Posted on 08/13/2022 11:42:57 AM PDT by MNDude
I must add one most extra ordinary author since no one has mentioned him.
L. Sprague de Camp
Not possible to pick a “best” novel (you have to read his pedigree), but an historical fiction fantasy sci fi novel for any aged reader is “Lest Darkness Fall”. A 1939 publication that is not in the least dated. Seriously. You’ll see why.
Indeed it would. Thought that myself.
Since you mentioned movies, I think, with the proper director and cast, The Book of Skulls would make a very interesting movie. I kind of played it in my head as a movie when reading it.
All plot and acting, no CGI necessary. Likely too intellectual for today’s audiences.
I think particularly the scene where Star re-creates some vista that they had shared on a different planet would be interesting. Terra-forming on a whim.
I picture Glory Road with special effects by Ray Harryhausen
Ah. I wasn’t familiar with the Martian Tales series. Cool.
For straight science fiction, Arthur C Clarke’s “A Fall of Moondust is one of my favorites, and I found his short-story “The Wind from the Sun to be most intriguing idea.
Farnhams Freehold by Heinlein was one of my favorites at the time.
I always thought it was an incredibly effective summary of strategic thought for those who are outnumbered. Whether it is war, politics, or whatever, just because you are currently powerless doesn't mean you are destined to lose. You must think carefully, be patient, and come up with a damn good plan. Trying to do it all at once is a guarantee that you'll lose.
Roger Zelazny really is one of the truly great writers, regardless of genre.
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke was a tough book and had me thinking thoughts far beyond the ken of a young teenager. It still gives me the willies when I am deep in some very theological tomes.
I wouldn’t trade any of these into my list of three, but I forgot to mention the Ursula K. LeGuin sword and sorcery stuff, which I’m sure influenced some of the Star Trek scripts about the Klingons (just a hunch, really).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursula_K._Le_Guin_bibliography
The twenty pages in Perelandra in which the devil tempts Eve are the best writing I've seen this side of Paul's letter to the Romans. Moses dispatches Eve's innocence in a paragraph, but Lewis's imagination was out-of-this-world.
Riverworld and World of Tiers.
That is the part I like the best!
Of course I’m a Ludlum fan (when he was alive - he seems to be the most prolific dead writer ever) along with sci-fi so that works.
“State of Fear” and “Next” are fav’s.
The Andromeda Strain.
Childhood’s End (Clarke 1953)
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is one of the greatest 4 book trilogies ever written. Don’t know if it qualifies as sci-fi as much as a satire of everything the human race has ever done.
Definitely.
Edward Bellamy Looking Backward. Give a view of the world in 1987 from an 1887 perspective. I bit hard to read unless you get the context of an early industrial revelation persona trying to figure out where it all leads. Spoiler is automation and socialism.
While it doesn’t surprise me to see you on this thread, this isn’t the sort of book I would expect to be read in Coos Bay ever. It was recommend to me in seminary by a brilliant priest, and is an absolute masterpiece in terms of weaving all sorts of inside Catholic material into it.
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