Science Fiction

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 Five

Isaac Asimov

Title	Author	Description	Pages
The Caves of Steel	Isaac Asimov	In this novel, Isaac Asimov introduces Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw, who would later become his favorite protagonists. They live roughly three millennia in Earth's future, a time when hyperspace travel has been discovered, and a few worlds relatively close to Earth have been colonized—fifty planets known as the "Spacer Worlds". The Spacer worlds are rich, have low population density (average population of one hundred million each), and use robot labor very heavily. Meanwhile, Earth is overpopulated (with a total population of eight billion), and strict rules against robots have been passed. The eponymous "caves of steel" are vast city complexes covered by huge metal domes, capable of supporting tens of millions each. The New York City of that era, for example, encompasses present-day New York City, as well as large tracts of New Jersey. Asimov imagines the present day's underground transit connected to malls and apartment blocks, extended to a point where no one ever exits to the outside world. Indeed, most of the population cannot leave, as they suffer from extreme agoraphobia. Even though the Robot and Foundation series were not considered to be part of the same fictional universe until much later, those "caves of steel" resemble the planet Trantor.	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
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
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
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
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	boy wins space suit in a lottery, goes to space and has adventures.	256
Methuselah's Children	Robert Heinlein		183
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress	Robert Heinlein	The moon is a penal colony declaring independence from Earth, with a spontaneously self aware computer to help. Lots of philosophy of government, alternate social organism, alternate marriage arrangements.	384
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	Boy raised by Martians theoretically owns Mars, has strange powers due to his upbringing. Grok that.	528
Time for the Stars	Robert Heinlein	sup light interstellar travel and consequences, plus mental telegraphy and other odd ideas.	256

Early and Proto Science Fiction

Title	Author	Pages
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
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, Gordon R.		288
The Martian Chronicles	Bradbury, Ray		288
Mission of Gravity	Clement, Hal	good hard science about being on the surface of a 300 gravity world.	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
A Fire Upon the Deep	Vinge, Vernor	Three tiers of galactic civilization 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.	language determines the thoughts and ideas that can be conveyed efficiently.	158
Behold the Man	Moorcock, Michael		124
Beyond Apollo	Malzberg, Barry N.		156
Bill, the Galactic Hero	Harrison, Harry	Anti-War Military Satire and the cafeteria tray problem.	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.	the Alliance/Union space and a station with resource problems on its associated planet, Downbelow, and its inhabetants.	352
Dune	Herbert, 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	A starship breaks down and the on board in stasis passengers are decanted on to the planet below. The crew contends with the planet inhabitants to allow the humans to prevail then sets up Karma machines to control longevity, becoming a pantheon of god like powerful very old humans. Sam starts the revolution.	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
The 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, Alastair		576
Ringworld	Niven, Larry	Trip to the ringworld.	352
Rite of Passage	Panshin, Alexei	Coming of age on a generational starship. A young girl finds out what her real ambition is. A great read.	260
River of Gods	McDonald, Ian		599
Singularity Sky	Stross, Charles		352
Slaughterhouse Five	Vonnegut Jr., Kurt	A soldier with a time-travel problem survives a bombing, is abducted by aliens, and has a fat wife that he doesn't really care about. Makes you think a little about time and free will.	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
The Troika	Chapman, Stepan		256
Ubik	Dick, Philip K.		224
Vurt	Noon, Jeff		342
World of Ptavvs	Niven, Larry		192

Cyberpunk

Title	Author	Description
Accelerando	Charles Stross
Altered Carbon	Richard K. Morgan	Planets are colonized and people's minds are digital. Intelligent soldier-turned-criminal is bailed out of mental prison and sent to Earth to investigate a murder. Of course, there are those who don't like him investigating.
The Diamond Age	Neal Stephenson
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep	Philip K. Dick	the book Blade Runner was made from.
Islands in the Net	Bruce Sterling
Neuromancer	William Gibson	The beginning of cyberpunk, the invention of the words cyberspace, an many of the memes of the Internet, plus AI and some of the consequences of an insane AI.
Permutation City	Greg Egan
The Shockwave Rider	John Brunner
Snow Crash	Neal Stephenson
Software	Rudy Rucker

Post Apocalyptic

Title	Author	Description
A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.	Humanity fucks itself with nukes and decides that knowledge is evil. Order of Catholic monks decides to preserve knowledge until humanity unfucks itself. Contains three shorter stories. One taking place in Dark Ages II, Renaissance II and the build up to WWIV. Also Latin.
A Wrinkle in Time	Madeleine L'Engle
The Chrysalids	John Wyndham
Cloud Atlas	David Mitchell
The Deep	John Crowley
Dies the Fire	S.M. Stirling
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	A comet strike, and its aftermath in California.
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	John Christopher

Dystopian

Title	Author	Description
1984	George Orwell	Where actions, words, and even thoughts are regulated by a small aristocracy, a man begins to rebel against the enforced social norms. Rather long but a classic dystopian novel.
A Scanner Darkly	Philip K. Dick
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury	Firemen don't put out fires anymore, they start them to burn books since all books are now illegal. A few shocking events begin to make a fireman question why he does what he does and why his society is like it is.
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	A twenty-year-old, living in a future-Earth that calls for euthanasia of people at or over twenty-one, hunts down people who, instead, run. Then, when he turns twenty-one, he runs too.
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