A lot of the greatest science fiction and fantasy books are
not for newbies. They can be daunting for new readers, because they assume
you’ve already read a lot of science fiction and fantasy. But what are the best
“entry level” science fiction and fantasy books? We asked some top
editors and writers, and here are their picks.
Top image: Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke.
There’s been a lot of talk about the need for “entry
level” science fiction and fantasy recently, spurred by writers like John
Scalzi and editors like Patrick Nielsen Hayden. The great strength of science
fiction and fantasy is the wealth of ideas the genre contains, and the
long-running dialogue among authors, and between authors, editors, and readers.
But that strength can also create a huge barrier to entry for new readers.
So we asked a dozen of our favorite writers and editors to
name their favorite “entry level” SF books, including Scalzi and
Nielsen Hayden. Here’s what they told us!
Patrick Nielsen
Hayden (executive editor with Tor Books)
From SF books published in the last ten or fifteen years, my
off-the-cuff answer would be Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin. The events that make this novel science fiction
are so vast and inexplicable that, for quite a lot of the “story
time,” “science” is as much at a loss to explain them as normal people
are. Ultimately there are some (well-crafted) expository lumps of astrophysics,
relativity, etc., but these come along only after the entire scientific world
has spent quite a few years being as baffled as a normal person would be. This
gives Wilson the space to tell a story grounded in the emotional reactions of
believable, present-day people to mind-boggling changes in the cosmic scheme of
things, a story that can be read and enjoyed unimpeded by the need to swallow
big gulps of the usual scenario-justifying science-fictional expository
doubletalk. By the time small doses of dense SFnal
exposition are actually necessary, even the kind of readers who are
usually thrown out of a normal SF novel by the “as you know, Bob”
conversation in Chapter Two are so immersed in the human drama that they take
it in effortlessly.
The other reason I cite Spin
is that when we published it, I was startled (in a happy way) by the large
number of people I heard from who enjoyed it despite not being regular SF
readers at all. And it’s not like it’s an SF novel that reads to longtime SF
readers as a “beginner’s” book. It’s a sophisticated piece of modern SF. But
it’s also a story that understands that one of the most powerful ways to
describe something isn’t to anatomize it and explain it, but rather to show how
it makes people feel.
Ken Liu (Hugo and
Nebula-winning author of many stories, plus the upcoming Dandelion Dynasty
series)
I always recommend Ursula K. Le Guin’s works for readers who
think they don’t like scifi. The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness are accessible, deep, and introduce genre tropes in a masterful
way.
Beyond those, I also find it interesting and helpful to
recommend books that are not marketed as SFF: such as Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novels, Ishiguro’s Never Let Me
Go, or David Mitchell’s genre-voiced stories in Cloud Atlas. “Real” SFF fans sometimes scoff at these,
but since I care only about a work’s substance, not its “marketing
identity,” I recommend them with gusto.
Maureen McHugh
(author of After the Apocalypse)
Mary Doria Russell’s The Sparrow is a
good entry for a lot of people. It has space ships and aliens
and big questions but never stops being accessible. Believe it or not I
just taught Ted Chiang’s collection The Stories of Your Life and Others to a
bunch of people, some who had read sf and some who had not and the response was
overwhelmingly positive. It’s just such good work.
Daniel Abraham (author
of the Dragon and the Coin sereis, and one half of James S.A. Corey, author of
Leviathan Wakes)
I have to admit, I dread this particular question. The
books that got me hooked on genre were, a lot of them, really lousy books.
Bad craft, unoriginal plots, cliched. But they hit me at the right
time, and so they looked wonderful. Still, I can’t recommend them, right?
So, hmm.
For someone coming in totally fresh, and they were reading for pleasure (as
opposed to as a status symbol) I’d actually start with the best media tie-in
books. Vonda McIntyre’s novelization of Wrath of Khan and John M. Ford’s The Final Reflection, for instance. They’re stories that already have context
for folks just coming in, and they’re also genuinely decent books that then
lead into McIntyre’s The Moon and the Sun and Ford’s The Dragon Waiting if they
like them enough to follow the authors elsewhere.
