Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels

Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949–1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985[1][2] with a foreword by Michael Moorcock. Primarily, the book comprises 100 short essays on the selected works, covered in order of publication, without any ranking. It is considered an important critical summary of the science fiction field.[3][4][5]

First edition

Pringle followed Science Fiction with Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels (1988).[6] Xanadu followed Science Fiction with at least three more "100 Best" books (below).

Scope

In the introduction Pringle offers the working definition, "Science fiction is a form of fantastic fiction which exploits the imaginative perspectives of modern science." In turn, modern science is the "scientific world-view ... as it has come to be accepted by the intelligent layperson", which arguably "first became common property in the mid to late 19th century."[7]

Within fiction he distinguishes science fiction from "Supernatural Horror" and "Heroic Fantasy". They may be represented by Dracula and The Lord of the Rings, featuring "the irruption of some supernatural force into the everyday world" and "set in completely imaginary worlds" respectively. He also names the subclass "Fabulations", which do not belong in this book "unless they have a significant scientific or technological content".[8][NB 1]

In contrast, science fiction has a real-world setting and "fantastic developments which are explicable in terms of the scientific world-view." World-view does not mean accepted theory or fact: "many sf writers cheat: they use sleight-of-hand rather than genuine scientific knowledge." "The skilful use of pseudo-science and gobbledygook" may be good enough to exploit the world-view.[9]

The time period covered is approximately that for science fiction as a category of book publication, although the selected books were not all published in that category.[10]

Pringle admits that fewer than thirty selections may generously be called even "masterpieces of their sort". On the whole,[11]

Some of them are old favourites of my own ... Some are other people's favourites, novels which have been outstandingly popular or influential, or which seem to be especially good representatives of their type. A small minority, perhaps as many as ten, are books for which I have little or no personal enthusiasm: they have been included for the sake of balance and variety.

The List

The 100 Best Novels
TitleAuthorPublished
Nineteen Eighty-FourGeorge Orwell1949
Earth AbidesGeorge R. Stewart1949
The Martian ChroniclesRay Bradbury1950
The Puppet MastersRobert A. Heinlein1951
The Day of the TriffidsJohn Wyndham1951
LimboBernard Wolfe1952
The Demolished ManAlfred Bester1953
Fahrenheit 451Ray Bradbury1953
Childhood's EndArthur C. Clarke1953
The Paradox MenCharles L. Harness1953
Bring the JubileeWard Moore1953
The Space MerchantsFrederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth1953
Ring Around the SunClifford D. Simak1953
More Than HumanTheodore Sturgeon1953
Mission of GravityHal Clement1954
A Mirror for ObserversEdgar Pangborn1954
The End of EternityIsaac Asimov1955
The Long TomorrowLeigh Brackett1955
The InheritorsWilliam Golding1955
The Stars My DestinationAlfred Bester1956
The Death of GrassJohn Christopher1956
The City and the StarsArthur C. Clarke1956
The Door into SummerRobert A. Heinlein1957
The Midwich CuckoosJohn Wyndham1957
Non-StopBrian Aldiss1958
A Case of ConscienceJames Blish1958
Have Space Suit—Will TravelRobert A. Heinlein1958
Time Out of JointPhilip K. Dick1959
Alas, BabylonPat Frank1959
A Canticle for LeibowitzWalter M. Miller Jr.1959
The Sirens of TitanKurt Vonnegut, Jr.1959
Rogue MoonAlgis Budrys1960
Venus Plus XTheodore Sturgeon1960
HothouseBrian Aldiss1962
The Drowned WorldJ. G. Ballard1962
A Clockwork OrangeAnthony Burgess1962
The Man in the High CastlePhilip K. Dick1962
Journey Beyond TomorrowRobert Sheckley1962
Way StationClifford D. Simak1963
Cat's CradleKurt Vonnegut, Jr.1963
GreybeardBrian Aldiss1964
Nova ExpressWilliam S. Burroughs1964
Martian Time-SlipPhilip K. Dick1964
The Three Stigmata of Palmer EldritchPhilip K. Dick1965
The WandererFritz Leiber1965
NorstriliaCordwainer Smith1965
Dr. BloodmoneyPhilip K. Dick1965
DuneFrank Herbert1965
The Crystal WorldJ. G. Ballard1966
Make Room! Make Room!Harry Harrison1966
Flowers for AlgernonDaniel Keyes1966
The Dream MasterRoger Zelazny1966
Stand on ZanzibarJohn Brunner1968
NovaSamuel R. Delany1968
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?Philip K. Dick1968
Camp ConcentrationThomas M. Disch1968
The Final ProgrammeMichael Moorcock1968
PavaneKeith Roberts1968
Heroes and VillainsAngela Carter1969
The Left Hand of DarknessUrsula K. Le Guin1969
The Palace of EternityBob Shaw1969
Bug Jack BarronNorman Spinrad1969
Tau ZeroPoul Anderson1970
Downward to the EarthRobert Silverberg1970
The Year of the Quiet SunWilson Tucker1970
334Thomas M. Disch1972
The Fifth Head of CerberusGene Wolfe1972
The Dancers at the End of TimeMichael Moorcock1972
CrashJ. G. Ballard1973
Looking Backward, from the Year 2000Mack Reynolds1973
The EmbeddingIan Watson1973
Walk to the End of the WorldSuzy McKee Charnas1974
The Centauri DeviceM. John Harrison1974
The DispossessedUrsula K. Le Guin1974
Inverted WorldChristopher Priest1974
High RiseJ. G. Ballard1975
GalaxiesBarry N. Malzberg1975
The Female ManJoanna Russ1975
OrbitsvilleBob Shaw1975
The AlterationKingsley Amis1976
Woman on the Edge of TimeMarge Piercy1976
Man PlusFrederik Pohl1976
MichaelmasAlgis Budrys1977
The Ophiuchi HotlineJohn Varley1977
Miracle VisitorsIan Watson1978
Engine SummerJohn Crowley1979
On Wings of SongThomas M. Disch1979
The Walking ShadowBrian Stableford1979
Juniper TimeKate Wilhelm1979
TimescapeGregory Benford1980
The Dreaming DragonsDamien Broderick1980
Wild SeedOctavia E. Butler1980
Riddley WalkerRussell Hoban1980
The Complete RoderickJohn Sladek1980
The Shadow of the TorturerGene Wolfe1980
The Unreasoning MaskPhilip José Farmer1981
Oath of FealtyLarry Niven and Jerry Pournelle1981
No Enemy But TimeMichael Bishop1982
The Birth of the People's Republic of AntarcticaJohn Calvin Batchelor1983
NeuromancerWilliam Gibson1984

