"Best SF Novel: War of the Worlds!" Topic
17 Posts
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 Editor in Chief Bill   | 08 Nov 2025 7:53 p.m. PST |
You were asked – TMP link Best Science-Fiction Novel Ever Written?And in the final round of voting: 28% said "War of the Worlds, The (H.G. Wells)"
20% said "Foundation (Isaac Asimov)"
17% said "Starship Troopers (Robert Heinlein)"
13% said "Dune (Frank Herbert)"
10% said "Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell)" |
 John the OFM  | 08 Nov 2025 9:13 p.m. PST |
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| JMcCarroll | 09 Nov 2025 4:39 a.m. PST |
I feel bad, only read three of them. |
| Giles the Zog | 09 Nov 2025 4:52 a.m. PST |
Dune accent be read. It can only be observed, like Shroedingers cat. Neither read nor readable. |
| CAPTAIN BEEFHEART | 09 Nov 2025 5:51 a.m. PST |
Well, may as well ditch the Hugo and Nebula awards. The crowd has spoken. |
 Parzival | 09 Nov 2025 6:41 a.m. PST |
Not my top pick, though among them. I have no argument with the validity of the poll, even if I disagree. |
| John the OFM | 09 Nov 2025 8:51 a.m. PST |
Heresy time here. I've always found Asimov to be boring. It's quite obvious that he never suffered from Writer's Block a day in his life. I only read Dune because at the time I was a hardcore sf fan. I even said "sf" because it was more literary than "sci-fi". Also more pretentious. 😄 I only read it because it was almost "required reading" for a true fan. I even read the sequels until I wondered why I was punishing myself. 🤷 Wells is old fashioned. 1984 isn't what I would call "science fiction". But I won't quibble. It's still a damn fine book, totally applicable to today. Big Brother, indeed. So, by default Starship Troopers. It's a cracking good yarn! |
| Frederick | 09 Nov 2025 2:48 p.m. PST |
Read all of them – I think War of the Worlds deserves the nod because of the ground it broke – and I agree, reading the Dune sequels constitutes what the Constitution called cruel and unusual punishment |
| The H Man | 09 Nov 2025 4:10 p.m. PST |
No Frankenstein? Jules Verne? These are the big popular books. But the best sci-fi?? Dune just cobbles elements, like star wars. Space ships, middle east, royalty, so on. Would war of the world's be there without Orson Welles? Starship troopers without robocop? Even Asimov and 1984. I feel it's a popular vote. Not that they are necessarily bad stories. They almost all have a film. That leads to more people knowing about them, more print runs published, so on. Not surprising that the top of the list has at least 2 films, one miniseries, a kind of series, a kind of sequel series and tv show, so on. Much more than the others, which still had films and games and so on. Still, no Frankenstein? 2025 and a woman is beaten by 5 men. But this seems wrong. |
| The H Man | 09 Nov 2025 9:15 p.m. PST |
Also all but war of the worlds was written mid last century. Around (mid to late 1900s) when most poll takers were on the younger side and reading more, especially with the influence of school or University. The best sci-fi may not be the most saleable sci-fi, hence not on this list. As an anecdote, there was a twilight zone script that was bought and Rod Serling was keen. But they had to sell it back to the author, as it was about a severed hand and they weren't allowed to show it. Could have been the best episode ever? We'll never know. |
 20thmaine | 10 Nov 2025 12:03 p.m. PST |
I've read all of those – I d have hoped that Starship Fascists would have done less well, but you can't have it all. All of the rest are excellent reads IMHO. |
| 20thmaine | 10 Nov 2025 5:04 p.m. PST |
War of the Worlds is good – but the Island of Doctor Moreau is the masterpiece. |
| robert piepenbrink | 11 Nov 2025 1:35 p.m. PST |
Some day, 20th, you must share with us how Heinlein's democracy with the franchise open to anyone willing to put in the work and a government so limited it doesn't even have conscription corresponds to your notion of fascism. Are you possibly confusing him with H. G. Wells, who was very partial to rule by a scientific elite and gassing the "unfit?" |
| 20thmaine | 11 Nov 2025 2:41 p.m. PST |
A totalitarian state run by a self-selecting elite? Is that the democracy you mean? Where everyone who actually does the work is debarred from having any part in decision making? Those mobile idiots don't grow their own food, mine their own ore for their suits or their nukes. And if anyone dissents with the military's decision they get a visit from the gestapo.
I don't expect you to be able to understand that, as we're covering ground we've been over, if you recall.
But, hey , Bobby, you are free to disagree. I don't care if you do, I'm not trying to tell you what to think. |
| The H Man | 11 Nov 2025 6:24 p.m. PST |
"Service guarantees citizenship." Can't say fairer than that. I suspect their kids would get in automatically?? Probably from the film though? |
| robert piepenbrink | 12 Nov 2025 10:14 a.m. PST |
"Those mobile idiots don't grow their own food, mine their own ore for their suits or their nukes." Very few militaries do. It's called "civilization" and "specialization of labor." Nor is the elite self-selecting in any restrictive sense. You do have to volunteer for citizenship--which, Heinlein specifies, is not military duty for the majority of cases, and some sort of work will be found for anyone who chooses it. I've read Starship Troopers multiple times, and still can't find dissenters visited by the gestapo. I can find you a commissioned officer worrying that booting a volunteer out of training for perfectly valid reasons--striking a superior--will result in "one more civilian who'll be against us the rest of his days." That's not been a problem in any totalitarian state I know of: identified troublemapers disappear. In fact, the narrator's father, who is seriously wealthy sees no need for it and protests what he sees is promotion of federal service. (He also says "a taxpayer has some rights"--an interesting view of a totalitarian society.) If you want to beat up Heinlein for his faults as a writer, I could probably sing a couple of verses myself, but I get very tired of seeing him denigrated for imaginary faults. No, H Man, there is no mention in the book of anyone becoming a citizen without himself completing some form of service. In fact, the narrator's father complains that time spent earning citizenship would delay entry into the family business. |
| The H Man | 12 Nov 2025 4:58 p.m. PST |
It seems common for people who are very good at something to have that degraded because of something else they did wrong, usually at the further expense of the work of others involved. Bill Cosby, Rolph Harris, Harvey Weinstein. Australia even recently block a volleyball? player from attending a competition. I have not noticed any replays of Hey Dad recently, which is odd as it's one of the best Australian shows. An actor got in trouble for activities elsewhere, and now the other actors are punished. It's annoyingly common. However, Hogan's Heroes and Harvey Weinstein films still air. So, I don't know. But, people need to seperate actual people from their work, or we can't crack out six white boomers come Christmas, as we should. How many power rangers have gone to prison for murder? At least 2, just to begin with. Every show and movie and book and song is likely to have someone associated with it do something most people don't agree with. So we should learn that people and their work are two different things. Sometimes the work is the issue, like Elvis's pelvis or heavy metal lyrics. Even in those instances it may still be an act. Biting the head off a bat was apparently an acident. More recently Lady (!) gaga being vomited on? That crosses a desency line for me. Not to mention doing nothing to help girls with weight and diet issues, so on. It's a murky area. |
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