Science Fiction Book Club, Top 50 Science Fiction & Fantasy Books


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In 2003 the club released a list of "The Most Significant SF & Fantasy Books of the Last 50 Years, 1953-2002", and reissued them in series dust jackets. The list is no longer on the SFBC site, but has been reproduced on numerous other sites.

Ranked: Yes

Titles Cited: 50

Publication: http://www.sfbc.com/, 2003

  1. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings (series, 1954-1955)
  2. Isaac Asimov, The Foundation Trilogy (series, 1951-1953)
  3. Frank Herbert, Dune (Chilton, 1965)
  4. Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land (Putnam, 1961)
  5. Ursula K. Le Guin, A Wizard of Earthsea (Parnassus Press, 1968)
  6. William Gibson, Neuromancer (Ace Special, 1984)
  7. Arthur C. Clarke, Childhood's End (Ballantine, 1953)
  8. Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (Doubleday, 1968)
  9. Marion Zimmer Bradley, The Mists of Avalon (Knopf, 1983)
  10. Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451 (Ballantine, 1953)
  11. Gene Wolfe, The Book of the New Sun (1980-1983)
  12. Walter M. Miller, Jr., A Canticle for Leibowitz (Lippincott, 1959)
  13. Isaac Asimov, The Caves of Steel (Doubleday, 1954)
  14. Wilmar H. Shiras, Children of the Atom (Gnome , 1953)
  15. James Blish, Cities in Flight (Avon, 1970)
  16. Terry Pratchett, The Colour of Magic (Colin Smythe, 1983)
  17. Harlan Ellison, ed., Dangerous Visions (Doubleday, 1967)
  18. Harlan Ellison, Deathbird Stories (Harper & Row, 1975)
  19. Alfred Bester, The Demolished Man (Shasta, 1953)
  20. Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren (Bantam, 1975)
  21. Anne McCaffrey, Dragonflight (Ballantine, 1968)
  22. Orson Scott Card, Ender's Game (Tor, 1985)
  23. Stephen R. Donaldson, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever (series, 1977)
  24. Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (St. Martin's, 1974)
  25. Frederik Pohl, Gateway (St. Martin's, 1977)
  26. J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Bloomsbury, 1997)
  27. Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Pan, 1979)
  28. Richard Matheson, I Am Legend (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1954)
  29. Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire (Knopf , 1976)
  30. Ursula K. Le Guin, The Left Hand of Darkness (Ace Special, 1969)
  31. John Crowley, Little, Big (Bantam, 1981)
  32. Roger Zelazny, Lord of Light (Doubleday, 1967)
  33. Philip K. Dick, The Man in the High Castle (Putnam, 1962)
  34. Hal Clement, Mission of Gravity (Doubleday, 1954)
  35. Theodore Sturgeon, More Than Human (Farrar, Straus & Young/Ballantine, 1953)
  36. Cordwainer Smith, edited by James A. Mann, The Rediscovery of Man: The Complete Short Science Fiction of Cordwainer Smith (NESFA Press, 1993)
  37. Nevil Shute, On the Beach (Heinemann , 1957)
  38. Arthur C. Clarke, Rendezvous with Rama (Gollancz, 1973)
  39. Larry Niven, Ringworld (Ballantine, 1970)
  40. Algis Budrys, Rogue Moon (Fawcett Gold Medal, 1960)
  41. J. R. R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion (Houghton Mifflin, 1977)
  42. Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., Slaughterhouse-Five (Delacorte, 1969)
  43. Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash (Bantam Spectra, 1992)
  44. John Brunner, Stand on Zanzibar (Doubleday, 1968)
  45. Alfred Bester, The Stars My Destination (NAL/Signet, 1957)
  46. Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers (Putnam, 1959)
  47. Michael Moorcock, Stormbringer (Herbert Jenkins, 1965)
  48. Terry Brooks, The Sword of Shannara (Ballantine, 1977)
  49. Gregory Benford, Timescape (Simon and Schuster, 1980)
  50. Philip José Farmer, To Your Scattered Bodies Go (Putnam, 1971)

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