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Famous Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors
Criteria Lists
Lists of Awards, Best-Sellers, Historically Influential SF, etc.

Skip down to lists of links to related resources

This page presents much of the supporting material used to choose the authors included in the "Famous SF/F Authors" list. Links and brief explanatory notes are provided, as well as full or partial lists.

The sources listed below provided supporting material, but were not the only factors. Selection of the most famous sf/f authors was not done by a formula or some sort of point total. Historically important authors such as Shelley, Wells, Verne, Borroughs, etc. are certainly included, even though they do not appear on many of these more modern lists.

Over half of the authors listed in the "Famous" list were determined before referring to any of the materials below, based on our own experience and knowledge of the field. Many authors were added as it became evident that, although we were less familiar with them, they had been influential or popular. Some of the authors we originally listed were removed.

Some of the resources listed below refer to literature in general, and not specifically to sf/f. Authors such as Bradbury and Vonnegut who are well-known outside of genre literature are often even more famous than those who have been successful primarily within the sf/f genres.

Lists on this page:

SF/F Novels Among the 100 Greatest Novels (Reader's Choice poll)
Internet Top 100 SF/F Survey (Cooke)
Hugo-winning Novels
Nebula-winning Novels
Campbell-winning Novels
World Almanac Notable Writers of the Past
World Almanac Notable Writers of the Present
Internet Speculative Fiction Database Top Authors
Internet Speculative Fiction Database Top Novels
Amazon.com's 25 Best SF/F Books of the Century
SF Vote
Enigma (UCLA) Recommended SF/F
Essential SF/F
Amazon.com's Millennium Poll
Literary Science Fiction
Multiple Yahoo Web Links
Multiple Open Directory Web Links
Book-a-Minute Reviews
1999 Best Sellers (Amazon.com)
Publishers Weekly Best Books 99
Kroll's Canonical Authors
Award-Winning Canadian Novelists
Authors of Work Which May Have Inspired Babylon 5

Authors whose names are in bold are those listed in the "Famous SF/F Authors" list.

SF/F Novels Among the 100 Greatest Novels (Reader's Choice poll)

Many of famous science fiction and fantasy authors have works which were voted among the 100 greatest novels of the century in the reader's choice survey conducted by the Modern Library Board (The complete list is available online from Random House). The readers' poll for the best novels published in the English language since 1900 opened on July 20, 1998 and closed on October 20, 1998, with 217,520 votes cast. Authors with works in this Top 100 list are underlined in the "Famous SF/F Authors" list above.

Robert Heinlein: Citizen of the Galaxy; Double Star; Starship Troopers; Stranger in a Strange Land; The Door Into Summer; The Moon is a Harsh Mistress; The Puppet Masters
L. Ron Hubbard: Battlefield Earth; Fear; Mission Earth
George Orwell: 1984; Animal Farm by George Orwell
Ray Bradbury: Fahrenheit 451; Something Wicked This Way Comes
Stephen King: It; The Stand
Frank Herbert: Dune
Orson Scott Card: Ender's Game
Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse-Five
Douglas Adams: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings

SF/F Authors Who are Major Characters in Feature Films

Movies are such a popular form of popular media that they are often a major contributor to the fame of authors on whose work they are based. An even greater indicator of fame, and sometimes a cause of fame, is when movies are actually about an author. We've moved information about this subject to its own page: SF/F Authors Who are Major Characters in Feature Films.

Internet Top 100 SF/F Survey (Cooke)

As of Nov. 1, 1999, the Internet Top 100 survey had compiled the votes of 2,510 people. Readers were asked to submit names of SF/F books, along with a rating between 1 to 10. The webmaster for this site is T. Cooke, of Adelaide, Australia. The top 10 highest-ranked books or series are shown below.

Rank	Book/Series	Author	Votes	Score
1	Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkien	1051	8.88
2	The Ender Saga	Orson Scott Card	860	8.6
3	The Lions of Al-Rassan	Guy G. Kay	72	8.54
4	The Vorkosigan Series	Lois M. Bujold	103	8.47
5	Tigana	Guy G. Kay	210	8.4
6	Dune	Frank Herbert	900	8.4
7	The Annals of the Black Company	Glen Cook	89	8.35
8	Flowers for Algernon	Daniel Keyes	160	8.34
9	The Discworld Series	Terry Pratchett	124	8.31
10	A Clockwork Orange	Anthony Burgess	88	8.3

Some of the other authors in the Top 100 as of October 1999 include: Roger Zelazny (20, 21, 32, 33, 96); Robert A. Heinlein (16, 31, 75, 83); George Orwell (34); Ray Bradbury (44); Harlan Ellison (46); Philip K. Dick (48); Robert Silverberg (50); Cordwainer Smith (58, 72); Isaac Asimov (60); Larry Niven (64); Walter M. Miller (66); C. J. Cherryh (67); Theodore Sturgeon (68); C.S. Lewis (71); Ursula K. Le Guin (84, 94); Arthur C. Clarke (85); Gene Wolfe (87); Douglas Adams (88); Timothy Zahn (91); Kurt Vonnegut (97).

