="text-align: center;"|The Forever War | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Haldeman, Joe | | style="text-align: center;"|Haldeman, Joe | ||
| | |Preachy anti-war vietnam era science fiction about an interesting facet of slower-than-lightspeed intergalactic warfare. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|384 | | style="text-align: center;"|384 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Gateway | | style="text-align: center;"|Gateway | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Pohl, Frederik | | style="text-align: center;"|Pohl, Frederik | ||
| | |An abandoned alien space station is discovered that contains many capsules that go to random locations in the galaxy. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|288 | | style="text-align: center;"|288 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Hyperion | | style="text-align: center;"|Hyperion | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Simmons, Dan | | style="text-align: center;"|Simmons, Dan | ||
| | |A group of people are drawn to a planet, which links them all together. Heavy on the backstory. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|481 | | style="text-align: center;"|481 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream | | style="text-align: center;"|I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Ellison, Harlan | | style="text-align: center;"|Ellison, Harlan | ||
| | |I have no words and I must describe. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|20 | | style="text-align: center;"|20 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Man Plus | | style="text-align: center;"|Man Plus | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Pohl, Frederik | | style="text-align: center;"|Pohl, Frederik | ||
| | |Superhuman project for mars colonisation. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|320 | | style="text-align: center;"|320 | ||
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| Line 576: | Line 576: | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|The Man Who Folded Himself | | style="text-align: center;"|The Man Who Folded Himself | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Gerrold, David | | style="text-align: center;"|Gerrold, David | ||
| | |Ever wondered what would happen if you abused the everloving shit out of time travel? | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|144 | | style="text-align: center;"|144 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Mote in God's Eye | | style="text-align: center;"|Mote in God's Eye | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Niven, Larry & Pournelle, Jerry | | style="text-align: center;"|Niven, Larry & Pournelle, Jerry | ||
| | |Mankind discovers alien race with an extremely different method of using resources. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|592 | | style="text-align: center;"|592 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Moving Mars | | style="text-align: center;"|Moving Mars | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Bear, Greg | | style="text-align: center;"|Bear, Greg | ||
| | |Something about rebellious students making a big fuss about losing their freedoms or some shit. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|448 | | style="text-align: center;"|448 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|The Peace War | | style="text-align: center;"|The Peace War | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Vinge, Vernor | | style="text-align: center;"|Vinge, Vernor | ||
| | |Post-war. A war that was ended thanks to the invention of an encapsulating technology, and now the populace lead a life monitored by an anti-technology faction. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|304 | | style="text-align: center;"|304 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Rainbow's End | | style="text-align: center;"|Rainbow's End | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Vinge, Vernor | | style="text-align: center;"|Vinge, Vernor | ||
|Cyber-space avatar worlds clash with a real world developing increasingly deadly bioweapons. | |||
| style="text-align: center;"|368 | |||
| | | | ||
| style="text-align: center;"| | |- | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Raft | |||
| style="text-align: center;"|Baxter, Stephen | |||
|Book 1 in the engaging "Xeelee sequence". A creative world where the laws of the universe are different, and life prevails. | |||
| style="text-align: center;"|264 | |||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Ringworld | | style="text-align: center;"|Ringworld | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Niven, Larry | | style="text-align: center;"|Niven, Larry | ||
| | |Trip to the ringworld. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|352 | | style="text-align: center;"|352 | ||
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| style="text-align: center;"|Sundiver | | style="text-align: center;"|Sundiver | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|Brin, David | | style="text-align: center;"|Brin, David | ||
| | |Stars + explorers = sundivers. | ||
| style="text-align: center;"|352 | | style="text-align: center;"|352 | ||
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| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Time Ships | | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|The Time Ships | ||
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Baxter, Stephen | | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|Baxter, Stephen | ||
| style="vertical-align: top;"| | | style="vertical-align: top;"|Time travel. Time machines powered by flubber or kryptonite or something travel into massively distant futures. | ||
| style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|544 | | style="vertical-align: top; text-align: center;"|544 | ||
| style="vertical-align: top;"| | | style="vertical-align: top;"| | ||
Revision as of 18:38, 12 July 2013
This page is meant to cover the basics works and stellar pieces of science fiction literature. While the bulk of Science Fiction is trashy genre-work there are genuine masterpieces. The purpose of this article is to illustrate those masterpieces as best as possible. As always however, this list is imperfect and always growing. If there is anything missing please add to it.
