Some older SF - comments and recommendations

Cafe Society
21

Well, a lot of the ones I’d suggest have already been listed, so this is “in addition to”

Unfortunately, a lot of this stuff is out of print (and considering the quality of a lot of stuff in print, that’s a crime). You may have to find a used book shop (getting rare, those), go to an SF convention, or ordrer from a used-book site on-lime.

Short Stories of the 1950s – Short, and usually with a nasty twist at the end. Rod Serling adapted a lot of these (or got the writers to do it) for The Twilight Zone. Writers are Fredric Brown, Robert Sheckley, Theodore Cogswell, William Tenn, Charles Beaumont, Richard Matheson, and others (Beaument and Matheson actualy did write for TZ) Brown also wrote fabulous mysteries - don’t miss The Fabulous Clipjoint. Of his SF and Fantasy, read Martian, Go Home!, The Lights in the Sky are Stars, and What Mad Universe.

Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are widely cited, but underappreciated. Verne suffers from the fact that his early translators (Lewis Mercier especially) butchered hi work, cutting out up to 1/3 o the book and badly translating the rest (“The disagreeable country of South Dakota” is the translation of what should be “The Badlands of South Dakota”). If you can, read Walter James Miller’s The Annotated 20,000 Leagues Uner the SEa or The Annotated From the Earth to the Moon iller also released his own translation of 20,000 Leagues. A New translation of The Mysterious Island recently cam out, too. Look for his more obscure books, too. Ace released several in paperback in the 1960s. As for Wells, read The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man, The Food of the Gods, and his short stories. If you can find it, The World Set Free features the first description of a nuclear war, with “atomic bombs” dropped from airplanes. Wells wrote this in 1914!
If you can find the series, Ballantine/Del Rey’s The Best of… series is excellent collecting work by obscure authors (Raymond Z. Gallun) and obscure works by well’known authors (Jack Williamson). Williamson, by the way, is almost 100, and has a new book coming out (!) Read his Sinister Barrier, Darker Than You Think, The Humanoids (The new movie “I, Robot” has nothing to do with Asimov’s book, but is virtually a rip-off of “The Humanoids”), and The Legion of Space.

Read Cordwainer Smith! Absolutely uniqe. You can get ost of his stuff by getting The Best of Cordwainer Smith, The Rediscovery of Man (I gues they didn’t want to call it “The Second-Best of Cordwainer Smith”), and Norstrilia from Del REY (Plus Quest o the Three Worlds rom Ace.), or you can get all the stories in one volume plus Norstrilia from NESFA Press.
There’s a lt more, but that’ll hold you for now.

22

“Skylard”?
BWA-HA-HA-HA!!! :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

23

Great Og! it includes Roadside Picnic by Arkady Strugatsky and Boris Strugatsky - the best SF book I’ve read, sadly little known and now seems out of print :frowning:

24

Also, a very general recommendation: Pick up several volumes of Hugo winner stories (the early ones were edited by Asimov). With short story collections, especially those by multiple authors, if you don’t like a story, then it’s easy enough to just skip to the next one. And if you do like a story, then you know to look out for more by that author. I recommend the Hugo winners in particular because, as mentioned, they have a variety of authors, and since they all won the Hugo (the most prestigious award in science fiction), you can trust that they’ll all be good, or at least good representatives of their subgenres. Other award-winner anthologies (the Nebulas, for instance) can also be good, as can anthologies by various editors of “The Best SF of the Year”, but I find that the Hugos are much more reliably good.

25

Dune

26

Read some books in a series, such as Perry Rhodan!!

27

From bottom up, you’ve got 6 of my top 20 books/shorts of all time, in order. My AIM away messages quote from Canticle so heavily that you could probably have pieced the whole of Fiat Homo together over the past two years. Hell, it even managed to be good enough to keep me reading through the first 300 pages of the sequel.

Adding to the list, Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of Justice is pretty much what Voltaire’s “Candide” should have been. It’s pretty much the same story, except interesting, more plausible, and it includes Satan telling us what is & isn’t a girlie drink.

Also, there’s a collection of Heinlein’s Fantasies which came out a few years back. It’s absolutely amazing once, then you know what’s going on in everything. You won’t forget any of it, so that spoils it all forever, though. “The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag” is not that well written, but the conversations on fulfillment connect with me in a way nothing else ever has.

