# SF sub-genres-Definitive stories and newer examples **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443 "2020-08-18T22:29:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/1 "2020-08-18T22:29:50Z")
Just like this. Alien invasion: “War of the Worlds”-H.G. Wells. “Footfall”-Niven and Pournelle ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/2 "2020-08-18T22:46:14Z")
Ultra-far future: Definitive: Jack Vance’s “Dying Earth” stories. Newer example: Gen Wolfe’s “Book of the New Sun”. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/3 "2020-08-18T22:50:19Z")
Time Travel: _The Man Who Folded Himself_ by David Gerrold ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/4 "2020-08-18T22:52:43Z")
Military SF: Definitive: Heinlein’s “Starship Troopers”. Newer: Pierce Brown’s “Red Rising”. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/5 "2020-08-18T23:08:16Z")
Funny, that’s the very one I was thinking of as the newer example of time travel, with Wells’ “Time Machine” as the definitive. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/6 "2020-08-18T23:15:10Z")
Wells’ The Time Machine was one of the first, but I don’t think I would call it definitive. There’s no whiff of the paradoces, genies, or other self-referential loops that make time travel distinctively what it is. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/7 "2020-08-19T00:43:15Z")
Point taken. And amusing user name/post content combo! ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/8 "2020-08-19T00:44:39Z")
“A Sound of Thunder” then? ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/9 "2020-08-19T01:30:52Z")
" By His Bootstraps" and " ‘—All You Zombies—’ " might be the definitive ones for time travel involving paradoxes. Both by Robert A. Heinlein ---
**Author:** ![epbrown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@epbrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/10 "2020-08-19T04:20:23Z")
Cyberpunk: Neuromancer. The tough category would be Dystopian, since there are a gazillion types (AI, EMP, EE, post-invasion, post-pandemic, post-Rapture, all the political types, it goes on and on.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/11 "2020-08-19T15:09:17Z")
I’d have to say that the definitive dystopia would have to be either 1984 or Brave New World. Post-apoc isn’t really the same thing as dystopia. (though you could make a claim that those are the newer examples, and that the original was Plato’s Republic) ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/12 "2020-08-19T17:08:52Z")
Robots, AI: Definitive: _I, Robot_ by Isaac Asimov Newer: _Ancillary Justice_ by Ann Leckie Large numbers of SF books today contain AIs. I mentioned Ann Leckie because she put an interesting and innovative twist on the idea. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/13 "2020-08-19T17:17:29Z")
Galactic Empire. Definitive: _Dune_ Newer: _Warhammer 40,000_ ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/14 "2020-08-19T17:25:02Z")
Stranded astronaut. Definitive: Enemy Mine. Newer: The Martian. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/15 "2020-08-19T20:02:15Z")
Post-Apocalypse. Definitive: _By the Waters of Babylon_, by Stephen Vincent Benét Newer: the Mad Max movies. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/16 "2020-08-19T23:14:11Z")
Alternate History: Definitive: Bring the Jubilee, by Ward Moore. Newer: Resurrection Day: Brandon Dubois ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/17 "2020-08-20T09:05:41Z")
Post apocalyptic, “Alas Babylon” by Pat Frank “One Second After” by William R. Forstchen ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/18 "2020-08-20T14:57:25Z")
The definitive newer post-apocalyptic has _got_ to be the only trilogy in which every single book won the Hugo: [NK Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy](https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/articles/n-k-jemisin-broken-earth-trilogy-books-in-order/). It’s truly a singular achievement. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/19 "2020-08-20T17:01:49Z")
Totalitarian state that controls people through force and fear. Definitive: 1984 Newer: The Hunger Games Totalitarian state that controls people through decadence and debauchery. Definitive: Brave New World Newer: Logan’s Run ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443/20 "2020-08-22T13:28:33Z")
Science fiction mystery/whodunit Definitive: _The Caves of Steel_ (Isaac Asimov) Newer: _Illegal Alien_ (Robert J. Sawyer) (anybody got a better and/or more recent example?) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sf-sub-genres-definitive-stories-and-newer-examples/918443.md?page=2)