Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, 1949-1984 by David Pringle
Note: You may also be interested in Stuart’s reviews of:
Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels, 1946-1987.
Science Fiction: The 101 Best Novels, 1985-2010.
This book was such a great guide for me while growing up in Hawaii. Without any real sci-fi fan community, conventions, or the Internet, there really weren’t many places to get good SF reading tips. Of course I knew every bookstore in town, both new and used, so I didn’t have trouble finding the big names like Arthur C. Clarke, Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, etc. And then I found a list of all the Hugo and Nebula winners for Best Novel, and made it my mission to track down every one of these books in the used stacks. But I didn’t really have a good way to choose lesser-known, older titles until I discovered Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, in which David Pringle, the Scottish SF editor of Interzone magazine, selected his favorite 100 SF novels published in English between 1949-1985.
Pringle had a clear mission for Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels: he wanted to introduce a lot of relatively obscure SF novels, with a healthy weighting of UK writers, which many American SF fans may have never heard of. He also chose a very wide range of book types, ranging from the dystopian classic 1984, Golden Age space operas from the 1950s, post-apocalyptic stories like A Canticle for Leibowitz, New Wave writers from the 60s and 70s like Samuel L. Delany, Roger Zelazny, Phillip K Dick, J.G. Ballard, Thomas M. Disch, Michael Moorcock, Norman Spinrad, Ursula K. LeGuin, Robert Silverberg, and ending with William Gibson’s cyberpunk classic Neuromancer. He also highlights books that many fans might not consider crowd-favorites, but really underscores the incredible variety of stories and settings that only the SF field can deliver. I guarantee that you will encounter dozens of books you will love, but almost as many that you’ve not heard of, and quite a few that will have you asking, “What was Pringle thinking? That was terrible!” Instead of just choosing popular titles, he delved deeper into the genre than many others would have. There are many unusual choices, like William S. Burroughs, Barry N. Malzberg, Angela Carter, Kingsley Amis, Joanna Russ, and Marge Piercy, literary writers at the fringe of the genre, but that’s what makes his selections unique and daring.
Each entry is two pages long — they are written succinctly and give the all-important historical and literary context for each book, along with a basic outline of the plot. Occasionally he will include some spoilers, so be careful, but his reviews are surprisingly entertaining to read. He is also very honest in describing what type of books they are, so you can immediately eliminate books that don’t fit your taste. I really took away a better understanding of the history and evolution of the genre, something that informs my reviews and reading today. It’s amazing how broadly and deeply he’s read in the genre.
For many years I used this book as a guide to track down the more obscure titles in various used bookstores. I managed to get most of them, but even 30 years later I’ve only read 49 of them! It may never come true, but I really want to read all of them someday. Here is the list in chronological order — how many of them have you read already? I’ve put an asterisk next to those I’ve read.
- Nineteen Eighty-Four* by George Orwell
- Earth Abides* by George R. Stewart
- The Martian Chronicles* by Ray Bradbury
- The Puppet Masters* by Robert A. Heinlein
- The Day of the Triffids* by John Wyndham
- Limbo by Bernard Wolfe
- The Demolished Man* by Alfred Bester
- Fahrenheit 451* by Ray Bradbury
- Childhood’s End* by Arthur C. Clarke
- The Paradox Men by Charles L. Harnes
- Bring the Jubilee* by Ward Moore
- The Space Merchants* by Frederik Pohl & C.M. Kornbluth
- Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak
- More than Human* by Theodore Sturgeon
- Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
- A Mirror for Observers* by Edgar Pangborn
- The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
- The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
- The Inheritors by William Golding
- The Stars My Destination* by Alfred Bester
- The Death of Grass by John Christopher
- The City and the Stars* by Arthur C. Clarke
- The Door Into Summer* by Robert A. Heinlein
- The Midwich Cuckoos* by John Wyndham
- Non-Stop* by Brian W. Aldiss
- A Case of Conscience* by James Blish
- Have Space-Suit — Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
- Time Out of Joint* by Philip K. Dick
- Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
- A Canticle for Leibowitz* by Walter M. Miller
- The Sirens of Titan* by Kurt Vonnegut
- Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
- Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
- Hothouse* by Brian W. Aldiss
- The Drowned World* by J.G. Ballard
- A Clockwork Orange* by Anthony Burgess
- The Man in the High Castle* by Philip K. Dick
- Journey Beyond Tomorrow by Robert Sheckley
- Way Station* by Clifford D. Simak
- Cat’s Cradle* by Kurt Vonnegut
- Greybeard by Brian W. Aldiss
- Nova Express by William S. Burroughs
- Martian Time-Slip* by Philip K. Dick
- The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch* by Philip K. Dick
- The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
- Norstrilia* by Cordwainer Smith
- Dr Bloodmoney* by Philip K. Dick
- Dune* by Frank Herbert
- The Crystal World* by J.G. Ballard
- Make Room! Make Room! By Harry Harrison
- Flowers for Algernon* by Daniel Keyes
- The Dream Master by Roger Zelazny
- Stand on Zanzibar* by John Brunner
- Nova* by Samuel L. Delany
- Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?* by Philip K. Dick
- Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
- The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock
