The New Classics

Back in August I was a guest at our local (if you're an American) science fiction convention, Pi-Con. One panel they put me on was about "The New Classics" of science fiction and fantasy -- classic works published since about 1980 or so. I wrote up a list of new classic SF, using the inestimable Tropes Wiki as my source. I figured that if the Tropers can make reference to a work and reasonably expect most readers to know what they mean, then it's a classic. (I did edit out the mass of Japanese manga and series novels.) After the convention ended I forgot all about it for three months, but ran across it recently.

Here's the list, with commentary.

Margaret Atwood, The Handmaiden's Tale and Oryx & Crake -- despite what Ms. Atwood likes to claim, these are science fiction and have become part of the canon.

Kage Baker's "Company" series -- Top-notch time travel stories, shading into steampunk and espionage.

Iain Banks's "Culture" series -- excellent modern space opera.

Lois McMaster Bujold's "Vorkosigan" series -- more excellent space opera, which has gradually gone from straight military SF to Jane Austen and Dorothy L. Sayers IN SPAAACE.

Michael Chabon, The Yiddish Policemen's Union -- The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay is better (and won a Pulitzer), but it's not quite SF. This is a pure alternate-history novel.

Neil Gaiman, American Gods and Coraline -- Gaiman is such a fan favorite I could probably just list all his books, especially the Sandman comic series.

Steven Gould, Jumper -- I never actually read this book, but it seems to be very well regarded (unlike the film adaptation).

Ken Grimwood, Replay -- This one is similar to Jumper in that it's a very thorough and well-written examination of a single "what if?" idea.

George R.R. Martin, A Song of Ice and Fire series -- A big fat fantasy series which I'm not really interested in.

China Mieville, Perdido Street Station and sequels -- Gritty, noir-style fantasy.

Tim Powers, Declare, On Stranger Tides, et al -- These are his best-known works (Tides is soon to be a movie) but my personal opinion is that anything by Powers belongs on this list.

Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" series -- They started as simple (but enjoyable) fantasy spoofs, but over time Pinocchio turned into a real boy and now they are an excellent series of humorous fantasy novels.

J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books -- Love them or hate them, you've probably read them.

John Scalzi, Old Man's War -- An innovative take on military SF from a writer who is likely to be the Grand Old Man of the field himself some day.

Neil Stephenson, Cryptonomicon and "Baroque Trilogy" -- These are marginally SF, but are so well beloved by SF readers that they qualify.

S.M. Stirling's "Sea of Time" trilogy -- Time castaways have macho adventure in the Bronze Age, but with some nice details on how to keep 20th Century technology going with only a handful of people who understand it.

Charles Stross, "Laundry" series and "Accelerando" stories -- Charles Stross seems able to write well and copiously in any subgenre. He can do Lovecraftian spy stories, transhumanist science fiction, Stirlingesque macho fantasy, and who knows what else.

Vernor Vinge, A Deepness in the Sky -- Innovative and well done space opera.

Tad Williams, Otherland -- I confess I haven't read this at all so I can't even summarize it.

Connie Willis, Doomsday Book, To Say Nothing of the Dog, et al -- Mrs. Willis has made time travel stories into something much more profound than just jolly adventures in the past.

F. Paul Wilson "Repairman Jack" series -- I haven't read these but they're apparently quite popular.

Comments welcome: let's argue about what books are best!

Comments

[Ray Pardo]

Jim,

My daughter emailed me your blog.
Your list shares many of my favorites and links me to some new.

However, why do you ignore the "cyberpunk" sub-genre ? Especially Wm. Gibson ??

Ray

[Bruce Berger]

With 1980 as the cutoff, I'd think William Gibson's /Neuromancer/ would have to be on the list.

[Cambias]

Both of you are correct. I think perhaps the cutoff for this list must have been later, like '85 or '90. That also explains the absence of Ender's Game.

[Ray Pardo]

Jim,
Not trying to be too argumentative, but if you include Banks' Culture series you are in the same publishing time period as the second 2 of Gibson's Sprawl series, hence invalidating the "cut-off" argument.
I think that the problem is your source has left out the major cyberpunk authors for a reason and hence you must find another source for your list of "Classics" or change your title. To leave cyberpunk out of modern Sci-Fi is just not possible.
Ray