The Amazing Colossal Science Fiction Ketchup!
Compared to many of my colleagues, friends and hamsters I’ve read a pathetic amount of science fiction in my lifetime. It’s not that I never liked sci-fi, in fact much of what I’ve read I like very much, I just never really got around to it. Therefore, in an effort to “catch-up” I’m taking it upon myself to start at the beginning of sci-fi and read until I’ve exhausted most of the list below (in no particular order).
If it’s not on the list then I’ve either read it already, have no intention of reading it or I just didn’t know it existed. I’m happy for recommendations in the comments. Please do not comment about how some title listed is not sci-fi — I don’t care.
I’m crossing off entries as I go. Follow along if you wish — we’ll meet back again in ten years.
1800s and before
Abbott: FlatlandButler: ErewhonEllis: Steam Man of the PrairiesLytton: VrilPoe: Some Words with a MummyPoe: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of NantucketRaspe: The Surprising Adventures of Baron MunchausenServiss: Edison’s Conquest of MarsShelley: Frankenstein(re-read needed)Shelley: The Last ManSwift: Gulliver’s TravelsTwain: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s CourtVerne: Around the World in 80 DaysVerne: From the Earth to the MoonVerne: Journey to the Center of the Earth(needs re-read)Verne: Round the Moon- Voltaire: Micromégas
Wells: The Invisible ManWells: War of the Worlds
1900 – 1920
Baum: The Master KeyBurroughs: The Lost ContinentDoyle: The Lost WorldEmerson, Willis: The Smoky GodGernsback: Ralph 124C 41+Hossain: Sultana’s DreamLondon: The Scarlet PlagueLondon: Star RoverMerritt: Moon PoolShiel: The Purple Cloud(great!)Zamyatin: We
Barsoom
all by Burroughs
A Princess of MarsThe Gods of MarsWarlord of MarsThuvia, Maid of Mars- … the rest were skipped
1920 – 1940
- Campbell: Who Goes There?
Chadwick: The Death GuardCoblentz: After 12,000 Yearsde Camp: Lest Darkness FallHubbard: Slaves of SleepLindsay: A Voyage to Arcturus(very good)Moore, CL: Shambleau and OthersNowlan: Airlords of Han (Buck Rogers)Nowlan: Armageddon 2419 AD (Buck Rogers)Rand: AnthemStapledon: Darkness and the LightStapledon: SiriusStapledon: Star Makervan Vogt: Slan
1940s
Ashton-Smith: Out of Space and Time v1(not really scifi)- Barjavel: Ashes, ashes
Boucher: Rocket to the MorgueCasares: The Invention of Morel(great!)- Lewis’ Space Trilogy
Out of the Silent PlanetPerelandra(abandoned)That Hideous Strength(skipped)
Orwell: 1984(needs re-re-re-read)Stapledon: Odd JohnStewart: Earth AbidesWilliamson: The Humanoidsvan Vogt: Weapon Makersvan Vogt: World of Null-A
Heinlein juveniles
Between PlanetsCitizen of the GalaxyHave Spacesuit, Will TravelPodkayne of MarsRed PlanetTunnel in the Sky
1950s
Anderson, Poul: BrainwaveAsimov: Foundation(re-read)Asimov: Pebble in the SkyAsimov: The End of Eternity- Bester: The Stars My Destination
- Brackett: The Long Tomorrow
Budrys: The Falling TorchClement: Iceworld- Clement: Mission of Gravity
- Dick: Eye in the Sky
Dick: Solar Lottery- Dick: The Man Who Japed
- Dick: The World Jones Made
- Godwin: The Gulf Between
Godwin: The SurvivorsHerbert: Under PressureHoyle: The Black Cloud- Keyes: Flowers for Algernon
Leiber: The Big Time- Leiber: The Green Millennium
Miller: A Canticle for Leibowitz- Moore: Bring the Jubilee
- Pangborn: A Mirror for Observers
Pohl: Slave Ship- Pohl: Wolfbane
Russell: Wasp- Sheckly: Untouched by Human Hands
- Shute: On the Beach
Simak: The City- Simak: The World that Couldn’t Be
Sturgeon: More than Human- Vance: Big Planet
Wyndham: The Kraken Awakes- van Vogt: Players of Null-A
1960s
- Aldiss: Barefoot in the Head
- Aldiss: Greybeard
- Anthony: Macroscope
- Ballard: The Crystal World
- Brunner: Stand on Zanzibar
- Burroughs, William S: Nova Express
- Compton: Synthajoy
- Delany: Nova
Dick: Dr. Bloodmoney- Duke: This Business of Bomfog
Ellison: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream(re-read)- Ellison: Dangerous Visions
- Farmer: To Your Scattered Bodies Go
- Godwin: The Space Barbarians
- Harrison: Make Room! Make Room!
