Greatest literary science fiction story of all time - nominations

[Lagom Lite]

So over in the Dune thread we've had a bit of a discussion about what is read-worthy and not - and as I've been on a bit of a science fiction binge lately I'd like to learn more about what the OO hivemind thinks are science fiction stories worth reading. Enter this thread, where you may nominate any science fiction story you've read and enjoyed, and would like to nominate for consideration (I'll create another thread in the not-so-distant future with vote options).

The rules for nominations:
- It must be a written story. Short stories, novels, or sagas can all be nominated. A Star Trek novel can be nominated, a Star Trek movie can not.
- It must deal with the future of humanity from the perspective of when it was written. Orwell's "Nineteen eighty-four" can be nominated as it was written in 1948. Star Wars novels can not be nominated as they take place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".
- It doesn't have to be your favorite book ever, but it needs to be something you enjoyed and you wished others would read.
- Include title, author and why you think it's great.

I'd like to kick off by nominating a few books myself that I've really enjoyed, off the top of my head:

Nineteen eighty-four by George Orwell
Chilling treatise on an extreme auhoritarian, totalitarian, tyrannical state created by the power-mad.

The Three-Body Problem trilogy by Cixin Liu
Aliens are indeed out there - they're just in hiding, waiting to pounce on those foolish enough to signal their presence.

The Dune saga by Frank Herbert
Evolution of mankind, the danger of charismatic leaders, explores what a good government is and how religion plays a role.

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
Possibly the darkest science fiction story ever put to paper. A homicidal AI is torturing what is left of mankind for all eternity.

The Foundation saga by Isaac Asimov
Grand scale rise and fall of galactic empires.

[Archinerd]

I'll add;

The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
Hyperion - Dan Simmons

[hepcat]

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Stranger in a Strange Land - Robert A. Heinlein

The Martian Chronicles - Ray Bradbury

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

Dandelion Wine - Ray Bradbury

Ah screw it, this is easier - Anything written by Ray Bradbury

[Holman]

Octavia Butler: Parable of the Talents & Lilith's Brood
Visionary social-SF / Fascinating biopunk SF

Samuel Delaney: Dhalgren & Stars in my Pocket Like Grains of Sand & "Aye, and Gomorrah"
Delaney was one of the first to bring ideas about language and identity into SF. Still eye-opening.

William Gibson: Neuromancer
Made cyberpunk a thing.

Ken Macleod: Cosmonaut Keep
It's actually possible to do political science-fiction that isn't warmed-over Libertarianism.

Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Mars
Techno-future-history with a human face.

Norman Spinrad: The Void Captain's Tale
A polyglot text that presents SF's only orgasm-driven FTL system.

Paul Park: Celestis
Underappreciated SF scenario about colonialism itself.

[Archinerd]

Slaughterhouse Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Great book... but does this count per Lagom's arbitrary rules of nomination?

[Jaymann]

The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
The Player of Games - Iain M. Banks

Edited to add:

To Your Scattered Bodies Go - Philip Jose Farmer
Great enough just for the premise: Every human who has ever existed is reincarnated on Riverworld. Then there's genius of how he pulls it off.

[hepcat]

Sorry, I overlooked the "must deal with the future of humanity". I was just posting a knee jerk collection based off "greatest literary science fiction story of all time".

"Anything written by Ray Bradbury" still applies, though. Pound for pound, I put him even above Asimov.

[dbt1949]

The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt.
Or anything else by him.
Same for Poul Anderson.

[Lagom Lite]

"Anything written by Ray Bradbury" still applies, though. Pound for pound, I put him even above Asimov.

Great tip. I should really read Ray Bradbury, I never have!

[TheMix]

The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt.
Or anything else by him.
Same for Poul Anderson.

I didn't realize anyone else was an A. E. van Vogt fan. I've got a bunch of his books. There were one or two that fell a bit flat, but mostly I've really enjoyed every one that I've read.

I have so many sci-fi books that I've enjoyed. For now I'll just say, it's hard to go wrong with any that win a Nebula and a Hugo.

[stessier]

Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Mars

I read this trilogy and found some enjoyment, but there was just too much on how to setup political systems. It's not that I disagreed with the political stances - it was just too many pages devoted to the topic.

