My Top 10 Science Fiction Reads from 2024 [Board of Judgment]

[@willk7184]

Cool list buddy, and good summaries. I'm definitely intrigued by a few and will add to my TBR pile. Btw I believe "Rax" can also be found under the alternate title "Hello Summer, Goodbye".

[@sfwordsofwonder]

You are correct, I forgot to mention the UK title of "Hello Summer, Goodbye". It also has a Canadian title of "Pallahaxi Tide".

[@PulpMortem]

I just want to say that Ira, you might be the single biggest contributor to my local bookstore's enrichment at my expense. Now there's a comprehensive list! *Jake grabs jacket and drives to bookstore as if in a trance

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I'm here to help stimulate the economy. The used bookstore economy, haha.

[@vintagesf]

Great reads Ira! Read half of them and want to read the other half! (Need to reread Gateway as it may be about 40 years since I read it.)

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I think Gateway holds up well for it's age.

[@JosephReadsBooks]

That is a great top 10! I'm going to keep an eye out for the ones I haven't read.

[@SciFiFinds]

That Project Pope cover is amazing. I read The Palace of Eternity earlier this year and agree that it's great. Loved Gateway too as you know! Need to check out the others on the list, thanks for an amazing year of videos and recommendations.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I think you would love Palace of Eternity. Here's to a great 2025 year of reading and talking about SF.

[@LiminalSpaces03]

Great list! I've read a couple of these, but so many are new to me!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I think you would like a lot of the Raymond Z. Gallun short stories, especially the dream machine one. Cheers Chris.

[@bazoo513]

A very interesting list. It sent me chasing some authors I never heard of, after almost half a century of reading SF. Thank you!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Thanks for the comment. Cheers.

[@bartsbookspace]

What an interesting top 10! Lots of books that go under the radar for most readers. I'm definitely making a note of a few titles here. 👍

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Just the way I like it, under the radar. 😊

[@jack_yo]

Nice top ten. Lots of books for me to discover. I've read War of the Worlds, and Gateway is on my 2025 tbr. I just started This Immortal last night, about fifty pages in. My first read of the year.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Nice, hope you enjoy This Immortal and Gateway. Cheers and thanks for watching.

[@CptSamelsSigils]

After this video, I just put some of these authors on my “authors to try” book collection list. Thanks man, happy reading for 2025!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Happy 2025 to you as well. Let me know if you ever want to buddy read something, I'll have you on the channel. Cheers.

[@CptSamelsSigils]

@@sfwordsofwonder Oh, how the booktubers groan and yawn at the innumerable reviews of Bradbury, Clarke and Asimov! "How we yearn for fresh takes on hot books! Who will appear as the chosen ones and answer our call?!" ...and then, appearing astride their destriers, with their baseball caps at various angles illuminated by the twin suns behind them, the heroes did appear: "We shall review Pornucopia by Piers Anthony!" they said! haha jk m8. I'll send you an email, thank you for your magnanimous invitation!

[@christianthorpe935]

That prominent quote on the cover of The Long Tomorrow is objectively hilarious. "It's almost great!"

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Haha, I thought it was 'really great'.

[@NevsBookChannel]

That’s some fancy presentation board you’ve got going on there!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Haha, I will go out of my way to avoid editing videos.

[@OmnivorousReader]

Good video! Only three in your top ten that I have read, that is always exciting, new books to look out for.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I'd really like to hear your thoughts on T. L. Sherred.

[@secretfirebooks7894]

I have a book club hardcover of Gateway. I might have to crack that one open sometime soon.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

It's a great novel and you don't really need to read the sequels.

[@reynoldsmathey]

A great year for you. I couldn't help but notice that 'Player of Games' was the most contemporary book on the list, even though it was an honorable mention. You definitely seem to prefer pre-1990 SF, but I could be wrong, lol. Thanks, Ira!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I've read some more contemporary books in the past but this year I've really been digging into the classic or vintage eras. I would like to start reading more modern books at some point but I'm having way too much fun doing what I'm doing right now.

[@secretsauceofstorycraft]

What an interesting list…. But i am very interested in Rax! Although i want to encourage you to do that top ten fav sf short stories…. Im a noob to short stories and trying to get into them. Would find a video like that very helpful!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I think you would like Rax Whitney, it is such a great story. Yes, I've thought about doing a SF short story list, thanks for the encouragement.

