# Who is the greatest science fiction writer of all time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 22, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586 "2010-11-22T21:50:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/121 "2010-11-24T03:26:39Z")
I know he doesn’t stack up with the others but he at least deserves a mention. Kurt Vonnegut. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/122 "2010-11-24T05:31:01Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > So, on to the real topic of the thread, the winner should be **Jack Vance**. Vance has written almost fifty science fiction novels in addition to scores of short stories and many fantasy and mystery novels. Every single one of his works that I’ve read is excellent, and I’ve read at least twenty. Fundamentally he succeeds because he remembers that a good story must be centered on plot and characters. His main characters are always three-dimensional ones that one can grow attached to. His plots are always surprising. While they are adventure science fiction novels, they avoid nearly all genre cliches. In particular, Vance never allows his heroes to succeed by muscular strength or superior firepower or by inventing a new technological gizmo to solve their problems. Instead, they get caught up in complicated situations and have to win out by tenacity, intelligence, and grit. I don’t believe there is any better author alive right now writing in English in any genre. You know, I have tried to read Vance several times, and I just don’t like him, and I don’t understand why. I guess … and I don’t mean this disparagingly, though it might come off that way to some … that Vance’s stories read like the logs of a very gifted roleplayer, the characters of Fafner and the Grey Mouser for example, being two RP characters moving through an imaginary world, but somehow, there’s a sense that … you’d have to BE there, to be the one roleplaying … to really enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/123 "2010-11-24T05:39:09Z")
> [@that\_darn\_cat](#): > > Kilgore Trout Cordwainer Bird was twice the writer Trout was. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/124 "2010-11-24T05:50:07Z")
> [@Evil\_Captor](#): > > You know, I have tried to read Vance several times, and I just don’t like him, and I don’t understand why. I guess … and I don’t mean this disparagingly, though it might come off that way to some … that Vance’s stories read like the logs of a very gifted roleplayer, the characters of Fafner and the Grey Mouser for example, being two RP characters moving through an imaginary world, but somehow, there’s a sense that … you’d have to BE there, to be the one roleplaying … to really enjoy it. Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were by Leiber, not Vance. Of course, both of those writers were channeling James Branch Cabell. And in that respect, the “distancing” is deliberate; part of the motif is that the characters _are_ playing roles. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/125 "2010-11-24T06:14:54Z")
[Here’s](http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19Vance-t.html)a fascinating article on Vance from the New York Times; they basically call him an unappreciated literary genius. ---
**Author:** ![Sevastopol](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Sevastopol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sevastopol)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/126 "2010-11-24T09:38:37Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser were by Leiber, not Vance. > … Leiber’s good too. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/127 "2010-11-24T11:39:32Z")
I will always have **Edgar Rice Burroughs** on my list. ---
**Author:** ![Scubaqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@Scubaqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scubaqueen)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/128 "2010-11-24T13:45:07Z")
Boys, boys, boys. No love for the ladies of sci fi? Three women have been named Grand Master of science fiction by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: Andre Norton (1984) Ursula K. Le Guin (2003) (to your credit, she has been mentioned upthread) Anne McCaffrey (2005) ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/129 "2010-11-24T15:34:35Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > The original _Dune_ was the single greatest science fiction novel I have ever read, by leaps, bounds, and light years. I’m going to have to vote for Frank Herbert. Agree on Dune, but Heinlein has written so many great novels (and some drivel, granted) that he would be my first choice. Asimov second. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/130 "2010-11-24T15:39:45Z")
