"Best Science-Fiction Novel Ever Written (Round 1A)" Topic

I just hope that this discussion doesn't dissolve into endless pointless nonsense about what is, and what isn't science fiction.
Or the difference between a single book and a series.
Like what happened in the poll proposal discussion. 🙄

I like what I like, and that's how I voted.

I have heard of only two of these. Hoping I know more in the later rounds.

I'm curious if the folks voting for 20,000 Leagues are voting for the actual book or for the legacy it has created in other media? And if so, which translation do you prefer? (If you've voted for having read the original French, congratulations!)

I've only cracked it in French, and that was way too dense for both archaic language and technical jargon for me to make any dent in it. I presume any translation this side of a Gold Key comic is going to be pretty darn dense in English too.

Actually, I think I voted for 20,000 based on the movie and the Classics Illustrated comic. 😄

I've read two translations of 20KUtS, but I couldn't tell you who by.

I voted for it and A Canticle for Liebowitz. I haven't read many of the others.

Yeah, I found four I'd read and voted for three of them. (Then I went back to the pre-poll discussion, and pestered 79PA by answering by PM a question I'd answered at the time by post. Sorry 79th.)

But as I recently discovered in the "adventuring spacecraft" poll, bet on the finalists being nothing anyone has to sit down and READ. My money's on the unspeakable Dune, 2001, Planet of the Apes, Starship Troopers and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as the final five, and most of the voters won't have read the one they voted for: they'll have watched something "based on."

OFM, as a "series is not a novel" person, I'm curious. If the OP had asked for "best SF short story" would you have nominated novels?

I've always had a difficult time reading sci-fi, but I love watching it. On the flip side, I used to love reading fantasy novels. However, it's been decades since I last read any type of novel. So I skipped this poll.

How do I know. I haven't read them all.