A definitive (?) list of classic SF

[Ian Whates]

I don't regard myself as an SF newbie but do you really call all the above mainstream SF? I obviously have a lot to learn...

I agree that some of the names you've highlighted might be a little obscure FE, but many are merely past 'greats' who perhaps aren't so well remembered today. As J-Sun points out, a couple aren't even that. Connie Willis is one of the biggest names in SF. I recall at the Hugo Award ceremony at Worldcon in Glasgow, 2005, Chris Priest when presenting the Hugo for best short story quipping, "or as it's better known these days, the Connie Willis Award," and the person who collected the award on behalf of the absent winner, Mike Resnick, thanking Connie for letting Mike borrow her award...

Besides, Connie's a lovely lady, who personally invited me to join her kaffeeklatsche when it was officially over-subscribed with nobody else allowed, so I will champion her cause at every opportunity.

 

[Fried Egg]

Well, indeed, of course all the authors on this list are going to be highly regarded by some; to get on this list at all a book must have bene referred to by at least seven of the 28 lists under consideration. By definition there's not going to be any complete suprises on here. But if you're setting out to make a definitive list of classic SF, I can't think of a better way to go about it.

 

[iansales]

Connie Willis's latest has been getting far from positive reviews and still manages to appear on a couple of shortlists...

 

[Ian Whates]

Connie Willis's latest has been getting far from positive reviews and still manages to appear on a couple of shortlists...

I always worry when a book takes this long to appear. Connie read from All Clear at Worldcon, Glasgow, begging folk not to ask when the book would be out (it was a year overdue then). She introduced the piece by saying, "This is the first chapter... at least, I think it is. That's how bad things are."

That was in 2005. The book eventually appeared in two volumes, All Clear (2010) and Blackout (2011). For a while, I wondered whether Connie and GRRM might be in some sort of competition with each other!

 

[dask]

The top 50 here isn't all that different from the list Baird Searles offers in A READER'S GUIDE TO SCIENCE FICTION. At a rough guess I'd say it's about 95% identical. Searles at least calls his selection "A Suggested Basic Library and/or Reading List in Science Fiction." A wise expression since it has been demonstrated many many times that one man's cup of tea is another man's mouthful of swill.

 

[J-Sun]

The top 50 here isn't all that different from the list Baird Searles offers in A READER'S GUIDE TO SCIENCE FICTION. At a rough guess I'd say it's about 95% identical. Searles at least calls his selection "A Suggested Basic Library and/or Reading List in Science Fiction." A wise expression since it has been demonstrated many many times that one man's cup of tea is another man's mouthful of swill.

I mean nothing by this - I just got curious. I found Baird Searles' list and (with the magic of Unix text processing tools) I come up with the following:

Consensus Only
--------------
Aldiss, Brian                      Hothouse
Benford, Gregory                   Timescape
Bester, Alfred                     Demolished Man, The
Bradbury, Ray                      Fahrenheit 451
Burgess, Anthony                   Clockwork Orange, A
Cherryh, C.J.                      Downbelow Station
Clarke, Arthur C.                  Rendezvous with Rama
Clement, Hal                       Mission of Gravity
Dick, Philip K.                    Do Androids Dream of Electri...
Disch, Thomas                      Camp Concentration
Farmer, Philip Jose                To Your Scattered Bodies Go
Haldeman, Joe                      Forever War, The
Heinlein, Robert A.                Stranger in a Strange Land
Huxley, Aldous                     Brave New World
Keyes, Daniel                      Flowers for Algernon
Le Guin, Ursula K.                 Dispossesed, The
Lem, Stanislaw                     Solaris
Orwell, George                     1984
Pohl, Frederik                     Gateway
Silverberg, Robert                 Dying Inside
Simak, Clifford                    City
Simak, Clifford                    Way Station
Stapledon, Olaf                    Star Maker
Stewart, George R.                 Earth Abides
Van Vogt, A.E.                     Slan
Wells, H.G.                        War of the Worlds, The
Wolfe, Gene                        Book of the New Sun, The
Zamiatin, Yevgeny                  We

