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Twenty Core SF Books Every True SF Fan Should Have On Their Shelves

21 Mar, 2017

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Everyone loves recommendation lists. Judging by how many of them I see, people enjoy making them, too. I love to embrace new experiences so early in March I tried my hand at make a list of core SF books, chosen purely on the basis of merit and without regard for any other parameter. It was fun enough I think I will do one of these core lists, each with a different theme, every second Thursday. Except for this one, which I post out of schedule for reasons. 

Note that the entire set of core books is much, much larger than any 20 book list posted on the web.

  • A Door Into Ocean by Joan Slonczewski
  • A Voice Out of Ramah by Lee Killough
  • A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
  • Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie 
  • China Mountain Zhang by Maureen McHugh
  • Don’t Bite the Sun by Tanith Lee
  • Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
  • Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
  • Galactic Derelict by Andre Norton 
  • Gate of Ivrel by C.J. Cherryh
  • Golden Witchbreed by Mary Gentle
  • Jirel of Joiry by C.L. Moore
  • Kindred by Octavia E. Butler
  • Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee
  • The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • The Female Man by Joanna Russ
  • The Many Colored Land by Julian May 
  • The Next Continent by Issui Ogawa 
  • The Snow Queen by Joan D. Vinge 
  • Warm Worlds and Otherwise by James Tiptree, Jr.