Any collection of Theodore Sturgeon is worth your while, but look for one which includes “A Saucer of Loneliness.” It’s more than most careers produce.

28

Wow - thanks, everyone, for the replies! I’m sorry I didn’t get back to this sooner. Work, you know.

Thank you for the Heinlein recommendations. I have heard friends arguing about whether the man was brilliant or an idiot, which has scared me away. I’ll try some of the earlier stuff.

Lots of controversy about Delaney, eh?

I actually adore Ray Bradbury - I don’t know if I consider him sf, but “Dark They Were and Golden-Eyed” is one of my favorite short stories of all time, so perhaps Delaney is right up my street. Maybe I’ll try some of Delaney’s short fiction first? I have some of those Hugo-Winning anthologies, so maybe I’ll dig through those for short, digestible chunks of Delaney before I launch myself upon Dhalgren, shall I?

I will definitely try some of your other recommendations. I’ve already read Haldeman’s **The Forever War ** (I made my book club read it a few years ago, just for a break from all the freaking Booker Award-winners they kept foisting upon me) and Bester’s The Stars My Destination. I’m not familiar with Cordwainder Smith, Clifford Simak, Blish, and I’ve pretty much skipped the entire cyberpunk phenomenon. I’ll give them a try.

Ooh, and can I say that I’m thrilled to finally know wher **Qagdop’s ** name comes from? I always thought it was Lovecraftian. Huh.

Phillip K. Dick. I read a short story of his that was totally cool. It was about one of those interstellar ships that puts its passengers into some sort of cryonic suspension for the 100+ years of the journey? But one passenger didn’t go to sleep properly, so the ship’s computer had to come up with ways to keep the guy sane for the duration of the trip. It was just a fiendish little story, creepy and sharp and clever. Then I tried a novel, The Man in the High Castle, and was really underwhelmed. Maybe the idea of alternate history was fresher when he wrote it? Because in this century, novels about what would the world be like if the Germans had won World War II are kind of done. Although it’s entirely possible that I completely missed Dick’s point. Anyway, are any of his novels as wickedly clever as that short story?

29

My two bits on the matter – for pedigree I’ve read about half the books on that list of bests, though I’m much more pleased by the required reading list in Searles et al’s A Reader’s Guide To Science Fiction from… uh… 1979. I tend towards harder SF with interesting characters. Since you’re educating yourself about big names, you really should hit the divine trinity of the Golden Age of SF: Heinlein, Clarke, Asimov. (I feel happy with all this controversy that I’ve never read Delany. :slight_smile: )

I’m quite personally fond of Heinlein’s Between Planets and Tunnel In The Sky among his juveniles, though personally I’ve reread Number of the Beast, Tune Enough For Love, and To Sail Beyond The Sunset more than almost any other science fiction books. All three are classic Heinlein, and all three contain wonderfully independent and self-actualized female characters, though with Heinlein’s characteristic… um… appetites.

Clarke is the second of the trinity, and Childhood’s End is a true classic of the genre and a must-read. Rendezvous with Rama and The City and the Stars are both excellent reads, with legacies to modern science fiction writers such as Greg Bear’s Eon.

Then there’s Asimov, and you unfortunately picked one of the worst starting places in the Asimov canon. Asimov doesn’t date very well, and his prose particularly in Foundation is workmanlike at best. I’d recommend Asimov’s Robots series and collections of short stories (particularly including the classic Nightfall), and think that he wrote far better in the short story format.

Since you like Pohl, I’m going to strongly recommend Sturgeon, and More Than Human (derivative of Olaf Stapledon’s Odd John) is good to see if you like his style. It gets a bit psychedelic at times, rather reflective of the social conditions in which it was written. If you like this, you’ll like some aspects of Bester’s The Stars My Destination. Sturgeon and Farmer also have ways of getting into the character’s heads in similar ways to Pohl’s.

I definitely second someone’s recommendation of Cordwainer Smith, and though I love some of his short stories like The Burning of the Brain, the novel to start with Smith is the classic Norstrilia, especially if you have a weakness for brave beautiful empowered feline heroines. I also strongly third the votes for Bester’s The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man, which have aged in some ways much better than much of the other SF of the 50’s and 60’s.