Searles Only
------------
Aldiss, Brian                      Long Afternoon of Earth, The
Anderson, Poul                     Tau Zero
Ballard, J.G.                      Vermilion Sands
Clement, Hal                       Needle
Delany, Samuel                     Dhalgren
Dickson, Gordon                    Dorsai !
Disch, Thomas M.                   334
Ellison, Harlan, Ed.               Dangerous Visions
Harrison, M.                       John Centauri Device, The
Heinlein, Robert A.                Citizen of the Galaxy
Hodgson, William Hope              Night Land, The
Kuttner, H., C.L. Moore            Earth's Last Citadel
Kuttner, Henry                     Dark World, The
Leiber, Fritz                      Big Time, The
Lewis, C.S.                        Perelandra Trilogy, The
Lovecraft, H.P.                    At the Mountains of Madness, A
Merritt, A.                        Moon Pool, The
Moorcock, Michael                  Cornelius Chronocles, The
Piper, H. Beam                     Little Fuzzy
Russ, Joanna                       And Chaos Died, A
Smith, Cordwainer                  Nostrilia
Smith, E.E.                        First Lensman
Stapledon, Olaf                    Odd John
Vance, Jack                        Dying Earth, The
Verne, Jules                       From the Earth to the Moon
Weinbaum, Stanley                  Martian Odyssey and Others, A
Wright, S. Fowler                  World Below, The
Wyndham, John                      Midwich Cuckoos, The

Both
----
Asimov, Isaac                      Foundation Trilogy, The
Bester, Alfred                     Stars My Destination, The
Blish, James                       Case of Conscience, A
Bradbury, Ray                      Martian Chronicles, The
Brunner, John                      Stand on Zanzibar
Burroughs, Edgar Rice              Princess of Mars, A
Clarke, Arthur C.                  Childhood's End
Clarke, Arthur C.                  City and the Stars, The
Dick, Philip K.                    Man in the High Castle, The
Heinlein, Robert A.                Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The
Herbert, Frank                     Dune
Le Guin, Ursula K.                 Left Hand of Darkness, The
Miller, Walter M.                  Canticle for Leibowitz, A
Niven, Larry                       Ringworld
Pohl, Frederik, C.M. Kornbluth     Space Merchants, The
Shelley, Mary                      Frankenstein
Stapledon, Olaf                    Last and First Men
Sturgeon, Theodore                 More Than Human
Van Vogt, A.E.                     World of Null-A, The
Wells, H.G.                        Time Machine, The
Williamson, Jack                   Humanoids, The
Zelazny, Roger                     Lord of Light

Interesting cases are when they end up with the same authors but different books (or sometimes the same and different), which can be more easily seen this way:

  1 Aldiss, Brian                    Hothouse
  1 Aldiss, Brian                    Long Afternoon of Earth, The
  1 Anderson, Poul                   Tau Zero
  2 Asimov, Isaac                    Foundation Trilogy, The
  1 Ballard, J.G.                    Vermilion Sands
  1 Benford, Gregory                 Timescape
  1 Bester, Alfred                   Demolished Man, The
  2 Bester, Alfred                   Stars My Destination, The
  2 Blish, James                     Case of Conscience, A
  1 Bradbury, Ray                    Fahrenheit 451
  2 Bradbury, Ray                    Martian Chronicles, The
  2 Brunner, John                    Stand on Zanzibar
  1 Burgess, Anthony                 Clockwork Orange, A
  2 Burroughs, Edgar Rice            Princess of Mars, A
  1 Cherryh, C.J.                    Downbelow Station
  2 Clarke, Arthur C.                Childhood's End
  2 Clarke, Arthur C.                City and the Stars, The
  1 Clarke, Arthur C.                Rendezvous with Rama
  1 Clement, Hal                     Mission of Gravity
  1 Clement, Hal                     Needle
  1 Delany, Samuel                   Dhalgren
  1 Dick, Philip K.                  Do Androids Dream of Electri...
  2 Dick, Philip K.                  Man in the High Castle, The
  1 Dickson, Gordon                  Dorsai !
  1 Disch, Thomas                    Camp Concentration
  1 Disch, Thomas M.                 334
  1 Ellison, Harlan, Ed.             Dangerous Visions
  1 Farmer, Philip Jose              To Your Scattered Bodies Go
  1 Haldeman, Joe                    Forever War, The
  1 Harrison, M.                     John Centauri Device, The
  1 Heinlein, Robert A.              Citizen of the Galaxy
  2 Heinlein, Robert A.              Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The
  1 Heinlein, Robert A.              Stranger in a Strange Land
  2 Herbert, Frank                   Dune
  1 Hodgson, William Hope            Night Land, The
  1 Huxley, Aldous                   Brave New World
  1 Keyes, Daniel                    Flowers for Algernon
  1 Kuttner, H., C.L. Moore          Earth's Last Citadel
  1 Kuttner, Henry                   Dark World, The
  1 Le Guin, Ursula K.               Dispossesed, The
  2 Le Guin, Ursula K.               Left Hand of Darkness, The
  1 Leiber, Fritz                    Big Time, The
  1 Lem, Stanislaw                   Solaris
  1 Lewis, C.S.                      Perelandra Trilogy, The
  1 Lovecraft, H.P.                  At the Mountains of Madness, A
  1 Merritt, A.                      Moon Pool, The
  2 Miller, Walter M.                Canticle for Leibowitz, A
  1 Moorcock, Michael                Cornelius Chronocles, The
  2 Niven, Larry                     Ringworld
  1 Orwell, George                   1984
  1 Piper, H. Beam                   Little Fuzzy
  1 Pohl, Frederik                   Gateway
  2 Pohl, Frederik, C.M. Kornbluth   Space Merchants, The
  1 Russ, Joanna                     And Chaos Died, A
  2 Shelley, Mary                    Frankenstein
  1 Silverberg, Robert               Dying Inside
  1 Simak, Clifford                  City
  1 Simak, Clifford                  Way Station
  1 Smith, Cordwainer                Nostrilia
  1 Smith, E.E.                      First Lensman
  2 Stapledon, Olaf                  Last and First Men
  1 Stapledon, Olaf                  Odd John
  1 Stapledon, Olaf                  Star Maker
  1 Stewart, George R.               Earth Abides
  2 Sturgeon, Theodore               More Than Human
  1 Van Vogt, A.E.                   Slan
  2 Van Vogt, A.E.                   World of Null-A, The
  1 Vance, Jack                      Dying Earth, The
  1 Verne, Jules                     From the Earth to the Moon
  1 Weinbaum, Stanley                Martian Odyssey and Others, A
  2 Wells, H.G.                      Time Machine, The
  1 Wells, H.G.                      War of the Worlds, The
  2 Williamson, Jack                 Humanoids, The
  1 Wolfe, Gene                      Book of the New Sun, The
  1 Wright, S. Fowler                World Below, The
  1 Wyndham, John                    Midwich Cuckoos, The
  1 Zamiatin, Yevgeny                We
  2 Zelazny, Roger                   Lord of Light

