My Top Ten, Part 1
John Ink2Quill
www.ink2quill.com

There are so many great masterpieces in the scifi genre and that list continues to grow thanks to the up and coming writers of today. Everybody’s top ten list of scifi is different with sometimes wide variations in choice. But, but, but… There is a common consensus when it comes to well crafted scifi stories. What one person puts on their list might not make the list of another person, and that’s fine. Diversi0ty of opinion is wonderful.

So, what elements go into a great scifi book? What is the recipe for a masterpiece? I don’t know the entire list, obviously, but I can name a few of those elements. BTW, I do believe that nobody knows the complete list of what makes a great scifi masterpiece because we are dealing with the realm of the imagination where reality is skewed and anything is possible. The element of surprise in a story, the newness of a new imagined world is just irresistible to the reader.

So, let me give you those elements as I have discovered and then get into the list of masterpieces. And, BTW, I highly recommend reading books on other people’s top scifi list because you are bound to be pleasantly surprised.

The first element is the most obvious to all scifi fans. It’s the world building. Yes, when the author gives the reader a new place that dazzles and has us wonder. The world can be the past or present or just a world with elements of the past or present. That works too. Whether it’s the Victorian England of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne or Mary Shelley or the North African world of Cairo with twist, a place that resembles the Cairo we know from the 1912s but with added features like Djinn and other magical creatures as Phenderson Djeli Clark gives us. The world building adds to the story and often is the stomping ground of the protagonist as well as the place were life changing conflicts begin. It isn’t limited to laser beams, dragons and space ships. It can be beautiful worlds with lush vegetation, harsh environments or places completely unfamiliar to the reader. Such unfamiliar creatures and places can be terrifying, as H. P. Lovecraft would show us, or beautifully familiar in a distant way like so many stories that take place in parts of space we read about in textbooks. A good example of this is “The Crystal Egg” by H.G. Wells. The world that the protagonist sees through the crystal egg is beautiful and strange and it’s that strangeness that adds to our curiosity of the author’s world and keeps our eyes glued to the pages.

That leads into the next element. Strangeness. So many great scifi stories have an element of strangeness readers love. Whether it’s the discovery of a new world, unraveling a mystery of some kind or solving a problem the strangeness of the protagonists environment is a draw, without a doubt. Think of Books like Frank Herbert’s “Dune”, Emma Newman’s “Planetfall” and, of course, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”. And the list goes on…

Another element which can be hidden in the background like in any other genre are the themes, the messages behind the protagonists struggles. Scifi often offers criticism of things that are wrong in our society or bad directions our society might be heading toward. Think of Elizabeth Moon’s “Remnant Population”. Here is the story of an unlikely protagonist named Ofelia Falfurrias. She is an older woman without formal education who outlived her husband and kids and who was one of the few people left on a failing colony. This is the story of a failing colony with so many hints as to what that might be like. We always have stories of successful colonies and super human heroes. Well this story is the complete opposite and its works.

Another overlooked element is imagination. Not to confuse it with worldbuilding. The author’s imagination is the fuel for everything, the blood of the body of the work so to speak. There are inspirations to an author’s imagination but so much of the inner workings of a person’s imagination is a complete mystery and that is fine. It’s a good thing even. After all, it’s not always necessary to know.

So, next is my list of top ten scifi that are must reads. I do not say top ten best because there are too many that are so good and it would just not be fair.

John Ink2Quill

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