- Pavane* by Keith Roberts
- Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter
- The Left Hand of Darkness* by Ursula K. LeGuin
- The Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw
- Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad
- Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
- Downward to the Earth* by Robert Silverberg
- The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker
- 334 by Thomas M. Disch
- The Fifth Head of Cerberus* by Gene Wolfe
- The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
- Crash by J.G. Ballard
- Looking Backward from the Year 2000 by Mack Reynolds
- The Embedding by Ian Watson
- Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
- The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
- The Dispossessed* by Ursula K. LeGuin
- Inverted World by Christopher Priest
- High-Rise* by J.G. Ballard
- Galaxies by Barry N. Malzberg
- The Female Man by Joanna Russ
- Orbitsville by Bob Shaw
- The Alteration by Kingsley Amis
- Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
- Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
- Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
- The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
- Miracle Visitors by Ian Watson
- Engine Summer by John Crowley
- On Wings of Song by Thomas M. Disch
- The Walking Shadow by Brian Stableford
- Juniper Time by Kate Wilhelm
- Timescape* by Gregory Benford
- The Dreaming Dragons by Damien Broderick
- Wild Seed* by Octavia Butler
- Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
- Roderick and Roderick at Random by John Sladek
- The Book of the New Sun* by Gene Wolfe
- The Unreasoning Mask by Philip Jose Farmer
- Oath of Fealty* by Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle
- No Enemy but Time* by Michael Bishop
- The Birth of the People’s Republic of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor
- Neuromancer* by William Gibson
This has been one of my Bibles ever since it came out. And let’s not forget about this one, Stuart: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61YLX6l0XwL._SL500_SX322_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg
Sandy, how did you know this was next on my list! Will be posting a review soon.
Lucky guess! LOL! I like the Pringle “Ultimate Guide” a lot, but feel he was very stingy with his star ratings. Still, a very worthy book to have on the shelf for any sci-fi lover. I look forward to reading your review, Stuart!
Of all the many titles that I’ve read from this list, there was only one that I did NOT care for: Damien Broderick’s “The Dreaming Dragons.” Oddly enough, Broderick was the dude who came out with a sequel to the Pringle volume a few years back: http://images-eu.amazon.com/images/P/1933065397.LZZZZZZZ.jpg
Sandy, I also read Damian Broderick and Paul Di Filippo’s Science Fiction: 101 Best Novels (1985-2010), and while the list itself has a ton of great books, I found the descriptions extremely annoying at times, trying to be too clever and erudite.
Embarrassed to say that while I have read around 2/3 of the original Pringle suggestions, I have not read one–not a single–book from the Broderick collection…yet. A clear reflection of my reading tastes and preferences, I suppose. Guess my work is clearly cut out for me now….
That does say a lot about your tastes! In any case, you better start cracking if you want to finish them all in this lifetime~
THE DOOR INTO SUMMER? Really?
Stuart, I’m curious; on which island did you grow up?
Marion, I liked Door into Summer but thought Puppet Masters was terrible. And I grew up in Honolulu, which used to have Waldenbooks (for new books) and several used bookstores (Jelly’s, Gecko, Froggies, Interlude, Rainbow) in the 1980s, but now is sadly reduced to 1 Barnes & Noble at Ala Moana, and 2 Jelly’s used bookstores.
That has a lot to do with Amazon and other online content pushing out physical books. And I don’t think there was ever an organzied SF fandom in Hawaii, or if so it was well hidden from me.
I liked DOOR INTO SUMMER, too, but one of the top 100? Meh, I can’t see it.
The big island has its own SF convention now, in September, and fandom is starting to coalesce around it. It’s called HawaiiCon. At first one was mostly TV related but they made a shift last year and included more writers, and this year John Scalzi is the Guest of Honor.
Seriously? I wish it had come much sooner. I spent my entire childhood reading SF in Hawaii without a single person to share my thoughts with. In fact, it’s only after finding GR and FanLit that I finally feel ‘among friends’.
The Door into Summer was probably my favorite book when I was a kid. I read it many times. (But that doesn’t mean it belongs on this list.) TIme for a re-read.
I liked it. Just not sure it’s one of the “100 best.”
By quick estimate I have read only 40 of the titles listed. Nice to have a ‘new’ list to look into!
Hi Becky, good to have a goal to work towards. I’ve had the list for over 30 years and I’m still only halfway through!
Only 22 not read, but I have at least a third of those on the shelf at this time. Now to find the time to read them.
Galen, my hat goes off to you for topping the 75% mark and having most of the rest. One of my favorite activities as a kid was hunting these books down in paperback, since many were quite obscure. I was quite proud to find copies of Revolt of the Triffids and Martian Chronicles, along with most of the early Ballantine titles (Childhood’s End, More than Human, Bring the Jubilee, Space Merchants, etc). It was like a treasure hunt known only to me.
One of these days (in the neighborhood of June/July, ha) I’ll have to sit down and re-read The Female Man.
Yes, that book definitely needs to be read just to capture the zeitgeist of the times.
FanLit folks, let’s try to get this entire list reviewed. And the fantasy list, too, of course. Stuart’s review of Pringle’s fantasy list will be going up sometime this week.