Hugo Awards for Best Novel

Title	Author	Year
The Mule (printed in Foundation and Empire)	Isaac Asimov	1946
The Demolished Man	Alfred Bester	1953
They'd Rather Be Right (retitled The Forever Machine)	Mark Clifton and Frank Riley	1955
Double Star	Robert A. Heinlein	1956
The Big Time	Fritz Leiber	1958
A Case of Conscience	James Blish	1959
Starship Troopers	Robert A. Heinlein	1960
A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.	1961
Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert A. Heinlein	1962
The Man in the High Castle	Philip K. Dick	1963
Way Station	Clifford D. Simak	1964
The Wanderer	Fritz Leiber	1965
...And Call Me Conrad (re-issued as This Immortal)	Roger Zelazny	1966
Dune	Frank Herbert	1966
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress	Robert A. Heinlein	1967
Lord of Light	Roger Zelazny	1968
Stand on Zanzibar	John Brunner	1969
The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula K. Le Guin	1970
Ringworld	Larry Niven	1971
To Your Scattered Bodies Go	Philip Jose Farmer	1972
The Gods Themselves	Isaac Asimov	1973
Rendezvous with Rama	Arthur C. Clarke	1974
The Dispossessed	Ursula K. Le Guin	1975
The Forever War	Joe Haldeman	1976
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang	Kate Wilhelm	1977
Gateway	Frederik Pohl	1978
Dreamsnake	Vonda McIntyre	1979
The Fountains of Paradise	Arthur C. Clarke	1980
The Snow Queen	Joan D. Vinge	1981
Downbelow Station	C. J. Cherryh	1982
Foundation's Edge	Isaac Asimov	1983
Startide Rising	David Brin	1984
Neuromancer	William Gibson	1985
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card	1986
Speaker for the Dead	Orson Scott Card	1987
The Uplift War	David Brin	1988
Cyteen	C. J. Cherryh	1989
Hyperion	Dan Simmons	1990
The Vor Game	Lois McMaster Bujold	1991
Barrayar	Lois McMaster Bujold	1992
A Fire Upon the Deep	Vernor Vinge	1993
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis	1993
Green Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	1994
Mirror Dance	Lois McMaster Bujold	1995
The Diamond Age	Neal Stephenson	1996
Blue Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	1997
Forever Peace	Joe Haldeman	1998
To Say Nothing of the Dog	Connie Willis	1999
A Deepness in the Sky	Vernor Vinge	2000
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire	J.K. Rowling	2001

All Winners of Multiple Hugo Awards in Novel Category

Note that many of these have won Hugos in other categories. The novel category, however, is the most predictive in determining fame.

Author	Number of Hugo Awards for Best Novel
Robert A. Heinlein	4
Lois McMaster Bujold	3
Isaac Asimov	3
David Brin	2
Orson Scott Card	2
C. J. Cherryh	2
Arthur C. Clarke	2
Joe Haldeman	2
Ursula K. Le Guin	2
Kim Stanley Robinson	2
Connie Willis	2
Roger Zelazny	2
Vernor Vinge	2

Nebula Awards for Best Novel

Presented by the Science Fiction Writers Association.

Title	Author	Year
Dune	Frank Herbert	1965
Babel-17	Samuel R. Delany	1966
Flowers For Algernon	Daniel Keyes	1966
The Einstein Intersection	Samuel R. Delany	1967
Rite of Passage	Alexei Panshin	1968
The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula K. Le Guin	1969
Ringworld	Larry Niven	1970
A Time of Changes	Robert Silverberg	1971
The Gods Themselves	Isaac Asimov	1972
Rendezvous With Rama	Arthur C. Clarke	1973
The Dispossessed	Ursula K. Le Guin	1974
The Forever War	Joe Haldeman	1975
Man Plus	Frederik Pohl	1976
Gateway	Frederik Pohl	1977
Dreamsnake	Vonda McIntyre	1978
The Fountains of Paradise	Arthur C. Clarke	1979
Timescape	Gregory Benford	1980
The Claw of the Conciliator	Gene Wolfe	1981
No Enemy But Time	Michael Bishop	1982
Startide Rising	David Brin	1983
Neuromancer	William Gibson	1984
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card	1985
Speaker for the Dead	Orson Scott Card	1986
The Falling Woman	Pat Murphy	1987
Falling Free	Lois McMaster Bujold	1988
The Healer's War	Elizabeth Ann Scarborough	1989
Tehanu: The Last Book of Earthsea	Ursula K. Le Guin	1990
Stations of the Tide	Michael Swanwick	1991
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis	1992
Red Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	1993
Moving Mars	Greg Bear	1994
The Terminal Experiment	Robert J. Sawyer	1995
Slow River	Nicola Griffith	1996
The Moon and the Sun	Vonda McIntyre	1997
Forever Peace	Joe Haldeman	1998
Parable of the Talents	Octavia Butler	1999
Darwin's Radio	Greg Bear	2000
The Quantum Rose	Catherine Asaro	2001

All Winners of Multiple Nebula Awards in Novel Category

Author	Number of Nebula Awards for Best Novel
Ursula K. Le Guin	3
Orson Scott Card	2
Arthur C. Clarke	2
Samuel R. Delany	2
Joe Haldeman	2
Vonda McIntyre	2
Frederik Pohl	2

Locus Award for Science Fiction Novels

Title	Author	Year
Ringworld	Larry Niven	1971
The Lathe of Heaven	Ursula K. Le Guin	1972
The Gods Themselves	Isaac Asimov	1973
Rendezvous with Rama	Arthur C. Clarke	1974
The Dispossessed	Ursula K. Le Guin	1975
The Forever War	Joe Haldeman	1976
Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang	Kate Wilhelm	1977
Gateway	Frederik Pohl	1978
Dreamsnake	Vonda N. McIntyre	1979
Titan	John Varley	1980
The Snow Queen	Joan D. Vinge	1981
The Many-Colored Land	Julian May	1982
Foundation's Edge	Isaac Asimov	1983
Startide Rising	David Brin	1984
The Integral Trees	Larry Niven	1985
The Postman	David Brin	1986
Speaker for the Dead	Orson Scott Card	1987
The Uplift War	David Brin	1988
Cyteen	C. J. Cherryh	1989
Hyperion	Dan Simmons	1990
The Fall of Hyperion	Dan Simmons	1991
Barrayar	Lois McMaster Bujold	1992
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis	1993
Green Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson	1994
Mirror Dance	Lois McMaster Bujold	1995
The Diamond Age	Neal Stephenson	1996
The Rise of Endymion	Dan Simmons	1998

