What Are Yours? A friend of mine recently asked me what I would consider my favorite science fiction novels. What science fiction novels would I recommend for a library to introduce new readers to the classic works that built the genre, and the historically significant works that put modern science fiction into context?
“Out of the Silent Planet” by C.S.Lewis is great. But “Lord of the World” by Robert Hugh Benson (a priest) is unbelievable! He wrote in 1907 before WWI and response to HG Wells, but he is astoundingly prophetic of our present one world government/religion. Once read you can never “unsee” this.
Isaac Asimov, in his "Annotated Gulliver's Travels" (1735), suggests that Part 3, Chapter 3 may be the first sci-fi in modern terms. A floating city maintained by magnetism is described using the science of the day.
Hans! Thanks so much for including Vin Suprynowicz’s “The Miskatonic Manuscript” in this post. In looking it up, I found that it was the second in a two-book series, the first being “The Testament of James.” I purchased both and read Testament first. It was excellent, and I am just now starting Miskatonic.
Question: Do you happen to know where Vin is today? Miskatonic was published back around 2015 or so, and he doesn’t appear to have continued the series. An internet search for him shows his blog posts ending in August of 2022.
Additional recommendations for new inclusions to your list would be “The Weapon Shops of Isher” by AE Van Vogt and “Little Fuzzy” by H. Beam Piper.
I don't know. I'm disappointed he hasn't written more. You could also check out Black Arrow. It's an excellent (if violent) libertarian vigilante thriller.
Hans...just FYI, Vin’s “The Black Arrow” safely arrived in my mailbox this morning. I located a new, signed, limited edition copy, and, to my utter delight, it was sold to me by the man himself!
Nice early history of the genre. Wonderful to be living at the end of the short two hundred years when the novel literary form was developed. Reflecting the flourishing of individual freedom, scientific progress, and mechanical-electrical invention.
I would include Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," depicting a being created/assembled in a laboratory rather than by mythical gods. The theme of Prometheus is with us today in warnings against general purpose artificial intelligence. Note that the "new man" yearned for social interaction, but was rejected due to appearance, leading to resentment and monstrous actions. Was Dr. Frankenstein the true monster for rejecting responsibility for his actions?
Tarzan may not have had the first superpower, but he was the first superhero, I believe. The noble savage, with abilities and character developed outside the influences of civilization. Today's readers should note that as late as the 1940s many areas of the world were still unexplored by Western Civilization. The series depicts both Europeans and Africans with good and bad characters. Wonderfully involved stories of my teens.
I regret not including Frankenstein - that is a truly classic novel and is reasonably characterized as science fiction. Tarzan is great, but when you compare it to Princess of Mars, it's tough to enlarge the definition of "science fiction" to include it.
One more general comment: an expert on the history of old stories (some centuries old) that hint at the possibilities of the future sci-fi genre is Amy H. Sturgis. She had put together a very long series called "Looking Back at Genre History" for the StarShipSofa podcast. Anyone who wants to get deep into the weeds of proto-science fiction should look her up.
Verne suffers *a lot* in translation (particularly since most of his translators don't understand his vocabulary). The Naval Institute Press (!) published a new translation by Walter James Miller and Frederick Paul Walter that is far, far better than other translations I've seen.
I will also add that a lot of Poe's journalism kept track of the latest trends in technology. If he had been alive today he would have written for Wired or one of those. He would have been a complete master of the internet, blogging and tweeting up a storm.
I'm already pushing the boundary of "science fiction" by including adventure stories like King Solomon's Mines. I can see a case for having included Poe, though, and he certainly had a lot of influence.
You could add Edgar Allan Poe to this list. He influenced genre fiction beyond horror (he invented the detective story) and anticipated science fiction.
His story "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" is unquestionably an example of early sci-fi. The account, intended by Poe as a hoax, describes a journey from the earth to the moon via hot air balloon. Yes, there's a *lot* of implausibility for the modern reader to get past, but Poe was sufficiently sophisticated to know that the balloon would have to flip over mid-flight as the moon's gravity took over. That's a pretty impressive level of thought, if you ask me.
In "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", Poe looks at mesmerism and the boundary between life and death. Mesmerism would have been considered cutting-edge science at the time. Like so much early sci-fi, this story has no concepts of the boundaries of genre and freely mixes spiritual and supernatural elements we would consider fantasy or horror today. This story also has a hoax element, intended or otherwise, since many readers could not tell if it were fact or fiction.
Thanks for this summary. I've added a couple of your modern recommendations to my reading list.
