What was the best science fiction story you ever read aand who wrote it?

Question

And what was it about, in one short sentence?

Thanks, everyone :-)

I'm amazed there is no mention of Philip K. Dick. Or maybe everyone here is to young to have heard of him(!) But you must have heard of films based on his stories, e.g. Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report, A Scanner Darkly, etc.

Also, did anyone ever read a story called "The War is Over" by Algis Budrys (sp?) That really stuck in my mind though I read it a long time ago.

Answer 1

H.G. Wells.. "The War of the Worlds"

The martians invaded New Jersey.

Answer 2

Kingdom of Cages by Sarah Zettel. Humanity scattered out to form colonies that are now dying out due to the Diversity Crisis and the only solution seems to be coming together again on a near Earth planet that is currently controlled by a rather big brother meets borg sort of colony that's trying to find a cure for the Diversity Crisis; when the Trust family manages to move to the planet, the mother is murdered and her two daughters have to survive the system that killed her.

Answer 3

Very hard.

I have two choices:
The Giver-Lois Lowry
In a Utopia, Jonas gets the oh-so important job of keeping memories and knowing what it's like in real life.

Ender's Game-Orson Scott Card
Ender goes to Battle Training, a genius, not knowing that he's making an impact on the whole galaxy.

Answer 4

Possibly--and I reserve the right to change my mind if somebody reminds me of some other book--one of Robert A. Heinlein's juveniles: Have Spacesuit, Will Travel.

Earth-born children discover the galaxy, traveling with an alien they call the Mother Thing (because that's what she IS).

Why--which you didn't ask: It delivers and sustains a sense of wonder, of Mankind as not necessarily the only possible kind of intelligent creature, as well as many a novel for more mature readers does.

Answer 5

Vurt by Jeff Noonan. In one sentence...
OK, the book follows the character Scrbble (thus named because he writes) through a near-future dystopia characterized by copious use of vurt, which is a combination of a drug and a virtual-reality storytelling device, administered by tickling the back of your throat with a colored feather, that can operate on many different levels of intensity; many of these levels are illegal and Scribble and the Stash Riders embark on an odyssey through a world of genetically augmented dog-humans, remote-control shadowcops, vurt-escapee dreamsnakes, and the crumbled remains of English society to retrieve Scribble's sister Desdemona who has gotten trapped in the vurt-world and exchanged for "The Thing From Outer Space", a pulsating jellylike vurt-creature that needs constant sedation or becomes a mewling, crying wreck but also carries vurt in its flesh and is in incredibly high demand as a source of raw, unfiltered drugs.

Answer 6

Martian Chronicles By Ray Bradbury. It is a series of short stories all dealing with life on the planet Mars with some interesting twists, and common threads. My grade 11 teacher made me read this and to this day it remains a favorite.

Answer 7

Iain M Banks any of his books are nicely worth a study quite those approximately "The lifestyle" try M P Shiel or John Christopher because of the fact the thinking persons option to John Wyndham.

Answer 8

There's no way I have I single favorite sf book! If I have to go with the one I've read over and over the most times it would be Chapterhouse Dune by Frank Herbert of course you have to have read all his other Dune novels as well. (the new ones by his son are tragically pathetic)

Also I have to mention that Terminal Cafe by Ian McDonald is brilliant and so is the Lillith's Brood series by Octavia E. Butler.

Answer 9

The golden age by John C. Wright.
Super nano suit man builds a space ship out of unobtainium that runs on anti matter in a worl where every thing is telepresence this field manipulator that, except WAY BETTER.
OMG it was the BEST.

Answer 10

Fantastes by George McDonald
It was a coming of age story about a boy who, on his 21st birthday, finds out the his grandmother was/is a faerie and was in a room in his house. He goes on a journey to discover himself in faerie land. It is a book that has stories like a pearl necklace. Each peice adds to the story and is loosly tied to the plot as a whole. It's my favorite book. :-)