Locus Award for Fantasy Novels

Title	Author	Year
Silmarillion	J.R.R. Tolkien	1978
Harpist in the Wind	Patricia McKillip	1980
Lord Valentine's Castle	Robert Silverberg	1981
Claw of the Conciliator	Gene Wolfe	1982
Sword of the Lictor	Gene Wolfe	1983
Mists of Avalon	Marion Zimmer Bradley	1984
Job: A Comedy of Justice	Robert A. Heinlein	1985
Trumps of Doom	Roger Zelazny	1986
Soldier of the Mist	Gene Wolfe	1987
Seventh Son	Orson Scott Card	1988
Red Prophet	Orson Scott Card	1989
Prentice Alvin	Orson Scott Card	1990
Tehanu	Ursula K. Le Guin	1991
Beauty	Sheri S. Tepper	1992
Last Call	Tim Powers	1993
The Innkeeper's Song	Peter S. Beagle	1994
Brittle Innings	Michael Bishop	1995
Alvin Journeyman	Orson Scott Card	1996
Earthquake Weather	Tim Powers	1998

There are also Locus-award winning Horror/Dark Fantasy novels.

All Winners of Multiple Locus Awards

Author	Number of Locus Awards
Dan Simmons	6
Orson Scott Card	5
David Brin	3
Ursula K. Le Guin	3
Tim Powers	3
Gene Wolfe	3
Isaac Asimov	2
Lois McMaster Bujold	2
Larry Niven	2

Combined Hugo, Nebula and Locus Awards for Best Novel

Author	Number of Best Novels
Orson Scott Card	9
Ursula K. Le Guin	8
Dan Simmons	7
David Brin	6
Isaac Asimov	6
Lois McMaster Bujold	6
Arthur C. Clarke	5
Joe Haldeman	5
Robert A. Heinlein	5
Connie Willis	4
Frederik Pohl	4
Gene Wolfe	4
Kim Stanley Robinson	4
Larry Niven	4
Vonda McIntyre	4
C. J. Cherryh	3
Roger Zelazny	3
Tim Powers	3
Frank Herbert	2
Joan D. Vinge	2
Vernor Vinge	2
Kate Wilhelm	2
Michael Bishop	2
Neal Stephenson	2
Robert Silverberg	2
Fritz Leiber	2
William Gibson	2
Samuel R. Delany	2

Campbell Awards 1st Place Novels

The Campbell Award committee chooses a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place novel each year. In recent years the award has been presented at the University of Kansas. Below are all of the 1st place winners.

Title	Author	Year
Beyond Apollo	Barry N. Malzberg	1973
Rendezvous with Rama	Arthur C. Clarke	1974
Malevil	Robert Merle	1974
Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said	Philip K. Dick	1975
The Year of the Quiet Sun	Wilson Tucker	1976
The Alteration	Kingsley Amis	1977
Gateway	Frederik Pohl	1978
Gloriana	Michael Moorcock	1979
On Wings of Song	Thomas M. Disch	1980
Timescape	Gregory Benford	1981
Riddley Walker	Russell Hoban	1982
Helliconia Spring	Brian W. Aldiss	1983
The Citadel of the Autarch	Gene Wolfe	1984
The Years of the City	Frederik Pohl	1985
The Postman	David Brin	1986
A Door into Ocean	Joan Slonczewski	1987
Lincoln's Dreams	Connie Willis	1988
Islands in the Net	Bruce Sterling	1989
The Child Garden	Geoff Ryman	1990
Pacific Edge	Kim Stanley Robinson	1991
Buddy Holly Is Alive and Well on Ganymede	Bradley Denton	1992
Brother to Dragons	Charles Sheffield	1993
Permutation City	Greg Egan	1995
The Time Ships	Stephen Baxter	1996
Fairyland	Paul McAuley	1997
Forever Peace	Joe Haldeman	1998
Brute Orbits	George Zebrowski	1999
A Deepness in the Sky	Vernor Vinge	2000
Genesis	Poul Anderson	2001

Authors from this "Famous List" who have won 2nd or 3rd place Campbell Awards, but never 1st place: Robert Silverberg, Carl Sagan, Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Kurt Vonnegut, Greg Bear, Orson Scott Card, Anne McCaffrey, Poul Anderson.

Winners of Multiple Campbell Awards

These are all the winners of multiple Campbell awards, through 1999 (1st, 2nd, and 3rd place awards are all considered in this list).

Author	Number of Campbell Awards
Greg Bear	5
Frederik Pohl	3
Kim Stanley Robinson	3
Michael Bishop	2
Philip K. Dick	2
William Gibson	2
James Morrow	2
Geoff Ryman	2
Robert Silverberg	2
Bruce Sterling	2
Gene Wolfe	2
Vernor Vinge	2

Triple Crown

Only 3 novels have won science fiction's "triple crown": the Hugo award, the Nebula award, and a 1st place Campbell award. In addition, one (Neoromancer) has won the Hugo, Nebula, and Philip K. Dick award.

Rendezvous with Rama	Arthur C. Clarke	1974
Gateway	Frederik Pohl	1978
Forever Peace	Joe Haldeman	1998
Neuromancer	William Gibson	1984

Triple-Sweep Stories

The following stories have won a Nebula, Hugo and Sturgeon award:

"Bears Discover Fire," by Terry Bisson
"Schrodinger's Kitten,"by George Alec Effinger

For "Double Crown" information, see Joint winners of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, which has a complete list of the considerably large number of novels and stories which have won both a Hugo and a Nebula award.

Sidewise Awards for Best Alternate History Novel

Alternate history is a sub-niche of speculative fiction. The Sidewise Awards honor the year's most outstanding alternate history novel and story.

