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I'd like to hear what anyone thinks are the most influential SF novels to be written, in terms of style, story, atmosphere, vision, etc. If you could give a bit about what parts of those things you find in the books that makes them stand out in your opinion I'd be grateful, thanks.
------------------ Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.
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I personally liked Intellivore for TNG. It was well written and really stands out. The crew is forced to deal with a creature who eats the intelligence of people. The author really captures how the crew responseds to what must be done. Another good one is Echos from the Voyager books. Just trust me its good, if you haven't read it I'm not going to spoil it for you.
------------------ Death before Dishonor! However Dishonor has quite a disputed defintion.
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Most Hienlien novels pre-1950. Those books got me started with Sci-Fi. His post 1950 works became more and more sexual. "Stranger in a Strange Land" was one of his biggest sellers, but I didn't like it at all. Give me "Red Planet", "Time for the Stars" or "Citizen of the Galaxy" any day. All three of those books had a young hero who beat the odds. ------------------ Fool of a Took, throw yourself in next time!! Gandalf
[This message has been edited by Kosh (edited November 12, 1999).]
The First One
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he's pissed
Member # 35
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Don't get me started on Heinlein. . . expect one of my SF Greats posts soon, only I was gonna call it SF Duds.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Well, I don't know much about sci-fi literature now, but I will. I finally got into my dream class here at college: Science Fiction! Yes, an entire class devoted to science fiction!
------------------ "Stop right there! I have here the only working phaser ever built! It was fired only once: to keep William Shatner from making another album."
- The Collector, "Treehouse of Horror X," The Simpsons.
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Fahrenheit 451. It's much like Trek insofar that it isn't mindless.
------------------ Elim Garak: "Oh, it's just Garak. Plain, simple Garak. Now, good day to you, Doctor. I'm so glad to have made such an... interesting new friend today." (DS9: "Past Prologue")
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Well, our resident First One has been doing an on-again off-again series of threads about this sort of thing. But I might as well chip in.
Since you're all expecting it, I'll go ahead and get it out of the way. Dune. One of greatest novels of this century, period.
And then we've got other stuff that I'm far from qualified to talk about, but I will anyway. Foundation was a landmark book, of course.
But what about the true originators of the genre? Edgar Allen Poe wrote some of the earliest stories we would consider science fiction, like "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" and "Ligeia." Jules Vernes, of course. And H.G. Wells.
------------------ "If you are going to be my girlfriend please don't dump me after I like you." -- Michael
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I'm no literary historian, so I can't say which books are most influential. However, I can say which books most influenced me. I read a lot of these when I was in junior high school (about a million years ago) and have reread many of them recently. My favorites, in no particular order are:
Dune (Frank Herbert) The Stars My Destination, The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester) Childhood's End (Arthur C. Clarke) The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) Way Station (Clifford Simak) 1984 (George Orwell) I Robot (Isaac Asimov) The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Clans of the Alphane Moon, A Scanner Darkly (Philip K Dick) The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, parts of Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein) Idoru, Virtual Light (William Gibson) A Mission of Gravity (Hal Clement) Mars Trilogy (Kim Stanley Robinson) A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter J Miller) War of the Worlds (HG Wells) 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
------------------ When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum
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You know, I'd have to say I'm surprised. I've actually read most of these and I wouldn't really consider myself that big of a SF reader. Interesting. Well, maybe not to you but definitely to me.
------------------ Proverbs for Paranoids, 3: If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers.
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I'd say Lovecraft's work. The Myth of Cthulhu and its associated stories are among the greatest work of SF/Fantasy/Horror ever. Of course, he only wrote about 18 essays by himself that are part of the myth but his work has been continued by a dozen of authors who were his friends and collegues. He also worked as a revisionist for other writers and he never feared to add elements to their stories to make them fit in his myth.
You should read 'Call of Cthulhu' if you want to see his style. Also "Shadow of the Comet", "Prisoner of Ice" and "Alone in the Dark 1" are 3 computer games based on his work so they also give a good idea of the atmosphere in his stories.
------------------ -If you ask me, I think continuity is highly overrated... *Brannon Braga*
-Give me Good Trek or give me Death! *Me*
-Where were you when the brains were handed out? *Sonic the Hedgehog*
[This message has been edited by TerraZ (edited November 17, 1999).]
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