Classic Science Fiction that Doesn't Hold Your Hand

[@dhvandenb4208]

The Stars My Destination isn't considered a Masterpiece....it IS a Masterpiece.

[@bookjack]

🤙

[@Kim_Miller]

Modern authors who don't hold your hand. 1. Hannu Rajaniemi. "You have hands?" 2. Alistair Reynolds. "If I can write it like this you can read it like this." 3. Gene Wolfe. (OK, perhaps no longer modern.) "What do you want me to do, write another book just to explain this one?"

[@bookjack]

Both Wolfe and Reynolds are on my list of authors I'd like to explore

[@Kim_Miller]

@@bookjackWolfe is a hard nut to crack. My pretend quote up there references a conversation he had with his publisher. The publisher said he would only publish The Citadel of the Autarch, the fourth book of Book of the New Sun, if Wolfe promised to write a sequel to explain the whole series. So Urth of the New Sun came out a few years later.

[@Kim_Miller]

I've not read The Stars my Destination but when you put up the pic of Bester's Tiger Tiger I noticed The Demolished Man on there. Hey, I said to myself, is that the one with the mind readers? Yep says wikipedia. I read that when I was a teenager in the 60s and am a surprised that a bit of the memory is still with me.

[@bookjack]

Glad I could spark it :)

[@haxxy40]

I'm sure Project Hail Mary along with The Martian will be considered a masterpiece 50 years from now. Maybe The Expanse series also? People also seem to like The Three Body Problem, which I did not enjoy that much. Although I haven't read them, but the Silo series seem very popular, so also this series maybe?

[@DataDad206]

Such great book recs! Do you have a Goodreads or storygraph?

[@bookjack]

I do not. Haven't even heard of Storygraph actually 😅

[@PuppetMeat1]

Blindsight probably has the best shot of being remembered as a modern sf masterpiece, at least among what I've read. I wasnt quite as into it as a lot of people are, but it sure gets people going which is probably the best indicator of its staying power.

[@bookjack]

It does seem to be a divisive one. Loved it personally

[@tokenblack7983]

Silverberg writes like butter…effortlessly delicious Just started Thorns…after just finishing Downward to the Earth…which was fantastic…best soft Sci Fi Author perhaps

[@bookjack]

I'm lucky to have so many of his books ahead of me

[@gaileverett]

You haven't read Le Guin then, I guess.

[@tokenblack7983]

@@gaileverett I have two of her book on the shelf…just a matter of time

[@bartsbookspace]

Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion are, to me, examples of a modern SF masterpiece; House of Suns and Fire Upon the Deep as well.

[@bookjack]

Agree with Hyperion although I'm not sure what the cutoff date for Modern is

[@bartsbookspace]

@@bookjack That line is likely arbitrary, if it even exist outside this conversation lol. I think Hyperion was published in 1989, and to me it feels like a modern book in a way that SF books from the 60s and 70s do not. So, let’s “officially” set the masterpiece line at 35 years back. 🙃

[@stevenlamb8726]

I found an old omnibus copy of Hyperion Cantos at my local used bookstore the other day, an amazing find! Can’t wait to dig in. I read The Terror by Dan Simmons earlier this year and absolutely devoured it so I’m excited to get back into some Simmons. Carrion Comfort is on my TBR for this year as well. Cheers!

[@bartsbookspace]

@@stevenlamb8726 Nice find! 🙌 I definitely want to read Terror this year.

[@civoreb]

Love Silverberg. The man doesnt know how to write a bad book imo

[@bookjack]

I haven't come across one yet

[@tamerlaaane]

His early work is pretty bad. Just try The 13th Immortal (you can get it for free from Project Gutenberg), that one is awful.

[@phaedrus2633]

"Dhalgren" was a book, I don't think I ever got my orientation in.

[@Tetsujin-28]

12:03.Young Jake Paul on the cover. "Energy Vampire". Sounds like a Gen Z diet sparkling water. We All Died at Breakaway Station (Richard C. Meredith). Masterpiece.

[@bookjack]

Lol so true

[@B0BsBooks]

I rarely read introductions. I have never bought a book for an introduction. I think I've maybe gone back and read the introduction after I finished the book if it was good 1% of all total books I've read in my life.

[@bookjack]

I thought I had learned my lesson after getting spoiled a few times but I guess not 😅

[@cojaysea]

I remember reading in one of Isaac Asimovs books that he said Alfred Bester was a much better writer than he was . But of course no where near as prolific .

[@bookjack]

I'll agree with that. Asimov has mind-blowing ideas but the delivery is usually dull

[@stevenlamb8726]

Me being obsessed with 90 Day Fiancé….am I an energy vampire??

[@bookjack]

Maybe just the subject of one? It's definitely a grey area when filtered through a screen

[@brettrobson5739]

Smith (Linebarger) is a genius. Just sayin, is all.

[@FrankOdonnell-ej3hd]

you're right bester is of one of those fifties authors I think of as being stodgy (does he really have a character named jizz? omg!) but still might read stars my destination if I can get a shiny modern edition. Silverberg's dying inside is on my bucket list cause I keep hearing it described as a dark classic also totally agree the martian is NOT a classic and a canticle for liebowitz is. As for kant use/be used I made a firm decision never to read him after I found out he not only died a virgin but argued masturbation is worse than suicide haha. As for a book in the last two decades I'd call a classic I can't think of a SINGLE one now but if I do I'll get back to you⚛😀

[@bookjack]

Didn't know that about Kant 😅 Interesting take. And Dying Inside is next up for me too whenever I come back to Silverberg

[@BobCanRead]

I think you're being too stingy with the term "masterpiece"! Or maybe I'm just too liberal with it. 🤷‍♂🤣

[@bookjack]

Probably both 😅

[@phaedrus2633]

I just didn't care for that type of really pulpy science fiction such as "The Stars My Destination" . And, I don't like the totally cerebral sci-fi like "Roadside Park". Something in the middle is my best kind of sci-fi. Yeah, Gully is a very flat character, and the ending quite non sequitur.

[@bookjack]

The ending is totally bizarre which I like but jarring when it's not leaned into it. I definitely lean towards the more cerebral but navel-gazing can get pretty dull

[@ifihadfriends437]

I've read A Time of Changes and Downward to the Earth. While he is a geat writer, his portrayal of women in both of these was lacking.

[@bookjack]

True enough. Thorns wasn't too egregious on that front at least

[@tokenblack7983]

Yes yes why didn’t he write the book I would have written…🙄…just get over it and enjoy the fiction