Sunday 1 August 2010

SF Masterworks: How Many Have You Read?

You know the drill!



1 - The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
2 - I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
3 - Cities in Flight - James Blish
4 - Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Philip K. Dick
5 - The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
6 - Babel-17 - Samuel R. Delany
7 - Lord of Light - Roger Zelazny
8 - The Fifth Head of Cerberus - Gene Wolfe
9 - Gateway - Frederik Pohl
10 - The Rediscovery of Man - Cordwainer Smith
11 - Last and First Men - Olaf Stapledon
12 - Earth Abides - George R. Stewart
13 - Martian Time-Slip - Philip K. Dick
14 - The Demolished Man - Alfred Bester
15 - Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner
16 - The Dispossessed - Ursula K. Le Guin
17 - The Drowned World - J. G. Ballard
18 - The Sirens of Titan - Kurt Vonnegut
19 - Emphyrio - Jack Vance
20 - A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick
21 - Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon
22 - Behold the Man - Michael Moorcock
23 - The Book of Skulls - Robert Silverberg
24 - The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
25 - Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
26 - Ubik - Philip K. Dick
27 - Timescape - Gregory Benford
28 - More Than Human - Theodore Sturgeon
29 - Man Plus - Frederik Pohl
30 - A Case of Conscience - James Blish
31 - The Centauri Device - M. John Harrison
32 - Dr. Bloodmoney - Philip K. Dick
33 - Non-Stop - Brian Aldiss
34 - The Fountains of Paradise - Arthur C. Clarke
35 - Pavane - Keith Roberts
36 - Now Wait for Last Year - Philip K. Dick
37 - Nova - Samuel R. Delany
38 - The First Men in the Moon - H. G. Wells
39 - The City and the Stars - Arthur C. Clarke
40 - Blood Music - Greg Bear
41 - Jem - Frederik Pohl
42 - Bring the Jubilee - Ward Moore
43 - VALIS - Philip K. Dick
44 - The Lathe of Heaven - Ursula K. Le Guin
45 - The Complete Roderick - John Sladek
46 - Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said - Philip K. Dick
47 - The Invisible Man - H. G. Wells
48 - Grass - Sheri S. Tepper
49 - A Fall of Moondust - Arthur C. Clarke
50 - Eon - Greg Bear
51 - The Shrinking Man - Richard Matheson
52 - The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - Philip K. Dick
53 - The Dancers at the End of Time - Michael Moorcock
54 - The Space Merchants - Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth
55 - Time Out of Joint - Philip K. Dick
56 - Downward to the Earth - Robert Silverberg
57 - The Simulacra - Philip K. Dick
58 - The Penultimate Truth - Philip K. Dick
59 - Dying Inside - Robert Silverberg
60 - Ringworld - Larry Niven
61 - The Child Garden - Geoff Ryman
62 - Mission of Gravity - Hal Clement
63 - A Maze of Death - Philip K. Dick
64 - Tau Zero - Poul Anderson
65 - Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
66 - Life During Wartime - Lucius Shepard
67 - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang - Kate Wilhelm
68 - Roadside Picnic - Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
69 - Dark Benediction - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
70 - Mockingbird - Walter Tevis
71 - Dune - Frank Herbert
72 - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
73 - The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick

In addition to the main paperback line, there is also a hardback one that has a couple of different choices.

I - Dune - Frank Herbert
II - The Left Hand of Darkness - Ursula K. Le Guin
III - The Man in the High Castle - Philip K. Dick
IV - The Stars My Destination - Alfred Bester
V - A Canticle for Leibowitz - Walter M. Miller, Jr.
VI - Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke
VII - The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress - Robert A. Heinlein
VIII - Ringworld - Larry Niven
IX - The Forever War - Joe Haldeman
X - The Day of the Triffids - John Wyndham

Yes, I'm sure you're astonished that I still haven't read Dune.  I really, really want to, though, honest!

Now, I might've ripped on Moorcock getting four volumes dedicated to his work in the Fantasy Masterworks line (and he even gets two here, bringing the total to six), but jings-a-leery, does SF Masterworks have a Dick fixation or what?

Philip K. Dick, that is.  Get your minds out of the gutter!


Fourteen books.  Fourteen!  That's just excessive, and gives the impression of Dick being some sort of god of science fiction. I mean, he's great, but even H.G. Wells only has three. Come to think of it, there are a few authors with three or more books like Clarke, Silverberg, Le Guin, while absolute legends like Bester and Stapledon only have two. Sturgeon only has one.  Verne is nowhere to be seen. I'm guessing there's some sort of right situation preventing them from publishing Asimov, since Foundation and I, Robot at the very least should be there.

I really hope they get Fantasy Masterworks started up again: it was a great line, and there's still so much great work not yet included.

7 comments:

  1. well, err.. 6
    2 - I Am Legend - Richard Matheson
    24 - The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds - H. G. Wells
    25 - Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes
    38 - The First Men in the Moon - H. G. Wells
    I - Dune - Frank Herbert
    VI - Childhood's End - Arthur C. Clarke


    Sci-Fi just dosen't float my cup of tea.

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  2. I've read five, and own fifteen others.

    There's too much gorramn New Wave drivel on that list, and faaar too many omissions (like Doc Smith, without whom...)

    Tex
    (who will stick to the Garland Library of Science Fiction, thenk yew veddy much!)

    PS-- http://www.depauw.edu/sfs/birs/bir7.htm

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  3. 19 read an several on the bookshelf.

    Beside E.E. Doc Smith, where's A.E. van Vogt (Slan and Voage of the Space Beagle)and Stanislaw Lem (Solaris), as well as Ray Bradbury? I'd even add Orson Scott Card's 'Enders Game' to that list along with Gibson's 'Neuromancer.

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  4. Eh, I don't blame you, Lagomorph. Truth be told, there are a number of books in the SF Masterworks line that I'm not even interested in reading.

    Tex, I guess they're consciously trying to include newer authors - as they did with Fantasy Masterworks - but yeah, there are some questionable omissions.

    Bruce, I guess the "pulpy" nature of van Vogt and Doc Smith might've unfairly precluded them. The lack of Lem, though, is particularly baffling, especially since they have the Strugatskys on the list. (Damn, I've read "Roadside Picnic" but forgot to bold it)

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  5. Oh, and Bradbury's another one. You'd think "The Martian Chronicles" or another collection of his best SF stories would be worthy of inclusion, especially since Fantasy Masterworks has "Something Wicked This Way Comes."

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  6. forever war
    do androids dream..
    last and first men
    sirens of titan
    time machine, war of the worlds
    flowers for algernon
    ubik
    valis
    flow my tears
    three stigmata
    dune

    simulacra (short story version)
    rendezvous with rama (started long ago, didn't finish)
    reading now: lord of light

    comment:
    No "I Robot"? Nuts. Everyone must read "I Robot".

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  7. Gotta agree about the lack of I, Robot, Wayne. I definitely think it's a case of copyright rather than deliberate omission, though.

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