Stephen King’s science fiction is equal to his other types to writing–when he hits the mark, it is a bull’s eye; i.e., [The Jaunt](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jaunt) ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/131 "2010-11-24T16:16:14Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > _The characters is Robert Heinlein’s novels do not behave like real human beings_. Period. Basically almost everything he wrote is a lecture on how life would be better if (a) we stopped feeling guilty about sex and just had sex with whoever we wanted whenever we wanted (b) we trimmed the size of government to almost nothing, or (c) men all adopted strict military standards for conduct and thought. Now for all three of these things fail for obvious reasons that any adult should know. Heinlein doesn’t deal with any of those obvious reasons. He simply writes works of fiction in which human nature is so completely unlike the real thing that his bad ideas can all work perfectly. Strongly disagree. Most of the people (male and female) closest to me would be right at home in a Heinlein novel. His strength is that he nails human nature…or at least the better parts thereof. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/132 "2010-11-24T18:07:34Z")
Jack Vance. I believe I have prevailed ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/133 "2010-11-24T18:17:28Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > Boys, boys, boys. No love for the ladies of sci fi? > > Three women have been named Grand Master of science fiction by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: > > Andre Norton (1984) > Ursula K. Le Guin (2003) (to your credit, she has been mentioned upthread) > Anne McCaffrey (2005) I believe in my post nominating Asimov I went into some detail about how good Andre Norton’s SF was, when she was writing it. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/134 "2010-11-24T18:36:14Z")
> [@](#): > > Boys, boys, boys. No love for the ladies of sci fi? > > Three women have been named Grand Master of science fiction by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: > … > Anne McCaffrey (2005) Write a story about reptilian creatures called dragons on an alien planet? Sure, that’s science fiction. They can fly, carry riders, and breath fire? OK, that’s stretching it. They’re also telepathic and have the innate ability to teleport? I believe the word you’re looking for is “fantasy”. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/135 "2010-11-24T19:26:13Z")
Those dragons can travel through time, too. I know that McCaffrey considers her Pern series to be SF, but almost all of the elements in her books just scream fantasy to me. Yeah, the people on Pern came from Earth originally in spaceships, and the dragons were genetically engineered, but the society and memes on Pern are just about pure fantasy. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/136 "2010-11-24T19:45:43Z")
Whatever; the line between “fantasy” and “science fiction” is largely artificial, anyway. It’s certainly more important to fans than it is to the actual writers, seeing as so many of the greatest regularly wandered between, and combined, the two subgenres. As George R.R. Martin (whose “science fiction” is good enough to put him in this thread, by the way) once said, it’s all just stories. Science fantasy, magic fantasy, horror fantasy - six of one, half a dozen of the other, 2X3 of the third. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/137 "2010-11-24T19:48:08Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I probably haven’t read it. I quit reading the Callahan’s series a while back. I only picked up the one from the library because I was in a hurry, it was there, and I thought that my tastes or his writing had changed. I didn’t read any Callahan’s books at all after the bar got nuked.Figured that was supposed to be a good place for the series to end. If Robinson felt he had to resurrect the concept to give him a method of going back to the well, that’s just another reason he doesn’t belong onn the ballot when the poll gets posted. _Has_ the poll been posted, btw? ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/138 "2010-11-24T20:03:57Z")
> [@that\_darn\_cat](#): > > Kilgore Trout > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Cordwainer Bird was twice the writer Trout was. Jim Theis. I win! ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/139 "2010-11-24T20:54:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Whatever; the line between “fantasy” and “science fiction” is largely artificial, anyway. It’s certainly more important to fans than it is to the actual writers, seeing as so many of the greatest regularly wandered between, and combined, the two subgenres. As George R.R. Martin (whose “science fiction” is good enough to put him in this thread, by the way) once said, it’s all just stories. Science fantasy, magic fantasy, horror fantasy - six of one, half a dozen of the other, 2X3 of the third. And most of the fans read and enjoy both, too. They’re still not the same genre, though they’re clearly akin. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586/140 "2010-11-24T20:55:47Z")
> [@Scubaqueen](#): > > Boys, boys, boys. No love for the ladies of sci fi? > > Three women have been named Grand Master of science fiction by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America: > > Andre Norton (1984) > Ursula K. Le Guin (2003) (to your credit, she has been mentioned upthread) > Anne McCaffrey (2005) But no Zenna Henderson? \ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-is-the-greatest-science-fiction-writer-of-all-time/561586.md?page=8)