chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach) (01/23/86)
> I have dabbled in sf for a considerable time but am no super-fan. I am, > however, responsible for my 15 year old son's education and have been > feeding him the classics, as known to me, in paperback. By "the classics" > I have in mind those works which have been tested by time and which should > form the basis for continued reading. For example, in mainstream literature > the classics might be Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, etc. I'd like to recommend a couple of personal 'classic' favorites: Dante's _Inferno/Purgatorio/Paradisio_ and Cervantes' _Don Quixote_. If he's plowed through Milton (ugh) then he'll love Dante... > So far I have covered Niven's known space and started on Foundation. There > have been a couple of hard core Heinleins (inc. SST). Oh, yes, he's read > Dune. Just recently we were given the first three of Farmer's World of > Tiers - new to me - a classic? > My question is: What else qualifies? I guess I am not looking for just > authors names, but key works from important authors. More Heinlein? which? > Doc Smith? really? Arthur Clarke? Which? Who else? First stop should be Gene Wolfe and his New Sun series starting with _Shadow of the Torturer_. Early Niven, but none of the collaborations (except maybe _Flying Sorcerors_ for comedy relief). Heinlein juveniles (_Have Spacesuit, Will Travel_ and _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_). _Time Enough For Love_ and its companions are very important works as a turning point in SF, but can also be quite frustrating. Foundation is overrated and doesn't age well. I'd also suggest Ray Bradbury (_Martian Chronicles_), Harlan Ellison (_Deathbird Stories_ is representative), Kurt Vonnegut (_Cat's Cradle_), A.C. Clarke (_Childhood's End_). you should read Wells (_War of the Worlds_) and Verne (_20,000 leagues Under the Sea_). Doc Smith (Lensman Series), Piper (fuzzy Series, among others), and Marion Zimmer Bradley (I recommend _Mists of Avalon_ but her Darkover series is also a classical continuing saga). The best overview of classical short fiction is _Adventures in Time and Space_, a giant anthology of short SF. Ellison's _Dangerious Visions_ and _Again, Dangerous Visions_ captures the New Wave of 60's and 70's SF. So does Robert Silverberg (_Dying Inside_) and John Brunner (_Shockwave Rider_). There are classics in the making, important to understand 70's and 80's SF. Spider Robinson (_Callahan's Crosstime Saloon_, _Stardance_), George R.R. Martin (_Dying of the Light_) and John Varley (_Millenium_ and _Persistence of Vision_). chuq -- :From catacombs of Castle Tarot: Chuq Von Rospach sun!chuq@decwrl.DEC.COM {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc,pyramid}!sun!chuq It's not looking, it's heat seeking.
chris@ico.UUCP (01/24/86)
Doc Smith Yes! The Lensman series is the best exposition of the galactic viewpoint that i've seen. Also good is anything by James H. Schmitz. His "The Witches Of Karres" and "Agent of Vega" are particularly enjoyable. QX chris Chris Kostanick hao!ico!chris "On the whole, i'd rather be near Arcturus"
robertsl@stolaf.UUCP (Laurence C. Roberts) (01/24/86)
Must-read, classic SF? I'd have to second or third the recommendation for Gene Wolfe's _Book_of_the_New_Sun_ Tetralogy. Other stuff: Thomas Disch's _Camp_Concentration_, which is about the nature of intelligence. Some biting satirical SF would be good to read, like Pohl & Kornbluth's _Space_Merchants_, which is aboutadvertising and marketing. I also think there's merit in books by Somtow Sucharitkul (_Light_on_ _the_Sound_) and Norman Spinrad (_The_Last_Hurrah_of_the_Golden_Horde_). Did anyone mention Walter Miller's _A_Canticle_For_Leibowitz_? That's mandatory post-nuclear-war stuff.
jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) (01/26/86)
> My question is: What else qualifies? I guess I am not looking for just > authors names, but key works from important authors. More Heinlein? which? > Doc Smith? really? Arthur Clarke? Which? Who else? For Heinlein, try Double Star, the Star Beast, Starship Troopers, and the Moon is a Harsh Mistress. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman will remind you of Starship Troopers. For a different view of Doc Smith style space opera, try The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber (or most anything else by Fritz Leiber, for that matter). Poul Anderson's Flandry series is sort of space opera as politics. For Arthur Clarke, try The City and the Stars. There's a book by Tanith Lee on the same idea (the title escapes me). In Clarke's Childhood's end you will find better treatments of many of the ideas of 2001. One of his inspirations was probably Last and First Men, by Olaf Stapeldon. There are many others: More than Human by Theodore Sturgeon, The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin, Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ, Nova and Dalghren by Samuel R. Delany, etc. But I don't remember how old you said your son was.... -- John Quarterman, UUCP: {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo}!ut-sally!im4u!jsq ARPA Internet and CSNET: jsq@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, jsq@sally.UTEXAS.EDU
frankr@inmet.UUCP (01/29/86)
Classic science fiction? I bet you get *tons* of replies. My list of classic novels: o Heinlein - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Stranger In A Strange Land, Beyond This Horizon o Sturgeon - More Than Human, The Synthetic Man o Zelazny - Lord of Light, This Immortal o Simak - Waystation, City o Brunner - Stand On Zanzibar o Bester - The Demolished Man, The Burning Man o Herbert - Dune o Disch - Camp Concentration o Delany - Nova o Panshin - Rite Of Passage o Farmer - To All Your Scattered Bodies Go o Leiber - Conjure Wife o LeGuin - Left Hand Of Darkness o Pohl - Gateway, The Space Merchants o Wells - The Time Machine, The War Of The Worlds o Verne - Mysterious Island o Niven - Ringworld (Talk about self fulfilling prophecies! :-)
li@uw-vlsi.ARPA (Phyllis Li) (01/29/86)
Dick Jackson wrote asking about sf classics, and after having been bounced three different ways... A truly classical SF author no one has mentioned yet is C.L. Moore, probably one of the first writers in the genre that went more into what machines, space travel, communication with extraterrestrials and techincal advances did to People than just the joy of playing with the technical awesomeness. Most of the authors mentioned have some part of this; but C.L. Moore and her metallic lady and Northwest Smith stories have stayed with me when Heinlein faded into lectures, when Doc Smith went into space battles, and Niven built a basis for worlds for pages of mechanical pages. The collections *The Best of C.L. Moore* and *Northwest Smith* I think are still avalible, and should be included in any collection of "classics". Liralen Li -- A closed mouth gathers no foot. USENET: ihnp4!akgua!sb6!fluke!uw-vlsi!li ARPA: li@uw-vlsi.arpa
guy@slu70.UUCP (Guy M. Smith) (01/29/86)
In article <732@im4u.UUCP>, jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) writes: > > For Arthur Clarke, try The City and the Stars. Wasn't this by James Blish. I'm thinking of the series about the Okie cities. It's worth reading in any case. Another favorite of mine is "City" written by (I think) Clifford Simak.
mpm@hpfcla.UUCP (02/01/86)
Re: Classic science-fiction
I recommend some Edgar Rice Burroughs, namely "Tarzan of the Apes"
and the "Venus" books. There is adventure here, and a subtle touch of
class. Jules Verne wrote some fun tales also, notably "Journey to the
Center of the Earth". Warning: the language of these works is, ob-
viously, dated.
Also I highly recommend some reading by the "big name" female S-F
writers. Anne McCaffrey's Pern books, especially "Dragonquest" and
"Dragonflight", "Dragonsong", offer sensitive character portrayal
along with well-designed cultural venues. I second the votes for books
by Marion Zimmer Bradley.
I also suggest some reading of books by Poul Anderson, Gordon Dick-
son, and Keith Laumer. The latter two especially write novels with
strong central characters who often begin as relatively unnoteworthy in
the story but demonstrate their true metal later on. Go for the Dorsai
books by Dickson. No single book by Laumer stands out for me but there
are some good adventure tales here with, again, excellent character dev-
elopment. Laumer deals with the psyche of his protagonists more than
most authors. As for Anderson, I recommend "Tau Zero", or the Flandry
books. Poul does tend to use an uncommonly large vocabulary. (I keep
a dictionary handy.)
My personal favorite is Jack Vance. His strong point is developing
a very rich culture and setting for his stories. He even goes so far as
to put footnotes in some of his novels. Try the Planet of Adventure
series: Servants of the Wankh; City of the Chasch; The Dirdir; The Pnume.
Or read "Showboat World" which takes place on the same world as "Big
Planet". An excellent single novel is "Maske: Thaery". (You may have
some trouble finding these.
Despite all the moaning and groaning about Heinlein's pontificating
in his recent works, I recommend him. (But not "Number of the Beast".)
With "Glory Road", "Stranger in a Strange Land", "Time Enough for Love",
and "I Will Fear No Evil", he has taken some risks to introduce sex in
a "mainstream" S-F novel. He also seems willing to accept that love can
show itself in ways other than those approved by the Moral Majority.