Would The Expanse qualify? If so - The Expanse.

[coopasonic]

- Include title, author and why you think it's great.

It seems everyone is missing that third point. because Ray Bradbury is acceptable. The rest of you are slacking!

just so don't get kicked out of the thread
Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card - Card may be problematic, but the story is one of my favorites for reasons that I guess would still be considered spoilers even though it was totally predictable. It was still a pleasure beginning to end.

[hepcat]

"Anything written by Ray Bradbury" still applies, though. Pound for pound, I put him even above Asimov.

Great tip. I should really read Ray Bradbury, I never have!

One of the things I loved about Bradbury was his effortless ability to jump between genres. He wrote horror, science fiction and drama with equal ease.

because Ray Bradbury is acceptable.

The length and breadth of his career in writing makes him far more than acceptable, I daresay. He was truly one of the greats that I would put up against anyone mentioned so far.

[Daehawk]

I'll just toss out the one I always do.

Armor - John Steakley
WIKI

[Jeff V]

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
Possibly the darkest science fiction story ever put to paper. A homicidal AI is torturing what is left of mankind for all eternity.

I've always found the butterfly over where the mouth would be a curious cover for that book. But the other day, listening to an otherwise unremarkable morning radio show, during their 5 random facts segment, they mention that in adult form, the Luna Moth lives no more than 2 weeks -- it dies of starvation because...it has no mouth. Ah ha! It wasn't a butterfly afterall!

I like your list. To it, I would add Lucifer's Hammer by Jerry Pournelle and Larry Niven, a very plausible insight into the breakdown of civilization after the earth gets partially whacked by a meteor (or was it a comet? So long ago...).

Also by Larry Niven, Ringworld and Ringworld Engineers. One of the Ivy league universities submitted a proof to Niven that a Ringworld is physically unstable, hence Ringworld Engineers, where the characters of the first attend to a crisis to correct a stability issue by figuring out technology from the long-lost creators of the thing. Subsequent Ringworld books do not apply.

Riverworld by Philip Jose Farmer (the whole series) is also a favorite. Lots of historical characters in a rapture-type scenario.. Dead people find themselves resurrected in an idyllic world with everything provided to them, but then Mark Twain and other recalcitrants get curious as to how and why and proceed to investigate further and expose the would-be god.

A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. More for it's cultural legacy than in excellence of prose.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne. Because one of the founders of the genre deserves a place on this list. For the same reason, Edgar Rice Burroughs deserves to be on list, perhaps one of his Barsoom books? I don't recall having read them though.

[Malificent]

I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream by Harlan Ellison
Possibly the darkest science fiction story ever put to paper. A homicidal AI is torturing what is left of mankind for all eternity.

Not a recommendation for the list, but related to this:

https://www.filfre.net/2021/10/i-have-n ... st-scream/

The Digital Antiquarian's recounting of how the I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream video game came to be. If you've never read his stuff before, he does great long form blogging on the history of video games.

[hitbyambulance]

"Anything written by Ray Bradbury" still applies, though. Pound for pound, I put him even above Asimov.

Great tip. I should really read Ray Bradbury, I never have!

One of the things I loved about Bradbury was his effortless ability to jump between genres. He wrote horror, science fiction and drama with equal ease.

because Ray Bradbury is acceptable.

The length and breadth of his career in writing makes him far more than acceptable, I daresay. He was truly one of the greats that I would put up against anyone mentioned so far.

no disagreement on Bradbury's writing (one of the greatest contemporary American short-story authors, in my opinion) but a stickler looking for a lot of the traditional 'SF' elements could be disappointed. he is definitely a 'fantasy' author with a heavy emphasis on the human side of his ideas.

[AWS260]

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller - The best post-apocalyptic story I've ever read. It's about faith and knowledge and the faults and cruelties of humankind, in a narrative that spans centuries.

[hepcat]

no disagreement on Bradbury's writing (one of the greatest contemporary American short-story authors, in my opinion) but a stickler looking for a lot of the traditional 'SF' elements could be disappointed. he is definitely a 'fantasy' author with a heavy emphasis on the human side of his ideas.

