My Top Ten Classic Science Fiction Novels

Being an old guy I tend to look back to the classic science fiction to find my favorite novels. These are the novels that inspired me in my younger days and the stories that made me fall in love with science fiction. I had seen all of the wacky science fiction movies of the fifties while I was growing up but it was Isaac Asimov that really got me hooked on science fiction.

The following is a list of my favorite science fiction books of all time. There isn’t a book in the list that is less than twenty-five years old. I know there are excellent books out now, including my own, but I think back to these novels when I think of great stories.

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Trilogy was an inspiration to me. With images like the world of Trantor that was one big government building and the clever character of "The Mule". It also gave me my all time favorite quote. Hari Seldon said, "Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.”

Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a StrangeLand was an "in" book in its day. It dared to throw a little sexuality into the mix. It was still popular in the late sixties when Star Trek premiered thus coining the term, "I grok Spock."

Larry Niven was an inspiration to many that followed. Ringworld lit up the mind with the possibility of solid ring that could orbit a star and afford an incredible amount of living space. It was one of several of his novels that taught us all about the Kizin. These cat-like creatures were the forerunner of some of the most famous warrior races in science fiction; including the Klingons.

Everyone knows Arthur Clark for 2001 and 2010. One of my favorite novels was Rendezvous with Rama. Humanity gets all in a tizzy about the appearance of a giant space ship inside the orbit of Mercury. Humans manage to get into the big ship and explore. I just loved the ending when the ship finishes collecting energy from the sun and just goes on its way; never noticing the humans at all.

I would also cast a vote for Ursula K. Le Guin's Left Hand of Darkness. This idea of a genderless society was excellent and clearly a not so subtle call for women's rights. It was interesting to have an issue over succession to the throne between the children bore by the king and children sired by the king.

I would have to go back to Isaac Asimov for The Gods Themselves. It was one of the best stories containing a race that had three sexes. The idea that the sexual union of the sexes created another race entirely was great imagination.

Orson Scott Card has written some great stories; including Ender's Game. My favorite was Speaker for the Dead. It was fascinating how he turned what seemed to be an unspeakable crime into an act of honor and love.

Larry Niven teamed up with Jack Pournell to give us Lucifer's Hammer. In my mind this was the best of the "Asteroid Strikes Earth" stories. As in all of these stories, it mainly deals with survival and I have to say it was a not too subtle promotion of nuclear power plants.

Orion Shall Rise by Poul Anderson shows a post nuclear holocaust world where a good portion of the world is dead and a handful of alliances rule. It also contained floating cities known as aerostats.

Anne McCaffrey's Dragons Riders of Pern was a great combination of science fiction and fantasy. The dragons were genetically created in previous ages using long forgotten technology to fight a very unusual nemesis. It had been many years since the passing of the red star and the memory of its destruction faded. Anger grew of the tithes to the dragon riders when they did not seem to perform any useful purpose. A young woman knew the star was returning and that Pern had to prepare for what it would rain down upon them.

Those are my choices. I know science fiction fans have their favorites and it is fun to look back on them now and then.