I have been a science fiction fan for almost as long as I have been a reader. Maybe you count Norton Juster’s brilliant The Phantom Tollbooth, which I first read when I was six, as more fantasy or speculative fiction. E.B. White and Roald Dahl? Definitely fantasy. But Robert O’Brien’s Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH? Classic hard sci-fi.
So it was refreshing to read a best-of-all-time sci-fi list this morning by author and reviewer Simon Ings (via the always delightful sci-fi newsletter Transfer Orbit—have you subscribed yet? What are you waiting for?).
“Fiction is there to drive us out of our heads, and science fiction even more so: it makes the wildest notions seem pressingly relevant to us, extends our imaginations and our sympathies,” Ings writes to introduce his list, adding, tongue firmly in cheek: “Here, then, is my extremely objective list of the 20 best sci-fi books ever written. They ate my life. You have been warned.”
What I most enjoyed in this highly personal and eclectic list was the number of works, and even some authors, I had never heard of, including Rose Macaulay’s 1918 novel What Not, John Crowley’s Engine Summer from 1979, and Algis Budrys’ Rogue Moon published in 1960. Out of all 20, I have only read seven and even heard of three more. So, time to pick a few to add to my library.
What do you think? Have you read many? Will you pick up any? And, please, let’s avoid the rote and boring debate about which other books Ings should have included blah blah. If that’s how you feel, post your own list and send me a link 😉
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