Year	Author	Title
1995	Paul J. McAuley	Pasquale's Angel
1996	Stephen Baxter	Voyage
1997	Harry Turtledove	How Few Remain
1998	Stephen Fry	Making History
1999	Brendan DuBois	Resurrection Day
2000	Mary Gentle	Ash: A Secret History (Published in U.S. as: A Secret History Carthage Ascendant The Wild Machines Lost Burgundy)
2001	J.N. Stroyar	The Children's War

Most famous s.f. authors who have also been nominated for the Sidewise Award for best novel: Greg Bear (Dinosaur Summer); Orson Scott Card (Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus); Harry Turtledove (Worldwar series).

World Almanac Notable Writers of the Past

The venerable World Alamac and Book of Facts has a list of "Notable Writers of the Past." In the 1998 edition (K-III Communications; Robert Famighetti, senior editor; pages 350-353) there are about 350 writers on this list, including the following who have written science fiction and/or fantasy:

Isaac Asimov
Anthony Burgess (noted for writing The Clockwork Orange)
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Karel Capek (invented the word "robot")
Lewis Carroll (if one counts Through the Looking Glass (Alice in Winderland) as fantasy)
G.K. Chesterton
Aldous Huxley (A Brave New World)
C.S. Lewis
George Orwell
Mary Shelley
J.R.R. Tolkien
Jules Verne
H.G. Wells

World Almanac Notable Writers of the Present

The 1998 version of the World Almanac (see above) also includes a list of "Notable Writers of the Present" (page 349). 156 different authors are in this list, including the following who have written scence fiction and/or fantasy:

Ray Bradbury
Michael Crichton
William Goldman (The Princess Bride)
Stephen King
Ursula K. Le Guin
Madeleine L'Engle
Anne Rice
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

ISFDB Top Authors

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database has an extensive database of authors, books, stories, anthologies, awards, etc. Based on this data, the site presents algorithmically-derived lists of the top SF/F authors. Rankings are based on scores assigned to various. There are three lists: Balanced (the most objective), Critical (emphasizes awards given by a jury and "literate SF"), and Popular (emphasizes awards determined by votes).

The top 20 Authors from the ISFDB Balanced list are below (as of 10 November 1999). It is worth noting that we found this list after compiling this page's list of "Most Famous" SF/F authors, and that only 12 of the top 20 authors from this list were among the 50+ authors we had picked as "most famous." (In the total Top 100 ISFDB list, 23 authors were among the "Most Famous" list.) One major reason for this is that many of the "Top 100 Authors" (such as Mike Resnick) are on the list primarily for awards received for short stories, whereas the "famous authors" on our list were more likely to be novelists.

Also, the ISFDB list is based only on SF/F awards, and does not include extremely well-known authors such as H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, etc. Nor does the ISFDB list include the many famous people who have written SF/F but are not primarily SF/F writers and have not won awards, such as William Shatner, Carl Sagan, etc. Interestingly enough, even the popular and best-selling Michael Crichton has not won SF/F awards and is not included on "Top Author" lists which are based on awards.

Rank	Score	Author
1	3739	Robert Silverberg
2	3431	Ursula K. Le Guin
3	3151	Connie Willis
4	2574	Kim Stanley Robinson
5	2573	Gene Wolfe
6	2511	Orson Scott Card
7	2420	Mike Resnick
8	2387	Lucius Shepard
9	2355	Harlan Ellison
10	2355	George R. R. Martin
11	2284	Michael Bishop
12	2004	Poul Anderson
13	1925	Roger Zelazny
14	1901	Nancy Kress
15	1898	Stephen King
16	1879	John Varley
17	1858	Frederik Pohl
18	1704	Michael Swanwick
19	1655	C. J. Cherryh
20	1615	Dan Simmons

The other authors from the "Most Famous List" who were among the ISFDB Top 100 Authors (Balanced) list were: Isaac Asimov, Anne McCaffrey, Greg Bear, Larry Niven, Robert A. Heinlein, William Gibson, Arthur C. Clarke, Philip K. Dick, Timothy Zahn, Harry Turtledove, Avram Davidson and Piers Anthony

ISFDB Top Novels

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (described above) presents three lists of Top 100 SF/F Novels, using algorithmically-derived rankings, with the same divisions as for authors: Balanced, Critical, and Popular. The rankings mentioned in the "Most Famous Authors" list on this page are based on the "Top 100 Novels (Popular)" list, which gives more weight to awards based on votes. The top 15 novels from this list (as of 10 November 1999) are listed below:

Rank	Score	Novel	Author
1	1246	Neuromancer	William Gibson
2	1025	The Sword of the Lictor	Gene Wolfe
3	906	Ringworld	Larry Niven
4	896	Little, Big	John Crowley
5	895	The Forever War	Joe Haldeman
6	882	The Dispossessed	Ursula K. Le Guin
7	875	The Time Ships	Stephen Baxter
8	856	The Shadow of the Torturer	Gene Wolfe
9	844	Rendezvous With Rama	Arthur C. Clarke
10	842	Seventh Son	Orson Scott Card
11	842	The Claw of the Conciliator	Gene Wolfe
12	830	Doomsday Book	Connie Willis
13	825	All the Weyrs of Pern	Anne McCaffrey
14	825	Gateway	Frederik Pohl
15	822	Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert A. Heinlein

Amazon.com's 25 Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the Century

Amazon.com's list of the best SF/F books of the century, available online, was chosen by the Amazon.com staff:

Rank	Book	Author
1	1984	George Orwell
2	A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.
3	A Clockwork Orange	Anthony Burgess
4	Brave New World	Aldous Huxley
5	Camp Concentration	Thomas M. Disch
6	Dune	Frank Herbert
7	Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
8	Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury
9	Foundation	Isaac Asimov
10	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Douglas Adams
11	The Hobbit	J. R. R. Tolkien
12	The Last Unicorn	Peter S. Beagle, Mel Grant
13	The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula K. Le Guin
14	The Martian Chronicles	Ray Bradbury
15	The Mists of Avalon	Marion Zimmer Bradley
16	Neuromancer	William Gibson
17	Norstrilia	Cordwainer Smith
18	The Once and Future King	Terence Hanbury White
19	The Princess Bride	William Goldman
20	Shadow and Claw: The Shadow of the Torturer/the Claw of the Conciliator	Gene Wolfe
21	The Stars My Destination	Alfred Bester, et al
22	Snow Crash	Neal Stephenson
23	Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert A. Heinlein
24	Ubik	Philip K. Dick
25	Watership Down	Richard Adams

SF Vote

On the SF Vote web site, which went live on August 11, 1999, readers can vote for and rank science fiction novels. According to the site:

How does it work? It's Easy! Just go through the free Signup form and then you're all set. Then go to your favorite novels, and rate them from 0-10 (decimals are allowed). As long as more than a quarter of our members have voted for a book, it's rating is a straight average. Otherwise, the rating is computed with a formula intended to prevent books from rising to the top with only a few people having rated it.