Science Fiction isn’t merely stories about technology written as if they’re culled from past issues of Popular Mechanics.

There’s a reason The New York Times once wrote that Bradbury was “the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream."

Although he did hate being categorized as a science fiction author…or any genre author (even “fantasy”), to be fair.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller - The best post-apocalyptic story I've ever read. It's about faith and knowledge and the faults and cruelties of humankind, in a narrative that spans centuries.

Ooh, good call. Love that book.

[Alefroth]

I don't know about greatest, but an important look at the near future of humanity:

Stand on Zanzibar- John Brunner

[Skinypupy]

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. A treatise on the perils of a planet caught in a planned demolition to make way for a hyperspace bypass, and the suffering inflicted thereon by Vogon Constructor Fleets. And the nature of life as told by falling whales and bowls of petunias.

It has the added bonus of being the funniest book ever written.

[hitbyambulance]

no disagreement on Bradbury's writing (one of the greatest contemporary American short-story authors, in my opinion) but a stickler looking for a lot of the traditional 'SF' elements could be disappointed. he is definitely a 'fantasy' author with a heavy emphasis on the human side of his ideas.

Science Fiction isn’t merely stories about technology written as if they’re culled from past issues of Popular Mechanics.

There’s a reason The New York Times once wrote that Bradbury was “the writer most responsible for bringing modern science fiction into the literary mainstream."

Although he did hate being categorized as a science fiction author…or any genre author (even “fantasy”), to be fair.

again this is from a 'stickler' point of view (have no desire to go into the 'what is' and 'what is not' SF debate - but i will say Star Wars IS NOT)

[hepcat]

See, I would say Star Wars IS science fiction. At least the setting is.

[Daehawk]

Ill also add.....

Star Wars Thrawn Trilogy - Timothy Zahn
WIKI


Really loved this 3 book series back in the day. Still own them. Think in hardback..been a while.

[Pyperkub]

Are we going "literary"? Because some of the entries, while of supreme importance to SF, I wouldn't consider "literary"...

[Lassr]

I really loved Battlefield:Earth by L. Ron Hubbard. (NOT THE MOVIE!) Gawd, what a travesty. But the book is fantastic.
And his 10 volume Mission Earth series is satirical SciFI that I really enjoyed.

As for Star Trek, Probe by Margaret W. Bonanno is one of my favs.

[Blackhawk]

Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. A treatise on the perils of a planet caught in a planned demolition to make way for a hyperspace bypass, and the suffering inflicted thereon by Vogon Constructor Fleets. And the nature of life as told by falling whales and bowls of petunias.

It has the added bonus of being the funniest book ever written.

The only book in this discussion that I've enjoyed, and I've read a number of them. Science Fiction can be an incredibly stuffy genre. There seems to be this attitude that if it isn't primarily a deep look into human nature/politics/philosophy it isn't real sci-fi. Pfft.

See, I would say Star Wars IS science fiction. At least the setting is.

I agree. And if Star Wars isn't because it's set in the past or in a different galaxy, doesn't that also disqualify any and all sci-fi that doesn't specify when and where it takes place?

[TheMix]

I'll just toss out the one I always do.

Armor - John Steakley

One of my favorites. Not sure it would count as dealing with "the future of humanity", though.

[TheMix]

Science Fiction
Science Fantasy
Hard Science Fiction

Just categories that I personally use. Others are bound to have their own categorizations. Which is why I generally stay out of discussions like this. "Greatest"? "Literary?" "Science Fiction"? Wow.

Ask me for recommendations for fun, easy to read science fiction... or some hard science fiction that makes you want to reach for Google... or action... or thought provoking... favorites that I've reread more than once... ones that I'm really glad I read, but won't ever wade through again... In the garage I have lots of paperbacks, and probably half are some sort of science/technological/future fiction (vs obvious fantasy).

Recommendations? Sure. Nominations? Pass.

[Holman]

I do like the "literary" qualifier, which I take to mean "SF where the writing is as strong as the ideas." My posted suggestions earlier in the thread assume this.

I assume this is part of what Lagom Lite was after.

[coopasonic]

I do like the "literary" qualifier, which I take to mean "SF where the writing is as strong as the ideas."

