What is your favorite science-fiction novel?
A recent article on Frank Herbert led us to last year’s Wired readers’ poll for the Best Science-Fiction Novels Of All Time.
The results:
1. Dune by Frank Herbert
2.5 TIE: Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
4. Foundation by Isaac Asimov
5. 1984 by George Orwell
6. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
7. Neuromancer by William Gibson
8. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein
9. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson
10. Ringworld by Larry Niven
No shockers on the list. We think Dune is the greatest science-fiction novel and a great novel, period. If it hadn’t been “tainted” with the science-fiction label it would get a lot more respect than it does today. Although one advantage of being viewed as reading matter for nerds is that if someone mentions Dune it’s usually code for “We have a common language”, especially if the speaker segues into the Bene Gesserit litany against fear. The fact that David Lynch’s film adaptation was regarded as a failure only enhances the book’s reputation: It’s Too Weird, even for David Lynch.
If you have not read Dune, do pick it up. There may be difficulties, but hang on because the payoff is worth all the trouble.
Ender’s Game has been adapted for film, and as its theatrical release approaches there have been calls for a boycott. Its author Orson Scott Card has made virulently anti-gay statements, i.e. “(gay people) cannot be permitted to remain as acceptable, equal citizens within…society.” We don’t judge authors on the basis of their private lives or their personal beliefs, otherwise we’d have no one left to read. But Card is not helping his own case with his odious pronouncements in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s ruling on gay marriage: “Now it will be interesting to see whether the victorious proponents of gay marriage will show tolerance toward those who disagreed with them when the issue was still in dispute.”
On one hand he’s not reversing himself to help the movie’s box-office chances; on the other hand he’s saying, “You have to show me the tolerance I’ve never shown you, because you’re supposed to be the open-minded ones.” Sets our teeth on edge.
Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein has a Filipino protagonist, Juan Rico. When the novel was adapted for film, the protagonist became Casper Van Dien. If that casting decision had been made today, we’d be blogging in outrage. Which Filipino actor would you cast as Johnny Rico?
A book we love that didn’t make it to the top ten or even the longlist: The Separation by Christopher Priest (best-known novel: The Prestige).
Something drew us to the brown cover with no title or author’s name; maybe we could smell the story. We read it that night, straight through in four or five hours—a compelling tale of doubles that keeps leaving the reader off-balance until she learns to see its fictional universe with the correctly skewed perspective. If you see this book anywhere, buy it and read it. And good luck to you because we bought all the copies we could find and forced them on friends.
Ooh, Snow Crash! One of the most fun science-fiction books we’ve ever read. So delightful, we have to read it again. Once Saffy lets go of our copy. We bought it at A Different Bookstore in Glorietta back in the 90s. We miss that place: it was small, but it had a very astute selection, and the staff—especially Tat the manager—made smart recommendations.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
July 16th, 2013 at 11:09
Online hunting for Dune would be such a kill-joy.
There should be an SF story on searching for Dune. When did anyone last see it? Is this one of those books that choose the reader? Do I need to pass some random test? And if I don’t, what do I do to find and own a book? Another test? And the loop continues until I become what but worthy of the book?
July 16th, 2013 at 11:25
Coincidentally, I too am re-reading Dune (I started last Saturday via the Kindle [I would not be able to follow my whims of re-reading books in Marinduque, an island province that does not have a decent book store]) and, borne by this whim, I wanted to watch the montage in the 2003 Children of Dune mini-series wherein the birth of the twins are interspersed with the deaths of conspirators against Paul Atreides’s empire. That has to be the most badass montage ever shot on film. I particularly like the music that plays, sung entirely in Fremen.
July 16th, 2013 at 11:53
Yep, three generations of Mormonism could produce those jaw clenching statements. Ironically a religion that might have been plagiarized from a science fiction manuscript (“Manuscript Story” by Solomon Spalding).
I remember an interview of Stephen Fry talking about Wagner; about his racism/antisemitism in contrast with his musical genius. He goes “He is a pygmy compared to art that he made.”
I do hope that the upcoming film “The Seventh Son” will not be associated with Orson Scott Card’s “Seventh Son”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8Wc3UTv9Wg
And yeah, the seventh son of a seventh son is Prince Caspian.
July 16th, 2013 at 12:22
UVDust: It’s widely available, it’s even in National.
July 16th, 2013 at 14:15
A bit surprised there aren’t any Philip K. Dick’s in Wired’s top ten. My top three would probably be Dune, PKD’s VALIS and Bester’s The Stars My Destination.
