Authors you can’t go wrong with, part 1
If you pick up any book by these authors, you will be well rewarded. There may be some off-by-one errors in my ratings for books I read many years ago, but this gives you a good idea of the books I like.
Isaac Asimov
Asimov wrote more books than just about anybody, in a wide variety of fields. In particular he was a master at both science fiction and science.
- Masterpieces
- The Foundation series
- Foundation
- Foundation and Empire
- Second Foundation
- Foundation’s Edge
- Foundation and Earth
- Prelude to Foundation
- Forward the Foundation
- The End of Eternity
- The Gods Themselves
- I, Robot (collection)
- Nightfall and Other Stories (collection)
- The Foundation series
- Great books
- The Caves of Steel
- Gold (collection)
Orson Scott Card
Card is a master of both science fiction and fantasy.
- Masterpieces
- The Ender Saga
- Ender’s Game
- Speaker for the Dead
- The Shadow Saga
- Ender’s Shadow
- The Tales of Alvin Maker
- Seventh Son
- Red Prophet
- Pastwatch
- Maps in a Mirror (collection)
- Keeper of Dreams (collection)
- The Ender Saga
- Great books
- The Ender Saga
- Xenocide
- Children of the Mind
- First Meetings (collection)
- Ender in Exile
- The Shadow Saga
- Shadow of the Hegemon
- Shadow Puppets
- Shadow of the Giant
- Shadows in Flight
- The Tales of Alvin Maker
- Prentice Alvin
- Alvin Journeyman
- Heartfire
- The Crystal City
- Homebody
- Enchantment
- Magic Street
- The Ender Saga
Arthur C. Clarke
Clarke was a master at both science fiction and science. He co-wrote the screenplay for 2001: A Space Odyssey with Stanley Kubrick.
- Masterpieces
- The Nine Billions Names of God (collection)
- Expedition to Earth (collection)
- Childhood’s End
- The City and the Stars
- Great books
- 2001: A Space Odyssey
- The Fountains of Paradise
- Rendezvous with Rama
- The Songs of Distant Earth
- 1984 Spring: A Choice of Futures (nonfiction)
Julie E. Czerneda
I’ve only read Czerneda’s science fiction books so far, but lately she’s branched out into fantasy.
- Masterpiece
- Species Imperative
- Survival
- Species Imperative
- Great books
- Trade Pact trilogy
- A Thousand Words for Stranger
- Ties of Power
- To Trade the Stars
- Web Shifters
- Beholder’s Eye
- Changing Vision
- Hidden in Sight
- In the Company of Others
- Species Imperative
- Migration
- Regeneration
- Trade Pact trilogy
Guy Gavriel Kay
Every one of Kay’s fantasy books is brilliant. His books are typically more like historical fiction, with very little magic.
- Masterpieces
- Tigana
- A Song for Arbonne
- The Sarantine Mosaic
- Sailing to Sarantium
- Lord of Emperors
- Great books
- The Fionovar Tapestry
- The Summer Tree
- The Wandering Fire
- The Darkest Road
- The Lions of Al-Rassan
- The Fionovar Tapestry
Ursula K. Le Guin
Le Guin is a master at both fantasy and science fiction. It seems she’s retired from writing novels, but she’s left an amazing legacy.
- Masterpieces
- Earthsea
- A Wizard of Earthsea
- The Tombs of Atuan
- The Farthest Shore
- Tehanu
- Tales from Earthsea
- The Other Wind
- The Left Hand of Darkness
- The Dispossessed
- The Telling
- The Birthday of the World (collection)
- Earthsea
- Great books
- Rocannon’s World
- Planet of Exile
- City of Illusions
- The Lathe of Heaven
- The Language of the Night (nonfiction)
Anne Rice
Rice writes books that are infused with history and details that will almost make you believe vampires and/or witches are real.
- Masterpieces
- The Vampire Chronicles
- Interview with the Vampire
- The Vampire Lestat
- The Queen of the Damned
- Lives of the Mayfair Witches
- The Witching Hour
- Lasher
- Taltos
- The Vampire Chronicles
Robert J. Sawyer
Sawyer writes science fiction books that contain ideas worth thinking about, and characters worth meeting.
- Masterpieces
- Golden Fleece
- Starplex
- Factoring Humanity
- Calculating God
- Iterations (collection)
- The Neanderthal Parallax
- Hominids
- Identity Theft and Other Stories (collection)
- Great books
- The Quintaglio Ascension
- Far-Seer
- Fossil Hunter
- Foreigner
- End of an Era
- The Terminal Experiment
- Frameshift
- Illegal Alien
- Flashforward
- The Neanderthal Parallax
- Humans
- Hybrids
- Mindscan
- Rollback
- The WWW trilogy
- Wake
- Watch
- Wonder
- Triggers
- The Quintaglio Ascension
Neal Stephenson
Stephenson’s science fiction novels will help prepare you for the future.
- Masterpieces
- Snow Crash
- The Diamond Age
- Cryptonomicon
- Great books
- The Big U
- In the Beginning… was the Command Line (nonfiction)
- Some Remarks (mostly nonfiction)
Robert Charles Wilson
Wilson is a master at stories that feature a world-changing event and fascinating characters who react to that event.
- Masterpieces
- The Harvest
- Darwinia
- The Chronoliths
- Blind Lake
- The Spin series
- Spin
- The Perseids and Other Stories (collection)
- Great books
- Mysterium
- The Spin series
- Axis
- Vortex
- Julian Comstock
- Good book
- Bios