The Doc Savage books by Kenneth Robeson are adventure stories (with
simplistic characters and plots) that are on a par with the Doc Smith
books. They may be two-dimensional, but they are FUN.
An excellent book that seems little known of late is Daniel Galouye's
"A Scourge of Screamers". It offers a novel plot: one based on the as-
sumption that we are all functioning at a "low" level of mental ability
because of a "field" that the Earth has been within for thousands of years.
What happens when our solar system moves into "free space" and our neurons
go crazy?
There are some classics by Andre Norton that first appeared in the
1950s and 1960s. I recommend the Time Agent books (Galactic Derelict,
Key Out of Time, etc.), and some others like "Star Gate", "Moon of Three
Rings", and "The X Factor", and especially the early Witch World books
(Witch World, Warlock of the Witch World). These stem from her "science-
fiction" period. In the last ten years, Ms. Norton has shifted to writing
mostly fantasy.
I could go on and on.
-- From the land of high mountains (Colorado)
Mike McCarthy
(ihnp4,hplabs)!hpfcla!mpm
Mjsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) (02/02/86)
In article <143@slu70.UUCP> guy@slu70.UUCP (Guy M. Smith) writes: >In article <732@im4u.UUCP>, jsq@im4u.UUCP (John Quarterman) writes: >> >> For Arthur Clarke, try The City and the Stars. >Wasn't this by James Blish. I'm thinking of the series about the Okie >cities. It's worth reading in any case. No. The Blish series is called Cities in Flight. I've read it several times. I still remember the First Freedom: the Freedom to Hate. Hardly the best freedom, but it made me think, at least. The City and the Stars is about something else altogether. And something different than most Clarke stories. Which is why it is so good. If you want something like most Clarke stories which is still good, try the short story ``The Nine Billion Names of God''. >Another favorite of mine is "City" written by (I think) Clifford Simak. Yes. It was Simak. I never particularly cared for it (talking dogs appeal to me no more than talking cats). However, he recently (within five years) wrote what I consider absolutely the best story about immortality ever penned. I don't remember the title ("Ancient of Days"?) but it was about a man who had survived for something like ten thousand years and how he managed it. The methods were not those of Lazarus Long (which character I like for other reasons). The second best story abouut immortality is the novel by Poul Anderson about (albeit indirectly) Mary O'Meara. I can never remember the title. I can never forget the story. Does anyone remember Cordwainer Smith? If not, you should.... And Jack Vance. And of course Gene Wolfe. People have extolled the virtues of The Book of the New Sun (deservedly) but does no one remember The Fifth Head of Cerberus? As far as classics, if ``The Ugly Chickens'' by Howard Waldrop doesn't make it into any book of Classics of 80s SF, it's a shame. -- John Quarterman, UUCP: {gatech,harvard,ihnp4,pyramid,seismo}!ut-sally!im4u!jsq ARPA Internet and CSNET: jsq@im4u.UTEXAS.EDU, jsq@sally.UTEXAS.EDU
rcb@rti-sel.UUCP (02/03/86)
In article <8100032@inmet.UUCP> frankr@inmet.UUCP writes: > o Heinlein - The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Stranger In A Strange Land, > Beyond This Horizon > o Sturgeon - More Than Human, The Synthetic Man > o Zelazny - Lord of Light, This Immortal > o Simak - Waystation, City > o Brunner - Stand On Zanzibar > o Bester - The Demolished Man, The Burning Man > o Herbert - Dune Only the first book > o Disch - Camp Concentration > o Delany - Nova > o Panshin - Rite Of Passage > o Farmer - To All Your Scattered Bodies Go > o Leiber - Conjure Wife > o LeGuin - Left Hand Of Darkness > o Pohl - Gateway, The Space Merchants > o Wells - The Time Machine, The War Of The Worlds > o Verne - Mysterious Island > o Niven - Ringworld + Asimov - The Foundation Trilogy (maybe foundations edge for compleatness) + Bradbury - The Martian Chronicles + Clarke - 2001: A Space Oddessy (sp?) (Prepare to be confused) + Heinlein - The Past Through Tomorrow + Schmidt - Wayfarer + Hogan - The Genesis Machine, The Two Faces of Tomorrow (?) + Anderson - Any "Polesotechnic League" story -- Random (Randy Buckland) Research Triangle Institute ...!mcnc!rti-sel!rcb