SF novels that earned my affection
Discover the best SF novels that won my heart! Explore this curated list of beloved sci-fi books that captivated my imagination and earned my affection.
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Last and First Men
by Olaf Stapledon
One of the most extraordinary, imaginative and ambitious novels of the century: a history of the evolution of humankind over the next 2 billion years. Among all science fiction writers Olaf Stapledon stands alone for the sheer scope and ambition of his work. First published in 1930, Last and First Men is full of pioneering speculations about evolution, terraforming, genetic engineering and many other subjects.
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The Stars My Destination
by Alfred Bester
Such is the official verdict on Gully Foyle, unskilled space crewman. But Gully has managed to survive for 170 days in the airless purgatory of deep space after the wreck of his ship, and has escaped to Earth carrying a murderous grudge and a secret that could change the course of history. The novel which in large part inspired both the cyberpunk movement of the 1980s and the science fiction New Wave of the 1960s, THE STARS MY DESTINATION has an unrivalled claim to be the most influential sf book of all time.
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ID: 1857988825
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ID: 0441478077
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Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand
by Samuel R. Delany
The story of a truly galactic civilization with over 6,000 inhabited worlds.
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Babel-17
by Samuel R. Delany
In the far future, after human civilization has spread through the galaxy, communications begin to arrive in an apparently alien language. They appear to threaten invasion, but in order to counter the threat, the messages must first be understood.
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Solaris
by Stanisław Lem
The first of Lem’s novels to be published in americanca and still the best known. A scientist examining the ocean that covers the surface of the planet Solaris is forced to confront the incarnation of a painful, hitherto unconscious memory, inexplicably created by the ocean. An undisputed SF classic. Translated by Joanna Kilmartin and Steve Cox.
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The Cyberiad
by Stanisław Lem
Trurl and Klaupacius are constructor robots who try to out-invent each other. They travel to the far corners of the cosmos to take on freelance problem-solving jobs, with dire consequences for their employers. "The most completely successful of his books... here Lem comes closest to inventing a real universe" (Boston Globe). Illustrations by Daniel Mr--z. Translated by Michael Kandel.
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The Futurological Congress (from the Memoirs of Ijon Tichy)
by Stanisław Lem
Bringing his twin gifts of scientific speculation and scathing satire to bear on that hapless planet, Earth, Lem sends his unlucky cosmonaut, Ijon Tichy, to the Eighth Futurological Congress. Caught up in local revolution, Tichy is shot and so critically wounded that he is flashfrozen to await a future cure. Translated by Michael Kandel.
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ID: 0156403005
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Imaginary Magnitude
by Stanisław Lem
These wickedly authentic introductions to twenty-first-century books preface tomes on teaching English to bacteria, using animated X-rays to create "pornograms," and analyzing computer-generated literature through the science of "bitistics." "Lem, a science fiction Bach, plays in this book a googleplex of variations on his basic themes" (New York Times Book Review). Translated by Marc E. Heine. A Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
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The Fifth Head of Cerberus
by Gene Wolfe
First published in 1972, this SF masterpiece has been out of print for most of a decade. Now, this "subtle, ingenious, and poetic book" (Ursula Le Guin) entertains a new generation of readers with the story of two far-flung sister planets and a man's quest to find remnants of a lost.
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There Are Doors
by Gene Wolfe
There Are Doors is the story of a man who falls in love with a goddess from an alternate universe. She flees him, but he pursues her through doorways-interdimensional gateways-to the other place, determined to sacrifice his life, if necessary, for her love. For in her world, to be her mate . . . is to die.
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Emphyrio
by Jack Vance
Halma. Where humans were ruled by a race of effete and arrogant Lords... where a feudalistic system banned all work by machines... where a benevolent welfare state rewarded talented hand labor with a barely adequate sustaining dole. Young Ghyl Tarvok, fascinated by the legend of Emphyrio, became a rebel. In a pirated spaceship, he began his search through the civilizations of neighboring planets for the key to the origin of his homeworld's culture and the secret that might change it. Inexorably he moved toward the last desperate hope: the planet his ancestors had left many thousands of years before-the mysterious and terrifying place called Earth.
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The Hyperion Omnibus
by Dan Simmons
The Hyperion books are credited with single-handedly reinventing and reinvigorating SF in the 1990s. A broad canvased, hugely imaginative and exciting SF epic, the books draw on the works of Keats and provide a uniquely intelligent and literary approach with cutting edge science, compelling characterisation and edge-of-your-seat excitement. The story is continued in ENDYMION and THE RISE OF ENDYMION, which Gollancz will also be publishing in an omnibus volume.
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ID: 1841490598
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ID: 0575071230
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ID: 0786193565
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ID: 0380730456
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ID: 0450011844
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