Best Sci-Fi Books

best sci fi books

 
A girl? Who likes Sci-Fi? Oh, I do know... And then I am asked about Lord of the Rings.

When I tell people I am liking Vampires, they start speaking about Twilight and Anne Rice in lieu of Guillermo Del Toro's The Strain. When I tell people I am liking Sci-Fi, they stare at me as blankly as a Scottish Cow.

*Pav slams head on table or times before looking up at oblivious offender*

No, Lord of the Rings is fantasy, I do not like that, I am liking Sci-Fi.

The face before me squishes up as it tries to understand, and then a light comes on behind their eyes. Like Neil Gaiman?

*Pav sheds a singular tear before getting up from the table and joining the remainder of the AV Team in the hall*

The essential issue is so few people understand what Sci-Fi actually is. There's been thousands of books listed as Sci-Fi which under the true definition don't remotely resemble pure Science Fiction. Fantasy and Sci-Fi have become interchangeable for so plenty of that the differences are blurry; however, there is a clear and solid line separating them. Sci-Fi is feasible. Fantasy is not.

I see them, sitting in the corner, playing magik and wearing the velvet capes their mothers made them and recognize that even here, there is no place for me.

This is an amazingly important distinction. In Sci-Fi there's no wizards, no magic, no nymphs or elves or fairies. Fantasy is wonderful; this is not a rant against it. But let's let fantasy be fantasy, call a moose a moose, and give Sci-Fi its due.

In the words of L. Ron Hubbard: "...science fiction, to be credible, has to be based on some degree of plausibility; fantasy gives you no limits at all."
best sci fi books

Even dystopian books within this style possess that glimmer of hope. There is something about what human kind has or can generate that propels a simple fiction story in to the ranks of pure Sci-Fi and gives the reader permission to dream; and dream large. "We created a kind of energy that is consuming the Earth and all of us must discover a new planet." WOW. My imagination is on fire with what that energy could be and where they could possibly go.

The thing I find so thrilling about Science Fiction is exactly what Hubbard is referring to: it is feasible. This doesn't suggest that it is going to happen now or that it is going to happen at all, but the chance of life on Mars or Alien Invasions or even the simplicity of Space Travel lifts my hope for the future. Sci-Fi, when done well, is at its core inspirational.

best sci fi books

If done well a Science Fiction novel will include not only expertise but psychology, anthropology and sociology: generating a number of the most realistic and fleshed out cultures that have ever existed in fiction. The reason for this is the Science Fiction writer's dedication to writing about the actual and the feasible. One time you have researched how a nuclear reactor works and figured out a way to make it propel a space craft it is only natural to put the same hard work and dedication in to every aspect of the work.

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