Books

Another SF-themed thread. It may be some people are looking for escapist distractions today. 

I was asked once which were the best SF writers from a literary point of view. Conceding that “literary” is poorly defined, here—regardless—is my personal annotated list:

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Alfred Bester - "The Demolished Man" was post-modern decades before post-modernism. Additionally, it really stands the test of time.

William Gibson - I don't personally find Gibson to be a great storyteller, but his prose is beautiful. I still sometimes open "Count Zero" to a random page and read a few lines to savor them.

Vernor Vinge - because he has put forward some very high ideas, for example "the Vingean Singularity" which often guides SF writers, and the ideas in his novella "True Names".

Jonathan Lethem - not strictly a genre writer, either, but things like "The Fortress of Solitude" and "Amnesia Moon" would qualify.

Neal Stephenson - I actually think of Stephenson as more of a journalist or pedagogue than a strictly literary writer, but I think he belongs on this list for being about more than just a ripping good yarn (which he also obviously does very well.)

Iain M. Banks - his earlier work in particular was expertly constructed. I'm thinking of "The Player of Games", "Use of Weapons" (my favorite), and "Ferersum Endjinn".

Ursula K. LeGuin - for "The Lathe of Heaven" and "The Left Hand of Darkness". Her writing tends to focus on speculative psychology/sociology rather than speculative physics.

Philip K. Dick - mostly because his style was so sharp and distinctive.

Samuel R. Delany - I admit that I've not yet read "Dahlgren", but "Nova" was impressive enough.
Theodore Sturgeon - for "More Than Human" and "The Cosmic Rape".

Harlan Ellison - I don't recall by whom, but I know he has been called the best short-story writer in America.

Michael Chabon - I actually didn't care much for "The Yiddish Policeman's Union" (which won the Hugo), but if you can count "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay" as SF, then he's definitely on my list. That book is probably my second favourite after Miéville's "The City & The City".

There are great literary and journalistic writers who have made significant contributions to SF, such as Orwell, Huxley, Burgess, Ballard and Borges, but I wouldn't include them in my list because they were not primarily SF authors.

Hope you enjoyed this thread.

China Miéville - his Hugo-award winning "The City & The City" might just be the most brilliant novel I've read in a decade. In any genre.