[@BadTasteBooks]

Great top 10 Ira! I'll keep these in mind. I read War of the Worlds as a kid as well, and I didn't appreciate it. I need to reread that some day, as it is no doubt a classic for a reason.

[@glennaustin37]

I re-read it a few years ago after going to the WotW immersive experience in London, and it became my book of the year that year. Can also recommend Stephen Baxter's follow up 'the Massacre of Mankind'.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

It's worth a re-read. Also check out Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of it if you haven't, it's so good.

[@BadTasteBooks]

@@sfwordsofwonder Jeff Wayne's musical is great! I love 70s progressive rock!

[@braydenpresley1437]

Love the list! Lots of stuff I don’t have/haven’t read. I read WOTW about 2 weeks ago for the first time and enjoyed it. It was one of those that I was torn on bc it was so dated but also so well written. I’m relatively early in my vintage sci fi reading, but I’m doing my best to try authors and classics that some might call “required reading” lol. But overall, I’m glad I finally got around to reading Wells. Cheers to a great 2025!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

That's great. Yes, one challenge with reading the really old stuff is putting it into context of it's time, could you imagine reading that in 1897 though? crazy.

[@kufujitsu]

Excellent list. A lot of forgotten authors & works which deserve to be better known. Also, it's nice to see short stories get a little love. I read lots of them. Short stories are not as popular as novels, probably because most readers don't know how to read them. For those of you out there who want to give short stories a try, the best way to read them is to treat each individual story as a separate entity, like you would a novel. No need to race through the entire collection in one sitting - just a few at a time.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Good advise, I've been reading a few short stories between novels. If I try to read through a whole collection or anthology I tend to get burned out and lose interest. Have a great new year.

[@waltera13]

Thank you! This was really enlightening. Although I knew from your previous vids that you enjoyed a number of those books, somehow I was really surprised at most of your list, and that Rax and The Long Tomorrow we're so high up! I think you were very understated when expressing your joy about a number of these books. Not a criticism, just a little surprised. It gives me a lot to think about with those titles. Cool.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I'm not really one to overstate or sensationalize my opinions of books. I've seen people talk about 'life changing' books, then I read them and say "it was good". Most books are good, some are great. Thanks for watching.

[@paulcooper3611]

You are the only other person who even knows that Leigh Bracket's 'The Long Tomorrow' exists, let alone how good a book it is. I had known her for her Mars stories and her Eric John Stark stories - oh yeah, and that she wrote movies for John Wayne - but this one came as a total surprise to me. Good on you.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Thanks Paul, I hope your comment inspires people to check The Long Tomorrow out, such a great novel.

[@glennaustin37]

Great list, albeit a bit classic sci-fi heavy. Nothing wrong with that, but read probably half of these already. I guess less than 10% of my reading now is 20th century but one made my top 5: 1 The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep (H G Parry) 2 How High we go in the Dark (Sequoia Nagamatsu) 3 My Brother's Keeper (Tim Powers) 4 The Midnight Library (Matt Haig) 5 Slaughterhouse 5 (Kurt Vonnegut Jr).... coming late to the Vonnegut party!!!

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Yes, I've mostly been reading pre-1990 stuff. In the past I've read modern SF and enjoyed it but I'm really preferring the older stuff for now. Thanks for watching and thanks for your list, in my 20's I got on a Vonnegut kick and read almost everything he's written, one of my favorite authors.

[@helloitsme7983]

Yes. How high we go in the dark .. midnight library. 👍

[@markbaker8521]

Hi Ira, first time I have seen someone mention The Hopkins Manuscript - I have the Pan paperback which is called The Cataclysm, which states on the back that it is an entirely new version of The Hopkins Manuscript although I suspect the basic premise is the same - the Moon crashes into the Earth - it would be interesting to actually compare the text of both books - I read The Cataclysm last year and thoroughly enjoyed it - I like a good apocalyptic tale...

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I got the Hopkins recommendation from a viewer/commenter on the channel. It's great and also love a great apocalyptic story. I didn't know there was a different title/version, like you said, would be interesting to compare.

