THE TOP 10
1. Foundation Trilogy (Isaac Asimov)
2. Use of Weapons (Iain M. Banks)
3. Memory (Lois McMaster Bujold)
4. Lord of Light (Roger Zelazny)
5. The Stars My Destination (Alfred Bester)
6. Fury (Henry Kuttner / C.L. Moore)
7. A Deepness in the Sky (Vernor Vinge)
8. Cyteen (C.J. Cherryh)
9. Diaspora (Greg Egan)
10. Ender’s Game / Speaker for the Dead (Orson Scott Card)
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)
Rendezvous with Rama (Arthur C. Clarke)
Dune (Frank Herbert)
I, Robot (Harlan Ellison Screenplay)
At the Mountains of Madness (H.P. Lovecraft)
Lensmen (E.E. “Doc” Smith) (Galactic Patrol thru Children of the Lens)
Contact (Carl Sagan)
The Forge of God (Greg Bear)
Door Into Summer (Robert A. Heinlein)
Gateway (Frederick Pohl)
Dragon’s Egg (Robert Forward)
The Trigon Disunity (Michael P. Kube-McDowell)
NOVELS ALSO BY…
The Fire Upon the Deep (Vernor Vinge)
The Player of Games (Iain M. Banks)
Look to Windward (Iain M. Banks)
Mutant (Henry Kuttner / C.L. Moore)
Northwest Smith (C.L. Moore)
Robot Novels (Isaac Asimov)
I, Robot (Isaac Asimov)
The End of Eternity (Isaac Asimov)
Barrayar (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Mirror Dance (Lois McMaster Bujold)
A Civil Campaign (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Shards of Honor (Lois McMaster Bujold)
Borders of Infinity (Lois McMaster Bujold)
The Demolished Man (Alfred Bester)
Downbelow Station (C.J. Cherryh)
Merchanter Novels (C.J. Cherryh)
What do all these categories mean? Well, the Top 10 list itself should be fairly self-explanatory. The Honorable Mentions are works which just barely miss the Top 10 list for one reason or another. The list of Novels Also By is a result of self-imposed rule which limits an author to a single work on the Top 10 list. The other books listed in the Novels Also By are works by authors already appearing on the other lists which, if those slightly superior works did not exist, would themselves be considered for placement on the list.
This is not, needless to say, a precise science.
The conspicuous absence from these lists, I think, is Heinlein. In general, I think that Heinlein was at his best in his early, short fiction. (“The Green Hills of Earth” is my favorite Heinlein piece.) Of the novels I’ve read, the best two are The Door Into Summer and The Puppet Masters, and even those are flawed in fairly significant ways. Stranger in a Strange Land is mush; Starship Troopers is a short story padded with political essays; and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress is a novella padded with political essays. (Which isn’t quite fair to The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, but makes for a nice line.)
That is a pretty high ranking for Fury.
Not seen many other people mention Kube-McDowell, either!