As of 8 November 1999, the rankings were:

Rank	Title	Author
1	Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
2	Foundation	Isaac Asimov
3	Dune	Frank Herbert
4	Rendezvous With Rama	Arthur C. Clarke
5	The Moon is a Harsh Mistress	Robert A. Heinlein
6	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Douglas Adams
7	Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert A. Heinlein
8	Hyperion	Dan Simmons
9	Starship Troopers	Robert A. Heinlein
10	1984	George Orwell
11	The Caves of Steel	Isaac Asimov
12	Childhood's End	Arthur C. Clarke
13	The Mote in God's Eye	Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
14	The Gods Themselves	Isaac Asimov
15	Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury
16	The Stars My Destination	Alfred Bester
17	Ringworld	Larry Niven
18	Have Space Suit--Will Travel	Robert A. Heinlein
19	The Icarus Hunt	Timothy Zahn
20	The Martian Chronicles	Ray Bradbury
21	Startide Rising	David Brin
22	A Canticle for Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller
23	The Demolished Man	Alfred Bester
24	Flowers for Algernon	Daniel Keyes
25	I, Robot	Isaac Asimov

Enigma (UCLA) Recommended Science Fiction Books

The following short list of recommended science fiction books comes from Enigma, the science fiction and fantasy club at UCLA (the University of California at Los Angeles), as of 20 Dec. 1999.

Title	Author
The Foundation Trilogy	Isaac Asimov
I, Robot	Isaac Asimov
The Stars My Destination and The Demolished Man	Alfred Bester
Rendezvous with Rama	Arthur C. Clarke
Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert A. Heinlein
Dune	Frank Herbert
Always Coming Home	Ursula K. Le Guin
Ringworld	Larry Niven
The Hitchhiker's Guide Trilogy	Douglas Adams
Startide Rising	David Brin
Ender's Game and Speaker for the Dead	Orson Scott Card
Watchmen	Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
Hyperion Cantos	Dan Simmons
Snow Crash	Neal Stephenson
A Fire Upon the Deep	Vernor Vinge
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis

Enigma also has a short list of Recommended Fantasy Books, which recommends Tolkien's Lord of the Rings and Zelazny's First Chronicles of Amber, and seven other works.

Science Fiction/Fantasy Authors who are Characters in Feature Films

John Jacob Astor
James Ballard
Arthur Conan Doyle
C.S. Lewis
Jack London
Anne Perry
Ayn Rand
Carl Sagan
William Shatner
Mary Shelley
H.G. Wells
Jules Verne

Source: "Real Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Who have been Major Characters in Feature Films", Adherents.com.

The "Essential Science Fiction/Fantasy"

SF/F Books listed on the "Essential Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror" page, an Amazon.com associate (Date: 10 November 1999). Listed in alphabetical order, as these were not ranked.

I, Robot	Isaac Asimov
Excession	Iain M. Banks
The Stars My Destination	Alfred Bester
Startide Rising	David Brin
War With the Newts	Karel Capek
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
2001 A Space Odyssey	Arthur C. Clarke
Starship Troopers	Robert A. Heinlein
The Chronicles of Narnia	C.S. Lewis
China Mountain Zhang	Maureen F. McHugh
The Forgotten Beasts of Eld	Patricia A. McKillip
Red Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson
Snow Crash	Neal Stephenson
The Hobbit	J. R. R. Tolkien
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea	Jules Verne
Cat's Cradle	Kurt Vonnegut
Doomsday Book	Connie Willis

Amazon.com Millennium Poll

Amazon.com's Millennium Poll was conducted in late 1999 among its customers, who were asked to pick their favorite book written in the last thousand years. These included any type of book -- fiction or non-fiction. About 20 of these were science fiction or fantasy, as shown in the list below:

Rank	Book	Author
1	The Lord of the Rings	J.R.R. Tolkien
5	Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone	J. K. Rowling
6	The Stand	Stephen King
10	1984	George Orwell
12	The Hobbit	J.R.R. Tolkien
14	Dune	Frank Herbert
19	Left Behind	Tim F. Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins
25	The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Douglas Adams
31	Stranger in a Strange Land	Robert Heinlein
32	Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
34	It	Stephen King
36	Brave New World	Aldous Huxley
39	Animal Farm	George Orwell
48	Slaughterhouse-Five	Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
55	Jurassic Park	Michael Crichton
63	The Mists of Avalon	Marion Zimmer Bradley
68	Foundation	Isaac Asimov
72	Outlander	Diana Gabaldon
87	Neuromancer	William Gibson
93	A Clockwork Orange	Anthony Burgess
98	Eye of the World	Robert Jordan

Literary Science Fiction

Jason Voegele's Literary Science Fiction web page promotes "the idea that science fiction can be more than just the juvenile, escapist literature that it is often perceived to be. Science fiction's greatest achievements stand among the greatest works of the century. Voegele's ten favorite literary science fiction books are:

Rank	Book	Author
1	The Book of the New Sun	Gene Wolfe
2	Hyperion (and successors)	Dan Simmons
3	The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula K. LeGuin
4	The Fifth Head of Cerberus	Gene Wolfe
5	Deathbird Stories (collection)	Harlan Ellison
6	The Man in the High Castle	Philip K. Dick
7	The Einstein Intersection	Samuel R. Delany
8	Neuromancer	William Gibson
9	The Worthing Saga	Orson Scott Card
10	Childhood's End	Arthur C. Clarke

Multiple Yahoo Web Links

Yahoo's Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors links page certainly does not list every web site devoted to individual SF/F authors. But Yahoo is by far the most widely-used human-mediated web directory. Examining the Yahoo directory to see which authors have multiple web sites devoted to them is one measure of an author's popularity.