Or, coming in from the other direction, start them with high literature that’s
a lead-in to all the places it’s borrowed from. Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and
Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, then following up with McHugh’s China Mountain
Zhang or something by Karen Joy Fowler. Or Ted Chiang. Anything that gets
people to read Ted Chiang is a kindness.
And then there’s Ender’s Game.
Yeah. Ender’s Game. Here’s the thing about Ender’s Game. It
is a deeply felt, beautifully imagined story that has spoken to a couple
generations of people who found real compassion and acceptance and even the
beginnings of love in this amazing, gorgeous, tragic adventure. It shows
what’s best about science fiction, but only if you only read the text.
Card himself has gone so septic, it’s poisoned the novel. So Ender’s Game
— but borrow it from a library or get it from a used bookstore — and don’t
google Orson Scott Card once you’re done.
Scott Westerfeld
(author of Leviathan and the Uglies series)
I feel like, thanks to J.K. Rowling, fantasy won’t have this
problem in a few decades.
As for SF, I’d go for Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon (a common choice).
And given that the genre started with short stories (and
they’re easier to read), I turn people onto the Dangerous Visions anthology (Particularly Delany’s “Aye, and
Gomorrah . . . “), Kage Baker’s Company short stories, and later Ted
Sturgeon.
http://www.amazon.com/Kage-Baker-quot-Company-order/lm/R1X5AOOLOTN3TU?tag=gizmodo08c-20
E. Lily Yu (winner of
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Author, writer of the Hugo-nominated “The Cartographer Wasps and the
Anarchist Bees”)
My recommendation would change depending on the person’s age
and which genre was their favorite at the time, but for an adult who likes
literary fiction, I’d suggest either of Karen Russell’s collections or
Crowley’s Little, Big for
fantasy and Delaney’s Babel-17 for
sci-fi.
Diana Gill
(excecutive editor with Harper Voyager)
I taught last year (and will be teaching again this year) a
course on Niche markets (Mystery, sf/f, horror) for NYU’s Masters in Publishing
course, so I actually have a real, experience-based answer!
Books taught were Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, 61 Hours by Lee Child,
Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box, John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, Charlayne Harris’ Dead Until Dark, and George R.R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones.
Scalzi’s Old Man’s War was a
perfect entry science fiction novel. Probably 12 of the 14 person
class had never read SF/F before, and they all liked Old Man’s War (even 1 girl who preferred cozy mysteries). The
accessible, funny voice makes it perfect for new readers — they all liked it,
and at least one student admitted she was then hooked on military SF.
Not to toot my own horn, but part of why Kim Harrison has done so well is
because Dead Witch Walking pulls
readers from across genres, and ones who
don’t usually read SF/F. (My finance department doesn’t read genre usually, but
they beg for early copies of each Hollows novel.) This applies to Dead Until Dark, and the other great
urban fantasies as well — being based
in our world makes them much more accessible than secondary-world novels.
Seanan McGuire
(author of the October Daye novels, the InCryptid series, the Newsflesh series
as Mira Grant, and Parasite as Mira Grant)
If I could have anything, and I wanted you to fall in love
ASAP without knowing any genre conventions, I’d go with Mermaid’s Song by Alida Van Gorres
for introductory fantasy, and Starbridge by A.C. Crispin for introductory science fiction.
John Scalzi (author
of Redshirts, Old Man’s War and Fuzzy Nation)
Good entry level science fiction? Let me
stick to the last few years —
In the “Spaceships” category, Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey is an exciting and accessible
chunk of space opera, and what I can suggest for people who want lots of action
and adventure.
In the “near-future dystopia” category, Mira Grant’s Feed fits the bill, with a
reasonable scientific explanation for its zombies along with an America that is
recognizable from here (although not in a happy way).
In the “YA that adults can handle” category, Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother is the most
entertaining polemic on public surveillance you’ll ever read.
In the “Lots of cultural references make me feel comfortable”
category, Ernie Clines’ Ready Player One will
make any Gen-Xer happy (it’s also a little more light-hearted than everything
else on the list so far).
