Today on Twitter, (you know, the place we go when we want to feel like we’re a writer even though we’re not writing), my pal Moses Siregar III (author of epic Fantasy awesomeness The Black God’s War) posted a link to a free Fantasy and Science Fiction course he’s taking online. I checked it out, but balked when I read the list of recommended reading. Not that there is anything wrong with reading:
- Grimm — Children’s and Household Tales (Lucy Crane translation with Walter Crane illustrations)
- Carroll — Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass
- Stoker — Dracula (This reading is somewhat longer than most of the others. You may want to begin it in advance.)
- Shelley — Frankenstein
- Hawthorne & Poe — Stories and Poems (Hawthorne’s Mosses from an Old Manse includes “The Birthmark,” “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” and “The Artist of the Beautiful” and his Twice-Told Tales includes “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment”; The Portable Poe includes all the suggested Poe stories and poems
- Wells — The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Invisible Man, “The Country of the Blind,” “The Star”
- Burroughs & Gilman — A Princess of Mars & Herland
- Bradbury — The Martian Chronicles (not available for legal, free download)
- LeGuin — The Left Hand of Darkness (not available for legal, free download)
- Doctorow — Little Brother (This reading is somewhat longer than most of the others. You may want to begin it in advance.)
And the professor, Eric S. Rabkin, has quite the list of teaching and research qualifications, so I’m sure this class will be beneficial if you’re interested.
Here’s my problem: that list reminds me too much of what I read in college, even though that could be a list of best books I read in college. As an English and Philosophy major with only a couple classes focused on Creative Writing, most of my assigned reading focused on classics from the 19th and early 20th centuries, if not way earlier than that.
Double majoring and being a slow reader meant I read little else than I was assigned. After college I stopped writing (perhaps because I hadn’t read anything I’d wanted to imitate?), and it wasn’t until my roommate in seminary introduced me to the Dune and its six prequels that my love of writing and reading fiction reignited. I’ve tried reading as much as possible across Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror since graduating seminary, but I still feel overwhelmed by how many amazing authors I haven’t read.
10 Science Fiction Authors I’ve read and would recommend:
T.C. McCarthy – GERMLINE (military SF, genetic manipulation), Justin Macumber – HAYWIRE (super soldiers, gen manip), Karina Fabian – MIND OVER MIND (telepathy), John F.X. Sundman – ACTS OF THE APOSTLES (genetic manipulation), Matthew Wayne Selznick – BRAVE MEN RUN (genetic manipulation), Orson Scott Card – ENDER’S GAME (pure awesome?), Hugh Howey – WOOL OMNIBUS (post apocalyptic survival), Nathan Lowell – QUARTER SHARE (Solar Clipper Trader Tales), and then two in non-fiction: Ben Bova‘s THE CRAFT OF WRITING SCIENCE FICTION THAT SELLS, and Michio Kaku‘s PHYSICS OF THE IMPOSSIBLE.
Another friend from the Adventures in Sci-Fi Publishing podcast, Brent Bowen, shared this “Basic Science Fiction Library.”
I’m curious what 10 or whatever authors you’d recommend if you were creating a class on Science Fiction?
If you need a more specified aspect of Science Fiction, how about including military SF, genetic manipulation, berserkers/horror mashup, telepathic characters, space opera, human machine interface, and with an adult focus (i.e. not YA or MG).
I loved Orson Scott Cards’ Enders’ Game!
Here’s an epic scifi author I love, one of my favs: Timothy Zahn. His latest Star Wars are Allegiance and Choices of One. His latest original work is Judgment at Proteus, one of my fav books ever, but you can’t read it without reading the rest of the series first, which is also epic! 
(Quadrail series, also known as Frank Compton series) His book, The Green and the Gray is a very interesting spin on science fantasy, quite interesting. His characters and plots always draw me in. I’ve heard a few books to stay away from by him though, including Manta’s Gift.
I’d say Ann McCaffery would have to be on the list somewhere.
Here’s my incomplete list:
Stephen King’s “On Writing” would be the go to textbook along with Strunk and White’s book. Easy choices and high recommended.
HP Lovecraft would be there. Specifically “The Temple”, “Dagon”, “The Statement of Randolph Carter”, “The Picture in the House”, “The Music of Erich Zann”, “The White Ship”, “Nyarlathotep”, “Under the Pyramids”, “At the Mountains of Madness”, and of course “The Call of Cthulhu”. BJ Harrison and the fine folks at HPPodcraft.com have some fine readings of these and other Lovecraft works.
Moving on from this Douglas Adams would be a good example of humor interjected with science fiction. Also it’s Douglas Adams.
More humor: PG Wodehouse. Jeeves can do it all.
Nathan Lowell’s Golden Age of the Solar Clipper tales are excellent. A good example of “normal” space life.
Anything Scott Siglar. I would title this part of the class “How to Make a Reader Forget Their Surroundings”. Or “Action Sequence 101″.
Phil Rossi’s “Crescent”. Space Horror. That one scene in the derelict spacecraft and the thing following the main character… *shudder*
Ted Chiang’s “Exhalation”. Hope in the face of the inevidible. Lovely story. I’ve never cared for a machine (?) until this story.
John W. Campbell’s “The Black Star Passes” series. This put the science into science fiction. For reals. A bit dated and flat characters, but overall good.
Orson Scott Card. Ender’s Game. Great use of the misfit, misunderstood hero. And the enemy’s gate is down.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories. The Holmes stuff is great, but his short stories are very unexpected. Maybe a good example of how to write out of a rut? Not sure.
Zombies you say? Max Brooks, JL Bourne.
Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road”. Short and sweet. This is a reminder of how to edit till it hurts. Then edit some more. Your story doesn’t need to be long to be powerful.
Asimov’s Foundation series. His first book, “Foundation” is a neat way of a story unfolding over hundreds (at least) of years, with us touching down every so often to see the highlights, the people who truly make history and therefore the future.
So I think that’s it for now. It has been quite a challenge to write this from my phone, so sorry for any formatting or auto correct errors.