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From: chuq@sun.uucp (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: Request from an SF Diletante
Message-ID: <3188@sun.uucp>
Date: Thu, 23-Jan-86 13:07:45 EST
Article-I.D.: sun.3188
Posted: Thu Jan 23 13:07:45 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 24-Jan-86 11:18:34 EST
References: <635@ttidcb.UUCP>
Organization: Third Person, Omniscient
Lines: 48

> I have dabbled in sf for a considerable time but am no super-fan. I am,
> however, responsible for my 15 year old son's education and have been
> feeding him the classics, as known to me, in paperback. By "the classics"
> I have in mind those works which have been tested by time and which should
> form the basis for continued reading. For example, in mainstream literature
> the classics might be Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, etc.

I'd like to recommend a couple of personal 'classic' favorites: Dante's
_Inferno/Purgatorio/Paradisio_ and Cervantes' _Don Quixote_. If he's plowed
through Milton (ugh) then he'll love Dante...

> So far I have covered Niven's known space and started on Foundation. There
> have been a couple of hard core Heinleins (inc. SST). Oh, yes, he's read
> Dune. Just recently we were given the first three of Farmer's World of
> Tiers - new to me - a classic?

> My question is: What else qualifies? I guess I am not looking for just
> authors names, but key works from important authors. More Heinlein? which?
> Doc Smith? really? Arthur Clarke? Which? Who else?

First stop should be Gene Wolfe and his New Sun series starting with _Shadow
of the Torturer_. Early Niven, but none of the collaborations (except maybe
_Flying Sorcerors_ for comedy relief). Heinlein juveniles (_Have Spacesuit, Will
Travel_ and _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_). _Time Enough For Love_ and its
companions are very important works as a turning point in SF, but can also be
quite frustrating. Foundation is overrated and doesn't age well. I'd also
suggest Ray Bradbury (_Martian Chronicles_), Harlan Ellison (_Deathbird
Stories_ is representative), Kurt Vonnegut (_Cat's Cradle_), A.C. Clarke
(_Childhood's End_). you should read Wells (_War of the Worlds_) and Verne
(_20,000 leagues Under the Sea_). Doc Smith (Lensman Series), Piper (fuzzy
Series, among others), and Marion Zimmer Bradley (I recommend _Mists of
Avalon_ but her Darkover series is also a classical continuing saga). The best
overview of classical short fiction is _Adventures in Time and Space_, a giant
anthology of short SF. Ellison's _Dangerious Visions_ and _Again, Dangerous 
Visions_ captures the New Wave of 60's and 70's SF. So does Robert Silverberg
(_Dying Inside_) and John Brunner (_Shockwave Rider_).

There are classics in the making, important to understand 70's and 80's SF.
Spider Robinson (_Callahan's Crosstime Saloon_, _Stardance_), George R.R.
Martin (_Dying of the Light_) and John Varley (_Millenium_ and _Persistence of
Vision_).

chuq
-- 
:From catacombs of Castle Tarot:        Chuq Von Rospach 
sun!chuq@decwrl.DEC.COM                 {hplabs,ihnp4,nsc,pyramid}!sun!chuq

It's not looking, it's heat seeking.