The Big Three
Isaac Asimov
| Title | Author | Description | Pages | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Caves of Steel | Isaac Asimov | A Science Fiction / mystery novel set on earth some 3 millennia in the future. The overall plot features the dealings of a detective and his highly intelligent android partner. | 288 |  |
| The Complete Robot | Isaac Asimov | A collection of 31 of Isaac Asimov's short stories, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots and morality, and put together tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics. Includes the story "Runaround" which outlines Asimov's laws of Robotics. | 496 |  |
| The Gods Themselves | Isaac Asimov | The main plotline is a project by aliens who inhabit a parallel universe (the para-Universe) with different physical laws from this one. By exchanging matter with Earth, they seek to exploit these differences in physical laws. The exchange of matter provides an alternative source of energy in their dying Universe. However, the exchange of physical laws will have consequences. | 304 | .jpg) |
| The Foundation Trilogy | Isaac Asimov | Orignally published as a series of novelettes, the foundation trilogy is regarded by many as a itself a key foundation of science fiction. Asimov published another three stories in set in this universe. Before finally wrapping together the timelines of these stories with those of his robots stories. | 678 |  |
| The Naked Sun | Isaac Asimov | Another Science Fiction/Mystery Novel that features a protagonist who manages to circumvent the laws of robotics in order to have his wife murdered. | 288 |  |
Arthur C. Clarke
| Title | Author | Description | Pages | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001: A Space Odyssey | Arthur C. Clarke | It's 2001. I shouldn't have to give an introduction | 320 |  |
| Childhood's End | Arthur C. Clarke | Story regarding the future of mankind after the advent of a "devil-like" alien race appears and offers them a golden era of prosperity. | 256 | .jpg) |
| The Collected Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke | Arthur C. Clarke | A Collection of nearly every short story Arthur Clarke has ever published tallying at over 100. Includes: The Nine Billions Names of God, The Sentinel, and his flash fiction "God said, 'Cancel Program GENESIS.' The universe ceased to exist." | 976 |  |
| The Fountains of Paradise | Arthur C. Clarke | 332 |  | |
| Rendevous with Rama | Arthur C. Clarke | Classic book featuring mankind's encounter with the alien vessel Rama. | 274 |  |
Robert Heinlein
| Title | Author | Description | Pages | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Friday | Robert Heinlein | The tale of a genetically modified female, designed to be superior physically, and mentally to normal human beings. The story follows her struggles with the prejudice against artificial humans and her attempts to assimilate. | 368 |  |
| Have Space Suit - Will Travel | Robert Heinlein | 256 |  | |
| Methuselah's Children | Robert Heinlein | 183 |  | |
| The Moon is a Harsh Mistress | Robert Heinlein | 384 | .jpg) | |
| Orphans of the Sky | Robert Heinlein | 224 |  | |
| Starship Troopers | Robert Heinlein | One of Heinlein's most famous pieces of science fiction, Starship Troopers follows the eyes of a human soldier going through the ranks in an alien war. | 263 |  |
| Stranger in a Strange Land | Robert Heinlein | 528 |  | |
| Time for the Stars | Robert Heinlein | 256 |  |
Early and Proto Science Fiction
| Title | Author | Description | Pages | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea | Verne, Jules | 426 |  | |
| A Journey to the Center of the Earth | Verne, Jules | 256 |  | |
| A Voyage to Arcturus | Lindsay, David | 274 |  | |
| Frankenstein | Shelley, Mary | 328 |  | |
| The Invisible Man | Wells, H.G. | 208 |  | |
| The Island of Dr. Moreau | Wells, H.G. | 160 |  | |
| The Last Man | Shelley, Mary | 352 |  | |
| True History | Lucian of Samosata | 44 |  | |
| Micromegas | Voltaire | 48 |  | |
| The Time Machine | Wells, H.G. | 104 |  | |
| The War of the Worlds | Wells, H.G. | 138 |  |
Golden Age Science Fiction
| Title | Author | Description | Pages | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Princess of Mars | Burroughs, Edgar Rice | 160 |  | |
| The Big Time | Leiber, Fritz | 152 |  | |