100 Best series

Xanadu Publications of London published at least four "100 Best" books. Transatlantic editions or simply jacket and cover designs may variably use "the" and "hundred" in the subtitles. Carroll & Graf published the books in the U.S.

  • Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, by David Pringle (1985), foreword by Michael Moorcock
  • Crime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books, by H.R.F. Keating (1987), foreword by Patricia Highsmith
  • Horror: The 100 Best Books, edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman (November 1988)
  • Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, by James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock (November 1988)

Xanadu commissioned Moorcock to write Fantasy. When it became "clear that I would not be able to deliver it for a long time, the publishers and I agreed that James Cawthorn was the person to take it over." Cawthorn was the primary author of the selections "mainly", according to Cawthorn, and of the text "by far", according to Moorcock. (Fantasy, "Introduction", p. 9. The introduction, pp. 8–10, comprises a long section signed by Cawthorn, a short one signed by Moorcock, and joint unsigned "Notes and Acknowledgments".)

Science Fiction is a collection of 100 reviews, nearly uniform in length (all one to two pages), with a moderately long introduction by the author.[12]

Horror comprises essays on 100 different books by 100(?) horror writers, apparently more-than-one- to less-than-six pages in length.[13]

Fantasy is a collection of 100 reviews, nearly uniform in length (little short of two pages), with a short introduction by the authors separately and jointly.[14]

Reception

Dave Langford reviewed Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels for White Dwarf #73, and stated that "Most of my favourites are there, and only a scattering of dodgy selections - like Mack Reynolds, an 'ideas and concepts' man whose writing makes my teeth hurt."[15]

Notes

  1. Example fabulations are Brian Aldiss, The Malacia Tapestry (1976) and John Crowley, Little, Big (1981). Pringle's subsequent book Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels (1988) covers both of those works and its introduction adds the "Fabulation" category more formally. Briefly, in a fabulation the real-world setting is distorted "in ways other than the supernaturally horrific" (Modern Fantasy, 19).

References

  1. Pringle, David (1985). Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949–1984 (UK ed.). Xanadu Publications. ISBN 0-947761-11-X.
  2. Pringle, David (1987). Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949–1984 (US ed.). Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-88184-259-1.
  3. "Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Lists". Worlds Without End. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  4. "Science Fiction ...: Editorial Reviews: From Library Journal". amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  5. David Auerbach (2010-04-02). "The Prescient Science Fiction of Thomas M. Disch". TheMillions.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  6. Pringle, David (1988). Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels. Grafton Books.
  7. Science Fiction, 9.
  8. Science Fiction, 11, 16.
  9. Science Fiction, 11–12.
  10. Science Fiction, 14.
  11. Science Fiction, 15.
  12. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?29203 Science Fiction. First edition contents at ISFDB.
  13. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?297925 Horror. First edition contents at ISFDB.
  14. http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?187153 Fantasy. Carroll & Graf, 1991, contents at ISFDB. Pagination matches the 1st Carroll & Graf edition; page-counts match the Xanadu editions.
  15. Langford, Dave (January 1986). "Critical Mass". White Dwarf. Games Workshop (Issue 73): 9.
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