What I point to when I say Science Fiction

Dave is a man after my own heart, writing about an issue of the Avengers with a giant robot as the villian. I am sorely tempted to leave work on my lunch hour and go track this bad boy down!

On the other hand, I have to really think about Geek Texts 101, thanks to the work of John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey.

The challenge then, geek brethren -- what is this basic syllabus of sci fi? Category A: submit ten novels/pieces of writing giving a new reader a great general overview of where sci fi came from how it progressed, or what it means. Even single suggestions will be considered, all submissions will be judged on a completely unscientific basis, and the final list posted here on Kung Fu Monkey.

I've done a lot of SF reading, which will come as a surprise to nobody. This is a fascinating topic for me, since at one point I was going to be a teacher and this was the subject area I was aiming for.

I posted a bit in the comments, but I have to extrapolate on my own list.

Starting with short stories is definitely a good way to get a handle on the genre and its history. Comparing the Science Fiction Hall of Fame set (mostly stories before 1964 or so) with the latest Dozois Year's Best Science Fiction collection is always interesting.

The SF Hall of Fame has stuff like "There Will Come Soft Rains," "Microcosmic God," and "Fondly Fahrenheit." Recent volumes of the Year's Best SF anthology have included "Beggars in Spain," "Even the Queen," or "Bears Discover Fire."

(The Dozois anthology is worth getting, if only for the "here is the state of SF as I see it" essay at the front, which is usually interesting and has hard numbers on sales.)

Another short story I love is The Men Who Murdered Mohammed by Alfred Bester, which can be found an anthology I forget the name of at the moment but will look up real soon now.

My own personal SF history would include the following 10 books, in addition to those mentioned above:

Frankenstein -- Mary Shelley

One of the earliest SF novels, hugely popular in our culture, and a decent springboard into any of a number of topics. (Genetic engineering, science, women in the 19th century, Bacon, Shelley, feminism, etc.) Plus, most people have never read it. Note: you will hate all of the films after reading this, since most of them get it horribly wrong. Except Young Frankenstein.

War With the Newts -- Karl Capek

Capek gave us the term "robot" with R.U.R. This novel impressed the hell out of me with its treatment of the exploitation of a race of intelligent newts, Hollywood shallowness, and the effects of a global war. Capek was ahead of his time.

I, Robot -- Issac Asimov

(Avoid the movie tie-in cover, if you can. Or better yet, get the Ellison screenplay for the film they should have made. Asimov gave us the Three Laws of Robotics, and while his dialogue was never his strong suit, his ideas are still with us. If you hate his robot novels, you could always substitute some of his other books; the man wrote like 300+.

Have Spacesuit, Will Travel -- Robert Heinlein

One of the more accessible of his "juvenile" novels (written with young people in mind, like Time for the Stars or Starman Jones), this book is a fairly fun adventure when a boy wins a spacesuit after making up a jingle for a soap competition. It avoids the fascist baggage of Starship Troopers and Heinlein's later works. And on a personal note, this is one of the first novels in the genre that I read, along with John Chrisopher's Tripod series, starting with The White Mountains.

Dune -- Frank Herbert

Though I am not as fond of later novels in this series, the world he created with this series is intricate and works on your brain long after finishing the book. A good place to introduce some of the more political and philosophic work that started appearing in the 60s. Could be easily followed by the Dangerous Visions anthology, if you wanted to expand the readings in this era.

Stand on Zanzibar -- John Brunner

Brunner's prophetic work of life in the future, with overpopluation, supercomputers, and loads of fashion and drugs. This and Shockwave Rider make Brunner one of the writers with the best batting average for predicting the future.

Neuromancer -- William Gibson

He invented "cyberspace," and never let him forget it. The first major cyberpunk novel, which inspired countless knockoffs and imitations. Fun fact: written on a typewriter. Though Gibson didn't work on computers, he pioneered a lot of how we think about them.

Rendezvous With Rama -- Arthur C. Clarke

Rama is coming. It is big. We don't know anything about it, other than it's got a weird orbit. Let's go take a look. Clarke's story about the ineffable object known as Rama is a fun read, though you should probably ignore the sequels written decades after.

The Diamond Age -- Neal Stephenson

Attempts to do for nanotech what Gibson did for cyberpunk. The typical Stephenson non-ending is in full effect here, so don't expect much in the way of resolution, but a spectacular vision of a possible future. Plus, it's really, really funny in a couple of places.

A Fire Upon the Deep -- Vernor Vinge

Probably the best of the New Space Opera, Vinge combines USENET flamewars, discussion group trolls, FTL travel, spam, networking, universal armegeddon, mutiple-body consciousness, and some great characters into a complicated, can't-put-it-down whirlwind. I'd probably end up gushing about it the entire time, were I teaching a class. One could also discuss his short story "True Names" at the same time.

Coming up with just 10 books is hard—heck I've cheated and named a dozen. There is a ton of good stuff, even with Sturgeon's Law. (90% of science fiction is crap.) So what did I miss? I'll think about this some more for later. Look for more installments. I haven't even covered part B of the Kung Fu Monkey challenge.