- Hoyle: A for Andromeda
Hubbard: Battlefield Earth- LeGuin: The Left Hand of Darkness
- Lem: Cyberiad
- Lem: Solaris
- Russ: The Adventures of Alyx
- Vance: Emphyrio
- Vance: The Blue World
- Zelazny: This Immortal
1970s
- Aldiss: Frankenstein Unbound
- Anderson, Poul: Tau Zero
Asimov: The Gods Themselves- Brunner: The Sheep Look Up
Chalker: Midnight at the Well of Souls- Crowley: Engine Summer
- Delany: Dhalgren
- Delany: Triton
- Dick: A Maze of Death
- Dick: Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said
- Dick: The Simulacra
- Ellison: Deathbird Stories
- Gerrold: The Man Who Folded Himself
- Heinlein: Time Enough for Love
- King: Time-snake and Superclown
- Le Guin: The Dispossessed
Le Guin: The Lathe of Heaven- Le Guin: The Wind’s 12 Quarters
- Lem: Futurological Congress
- Lem: The Invincible
- Levin: The Stepford Wives
- McIntyre: Dreamsnake
- Neale: The Quatermass and the Pit
- Neale: The Quatermass Experiment
Niven: Protector- Pohl: Man Plus
Pynchon: Gravity’s Rainbow- Russ: The Female Man
- Russ: We who are about to…
- Silverberg: A Time of Changes
- Strugatsky: Roadside Picnic
- Varley: The Ophiuchi Hotline
- Zelazny: My Name is Legion
1980s
Banks: Consider PhlebasBanks: The Player of Games- Cherryh: Downbelow Station
- Dick: Radio Free Albemuth
Dick: The Divine InvasionDick: The Transmigration of Timothy Archer- Gibson: Burning Chrome
- Gibson: Neuromancer
- Hoban: Riddley Walker
Murakami: Hardboiled Wonderland…- Niven: Integral Trees
Niven: Ringworld Engineers- Rucker: Software
- Simmons: Hyperion
- Sterling: Schismatrix Plus
- Vinge, Joan: The Snow Queen
Wolfe: Shadow of the Torturer- Wolfe: Castle of the Otter
- van Vogt: Null-A Three
- Varley: Wizard
- Vinge: True Names
1990s
Adams: Life, the Universe and Everything- Anthony, Patricia: Brother Termite
- Banks: Against a Dark Background
- Banks: Use of Weapons
- Baxter: The Time Ships
Brin: Earth(re-read)- Brin: Otherness
- Bujold: Falling Free
- Cadigan: Patterns
- Donaldson: The Real Story
- Egan: Axiomatic
- Egan: Permutation City
- Gaimain: Neverwhere
- Grimwood: Replay
- Heinlein: The Number of the Beast
- Knight: Humpty Dumpty: An Oval
- Lethem: Gun, with Occasional Music
Looney: The Empty City- Murakami: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
- Nagata: The Bohr Maker
- Noon: Vurt
- Panshin: The World Beyond the Hill
- Park: Coelestis
- Robinson, Spider: Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon
- Russell: The Sparrow
- Simmons: Endymion
- Simmons: The Fall of Hyperion
- Simmons: The Rise of Endymion
- Stephenson: Snow Crash
- Vance: Night Lamp
- Vinge: A Deepness in the Sky
- Vinge: A Fire Upon the Deep
- Weis: The Lost King
2000 – 2010
- Atwood: Oryx and Crake
- Bacigalupi: The Windup Girl
Card: Children of the MindCollins: The Hunger Games- Doctorow: Down And Out In the Magic Kingdom
- Emshwiller: The Mount
- Gibson: Pattern Recognition
- Harrison: Light
- McDevitt: Infinity Beach
- McDevitt: Seeker
- McDonald: River of Gods
- Mitchell: Cloud Atlas
- Morgan: Altered Carbon
- Murakami: After the Quake
Niffenegger: Time Traveler’s Wife- Reynolds: Chasm City
- Reynolds: House of Suns
- Reynolds: Revelation Space
- Rosenbaum: The Ant King
- Scalzi: Old Man’s War
- Scalzi: The Ghost Brigades
- Scalzi: The Last Colony
- Scalzi: Zoe’s Tale
- Schroeder: Ventus
- Sterling: The Caryatids
- Stross: Glasshouse
- Stross: Saturn’s Children
- Stross: Toast
- Vance: The Moon Moth and Other Stories
- Watts: Blindsight
- Williams: The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect
2010+
- Beukes: Moxyland
- Chiang: The Lifecycle of Software Objects
- Corey: Leviathan Wakes
- Corey: Caliban’s War
- Eggers: The Circle
Gibson: The Peripheral- Grant: Feed
- Harrison: Light
- Howey: Wool
- Mieville: Embassytown
- Rajaniemi: The Quantum Thief
- Scalzi: Redshirts
- Walton: Among Others
Weir: The Martian
Need More of…
- Leiber
- Jack Vance
- CM Kornbluth
- Lem
Useful links
When I’m done with these, I’ll move on to the The Amazing Colossal Fantasy Ketchup!1
-
My phone corrected “catch-up” to ketchup, so I thought I’d defer to its wisdom in the spirit of hokey sci-fi AI. ↩
110 Comments, Comment or Ping
fogus
@josh_rehman
I’ve read all that you list, except for Snow Crash, which is on the list.
