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1rojse
Seeing as though everyone loves poll threads, what are the best books from the Golden Era of SF? (since this is the "Early Science Fiction" group, will be presumed to be from 1930 to the end of 1959, as per the group description).
Here's what I came up with:
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Obviously, everyone will think I am wrong, but I suppose that is what makes these fun. What books would you suggest?
Here's what I came up with:
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Obviously, everyone will think I am wrong, but I suppose that is what makes these fun. What books would you suggest?
2ogodei
Are we restricted to novels? So much of the great work over that time frame was in shorts for the magazine trade. But perhaps the Best of Classic Short Stories is for another thread.
3dukeallen
Since I prefer anthologies from the Golden Era, perhaps I can meet both of the above posters halfway.
Some of my faves:
Adventures in Time and Space
Adventures on Other Planets
My Best Science Fiction Story
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology
For full novels, I enjoyed:
After Worlds Collide, which I thought was a much improved follow up to When Worlds Collide.
Voyage of the Space Beagle
Martian Chronicles would make a lot of these lists...
And although considered un-pc now, a list-topper for me would be Armageddon 2419.
Some of my faves:
Adventures in Time and Space
Adventures on Other Planets
My Best Science Fiction Story
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology
For full novels, I enjoyed:
After Worlds Collide, which I thought was a much improved follow up to When Worlds Collide.
Voyage of the Space Beagle
Martian Chronicles would make a lot of these lists...
And although considered un-pc now, a list-topper for me would be Armageddon 2419.
4stevetempo
Of the novels from that era that I've read:
Foundation by Asimov
Lest Darkness Fall by De Camp
Bring the Jubilee by Moore -- one of my all time favorite AH/TT novels
War of the Wing-Men by Anderson
Foundation by Asimov
Lest Darkness Fall by De Camp
Bring the Jubilee by Moore -- one of my all time favorite AH/TT novels
War of the Wing-Men by Anderson
5rojse
(2) Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
War of the Wing-Men, Poul Anderson (1958)
Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951)
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology, Herbert James Campbell (ed)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
My Best Science Fiction Story, Leo Margulies (ed)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (1941)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
Voyage of the Space Beagle, A E Van Vogt (1950)
Adventures on Other Planets, Donald A Wollheim (ed) (1955)
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie (1934)
I had to add my vote to the "Martian Chronicles." Excellent book.
War of the Wing-Men, Poul Anderson (1958)
Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951)
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology, Herbert James Campbell (ed)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
My Best Science Fiction Story, Leo Margulies (ed)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (1941)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
Voyage of the Space Beagle, A E Van Vogt (1950)
Adventures on Other Planets, Donald A Wollheim (ed) (1955)
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie (1934)
I had to add my vote to the "Martian Chronicles." Excellent book.
6RBeffa
Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
DukeAllen mentions having just read this on another thread.
I picked this one up about 8-10 years ago and credit it with really reviving my interest in golden age science fiction. It is a nice collection. After that I really kept my eyes open for more anthologies of that era. There is a lot of great golden age short fiction.
Someone mentioned the origin story for "the day the earth stood still". I'm pretty sure that story is included in this collection. The story is "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates.
DukeAllen mentions having just read this on another thread.
I picked this one up about 8-10 years ago and credit it with really reviving my interest in golden age science fiction. It is a nice collection. After that I really kept my eyes open for more anthologies of that era. There is a lot of great golden age short fiction.
Someone mentioned the origin story for "the day the earth stood still". I'm pretty sure that story is included in this collection. The story is "Farewell to the Master" by Harry Bates.
7GwenH
I agree with most of the books already mentioned. Off the top of my head, I might add:
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
8dukeallen
RBeffa: I was never a big fan of The Day the Earth Stood Still, but I'd love it if they ever filmed something closer to "Farewell to the Master"
9rojse
2) Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
(2) Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
War of the Wing-Men, Poul Anderson (1958)
I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951)
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology, Herbert James Campbell (ed)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
My Best Science Fiction Story, Leo Margulies (ed)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (1941)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
Voyage of the Space Beagle, A E Van Vogt (1950)
Adventures on Other Planets, Donald A Wollheim (ed) (1955)
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie (1934)
(2) Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
War of the Wing-Men, Poul Anderson (1958)
I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951)
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology, Herbert James Campbell (ed)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
My Best Science Fiction Story, Leo Margulies (ed)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (1941)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
Voyage of the Space Beagle, A E Van Vogt (1950)
Adventures on Other Planets, Donald A Wollheim (ed) (1955)
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie (1934)
10usnmm2
Not in any order;
Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth (1953)
City by Simak (1952)
The Martian Chronicles By Bradbury (1950)
Dragon Under the Sea (also known as "Under Pressure" by Herbert (1956)
Mr. Adam by Pat Frank (1946)
I, Robot by Asimov (1950)
Non Stop by Aldiss (1958)
Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Heinlein (1958)
Many of the ones mentioned I have read and are excellent and many others are on my radar so to speak for future reading.