I know at least one of us and likely more than one are not remotely equipped to make that assessment with any authority.

[hepcat]

Is anyone?

[hitbyambulance]

See, I would say Star Wars IS science fiction. At least the setting is.

I agree. And if Star Wars isn't because it's set in the past or in a different galaxy, doesn't that also disqualify any and all sci-fi that doesn't specify when and where it takes place?

the argument is (roughly) that all that setting stuff is just kinda there. there's no basis for it (and definitely never explained), the sort of things that are just there, because 'wouldn't that be cool'. a 'fantasy', if you will.

[hitbyambulance]

I'll just toss out the one I always do.

Armor - John Steakley

One of my favorites. Not sure it would count as dealing with "the future of humanity", though.

i don't abandon many books, but out of the four in the last decade where i thought, around a third of the way through, 'this is total garbage' and consciously quit - this was one of them.

[Chraolic]

the argument is (roughly) that all that setting stuff is just kinda there. there's no basis for it (and definitely never explained), the sort of things that are just there, because 'wouldn't that be cool'. a 'fantasy', if you will.

Yeah, I can see it both ways. While it does have awesome spaceships and laser weapons, it's really a story about a farmboy who meets a wizard and goes off to rescue a princess so I'm not entirely clear on where the science part enters into it.

[Scuzz]

Kim Stanley Robinson: Red Mars

I read this trilogy and found some enjoyment, but there was just too much on how to setup political systems. It's not that I disagreed with the political stances - it was just too many pages devoted to the topic.

Would The Expanse qualify? If so - The Expanse.

I enjoyed RedMars but the other two not so much.

[Blackhawk]

See, I would say Star Wars IS science fiction. At least the setting is.

I agree. And if Star Wars isn't because it's set in the past or in a different galaxy, doesn't that also disqualify any and all sci-fi that doesn't specify when and where it takes place?

the argument is (roughly) that all that setting stuff is just kinda there. there's no basis for it (and definitely never explained), the sort of things that are just there, because 'wouldn't that be cool'. a 'fantasy', if you will.

Hurph, yeah - I'm accidentally overlapping arguments here. I missed a comment earlier and was actually referring to the statement that, "Star Wars novels can not be nominated as they take place "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".

And yes, they're science fantasy. And some people don't consider science fantasy or space opera to be part of science fiction, because they believe that only hard sci-fi qualifies. Anything else isn't "real" science fiction. Again, science fiction a stuffy genre, and some people need to get over it. Labels are conveniences, and sometimes they're not as black and white as people want them to be. They're tools to help us figure out what shelf to put things on, not badges of honor to be used to exclude things as not 'real.'

FWIW, I'm not that big of a Star Wars fan. I like it, but I'm certainly not here defending it as a fan. I just dislike the elitist attitude in any topic - PC strategy and RPG games have always had the problem (see RPG Codex), music is choked with it, and I've gotten into more than one argument here about pizza and hot dogs because of it, and people with money to burn insist that only the expensive version of (whatever) qualifies as real. It gets old.

[Carpet_pissr]

Can’t believe it took that many posts before Ender’s Game was listed. It’s the most ‘transporting’ science fiction I’ve ever read (but I’ve yet to read Dune, so…)

Particularly love the philosophical and moral implications and dilemmas it presents.

[hitbyambulance]

And yes, they're science fantasy. And some people don't consider science fantasy or space opera to be part of science fiction, because they believe that only hard sci-fi qualifies. Anything else isn't "real" science fiction.

there's an effort to try to fix that by re-acronyming "SF" as "speculative fiction".

Labels are conveniences, and sometimes they're not as black and white as people want them to be. They're tools to help us figure out what shelf to put things on, not badges of honor to be used to exclude things as not 'real.'

i just don't want to give the impression here that i am some defender of genre boundaries and conventions - far from it. i think the limitations imposed by a label are boring, overplayed, and restrictive. and things like this: https://jezebel.com/women-debate-the-ch ... el-5605402

i personally would like to see the end of 'genre' in more forms of created media.

[Hipolito]

The Last Question, a short story by Isaac Asimov that you can read here. When science and technology answer all other questions, what's the one question that remains? That's what this story reveals. It's the essence of sci-fi.