Sep 21st, 2012
Cullen King
Hey @fogus, I’ve read many of these and I do have a few inputs as to order, or works by the same author that are better…
Snow Crash should be at top of the list for the 90’s, it’s just such a seminal work.
If you only get around to one alastair reynolds book, I recommend House of Suns over Chasm City or Revelation Space. HoS is much more…complete, meaning you won’t be distracted by characterizations etc.
Fire Upon the Deep – feel free to skip it :) I just read it last week, and while it has some cool concepts as far as hive-ish minds go, it’s basically just a book about intrigue.
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@josh_rehman
I have some Le Guin listed, but am open for more suggestions. I’ve not read Bujold before because I was hesitant to dive into a sprawling epic. Anything that you could recommend that’s not part of her large series?
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@cullen_king
Added House of Suns. As for ordering, I will probably do as you say WRT Snow Crash, and may skip ahead to read it soon.
Sep 21st, 2012
Allen Varney
Jack Vance’s best science fiction novel is probably Emphyrio (1969; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emphyrio ), though some might recommend his Planet of Adventure series or To Live Forever (1956). Vance’s hardest hard-sf science fiction novel is one of my favorites, The Blue World (1966; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blue_World ).
Re Kornbluth: You’ve already listed The Space Merchants. The rest of Kornbluth’s best work is at shorter lengths, so look for a good collection, like the 1977 Del Rey “Best of” volume.
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@varney
Thank you for the Vance recommendations! I’ve not read Emphyrio and Blue World. Added both. I think I need to add some anthologies soon.
Sep 21st, 2012
Harvey
I would recommend adding Interface by Stephen Bury.
Sep 21st, 2012
BillSaysThis
Surprised you don’t seem to have any Spider Robinson (from his great ’70s period, especially the punny Callahan’s Saloon series) or Peter F. Hamilton (Night’s Dawn trilogy remains among my ATFs but some folks prefer the Commonwealth Saga/Void Trilogy set, either way thousands of pages of reading pleasure).
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@BillSaysThis
Spider Robinson is one of those authors that I’ve heard a ton about, but for some reason never got around to reading (see also Bujold). Added a couple.
Sep 21st, 2012
Rasputnik
Altered carbon, maybe Sun of Suns. Nice to see BlindSight on there, that’s a wonderful read.
Sep 21st, 2012
MIke Monette
+1 on the Miéville. I haven’t yet been disappointed by anything I’ve read from him. I’ll recommend Cloud Atlas (quick, before the movie comes out!) and The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (really only barely sci-fi, but still a good read). If you’re looking for a single-author short story collection, Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang is excellent. Chiang only writes short fiction, and he does it well. I was going to recommend Zelazny’s Amber series, but I’ll wait to see if it shows up on the fantasy ketchup.
Sep 21st, 2012
SI Hayakawa
Stranger in a Strange Land by Heinlein. Also, as already suggested, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@hayakawa
I’ve read both and loved them.
Sep 21st, 2012
MaysonL
Under Heinlein juveniles, you MUST add Citizen of the Galaxy, and should also add Between Planets, Tunnel in the Sky,, Time for the Stars, and Starman Jones.