I liked Wells. Verne never really appealed to me. I liked Tarzan more than Barsoom. But my favourite writer when I was a teenager in the '70s was Clarke. I loved Childhood's End. Rendezvous with Rama is also a favourite. And The City and the Stars. Asimov's Foundation and robot stories. The Hugo and Nebula compilations of short stories influenced what I expect out of science fiction. Dune. I have a sense of being impressed by Robert Silverberg, although I can't say I remember any one novel in particular, although there was something with super-tall apartment buildings?
I just finished reading The World Inside based on a conversation at Twitter. (I can't find who it was who recommended it; Hans, was it you?) I'll put my reactions on Twitter soon but short version is that I found it very unsavory although, yes, it does rather come down on the side of being against cramming 800,000 people into a 3-kilometer tall apartment block. ;-)
Going forward through the silver age/1960s: Andre Norton, Corwainer Smith, Jack Vance, Pournelle, Poul Anderso and James H. Schmitz for both influence and readability.
Gordon Dickson is a mixed bag (the Dorsaii got seriously stupid) as is Heinlein but their influence is yuuge and even their worst books are readable (if one has to skim bits that get tedious). I have some feminist SF that is influential (Tiptree, et al. but I wouldn't want to have to read more than one)
Must have great books of dubious influence: Zenna Henderson, The Last Unicorn*, Lewis' Space Trilogy, The Matthew Looney books, Sylvia Engdahl, and the Tripod Trilogy, Madeline L'Engle, and the Retief books.
Short story collections. I used to buy them and still have many I re-read. Asimov's, Schmitz, Smith, McCaffrey, Dickinson, C.M. Kornbluth, Henderson... All rereadable to this day. The only short story writer that has the consistent craftsmanship, quality, and voice today is Wright. Another who is close is Sarah Hoyt. What happened to the craft?
*Not sure how much fantasy counts going forward past the founding spec fic writers. I'd argue against it. A separate list I think.
It's a challenge drawing a line between science fiction and fantasy, particularly in the early years of the genre in which there was so much overlap. My feeling is that Baum is more on the fantasy side. E.E. Doc Smith was already on my list.
Agreed. Though Oz is interesting from an SFnal perspective since it was written (like War of the Worlds) before the invention of aeroplanes. Oz is Unplottable and a deadly desert is enough to prevent explorers fi ding it.
“Out of the Silent Planet” by C.S.Lewis is great. But “Lord of the World” by Robert Hugh Benson (a priest) is unbelievable! He wrote in 1907 before WWI and response to HG Wells, but he is astoundingly prophetic of our present one world government/religion. Once read you can never “unsee” this.
Isaac Asimov, in his "Annotated Gulliver's Travels" (1735), suggests that Part 3, Chapter 3 may be the first sci-fi in modern terms. A floating city maintained by magnetism is described using the science of the day.
Hans! Thanks so much for including Vin Suprynowicz’s “The Miskatonic Manuscript” in this post. In looking it up, I found that it was the second in a two-book series, the first being “The Testament of James.” I purchased both and read Testament first. It was excellent, and I am just now starting Miskatonic.
Question: Do you happen to know where Vin is today? Miskatonic was published back around 2015 or so, and he doesn’t appear to have continued the series. An internet search for him shows his blog posts ending in August of 2022.
Additional recommendations for new inclusions to your list would be “The Weapon Shops of Isher” by AE Van Vogt and “Little Fuzzy” by H. Beam Piper.
Thanks again for your excellent list.
I don't know. I'm disappointed he hasn't written more. You could also check out Black Arrow. It's an excellent (if violent) libertarian vigilante thriller.
https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&cm_sp=SearchF-_-home-_-Results&ref_=search_f_hp&tn=Black%20Arrow&an=Vin%20Suprynowicz
Hans...just FYI, Vin’s “The Black Arrow” safely arrived in my mailbox this morning. I located a new, signed, limited edition copy, and, to my utter delight, it was sold to me by the man himself!
Ah, thank you. Good to know it’s excellent as well. I’ll take a look. All best to you...and now to do a deep dive into the Based Book Sale! 🚀
Nice early history of the genre. Wonderful to be living at the end of the short two hundred years when the novel literary form was developed. Reflecting the flourishing of individual freedom, scientific progress, and mechanical-electrical invention.
I would include Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein," depicting a being created/assembled in a laboratory rather than by mythical gods. The theme of Prometheus is with us today in warnings against general purpose artificial intelligence. Note that the "new man" yearned for social interaction, but was rejected due to appearance, leading to resentment and monstrous actions. Was Dr. Frankenstein the true monster for rejecting responsibility for his actions?
Tarzan may not have had the first superpower, but he was the first superhero, I believe. The noble savage, with abilities and character developed outside the influences of civilization. Today's readers should note that as late as the 1940s many areas of the world were still unexplored by Western Civilization. The series depicts both Europeans and Africans with good and bad characters. Wonderfully involved stories of my teens.
