Posted on 12/04/2013 8:13:32 AM PST by Kip Russell
One of the things that makes science fiction so popular is that it means many things to many people. Some people will insist that they are not even reading science fiction when they read a Star Wars novel or a novel dealing with alternate history. That is what makes Sci-Fi so wonderful! It’s easy to love and difficult to define. What other genre has so many sub-genres? You have hard Sci-fi, often times written by people who actually were scientists. There’s Cyber Punk, adventurous Space Opera, Military Sci-Fi, Alternate History, Steam Punk, and even Space Westerns. Something for almost everybody!
In truth, speculative fiction dates back hundreds of years but modern Sci-Fi began to develop as we know it in the 19th century with writers like H.G. Wells and Jules Verne. But it was in 1926 that Sci-fi really began to take off with the creation of the pulp magazine, Amazing Stories, the first publication devoted to science fiction. The magazine survived for nearly 80 years and helped to launch the careers of greats such as Roger Zelanzy, E.E. “Doc” Smith, Jack Williamson, and countless others.
Trying to pick the 15 greatest writers is no easy task. I’ve based my list on a number of factors including body of work, influence, awards won, and staying power. With that in mind my list does tend to weigh heavily towards older writers. Another factor was that I went with writers who are predominantly known for their science fiction. Many great fantasy writers have written exceptional Sci-Fi stories but I decided to go with only those known for their science fiction. Ultimately is was more of a challenge to decide who to keep off rather than who to keep on.
(Excerpt) Read more at mania.com ...
No way I mean. I practically grew up on Larry Niven novels.
James Blish should be somewhere in that list. Allen Steele and Spider Robinson need honorable mentions.
Harlan Ellison is too low, and not having H.G. Wells on this list beggars belief. JMO.
In my case, it was Heinlein, Niven, Asimov, and Moorcock.
John Ringo, probably in the middle 20s...
I agree...Babylon 5 remains my pick for the best SF series of all time.
The late Iain M. Banks surely belongs on that list.
Michael Crichton deserves to be on the list somewhere.
Agreed about the sleeve, but the alternate probability is such a great vehicle.
Buttons pushed!
Great tagline!
OK then, Asimov too. And Clark. I never really got into Heinlein, my loss I guess.
No Johnw W. Campbell.
I’m just finishing up the Barsoom series again. His books are flawed but seriously enjoyable.
When John Carter first arrived on mars, he stated as fact that there are no birds on Mars but by the time you get to The synthetic men of mars he has them riding giant birds.
On the other hand, much of what he imagined has come to pass in some manner or another. He wrote that mars was a dying planet before we had a clue, he imagined cloning etc.
If you like lots of technical Details, Robert L Forward was good because he was a physicist. His company “Tethers unlimited” was introduced in Saturn Rukh an exists as an actual company today with many earth and space bound applications.
No. HGW.. list is not up to speed.
Clarke..as no 1 is also very suspect.
“Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as 'bad luck'.” - Robert Heinlein
Ben Bova should be on the list., and Philip K. Dick shouldn’t be so high. But when you make a bunch of movies loosely based on his short stories, he gets more credit than he deserved IMHO.
Norman Spinrad belongs on the list as well.
3/4 of those writers would have Jack Vance on their own top 15 list. Jack Vance would have none of those other writers on his own top 15 list, despite being good friends with at least two of them (Herbert and Silverberg).
Every living person on that list would say that Gene Wolfe is the best living speculative fiction writer.
Freegards
He pretty much excludes any pre-1926 material.
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