Jump to content

Looking for classic Sci-Fi and Fantasy that has aged well


Alytha

Recommended Posts

The Star Rover by Jack London, i's his only fantasy Novel, not a well known book but it is a terrific Read the book in its entirety can be found online

More then human , The Dreaming Jewels both by Theodore Sturgeon

House on The Borderland by William Hope Hodgeson

The Rediscovery of Man , Norstrilliana both by Cordwainer Smith

The Essential Ellison A 50 Year Retrospective by Harlan Ellison

The Ship of Ishtar by Abraham Merrit

The Dark World by Henry Kuttner

Black God's Kiss by C L Moore

Lest Darkness Fall by L Sprague De Camp and Lin Carter

Conan Hour Of the Dragon by Robert E Howard

City of The Signing Flame By Clark Ashton Smith ( all of his tories can be found online at the site The Eldritch Dark listed alphabetically)

The Berserker, Empire of the East both by Fred Saberhagen

The Dragon Lord by David Drake

Bloodstone, Darkness Weaves, Dark Crusade, Death Angels Shadow, Night Winds all by Karl Edward Wagner

The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag, Tunnel in the Sky , Starship Troopers , The Puppeteers, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress all by Robert Heinlein

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Time and Again both by Jack Finney

A Canticle for Leiberwitz by Walter Miller

Earth Abides George R Stewart

Jurgen by James Branch Cabell

Bill The Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison

Alas Babylon by Pat Frank

Time Storm , The Dragon and the George both by Gordon R Dickinson

Silverlock by Jon Myers Myers

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Star Rover by Jack London, i's his only fantasy Novel, not a well known book but it is a terrific Read the book in its entirety can be found online

The Ship of Ishtar by Abraham Merrit

Conan Hour Of the Dragon by Robert E Howard

I'd recommend the Star Rover as well, but the other two books I can't get behind you on. The Conan stories and Merrit's book are obviously products of their times and apart from like, the Red Sonja, most of the women Conan meets are subjected to submissive sex slave status. I also think I remember racial bigotry being obvious in some Conan stories as well.

Not saying that one shouldn't read these, or at least the Conan stories (Ishtar sucked imo), but not under the one condition of aging well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Philip K. Dick as mentioned before.

Stephen R. Donaldson for his Thomas Covenant series; the first and second ones.

It's one of those series in which the main protagonist finds himself transported from the the mundane world to a Land were magic exists. His reaction is rather atypical of most sorts of fantasy with the hero transported to another world. He also commits a pretty heinous act shortly after arriving. I've talked to one person who couldn't get past that part of the book to finish the series. If you can get past the fact that the main protagonist can be at times the least likable character in the series it's a rewarding read.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dying Inside - Silverberg

David Selig, eh? ;)

Philip K. Dick as mentioned before.

Stephen R. Donaldson for his Thomas Covenant series; the first and second ones.

It's one of those series in which the main protagonist finds himself transported from the the mundane world to a Land were magic exists. His reaction is rather atypical of most sorts of fantasy with the hero transported to another world. He also commits a pretty heinous act shortly after arriving. I've talked to one person who couldn't get past that part of the book to finish the series. If you can get past the fact that the main protagonist can be at times the least likable character in the series it's a rewarding read.

I made the mistake of reading The Mirror of her Dreams, which was about the worst piece of crap I've ever come across, so I'm not touching Donaldson with a 10foot pole, sorry.

Concerning Gene Wolfe, is he always a bit complicated, or is that just in the Latro books, because a book told from the perspective of an amnesiac just has to turn out confusing?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about "The Anubis Gates"?

I read it a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. It mostly takes place in the 1800s so there aren't any jarring technical aspects.

Also, as others has mentioned, Childhood's End by Clarke. I read it for the first time last year and thought it was very good. It doesn't focus on technical aspects as many of his books do, but rather on the fate of humanity when aliens come for a visit. As always, Clarke's characterizations are almost non-existent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Demon Princes by Jack Vance is very good and has aged well.