[@vilstef6988]

I've liked about everything I've ever read by Bob Shaw!

[@sethball2475]

A wonderful assortment of SF stories and concepts, making up a terrific Top 10 of the Year List. You get around, that's for sure. On Wings of Song is my favourite by Disch - fascinating to see that one squeeze onto your Top 10, as it was hard to tell from your comments in a few videos how you really felt about the book, even though it was clear it had made an impression. I had to watch it nudge off The Hopkins Manuscript, but c'est la vie! Loved The War of the Worlds, The Paradox Men, and The Palace of Eternity...though I did not read them all in one year. Off topic...I'm super-anxious to see the first tremors of the Bug Jack Barron experience start to hit... My favourite SF books of the year (in order read) were: The Magicians, by J. B. Priestley Brother Monster, by Fredric Brown (unfinished novel) The Steel Crocodile, by D. G. Compton Sentinels From Space, by Eric Frank Russell Before the Golden Age, Book 1, Edited by Isaac Asimov (Top Favourite) The Cheetah-Girl, by Christopher Blayre (aka Edward Heron Allen) (Second Favourite) Angel Island by Inez Haynes Gilmore The People of the Pole, by Charles Derrenes

[@sfwordsofwonder]

That is an awesome list Seth. The only ones I currently have is Steel Crocodile and Sentinels from Space. Jotting some other down to try and find. Here's to a great 2025.

[@Unpotted]

Great list, Ira. Bob Shaw’s book is only available electronically, unless someone wants to pay big money for it. I enjoyed the entire Heechee series. Read it in high school, so unsure if it holds up to the seasoned science fiction reader. 😺✌️

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I've heard that Shaw's estate has the rights locked up, which is unfortunate. I think Gateway holds up great, but maybe not for a younger reader. If put into context of when it was written, then it really shines, Pohl was doing some new and interesting things back then.

[@Tetsujin-28]

I've wanted to start The Purple Cloud (M.P. Shiel) since I picked it up in a Sept Wh&t n*t auction. Great books on this list.

[@sfwordsofwonder]

I've never heard of Purple Cloud, written in 1901, dang. I'm on the lookout for that one now. Thanks Robert.

[@mtm272727]

Gateway lost me at the thermometer. Having said that it’s now been a few months and I may have to read the next to see if it’s better.😂

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Oh yes, the thermometer in the bum. I was laughing and shaking my head when I read that. Pohl seems to do things like that a lot, I'm just glad it doesn't become a major theme of the story, he quickly moves on. FYI, if you read the sequel 'Beyond the Blue Event Horizon', there are some things in the beginning that are really hard to read and your thinking 'no Pohl, don't go there, don't make the book about this', then he moves along and it's all pretty much forgotten.

[@mtm272727]

@ I could have thought of a million reasons but the thermometer shocked me. I had to reread it to make sure it was really there. Freaking Pohl. Haha

[@bazoo513]

1:05 - Do, by all means. Not only Culture, and not only SF. Some of his "mainstream" and "halfway" works are absolute gems, e.g. _The Bridge_ or _The Crow Road._ (Actually, almost everything; IMO, the man never wrote anything less that at least "very good", and the thematic spectrum is very wide.) 2:15 - Again, absolutely do, at least _Camp Concentration,_ the novel for which P.. K. Dick denounced Disch to the FBI (what a dick! - just goes to show that even less than great people can write great works, which PKD certainly did.) 3:50 - First again ?!? 😀 Are you new to SF, or did you read only some (to me) obscure authors? (Edit: Neither, as I see...) 5:25 - This one I don't know. Bought! (Thank you, Golanz, for your SF Gateway library)

[@sfwordsofwonder]

Crow Road was the first book I got suggested from Banks, still want to read that. Yeah, that was my first Zelazny, we all have our lists of shame.

[@bazoo513]

@@sfwordsofwonder I call it "a piece of Scottish Magical Realism", to the horror of (other) admirers of G. G. Márquez (I am one, too, of course). (BTW, Gavin Millar made a marvelous TV mini-series after _The Crow Road;_ his movie adaptation of _Complicity_ wasn't as good: he tried to hard to cram all plot elements into a feature film format, leaving no room for the atmosphere.) Cheers!