1
1981: The Shadow Of The Torturer (The Book Of The New Sun) Start here
by Wolfe, Gene
The sun has dimmed, the Earth is cooler and has been transformed in wondrous ways.
Best Modern Science Fiction Books
Top 25 Best Modern Science Fiction Books | Best Science Fiction Books
See the rankingThe 1980s and 90s were a time of richness and change in science fiction. The release of Star Wars in the late 70s had triggered a renewed interest in the epic, wide screen baroque aspects of science fiction. An interest that bled over from the cinema into the literature, eventually helping to give rise to what became known as the New Hard SF and the New Space Opera, movements that reinvigorated the most traditional forms of the genre.
At the same time, two other films, Tron and Blade Runner, followed two years later by the first novel from William Gibson, helped to launch an exciting new subgenre: cyberpunk. The name was coined by Gardner Dozois in reference to a novel by Bruce Bethke, but it very quickly got applied to work by Gibson, Bruce Sterling, Pat Cadigan and others. An up-to-the-minute, iconoclastic take on the growing influence of computers in our lives, cyberpunk borrowed from Thomas Pynchon, Raymond Chandler, Alfred Bester and John Brunner among others, but still took science fiction in an entirely new direction. By the end of the century, cyberpunk itself was mutating into stories about the post-human that continued to challenge our perceptions of the modern world.
Meanwhile, at the start of the 80s a new magazine was launched in Britain, Interzone. At first it tried to copy the new wave manner of Michael Moorcock's New Worlds, but it quickly picked up on cyberpunk. What it was most important for, however, was giving a new platform for British science fiction writers, something that was amplified a few years later by the appearance of a new award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award. Together, they helped to stimulate what became known as the British Renaissance or the British Boom, which was in full swing by the end of the century with exciting new work coming from authors as varied as Iain M. Banks, Colin Greenland, Stephen Baxter and Paul McAuley.
There were crossovers between all of these new movements: McAuley was one of the stars of the New Hard SF while Banks was perhaps the premiere exemplar of the New Space Opera. But altogether, they made this one of the most exciting periods in the history of science fiction.
The ranking
2
Red Mars (1994) (Mars Trilogy) Start here
A mission is launched to terraform Mars in this scientific epic.
3
Neuromancer (1985) (The Sprawl) Start here
Gibson is the father of Cyberpunk and this novel in particular is significant. In this novel the term cyberspace is coined.
4
The Handmaid's Tale
An award winning, Canadian novel that explores themes of women in subjugation and agency in a futuristic theocracy.
5
Use Of Weapons (Culture)
Features a Utopian society (culture) that's post scarcity, controlled by benevolent A. I.'s who act for the good of the society. When Culture encounters less enlightened societies, the fun begins.
6
Blood Music
by Bear, Greg
A biotechnologist hides his biological computer creation in his body, but then they multiply and evolve. One of the first Sci Fi stories to treat DNA as a computational system that can be modified.
7
Snow Crash
Considered by some as a parody of Cyberpunk. This novel popularized and cemented its use of the term avatar to describe online virtual bodies
8
9
10
Timescape (1981)
A novel about ecological issues and scientific experiments that address current events at the time of writing.
11
12
13
14
A Fire Upon The Deep (Zones Of Thought) Start here
by Vernor Vinge
Hugo winner 1993The first book in the Zones of Thought series and tells the tale of a galactic war. In the story the mind's potential is determined by its location in space.
15
Doomsday Book (1993) (Oxford Time Travel) Start here
16
17
Downbelow Station (The Company Wars)
Hugo winner 1982A space opera about a rebellion between Earth and its colonies.
18
19
20
21
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The shortlist
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