Τα 100 καλύτερα βιβλία επιστημονικής φαντασίας

Η επιστημονική φαντασία αποτελεί παλιό πάθος μου. Οι Ασίμωφ, Κλάρκ, Ντικ και πολλοί άλλοι, στοίχειωσαν την εφηβεία μου με ιστορίες από μακρινούς κόσμους, διαγαλαξιακά ταξίδια, περίεργες μορφές ζωής, κτλ.
Η λίστα του this recording είναι αρκετά υποκειμενική και σίγουρα με βρίσκει αντίθετα ως προς τη σειρά, παρ’ όλα αυτά περιέχει μερικά από τα σημαντικότερα έργα φαντασία στην ιστορία της λογοτεχνίας και είναι μια ωραία ευκαιρία να ξαναεπισκεφθείτε τα βιβλιοπωλεία για να τα ανακαλύψετε. Φυσικά και έχει σημαντικές ελλείψες: δεν περιέχει για παράδειγμα William Gibson ή Stanislav Lem δύο από τους σημαντικότερους δημιουργούς του είδους. Παρόλα αυτά είναι μια αρχή. Τα γεμάτα φαντασία εξώφυλλα, σίγουρα προσθέτουν στην εμπειρία που λέγεται νουβέλα επιστημονικής φαντασίας.

100. The Word For World Is Forest by Ursula K. LeGuin

99. Sorcerer’s Son by Phyllis Eisenstein

98. Beggars in Spain by Nancy Kress

97. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

96. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

95. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke

94. The Company by K.J. Parker

93. An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe

92. Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

91. Danny, The Champion of the World by Roald Dahl

90. Camp Concentration by Thomas Disch

89. Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner

88. Song of Kali by Dan Simmons

87. Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card

86. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller

85. Sphere by Michael Crichton

84. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin

83. The Alteration by Kingsley Amis

82. The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

81. The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

80. Watership Down by Richard Adams

79. Griffin’s Egg by Michael Swanwick

78. Altered Carbon by Richard K. Morgan

77. Free Live Free by Gene Wolfe

76. Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

75. Ringworld by Larry Niven

74. Schismatrix by Bruce Sterling

73. Old Man’s War by John Scalzi

72. Maske: Thaery by Jack Vance

71. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley

70. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

69. Flow My Tears The Policeman Said by Philip K. Dick

68. The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

67. The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson

66. The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

65. A Song for Lya by George R.R. Martin

64. At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft

63. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

62. Wildlife by James Patrick Kelly

61. The Book of Knights by Yves Maynard

60. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

59. Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman

58. Nightwings by Robert Silverberg

57. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

56. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut

55. Gravity’s Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon

54. The Book of the Short Sun by Gene Wolfe

53. The Forever War by Joe Haldeman

52. Foundation by Isaac Asimov

51. The Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

50. The Wizard Knight by Gene Wolfe

49. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

48. The Demon Princes by Jack Vance

47. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

46. The Baroque Cycle by Neal Stephenson

45. Alastor by Jack Vance

44. The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

43. Flatland by Edwin Abbott

42. Farmer in the Sky by Robert Heinlein

41. A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick

40. Animal Farm by George Orwell

39. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

38. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

37. Lyonesse by Jack Vance

36. Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein

35. True Names by Vernor Vinge

34. Ubik by Philip K. Dick

33. The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons

32. Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Heinlein

31. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

30. A Fire Upon The Deep by Vernor Vinge

29. Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

28. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon

27. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

26. 1984 by George Orwell

25. I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

24. The Cadwal Chronicles by Jack Vance

23. Lost Horizon by James Hilton

22. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

21. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

20. The Fifth Head of Cerebus by Gene Wolfe

19. A Song of Ice And Fire by George R.R. Martin

18. Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein

17. The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay

16. The Master and the Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

 15. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
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14. All My Sins Remembered by Joe Haldeman

13. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

12. Planet of Adventure by Jack Vance

11. Dune by Frank Herbert

10. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

9. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin

8. The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe

7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley

6. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

5. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

4. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. LeGuin

3. The Dying Earth by Jack Vance

2. The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein
Science fiction and fantasy have played roughly equal part in this list, but there is a fantasy element to Heinlein’s ultimate masterpiece that rises above the rest. Heinlein imagines a world both breaktakingly real and manifestly impossible. He makes us care more deeply about unliving things that never existed than the people in our own lives. This is the import of fantasy. Then you have that the story of Mike and Wyoh and his friends builds on technology…geology…physics…politics…human rights. There is no subject that is not more enriched by this text’s understanding of it.
1. The Book of the Long Sun by Gene Wolfe

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