Sep 21st, 2012
Dave Minter
Can’t resist recommending Lem’s “Tales of Pirx the Pilot”, “More tales of Pirx the Pilot”, and then “Fiasco” – in that order or (if you only read one) just “Fiasco”.
Sounds like a fun reading project – bearing in mind Sturgeon’s Law…
Sep 21st, 2012
F_D
Given your replies to other suggestions, I’m going to assume that Ubik isn’t on here because you’ve read it already.
Also: Against a Dark Background.
Sep 21st, 2012
Nicholas
You need all the original Dune novels, not just Chapterhouse.
Sep 21st, 2012
Michael
You may want to pick up a copy of ‘Armor’ by John Steakley. It is an excellent example of Military Sci-Fi.
Sep 21st, 2012
Miramon
Many of these are indeed classics, but IMO this list concentrates too heavily on some mediocre authors, and completely passes up some great ones.
For example, focusing on 1900-1940:
Add some James Branch Cabell and H. P. Lovecraft to the mix — say Jurgen and the Dream-Quest for Unknown Kadath. Also consider E. R. Eddison and Lord Dunsany, though I think Dunsany isn’t as good as he’s cracked up to be. Doc Smith needs to be in there someplace — I’d recommend Galactic Patrol out of the Lensman series.
Van Vogt isn’t that bad, if you choose carefully, but there’s no need to read two of his books when you’re passing up so many other better authors. Say the original Null-A book and skip the lame sequel(s). One ERB Mars book is more than enough, they’re not that great; replace with REH since you have no Conan.
Moving on to the second half of the twentieth century, I can’t imagine why you’d want to read Chapterhouse: Dune. Stick with the original single novel, and skip the sequels which get progressively worse. Herbert had some much better books not in the Dune series.
I won’t waste space seconding the better choices you have in this list; there are a great many of them.
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@F_D
I loved Ubik. I added Against a Dark Background — sounds great.
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@Miramon
I “skipped” most of your recommended books for this list only because I’ve already read them. I would probably list HPL and Dunsany as weird fiction, fantasy or horror in any case.
Sep 21st, 2012
fogus
@Nicholas
Chapterhouse is the only one I’ve not yet read.
Sep 21st, 2012
Mike
Great list. I didn’t think of myself as being particularly into sci-fi, but I was struck by the number of them I’ve read.
BTW, I think The Number of the Beast was published in 1980-ish. Must go read it again…
Sep 21st, 2012
Miramon
@71 — certainly HPL and Dunsany are fantasy writers, but many of the titles listed are only notionally SF.
I mean, really Claw of the Conciliator is a theological fantasy that happens to be set in the distant future, and Darker Than You Think is a werewolf story given the thinnest and most superficial hand-waving veneer of quantum theory justification for the witches’ vulnerability to silver.
But of course it’s up to you, and you might as well apply some kind of arbitrary choice criterion or you’ll never get past WW II…. Still, I think there is too much emphasis on some so-so authors on the list, considering how many other choices there are.
Sep 21st, 2012
Leaf
You’ve probably read them but Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man and Tiger! Tiger! are great mid-century books.
Sep 21st, 2012
Jim Oly
I second the nomination for Diamond Age, though since you’ve mentioned reading other Stephenson, I assume it’s in the “already read” category. For Stross, I would add Halting State (and not just for being written in second person). I don’t see Vinge’s Across Realtime recommended enough, and you may want to throw in Rainbows End as well.
Sep 21st, 2012
Jason P.
Loving the choices. See some I’m going to add to my list. Thanks!! Here’s some other possibilities:
I didn’t see any Charles Sheffield on there. Any of the Jupiter novels are good. But my personal favs of his are “Cold as Ice” and “The Ganymede Club”
I notice you said you read all the original Dune series but Chapterhouse. I would recommend re-reading Heretics prior to reading Chapterhouse. In my mind they really should have been one book and IMO, when taken together, are the best of the series.
Friday is a good addition to the Heinlein list.
The Sleepless Series by Nancy Kress, starting with “Beggars in Spain”
The Firestar series by Michael Flynn
My all time favorite sci-fi book is “Heart of the Comet” by Brin and Benford.
Sep 21st, 2012
Sam Medina
Wow, that is one epic list…. Fon’t feel bad, I haven’t read most of those, either.
Sep 21st, 2012
Shad
I’d say that Rudy Rucker’s best novel is “Software”. I also really like “Spaceland”.
Sep 21st, 2012
Bob Foster
I hope you add Alfred Bester’s The Demolished Man to your list.
