CUSFS Recommendations List (2014)

Requests for recommendations come up often in CUSFS discussions. In order to save ourselves the trouble of repeating the same things ad nauseum, we sacrificed several hours of our life and put together this list (or rather, this list of lists) to serve as a first reference. The books are grouped by genre, though quite often the lines are blurred.

I've attempted to include descriptions where I could, but obviously I've not read all the books on this list. If there are any gaps you can fill in, do e-mail me (fhd21). You can also get in touch if you feel very strongly about adding something (or removing something), though I can't guarantee anything will come of it.

Without further ado, here is the list of CUSFS recommendation lists:

Classic Science Fiction
Hard Science Fiction
*topias
Space Opera
Punk Punk
Classic Fantasy
Epic Fantasy
Real/Parallel Worlds
Institutional Magic
Horror
Miscellaneous

Classic Science Fiction

These books could probably have gone under one of the other science fiction categories but are included here because they're particularly important in the development of the genre. They include 19th century precursors to science fiction as well as representative books by the great writers of the 20th century.

Title	Author	Comments and Criticism
Foundation	Isaac Asimov
The Lost World	Arthur Conan-Doyle
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress	Robert A Heinlein
Rendezvous with Rama	Arthur C. Clarke
Ringworld	Larry Niven
Day of the Triffids	John Wyndham
The Time Machine	H.G. Wells
Journey to the Centre of the Earth	Jules Verne
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?	Philip K. Dick
Slaughterhouse-Five	Kurt Vonnegut

Last recorded update: 12 March 2012, by James Robson

Hard Science Fiction

Hard science fiction tends to focus more on the "science" than the "fiction". As a general rule of thumb, it avoids relying too much on things beyond the possible, and often explores the ramifications of a single development (often some sort of faster-than-light capabilities) on the future of human society.

Title	Author	Comments and Criticism
The Algebraist	Iain M. Banks
Ender's Game	Orson Scott Card
Revelation Space	Alastair Reynolds
The Time Ships	Stephen Baxter
Luminous	Greg Egan
A Fire Upon The Deep	Vernor Vinge
Red Mars	Kim Stanley Robinson
The Black Cloud	Sir Fred Hoyle
Tau Zero	Poul Anderson
Glasshouse	Charlie Stross

Last recorded update: 12 March 2012, by James Robson

*topias

A selection of utopian and dystopian fiction. A distinction can be made between those books (such as Nineteen Eighty-Four) where the dystopia is the story, and those which merely use utopian or dystopian settings to tell a story. Both are included here.

Title	Author	Comments and Criticism
The Handmaid's Tale	Margaret Atwood
Shade's Children	Garth Nix
The Dispossessed	Ursula K. Le Guin
The Giver	Lois Lowry
1984	George Orwell
Brave New World	Aldous Huxley
We	Yevgeny Zamyatin
Make Room! Make Room!	Harry Harrison
Fahrenheit 451	Ray Bradbury
A Canticle For Leibowitz	Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Last recorded update: 12 March 2012, by James Robson

Space Opera

"Spaaaaaaaaace." -- Binney

Space opera is the science fiction equivalent of epic fantasy. Quintessentially represented by Star Wars, space operas tend to be very large in scale and feature typically monomythic plots.

Title	Author	Comments and Criticism
Hyperion	Dan Simmons
The Player of Games	Iain M. Banks
The Warrior's Apprentice	Lois McMaster Bujold
Cities in Flight	James Blish
A Princess of Mars	Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy	Douglas Adams
Galactic Patrol	E. E. Smith
Nova	Samuel R. Delany
Dune	Frank Herbert
Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium	Sandy Mitchell

Last recorded update: 12 March 2012, by James Robson

Punk Punk

What on Earth does the -punk suffix mean? No one really knows. From steampunk to cyberpunk via salvagepunk, though, these novels are influenced by a particular aesthetic in their settings which is somehow instantly recognisable.

Title	Author	Comments and Criticism
Neuromancer	William Gibson
The Difference Engine	William Gibson and Bruce Sterling
Stand On Zanzibar	John Brunner
Snow Crash	Neal Stephenson
Cryptonomicon	Neal Stephenson
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom	Cory Doctorow
Mindstar Rising	Peter F. Hamilton
Mortal Engines	Philip Reeve
Halting State	Charlie Stross
A Tale of Time City	Diana Wynne Jones

Last recorded update: 12 March 2012, by James Robson

Classic Fantasy

Like the classic SF list, these are major books which have informed the development of the fantasy genre in the last century and a half or so.

Epic Fantasy

To avoid getting bogged down in the debate of what precisely we mean by epic fantasy, let's just say that it includes at least some of these elements: a large cast with multiple point-of-view characters, some sort of good-vs-evil plot, large geographical scale (often with the associated geopolitics), extreme length, and dragons. As a general rule, the bigger the scale the more epic the fantasy.

Real/Alternate Worlds

Books set in the real world or some approximation of it. Genres like urban fantasy and alternate history fall under this heading, as do some things slightly further afield.

Institutional Magic

This list covers books featuring magical instutitions (often schools or universities) and also those which treat magic itself as an instition within, for example, the confines of government.

Horror

It's scary.

Miscellaneous

Does what it says on the tin.

Title	Author	Comments and Criticism
The Left Hand of Darkness	Ursula K. Le Guin
Cloud Atlas	David Mitchell
Lord of Light	Roger Zelazny
Anathem	Neal Stephenson
First and Last Men	Olaf Stapledon
Lilith's Brood	Octavia Butler
Machine of Death	Various, edited by Ryan North, Matthew Bennardo and David Malki
Embassytown	China Mi�ville
The Illuminatus! Trilogy	Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson
Hothouse	Brian Aldiss

Last recorded update: 12 March 2012, by James Robson