Space Merchants by Pohl and Kornbluth (1953)
City by Simak (1952)
The Martian Chronicles By Bradbury (1950)
Dragon Under the Sea (also known as "Under Pressure" by Herbert (1956)
Mr. Adam by Pat Frank (1946)
I, Robot by Asimov (1950)
Non Stop by Aldiss (1958)
Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Heinlein (1958)
Many of the ones mentioned I have read and are excellent and many others are on my radar so to speak for future reading.
12usnmm2
Sorry I sould have been clearer. All the ones I listed I have read. I was refering to those books mentioned by other people.
Example; I've read and enjoyed A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M Miller Jr. (1959) and Childhoods End by Clark.
Where as Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon (1937), After Worlds Collide Philip Wylie (1934) I have not read but they are on my short list for future reads.
Example; I've read and enjoyed A Canticle for Leibowitz Walter M Miller Jr. (1959) and Childhoods End by Clark.
Where as Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon (1937), After Worlds Collide Philip Wylie (1934) I have not read but they are on my short list for future reads.
13RBeffa
I hesitate to call this "best of the golden era" cause it really isn't, but it IS interesting ... A month or two ago I read a short story in Groff Conklin's 12 Great Classics of Science Fiction. The story, by Cordwainer Smith was "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell". This was a genuinely unusual story and I thought rather "out there" for it's original publication of 1962. When I have strange dreams about a story I generally figure it has had more than a normal reaction to me. I also thought it not really an old out of date story. It deals with human interaction with a class of underpeople that have been created - underpeople are not citizens, but what is unusual about them is that they have been created from genetic modifications of animals. So C'Mell is cat derived (the C') and a real girlygirl. Anyway, this prompted me to explore a little more and these series of short stories were collected long ago in two books, Space Lords and The Instrumentality of Mankind. I've been nibbling on the stories and they are really unusual for their time, in my opinion. They have also been collected and re-released fairly recently it seems.
I don't think I've read Cordwainer Smith before, although I must have come across a story or two of his somewhere.
Any Cordwainer fans out there? Since he died rather youngish (early 50's) he didn't really write a whole lot of stories.
I don't think I've read Cordwainer Smith before, although I must have come across a story or two of his somewhere.
Any Cordwainer fans out there? Since he died rather youngish (early 50's) he didn't really write a whole lot of stories.
14LolaWalser
I read recently his Norstrilia--great fun--and C'Mell appears in it, along with other animal-derived people. "Cordwainer Smith" must have been a VERY interesting person, check out his bio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordwainer_Smith
15ogodei
> 13
I'm a huge Cordwainer Smith fan. NEFSA press recently put out all his SF work in two volumes: The Rediscovery of Man (all the short stories, novellas and juvenilia) and Norstrilia (his only full-length SF novel). Both are worth picking up.
Smith (real name Paul Linebarger) died fairly young so he doesn't have a huge amount of output. He spent much of his life in China and his story telling style was greatly influenced by Chinese literature. His work comes off as fairly unique to an English speaking audience. I personally like the style.
I will posit Scanners Live in Vain, published in Fantasy, Jan 1950, as one of the best short stories of the era. The story has been anthologized many, many times and may be what you have read before. That, or The Game of Rat and Dragon, another of his better known works.
Edited to fix touchstones
I'm a huge Cordwainer Smith fan. NEFSA press recently put out all his SF work in two volumes: The Rediscovery of Man (all the short stories, novellas and juvenilia) and Norstrilia (his only full-length SF novel). Both are worth picking up.
Smith (real name Paul Linebarger) died fairly young so he doesn't have a huge amount of output. He spent much of his life in China and his story telling style was greatly influenced by Chinese literature. His work comes off as fairly unique to an English speaking audience. I personally like the style.
I will posit Scanners Live in Vain, published in Fantasy, Jan 1950, as one of the best short stories of the era. The story has been anthologized many, many times and may be what you have read before. That, or The Game of Rat and Dragon, another of his better known works.