Sep 21st, 2012
Adam
I notice a few Iain M Banks books on there. You might want to add The Algebraist; it’s one of his better works, Hugo-nominated.
Sep 21st, 2012
triffid-pruner
Great list, heroic ambition. But — how about sharing your reaction after, or even while, reading each book. You could invite followers to read along, discuss. Would be fun.
Sep 21st, 2012
me
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court isn’t worth it. It’s about the level of quality of a moderate fanfic. The premise is that the british are too dumb to live and all they need is someone to come in and exploit their resources properly. It’s a very weird read because most of the people in the story have no agency, they are just tools to the main character’s end.
Sep 22nd, 2012
fp
You missed Perdido Street Station by Chine Mieville. His best by far.
Sep 22nd, 2012
Lance
Doris Lessing’s Canopus in Argos series should be on that list. Beautiful SF by a literary heavyweight.
Sep 22nd, 2012
Barnabas
Georgia On My Mind, by Charles Sheffield
Sep 23rd, 2012
Jean Azzopardi
Nice list, will be considering a lot of these books.
Anathem is definitely a must read. I also liked the Lost Fleet series (the battles are very well done indeed!)
Otherland series is also a very good read (Virtual reality, AI.. it’s a bit like Snow Crash but on steroids!)
Commonwealth Saga: still on the first book, but a fun read!
Lost Fleet: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Fleet-Dauntless-Book/dp/0857681303/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348600660&sr=1-3
Otherland: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Otherland-City-Golden-Shadow-Bk/dp/1857236041/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1348600511&sr=8-1
Commonwealth: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0330518917/
Sep 25th, 2012
fogus
@Azzopardi
Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve read Anathem, but I will explore the rest.
Sep 27th, 2012
fogus
@triffid-pruner
Folks interested can follow along on my Goodreads page at http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/266149-michael?format=html&shelf=super-awesome-scifi-catchup. I will post reviews from time to time and welcome any comments.
Sep 27th, 2012
Derek Woolverton
I would recommend some other classic space opera:
Lensmen (and other EE Doc Smith) and Venus Equilateral
Oct 10th, 2012
Derek Woolverton
More from my top rated Goodreads list:
Yarn (Jon Armstrong) Firestar (Michael Flynn) The Two Faces of Tomorrow (James P Hogan .. I love lots of his stuff) Cobra & Conqueror Series (Timothy Zahn) Hawksbill Station (Robert Silverberg) The Golden Age (John C Wright) Orion Shall Rise (Poul Anderson) Coyote (Allen Steele) Footfall (Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle) Fuzzies (H Beam Piper) To Ride Pegasus (Anne McCaffrey)
Oct 10th, 2012
losgann
Thanks for publishing this list. I’m looking for some new reading material (preferably hard science fiction). I noticed you didn’t have any James P. Hogan or Robert L. Forward titles in your list. Both have written excellent examples of the hard SF genre.
Oct 10th, 2012
Andrew Ingram
If you’re reading Alastair Reynolds, I found Pushing Ice to be his most inspiring novel, House of Suns a close second.
Nov 29th, 2012
Nikhil
You should definitely add more of Baxter’s Xeelee Sequence to the list, rather than reading The Time Ships. The sequence books are his defining work.
Start with Vacuum Diagrams, after which you can read through Ring, Flux, Timelike Infinity and Raft (all 4 available together in an omnibus) or go for the Destiny’s Children sub-series – Coalescent, Resplendent, Transcendent and Exultant.
Hard physics and some social commentary make a great combination. As do timescales of millions of years.
Dec 27th, 2012
Tgr
The Futurological Congress was written by Lem (Tichy is a fictional figure of his).
Dec 31st, 2012
Bart
cryptonomicon seems to be missing; for me the most enjoyable of the Stephenson books.
May 19th, 2013
Ru
@fogus, what about K. Vonnegut? There is non a single one of his books, and they’re amazing :)
Start with The Sirens of Titan. Not his most famous work, but an incredible read.
Jun 16th, 2013
fogus
@Ru
If it’s not on the list then you can assume that I’ve read it already. In fact, I love Vonnegut’s work… one of my open source projects was named Unk. :-)
Jun 17th, 2013
Abe
One of my favourites is “His Master’s Voice” by Lem. It’s very introspective but one of the best Sci-Fi I’ve read.
Dec 29th, 2015
Vladimir
@fogus Greg Egan and his “Diaspora” must be on your radar!
Dec 30th, 2015
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