In the Put a Gear on
It category, Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker is a fantastic and
wonderfully accessible introduction to steampunk.
In the “Epic Fantasy” category, NK Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is
slightly more challenging for new folk but well worth it for people ready to
take two steps into the field instead of one.
In the “Don’t condescend to me, I can take it,”
category, I’d give ’em Ann Leckie’s Ancilliary
Justice, which I think is beyond entry level, but is also state
of the art for where SF is today, so if they dig this book, the field is wide open
to them.
Lou Anders (editor
with Pyr Books, author of Frostborn)
I usually recommend John Scalzi’s Old Man’s War, or Mike Resnick’s Kirinyaga. [Plus] Neil Gaiman’s American
Gods. If they are open to literary fiction, Ian Macdonald’s River of Gods or The Dervish House.
Saladin Ahmed (author
of the Crescent Moon Kingdoms trilogy)
One title can’t possibly do all that heavy lifting, so I’ll
offer a quick handful, focusing
on accesible heroic fantasy: A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula LeGuin, Imaro by Charles Saunders, The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle, and The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
Paolo Bacigalupi
(author of The Windup Girl and Ship Breaker)
I think there are two ways of looking at this question. One
way is to ask what science fictional books can someone just pick up and read,
and the answer turns out to be any number of them, particularly if they’re
labeled as being outside the genre. YA is full of science fiction novels,
most notably right now of course is the The Hunger Games, but you also see
plenty of people easily picking up the latest Margaret Atwood or reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. The other
way to look at the question is to ask what books from within the genre (and
labeled and shelved as such), can act as ambassadors to those readers who never
enter the SF/Fantasy part of the bookstore. And I’d say that the books that
most easily travel outward are the ones that identify least with SF.
William Gibson’s Pattern
Recognition is an easy place to start trying to rope people in.
In both cases, though, I think that the barriers to reading
science fiction typically have less to do with science fiction’s stylings than
with a story’s perceived relevance to the reader. I’ve also had no
trouble giving The Windup Girl to
people who say that they “don’t read science fiction,” and yet they
enter the story easily. But I pitch the book to them as being about
corporate control of agriculture, genetically modified food, and global
warming. It’s not about science fiction at all—at least, in their
perception.
I think this cuts the core problem of SF. It’s not
that people can’t read SF, or can’t puzzle through any number of interesting
sf-nal texts. It’s the fact that these stories have been labelled as science
fiction at all that lowers their chances of being
good entry-level science fiction. Once you say “science
fiction,” you’ve fallen so far down the the stereotype hole of rocket
ships and Barbarella that it’s difficult to claw your way back out. Label
your science fiction as a story about hacking, or a story about food and
monoculture, call it a dystopia, call it an apocalypse, call it a war story,
call the story anything at all other than the dreaded words “science
fiction” and you’ve probably got a shot at connecting with your entry-level reader.
N.K. Jemisin (author
of the Inheritance Trilogy and the Dreamblood Series)
Offhand, I would say Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End. It’s one of my favorite Golden Age books
because of the sociological/metaphysical questions it asks. How would
people react to the knowledge that we’re not alone in the universe? How
would we react to aliens whose appearance triggers an atavistic reaction in us?
How would we react to unlimited energy, good health, stable resources —
and the sudden realization that all life as we know it will soon end?
It’s clearly written through the lens of a white man in the 1950s, and
there’s some hinkiness as a result — I recall some batshittery about white
people in South Africa being persecuted post-Apartheid, and Clarke point-blank
says that Jan Rodericks’ blackness is irrelevant to his identity, which speaks
a lot more to Clarke’s white privilege than to any true progressivism on his
part. Still, the book is also one of the few examples of a black
protagonist in SFF of that era who isn’t a walking stereotype, and IIRC the
women in the story aren’t quite as peripheral and one-dimensional as they
usually are in Golden Age SFF, so that’s something.
I haven’t read it in quite a few years, but I recall that the language was
plain, easily accessible, and story was told in a kind of episodic fashion that
readers more familiar with televised SFF might like. Haunting ending
that’s stayed with me for years, too, which is the clincher of a good story as
far as I’m concerned.