Since I’m adding in opinion, I like Saberhagen’s fantasy (e.g. the Swords novels) much more than his rather Borg-ian Berserker science fiction. As far as more modern authors go, I’d strongly recommend Niven (Ringworld, The Mote In God’s Eye, Protector), Gibson (Neuromancer and the stories in Burning Chrome), Bear (Blood Music and Eon), Julian May’s the Many Colored Land series (though it’s bordering on fantasy), Effinger (When Gravity Fails and sequels), and a personal odd-duck favorite, Charles Sheffield (The Nimrod Hunt, Sight of Proteus, Cold As Ice, Between The Strokes of Night to name a few).

Happy Reading, and let us know what you find and enjoy!!!

30

Oh, yes, Clark. He was one of the ones I read back in high school and have sort of forgotten. I read Childhood’s End, Rendezvous with Rama, and 2001. I liked them very much (especially Rama), but I really don’t remember them all that well. I plan to reread. (I believe I have already been sufficiently warned away from **Rama’s ** sequels; I once witnessed an ex-boyfriend literally fling one of them across the room and into a wall.)

I also read **Dune ** as a teen and didn’t care for it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard any other sf fan admit as much. Thanks for that, dropzone! As I recall, I liked the idea that people from harsh climates make the best warriors; but I didn’t think that idea wasn’t really enough to fill out the whole book. IMO, as always. Unsatisfyingly, I don’t remember the book well enough to debate this point, so those of you who violently disagree are going to have to argue with each other. Sorry about that.

31

Hey, Richard and Dorothy quit smoking, and added a few pounds. “Blackie” DuQuesne makes some killer Macadamia nut brownies, you know!

Smith actually wrote “Skylark of Space” in 1919. It just didn’t get published for nearly another decade. Pretty impressive stuff that has held up fairly well.

BTW, I read 75 of the books on the link that Glassy posted.

Lots of great suggestions, bringing back wonderful memories, in this thread!

32

OK, the rest of your post seemed to make a lot of sense, but I just cannot grok this one line. I read it when it first came out, and very nearly never read any more new Heinlein after that. Not until a reviewer I trusted told me that Friday was Heinlein writing “back in control again, sort of”.

33

Unfortunately, his stories don’t match his absolutely fabulous titles.

34

(embarassing admission) The last time I tried I got two pages in because I kept rolling each perfectly chosen and placed word around in my head. I’ll check out those Verne translations. While Michael Crichton puts to the lie the assumption that there has to be something of value in what what an author writes because he sold so many copies, I’ll give Verne another chance on your recommendation.

35

I’m pretty sure the name of that story is “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon.”

High Castle was the first alternate history novel written about an alternate WWII outcome (or at least the first one published in such a large quantity; the scenario was probably thought up by some people right after the war), and one of the first alt-history novels period, so I think it is a little overrated because of that. Though I do think the novel is about more than the alternate timeline; there’s the whole part at the end where Mr. Tagomi glimpses the real world, our world (or is it?), and Juliana learns the truth about the world from Abendsen. It’s not my favorite PKD novel, but I do think it’s better than most alt-history. It really shouldn’t have been #4 on this list though.

I don’t think any of the novels have the same “feel” as the short stories, just because it’s hard to have the same “punch” in a novel because they’re much longer. However, I’d recommend starting out with Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? because it’s fairly well-written (the quality of Dick’s work was often sporadic) and isn’t as obtuse as a lot of his other novels. It’s the first Dick novel I read, and it’s the one that made me want to seek out more of his work. I don’t know if I’d be as smitten with him if I’d read High Castle first, probably not. Dr. Bloodmoney is also a book that a lot of PKD newcomers seem to enjoy. I’d hold off on reading Three Stigmata or Valis, at least until you’re used to his style. Those two definitely have to be read though, I can see why they’re on the list. I’d have probably swapped High Castle with Androids or possibly A Scanner Darkly if I were writing that list.

The short stories are almost all good and you really can’t go wrong with a collection of them. They’re published in a complete five-volume set; there’s also shorter compilations out there.

P.S. I didn’t like Dune either.

36

This is too good to pass up.

First and foremost: I tried to read Dune twice. Horibly too slow. I feel that if I try it again, it will be because I am doing it just to get on the band wagon.

And It took me about 60 or so pages to realize that there was a glosary in the back. (I was in 9th grade at the time) Imagine my parents look when I asked them ((Not Sci-Fi fans in the least)) what a “Gene-Bessit” was. :dubious:

Also, my first attempt to read it was cut short. One of my Highschool Teachers told
me (Durring a study hall period) that I could not read a book durring the period, if it was’nt assigned to me to read from another teacher. ((And to think I almost asked another teacher to indeed assign it, just to shut her up!))

