Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels


Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, An English-Language Selection, 1949–1984 is a nonfiction book by David Pringle, published by Xanadu in 1985 with a foreword by Michael Moorcock. Primarily, the book comprises 100 short essays on the selected works, covered in order of publication, without any ranking. It is considered an important critical summary of the science fiction field.
Pringle followed Science Fiction with Modern Fantasy: The 100 Best Novels. Xanadu followed Science Fiction with at least three more "100 Best" books.

The List

  1. Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
  2. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
  3. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
  4. The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
  5. The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
  6. Limbo by Bernard Wolfe
  7. The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
  8. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
  9. Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke
  10. The Paradox Men by Charles L. Harness
  11. Bring the Jubilee by Ward Moore
  12. The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth
  13. Ring Around the Sun by Clifford D. Simak
  14. More Than Human by Theodore Sturgeon
  15. Mission of Gravity by Hal Clement
  16. A Mirror for Observers by Edgar Pangborn
  17. The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
  18. The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett
  19. The Inheritors by William Golding
  20. The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester
  21. The Death of Grass by John Christopher
  22. The City and the Stars by Arthur C. Clarke
  23. The Door into Summer by Robert A. Heinlein
  24. The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham
  25. Non-Stop by Brian Aldiss
  26. A Case of Conscience by James Blish
  27. Have Space Suit—Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein
  28. Time Out of Joint by Philip K. Dick
  29. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
  30. A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
  31. The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  32. Rogue Moon by Algis Budrys
  33. Venus Plus X by Theodore Sturgeon
  34. Hothouse by Brian Aldiss
  35. The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard
  36. A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
  37. The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
  38. Journey Beyond Tomorrow by Robert Sheckley
  39. Way Station by Clifford D. Simak
  40. Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
  41. Greybeard by Brian Aldiss
  42. Nova Express by William S. Burroughs
  43. Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
  44. The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch by Philip K. Dick
  45. The Wanderer by Fritz Leiber
  46. Norstrilia by Cordwainer Smith
  47. Dr. Bloodmoney by Philip K. Dick
  48. Dune by Frank Herbert
  49. The Crystal World by J. G. Ballard
  50. Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison
  51. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
  52. The Dream Master by Roger Zelazny
  53. Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner
  54. Nova by Samuel R. Delany
  55. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
  56. Camp Concentration by Thomas M. Disch
  57. The Final Programme by Michael Moorcock
  58. Pavane by Keith Roberts
  59. Heroes and Villains by Angela Carter
  60. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
  61. The Palace of Eternity by Bob Shaw
  62. Bug Jack Barron by Norman Spinrad
  63. Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
  64. Downward to the Earth by Robert Silverberg
  65. The Year of the Quiet Sun by Wilson Tucker
  66. 334 by Thomas M. Disch
  67. The Fifth Head of Cerberus by Gene Wolfe
  68. The Dancers at the End of Time by Michael Moorcock
  69. Crash by J. G. Ballard
  70. Looking Backward, from the Year 2000 by Mack Reynolds
  71. The Embedding by Ian Watson
  72. Walk to the End of the World by Suzy McKee Charnas
  73. The Centauri Device by M. John Harrison
  74. The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  75. Inverted World by Christopher Priest
  76. High Rise by J.G. Ballard
  77. Galaxies by Barry N. Malzberg
  78. The Female Man by Joanna Russ
  79. Orbitsville by Bob Shaw
  80. The Alteration by Kingsley Amis
  81. Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy
  82. Man Plus by Frederik Pohl
  83. Michaelmas by Algis Budrys
  84. The Ophiuchi Hotline by John Varley
  85. Miracle Visitors by Ian Watson
  86. Engine Summer by John Crowley
  87. On Wings of Song by Thomas M. Disch
  88. The Walking Shadow by Brian Stableford
  89. Juniper Time by Kate Wilhelm
  90. Timescape by Gregory Benford
  91. The Dreaming Dragons by Damien Broderick
  92. Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
  93. Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban
  94. The Complete Roderick by John Sladek
  95. The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe
  96. The Unreasoning Mask by Philip José Farmer
  97. Oath of Fealty by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
  98. No Enemy But Time by Michael Bishop
  99. The Birth of the People's Republic of Antarctica by John Calvin Batchelor
  100. Neuromancer by William Gibson

Scope

In the introduction Pringle offers the working definition, "Science fiction is a form of fantastic fiction which exploits the imaginative perspectives of modern science." In turn, modern science is the "scientific world-view... as it has come to be accepted by the intelligent layperson", which arguably "first became common property in the mid to late 19th century."
Within fiction he distinguishes science fiction from "Supernatural Horror" and "Heroic Fantasy". They may be represented by Dracula and The Lord of the Rings, featuring "the irruption of some supernatural force into the everyday world" and "set in completely imaginary worlds" respectively. He also names the subclass "Fabulations", which do not belong in this book "unless they have a significant scientific or technological content".
In contrast, science fiction has a real-world setting and "fantastic developments which are explicable in terms of the scientific world-view." World-view does not mean accepted theory or fact: "many sf writers cheat: they use sleight-of-hand rather than genuine scientific knowledge." "The skilful use of pseudo-science and gobbledygook" may be good enough to exploit the world-view.
The time period covered is approximately that for science fiction as a category of book publication, although the selected books were not all published in that category.
Pringle admits that fewer than thirty selections may generously be called even "masterpieces of their sort". On the whole,
Some of them are old favourites of my own... Some are other people's favourites, novels which have been outstandingly popular or influential, or which seem to be especially good representatives of their type. A small minority, perhaps as many as ten, are books for which I have little or no personal enthusiasm: they have been included for the sake of balance and variety.

100 Best series

Xanadu Publications of London published at least four "100 Best" books. Transatlantic editions or simply jacket and cover designs may variably use "the" and "hundred" in the subtitles. Carroll & Graf published the books in the U.S.Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels, by David Pringle, foreword by Michael MoorcockCrime and Mystery: The 100 Best Books, by H.R.F. Keating, foreword by Patricia HighsmithHorror: The 100 Best Books, edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman Fantasy: The 100 Best Books, by James Cawthorn and Michael Moorcock
Xanadu commissioned Moorcock to write Fantasy. When it became "clear that I would not be able to deliver it for a long time, the publishers and I agreed that James Cawthorn was the person to take it over." Cawthorn was the primary author of the selections "mainly", according to Cawthorn, and of the text "by far", according to Moorcock.
Science Fiction is a collection of 100 reviews, nearly uniform in length, with a moderately long introduction by the author.
Horror comprises essays on 100 different books by 100 horror writers, apparently more-than-one- to less-than-six pages in length.
Fantasy is a collection of 100 reviews, nearly uniform in length, with a short introduction by the authors separately and jointly.

Reception

Dave Langford reviewed Science Fiction: The 100 Best Novels for White Dwarf #73, and stated that "Most of my favourites are there, and only a scattering of dodgy selections - like Mack Reynolds, an 'ideas and concepts' man whose writing makes my teeth hurt."

Reviews