| The Day of the Triffids | Wyndham, John | 256 |  | |
| The Demolished Man | Bester, Alfred | 256 |  | |
| Dorsai! | Dickson, George R. | 288 |  | |
| The Martian Chronicles | Bradbury, Ray | 288 |  | |
| Mission of Gravity | Clement, Hal | 203 |  | |
| Out of the Silent Planet | Lewis, C.S. | 160 |  | |
| Slan | van Vogt, A.E. | 272 |  | |
| Star Maker | Stapledon, Olaf | 232 |  | |
| Stars My Destination | Bester, Alfred | 272 |  | |
| To Your Scattered Bodies Go | Farmer, Philip Jóse | 184 |  | |
| Triplanetary | Smith, Edward E. | 240 |  | |
| The Voyage of the Space Beagle | van Vogt, A.E. | 224 |  | |
| Who? | Budrys, Algis | 158 |  | |
| Who Goes There | Campbell Jr., John W. | 168 |  | |
| The World of Null-A | van Vogt, A.E. | 272 |  |
Modern Science Fiction
| Title | Author | Description | Pages | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Fire Upon the Deep | Vinge, Vernor | Three tiers of galactic civilisation face a common threat from a malicious, sentient super-AI. Hard to describe. Basically a must read. Sequels not that great. | 624 | |
| A Time of Changes | Silverberg, Robert | 304 | ||
| The Algebraist | Banks, Iain M. | Guy looks for secret formula to unlock wormhole travel in a varied and imaginitive universe. | 434 | |
| Babel-17 | Delany, Samuel R. | 158 | ||
| Behold the Man | Moorcock, Michael | 124 | ||
| Beyond Apollo | Malzberg, Barry N. | 156 | ||
| Bill, the Galactic Hero | Harrison, Harry | Anti-War Military Satire | 208 | |
| Blood Music | Bear, Greg | Hard science-fiction microbiology about a strange microorganism that a guy creates and willingly infects himself with. | 294 | |
| Camouflage | Haldeman, Joe | 304 | ||
| Consider Phlebas | Banks, Iain M. | 544 | ||
| Cryptonomicon | Stephenson, Neal | 1168 | ||
| Darwin's Radio | Bear, Greg | Hard science-fiction. Hard to get into if you don't know anything about molecular biology, but this makes it awesome. Retrovirus based disease changes the genetic code of sex cells in women. | 544 | |
| The Dispossessed | Le Guin, Ursula K. | 400 | ||
| Doomsday Book | Willis, Connie | 592 | ||
| Downbelow Station | Cherryh, C.J. | 352 | ||
| Dune | Hebert, Frank | Fueding families fight over a precious resource that is only avaliable on a single planet. This resource, spice, is essential to galactic civilisation. Spice must flow. Classic. | 544 | |
| Dying Inside | Silverberg, Robert | 304 | ||
| Ender's Game | Card, Orson Scott | Young boy selected for military service to fight off an invading force of alien ant like creatures. Must read. | 352 | |
| The Faded Sun Trilogy | Cherryh, C.J. | 784 | ||
| Fire time | Anderson, Poul | 288 | ||
| Flowers for Algernon | Keyes, Daniel | 324 | ||
| Footfall | Niven, Larry & Pournelle, Jerry | 524 | ||
| The Forever War | Haldeman, Joe | Preachy anti-war vietnam era science fiction about an interesting facet of slower-than-lightspeed intergalactic warfare. | 384 | |
| The Forge of God | Bear, Greg | 480 | ||
| Gateway | Pohl, Frederik | An abandoned alien space station is discovered that contains many capsules that go to random locations in the galaxy. | 288 | |
| Halcyon Drift | Stableford, Brian | 175 | ||
| The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy | Adams, Douglas | 272 | ||
| Hyperion | Simmons, Dan | A group of people are drawn to a planet, which links them all together. Heavy on the backstory. | 481 | |
| I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream | Ellison, Harlan | I have no words and I must describe. | 20 | |
| Ilium | Simmons, Dan | 752 | ||
| The Illuminatus! Trilogy | Shea, Robert & Wilson, Robert Anton | 805 | ||
| Kiln People | Brin, David | 336 | ||
| The Left Hand of Darkness | Le Guin, Ursula K. | 320 | ||
| Lord Valentine's Castle | Silverberg, Robert | 528 | ||
| Lord of Light | Zelazny, Roger | 304 | ||
| Make Room! Make Room! | Harry Harrison | Soylent was neither green nor made of people in this book, which is quite a bit different (better) than the movie it spawned. This story is basically a murder mystery set in an overpopulated world. The tone of the novel paints a slightly goofy (but always sympathetic) portrait of humanity. | ||
| Man Plus | Pohl, Frederik | Superhuman project for mars colonisation. | 320 | |
| The Man Who Melted | Dann, Jack | 274 | ||