Interesting that Searles wasn't included in the consensus list.

Oh, another edit for a late clarification: I'd bet almost all of Searles would be on the full "consensus" list, but was just comparing top 50 to top 50.

 

[J Riff]

All these writers used to appear hither and yon in the mags, which everyone actually read, instead of posting online all the time, so even though one had no, say, Panshein novels handy, one ran into his stories in anthologies or digests.
I guess it's the same today, but looking back from around the time of Neuromancer, SF was already pretty complete. Not done, but full, and all the authors were pretty good. Gets hard to single out a few, Heinlein or anyone, and set them apart on a shortlist.
Maybe 'the list' needs to be considerably longer, in order to include an example of every deserving SF author, before I dunno, 1980ish? and then added to from there w/ best writers of the last thirty years.

 

[dask]

Me want Unix. Now!

 

[Fried Egg]

J-Sun

A minor point Aldiss' "Hothouse" and "Long Afternoon of Earth, The" are actually the same book under different titles.

 

[dask]

True, but according to my 1984 Baen Books edition of HOTHOUSE, the version known as THE LONG AFTERNOON OF EARTH is abridged.

 

[J-Sun]

J-Sun

A minor point Aldiss' "Hothouse" and "Long Afternoon of Earth, The" are actually the same book under different titles.

Ah, thank you - I once knew that, but had forgotten.

True, but according to my 1984 Baen Books edition of HOTHOUSE, the version known as THE LONG AFTERNOON OF EARTH is abridged.

Not sure I knew that, though. Let me guess: Long Afternoon was Ace? Thanks to you both - I'll probably read it some day and may have a better chance of reading the right one.

Oh, I almost forgot:

Me want Unix. Now!

If you can't get a full Unix or Linux/BSD and you're on Windows you can install a VM like VirtualBox or an emulation layer like Cygwin (or I think Microsoft has a 'Services for Unix') or just ported programs like - I think it's called 'GnuWin32' or something like. That'll at least get you tools like awk, sed, grep, comm, and so on, which is what I was using. (Kind of sloppily when I look more closely, but a reasonable approximation.)

'Nother edit: I almost forgot that current 64-bit Windows doesn't run 32-bit apps, IIRC (and I may not) so the GnuWin32 stuff wouldn't work then. Or was it just the 16-bit DOS they'd completely ended support for?

 

[dask]

Not sure I knew that, though. Let me guess: Long Afternoon was Ace?

Not Ace. Signet. Don't like abridgements myself but didn't know about it at the time. So, like King's original version of THE STAND, I liked it enough as it was and don't see reading the longer version any time soon.

 

[BAYLOR]

And what about since 2011?