Edited to fix touchstones
16rojse
(3) Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
(2) I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
(2) Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
(2) The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Non Stop, Brian Aldiss (1958)
War of the Wing-Men, Poul Anderson (1958)
Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951)
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology, Herbert James Campbell (ed)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
Mr. Adam, Pat Frank (1946)
Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Robert Heinlein (1958)
Dragon Under the Sea, Frank Herbert (1956)
My Best Science Fiction Story, Leo Margulies (ed)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (1941)
City, Clifford D. Simak (1952)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
Voyage of the Space Beagle, A E Van Vogt (1950)
Adventures on Other Planets, Donald A Wollheim (ed) (1955)
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie (1934)
(2) I, Robot, Isaac Asimov (1950)
(2) Adventures in Time and Space, Raymond J Healy (ed) (1946)
(2) The Space Merchants, Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth (1953)
Non Stop, Brian Aldiss (1958)
War of the Wing-Men, Poul Anderson (1958)
Foundation, Isaac Asimov (1951)
Demolished Man, Alfred Bester (1953)
Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester (1955)
Tomorrow's Universe A Science Fiction Anthology, Herbert James Campbell (ed)
Childhood's End, Arthur C Clarke (1953)
The City and the Stars, Arthur C. Clarke (1953)
Mr. Adam, Pat Frank (1946)
Have Spacesuit Will Travel, Robert Heinlein (1958)
Dragon Under the Sea, Frank Herbert (1956)
My Best Science Fiction Story, Leo Margulies (ed)
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M Miller Jr. (1959)
Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore (1953)
Lest Darkness Fall by L. Sprague De Camp (1941)
City, Clifford D. Simak (1952)
Star Maker, Olaf Stapledon (1937)
Voyage of the Space Beagle, A E Van Vogt (1950)
Adventures on Other Planets, Donald A Wollheim (ed) (1955)
After Worlds Collide, Philip Wylie (1934)
17RBeffa
Back in message #6 I waxed nostalgic over how much I liked the old golden age anthology Adventures in Time and Space. While cataloging some old sci fi mags, I happened upon Lester del Rey's glowing praise for this anthology in the February 1976 issue of Analog Science Fiction/Science fact when a trade paperback edition was released of the 1946 original. I'll put a big excerpt in here.
"... This is a huge book, running to about half a million words, the equivalent of eight full-length novels. It has 35 stories, some of them long novellas, from much of the Golden Age of science fiction.
When this book was first planned, the editors had the entire field of science fiction upon which to draw. Because almost no stroies had ever been reprinted, they were able to choose solely on the basis of merit. Since then, no anthologist has had the same freedom. The result was pretty much every reader's dream of what great science fiction was.
For twenty-five years, I used the book as an example when I wanted to persuade someone that science fiction was worth reading. I must have purchased more than twenty copies during that time, but it was worth the cost; most of those who read the volume became confirmed readers of science fiction.
It's still a marvelous collection of great stories, and it should unquestionably be used in every school which is teaching science fiction ... If you don't have a copy of the original hardcover, buy it now. Personally, I intend to stock up extra copies for future lending."
"... This is a huge book, running to about half a million words, the equivalent of eight full-length novels. It has 35 stories, some of them long novellas, from much of the Golden Age of science fiction.
When this book was first planned, the editors had the entire field of science fiction upon which to draw. Because almost no stroies had ever been reprinted, they were able to choose solely on the basis of merit. Since then, no anthologist has had the same freedom. The result was pretty much every reader's dream of what great science fiction was.
For twenty-five years, I used the book as an example when I wanted to persuade someone that science fiction was worth reading. I must have purchased more than twenty copies during that time, but it was worth the cost; most of those who read the volume became confirmed readers of science fiction.
It's still a marvelous collection of great stories, and it should unquestionably be used in every school which is teaching science fiction ... If you don't have a copy of the original hardcover, buy it now. Personally, I intend to stock up extra copies for future lending."
18sf_addict
3 early favourites for me are
Voyage of the Space Beagle , Van Vogt
End of Eternity, my favourite Asimov read, and
The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson
Voyage of the Space Beagle , Van Vogt
End of Eternity, my favourite Asimov read, and
The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson
19johnnyapollo
Not added yet:
Fahrenheit 451 1953 by Ray Bradbury
Flowers for Algernon 1958 by Daniel Keyes
Gladiator 1930 by Philip Wylie
I Am Legend 1954 by Richard Matheson
Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949 by George Orwell
Who Goes There 1938 by John W. Campbell Jr
Edit: fixed the touchstone for the Gladiator (basis for Superman, in case you didn't know)...
Fahrenheit 451 1953 by Ray Bradbury
Flowers for Algernon 1958 by Daniel Keyes
Gladiator 1930 by Philip Wylie
I Am Legend 1954 by Richard Matheson
Nineteen Eighty-Four 1949 by George Orwell
Who Goes There 1938 by John W. Campbell Jr
Edit: fixed the touchstone for the Gladiator (basis for Superman, in case you didn't know)...