July 16th, 2013 at 14:26
I want to like Dune and Ender’s Game a lot, but there’s something about them that stops me. Probably because I hate coming-of-age stories.
I haven’t read 7, 8, or 9 yet, and Snow Crash is the only one I’m sure that I don’t have a copy of.
Was it that edition of Dune that had the typo of Atreides turning into “Streides”?
July 16th, 2013 at 15:43
Cat’s Cradle
July 16th, 2013 at 16:31
Hi there!
I just recently found this blog of yours and Im excited to go over your posts. I would also like to thank you for putting up this list of sci-fi novels as this will serve as my guide in choosing the next books to read. If I may also be so bold to ask – can you do a poll on the best fantasy books?
July 16th, 2013 at 17:01
Thanks, Jessica. Will check again :D
July 16th, 2013 at 22:14
Ejia: Don’t think of Dune as a coming-of-age story. Think of it as drugs and revolution. It was written in the 60s after all. And it has badass nuns and no computers. Computers having been outlawed, there are humans who do the calculations.
July 16th, 2013 at 22:20
noelz: Lots of Dick in the longlist. Might’ve split the vote. We like The Man In The High Castle, which feels like a strange case of deja vu. Happy to see that Alfred Bester is still being read and appreciated.
July 16th, 2013 at 22:47
tepoy: Read these.
1. The Once and Future King by T.H. White (5 volumes)
2. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien (3 volumes)
3. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin (5 volumes, at least 2 more expected)
Fantasy epics tend to be very long so these should keep you occupied for a few months. If you finish early, add
(Optional)
4. Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake (3 volumes)
5. The works of H.P. Lovecraft, esp. At The Mountains of Madness
Probably best to get the e-books, although hefting these will develop the biceps.
July 17th, 2013 at 10:37
Found an interactive version of this flowchart:
http://algonquinsidetable.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/sfsignalnpr100flowchart.jpg
Here:
http://www.sfsignal.com/interactive/npr100.htm
July 17th, 2013 at 17:53
have you watched the new version of the dune movie?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ph3WlNFBIQY
and children of dune
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWzBdUXglo
FYI
July 17th, 2013 at 21:41
I like Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keys, The Chrysalids by John Wyndham, and that classic, The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin. If Le Guin were Pinoy she would’ve said, “Ang arte arte ni Margaret Atwood, ayaw ipaturing na sci-fi ang iba niyang novels: dapat ‘speculative fiction'”:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/aug/29/margaret-atwood-year-of-flood
Atwood’s Blind Assassin contains an avowedly sci-fi novel within a novel within a novel (I think the Man Booker Prize judges took note of the distancing). She also published In Other Worlds, a collection of essays on the genre, and dedicated it to Le Guin.
Aren’t all readers nerds? I’m proud to be a nerd; don’t give a rat’s ass about that ‘taint’ (and the snickers and the sarcastic Vulcan salute in the background).
July 17th, 2013 at 22:19
Slaughterhouse-Five and Slapstick (or Lonesome No More).
The number three is that sci-fi anthology that I read one random afternoon in my high school library. I didn’t get the title because the book had no cover and it had a generic label instead of a title page (something like “Anthology Vol. 6”). I never saw that book again afterwards, and when I ask people or search online nobody seems to have ever read the thing. I may have been dreaming it – but then, for the longest time I thought Gilliam’s Baron Munchausen was something I dreamt about.
July 17th, 2013 at 23:37
Would Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go count?
July 18th, 2013 at 11:54
manokchicken: Yes, but that would be a spoiler.
July 18th, 2013 at 11:57
balqis: What is more annoying: the anti-nerds or bandwagon fake nerds?
You would think the author of The Handmaid’s Tale would be comfortable about the SF label. Since she attends Comic Con and all (as a fan, not a presenter).
July 18th, 2013 at 12:43
Check! But at least she’s taught us how to split hairs more and introduced ‘speculative fiction’ (Spec-Fi?) as a phantom genre. Still love her.
Hmmm… bandwagon fake nerds, though more annoying, just make me laugh. The closest they can get to being nerds is watching The Big Bang Theory and feigning humor (with glazed eyes) at Sheldon’s vocabulary. OTOH, anti-nerds are in awe and fear of US, that’s why they hate us. Hate talaga haha.
July 23rd, 2013 at 19:55
Really love most of the books on the list. Thanks for the pointer to the list.