On 16 November 1999 there were 256 authors listed individually on Yahoo's Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors page. Of these, there were multiple links for 75 of them. The 36 authors with five or more links are listed below.

24 of the 36 authors with 5 or more Yahoo links were on this list of "famous authors". The most surprising name was Robert Jordan, who had more Yahoo listings (57) than any author other than J.R.R. Tolkien. Robert Jordan has not won any Hugo or Nebula awards, nor did his name show up in any of the other "most popular" author or novel lists examined in preparation of this page. But the author is heavily involved with the Internet, apparently associated with many MUD, MUSH, and other online communities. A very web-centric fan base may explain the relative abundance of Jordan-associated links. Based on Jordan's popularity on the web, and also because we learned he is one of the top-selling SF writers today, we added him to the "Famous" list.

Author	Links
Tolkien, J.R.R.	98
Jordan, Robert	57
Adams, Douglas	32
King, Stephen	29
Pratchett, Terry	27
Herbert, Frank	24
McCaffrey, Anne	23
Sagan, Carl	17
Verne, Jules	15
Lovecraft, H.P.	16
Hubbard, L. Ron	14
Dick, Philip K.	11
Heinlein, Robert	11
Brooks, Terry	10
Gibson, William	10
Burroughs, Edgar Rice	10
Clarke, Arthur C.	9
Crichton, Michael	9
Shelley, Mary	8
Anthony, Piers	7
Banks, Ian	7
Barker, Clive	7
Card, Orson Scott	7
Norton, Andre	7
Salvatore, R.A.	7
Wilson, Robert Anton	7
Andrews, V.C.	6
Eddings, David	6
Ellison, Harlan	6
Lawhead, Stephen R.	6
Asimov, Isaac	5
Feist, Raymond E.	5
Herbert, James	5
Moorcock, Michael	5
Wells, H.G.	5
Zelazny, Roger	5

It should also be noted that there were many Yahoo links for individuals on the "famous list" who are not primarily SF/F authors (such as George Lucas, Anne Perry, William Shatner, Andrew Greeley, etc.), but their links were not on this Yahoo page (or cross-linked to this page, as with some authors, such as Stephen King, Carl Sagan, etc.).

Authors included in the "famous list" who had 2, 3 or 4 Yahoo links were: Larry Niven, Gene Wolfe, Ray Bradbury, Alan Dean Foster, and Timothy Zahn.

Multiple Open Directory Project Web Links

The Open Directory Project bills itself as the "largest human-edited directory on the web." In this it is similar to Yahoo. The Open Directory is newer and less selective than Yahoo, but its links are used directly by a variety popular web portals, including Lycos and AltaVista, while Yahoo links are proprietary.

On 21 January 2000 there were 369 different authors with links in the two separate "Fantasy:Authors" and "Science Fiction:Authors" sections (after eliminating many duplicates which were on both lists).

Because the Open Directory links are heavily cross-referenced, many authors in Open Directory fantasy and science fiction author sections are primarily known in other fields. The work of many of these authors is rarely classified as speculative fiction in the modern sense. These include Lord Alfred Tennyson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens, William Butler Yeats, and others. It is true that many of these authors, such as Dante and Voltaire, wrote what would clearly be classified as science fiction or fantasy today, and the only reason they are not considered sf/f writers is because they lived and wrote before the modern literary schism between speculative and "literary/mainstream" fiction. For example, there is only one set of Open Directory links for Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes), but this set can be accessed from the science fiction authors section, as well as the mystery authors section, and possibly from other sections as well.

To make the table below more focused, we have removed the following authors from it because they are not primarily sf/f authors: Charles Dickens (101 links); Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (94); Jonathan Swift (66); Carroll Lewis (55); John Keats (52); Anne Rice (44); William Butler Yeats (41); William Blake (37); Dante Alighieri (35); Rudyad Kipling (33); John Milton (32); Italo Calvino (30); Lord Alfred Tennyson (27); Jorge Luis Borges (26); Umberto Eco (22); Bram Stoker (21); Samuel Taylor Coleridge (17); Voltaire (17); Anne Sexton (17); James Henry (16); Nathaniel Hawthorne (12)

As with the Yahoo list above, the numbers of multiple links that appear in the list below are for all links pertaining to a particular author, not just those links pertaining to the author's science fiction and fantasy writing.

While only 36 authors had five or more links at the Yahoo web portal, 116 authors had five or more links at the Open Directory site. In the table below, we are listing only those authors with ten or more links at the Open Directory site.

