Classic vs. modern: SF & fantasy novels
It’s nearly impossible to come up with the best 20 SF novels — but 40 is doable. I thought it might be interesting to split them into 2 groups, old vs. new.
Here are the best 20 SF novels from the classics (up to 1990) and the best from the modern period (1991+).
| Classic | Modern |
| The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams | Evolution – Stephen Baxter |
| Second Foundation – Isaac Asimov | Existence – David Brin |
| The Player of Games – Iain M. Banks | Semiosis – Sue Burke |
| The Demolished Man – Alfred Bester | The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet – Becky Chambers |
| The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury | The Humans – Matt Haig |
| The Uplift War – David Brin | Ancillary Justice – Ann Leckie |
| Speaker for the Dead – Orson Scott Card | Blasphemy – Douglas Preston |
| The City and the Stars – Arthur C. Clarke | House of Suns – Alastair Reynolds |
| The Man in the High Castle – Philip K. Dick | 2312 – Kim Stanley Robinson |
| The Stainless Steel Rat – Harry Harrison | The Sparrow – Maria Doria Russell |
| Children of Dune – Frank Herbert | Hominids – Robert J. Sawyer |
| The Dispossessed – Ursula K. Le Guin | The End of All Things – John Scalzi |
| The Left Hand of Darkness – Ursula K. Le Guin | Anathem – Neal Stephenson |
| A Canticle for Leibowitz – Walter M. Miller, Jr. | Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson |
| The Wild Shore – Kim Stanley Robinson | Bones of the Earth – Michael Swanwick |
| Golden Fleece – Robert J. Sawyer | Children of Time – Adrian Tchaikovsky |
| City – Clifford D. Simak | Passage – Connie Willis |
| Hyperion – Dan Simmons | Darwinia – Robert Charles Wilson |
| A Door Into Ocean – Joan Slonczewski | Spin – Robert Charles Wilson |
| Marooned in Realtime – Vernor Vinge | A Fire Upon the Deep – Vernor Vinge |
Here are the best 20 fantasy novels from the classics (up to 1990) and the best from the modern period (1991+).
| Classic | Modern |
| Watership Down – Richard Adams | Dragon and Phoenix – Joanne Bertin |
| The Last Unicorn – Peter S. Beagle | A Turn of Light – Jule E. Czerneda |
| The Sword of Shannara – Terry Brooks | Someplace to Be Flying – Charles de Lint |
| Seventh Son – Orson Scott Card | How to Stop Time – Matt Haig |
| Red Prophet – Orson Scott Card | Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb |
| Lord Foul’s Bane – Stephen R. Donaldson | The Last Light of the Sun – Guy Gavriel Kay |
| Good Omens – Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett | Lord of Emperors – Guy Gavriel Kay |
| The Princess Bride – William Goldman | The Historian – Elizabeth Kostova |
| Replay – Ken Grimwood | A Game of Thrones – George R.R. Martin |
| Dragonsbane – Barbara Hambly | The Book of Knights – Yves Meynard |
| Tigana – Guy Gavriel Kay | Lamb – Christopher Moore |
| A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursula K. Le Guin | The Night Circus – Erin Morgenstern |
| The Anubis Gates – Tim Powers | The Clockmaker’s Daughter – Kate Morton |
| Interview With the Vampire – Anne Rice | The Time Traveler’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger |
| The Witching Hour – Anne Rice | The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August – Claire North |
| The First Book of Swords – Fred Saberhagen | The Initiate Brother – Sean Russell |
| The Hobbit – J.R.R. Tolkien | Nobody’s Son – Sean Stewart |
| The Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien | My Real Children – Jo Walton |
| The Dying Earth – Jack Vance | Tooth and Claw – Jo Walton |
| The Dragonbone Chair – Tad Williams | A Sorcerer’s Treason – Sarah Zettel |
Bonus list! Here are the best 18 SF and fantasy collections from the classics (up to 1990) and the best 19 from the modern period (1991+). A couple of the classics were published later, but the stories are old.
| Classic | Modern |
| Gold – Isaac Asimov | First Meetings – Orson Scott Card |
| I, Robot – Isaac Asimov | Keeper of Dreams – Orson Scott Card |
| Nightfall – Isaac Asimov | Exhalation – Ted Chiang |
| Redemolished – Alfred Bester | Stories of Your Life and Others – Ted Chiang |
| Virtual Unrealities – Alfred Bester | Elements – Suzanne Church |
| The Golden Apples of the Sun – Ray Bradbury | Gravity Wells – James Alan Gardner |
| Maps in a Mirror – Orson Scott Card | Organisms – James Alan Gardner |
| Expedition to Earth – Arthur C. Clarke | The Birthday of the World and Other Stories – Ursula K. Le Guin |
| The Nine Billion Names of God – Arthur C. Clarke | Four Ways to Forgiveness – Ursula K. Le Guin |
| Selected Stories of Philip K. Dick – Philip K. Dick | The Other Wind – Ursula K. Le Guin |
| Daughter of Regals & Other Tales – Stephen R. Donaldson | The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories – Ken Liu |
| Burning Chrome – William Gibson | Counting Tadpoles – Uncle River |
| Eye – Frank Herbert | Identity Theft and Other Stories – Robert J. Sawyer |
| The Wind’s Twelve Quarters – Ursula K. Le Guin | Iterations – Robert J. Sawyer |
| The Best of Walter M. Miller, Jr. – Walter M. Miller, Jr. | The Engine of Recall – Karl Schroeder |
| Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon – Spider Robinson | Starlings – Jo Walton |
| Over the River & Through the Woods – Clifford D. Simak | This is the Year Zero – Andrew Weiner |
| The Aliens Among Us – James White | Impossible Things – Connie Willis |
| The Perseids and Other Stories – Robert Charles Wilson |