Classic Science Fiction discussion

I started reading science fiction "seriously" in the 1960s (not counting Tom Swift here). The first paperbacks I found easily were Andra Norton's but I never really liked her. Then I found A. E. van Vogt and others. Jack Finney's book Invasion of the Body Snatchers (actually from 1955) is great, The Day of the Triffids is still my favorite Wyndham. Then there is When Worlds Collide (this volume includes After Worlds Collide) from 1933 is still one of my favorites. The dated science in it is part of what I like about this book as it shows the view people had of times to come. This is also the case with many of Robert Heinlein's books. Starman Jones shows an idea of FTL travel plotted or "astrogated" before computers were considered. Other of Heinlein's books of course made up a lot of the books I treasured then, including The Puppet Masters.

I'd like to see people rediscover some of these.

Mike, of the references in your post, I've only ever read Heinlein and Wells. (May have read Wyndham but don't recall the story of Triffids). A couple of notables from this period: Isaac Asimov, Roger Zelazny, Alfred Bester.

I know. Asimov is another well known writer that I never really care for as much as everyone else. I do love Zelazny's fantasy. I tend to prefer it to his SF. There is/was also Ray Bradbury who started in that era as did Blish and many others. It was a period when Science Fiction was still looked down on by a lot of the "literati" but was starting to draw notice.

The late Richard Matheson of I Am Legend fame.Was a great writer.Did it all movies,T.V.and books.

Henry wrote: "The late Richard Matheson of I Am Legend fame.Was a great writer.Did it all movies,T.V.and books."
Maybe we can start a list --- top Sf writers of the 50s and 60s.

Might be better top go with favorite writers as we'll never agree on "best". LOL We'll all have favorites.

I'm a big fan of lists :-)

Maybe a series - best sci-fi by decade? (as per first publication date)

I looked at the existing lists and found:
Your Favorite Heinlein Novel - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/62...
Best Asimov Books - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/55...
Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/25...
Best Ursula LeGuin Book - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/14...
Best Books of Larry Niven - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/20...
50 Essential Science Fiction Books - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/30...
Best of Poul Anderson - http://www.goodreads.com/list/show/40...
So I guess there's room for one more list, say Best Scifi of the 1950s. Then perhaps 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Mike (the Paladin) wrote: "Might be better top go with favorite writers as we'll never agree on "best". LOL We'll all have favorites."

It doesn't seem like we can create a Listopia list with just authors. So maybe a Poll, but then each person can only vote for one.

I was never a huge fan of Asimov, but Fredric Brown's The Lights in the Sky Are Stars is one of my favourites (early 50s) and is recently back in print!

George R. Stewart's, Earth Abides,best end of the world book...

I started a poll, but it's a long list ... http://www.goodreads.com/poll/list/10...

I had to go with PKD because he IS my All Time Favourite.

Classic Science Fiction - 1940-1949
Classic Science Fiction - 1950-1959
Classic Science Fiction - 1960-1969

Created the 40s list and tagged these three together.

Thanks, Clouds. Had nothing to add to the 40s list. There are probably pulp books that were popular during that time but this will take some research.

Stand on Zanzibar, is a little dated but still worth reading from 1968.

Mike,
Love me some Philip Wylie, the Worlds Collide books all the way up to The End of the Dream and others in between. (Although maybe I found Gladiator a tad overrated.) He set a certain tone in his writing that I found intriguing. Vastly under-rated (or at least, not known enough). Might do some P.W. re-reading; it's been a while. The Murder Invisible is the only one that I've read of his in decades.
Also started on Tom Swift, Jr, btw. (parallel lives?).

Heinlein is leading the poll on favorite 50s author while Asimov has the favorite book for the same period.

There's a nice article on Fredric Brown's stories on io9:

The Best Science Fiction Writer You Didn't Know You'd Read - http://io9.com/5918638/the-best-scien...

Am jusrt rereading Eric Frank Russel's short stories in "Deep Space," a 1954 collection. The most notable one is "A little oil" about the third intergalactic voyage, limping home and the incredible psychological tensions they face--tensions that caused the previous two attempts to fail.

And, of course, one of the best classic sci-fis ever, "Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen" by H. Beam Piper. A cop gets accidentally telported to a 15th century-like Earth run by evil priests who use "fireseed" as their means of ruling everyone. But the cop knows how to make gunpowder--and better than the priests.

sj wrote: "I was never a huge fan of Asimov, but Fredric Brown's The Lights in the Sky Are Stars is one of my favourites (early 50s) and is recently back in print!"

I love his books, but when I met him at a NASA function, I found him to be a bit of a prig.

I was born in 1947 and reading SF from a very early age. This reminded me that I still have a fondness for the writers "from the 60's and before". While that is a lot of time since it could theoretically take you back to Mary Shelley I am thinking of it in terms of the classic writers, a few who got their start in the 1930's and many more in the '40's and 50's. The good writers of those years moved SF out of the pulp adventure style and into stories that seriously addressed the "what if" idea of the ramifications of technology along with social and political ideas underlying a SF plot. Those authors at their best, told stories that made an impression on me and opened up new ideas and new ways of thinking. I didn't find that many authors who affected me the same way after the advent of "New Wave" SF in the middle 60's. I read the novels written in the late 60's and afterwards but I found fewer and fewer authors that appealed to me as time went by and found myself digging older SF that I had missed when younger.

I still found authors and novels I enjoyed. I loved 1966's Dune but liked each successive novel less and less. Into the 70's and later I found that I still gravitated to authors that had got their start in the 40's or 50's and not the younger ones just hitting their stride. Obviously this is a matter of personal choice but there is a different feel from the authors writing their best stuff in the 50's and early 60's compared to those who were making an impact in later years.

I'm a 50s short story aficionado. Favs are Robert Sheckley, Frederic Brown, and PKD among many others. Also love R.A. Lafferty, but I think he's more 60s.

I also love older SF short stories from before the 1960's. Up until the 1950's there weren't too many SF novels being written. The authors were limited to writing short stories for the magazines. In the 1950's some authors were able to get novels published but still continued to write short stories. My favorites have been Asimov, Fredric Brown, PDK, Kornbluth, Henry Kuttner, Sheckley, Simak, Cordwainer Smith and Sturgeon. I usually pick up an older anthology every couple of months. I recently read The Ultimate Invader and Other Science-Fiction edited by Donald A. Wollheim. And back in May I read Star Science Fiction Stories No. 3 edited by Frederik Pohl. I usually have read a large number of stories over the years but if it wasn't too recent it is fun to read it again.