Author	Links
Tolkien, J.R.R.	304
Jordan, Robert	155
Burroughs, Edgar Rice	113
Gaiman, Neil	49
Adams, Douglas	38
Stephenson, Neal	35
Heinlein, Robert A.	34
Dick, Philip K.	31
Wells, H. G.	30
Bradley, Marion Zimmer	29
Hubbard, L. Ron	28
Lewis, C.S.	28
Verne, Jules	27
Anthony, Piers	26
King, Stephen	26
Sterling, Bruce	25
Baum, L. Frank	24
Le Guin, Ursula K.	23
Pratchett, Terry	23
McCaffrey, Anne	22
Noon, Jeff	21
Zelazny, Roger	21
Goodkind, Terry	20
Adams, Richard	19
Banks, Iain M.	19
Barker, Clive	19
Cook, Glen	19
Brooks, Terry	17
Lem, Stanislaw	17
Asimov, Isaac	16
Laumer, Keith	16
Piper, H. Beam	14
Bujold, Lois McMaster	13
Eddings, David	13
Powers, Tim	13
Card, Orson Scott	12
Lovecraft, H. P.	12
Willis, Connie	12
Atwood, Margaret	11
Hardin, Valerie	11
Niven, Larry	11
Smith, Clark Ashton	11
Cadigan, Pat	10
Lichtenberg, Jacqueline	10

Other authors on the "famous list" who have Open Directory links (but less than 10): C.J. Cherryh (9); Ben Bova (8); Frank Herber (8); Dan Simmons (8); Ray Bradbury (7); Arthur C. Clarke (7); Alan Dean Foster (7); Gene Wolfe (7); Madeleine L'Engle (6); David Brin (5); Michael Crichton (5); Walter M. Miller, Jr. (5); Harlan Ellision (3); Philip Jose Farmer (3); Tracy Hickman (3); Cordwainer Smith (3); Theodore Sturgeon (3); Greg Bear (2); James Blish (2); Avram Davidson (2); Timothy Zahn (2); Poul Anderson (2); Robert Silverberg (1); Harry Turtledove (1).

Book-a-Minute Reviews

Books included on the Book-a-Minute Reviews web site are usually chosen by vote. Many selections may represent a more popular, less "literary" branch of SF/F. On 4 January 2000 there were 105 reviews in the Book-a-Minute SF/F section (some reviews are for more than one work, such as "The Collected Work of Anne McCaffrey"). The following are authors for whom there were multiple reviews (17 of the 25 authors with multiple B-a-M reviews are on the "Famous Authors List"):

Author	Number of B-a-M Reviews
C. S. Lewis	7
Terry Brooks	6
Robert Jordan	5
T. H. White	5
Lloyd Alexander	4
Piers Anthony	4
Isaac Asimov	4
Don Callander	4
Tracy Hickman	4
J. R. R. Tolkien	4
H. G. Wells	4
Margaret Weis	4
Orson Scott Card	3
Frank Herbert	3
Alan Dean Foster	2
Arthur C. Clarke	2
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.	2
Larry Niven	2
Michael Crichton	2
Robert A. Heinlein	2
Stephen R. Donaldson	2
David Eddings	2
L.E. Modesitt, Jr.	2
John Peel	2
Stephen R. Lawhead	2
Melanie Rawn	2

Authors on the "famous list" with one B-a-M review: Douglas Adams, Ben Bova, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Harlan Ellison, Ursula K. LeGuin, Anne McCaffrey, Carl Sagan, Timothy Zahn.

SF/F on 1996 Amazon.com Best Sellers List

Ten science-fiction and fantasy titles were on Amazon.com's 1996 annual bestsellers' list, listing the top 100 bestselling titles in the entire store, regardless of type or format (all types of fiction and nonfiction as well as paperbacks and hardcovers were counted). Source.

6. Idoru, William Gibson, hardcover.
33. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card, paperback.
51. A Crown of Swords, Robert Jordan, hardcover.
53. The Terminal Experiment, Robert J. Sawyer, paperback.
61. The Diamond Age, Neal Stephenson, paperback.
65. Neuromancer, William Gibson, paperback.
66. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson paperback.
74. Servant of the Bones, Anne Rice, hardcover.
81. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide, Douglas Adams, hardcover.
82. Red Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson, paperback.

Novels Studied in Paul Brian's SF Class at WSU

The following novels are studies in Paul Brian's course on science fiction, taught at Washington State University:

War of the Worlds, H. G. Wells
The Martian Chronicles, Ray Bradbury
A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Solaris, Stanislaw Lem
The Dispossessed, Ursula LeGuin
Blade Runner, Philip K. Dick
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood
Neuromancer, William Gibson

Authors of Work Which May Have Inspired Babylon 5

One good indicator of an sf/f author's fame is being referred to by other fiction. John Cletheroe has created a web page identifying possible references that the Straczynski TV series "Babylon 5" has made to various science fiction and fantasy literature. [Update: Cletheroe's page, at http://freespace.virgin.net/john.cletheroe/b5/ref.htm, wasn't found on 29 May 2000, but a similar page is the Babylon 5 SF References List.] Some of these connections would seem to be obvious "tip-of-the-hat" homage, some may be unintentional inspiration, and some connections are laughably tenuous. But it's an interesting list. Below are the authors identified on this list (as it appeared on 12 January 2000).

Patrick McGoohan
Alfred Bester
Walter M. Miller Jr.
Frank Herbert
C.J. Cherryh
Michael Moorcock
Isaac Asimov
Kim Stanley Robinson
J.R.R. Tolkien
Larry Niven
Jerry Pournelle
Arthur C. Clarke
Anne McCaffrey
C.S. Lewis
Ray Bradbury
George Orwell
E.E. Doc Smith
L. Ron Hubbard
Robert Jordan
Clifford D. Simak

"One Book" List at rec.arts.books

In 1994 Paul Philips submitted a message to the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.books that read in part:

My proposal is this: I would like for each of you to decide on a single book that you would most like for the world to read for inclusion in the list. The book that, for you, was the most influential, or thought-provoking, or enjoyable, or moving, or philosophically powerful, or deep in some sense you cannot properly define, or any other criteria you wish to set.
I will include your name and email address, along with any commentary care to include on why you chose this book above all others.

This was is in no way a popularity contest, but authors who have three or more submissions are listed below (as of As of Jun 29 1998, at which time the list had 777 different books suggested by 1014 people). Note that most of these authors are not science fiction/fantasy authors. Of those who are, nearly all are on the "famous list".

