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Science Fiction 101

All titles shelved in Fiction collection, except as noted: SF=science fiction, Y=young adult.

Asimov Isaac: Foundation

(1951)

SF

For 12,000 years the Galactic Empire has ruled supreme. Now it is dying. It is up to Hari Seldon, the creator of psychohistory, to gather the best minds in the Empire to preserve knowledge and save mankind.
Atwood, Margaret: The Handmaid's Tale

(1986)

It is the world of the near future, and Offred is a handmaid. She is hoping the commander makes her pregnant because she is only valued if her ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she had a job of her own, a husband, and a child. But all of that is gone now.
Bester, Alfred: The Stars My Destination

(1956)

SF

In this pulse-quickening novel Alfred Bester imagines a future in which people "jaunte" a thousand miles with a single thought, where the rich barricade themselves in labyrinths and protect themselves with radioactive hit men — and where an inarticulate outcast is the most valuable and dangerous man alive.
Bradbury, Raymond: The Martian Chronicles

(1950)

SF

Humanity discovers an ancient civilization on the verge of ruin. This classic work presents tales of human interaction with one another and with the Martians.
Bujold, Lois McMaster: Young Miles

(2003)

SF

This volume combines the three novels in the epic Vorkosigan saga, telling the story of Miles, a Vor leader on the planet Barrayar. The severely physically disabled Miles foils a plot against his father, solves a murder, and thwarts an interstellar invasion as his alter-ego, Admiral Naismith.
Butler, Octavia E.: Parable of the Sower

(1993)

SF

Lauren Olamina is growing up in the 2020s, in a California that is in near-anarchy. As an empath she directly experiences the violence that surrounds her.
Card, Orson Scott: Ender's Game

(1985)

SF

The Earth is under attack from aliens known as "buggers." The only hope is a brilliant general named Ender Wiggin. The only problem is that he is a child. First in a series.
Dick, Philip K.: The Man in the High Castle

(1962)

SF

This Hugo Award-winning novel takes place in a universe in which the Axis won World War II and the US is occupied by Germany and Japan. In this alternate present the underground bestseller is about universe in which the Allies won the war.
Gibson, William: Neuromancer

(1984)

SF

The cyberpunk classic from the writer who coined the term 'cyberspace'. Gritty and complex, Neuromancer has been praised for both its prescience and its prose.
Heinlein, Robert: Stranger in a Strange Land

(1961)

SF

Valentine Michael Smith, born on Mars and raised by Martians, comes to Earth for the first time. In this novel Heinlein coined a word (grok) and inspired a religion (the Church of All Worlds).
Herbert, Frank: Dune

(1965)

SF

Space navigation is only possible through use of the 'spice' created by the sandworms on the planet Arrakis. If House Atreides controls Arrakis, they control the universe. Winner of the first Nebula Award.
Huxley, Aldous: Brave New World

(1932)

Huxley imagines the world in 632 AF (After Ford), a dystopia where consumerism and superficiality reign. Humans are grown in labs and decanted into one of five castes, from the elite Alphas to the "semi-moron" Epsilons.
Le Guin, Ursula: The Left Hand of Darkness

(1969)

SF

This award-winning novel tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can change their gender. By a local living legend.
Niven, Larry: Ringworld

(1970)

SF

Two humans and two aliens travel to an artificial planet shaped like a giant ring, terraformed to sustain life. But where and who are the ingenious engineers who created this planet?
Orwell, George: Nineteen Eighty-Four

(1949)

Winston Smith is living in Oceania in 1984 under a totalitarian regime that teaches "War is Peace," "Freedom is Slavery," and "Ignorance is Strength."
Russell, Mary Doria: The Sparrow

(1996)

Father Emilio Sandoz is the only survivor of humanity's first contact with an alien civilization. The story of how his body and soul were nearly destroyed by his experience is harrowing, insightful, and challenging.
Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft: Frankenstein, or, the Modern Prometheus

(1818)

The story of Victor Frankenstein's monstrous creation and the havoc it caused has enthralled generations of readers and inspired countless writers of horror and suspense.
Simmons, Dan: Hyperion

(1989)

SF

On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to Hyperion seeking the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives. Each carries a desperate hope, and a terrible secret. One may hold the fate of humanity in his hands.
Stephenson, Neal: The Diamond Age

(1995)

SF

Set in 21st century Shanghai, this is the story of what happens when a state-of-the-art interactive device falls into the hands of a street urchin named Nell. The device has the power to decode and program her life — and the entire future of humanity.
Wells, H. G. (Herbert George): The War of the Worlds

(1898)

SF

The night after a shooting star is seen streaking through the sky a cylinder is discovered on Horsell Common in London. At first naive locals approach the cylinder armed just with a white flag — only to be quickly killed by an all-destroying heat-ray as terrifying tentacled invaders emerge. Soon the whole of human civilization is under threat.
Willis, Connie: Doomsday Book

(1992)

SF

Kirvin, a History student at Oxford in 2048, is sent back in time to complete her thesis and mistakenly thrust into the midst of the Black Plague in this work about human struggle and redemption. If you enjoy novels about time travel, be sure to check out our Time Travel list.
Wyndham, John: The Day of the Triffids

(1951)

SF

Nearly everyone in the world is blinded, and perambulating plants just may inherit the Earth.