Sunday, June 17, 2012

In Honor of Ray Bradbury

About a week ago (June 5th) Ray Bradbury; one of the great authors of science fiction, died.  While I don't read a lot of books in the classic science fiction category, his death got me thinking about some of my favorite science fiction books (not movies).  A list of my top 10, with brief comments, follows.  The list is in alphabetic order to avoid controversy over how else to rank them.

Battlefield Earth (L. Ron Hubbard) Before he founded a pseudo-religion, Hubbard made a living writing science fiction.  Battlefield Earth is his epic.  While it made a horrible movie, I admit to enjoying the novel.  It tells the story of Johnny Good Boy Tyler who saves the motley remains of the human race after Earth is subjugated by a race of alien invaders known as the Psychlos. 

Dune (Frank Hebert)  Dune (and its sequels) are perhaps the most popular or well known science fiction in book form.  It is a messianic tale of how Paul Atreides, unites the oppressed people of his planet Arrakis, which is the sole source of the mysterious spice "melange" which is necessary to fuel interstellar travel. 

Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)  Bradbury paints a picture of a dystopian future where, instead of putting out fires, "firemen" are charged with burning books. 

Fragment (Warren Fahy) - This is perhaps the most recently written book on the list.  It tells the story of a reality show set on a ship reminiscent of Jacques Cousteau's Calypso stumbling on an uncharted island in the south Pacific that is inhabited by an entire ecosystem of animals and plants that appear to be of extra-terrestrial origin. 

The Host (Stephanie Meyer)  Stephanie Meyer is probably a familiar name to readers since she is the author of the "Twilight" series of vampire fiction popular with teenage girls.  I haven't read those, but I was fascinated with "The Host" which describes the aftermath of an alien invasion where mankind is quickly being wiped out by alien invaders that take the form of a virus that inhabits people and takes over their mind and personality leaving their body unaltered. 

Neanderthal (John Darnton) - Perhaps my background in archaeology and anthropology is what made me find this book appealing.  High in the Himalayas lies a valley cut off from the rest of civilization.  A expedition looking to find a Yeti stumbles upon the valley and finds it inhabited by a band of Neanderthals.  Are they better or worse than mankind?  What mysterious power do they possess?  Why did they become extinct everywhere but there?

Off Armageddon Reef (David Weber) This is the initial book in Weber's "Safehold Series."  In the distant future, after mankind has mastered interstellar travel and has a high degree of technological prowess, it is nearly wiped out throughout the universe by a race of alien invaders.  In a desparate attempt to preserve the human race, a single ship is secretly dispatched to an earthlike planet on the edge of the galaxy where they disembark and establish a new civilization.  However, to avoid attracting the attention of the aliens, advanced technology is strictly prohibited and enforced by a pseudo-religion established by the founders of the new planet.  But after centuries with no recollection of the history of the human race, some of the long dormant technology surfaces and brings big changes. 

Orphans of the Sky (Robert Heinlein)  Written in 1951, this is perhaps the oldest book on the list.  Heinlein is one of the most prolific and famous science fiction writers to ever live.  This book describes a huge spaceship traveling from Earth to Centaurus.  It is a LONG trip.  So long, generations pass and over time, people on the ship no longer remember where they are from, where they are going or that there is anything or anywhere BUT what lives on the ship. 

This Perfect Day (Ira Levin)  Ira Levin is not known as a science fiction author.  He is far more popular for books he wrote that have been made into movies (such as Rosemary's Baby, The Stepford Wives, The Boys From Brazil and Sliver).  This Perfect Day describes a future where life is "perfect."  There is no starvation, no poverty, no crime, and no bad weather.  But is the world TOO perfect?  There is no individuality.  It is all so bland.  What happens when someone learns about what used to be and that there is still a place where people live free and uncontrolled by the State? 

West of Eden (Harry Harrison) This is the start of a trilogy of books known as the "Eden" series.  It is an alterate history in which the dinosaurs never became extinct and became sentient.  They become the dominent species on Earth and pay little attention to an insignificant minor species called humans who (at first) seem nothing more than an annoyance and serve as pets and domestic animals.  But man is an intellegent beast.  What happens when a man watches and learns?

What great science fiction books are not on my top 10?  Tell me what I need to read.