Tuesday, September 2, 2014

The Best Sci Fi Novels

By Mattie MacDonald


Aldous Huxley wrote Brave New World in 1931 and is considered one of the first real science fiction novels and a classic work of literature. Set in a dystopian future, the people are manipulated in a variety of psychological ways for the benefit of The World State. The novel shares many similarities with Orwell's 1984 and is considered one of the best best sci fi novels ever written.

Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 is another science fiction classic. The story is set in a dystopian near future where "Firemen" burn books. One such Fireman is Guy Montag who lives a desolate and lonely existence in a world where people do not read, enjoy their natural surroundings or think for themselves. Montag begins to question his life before eventually discovering literature. He then decides to bravely save all the books and restore his life. The title is names after the temperature at which paper spontaneously ignites.

Another classic science fiction novel is Dune by Frank Herbert. Set in a far away planet called Arrakis, the story revolves around a feuding family and their control over a drug called mellange that gives those who take it immortality. The protagonist, Duke Paul Atreide fights the families for his rightful place on the throne.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This classic novel by Phillip K Dick is a post apocalyptic tale set in 1992, where many plant and animal species are extinct and most of the surviving humans have abandoned the dying Earth to live on Mars. On Mars they are allowed to own androids, which serve as slaves, but many of these robots became discontented and fled to Earth. However, back on Earth, bounty hunters search for the androids and "retire" them. The bounty hunter Rick Deckard finds himself on a quest to find eight androids that recently arrived in San Francisco after they killed their human masters on Mars. Sound familiar? It is because the classic movie Bladerunner is based on the novel.

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson's is a must-read for any fan of science fiction. The book is set in the not too distant future where human beings have started to colonize Mars. Arguments erupt back on Earth as to whether to create another Earth by terraforming or to leave Mars as it is.

The renowned astro-physicist wrote Contact in 1985 and is an essential piece of hard science fiction and adventure. It tell the tale of a woman who discovers radio signals emanating from an Earth like planet while working at SETI, She gets the chance to visit the planet and come face to face with her own self. The novel explore issues of religion, politics and scientific discovery and humanities possible reaction to making contact with extra-terrestrial life.

Issac Asimov's Foundation trilogy is set in the far distant future and humans have now colonized the galaxy. However, their empire is about to collapse due to bureaucracy, corruption and political turmoil. Historian Hai Seldon sets about starting a new dawn for humanity by bringing together scientists and scholars to produce a vast encyclopedia.

No list of science fiction novels is complete without HG Wells War of the Worlds. The plot is well known; Earth is invaded by Martians that operate huge tripod like vehicles. They use total war to subdue humans because they want to get hold of the Earth's resources. In 1938, Orson Wells read the first chapter of story on the radio, which sent many listeners into a panic because they thought the story was a news flash!




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