Top 15 Greatest Science Fiction Writers of All-Time

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 14 Mar 2009 23:41

Bradbury was a favorite of mine in high school. Loved the Martian Chronicles.

Eyes High · Post by **Eyes High** » 15 Mar 2009 12:35

Fahrenheit 451 was my favorite, but I was in college before I read it.

Spicelon · Post by **Spicelon** » 15 Mar 2009 13:51

Crysknife wrote:Asimov was a great idea man, but his writing was rather dry. Herbert kicks his ass.

Ditto. Nice ideas, but his writing sucked balls. I'd throw him on one of these
lists, based on his concepts and volume of output, but top 10, let alone top
3? Not even close.

Gibson would definitely crack my top 5.

guild navigator · Post by **guild navigator** » 16 Mar 2009 15:25

That's a pretty good list, but I would include Lem, as said before. What about Wells, Verne, or Stapledon? (anyone read Star Maker?) I think Walter M. Miller Jr. could be up there just for Canticle for Leibowitz..

Drunken Idaho · Post by **Drunken Idaho** » 16 Mar 2009 15:44

Herbert takes the cake as my favourite. Easily. No book or series has moved me more than Dune. Although the article makes a good point in saying that if Frank had only written Dune, he'd be considered by most to be the best ever. Some of Frank's other works are fairly standard compared to his peers.

I'm currently reading Foundation, and I'm nearly done but so far Asimov hasn't impressed me a whole lot. Sometimes he has a way with words, but other times not so much. The part where Hardin takes control of the four kingdoms was badass though! No spoilers please!

I didn't like Ender's Game much at all. It had some good qualities, but too many awkward moments when I hated Ender's character for me to love it. I've read about some of the sequels written by Card, and from what I've heard they don't seem to fit too well. I heard they're making an Ender's Game movie. Anyone know what the status of that is?

And as for Heinlein, the one book I read by him (The Curious Profession of Jonathan Hoag) was rather disappointing. I loved, loved, loved like the first third of it, with the fingernails and the paranoid Hoag character, but the rest of it was a let-down by comparison. I do plan to read Stranger in a Strage Land though.

DuneFishUK · Post by **DuneFishUK** » 16 Mar 2009 15:51

guild navigator wrote:That's a pretty good list, but I would include Lem, as said before. What about Wells, Verne, or Stapledon? (anyone read Star Maker?) I think Walter M. Miller Jr. could be up there just for Canticle for Leibowitz..

The bloke does explain why he didn't include Wells and Verne. Verne... fair enough... but Wells? Surely he created half the motifs in SF...

Stapledon - yeah, he should be in, Lem too. But Miller? Leibowitz is a favourite and always in my top 5... but did he write much else? (I have Horse Woman (which he didn't finish) and a book of short stories)

(I've been sorting out my books and I've discovered a rich vein of Sturgeon I forgot all about. Funstuff

)

Hunchback Jack · Post by **Hunchback Jack** » 16 Mar 2009 15:52

I'd be tempted to include Gene Wolfe somewhere in the list, but I guess he's not popular or influential enough. His "New Sun" books might be hard to categorize as SF, too (although Long and Short clearly are).

I go back and forth on Heinlein. I've read pretty much everything he's written, and there's no doubt he's a major SF player. His writing annoys me sometimes, though

.

HBJ

DuneFishUK · Post by **DuneFishUK** » 16 Mar 2009 15:56

Heinlein is great - when I'm uninspired and don't know to what to read next I read Heinlein. Moon is a Harsh Mistress and Starship Troopers are good 'uns.

I like the longer (later) books but they are probably a bit more of an acquired taste

guild navigator · Post by **guild navigator** » 16 Mar 2009 16:00

I'd call Gene Wolfe SF, definitely, especially Fifth Head of Cerberus and probably New Sun(maybe SF/Fantasy,but more SF IMO). I can't remember were I saw this, but I seem to remember some reviewer calling him the best author in any genre still alive, comparing him to Dickens and Melville...

??

Hunchback Jack · Post by **Hunchback Jack** » 16 Mar 2009 16:03

Re: Heinlein. Yeah, you're right. Mistress and Troopers are pretty damn good. Methuselah's Children isn't bad either. Some of his juveniles are pretty outstanding too. Time for the Stars comes to mind.

I must admit I do have a fondness for Time Enough for Love. Yes, it's a bloated, opinionated monstrosity, but there's some great stuff in there.

Re : Wolfe. I like Wolfe a lot; he'd certainly be in my top 15, if not 10. He's very challenging, but rewarding if you put in the effort.

HBJ

guild navigator · Post by **guild navigator** » 16 Mar 2009 16:05

Has anyone here read Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney?

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 16 Mar 2009 16:49

I've got to get some more Heinlein to read, I kinda hated troopers (I liked a lot about it too though). It was fine, I just kept waiting and waiting for a plot... never came. If he was left wing I would have taken that as a subtle message, but being Heinlein I think he just didn't feel plot was an important part of that "story".

SwordMaster · Post by **SwordMaster** » 17 Mar 2009 09:29

Baraka Bryan wrote:
Drunken Idaho wrote: I didn't like Ender's Game much at all. It had some good qualities, but too many awkward moments when I hated Ender's character for me to love it. I've read about some of the sequels written by Card, and from what I've heard they don't seem to fit too well. I heard they're making an Ender's Game movie. Anyone know what the status of that is?
haven't heard an update on the movie for a while.

i like ender's game, but i love speaker for the dead and xenocide way better. it's actually got some great scifi and it's quite an intricate universe... seriously just read speaker for the dead as a standalone knowing that Ender comes into it somewhat broken and guilt ridden by what he did to the buggers as a kid. i definitely think you'll like it.

I enjoy the Ender series as well. Card keeps it consistant but gets a little preachy at times. Im interested to see how they would adapt it to film.

Foundation was a great trilogy. It goes to hell after the trilogy, and eventually goes right to hell when he combines the Irobot universe and the foundation universe, on a quest to find earth!?!? I would not recomend anyone read any foundation after the trilogy.

Starship troopers is a childhood fav. of mine. Too bad the film was a camp fire. Anyone seen ST4? lol so many sequels.

When it comes to cyber punk, Gibson takes the prize.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 17 Mar 2009 11:24

guild navigator wrote:Has anyone here read Dhalgren by Samuel Delaney?

Yep. Reread a bit of back in September, as a matter of fact, when I came across it while rearranging some of my old paperbacks.

I seem to recall that Tanzeelat has said he's read it, too.

I first read it back in college. Weird book, but I liked it. One of my favorite scenes was the one describing the recording of a song...know the one I mean?

Post by **Omphalos** » 17 Mar 2009 14:22

I love delaney. I just started that book recently but got sidetracked by something else.

guild navigator · Post by **guild navigator** » 17 Mar 2009 16:48

Yeah, I just finished Dhalgren. Very weird, but I liked the part in the end where "the narrative comes apart". I heard somewhere he was trying to emulate Joyce's Finnegans Wake with many parts of it.