Herman Hesse (6)
John Steinbeck (6)
Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (5)
C.S. Lewis (4)
Dr. Seuss (4)
William Shakespeare (4)
Margaret Atwood (3)
Jane Austen (3)
Richard Bach (3)
Ray Bradbury (3)
Italo Calvino (3)
Albert Camus (3)
Truman Capote (3)
Orson Scott Card (3)
Louis-Ferdinand Celine (3)
Arthur C. Clarke (3)
James Clavell (3)
Pat Conroy (3)
Robertson Davies (3)
Philip K. Dick (3)
Harlan Ellison (3)
William Faulkner (3)
F. Scott Fitzgerald (3)
William Goldman (3)
Robert Heinlein (3)
Ernest Hemingway (3)
John Irving (3)
James Joyce (3)
Jack Kerouac (3)
Stephen King (3)
Barbara Kingsolver (3)
Dean Koontz (3)
Ursula K. Le Guin (3)
Cormac McCarthy (3)
Vladimir Nabokov (3)
Ayn Rand (3)
Tom Robbins (3)
J.D. Salinger (3)
Dan Simmons (3)
Alice Walker (3)
Robert Anton Wilson (3)
Jeanette Winterson (3)
Thomas Wolfe (3)

Award Sites

Hugo and Nebula Winners table by Nicholas Whyte - excellent reference shows double wins, lists authors from most to least awards
Speculative Fiction Awards - compilation of multiple lists, on the Steampunk Authors site.
Hugo Awards
Nebula Awards
Locus Awards
John W. Campbell Award
World Fantasy Awards
Philip K. Dick Award
Philip K. Dick Memorial Award - includes nominees
Sidewise Awards - Alternative History
Skylark Awards - awarded by the New England Science Fiction Association to a person who has contributed significantly to sf
Sturgeon Award - for short science fiction
Best of Soft Science Fiction Competition
Balrog Awards
Golden Duck and Hal Clement Awards - for excellence in children's and young adult SF
British Fantasy Society Awards
Prix Aurora Awards - Canadian SF/F award
Australian Science Fiction Awards
Francis Awards - for romance; includes categories for Time Travel romance, Other Paranormal romance
Arthur C. Clarke Award - British award for sf novels (nominees)
Endeavour Award - for best SF/F book published by a Pacific Northwest author (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia)
Internet Top 100 SF/F Novels - Continuous reader survey of the best SF.
Joint winners of the Hugo and Nebula Awards - includes all categories; excellent site with ratings and some reviews
Sunstone Fiction Awards

Author Reference Sites

Steampunk Authors - excellent source of links resources relating to many popular authors
Spacelight - Vital Statistics and Personal Data of deceased SF/F Authors
Lysator author index - information on Lysator site; bibliographies and additional info.
Alpha Ralpha Boulevard Bibliographies - for many authors, with some biographical information
Mark/Space Biographs - biographical information for some authors.
Dragon*Con Biographies - biographies of comic creators, SF/F authors and other artists who have been guests at Dragon*Con conventions
Science Fiction Writers of Color - by Kay Fowler

Essays and Commentary

The Rings of Saturn - Science Fiction Thoughts and Opinions
"On Writing as a Fantasist" - * RECOMMENDED * Dave Wolverton explains why your English professor was probably brainwashed
Anitra's Science Fiction History - 1890's - 1950's
The Sociology of Science Fiction - in Science Fiction Studies (academic journal)
academic study guides to selected pivotal works of science fiction
A Kid's Search For Good Books - by Regina Doman
Melrose Vs. the Monsters - Scott Rosenberg (Salon) discusses Heinlein's Starship Troopers, movie version, and Card's Ender's Game
50 Definitions of Science Fiction by various authors

Specific Series, Authors, Subjects

Reviews of Isaac Asimov's writing - incredibly extensive collection of reviews by John H. Jenkins
Jim Wright's "Delta Blues" Star Trek Reviews - best Trek review site on the web
Novel Enterprise - Excellent and extensive guide to Star Trek fiction
The CoDiminium Headquarters - extensive web site the future history from Niven and Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye and sequels
Known Space - official Larry Niven website
Marvel Novels - based on comics, page by Keith DeCandido, former Marvel novels editor
Cetaceans in science fiction - whales, dolphins, etc. An excellent and extensive bibliography
Camelot Project - Arthurian texts, images, bibliographies (U. of Rochester)
Wild Cards Novels Homepage - information about the super hero anthology series created by some of SF's top writers
Marvel Chronology Project

Selected Collections of Book Reviews or Recommended Reading Lists

Book-a-Minute Ultra-condensed SF/F summaries
Reviews from The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - reviews by Orson Scott Card
Solar Flare - 60+ SF/F reviews
Interrogation Reports - over 120 reviews of books and films by Terry L Jeffress
Enigma Recommended SF/F Books - at UCLA
Fairfax County LIbrary Recommended Science Fiction - a very thoughtful, briefly annotated list.
The Basic Science Fiction Library - Gunn's picks of what authors (and what books) one should read to be qualified as an sf expert or educator.

Other Useful SF Reference Sites

Locus Index to Science Fiction - ** very comprehensive list of published SF/F **
Internet Speculative Fiction Database - excellent resource with a searchable database; includes multiple algorithmically-derived Top 100 lists, such as Top 100 Authors and Top 100 Novels.
Science Fiction Foundation Resources
World Without Number: Science Fiction & Fantasy - large number of categorized links
The Ultimate Science Fiction Web Guide - by Magic Dragon Multimedia. Over 5,000 links. Includes excellent sections on authors, books, aliens, movies, themes, etc.
Science Fiction Research Bibliography - bibliography of useful secondary materials, Washington State University
University of Michigan SF research links
Wayne-Gunn Center for the Study of Science Fiction - at the University of Kansas
Science Fiction Films
TechNovelgy.com - Inventions by science fiction writers. Explore hundreds of inventions by science fiction writers; learn about the technology of science fiction

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Web page created 28 October 1999. Last modified 5 February 2006.

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