# The 200th anniversary of science fiction\* **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 17, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361 "2018-05-17T18:53:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/1 "2018-05-17T18:53:05Z")
\*That is if you consider Frankenstein the first science fiction novel. \*Kind of late. Frankenstein was published on January 1st. So what’s your favorite SF novel? I’d have a hard time picking. The Rama novels & the Giants of Ganymede are some of the most interesting. Kevin Anderson’s Commonwealth novels are really good as well. ---
**Author:** ![MHaas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@MHaas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MHaas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/2 "2018-05-17T19:02:14Z")
It may be a kind of boring, stock answer, but for me it has to be _Dune_. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/3 "2018-05-17T19:04:16Z")
Single favorite, read it more often than any other is hands-down Heinlein’s _The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress._ ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mr.Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Bill)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/4 "2018-05-17T19:16:42Z")
Startide Rising by David Brin. Underdog humans and dolphin allies in a galaxy filled with some truly original aliens. The whole Uplift Universe series is good, but Startide Rising is the best. ---
**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:** [May 17, 2018, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/5 "2018-05-17T19:23:31Z")
Hard to pick one. _The Stars My Destination_? _The Left Hand of Darkness_? _Fluke; or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings_? _Dhalgren_? _The Book of the New Sun_? _Replay_? _Gravity’s Rainbow_? I guess I’ll go with the one that changed my life: _Titan_ by John Varley. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/6 "2018-05-17T19:30:49Z")
> [@MHaas](#): > > It may be a kind of boring, stock answer, but for me it has to be _Dune_. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/7 "2018-05-17T19:38:14Z")
FWIW, \*\*\*Somnium \*\*\*was published in 1634. > **[Somnium (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(novel))** > > Somnium (Latin for "The Dream") — full title: Somnium, seu opus posthumum De astronomia lunari — is a novel written in Latin in 1608 by Johannes Kepler. It was first published in 1634 by Kepler's son, Ludwig Kepler, several years after the death of his father. In the narrative, an Icelandic boy and his witch mother learn of an island named Levania (the Moon) from a daemon. Somnium presents a detailed imaginative description of how the Earth might look when viewed from the Moon, and is considered ... ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/8 "2018-05-17T19:45:39Z")
Very difficult decision indeed but I think I’ll go with HG Wells’ The Time Machine, if only for its enormous influence on SF. And I wouldn’t dream of considering Frankenstein the first SF work, You’d have to discount works like Lucian (2nd century AD) Voyage to the Moon and Voltaire’s 18th century novella Micromégas about an alien from a planet orbiting Sirius who at the age of 450 (just finishing his infancy) travels to Earth, first stopping off at Saturn to enjoy a conversation with a Saturnian Academician. If these books aren’t SF then I don’t know what they are, and of course there are many more pre-Shelley. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/9 "2018-05-17T19:47:55Z")
I spent my entire Middle School years reading Sci-Fi. What was my favorite? Short stories. (Ha! Dodged the question.) If only I could make money by having strangers (or Alex Trebek?) naming a story and my identifying which anthology it was in: “_I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,_ Harlan Ellison. Tenth story in **World’s Best Science Fiction of 1968**!” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/10 "2018-05-17T19:52:12Z")
HG Wells’ _ **War of the Worlds** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/11 "2018-05-17T19:53:38Z")
> [@digs](#): > > “_I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,_ Harlan Ellison. Tenth story in **World’s Best Science Fiction of 1968**!” Sorry, you forgot to phrase it in the form of a question. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/12 "2018-05-17T20:41:28Z")
> [@Mr.Bill](#): > > Startide Rising by David Brin. > > Underdog humans and dolphin allies in a galaxy filled with some truly original aliens. > > The whole Uplift Universe series is good, but Startide Rising is the best. Agree with all of this, except not sure that they are the “best.” > [@RealityChuck](#): > > Hard to pick one. _The Stars My Destination_? _The Left Hand of Darkness_? _Fluke; or I Know Why the Winged Whale Sings_? _Dhalgren_? _The Book of the New Sun_? _Replay_? _Gravity’s Rainbow_? > > I guess I’ll go with the one that changed my life: _Titan_ by John Varley. I’ve read most of these and agree that they are very good. Curious in what way Titan changed your life? ---
**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:** [May 17, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/13 "2018-05-17T21:15:14Z")
I’ll have to second the vote for _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. But where science fiction really shines is the short story, not the novel. My nomination for the best science fiction short would be Niven’s “Inconstant Moon”. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/14 "2018-05-17T21:19:05Z")
Robert Heinlein. Either **The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress** or **The Rolling Stone**. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/15 "2018-05-17T21:27:51Z")
Lois McMaster Bujold. Either _A Civil Campaign_ or _Diplomatic Immunity_ ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/16 "2018-05-17T22:12:02Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > FWIW, \*\*\*Somnium \*\*\*was published in 1634. > > [Somnium (novel) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(novel)) Fixed link: [Somnium (novel) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somnium_(novel)) That’s fantasy, not science as magicians and demons are involved. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/17 "2018-05-17T22:24:47Z")
> [@digs](#): > > If only I could make money by having strangers (or Alex Trebek?) naming a story and my identifying which anthology it was in: > “_I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,_ Harlan Ellison. Tenth story in **World’s Best Science Fiction of 1968**!” Me, too! > [@Chronos](#): > > I’ll have to second the vote for _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. > > But where science fiction really shines is the short story, not the novel. My nomination for the best science fiction short would be Niven’s “Inconstant Moon”. Good choices both. For short story however, I’d go for “Fondly Fahrenheit” by Alfred Bester. As for novel, I think it varies for me day by day. Some days it might be “Double Star” or MiaHM, while other days it could be Pohl’s Jem or Varley’s The Golden Globe ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/18 "2018-05-17T22:30:30Z")
If we’re choosing between well-known classics, I’d be wavering between _The Disposessed_, _A Fire Upon the Deep_ or _Stand On Zanzibar_ But I think for my absolute favourite I have to go with an obscure entry: Nancy Kress’s [An Alien Light](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/632667.An_Alien_Light) which is a great character-driven book about the process of discovering that Science is a thing, and trying to bring it into a traditional/medieval society that can’t even process the idea of Sciencing, or why it might be good. Favourite SF **series** : Julian May’s [saga of the Pliocene Exiles](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378639.The_Many_Coloured_Land) - great Space Opera hovering just the right side of the Fantasy line ETA: Short Story entry - [Built Up Logically](https://www.librarything.com/work/4176486) by Howard Schoenfeld. Does that count as SF? It’s kinda weird - which is of course the best thing about it ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/19 "2018-05-17T22:31:59Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Favourite SF **series** : Julian May’s [saga of the Pliocene Exiles](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378639.The_Many_Coloured_Land) - great Space Opera hovering just the right side of the Fantasy line Great books! I read them several times (and was just talking about Aiken Drum with **Dendarii Dame** today) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2018, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361/20 "2018-05-17T22:39:56Z")
> [@furryman](#): > > \*That is if you consider Frankenstein the first science fiction novel. > \*Kind of late. Frankenstein was published on January 1st. Whether _Frankenstein_ is the first science fiction novel depends upon whether utopian literature can be classified as science fiction (in which case, the science would be _social_ rather than life or physical). If so, the strongest argument would be for Plato’s _Republic_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-200th-anniversary-of-science-fiction/814361.md?page=2)