I tired Neuromancer twice as well. I can’t get passed the concept that Chase is “using” … I mean I have to know what before I continue. Nails on a blackboard for me to continue past that. I gave up.

I KNEW Ender’s Game HAD to be on the list. I mean you can not deny this classic. Its required reading in Elementary schools to Millitary Brigades. I have read all of the full length novels from the “Enderverse” and have yet to complete First Meetings/Enderverse. Card has made this series the best storyline to come to life for me, over all of the books I have read. Speaker for the Dead and Xenocide while not ““true”” sequels, Also have concepts that, if were true, would shake the world imensely. And could possibly already be in action.

I can’t wait for the Movie. www.frescopix.com
And IMDB has an entry on it as well.

Snowcrash. Wow. Talk about having your mind stretched to limits, and not having them return to the previous state. I will think that anyone who has read this, and have seen / read the connection to Memes on this concept Knows how truly ““alive”” this book is. Am I the only one who can see this as a Mini-Series, Using “The Matrix” for the Metaverse? (Not only the virtual world when users are goggled in, but using the ((Matrix terminology escapes me at the moment)) chairs in the neb instead of actual “goggles”?

I hate to come off as being overly picky. But Hitchikers Guide also joins my collection of “Started, haven’t and probably won’t finish” books. For me, its faster than Dune or Neuro, but its still missing something. Then again, when I first heard the title, I thought it was more of a Schott’s Miscellanies than a novel
http://www.miscellanies.info/pages/original/sari.html

I was surprised that L’engle didnt make this cut. But, as I understand Flatland, and from the title The Man who Folded Himself seem to cover Tesseracts and the like. So i feel what this covers was covered else where.

Perhaps Cyberpunk has more than its fair share in this list, but Otherland is missing. Then again, Most of you will simply state Otherland is Snowcarsh and LOTR all in one plot er pot. (Doesn’t help when one of the main characters mentions Tolkien in a crucial conversation).

I am suprised that 20,000 Leagues Jekyl and Hyde and Frankenstein are on this list. These seem to me to be closer to Fantasy. With the Redwalls and Wheels of Times in the world.

Ayn Rand isn’t on the list. Then again, **Atlas Shrugged ** is another book I abandoned. As I told my cousin :

"I stopped reading after the main character saw that ‘calendar in the sky’ "

“But thats like the second page!!”

“I know, how do you think I felt about it?”

But I think that some Rand should be on the list. Just because of its popularity. The lister could have hated Shrugged as much as I did, but, Good SF is all relative.

I Robot is on the list. I still feel duped, thinking that this book was a Novel. After Robbie, I abandoned it, I want a novel, not novel ideas.

I also stopped reading The Hobit again on the notion it was too slow. I mention this only because I mentioin LOTR earlier.

Lastly, I guess some books arent good for college students to read (In terms of time constraints for asignments) and my speed of events dont mesh well with a lot of SF. Oh, and Im sure ADHD doesnt help either.

37

On the contrary! ADHD is just the right condition for reading. Normals can force themselves past the second page of an Ayn Rand but why? It won’t get any better. You saw the handwriting on the wall and the calendar in the sky right away and went on to a better use of your time, which could be just about anything.

38

I absolutely love Zelazny’s “Lord Of Light.” However, I have found that it is one of those books that you have to read more than once to fully get.

39

I’d like to second the recommendations for picking up collections of Hugo and Nebula Award winning short stories. You’ll get such classics as “Arena,” “The Cold Equations,” and “Flowers for Algernon.” You’ll also get exposed to a lot of other seminal works in the genre, since short fiction can influence larger works without being mentioned or expaned upon in those later works. Personally, I believe that anyone who’s not read “The Cold Equations” is not yet a knowledgable SF reader.

40

All the Nebula Award volumes and more, along with links.

And don’t forget this incredible volume at the bottom of that page:
Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume I: The Greatest Science Fiction Stories of All Time, Chosen by the Members of the Science Fiction Writers of America, edited by Robert Silverberg.

It says “out of print” on the Amazon page that comes up when you click that link, but in fact it’s just been reprinted in paperback and is available from Amazon in the new edition.