If you want to try something by Gene Wolfe, The Fifth Head of Cerberus is pretty good and short and not too confusing. I also think Sorcerer's House was very good. It was published just a few years ago and is his best book in a long time. Also, it is fairly easy to understand even if there are some really weird things going on. But then, it wouldn't be Gene Wolfe otherwise!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read it a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. It mostly takes place in the 1800s so there aren't any jarring technical aspects.

Also, as others has mentioned, Childhood's End by Clarke. I read it for the first time last year and thought it was very good. It doesn't focus on technical aspects as many of his books do, but rather on the fate of humanity when aliens come for a visit. As always, Clarke's characterizations are almost non-existent.

Aw, come on. Jan plays the piano. How much more do you want, you hippie?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

:lol: We have Conan recommended as a book whose gender issues have aged well, but no sign of Joanna Russ?

The Female Man is a pretty good bit of feminist SF which may even have aged a bit too well. We Who Are About To is slower and less vituperative, but still worth a read.

And don't write off Donaldson based off The Mirror of her Dreams, it's possibly his weakest series, the Gap cycle is awesome (though not quite old enough to be classic, alas).

As for Lem, I found Solaris kinda dull, but his The Futurological Congress was a lot of fun, with all sorts of hallucinogen-based Matrix/Inception-type perception shit going on.

And thirding or fourthing the Jack Vance recs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think somebody mentioned Joanna Russ at the beginning. Unfortunately I don't think I've ever heard of her...

Adore Jack Vance, I think I've got pretty much everything by him. The Lyonesse books are really really good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd recommend the Star Rover as well, but the other two books I can't get behind you on. The Conan stories and Merrit's book are obviously products of their times and apart from like, the Red Sonja, most of the women Conan meets are subjected to submissive sex slave status. I also think I remember racial bigotry being obvious in some Conan stories as well.

Not saying that one shouldn't read these, or at least the Conan stories (Ishtar sucked imo), but not under the one condition of aging well.

Robert E . Howards is one of the first writers to have gotten me interested in reading , Im aware of his short comings, but as story teller he's hard to beat , The same with Merritt. Both of the are important figures in modern Fantasy and science fiction They helped pave the way for everyone else that came after. What did you think of the other books on my list?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

go true classic, aly--

lucian's true history, the "snowy florimell" bits of the faerie queene, the second half of book III of paradise lost, frankenstein, dr jekyll & mr hyde, the island of dr. moreau, brave new world.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Robert E . Howards is one of the first writers to have gotten me interested in reading , Im aware of his short comings, but as story teller he's hard to beat , The same with Merritt. Both of the are important figures in modern Fantasy and science fiction They helped pave the way for everyone else that came after. What did you think of the other books on my list?

I agree that both of those guys are foundational and that Howard is great fun to read, my gripe was that I disagree that they've got a contemporary manner about them i.e. their treatment of women and black people. In a warts and all context I would say one should read Howard.

As for the other books on the list (that I've read), I loved The Star Rover and have always wondered why the book seemed to be in such obscurity.

Harlan Ellison is one of my favorite writers - I do have a lot/hate relationship with some of his stories in that the range of quality can be big but boy when he's on his A game he can write with the best of them.

Clark Ashton Smith was an old favorite of mine, I had a phase when I read Howard, Smith and Lovecraft almost exclusively in high school but I haven't read that story. This might sound strange but I actually had all three of these books (the London, Ellison and Smith) recommended to me several times by a guy I came across in a suburb of Boston several times.

I tried reading Bloodstone but Wagner just kind of bored me and dropped it. The same goes for The Dragon and the George.

On the to-read list is Miller, Heinlen, Frank, Cabell, Hodgeson, Finney, Stewart, and Cordwainer Smith.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that I am the only Fredrick Pohl fan on this board. I wish some other people would read the Gateway series as it is probably my favorite Sci fi...

I did mention it in my post. Admittedly, I've only read the first book so far, were the sequels as good as the first one?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...