| The Man Who Folded Himself | Gerrold, David | Ever wondered what would happen if you abused the everloving shit out of time travel? | 144 | |
| Mote in God's Eye | Niven, Larry & Pournelle, Jerry | Mankind discovers alien race with an extremely different method of using resources. | 592 | |
| Moving Mars | Bear, Greg | Something about rebellious students making a big fuss about losing their freedoms or some shit. | 448 | |
| Old Man's War | Scalzi, John | 320 | ||
| The Peace War | Vinge, Vernor | Post-war. A war that was ended thanks to the invention of an encapsulating technology, and now the populace lead a life monitored by an anti-technology faction. | 304 | |
| Rainbow's End | Vinge, Vernor | Cyber-space avatar worlds clash with a real world developing increasingly deadly bioweapons. | 368 | |
| Raft | Baxter, Stephen | Book 1 in the engaging "Xeelee sequence". A creative world where the laws of the universe are different, and life prevails. | 264 | |
| Red Mars | Robinson, Kim Stanley | 592 | ||
| Revelation Space | Reynolds, Alistair | 576 | ||
| Ringworld | Niven, Larry | Trip to the ringworld. | 352 | |
| Rite of Passage | Panshin, Alexei | 260 | ||
| River of Gods | McDonald, Ian | 599 | ||
| Singularity Sky | Stross, Charles | 352 | ||
| Slaughterhouse Five | Vonnegut Jr., Kurt | 288 | ||
| The Snow Queen | Vinge, Joan D. | 448 | ||
| Solaris | Lem, Stanislaw | 204 | ||
| The Sparrow | Russell, Mary Doria | 408 | ||
| Spin | Wilson, Robert Charles | 464 | ||
| Sundiver | Brin, David | Stars + explorers = sundivers. | 352 | |
| Tau Zero | Anderson, Poul | 190 | ||
| Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories | Kelley, James Patrick | 275 | ||
| This Immortal / ...And Call Me Conrad | Zelazny, Roger | 176 | ||
| Timescape | Benford, Gregory | 512 | ||
| The Time Ships | Baxter, Stephen | Time travel. Time machines powered by flubber or kryptonite or something travel into massively distant futures. | 544 | |
| Troika | Chapman, Stepan | 256 | ||
| Ubik | Dick, Philip K. | 224 | ||
| Vurt | Noon, Jeff | 342 | ||
| World of Ptavvs | Niven, Larry | 192 |
Cyberpunk
| Title | Author | Description | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accelerando | Charles Stross | ||
| Altered Carbon | Richard K. Morgan | ||
| The Diamond Age | Neal Stephenson | ||
| Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep | Philip K. Dick | ||
| Islands in the Net | Bruce Sterling | ||
| Neuromancer | William Gibson | ||
| Permutation City | Greg Egan | ||
| The Shockwave Rider | John Brunner | ||
| Snow Crash | Neal Stephenson | ||
| Software | Rudy Rucker |
Post Apocalyptic
| Title | Author | Description | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| A Canticle for Leibowitz | Walter M. Miller, Jr. | ||
| A Wrinkle in Time | Madeleine L'Engle | ||
| The Chrysalids | John Wyndam | ||
| Cloud Atlas | David Mitchell | ||
| The Deep | John Crowley | ||
| Dies the Fire | S.M. Sterline | ||
| Dr. Bloodmoney | Philip K. Dick | ||
| Dreamsnake | Vonda M. McIntyre | ||
| The Dying Earth | Jack Vance | ||
| Earth Abides | George R. Stewart | ||
| The Elfin Ship | James Blaylock | ||
| I Am Legend | Richard Matheson | ||
| Lucifer's Hammer | Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle | ||
| The Mount | Carol Emshwiller | ||
| The Nightland | William Hope Hodgson | ||
| The Planet of the Apes | Pierre Boulle | ||
| The Postman | David Brin | ||
| Ravage | Rene Barjavel | ||
| Riddley Walker | Russell Hoban | ||
| The Road | Cormac McCarthy | ||
| Shadow and Claw | Gene Wolfe | ||
| The Sheep Look Up | John Brunner | ||
| The Tripods Trilogy | Samuel Youd |
Dystopian
| Title | Author | Description | Book Cover |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | George Orwell | ||
| A Scanner Darkly | Philip K. Dick | ||
| Brave New World | Aldous Huxley | ||
| Fahrenheit 451 | Ray Bradbury | ||
| Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said | Philip K. Dick | ||
| The Giver | Lois Lowry | ||
| The Handmaid's Tale | Margaret Atwood | ||
| Logan's Run | William F. Nolan & George Clayton Johnson | ||
| The Man in the High Castle | Philip K. Dick | ||
| Stand on Zanzibar | John Brunner | ||
| We | Yevgeny Zamyatin | ||
| Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang | Kate Wilhelm | ||
| The World Inside | Robert Silverberg | ||
| This Perfect Day | Ira Levin |