I regret not including Frankenstein - that is a truly classic novel and is reasonably characterized as science fiction. Tarzan is great, but when you compare it to Princess of Mars, it's tough to enlarge the definition of "science fiction" to include it.
Heh, yeah, gotta draw the line somewhere.
One more general comment: an expert on the history of old stories (some centuries old) that hint at the possibilities of the future sci-fi genre is Amy H. Sturgis. She had put together a very long series called "Looking Back at Genre History" for the StarShipSofa podcast. Anyone who wants to get deep into the weeds of proto-science fiction should look her up.
Verne suffers *a lot* in translation (particularly since most of his translators don't understand his vocabulary). The Naval Institute Press (!) published a new translation by Walter James Miller and Frederick Paul Walter that is far, far better than other translations I've seen.
Great insight. Thanks for sharing. I tracked it down, here: https://amzn.to/3DZ7XyL
I will also add that a lot of Poe's journalism kept track of the latest trends in technology. If he had been alive today he would have written for Wired or one of those. He would have been a complete master of the internet, blogging and tweeting up a storm.
I'm already pushing the boundary of "science fiction" by including adventure stories like King Solomon's Mines. I can see a case for having included Poe, though, and he certainly had a lot of influence.
You could add Edgar Allan Poe to this list. He influenced genre fiction beyond horror (he invented the detective story) and anticipated science fiction.
His story "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" is unquestionably an example of early sci-fi. The account, intended by Poe as a hoax, describes a journey from the earth to the moon via hot air balloon. Yes, there's a *lot* of implausibility for the modern reader to get past, but Poe was sufficiently sophisticated to know that the balloon would have to flip over mid-flight as the moon's gravity took over. That's a pretty impressive level of thought, if you ask me.
In "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar", Poe looks at mesmerism and the boundary between life and death. Mesmerism would have been considered cutting-edge science at the time. Like so much early sci-fi, this story has no concepts of the boundaries of genre and freely mixes spiritual and supernatural elements we would consider fantasy or horror today. This story also has a hoax element, intended or otherwise, since many readers could not tell if it were fact or fiction.
Thanks for this summary. I've added a couple of your modern recommendations to my reading list.
I liked Wells. Verne never really appealed to me. I liked Tarzan more than Barsoom. But my favourite writer when I was a teenager in the '70s was Clarke. I loved Childhood's End. Rendezvous with Rama is also a favourite. And The City and the Stars. Asimov's Foundation and robot stories. The Hugo and Nebula compilations of short stories influenced what I expect out of science fiction. Dune. I have a sense of being impressed by Robert Silverberg, although I can't say I remember any one novel in particular, although there was something with super-tall apartment buildings?
The World Inside (https://amzn.to/3KLlmP3) by Robert Silverberg. It's been years since I read it, but I recall it having a strong pro-freedom message.
I just finished reading The World Inside based on a conversation at Twitter. (I can't find who it was who recommended it; Hans, was it you?) I'll put my reactions on Twitter soon but short version is that I found it very unsavory although, yes, it does rather come down on the side of being against cramming 800,000 people into a 3-kilometer tall apartment block. ;-)
Missed: Frank L. Baum
Coming up fast: E.E. Doc Smith and Van Vogt.
Going forward through the silver age/1960s: Andre Norton, Corwainer Smith, Jack Vance, Pournelle, Poul Anderso and James H. Schmitz for both influence and readability.
Gordon Dickson is a mixed bag (the Dorsaii got seriously stupid) as is Heinlein but their influence is yuuge and even their worst books are readable (if one has to skim bits that get tedious). I have some feminist SF that is influential (Tiptree, et al. but I wouldn't want to have to read more than one)
Must have great books of dubious influence: Zenna Henderson, The Last Unicorn*, Lewis' Space Trilogy, The Matthew Looney books, Sylvia Engdahl, and the Tripod Trilogy, Madeline L'Engle, and the Retief books.
Short story collections. I used to buy them and still have many I re-read. Asimov's, Schmitz, Smith, McCaffrey, Dickinson, C.M. Kornbluth, Henderson... All rereadable to this day. The only short story writer that has the consistent craftsmanship, quality, and voice today is Wright. Another who is close is Sarah Hoyt. What happened to the craft?
*Not sure how much fantasy counts going forward past the founding spec fic writers. I'd argue against it. A separate list I think.
It's a challenge drawing a line between science fiction and fantasy, particularly in the early years of the genre in which there was so much overlap. My feeling is that Baum is more on the fantasy side. E.E. Doc Smith was already on my list.
Hope to have time to comment more, later.
Agreed. Though Oz is interesting from an SFnal perspective since it was written (like War of the Worlds) before the invention of aeroplanes. Oz is Unplottable and a deadly desert is enough to prevent explorers fi ding it.